Rope
"Hey, hey!" Freddie said brightly, walking into the iCarly studio. "Who's ready to shoot a little-"
"I can't believe you, Sam!" Carly said loudly, glaring at the blonde, not even noticing that Freddie had entered.
"I can't believe you!" Sam snapped, not looking over at Freddie either. "Why do you always have to do this?"
"Because you always force me to!"
"Hey! Guys!" Freddie said, walking over to the girls. "What's going on here?"
"Carly's being a control freak, as usual," Sam said to her boyfriend, crossing her arms angrily.
"I don't want to be a control freak!" Carly retorted, crossing her arms as well. "But when you refuse to take any responsibility for anything I don't have much choice!"
"Alright, what happened?" Freddie asked.
"Carly went crazy on me because I forgot to pick up some of the props for the iCarly bits we were supposed to shoot today," Sam grumbled. "It's not even that big of a deal."
"It is too a big deal!" Carly exclaimed. "How are we supposed to tie Gibby to hobo if we don't have any rope? And how are we supposed to stuff socks with Jell-O if you didn't pick up the socks or the Jell-O?"
"So I forgot this one time!"
"It's every time!" Carly yelled. "I must've told you ten times at school today, 'Sam, don't forget to get the iCarly props'. I even gave you a pastel colored index card with the list of what you were supposed to get on them! But did you? Nooo! You spent two hours sampling deli meats!"
"So we can just shoot the stuff tomorrow!" Sam argued. "Learn to be a little flexible!"
"Are you calling me uptight?" Carly gasped.
"Yup," Sam said, satisfied.
"Well maybe you should be more uptight!" Carly snapped. "Because then maybe we'd actually manage to get stuff done!"
"Okay you guys," Freddie sighed. "I know you're both feeling mad, but-"
"Well see how much you get done without me," Sam said, ignoring Freddie. "I'm out of here!"
"Good!" Carly called after her. "And I'm gonna go be the responsible one, as usual, and get the props you were supposed to get!"
"And now I'm alone," Freddie frowned as both girls stormed out of the studio.
…..
"Stupid Carly, thinking she can just order me around," Sam muttered furiously, stabbing a can of ravioli open with a knife later that evening.
"Baby…I think you need to be away from sharp things right now," Freddie said, taking the knife from Sam.
"I mean, so I didn't pick up the props," Sam ranted on. "Big deal. I was going to. But then I saw that free sample sign at the deli…"
"Uh-huh," Freddie sighed. He had heard this story three times already this evening.
"And I said I was sorry I forgot," Sam continued. "But was that good enough for her? No! For pork's sake, you'd think I forgot to pick up her lifesaving medication or something! And we don't need to have those bits ready until the show in four days; we'd have plenty of time to do it tomorrow."
"Well…it does sort of help to have the clips done as early as possible," Freddie pointed out. "You know, so I can get them all cleaned up and edited."
"But-But still," Sam said, frowning a little. "Carly just completely exploded on me for this one little thing."
"Um…well, this isn't exactly the first time you forgot to pick up things for the show," Freddie sighed.
Sam raised an eyebrow. "Uh, whose side are you on?"
"I'm not taking sides," Freddie said quickly.
"Yeah? Because it sort of sounds like you're taking Carly's," Sam said.
"Look, I'm just saying…you did promise you'd pick up those props," Freddie said.
"You are taking her side!" Sam exclaimed.
"Well Sam, baby, I-I just think that, you know, you kind of made a mistake, and-"
"Unbelievable!" Sam said, shaking her head.
"Oh come on, let's not do this," Freddie said.
"Do what? You're the one siding with Carly," Sam snapped.
"Well I just-"
"You know what?" Sam said angrily. "If you think Carly's so right, then why don't you go date her?"
"Okay, Sam. That's it," Freddie said assertively. "You're being ridiculous. You know that I don't want to date Carly. I want to date you. But you know what? Just because we're dating doesn't mean that I have to agree with you on every little thing? So you know what? Yeah, I think Carly's right here. You were supposed to pick up those props, Carly reminded you a million times, but you still didn't do it. I'd be frustrated too! So would you!"
Sam stared at Freddie for a moment. "Wow…" she said softly. "I-I've never seen you actually stand up like to anyone."
"I know," Freddie sighed. "And I'm sorry I went off like that, but-"
"Hey, don't apologize," Sam said, still staring at Freddie with a somewhat impressed look on her face. "I-I think I kind of like how feisty you can get…"
"Oh, well, you know…" Freddie said.
Sam looked down at her feet. "And you know, hearing it like that…I guess…I guess I kind of deserved Carly's reaction. I promised her I'd get the props."
Freddie put a comforting arm around Sam. "Hey, you know Carly was just upset today. She didn't actually mean what she said. I'm sure by now she's cooled off and would talk to you if you went over there."
"You think?"
"I do," he nodded. "I mean you and Carly have fought before, but you're best friends; you always manage to fix it up in the end."
…..
Sam took a deep breath as she stood outside the Shay's apartment door as she knocked.
A moment later Carly answered the door. "Sam?" she frowned. "You knocked?"
"I didn't know if you'd like it if I just barged in right now," Sam said. "You know, after…Can I come in?"
Carly nodded.
"Look," Sam sighed. "I'm sorry. I knew I was supposed to pick up all those props yesterday, and I didn't. There was no excuse."
"Yeah, well," Carly mumbled. "I guess I did come down a little hard on you. If we looked hard enough down in our storage until I'm sure we could've found stuff to use."
"No, no, this was my fault," Sam said, opening her backpack. She pulled out a rope, several envelopes of Jell-O and a bunch of socks. "But I went out and got everything today."
"Aw, you did!" Carly smiled. "Thanks, Sam!"
She pulled Sam into a hug.
"So…we cool?" Sam asked once they pulled apart.
"Yeah, we're cool," Carly grinned.
Just then there was a knock on the door and Freddie walked in. "Hey, everything…happy, in here?"
"Yeah, Sam and I aren't fighting anymore," Carly said.
"We have Fredbug to thank for that," Sam said. "He's the one who got me to realize that I was being kind of stupid about this whole thing."
"What do you mean?" Carly frowned.
"Well I just told her that you were right about her promising to get the props and that she should've been more responsible," Freddie said.
"You what?" Carly exclaimed. "You mean you took my side in this little fight?"
"But she was-"
"It doesn't matter what Sam was doing," Carly said, crossing her arms, glaring at Freddie. "She is your girlfriend. I don't care if she was sitting up there pouring honey all over my hair; you take her side!"
"But I didn't-"
"Come on, Sam," Carly said, grabbing Sam's wrist as she began to lead them upstairs. "Let's go have a few words about this boyfriend of yours."
Sam laughed, turning back to Freddie as they headed upstairs. "Bye, baby."
"You know what?" Freddie said, shaking his head as he headed back across the hall. "I just can't win."
