AN-So this is a sequel to chapter 294, where Sam talks to Carly about how she felt when Freddie said that she didn't care about him in iStill Psycho.
….
Record
Carly rolled out of bed the next morning and looked over at the love seat where Sam had been sleeping. As she had expected, Sam was gone, her blanket sloppily draped over the back of the couch.
Carly sighed. True, her and Sam were best friends, and told each other everything, but never in all their years of friendship has Sam cried real, genuine tears to her as she had done the previous night, and she figured Sam had probably gone back home and was trying to force her emotions down with a pack of extra-fat bacon.
She couldn't believe it…Sam was still in love with Freddie, and Freddie had just completely broken her heart with his words. Somehow, Carly would've always thought it would be the other way around.
And while Carly had gone through her fair share of breakups and had seen way too many sappy movie romances disintegrate, she couldn't even begin to imagine the pain that Sam must be going through right now…To have the boy who you told that you loved, and had said the same words to you, blatantly say what Freddie had said to her…it had to hurt.
Carly quickly dressed and headed downstairs, still immersed in her thoughts.
"Hey," Spencer greeted her as she began to pour herself a bowl of cereal. "Check out this new t-shirt I just made myself! It's scented! Whenever I wear this baby, I'm going to smell like marshmallow."
"Cool," Carly said, pulling on a strained smile.
"You okay?" Spencer frowned.
"Yeah," Carly sighed. "I'm fine."
"Okay, well, if you need to talk, I'll be in my room," Spencer said. "Sorting my slippers."
Carly had only taken a few bites of her cereal when the apartment door swung open and Freddie walked in.
"Hey," he said happily. "You sleep good, knowing crazy Nora and her deranged parents are locked up?"
"Yes," Carly said simply, trying not to glare at Freddie, who was so chipper while her best friend was at home, possibly crying her eyes out again.
"Hey, whose bacon is this?" Freddie asked, pointing to the large plate of bacon on the counter.
"Probably Spencer's," Carly shrugged.
"Oh, good," Freddie said, taking a piece. "I thought it was Sam's. Not really in the mood to get my hand gnawed off for touching her food."
Carly narrowed her eyes. "Sam's not here."
"Really? Figured she would've spent the night," Freddie said. "Oh well. Hey, is it cool if I-?"
"Sam did spend the night," Carly snapped. "She left before I got up this morning, though."
"Whoa, since when does Sam get up early?" Freddie chuckled.
"Well I'm guessing she didn't sleep too good last night," Carly said angrily. "Because something that someone said was probably keeping her up all night, tossing and turning!"
"Um, what?" Freddie frowned.
"Nothing," Carly sighed. She had probably said too much already; she knew Sam would never want her to tell Freddie that she cried over him last night. But then again, it was so hard to just stand by…
"But you-"
"I can't believe you said that!" Carly blurted out.
"Said what?" Freddie asked, confused.
"Oh you know what!"
"No," Freddie said. "I don't. What did I say?"
"The other morning…at Nora's house," Carly said, crossing her arms. "Think hard, Freddie."
"Um…is this about me being angry that you didn't stop Nora from kissing me?" Freddie asked.
"Nope."
"Well then can you give me a hint or something?" Freddie asked. "Because I really don't know what I said to you that made you so-"
"You didn't say it to me!"
"Well then who'd I say it to?"
"Sam!"
"What?" Freddie wrinkling his brow. "What'd I say to Sam?"
"Come on, Freddie, you shouldn't have to ask," Carly said, rolling her eyes.
"Seriously, will you tell me already?" Freddie asked. "Because I don't know what I said to Sam that was so-"
"You said she didn't care about you!"
"Huh?"
"You know, when we were trying to short out your tracker chip so your mom would find us," Carly sighed. "You said that you didn't want her shocking you the pen and you wanted to me to do it instead because I care about you."
"So?" Freddie shrugged. "It's true."
Carly glared at him. "Tell me you did not just say that."
"I did, and you know what, I'll say it again," Freddie said firmly. "Sam doesn't care about me. Come on, Carly, I think it's pretty obvious. She's constantly ripping on me, hitting me…the girl's not happy unless I'm miserable!"
"Freddie, you know that's not true," Carly said. "And Sam does not make you miserable."
Freddie scoffed.
"I'm serious!" Carly said. "And unless you're completely out of it, then you should've noticed that Sam hasn't even been doing too much to you lately!"
"Yeah, because she's probably plotting something really bad," Freddie mumbled.
"No!" Carly said loudly. "Because whether you want to believe it or not, Sam cares about you. Maybe she at least meant what she said in the elevator that night you two broke up."
Freddie's eyes widened. "You-You know about-"
"How you two said you loved each other?" Carly finished. "Yeah, I do. Can you at least tell me the truth about that, Freddie? Did you mean it when you told her that you loved her?"
"Look, this is completely irrelevant. What does it even-"
"Did you mean it or not?" Carly asked again forcefully.
"I-"
"Freddie!"
"Okay, fine, yes!" Freddie conceded. "I did mean it! But that doesn't even matter, alright? Because like I said, Sam doesn't care about me."
"Why do you keep saying that?" Carly asked, her voice softer. "Is it because you really believe it? Or…is it because maybe if you keep telling yourself that, it won't be so hard for you to deal with the fact that you still might have feelings for her?"
Freddie sighed. "Wow…you're good."
"Well, yes," Carly agreed.
"I just thought it would be easier this way," Freddie said. "I mean, I know I told Sam that it wasn't good to just keep your feelings bottled up inside of you, but it's so much easier. Besides," he added sadly. "There's no way that Sam would ever want to get back together anyway, so the more I ignore my feelings for her, the better."
"Freddie," Carly said gently. "Last night…when Sam was telling me how upset she was that you had said what you did, she cried. She cried hard; worse than I've ever seen. Because you really hurt her when you said she didn't care about you; because it's the complete opposite. Sam still loves you."
Freddie's eyes widened. "W-What?"
"She still loves you," Carly repeated again. "And when the person that you love completely shrugs off your love for them…it's not pretty."
"Carly," Freddie said slowly. "Are you serious right now? Sam actually said that she still loved me?"
Carly nodded. "She did."
"Oh man…" Freddie said, turning towards the door. "I got to go see her then! This means that-"
"Hey, not so fast," Carly said. "You can't just barge over there!"
"Why not?" Freddie demanded, exasperated. "You just said-"
"I know what I said," Carly cut him off. "Sam still loves you. But I told you, you really hurt her too. You need to tell her everything you just told me; set the record straight once and for all."
Freddie nodded. "And then do you think…do you think she'll get back together with me?"
Carly gave him a small smile. "Sam's stubborn," she said. "But for you…I think she'll hear you out."
…
Freddie knocked at Sam's door, trying to figure out how he would even begin this conversation. He wished he would've managed to convince Carly to tell him exactly what to say, but she insisted that he needed to do this on his own.
He knocked again, and this time Sam opened the door.
"Yeah? What do you want?" Sam asked, crossing her arms.
Freddie sighed. "Can I come in?"
Sam shrugged. "Whatever."
"Thanks," Freddie said, coming into the cluttered house. "So, um…your mom home?"
"Nope, she's out trying to find a new guy at the fishing docks," Sam replied.
Freddie nodded. He watched as Sam sat back down on her couch, and felt saddened as he realized that she was missing her usual…Samness. She seemed sort of out of it, but also trying to hide the fact that she was out of it at the same time. Had he really done that?
"So…what do you want?" Sam asked, not looking at him.
"Well, um…I-I kind of needed to talk to you," Freddie said, sitting down next to her.
"Why?" Sam frowned. "You know we have iCarly rehersal in like, three hours. You could just talk to me there."
"I-I kind of wanted to talk to you in private," Freddie told her.
Sam gave him a confused look. "Alright…"
Freddie took a deep breath. "Look, Sam…the other day at Nora's…I didn't mean that-that thing that I said to you…you know, that you-"
"That I didn't care about you?" Sam finished softly.
"Yeah," Freddie said, somewhat awkwardly. "That. I-I'm sorry. It was just, you know, a heat of the moment thing."
"Why would you think that?" Sam asked softly, not looking at him.
"I don't-"
"You really think after an entire month of us dating that I don't even care about you?" Sam said angrily, getting to her feet. "You think I lied to you when I told you I loved you? Was that just something you said in the heat of the moment too?"
"No!" Freddie said. "I did mean it! It's just…Sam, I-it's hard, okay! It's hard for me to have to hang around you every day and remind myself that I'm not supposed to feel those feelings for you anymore! So, I don't know…I figured if I just told myself over and over again that there was no way you'd ever feel the same way about me, I'd be able to move on and get past it. But it didn't work, okay?"
"Yeah, well how do you think I felt all those times, huh?" Sam exclaimed. "Having to hang around you, trying to be all 'normal' and everything only to have you not even notice!"
"Well I was trying to be all 'abnormal' and you didn't notice either!"
"Well you sucked at being abnormal!"
"And you sucked at being normal!"
"Oh yeah?" Sam snapped, stepping closer to him.
"Yeah!" Freddie said, stepping closer to her as well. "And you wanna know what else I suck at?"
"What?" Sam demanded.
"Trying to keep myself from doing this!" And with that he smashed his lips down onto hers. Sam snaked his arms around his neck at once, eagerly kissing him back.
It was quite some time before the two finally pulled away, panting and trying to catch their breath as two stared at each other in amazement at the event that had just taken place.
"Sam, I'm sorry I hurt you," Freddie said softly. "That-That was never what I wanted. I just wanted…that. And to be us again."
"Like…couple us again?" Sam asked.
Freddie nodded, somewhat nervously. "If you want that too."
Sam was silent for a minute. "Okay," she finally said. "But…you-you need to realize that I do care about you. And I never stopped. I don't want you to just always think of me as this heartless girlfriend who only wants you to buy me food. I mean, yes, I obviously want you to buy me food, but…I-I also really-"
"I know," Freddie nodded, pulling her close again. "And I'll never forget it."
