Goodness
"Unbelievable," Freddie sighed, letting himself into the Shay's apartment.
"What's up, Fredo?" Spencer asked, looking up from the horse sculpture he had been working on.
"You'll see," Freddie said, crossing his arms, looking at the front door. "In five, four, three, two-"
"You can't do that, Sam! That totally violates the rules we drew up!" Carly said loudly as her and Sam stormed into the apartment.
"No it does not!" Sam snapped as the girls threw their bags down.
"It does too!"
"Well it's a lot better than what you wanted to do!" Sam retorted.
"Whoa, what's going on with you two?" Spencer frowned.
"Sam and I are in a bit of a…competition," Carly explained, glaring at her best friend.
"Competition?" Spencer repeated.
"There's a new guy at school who got the locker between them, and they both like him," Freddie said, rolling his eyes as he headed to the kitchen.
"Because he's adorable!" Carly defended.
"Yeah, that boy could be a model or something," Sam nodded.
"So…you both want to date him then?" Spencer asked.
"Duh," Carly replied. "But the problem is…we can't decide who should get to go for him. It's the same problem we had with Shane a few years ago; we both saw him at the same time so we can't use the girl code to determine who gets him."
"So we have to make him pick," Sam added. "I mean, it sort of worked with Shane…"
"He fell down an elevator shaft and broke like, half his bones!" Freddie exclaimed.
"He lived," Carly mumbled. "And just so you guys know, Brendan will be coming by here to watch iCarly live tonight…he was so happy when I invited him. He said of course he'd come."
"Hm, maybe that's because he was already invited by me," Sam smirked.
"You can't just invite people over to my home!" Carly said indignantly.
"That was never specified," Sam grinned triumphantly.
"Yeah, well…" Carly frowned. "I'm gonna go upstairs and make myself all hot for Brendan!"
"The show doesn't start for three hours," Spencer pointed out.
"Oh man, I thought I had more time than that!" Carly cried, rushing upstairs.
….
"Okay, how do I look?" Carly said, coming downstairs, wearing a new pink dress and cute boats.
"Nice," Freddie said, not looking up from his Pearbook.
"You didn't even look!" Carly said, putting her hands on her hips.
Freddie looked up. "You look very nice, Carly," he said, chuckling.
"Thank you," Carly said happily. "Is Sam here yet? Her and I need to go over a few last things for our walnut bit."
Right on cue, Sam walked into the apartment, and when he saw her, Freddie nearly dropped her laptop. She was wearing a pair of dark jeans and purple top that showed off her curves perfectly.
"Foul!" Carly cried, looking at her best friend.
"What foul?" Sam demanded.
"We agreed to keep this a level playing field!"
"Yeah, so?" Sam shrugged. "You're dressed up, I'm dressed up. Level playing field."
"No, not a level playing field!" Carly said.
"How?" Sam said, crossing her arms.
"Because," Carly said, lowering her voice slightly, thought Freddie could still hear her. "You happen to have two…attributes that I don't have and you're just flaunting them!"
"I'm not flaunting anything, Carls," Sam said, amused, as she headed over to the fridge.
Freddie quickly looked down at his laptop so Sam wouldn't notice that he had been staring. Though he felt as if the temperature in the room had gone up quite a bit.
"Oh don't give me that, Puckett!" Carly snapped.
"And like that push-up bra you're wearing doesn't count as flaunting," Sam pointed out.
"Freddie," Carly said. "Don't you think this counts as a foul on her part?"
"I'm gonna stay out of this, thank you very much," Freddie said, hurrying upstairs, leaving his two friends to their argument.
…
"Wow, this is pretty funny stuff," Brendan laughed as he stood by Freddie's tech cart as iCarly was just wrapping up.
"Yeah, they're really good," Freddie nodded. As much as he hated to admit it, Brendan actually seemed like a pretty decent guy.
"And so until next time," Carly said to the camera. "Always treat your televisions with respect."
"And just say no to exercise," Sam grinned.
"An we're clear," Freddie said, turning off his camera. "Really great show you-"
"So Brendan, what'd you think?" Carly smiled as her and Sam ran past Freddie.
"Sure," Freddie mumbled to himself.
"I like it, you two were hilarious," Brendan said.
"Aw, thanks," Sam said, touching his shoulder.
"Well I wrote a lot of it," Carly said, putting her hand on Brendan's other shoulder.
"But all the real funny parts were all me," Sam said.
"Oh, well, um…good-good teamwork then," Brendan frowned.
"Hey Brendan, are you thirsty?" Carly asked. "I could totally bring you up some blue tea."
"I bet your hungry," Sam said quickly. "How's some fruit kabobs sound?"
"Um, they bother sound great," Brendan nodded.
"Well then back in a flash!" Carly said, scrambling for the elevator, Sam at her heels.
"Wow, they're real…nice," Brendan commented as the girls left the studio.
"Yeah, they can be real nice when they want," Freddie mumbled.
"Um, hey, listen Freddie," Brendan sighed. "Not too sound too conceited or anything, but do you think that maybe the two of them, kind of, maybe sort of…have a thing for me?"
"They're making it that obvious, huh?" Freddie laughed.
"A little, yeah," Brendan shrugged.
"Well, they both seem to think you're a nice guy," Freddie sighed, setting his camera down.
"Oh, well…that's awesome," Brendan said. "I think they're real cool too. I just wish they weren't, you know, competing with each other. I mean this morning after study hall, Carly gave me a fresh plate of cookies and Sam tried one up her with brownies. I thought they were best friends."
"They are," Freddie assured him. "They just get a little crazy with guys sometimes. I'm sure if you were to pick one of them to go out with, they'd stop all this madness and go back to being normal."
"Well…I do sort of want to ask one of them out," Brendan said. "But like I said, they're both so great. They're cute, funny, sweet-"
"Clearly you don't know Sam too well yet," Freddie chuckled to himself under his breath.
"What was that?" Brendan asked.
"Nothing," Freddie said quickly.
"Um, hey, I don't know if you'd be comfortable helping me out with this," Brendan said slowly. "Especially since you and I don't really know each other two well yet. But um…what do you think?"
"Huh?" Freddie frowned.
"You know…which girl do you think I should pick to go out with?" Brendan asked. "I mean, word around school is that you've dated both of them, right?"
"Well, yeah, I guess," Freddie nodded.
"So do you think you could give me a little advice?" Brendan asked.
Freddie leaned against his tech cart. Was this guy really asking which of his ex-girlfriends he should go out with? That was definitely an…interesting question. What guy wanted to be asked that? But he realized that helping Brendan pick one of the girls to go out with him would probably be the only way to end Carly and Sam's crazy competition between each other. So the question then became…which one of his exes would it bother him the least to see go out with a new, more attractive, guy?
He thought about this for a few moments before slowly opening his mouth to give Brendan his answer.
"Carly," he said. "You-You should ask Carly out. She's great, she's like, the definition of sweetness and goodness…I think you two would make a perfect couple."
"You know…I think you're right," Brendan nodded thoughtfully. "Wow, thanks Freddie. I'll ask her out tomorrow at school."
…
Freddie was at the locker the next day at school, placing a few books in his locker after his last class.
"Hey, Freddie?" Carly said, approaching him.
"Oh, hey Carls," Freddie said. He wondered whether Brendan had asked her out.
"Um, have you seen Sam?" Carly asked. "I-I sort of wanted to talk to her."
"No," Freddie replied, closing his locker. "What do you need her for?"
"Well…Brendan asked me out," she told him, and Freddie could tell she was trying hard not look too excited.
"Oh…he did?" Freddie said. "Well then, congratulations, right? You won."
"I know," Carly sighed. "But I feel really bad now. For Sam."
"Oh…right," Freddie sighed. "She's upset?"
"Well, she told me she was happy for me and everything, but I still think she's a little sad," Carly said. "And I just want to make sure everything's good between us. I mean, as cute and awesome as Brendan might be, I don't want him to ruin our friendship."
"I'm sure Sam's fine," Freddie assured her. "But I'll let you know if I hear from her."
"Thanks," Carly said, relieved. "I've got to go now, but I'll see you later at rehearsal, okay?"
"Okay," Freddie smiled.
He leaned against his locker as Carly hurried off. He was responsible for this; he just hoped Sam wasn't feeling too bad right now. Maybe he was being selfish when he told Brendan to go out with Carly. But he just didn't think he would be able to keep his cool if it had been Sam who had run up to him, all excited, telling him she won that little contest.
Freddie started out of the high school and towards the park across the street. Carly said she hadn't been able to find Sam, but Freddie had a feeling he knew exactly where she was.
Sure enough, he spotted the blonde sitting underneath a large tree close to the small pond; this was the spot they had often gone to after school back when they were a couple. They both said that it was the most peaceful place the knew.
Freddie sat down next to her, and she looked up from the blade of grass she had been toying with in her fingers.
"Oh…it's you."
"Yup, it's me," Freddie nodded. "I didn't know you still came here too."
"Just once in awhile," Sam mumbled. She looked down at her lap. "So I'm guessing Carly told you the news?"
"Yeah," Freddie said. "But she was just looking for you. She wanted to talk to you; to make sure you two were okay."
Sam shrugged. "She won fair and square. What do I have to be mad at her for. Besides…it's not like this was any big surprise, right?"
Freddie frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Come on," Sam said. "This isn't the first time Carly's been a guy's first pick. I mean the same thing happened with that dude at the Groovy Smoothie. And the guy we met at the movies. And the guy on the third floor of your building."
"Sam-" Freddie started.
"Don't worry about it, okay?" Sam said quickly. "It doesn't matter. So guys like my best friend better…I'll get over it. All I have to do is wait for Carly to get married or something so she'll be off the market."
"Not all guys prefer Carly over you," Freddie said softly.
"Pfft," Sam scoffed. "Name one guy who has ever preferred me over Carly."
"Me," he said simply, looking right into her eyes.
Sam looked taken aback. "You?"
"Well…yeah," Freddie nodded.
"You're just saying that," Sam mumbled. "You loved Carly."
"Yes…when I was thirteen, and also 'loved' computers, Galaxy Wars, and fencing," Freddie said.
"You still love all that stuff," Sam pointed out.
"I know," Freddie said. "But now that I'm older, I realize that there are different types of love. There's the type of love you have things that are just, you know, important to you. And then there's the love you feel for just one person when you know that you're in love with them. And now I know that what I feel for Carly is definitely that first type of love. She's someone who means a lot to me, but I'm not in love with her."
"Oh…" Sam said, looking out at the pond. "So you-you really preferred me over her then? You thought I was, you know, the better girlfriend?"
"What can I say? You kept me on my toes," Freddie grinned.
"Well, um," Sam said, clearing her throat. "Thanks…I guess." She got to her feet. "I'm gonna go find Carly…let her know that there's no hard feelings about Brendan."
"Alright," Freddie nodded.
He watched as Sam walked away. He knew he would always love Carly. She was practically his sister; one of his best friends who had always been there for him.
But he also knew, deep down, that he'd always be in love with Sam…and each day that he couldn't work up the courage to tell her that was getting tougher and tougher.
