AN-So this oneshot is about Sam falling in love with Freddie. It takes someplace within the fourth season. Hope you enjoy it!
….
Conversion
"Seriously, how great is my new room?" Carly said, looking around the eighty-two thousand dollar bedroom that Spencer had given her just a few weeks ago. "You'd have thought the thrill of it would've worn off by now, but it's still here."
"Well I'd be all happy and smiley if my brother made me the best room in the history of rooms too," Sam grinned from the ice cream sandwich love seat she was lounging on.
"Hey," Freddie said, walking into Carly's bedroom with his large Pearpad.
"Hey," Carly smiled back.
"Fredwardo," Sam said, sitting up.
"You guys should see this really funny video these guys just sent into iCarly," Freddie said, beginning to pull something up on his Pearpad. "It's hilarious."
As Freddie worked on his Pearpad, Sam frowned. Something seemed different about the tech nub…but she couldn't put a finger on what exactly it was. This had been bothering her for the past week; it seemed that every time she saw him, there was some sort of…aura around him that seemed to draw her attention to him.
She gave a small shrug and then went back to the bag of potato chips she had been eating. She was sure it was nothing; his mom was probably spraying him with a new tick spray or something that gave him a new scent that she was picking up on.
"Here, come look," Freddie said, sitting down on the edge of Carly's bed. "It's two guys freestyle wrapping the lines of the opening scene in Galaxy Wars."
The girls sat down on either side of Freddie, watching his Pearpad.
This video had to be the stupidest thing Sam had ever seen in her life. She knew she wasn't the biggest fan of Galaxy Wars around, but still, this was ridiculous! She could tell by the look on Carly's face that she didn't get the point of this video either, but Freddie was laughing as though it was the funniest thing around.
And then, for some strange reason that she couldn't even begin to explain, Sam found herself laughing as well.
"It's really funny, right?" Freddie grinned as the video ended.
"Um, y-yeah," Sam nodded.
No! she thought to herself, though. That was the biggest waste of three minutes I've ever seen. What's wrong with me? Why am I not insulting the nub's sense of humor?
"You guys really liked it?" Carly frowned, looking at Sam suspiciously.
"Well I just thought that it would be cool to show on iCarly next week, since we still need one more video," Freddie shrugged. "Why? Did you not like it?"
"Well…it's not that I didn't like it," Carly said slowly. "It's just that I think that the fans of iCarly who aren't into Galaxy Wars wouldn't get it."
"Oh," Freddie said, looking a bit disappointed.
"Well…maybe we can still put it up on iCarly, you know, just under our random clips section," Sam suggested.
What the heck? Sam thought. Why am I suggesting something that would make this nub feel better?
"Yeah, that could be cool," Freddie said, smiling at Sam, who instantly felt like smiling back at him, though she managed to hold that in.
"That sounds good," Carly said. "But we still need to find one more video for our show then."
"Well," Freddie sighed, getting to his feet. "Looks like we have a long day of looking at videos ahead of us then…I'm gonna go get something to eat. Is there anymore of those popcorn balls Spencer made?"
"Just one," Carly said. "But Sam's already called it."
"Um…actually I just remembered that I have a bag of pork rinds in my backpack," Sam said, reaching for her backpack that was lying on Carly's bed and pulling out the pork rinds. "I traded my shoelaces for them with some dude at the park, and you know Mama would rather have a good old fashioned deep fried snack than some little popcorn ball, so if he wants it…"
"Alright, cool," Freddie shrugged, heading out of the room.
"Sam and I will try and figure out how to get that Galaxy Wars video up on the clips section," Carly said, opening up her Pearbook. "Since you two liked it so much…Sam? You know how to do this? Sam?"
"Huh?" Sam said, snapping out of her thoughts. "Oh, yeah. I think so. Give it to me."
As she began to load the video (which she still thought was incredibly lame), she tried to wrap her head around what had just happened. Did she actually willingly give up food to Freddie? She had been thinking of eating that popcorn ball all day!
What is wrong with me? Sam thought, shaking her head. Maybe I'm coming down with something.
…..
"So these coffee beans are really from Brazil?" Carly asked as Spencer set a tray of coffee mugs down on the coffee table for the three teens to try.
"Yeah, I bought them from this Sunshine Scout a few floors below us," Spencer nodded.
"Hot mom?" Freddie asked knowingly.
"Insanely hot," Spencer grinned.
"I didn't know the Sunshine Scouts sold coffee beans," Carly said as she took a sip from her mug. "Hey, it's pretty good."
"Yeah," Sam agreed, sipping her beverage as well. "Really good."
"Mine needs a little bit of sugar," Freddie said, pursing his lips.
"Wuss!" Spencer said loudly as Freddie got up and headed into the kitchen.
Sam turned her head, trying to watch him while at the same time not making it obvious that she was watching him…
It had been over a month since these weird feelings had started, and she still had no clue what was up! It was as though she had to force occasional insults out at Freddie and fight off the urges to actually compliment the nub and just sit around gawking at him.
For a few crazy days, Sam thought maybe she was having trouble being so mean to Freddie was because she was maturing. Carly had always told her that someday she would have to grow up and stop pranking everyone and causing them physical and emotional pain. But then she realized she wasn't having any problems once so ever abusing Gibby. Or any other loser that got on her nerves at school; it was just Freddie she was having difficulty with.
Maybe I owe him something…Sam thought, quickly diverting her gaze from Freddie, who was now coming back to the sofa with a sugar bowl. Yeah, maybe that's what's been bugging me. I'm in the nub's debt, so I can't just pick on him like I usually do…but what do I owe him?
"Sam?" Carly said. "Did you hear me?"
"Huh?" Sam said quickly, snapping out of her daze. "What'd you say?"
"I asked you if you were still spending the night here," Carly repeated.
"Oh yeah…sure," Sam nodded.
"Well you two will have the apartment to yourselves," Spencer said. "Right Fredo?"
"Oh yeah!" Freddie said. "I almost forgot; we're camping out at the ticket office to get front row tickets to that fencing expedition that's coming to Seattle."
"Is it really necessary to camp out?" Carly frowned. "I mean, are that many people really going to see that?"
"Um, Seattle happens to be on of the hottest fencing spots in the nation," Spencer defended.
"Okay," Carly chuckled, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, dudes jabbing each other with swords…doesn't sound totally pathetic," Sam shrugged.
Oh my God, what's happening to me?
"Whatever," Carly shrugged. "You two have fun standing outside in the freezing cold. Sam and I will be here drinking hot chocolate and pigging out on junk food."
…..
Later that evening, Carly and Sam were sitting on beanbag chairs in the iCarly studio, painting their toenails.
"You know, I really like this shade of pink," Carly commented, wiggling her toes a little bit. "It's not too vibrant, but it's also fun. It's sophisticated, yet flirty at the same time."
"It's a color, Carls," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "Pink is pink."
"Now I just have to do my fingernails," Carly said, ignoring her best friend's comment. "Hey, do you think I should try out that French manicure set my dad sent me?"
"I thought you said you were going to save that for a fancy occasion," Sam pointed out.
"I am," Carly said, smiling.
"Okay, Carls, who is he?" Sam sighed knowingly.
"You know that new guy in our Physics class who just transferred from Briarwood?"
"Vince? Sure," she nodded. "Wait, you like him?"
"I think so," Carly said. "I mean, he's so cute. Plus the few times I've talked to him I've gotten that whole butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling, and I just want to sit around complimenting him. And the other day, during that momentum lab, I kept laughing at all his stupid jokes, even though I thought they were lame; I just couldn't help myself!"
Weird feelings, need to compliment, laughing at stupid things…Sam thought slowly to herself. Weren't those the same exact things that had been happening to her whenever Freddie was around lately?
"But, um," Sam said, trying to sound nonchalant. "That-That doesn't necessarily mean you like the guy?"
"Sam, those are like, the most obvious signs that you're crushing on a guy," Carly laughed. "Everyone knows that. I mean, why else would I be acting like that?"
"I don't know!" Sam exclaimed, jumping to her feet. "But it doesn't have to mean you're crushing on the nub! Maybe you just drank some bad Peppy Cola or have mental issues or something! It doesn't have to mean you like him!"
"Why'd you just call Vince a nub?" Carly frowned.
"I didn't! I-Ugh!"
"Wait, where are you going?" Carly asked as Sam began to storm out of the studio.
"Bathroom!" Sam snapped.
She stomped downstairs to the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her. She turned on the faucet and splashed her face with cold water. She looked over at the mirror at her reflection.
"Carly-Carly's wrong," she mumbled to herself.
But Carly's never wrong about these things, she thought to herself.
She slowly lowered herself down to sit on the edge of the bathtub. Carly was having the same feelings she was having whenever Freddie was around, and knew that it meant she liked that Vince kid, so, assuming Carly was right about her feelings, that would mean that she…
"No!" Sam gasped. "No, no, no, no!"
There had to be a mistake, this wasn't right, she was wrong!
But it looked like all the signs pointed to one thing; one thing that Sam never could've prepared herself for. She liked Fredward Benson.
…..
I like Freddie, Sam thought for the millionth time he next day, pacing back and forth in her bedroom. I like Freddie…
The more times she went over it, the more it made her feel completely and hopelessly confused.
How could she have fallen for him? She had made it her life's work to torment the boy! She enjoyed pranking him and laughing at his misfortunes.
He does look sort of cute when he's all peeved off, Sam found herself thinking.
"Ah! Pull it together, Puckett!" Sam moaned, falling down on her bed.
She felt like she was about to explode…what did she do now? There was no way she could even bring up the idea of this to Freddie. After everything Sam had put him through over the years, she was sure he'd take it as an opportunity to make her feel just as horrible as she had made him feel with everything she had pulled on him.
She didn't tell Carly the previous night either. Carly was her best friend, but she was also a meddler. If Sam had told her that she actually liked Freddie, there was no doubt that within a matter of twenty-four hours that she'd have some overly complicated plot to get her together with him.
But she couldn't keep this bottled up! Who knew how long it would be before she did something drastic like just spinning the dork around one day and kissing him full on the mouth?
Sam found herself smiling as this thought brought back the memory of him and her sitting on his fire escape, their lips pressed together.
Get it out of your head, Sam told herself firmly. Because you cannot let it happen again!
Just then, her laptop, which was sitting on her desk, began to beep, and she looked over and saw that she had a web chat request from Melanie.
"Melanie!" Sam said, jumping off her bed. This was perfect! She could talk to Melanie! Under normal circumstances, Sam would be repulsed by this idea. But as much as she hated to admit it, there were times when she did need her sister. After all, she had been the one she called right after that fire escape kiss…
She quickly clicked the accept button, and a second later, her sister's identical face appeared on her screen.
"Sam!" Melanie said excitedly. "I'm so glad you finally answered. I can never seem to catch you online."
"Yeah, well…hey," Sam said. "What's up?"
"Oh nothing, I just had some time between my debate team meeting and cheerleading practice, so I thought I'd just see if you wanted to chat," Melanie said brightly. "How's Seattle? Mom doing okay?"
"Yup, she's doing good," Sam nodded. "Actually, she's doing really good. A few weeks ago, Carly forced me and her to go to this therapy session and we actually talked. Now she's actually trying to be a parent. Well, trying for her; the woman gave me a roll of toilet paper in my lunch the other day."
"Oh wow, that's so great!" Melanie said. "I'm glad you two are getting along better."
"Yeah it's real nice," Sam said quickly. "But anyway, Mel…there is actually something that I want to sort of, you know, talk to you about."
"What is it?"
"First swear you won't tell anyone," Sam said.
"Did you do something illegal?" Melanie moaned.
"No! Nothing illegal," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "Just swear!"
"Fine, I swear I won't tell anyone," Melanie said. "Now what's up?"
"Well, um…you-you know Freddie, right?"
"You mean the dude who's convinced I don't exist, yeah, I remember him," Melanie smiled.
"Well, um, lately," Sam began. "With him…I-I sort of…kind of…"
"Oh my God! You like him!" Melanie exclaimed.
"What? How'd you know?" Sam frowned.
"Please, I know my sister," Melanie said. "But holy chiz, Sam! This is great. I mean I could totally see it coming, but still, now that you've finally accepted your feelings, you can get moving on them!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Sam said quickly. "No one's moving on any feelings."
"You mean you're not going to talk to Freddie about how you feel about him?" Melanie asked.
"Um, that's exactly, what I mean," Sam nodded. "Come on, Melanie, it's Freddie! If I ever told him I kind of like him he wouldn't wait a second before totally throwing it in my face."
"He wouldn't do that," Melanie said.
"You've met the guy once," Sam pointed out.
"Yeah, I know," Melanie said. "And during that one time, when we went out on that date to that little dance club, he sort of seemed to be very determined to prove that I was you."
"Of course he was! He wanted to catch me pranking him!"
"Well, maybe," Melanie shrugged. "Or maybe he just wanted it to really be you he was on that date with…"
"You're crazy," Sam said.
"Look, Sam, I know you're not exactly, well, the best when it comes to relationships," Melanie sighed. "But I still think you should talk to Freddie; you might be surprised. Oh! I'll send you this link from about making the conversion from friend to something more!"
"No, I don't want any link!" Sam said firmly. "These-These stupid feelings will probably just go away in a few weeks. I can keep my cool for a few weeks."
"I'm still sending you the link," Melanie said, smiling at her sister.
"I know you are," Sam said, shaking her head
"Okay, well I need to go get my pom poms for practice now," Melanie said. "But I'll talk to you again soon. And good luck, Sam."
"Bye," Sam said. She clicked out of the chat window and went back to her bed.
"Yeah…" she said softly to herself. "In a few weeks, I'll be cured of any crush I had on the nub."
…
But unfortunately, Sam was quite wrong. Weeks passed, and then even months, and she still couldn't shake her affection from Freddie.
But talking to Melanie, telling at least one person how she was feeling seemed to help her hide her feelings pretty well whenever she was around him. Though there were a few close calls…
She had to use all of her self-control when stupid girls began flocking around Freddie after his little vampire gig on iCarly. And then when she went to Webicon and saw her and Freddie's faces together in those little heart cutouts the fans had, she tried not to make it noticeable how she would smile at them. But she still had to start a huge Creddie uproar among the fans by saying Carly and Freddie were dating so that she wouldn't have to keep denying that she felt any feelings towards him.
But all in all, she thought she kept her emotions hidden very well; that was always the one thing she was good at. She made sure to never compliment him too much and kept the insults coming, and when they hired that brain-dead intern, Court, she did her best to gush over him, even though she secretly wished it was Freddie who she was able to trick so easily into taking off his shirt.
Of course the hardest times for her to contain herself was when Freddie would insist on arm wrestling her.
Sam didn't know how he had gotten so strong and muscular, but that boy seemed determined to break the geeky, wimpy AV guy stereotype. Sam knew that she was still stronger than him, and could easily beat him in just under a second, but having him hold her hand like that, seeing his face scrunch up all cute as he used all his strength to try and overpower her…she would find herself allowing him to hold on longer and longer each time before beating him.
"I'm telling you," Sam said, sitting at her desk, talking to Melanie on her webcam. "He still doesn't have a clue. Am I good or what?"
"Sam, its been almost three months," Melanie sighed. "I don't think your feelings for him are going anywhere."
"Well…maybe they just need a little bit more pushing," Sam shrugged.
"Uh-huh," Melanie nodded. "I still say it's only a matter of time before you do something crazy."
"No way, I've got this," Sam said.
"Okay…well what are you doing tonight?"
"Oh, I have to go to the school for this stupid lock-in," Sam replied. "They have it every year so kids can finish up their semester projects."
"Cool," Melanie nodded. "So what are you and Carly working on?"
"Oh, I'm not working with Carly," Sam said. "I'm working with Freddie and the new iCarly intern, Brad."
"Wait, wait, wait," Melanie frowned. "You don't want to tell Freddie how you feel, yet you go and work with him on a school project? Doesn't that seem a little risky?"
"No, for the millionth time, I'm not girly and weak like you," Sam said. "I can be around a guy I like without having to throw my feelings at him. It'll be fine."
Just then she heard her doorbell ring downstairs.
"That's Brad, he's giving me a ride to the lock-in," Sam said. "I'll talk to you later."
"Okay, well, have fun at your lock-in," Melanie said.
"I will," Sam said. "It'll be totally fine, Melanie. You'll see."
….
AN-I know the official story for when first started to like Freddie is when he fell and hit his head on a fire hydrant. I even actually wrote a oneshot about that too. But I honestly don't buy it. First of all, I don't think Sam would tell Freddie so easily. I feel like she had that answered all prepared for when he did ask. I think that her feelings for Freddie came gradually, as a result of their interactions, like with their kiss in iKiss or the times they would hang out alone without Carly, like in iDate a Bad Boy. That's also why I think she broke down at the lock-in. If she had just started liking Freddie then, she probably would've been able to contain herself during Freddie's little speech. I mean, come on, it's Sam Puckett. But maybe with her keeping her feelings cooped up inside of her too long, coupled with the pressure from Carly and Freddie sitting there telling her to not be afraid of her feelings, she cracked. But anyway, that's just my thoughts. I was actually really excited when I got this request because when exactly Sam fell in love with Freddie has always been something I wondered about.
Oh, and also, now that I'm done psychoanalyzing fictional characters…anybody know what show comes from? It's one of my favorites!
