Loaf

It had been a gradual process. Looking back now, Freddie realized that it had been a series of small events that had led up to him falling in love with Sam.

She didn't walk into the studio one day with a sudden aura around her that Freddie had immediately been attracted to. She didn't brush up against him while they were sitting on the Shay's couch watching T.V., making him feel a strange new spark that he never felt before.

In fact, it had been such a slow process that at the time, Freddie didn't even know what was going on. Maybe it was because he was distracted by one of his mother's crusades to keep him safe from any or all harm through ridiculous measures, or maybe it was simply because he was a boy, which meant, as Carly put it, he was oblivious to certain things that should be clearly apparent.

Now, though, he understood that those tiny, seemingly insignificant events were really just building upon each other.

There had been the time when Carly had actually succeeded in talking Sam into going to their homecoming dance at school, and he watched her come downstairs, wearing a stunning red dress with her hair up in a fancy bun. His eyes had lingered over her as she headed into the kitchen for some of the leftover roast beef that Spencer had made for his book club ladies while Carly rushed back upstairs to grab her camera. He obviously thought she looked nice; he never thought Sam was unattractive, after all. Vicious and violent, yes, but there was definitely no denying that she was a very pretty girl. And then his eyes had been forced away from her as Gibby came into the apartment, announcing proudly that he had gotten them matching bowties, giving him much more concerning thoughts to deal with.

There was that time at the Groovy Smoothie, when him, Sam, Carly and Gibby had been lounging around, sipping smoothies, and T-Bo came over to them and somehow persuaded them to each buy some of the cupcakes he had managed to force onto a stick. As Sam hungrily began to devour her own pink-frosted cupcake, she got a little bit of icing on her nose. Freddie had the sudden urge to reach across the table and wipe it off her, but as he felt his arm rising, he stopped himself, realizing how strange she would find the gesture. And anyway, he found it sort of…cute, that she didn't even realize the icing for nearly ten minutes, until Carly pointed it out. But still, that didn't set off any sirens in Freddie's mind.

And of course there was that time when Spencer arranged for Freddie to compete in a fencing tournament down at the gymnasium again. It had been the first time he had fenced in about two years, and he had been nervous that he had gotten rusty. In fact, he lost the first round of his match. But then Sam, who of course hadn't been on time to begin with, arrived, and for some reason, during the second round, when he heard her in the stands, cheering at the top of her lungs for him, he felt a sudden rush, and easily won in a matter of seconds.

The first slight indication that he got that he might have some sort of feelings for Sam that weren't platonic was when Court was appointed (without his approval) to be iCarly's new intern, just because Carly and Sam were so eager to have him around to gush over. It was no secret that Court annoyed the living chiz out of him. The guy was a moron who thought the capital of Nebraska was 'N'! But what bothered him the most was that Carly and Sam acted as if he was the most desirable dude on the planet. Though he soon realized, it wasn't exactly Carly's infatuation with the less-than-brilliant intern that got under his skin. Sure, he didn't exactly jump up and down for joy while he would listen to Carly talk about how cute Court's abs were, but he was able to just brush it off. When Sam would say the exact same things, on the other hand, it was much harder for him to act indifferent, and that confused him. Because three years ago, if Court had shown up, he would've been furious that Carly couldn't keep her eyes off him during rehearsals, and might have even gone so far as to try and help Sam get together with him, so that Carly would remain single for him. But this time, it was Sam he had in mind when he had gone to the Brilliance Bar at the Pear Store and talked to one of the workers, Ashley, about helping him get Court out of his life. Once Court was safely fired, he was still confused about why him being around Sam had bothered him so much, but he didn't dwell on it. He rationalized his actions as being concerned for Sam. It was normal for Carly to fall hard for guys every other week; she was more…experienced. He didn't want Sam to rush into anything and wind up getting hurt…that was it.

And Freddie continued to rationalize the little signs that kept popping up. The reason he suddenly couldn't stop thinking about the way her hair had bounced during an iCarly rehearsal as he cut into his mother's tofu loaf was that he had been watching to make sure one of her golden curls didn't get caught in the giant fan Gibby had been working. He couldn't get the image of her signature smile out of his mind was simply because he had been debating with her over the importance of flossing teeth. And the reason that he had been sneaking out to the gym four times a week, building up his muscles (which he told his mother had been caused by him lifting so many puzzle boxes as he organized his closet) was not to impress Sam, but rather to finally beat her in arm wrestling. And it had been working. Freddie could finally hold Sam off for just over three seconds before she would slam his arm to the table, which is what would leave his hand tingling after she let go, not the mere fact that she was holding it.

When Brad came back into the picture, just around the time of Ridgeway's annual lock-in, and Sam had suddenly asked to join their project, Freddie was just surprised that she was willingly volunteering to do work for a school project, but then thought nothing more of it. That is…until he tested his Mood Face app on her and it showed that she was In Love. And as the only new guy that she had been hanging around was Brad, he logically drew the conclusion that she was in love with Brad.

When he saw those words flashing on his computer screen, a feeling he couldn't quite place flooded his body. He didn't know what it was, and as he grabbed his computer and fled from the room, leaving Sam and Brad confused behind him, he actually sat down on the stairs for a few moments, trying to figure out what it was that he was experiencing. But no answer came to him, so he decided to share the news with Carly, who was much better at dealing with that sort of stuff.

Then came the moment, the moment that would change his life forever, when it all clicked. When he realized he was in love with Sam Puckett.

Carly had just found him, fiddling with his computer as he continued to work on his app.

"Well, that was a complete failure," Carly sighed, sitting down next to him.

"What was?" Freddie asked, looking up.

"Trying to hook Sam up with Brad!" Carly exclaimed. "And now I think Sam's mad at me."

"Really?" Freddie frowned.

"Yeah," Carly mumbled. "I told you, she's awkward when it comes to liking guys. I mean, I guess I did sort of do a lot of meddling, but it's just so frustrating watching her ignore something that could make her so happy. That's all I want for her."

"I know," Freddie nodded. Because he wanted the same thing, of course; for Sam to be happy.

"I should try talking to her," Carly continued. "Once I finish up my project with Gibby…that will give her some time to cool off."

"Right," Freddie said. "Where is she, anyway?"

"I don't know, I think I saw her heading out towards the back patio area, but I'm not positive," Carly said. "Why?"

"Just-Just need to ask her a few questions about our project," Freddie said, getting to his feet. "I'll see you later, Carls."

So he went outside, and Sam was, in fact, there, looking miserable; not like her usual self at all.

He began his speech, hoping that he'd at least be able to help her out, because that's what friend's did, right? And at the same time, he was also thinking about, in the back of his mind, the feeling that still hadn't left the pit of his stomach since he realized she was in love with Brad in the first place, and why it hadn't gone away yet.

And then, she kissed him. It took him completely by surprise; he had been in mid-sentence. But after a second, and the initial shock wore off, he knew.

But of course, as that tidal wave of new information dawned on him, he was able to do nothing more but simply stutter a few incoherent syllables once she pulled away from him.

"Sorry," she mumbled, looking up at him hesitantly.

"It's cool," Freddie said. It was all he could manage. He couldn't even yank his mind out of the brand new sensation it was feeling to yell after her as she turned and quickly ran away. All he could do was stand there, rooted to the ground.

Sam…he thought to himself. I've fallen for her. Hard.