AN-So this is a chapter to 346, when Freddie realizes that it was because Sam saw him kiss Carly in iGoodbye that she left Seattle. Now, in chapters like this, I know I usually wind up making Seddie get back together or have Freddie rush to L.A. to find Sam, but I decided to try and make this one a little different in that aspect, and I hope you enjoy it!

Horn

Sam sat at a small table at the truck stop she was currently at. She had been driving her motorcycle for nearly five hours and she was exhausted. Hopefully the coffee and burger she had ordered would perk her up. If not, she supposed that she would have to try and find a cheap motel to stay at for the night.

She pulled out her phone and looked up a map. It seemed that she was on route to L.A…that seemed like a good place for her to start her seemingly endless journey. She'd spend some time there, maybe see some celebrities, and then head off to wherever the wind took her next.

Her phone buzzed, and she saw she had gotten yet another text message from Freddie. She quickly canceled out of it. She wasn't ready to talk to him. She didn't know if she ever would be. She wondered why he was calling her. Had he realized that she had left? Or was he still under the impression that he would see her in school tomorrow?

Her phone buzzed again. And again. And then it rang, his name and picture flashing across her phone screen.

Sam moaned, as she pressed the ignore button, realizing that each time it was getting harder and harder to resist the temptation of responding to him. As much as she wanted to get away from him, a part of her wanted nothing more than to hear his voice.

Pathetic, Sam thought to herself, taking a bite of a French fry. I don't need that nub in my life. I don't need to sit there and listen to him whine about how his precious, lovely Carly left him.

But then a face chat request popped up on her screen, and Sam's fingered hovered above the ignore button. This would be the ultimate test of her will. If she could turn away the chance to actually see Freddie face-to-face, or rather, screen-to-screen, then she was truly done with him. She would be able to officially block him out of her life. Yet, it seemed that even though she was only looking at them through a picture, his big, brown eyes could still manage to break her, and she found herself slowly hitting the accept button.

Freddie's face popped up on the screen. He looked frantic and worried.

"Sam!" he exclaimed, sounding shocked that she had actually answered him. "Sam, where are you?"

"I don't know," Sam said honestly. "But wherever it is, it sure has good burgers."

"You left," he said. He wasn't accusing her. He was simply stating a fact.

"Yeah," Sam nodded slowly. "I-I did. I, um, I didn't think you'd notice so soon."

"I went to your house a few hours ago," he mumbled. "And-And saw that you weren't there. And then I remembered you had that bike, and-and I put two and two together."

"Oh," Sam sighed.

"Sam, you need to come back," Freddie said firmly. "You can't just leave Seattle."

"Why not? Carly left the country in just a few hours," she pointed out.

"That was different, she was with her dad," Freddie said. "You-You're all alone."

"I like it that way," she shrugged, trying hard to keep up her brave front and not let him know how much that realization hurt. She was alone now, wasn't she?

"You can't do this," he said weakly. "You need to come back home."

"Why?" Sam demanded. "Why do I need to come back home? So I can go to school? Carly's not there to force me to, anymore. To do iCarly? Nope, that's over too. To see my best friend? Well she's gone too."

"What-What about me?" Freddie asked softly.

Sam looked down at her lap. "What about you?"

"Wasn't I worth staying for? Aren't I your friend?"

Sam didn't answer.

"Sam?"

"Look, Carly's starting a new chapter in her life," Sam said heavily. "I can too. And so can you. Now that you don't have to do all that work for iCarly, why don't you start working on that software programing you've been talking about doing for months? Maybe you can be one of those genius kids who becomes a millionaire because you created some new virus tracking thing or something."

"There's a difference between starting a new chapter in your life and just running away from your life!" Freddie told her.

"I didn't run away!" Sam retorted.

"Yes you did!" Freddie exclaimed, anger abruptly flooding his voice. "You couldn't stand that your life got uprooted and that things weren't going to be the same as they always were, so you ran. You didn't want to stay and face things; you took the easy way out!"

"Well so what?" Sam said harshly. "Why would you care anyway?"

Freddie looked taken aback, and then his expression softened. "Sam…you know about this kiss, don't you?"

How could he have known? Sam thought. Did he see me standing outside the studio?

"Sam?" Freddie said again.

"I-Yeah," Sam slowly admitted. "I-I saw her kiss you…congratulations."

"Congratulations?"

"You finally got her, the girl of your dreams," she said, giving him a small smile.

"That kiss meant nothing," Freddie said firmly. "Nothing. And she's not the girl of my dreams."

"You kissed her back, though," Sam said.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that I'm in love with Carly again or anything."

"I don't care if-"

"Is that why you left?" Freddie asked softly.

What is he a mind reader or something? Sam thought.

"Not-Not completely," she said honestly. Heck, she thought. What do I have to lose? I'm a good three hundred miles away from him.

"So it was part of the reason then?" he said, looking just a tiny bit guilty.

"Look," Sam said. "If Carly hadn't gone to Italy, and I had seen the kiss, I wouldn't have left. If Carly had gone to Italy, but I hadn't seen the kiss, I wouldn't have left either. It was both of those things. Together."

"But, do-do you really think leaving Seattle for who knows where is going to help you deal with them?" Freddie asked.

"Maybe," Sam shrugged. "But, you know, I've always wanted to take a motorcycle trip…now's my chance."

Freddie sighed. "Well do you have a helmet?"

"Huh?" Sam frowned.

"A helmet," Freddie repeated. "You're at least wearing one, right?"

Sam couldn't help but laugh. Even now, Freddie Benson would always be safety freak. His mom had done a good job of ensuring that.

"Yes," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm wearing a helmet. Don't you see my helmet hair?"

"Your hair looks perfect," Freddie said, and Sam hoped that he couldn't tell that he was blushing through the phone screen.

"Where are you even heading?" Freddie asked Sam heavily.

"California…probably L.A," Sam said. "At least that's the route I'm on. After that, I'm not sure."

"What are you going to do there?"

"I dunno, have some fun," Sam said.

Freddie nodded, and then took a deep breath. "Sam…I need to ask you something."

"What?"

"Why-Why were you so upset about seeing the kiss?" he asked. "Was-Was it because…you know…you-you still have feelings? For me?"

No, Sam thought to herself firmly. He's not getting that out of me. Freddie had already caused enough damage by even making her admit that she had seen the kiss in the first place. And three hundred miles away or not, there was no way that he was tearing down any more of her walls.

But he said that kiss with Carly didn't mean anything, she told herself. And if he isn't into Carly still, maybe…

Maybe nothing, the stronger, more rational voice inside her said. Just because he doesn't love Carly, doesn't mean he loves you. Besides, you know it's going to hurt just as much the next time you see him kiss another girl. Save yourself the aggravation, Puckett.

"I-I have to go," Sam said quickly. "Some dude out in the parking lot is blaring his horn for me to move my motorcycle. I've been parked in a ten minute spot for almost half and hour."

"Wait," Freddie said. He knew that she wasn't going to answer the question if he asked again, and it would probably just wind up pushing her away even more, so he conceded. "Just…stay safe, okay? You know you can call me. Anytime."

Sam grinned. "Thanks."

"Will you at least text me or something when you get to L.A?" he asked. "So I know you got there?"

"We'll see," Sam said. She tried to take in everything about him. From his eyes to the freckle right above his left ear. Because who knew when she would get to see his face again. If she was going to start new, she at least wanted to have his face imprinted in her memory.

Freddie opened his mouth, struggling under the weight of everything he wanted to say. "Bye," he said."

"See you," Sam said.

Their eyes locked for one more second and then Sam quickly hit the end call button. She stuffed the rest of the burger in her mouth, took one last swig of coffee and then hurried out back to her bike.

She supposed she should've felt a sense of closure; talking to Freddie and admitting why she left. But she didn't. She just felt empty, and hoped that whatever she found in L.A. would fill that void.

Meanwhile, three hundred miles away, back in Seattle, Freddie slowly dropped his phone down on his lap. "Sam," he sighed. "Sam…"

AN-So if you haven't seen the newest Sam&Cat yet…don't read this. Anyway, I am kind of pissed that apparently we aren't getting big scene where Freddie rushed to L.A. to try and bring Sam back to him like I've been hoping for since the show started because he knows she's there and talks to her there! I mean, yeah, I'm glad there was finally SOME mention of Freddie on the show, but still. I'm still holding out for a Nathen Kress cameo or something, though.