Stiff

"So your mom actually got banned from the gas station for-"

"Yup," Sam sighed. "And she had to have a meeting with her parole officer."

"Wow," Carly chuckled. "You're mom really knows how to keep things interesting."

"Nah, she's just insane," Sam said as Freddie walked into the Shay's apartment.

"Hey," he said brightly. "Guess whose mom got stuck working a double shift at work and won't be home until midnight tonight?"

"Aw, so does this mean you can skip your evening tick bath, baby?" Sam smirked.

"Shoosh yeah I can," Freddie nodded, clearly missing the sarcasm in his girlfriend's voice. "And I can eat food not filled with beets and zucchini tonight too!"

"Congratulations," Carly laughed.

"And," Freddie continued, sitting down next to Sam. "Since I have an empty apartment tonight, I was thinking you and I could, you know…"

"Hmm, I think I see what you're saying," Sam said, rolling her eyes as she leaned over to give him a quick kiss.

"And that's my cue to get up," Carly said, getting up off the couch and heading into the kitchen. "You guys want some popcorn?"

"Sure," the couple said simultaneously.

"So, what have you been up to today?" Freddie asked as Sam grabbed the remote from the coffee table and turned on the T.V.

"Oh you know, I slept until noon, ate a bucket of chicken, took a nap and wound up here," Sam said. "Oh, and my mom almost got arrested again, so I had that to deal with."

"Oh man, I'm sorry baby," Freddie frowned. "What'd she do?"

"You don't want to know," Sam said. "Let's just say you may not want to go to the gas station down the street for awhile…or ever again."

"Thanks for the warning," Freddie said, cringing slightly. "Anyway, so you want to come over around eight tonight?"

"How about nine?" Sam said. "I, um, have a thing to do at eight."

"A thing?" Freddie said. "What sort of thing?"

"Oh yeah," Carly nodded, coming back over with a bowl of popcorn. "Today's the day that you-"

"Shhh!" Sam hissed.

"Today's the day that you, um, buy a soda?" Carly finished lamely.

"Is everything okay?" Freddie asked, concerned.

"Yeah, yeah, everything's fine," Sam sighed. "And since Carly spilled the beans-"

"Come on, it's not that big of a deal," Carly defended. "He would've found out anyway."

"You don't know if anything's gonna happen!"

"Oh stop being so pessimistic,"

"I don't even know what that means!"

"Um, is anyone going to explain what's going on?" Freddie asked.

Sam took a deep breath. "Okay, tonight at eight o'clock, I sort of have an interview."

"An interview?" Freddie repeated. "Like for a job?"

"Um, sort of," Sam nodded. "It's-It's for a spot at this preforming arts college next year. After I graduate high school."

"Performing arts?" Freddie said slowly. "I-I didn't even know you were into that stuff."

"Yeah, well, I like acting and doing all that creative stuff for iCarly," Sam shrugged. "So I figured…why not? But it's not like it matters. The place is super competitive and I probably won't even get in."

"Sam, don't say that," Carly said. "You already made some huge progress by just getting this interview. I mean, back when you applied six moths ago, there were thousands of peoples trying to get in, and from that only fifty got interviews."

"Wait, you applied for this place six months ago?" Freddie said. "How come I'm just finding out about this now? Heck, you never even talked about being interested in this sort of thing."

"I didn't think it was important," Sam shrugged. "And I probably just got this interview because of iCarly…once they meet me, they won't be interested anymore."

"Come on, you're going to do great!" Carly assured her. "I mean, you've been going over your monologue for weeks, you have that video of you dancing at the beauty pageant to show, you sound amazing singing that song you've been practicing-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Freddie cut her off. "Sam! You can sing?"

"A little," Sam mumbled.

"Pfft, she's insanely good," Carly said.

"You okay?" Sam asked, looking at Freddie's expression.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Freddie said. "It's just…I can't believe I didn't know this…We've been dating for over a year and I didn't know you were interested in going into the performing arts or that you had this interview or that you could sing…"

"Hey, it's no big deal," Sam said firmly.

"It just seems like this is a big part of your life," Freddie replied. "I-I wish I could've been able to help you out applying or preparing for the interview."

"I-I'm sure Sam didn't mean to not tell you," Carly said quickly.

"Yeah, and hey, if for some reason I do get past this first interview, there's a second interview, you can help me with that one," Sam said, patting his shoulder.

Freddie didn't reply.

"Alright, Sam, you should probably start getting ready," Carly said, looking at her phone. "You only have an hour before you're meeting this guy."

"Oh, right," Sam said, getting to her feet. She leaned down and gave Freddie a quick kiss.

"Come on, don't be all glum," Sam said. "Just remember, when I come back, we have an empty apartment all to ourselves."

"I'm not glum," Freddie sighed. "Good luck on your interview, Sam. You deserve this."

Sam showed a small smile. "Thanks."

Freddie watched Sam and Carly head upstairs, both chatting eagerly about the interview. He couldn't believe that he didn't know such an important thing about Sam. He thought as boyfriend and girlfriend, they knew each other pretty well.

Maybe he was wrong.

….

"Hey, are you cooking ham?" Sam asked excitedly later that evening as she let herself into the Benson's apartment. "Mama knows her meat fumes, I could smell it getting off the elevator."

"Yeah, I thought you'd like to eat something after your interview," Freddie said, greeting her with a kiss. "How'd it go?"

Sam shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I'll see in a week when I find out if I got a second interview. So where's this ham?"

"In here," Freddie said, leading her into the kitchen. "But before we eat…I thought maybe we could do something?"

"What?" Sam said suspiciously. Everybody knew better than to prolong her ham-time.

But then again, Freddie was the exception to so many of her rules.

"Okay," Freddie said, sitting down at the table. "Sam, today I-I can't believe it was the first time I found out that you had any interest in going into a future with performing arts and-"

"Oh jeez, are you still on this?" Sam moaned, rolling her eyes. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. There, happy?"

"I'm not mad at you or anything," Freddie replied calmly. "It just…it really opened my eyes. I love you so much Sam."

"And I love you too," Sam said. "But I don't get why you're freaking out about-"

"I get that couples aren't ever going to know every tiny detail about each other," Freddie continued. "And I'm okay with that. There's obviously some things that you share with only Carly, and there are some things I share with Spencer or Gibby. But we should be sharing the important things with each other. I trust you and I hope you trust me enough to tell me these things. So how about you and I play a game?"

"A game?" Sam repeated.

"I'll go first," Freddie said. "I'll tell you one thing that you think is important for you to know about me, and then you go."

"This doesn't sound like a fun game," Sam said.

"I just-I just want us to feel comfortable sharing these things with each other," Freddie said softly. "I plan on being with you for a long time, Sam, and for any relationship to work, there needs to be that level of trust."

Sam looked down at her lap and slowly nodded. "Okay," she finally agreed.

"Thank you," Freddie said. "Ask me a question you've wanted to know the answer to for a long time."

Sam was silent for a moment before finally taking a deep breath. "Are you completely over Carly?"

Freddie blinked. "What?"

"You're the one who wanted to do this," Sam whispered. "So answer the question."
"Sam, I-Yes," Freddie said. "Yes, of course I'm over her. I've been over her for years. Did you really not know that?"

"Sometimes it just seems like you'd be better off with her," Sam said, not meeting his gaze. "She's nicer, sweeter, smarter, prettier-"

"None of that is true," Freddie said. "I love Carly, but she's almost like my sister. She's a great friend and I'm glad I have her and Spencer across the hall from me, but I'm not in love with her. I never really was. I've only been in love once, and I still am. With you."

Sam looked up. "You mean that?"

Freddie nodded. "Sam, you're beautiful. You're funny and smart and-and perfect."

Sam cheeks blushed crimson. "Alright…your turn."

Freddie thought for a moment. "When did you first become interested in going into a performing arts program?"

"You're really stuck on that one," Sam chuckled. "I dunno…I guess I've always liked it. I may have hated all those dumb beauty pageants because of the frilly dresses and stupid girls, but I always had fun being on stage. But, you know, most tough girls aren't into that sort of thing, so I always tried to keep it quiet. I only sing in the shower and act on iCarly."

"Why didn't you ever say anything to me? After we started dating?"

Sam shrugged. "I didn't want you to think I was any less tough."

Freddie laughed. "Baby, you could skip into school in the girliest dress alive, throwing flower petals and gushing about the color pink, and you'd still be the toughest girl I know."

"Yeah, well," Sam chuckled. "Don't count on that happening anytime soon. So is it my turn again?"

"Yeah, ask away," Freddie said.

"Why do you always speak Spanish randomly?"

"Oh," Freddie said. "Well I-"

"Nah, I don't want waste my question on that," Sam interrupted. "Okay…what has been the scariest moment of your life?"

"Easy," Freddie said, catching Sam off guard. She though he would've had to think about that one for awhile. "You remember a few years ago, when you and Carly were fighting and both wound up on that window washer all the way at the top of the building and almost fell?"

"That's kind of a hard thing to forget," Sam said.

"Well…that was it."

"That was your scariest moment?" Sam frowned. "Why?"

"Because I almost lost you," Freddie said simply.

"We-We weren't even dating then," Sam pointed out.

"Didn't mean I still didn't care about you," Freddie said. "Whether I lose you as a friend or as the love of my life…it would be the scariest moment for me."
Sam rolled her eyes. "You sure you didn't make up this game so you could be extra mushy?"

"Ha, ha," Freddie said. "My turn…tell me about your dad?"

Sam's expression suddenly changed. "What?"

"I mean, I know he left your mom," Freddie said. "But you've never said anything more about that. What was he like before he left? Was he nice? Do you still talk to him?"
Sam didn't reply.

"I mean, I don't even know his name," Freddie continued. "It's just weird that-Sam?"

He looked at his girlfriend and noticed the corners of her eyes were wet and she had silent tears streaming down her cheeks. Her shoulders had stiffened and she looked like she wanted nothing more than to be anywhere else.

"I'm sorry," Freddie said at once. "I-I-you don't have to answer that. I shouldn't have asked. That was too far."

"It's okay," Sam said shakily. She looked up at him. "I've never told anyone about him…not even Carly. But I want to tell you."

"Are you sure?" Freddie asked gently. "You don't have to."

Sam nodded. "His name was Daniel. Him and my mom went to high school together. I-I never knew why he left. I thought we were a happy family. Back when he was still around, my mom was normal. Or, well, normal for her. We used to do the family picture thing, go on vacations, go out to restaurants…I remember when me and Melanie were little, we would wait by the door when it got dark to tackle my dad when he came home from work. He would always play with us and tuck us into bed."

"That sounds nice," Freddie said.

"It was," Sam agreed. She sighed. "And then…I don't really know what happened. But soon he started coming home later and later. He brought weird people over to our house all the time and he started acting differently. He stopped playing with me and Melanie, and he'd always yell at us and my mom. And then…And then there was that one day, when he said he was going to go pick up a gallon of milk and, well, he never came back."

"Oh, Sam," Freddie said, putting his arms around him.

"He never even said bye," Sam said, resting her head on Freddie's shoulder. "He just left. My mom always told us he turned into a loser and that we were better off without him, but sometimes I still miss him. And I don't know why, because I hate him so much for leaving."

"He was your dad," Freddie said. "He shouldn't have left. A parent shouldn't ever abandon their child willingly like that."

"But he did," Sam sniffed. "He just walked out. And I'll never know why."

Freddie continued to hold her for a few moments.

"I'll never leave you, you know," he finally said.

Sam looked up at him.

"I promise," Freddie told her. "I love you. You'll never have to worry about me leaving, no matter what happens."

Sam laced her fingers through his. "I know that…"

"Let's stop now," Freddie said. "And eat some ham. I'm sorry I forced that out of you."

Sam shook her head. "I liked this…But you're a dead man if one tiny detail ever leaves this apartment."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Freddie assured her.

"Good," Sam said, wiping her eyes. "Now go get Mama her big fork…I have a ham to devour."