AN-So this oneshot is similar to chapter 460, where Sam began dating a new guy, only in this chapter, the roles are swapped. Hope you enjoy!
…..
Girlfriend
"Sam!" Carly said loudly, looking over at her best friend, who was fast asleep on her couch. "Sam!"
"Oh come on!" Freddie moaned as he slid a batch of cupcakes into the oven. "She's not even helping us? Although I guess I shouldn't be surprised…"
"Oh no," Carly said, grabbing a banana from the fruit bowl. "It's her fault we have to bake ten dozen cupcakes; she's helping!"
And with that she chucked the banana right at Sam, snapping the blonde out of her slumber.
"Nice throw, Carls," Freddie chuckled, impressed.
"Thank you, I went to the gym with Spencer once last month," Carly said proudly.
"What was that for?" Sam demanded.
"Come help us bake all these cupcakes!" Carly said. "We only have three dozen made and they need to be done for Ms. Brigg's nephew's bar mitzvah by six!"
"Ugh, why can't you and Fredweird just keep doing it?" Sam moaned.
"Because it's your fault we're stuck making these in the first place!" Freddie exclaimed. "You were the one who put superglue on Ms. Brigg's seat!"
"Yeah, you're lucky she gave you the choice to bake all these cupcakes instead of just giving you a detention," Carly said. "One more of those and you'll be suspended! Now get your butt over here and frost these cupcakes."
"Fine," Sam conceded, joining the other two in the kitchen.
"There," Carly said happily, turning back to the batter she was making. "Now with the three of us helping, we'll be done in no time."
"Yeah, we're actually making pretty good time," Freddie agreed. "If we keep up this pace-"
Suddenly his phone buzzed and he quickly set down his tray of cupcakes and pulled his Pearphone out from his pocket.
"Oh! I-I actually need to run," Freddie said, looking at his screen.
"What?" Carly frowned.
"Dude! You can't just leave!" Sam said. "Now I'm gonna have to even more work in here!"
"You guys will be fine," Freddie assured them.
"Where are you even going?" Carly asked.
"Probably out with his mom to pick up some more tick-resistant tighty-whities," Sam smirked.
"Ha, ha," Freddie said dryly.
"Well, it looks like it's just us," Carly said to Sam as Freddie hurried out of the apartment. "Come on, Sam, let's finish this up."
"I wonder what the nub is up to?" Sam said as she began to frost some of the finished cupcakes. "Hey, he ran out on rehearsal yesterday too, didn't he?"
"Yeah," Carly nodded. "Now that you mention it, he has seemed busy lately. The last time he's run out in the middle of something we were doing was back when you two were dating and would leave me to finish whatever it was we were doing on my own so you two could make out!"
Sam smirked. "That happened like, once."
"Try once a day!"
"Well clearly Freddie isn't running off to make out with me, thank God," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "So he probably has some lame Galaxy Wars convention to go to."
"I dunno, but I wish he would've at least helped us for a little while longer," Carly shrugged. "Because with just the two of us, it's going to take that much longer to get all these cupcakes-Sam! Get that frosting out of your mouth!"
….
"So did you and Sam finish all the cupcakes yesterday?" Freddie asked as him and Carly sat up in the studio the next day, working on homework.
"Yeah, barely," Carly nodded. "And then we had to wait for Socko to bring over his truck for us to use to get all those cupcakes over to Ms. Briggs. You know, I don't think I ever want to even look at another cupcake again."
"Sorry to run out on you guys," Freddie said. "I wish I could've done more to help."
"It's fine," Carly said. "But is everything okay? You've been running out a lot lately."
"What? Of course I'm fine," Freddie said.
"Well then what are you doing when you go?" Carly asked.
"Um…nothing?" Freddie said lamely.
Carly raised an eyebrow. "You ran out of the apartment yesterday pretty quickly for nothing."
"Look, I-I'm sorry I've been sort of flakey these last few days," Freddie said. "But I've just been…busy. And, um, I want to tell you about it, but now's not really the best time."
"Huh?" Carly frowned, confused. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine," Freddie chuckled, looking down at his phone again. "Actually…I do sort of need to go…"
"Freddie-"
"I-I just need to make sure of a few things before I let you know what-what's been going on, but just trust me, okay?" Freddie said.
"Did you join the Mafia or something? What is going on?" Carly asked, but Freddie already left the studio.
Okay, what is up with that boy? Carly thought to herself as she closed her textbook and started down the stairs after him. He's acting weirder than Gibby did that time his mom switched his toothpaste brand.
"Hey, why was Freddie in such a rush?" Spencer asked as Carly came down into the living room. "He almost knocked down my raisin sculpture!"
"I don't know, he's been-raisin sculpture?" she looked at the large tower Spencer was constructing with small boxes of raisins.
"Yeah, the Dorfmans' are paying me to make them this baby to take with them to that raisin festival they go to every year," Spencer explained.
"Paying you?" Carly repeated. "They're our cousins. Shouldn't you be doing this for free?"
"Yeah, but…they're weird," Spencer shrugged. "Anyway, Freddie came rushing through here and almost knocked this whole thing down! I've spent three hours on this!"
"I don't know what's up with him, he's been acting really weird lately," Carly sighed. "He's been missing iCarly rehearsals, he's bailing on me and Sam…"
"Sounds like the Mafia," Spencer said.
"Right?" Carly exclaimed. She shook her head. "Well, I'm gonna go find out what's up with him."
"Okay, I'll be here, working on my raisin sculpture," Spencer said as Carly headed out the door and across the hall.
"Okay, Freddie!" Carly said, knocking at the Benson's door. "What is going on that is making you all-oh."
The Benson door had suddenly opened and Freddie stepped out.
Only he wasn't alone; a small, pretty-looking redhead was at his side, and Carly saw that they were holding hands.
"Um…hi," Carly said awkwardly.
"Hi!" the girl said brightly. She turned to Freddie. "Is this a friend of yours, Freddie?"
"Um, yeah, um, this is Carly," Freddie mumbled, looking slightly uncomfortable. "Carly, this-this is Annabelle."
"Nice to meet you, Carly," Annabelle smiled politely, releasing Freddie's hand to shake Carly's.
"You-You too," Carly said, very confused. "Um, well…Freddie, I can see you have company…I guess I'll just go back home and…sit."
"Hold on," Freddie sighed. He turned to Annabelle. "Would you mind waiting out here for a few minutes? I just need to talk to Carly about something really quick."
"Sure, no problem," Annabelle replied. "But remember, the movie starts in forty-five minutes."
"Don't worry, we'll make it," Freddie assured her as he opened up the Shay's door and led Carly inside.
The second the door closed, Carly opened her mouth.
"Who is she?"
"I told you, her name is Annabelle," Freddie replied.
"Are-Is she-Are you going out with her?"
Freddie took a deep breath. "I guess…sort of," he admitted. "Her mom is a nurse at the hospital with my mom. My mom and her mom got to talking and a couple weeks ago they set us up on this blind date thing."
"So you are going out then?" Carly said. "Why-Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because," Freddie said. "Nothing's official between us yet…We've gotten dinner a few times and gone to the movies and hung out at my place. I-I didn't want to say anything to you and just to have us fall apart in a few weeks anyway."
"Oh," Carly said slowly. "I-I guess that sort of makes sense…"
"And, well, um," Freddie continued, looking down at his feet. "I-I also didn't want Sam to, um, find out I'm starting to see people…"
Carly nodded. "Yeah…I guess…I guess that was smart of you. It would be a little awkward. You guys just broke up about two months ago. But, um, do you like this girl?"
Freddie's cheeks reddened slightly. "Yeah…I think I do. She's nice, she's sweet, she's funny, she's always interested in what I have to say, she's really smart…she's great."
Carly didn't say anything. She was torn right now. As much as she wanted to be happy for Freddie, she also couldn't help but think of her other best friend, who might have a different reaction to finding out Freddie was seeing a new girl.
Since their break-up, Sam didn't talk too much about her and Freddie's relationship. Whenever Carly would bring it up, she'd either make some crack about it or she'd change the subject completely.
Maybe Sam would be okay with this, Carly thought. Or maybe…maybe she'd be really hurt…
"Just-Just please don't tell Sam about this," Freddie said, snapping Carly out of her thoughts. "Please?"
"Well Freddie, she needs to find out eventually," Carly said. "She's noticed how weird you've been acting lately too. She's not an idiot; she'll figure it on her own soon enough."
"I know, and-and I'll tell her," Freddie said. "Soon. But I just don't know how to bring it up. I mean, is it too soon for us to be dating new people? Will she feel jealous? Will she be mean to Annabelle?"
"I think you need to talk to Sam," Carly said firmly. "That's the only way you'll figure those things out."
"Okay," Freddie sighed. "I guess…Maybe I can talk to her in study hall tomorrow. That will give me time to figure out what to say."
"Right," Carly agreed. She looked up at Freddie. "I mean…you really think you've moved on and are ready to date this new girl?"
She could've sworn Freddie's face dropped at those words, but he quickly recovered. "I-Yeah," he nodded. "I've moved on…It was bound to happen at some point right?"
Carly didn't say anything.
"Just…please don't mention this to Sam," Freddie said again, opening the apartment door.
As he stepped back into the hallway, though, his eyes widened as he saw Annabelle standing by his door, talking to none other than Sam.
"I-Sam?" Freddie frowned, his heart beating out of his chest from nerves. "What-What are you doing here?"
Sam gave a small shrug, for once not having any witty comment or insult to swing at him. "I was just talking with your date," she said simply.
"Yeah, isn't this nice? I got to meet both your friends today?" Annabelle smiled. "Sam was just telling me that the popcorn at the movie theatre is really good, we should get some when while we're there!"
"Oh, um, yeah," Freddie said, trying to look at Sam's expression, but she seemed to be avoiding his gaze.
"You guys should get going," Sam said. "There's a lot of traffic." She finally looked up at Freddie. "And I know how you hate it when you miss the previews."
"We'd better hurry then," Annabelle said, taking Freddie's hand again. "Bye Sam, bye Carly. Great meeting you both!"
As Freddie and Annabelle hurried off down the hall, Freddie cast one last look at Sam before turning the corner.
"Sam?" Carly said softly from the doorway. "Are-Are you okay?"
Sam didn't reply as she stared off where Freddie and Annabelle had been standing.
"Sam?"
"Huh? What?" Sam said, turning back to Carly.
"I asked if you were okay."
"Yeah?" Sam frowned. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"Do you want to talk about this?" Carly asked gently.
"What's there to talk about?" Sam asked a bit too cheerfully. "Hey, I'll text you later. I need to get back home."
"But you just got here," Carly pointed out. "Don't you want to come over?"
"Yeah, but, um, I forgot to feed Frothy, so…I kind of need to do that," Sam said quickly. "You know, so he doesn't starve. I'll see you later."
Carly watched her best friend run off as she sadly crossed her arms over her chest.
"She's not okay," Carly whispered. "She didn't move on yet."
…
Later that evening, Sam had found her way back to the Shay's apartment. She had waited until she knew Carly and Spencer had left to go visit the Dorfmans before coming back over and picking the lock.
She knew if she were to have hung around Carly all day, she'd want to talk about Freddie's new little 'friend', and she definitely did not have the strength for that.
Honestly, Sam was beginning to suspect something like this was going on. All the texts and the secret outings…though she had hoped she had been wrong.
But it turned out this was the one time she managed to get something right.
"Why is he dating again?" Sam whispered to herself, hugging her knees to her chest as she stared blankly at the T.V., not really paying attention to what was on the screen. "Did he really get over me that fast?"
Sam sighed as she flipped through the channels, still deep in thought.
She supposed she should've seen this coming. True, her and Freddie did make a sort of agreement that they would give their relationship another try, and while she had been planning on following through with that promise, she should've realized that after two whole months of nothing from Freddie, he had clearly decided that them getting back together was just something he simply didn't want.
She hugged her knees tighter to her chest.
"So he's moved on," Sam said to herself. "Well…good for him! There aren't many girls out there who'd want to date his loser butt, so he should be grateful he's managed to find someone besidesmewho doesn't seem repulsed by him!"
Actually, the voice in her head told her. Freddie's not the dork he used to be…he's hot. You know a lot of girls are probably after him…and you still wish you were the one girl who did have him.
"Well…at least anybody with eyes could see I'm ten times prettier than that stupid Annabelle chick," Sam scoffed. "He really downgraded there."
She was beautiful, the voice countered. And you know it…Besides, she also seemed really sweet and nice and…normal. Things you can never be.
Sam turned off the T.V., angrily tossing the remote down as she got to her feet.
Why did Freddie have to go and do this? Why did he have to go get some new girlfriend and flaunt her all around when it had only been a couple months since they broke up! Even if they weren't dating, weren't they still friends? How could he do that to her?
You know what? the second, more aggressive voice in Sam's mind said as she furiously paced back and forth in the kitchen. I should go over and beat some sense into that jerk's head! I should teach him a lesson! He thinks he can just forget about what we had with some snooty little redhead? He thinks he can just tell me he loves me and then rub this chick in my face? No! Sam Puckett doesn't take that from anybody, not even him!
Sam stopped facing, anger still coursing through her veins.
She knew she could get back at Freddie. It wouldn't be that hard. She could easily beat him up in three seconds flat, or…or, she could sabotage whatever relationship it was that he had with that Annabelle chick.
Sam knew she was a mastermind when it came to this sort of thing. All she'd have to do was mess up a few dates, get them to start fighting and bam, Annabelle would be out of the picture, as she should be.
It would be so easy.
And then, as the gears in Sam's brain began turning, an image came to her mind…
Freddie would be crushed if I did that to him, Sam thought slowly. He-He'd probably hate me…Especially if he really likes this girl.
"I can't do that do him," Sam said softly, the anger in her subsiding. "I-I'd lose him as a friend too then."
And suddenly a flood of realization hit her.
This was how it was going to be now. Freddie was over her, that much was clear. There was no use getting angry or trying to sabotage him.
But while there was no way to change the fact that Freddie seemed to have fallen out of love with her…that didn't mean she still didn't love him.
And if she loved him…why would she want to hurt him like that?
Just then she heard the front door open and Freddie himself walked in.
"Oh, um, hey," Freddie said, clearly surprised to see her there. "I-I thought maybe Carly and Spencer were back."
"No," Sam said heavily, turning her back towards him. "They're spending the night at their cousins, Spencer's car broke down."
"Ah," Freddie said.
He was silent for a moment before her cleared his throat. "Sam? About-About today-"
"How was the movie?" Sam asked, slowly turning back towards him. "Was it any good?"
"Um, yeah, it-it was good," Freddie said. "But, um…about Annabelle-"
"She seems nice," Sam said softly. "Where'd you meet her?"
"My-My mom works with her mom," Freddie replied.
Sam nodded. "Well then…at least you know your mom will approve of her."
"Sam," Freddie sighed, stepping closer to her. "Are-Are you okay with me seeing her?"
Sam shrugged. "Doesn't matter. You can't break up with a girl you like because someone's not okay with her."
"Yeah, but…you know, we-we used-"
"Yes, Freddie, we dated," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "And then we broke up. But if nobody started dating again after a break-up, what would happen?"
"But it's not weird for you?" Freddie asked.
"Do you really like her?" Sam asked, not daring to look at him.
"We just started going out-"
"But do you like her?" Sam asked again.
Freddie sighed. "Yeah," he said gently. "I really like her."
"Well then," Sam said simply. "I think it would be stupid if you stopped seeing her."
"And you'll be okay?"
Sam looked up into his eyes, which were full of concern.
She gave him a small smile. "I'll be fine."
….
Several days had passed since Sam and Freddie's talk. Sam didn't bring it up again, and neither did Freddie.
And though Sam had vowed not to step in the way of his and Annabelle's relationship, she did have to bite her tongue and clench her fists once and awhile when he would bring her around.
"Alright, who's ready for a little iCarly?" Sam asked, walking into the Shay's apartment.
"We're getting ready up in the studio," Freddie said, and Sam's heart did the smallest of drops when she saw Annabelle in the kitchen with him. "Carly's just making a few last edits."
"Oh," Sam nodded. "Okay."
"I'm making some iced tea," Annabelle smiled. "Do you want any?"
"No, I'm good," Sam said quickly.
"Hang on, Carly just texted me, she needs me to set up the green screen," Freddie said, looking at his phone. He turned to Annabelle. "Would you mind bringing my iced tea upstairs when you're finished?"
"No problem," Annabelle said. "Go help Carly."
Sam watched Freddie run upstairs as she headed into the kitchen to grab a snack.
"You sure you don't want any iced tea?" Annabelle asked her as she took an orange from the fridge. "I don't mean to brag, but I make it really good."
I don't want anything from you, Sam thought. But she used every ounce of her self control to pull a smile onto her face.
"No thanks, I'm actually not that thirsty."
"Okay," Annabelle nodded as she set a few glasses on a tray to bring upstairs. "Well, I'll save you a glass if you change your mind."
Sam watched as she picked up the tray and started towards the stairs.
"Annabelle!" Sam suddenly said.
Annabelle turned around. "Yeah?"
Sam had so many things she wanted to say to this girl.
How dare you be dating Freddie?
Why do you think you can just invite yourself over here to watch us do iCarly?
Why did you have to come into the picture in the first place?
But she thought of Freddie, and she swallowed all those words.
"Freddie-Freddie really loves lemon in his iced tea," Sam told her. "It's his favorite."
"Oh," Annabelle said. "Well then maybe I should add some to his?"
Well aren't you smart? Sam thought, internally rolling her eyes. I thought I was telling you to add an elephant to the drink!
"Yeah, that's a good idea," Sam said carefully. "I'll help you out."
