AN-This chapter is a sequel to ch214, which was the scene they brought up in iDate Sam and Freddie, where Sam said she started to like Freddie after pushing him into a bike messenger. This is just a scene about what happened directly after that. Enjoy!

.

Misreading

"So that's everything then?" Carly asked later that evening as the three teens sat up in the iCarly studio. "We have everything done for the show?"

"Yup," Freddie nodded, typing away on his laptop at his tech cart. "I'll put the finishing edits on it tonight and then we'll be good to go for the show tomorrow night."

"Sweet," Carly smiled. "How about we order a pizza to celebrate?"

"I'm in," Freddie replied.

"Alright, and I know you're down for any kind of food, Sam," Carly said, turning to her best friend, who was absentmindedly fiddling with the ends of her hair as she lay on a beanbag chair, staring up at the ceiling. "So what kind do you what? The usual Meat Slam?"

But Sam didn't reply; she didn't even appear to hear Carly.

"Um, Sam?" Carly said again. "Hello…earth to Sam."

She walked over to the beanbag chair and gently nudged the blonde's shoulder.

"Huh? What?" Sam said, snapping out of her daze.

"I asked what kind of pizza you wanted," Carly said.

"Oh…I'm not really hungry," Sam mumbled.

"What? Not hungry?" Freddie frowned. "I don't think I've ever heard those words come out of your mouth."

Carly and Freddie expected Sam to throw back some caustic comment in return, but she simply stayed silent.

"Whoa…is she okay?" Freddie asked, concerned at the lack of insult. He walked over and joined Carly by Sam's side.

"You sick or something, Sam?" Carly asked.

"Why do I have to be sick?" Sam snapped. "Can't I just not be hungry?"
"No," Freddie smirked. "That goes against everything you stand for."

Carly bent down and pressed a hand to Sam's forehead. "Okay…you don't have a fever."

"Yeah, because I'm not sick!" Sam said, getting to her feet.

"Alright, alright," Carly said quickly. "But, um, are you sure there's not something else bothering you? You have been sort of quiet ever since we got back from the Groovy Smoothie earlier."

"Yeah, and you're not the one with the possible concussion," Freddie pointed out.

"Yes, I'm fine!" Sam said.

Carly raised an eyebrow but decided not to press the matter any further. "Okay. Well, I'm going to go downstairs and see if Spencer wants any pizza. I'll be back up in a sec."

Once Carly left, Freddie went back over to his tech cart to continue working on his computer.

"How's your head?"
Freddie looked up. "What?"
"How's your head?" Sam repeated. "You know…from being hit by that bike messenger?"

"Um…better, I guess," Freddie said slowly. "My ears aren't ringing anymore, at least."

"Oh," Sam nodded, looking down at her ears. "Well that's good."

Freddie gave her a strange look. Sam hardly ever asked if he was okay after any of the stunts she pulled, no matter how much pain they caused him.

"Right…" Freddie said, slightly confused. "Well, anyway, make sure you give me your remote tomorrow morning before school so I can add all the new sound effects we'll need for-"

"I'm sorry," Sam blurted out, cutting him off.

Freddie nearly lost his balance. "You-You're-huh?"

"I'm sorry I, you know, pushed you into the bike messenger earlier," Sam said. "I shouldn't have done that. You could've been really hurt."

"I-What?" Freddie exclaimed. "Okay, that's it. Something's got to be up with you."

Sam opened her mouth to say something but then quickly shut it.

"Seriously, since when do you ask if I'm okay or apologize?" Freddie said. "It's weird."
"I-Yeah, you're right," Sam mumbled, shaking her head as she quickly got to her feet and grabber her bag. "This is too weird."

She headed towards the studio door.

"Wait, where are you-" Freddie started, but Sam had already run out.

Freddie stared after her, too puzzled to even move. After a moment he shook his head and turned back to his computer.

He had never understood Sam Puckett before, so should he magically be granted the ability to do so now?

Sam was thankful her house was empty when she got home. Her mom must've been out with one of her new boyfriends or something. Sam threw her backpack onto the floor as she stormed into her room and flinging herself down onto the bed.

Okay Puckett, what was that?

She didn't know what had come over her back at Carly's house. She had acted concerned about Freddie and had even apologized for causing it. Apologized!

The last time she did that was right before her and Freddie shared their first kiss…

She bolted up.

"No…" Sam whispered in pure horror. "No, no, no, no!"

There had to be some other explanation, there just had to be. Maybe she really was sick or maybe she was the one with the concussion instead of Freddie. But all she knew was that she could not handle the idea of the thought that had just crept into her mind being real.

The thought that maybe something other than annoyance was begin to surface towards Freddie.

She ran her fingers through her hair anxiously as she got up off the bed and began to pace back and forth. She wished she could go back to earlier that day and stop herself from pushing Freddie in front of that stupid bike messenger, because that's when all of this started. It was with him lying there on the sidewalk, moaning in pain as he clutched his bloody ear, that Sam experienced something that she never had before. She couldn't even describe it. All she knew was that as she watched Freddie, for those few moments, he wasn't the irritating nub that she normally yearned to mock; he was...she didn't know. But she did remember having a fleeting thought that he looked…she took a moment to try and control her gag reflex…cute.

She could've written all that off as a momentary lapse of composure, she supposed, if it weren't for the fact that she had literally be unable to think of anything else since! All through iCarly rehearsal Sam's eyes somehow kept shifting over to Freddie, and while they were filming their Idiot Farm Girl skit and his elbow accidently brushed against her as he was acting as a vest salesman, she felt her heart race in a way that it normally only did when she had a plate of ribs in front of her.

"This can't be right," Sam moaned, burying her face in her hands. "There's got to be some mistake!"

She slumped down against her wall. This whole thing was driving her crazy; if she kept it up she would land herself in a mental hospital in no time.

"I don't like Freddie," Sam told herself firmly. "I don't like Freddie. I don't like Freddie. I do like Freddie."

The second the words escaped her mouth she let out a loud gasp as she clasped her hands over her lips, as though trying to bring back that last sentence.

But now that she had said it out loud, there seemed to be no undoing it, and slowly, the truth began to sink in.

She, Samantha Puckett, liked Freddie Benson.

"Why me?" Sam moaned. "Why him?"

And as she lay there, cursing herself and her moment of weakness, Sam was once again reminded of why she absolutely deplored any emotion that couldn't be satisfied by food or sleep.

…..

"Alright, here's the pizza," Carly said, setting a large box down on the coffee table in the Shay's living room.

"Sweet!" Spencer said happily, helping himself to a slice.

"How much do I owe you for this?" Freddie asked.

"Nothing, it was free," Carly grinned. "Apparently the owner at the shop is a huge fan of iCarly. When I went to pick it up he said the only payment he wanted was an autograph."
"Wow, nice," Freddie said approvingly.

"Look at you guys, getting free pizza and whatnot," Spencer said. "Just don't let the fame go to your head…"

"Yes, because free pizza is really what it's all about," Carly smiled, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, where's Sam?" Spencer asked. "She's never left any pizza here untouched for more than ten seconds."
"I think she went home," Freddie frowned, taking a bite of his own pizza.

"Yeah, she was acting sort of weird today," Carly nodded.

"Weird how?" Spencer inquired.

"Weird as in she pushed me in front of a bike messenger earlier and apologized for it when we got back to the studio," Freddie said.

"Whoa," Spencer said. "That is weird. Is she okay? Did you get her temperature?"

"She says she's fine," Carly reasoned. "But I'll talk to her tomorrow just to make sure."

"Maybe she ate some bad meat," Freddie chuckled.

"No, last time she did that she just puked," Carly sighed.

"Yeah, in the back of my car!" Spencer added.

"Well whatever it is, I'm sure she'll back to normal by tomorrow," Freddie reasoned. "She's Sam, remember? She's not one to hold onto things."