AN- This chapter is a sequel to chapter 544, where Spencer and Carly comment about how close Sam and Freddie are, even after they've broken up. Enjoy!
…..
Pro
"We should go see a movie this weekend," Carly said as she looked up from the textbook she was reading on her bed. "We haven't been in ages."
"Alright," Sam shrugged from the ice cream sandwich loveseat. "Oh, you know what we should see? Revenge of the Pep Squad. It looked hilarious. I saw the trailer the other day while I was at the movies with Fredwad and-"
"Hold on," Carly said. "You went to the movies with Freddie?"
"Yeah," Sam nodded. "Third Wednesday of every month we go to the theatre and see the worst movie playing. This month we saw this flick about two chicks who tried to find youth again by starting their own circus. It was pathetic."
"Um, okay," Carly said slowly. "I-I just didn't know this was a thing…"
"I know, me neither," Sam said. "But apparently it's something about bossing clowns around and doing stunts on a tightrope that really brings out the-"
"No, not that," Carly said quickly. "I didn't know you and Freddie went to the movies together still."
"Oh, well, it's sort of a tradition," Sam said simply.
"Like how you guys play Meat Golf every Friday?" Carly said. "Or how you always watch reruns of Celebrities Underwater on Sundays? Or how whenever they serve brownies in the cafeteria, you get one with nuts and Freddie gets one without and then you split them between each other? Or-"
"Okay…what's your point?" Sam frowned. "So we have a bunch of goofy little traditions, what's wrong with that?"
"Nothing," Carly said. "It's just, well, you guys are really close, aren't you?"
"Huh?"
"I mean, you and Freddie, you-you're so close. It's like you're-never mind."
"No, what?" Sam said, sitting up. "What are me and Freddie like?"
"How can you guys not see it?" Carly sighed. "I know you're both oblivious to these kinds of things, but come on!"
"Can you just say whatever it is that you want to say?" Sam said.
"You and Freddie still love each other!" Carly blurted out. "There, I said it! You love him, he loves you…you guys are hopelessly in love!"
"We are not!" Sam scoffed.
"Yes, you are!" Carly retorted. "And everybody but the two of you can see it!"
"What do you mean everybody?" Sam demanded. "What, do you jus sit around discussing me and Freddie when we're not around?"
"No," Carly said. "It's just…you don't…you guys click so well together! And I see the way you two look at each other when you're together! And even when you're not together, you still find a way to bring the other up!"
"That doesn't mean we love each other!" Sam pointed out. "You know, Carly, you're not always some genius when it comes to this kind of stuff, no matter how many of those teeny bopper magazines you read. Remember last year when you were so sure I was in love with Brad?"
"Well I was right about you being in love," Carly smirked. "It just wasn't with Brad. It was with-"
"Oh drop it, will you?" Sam snapped, getting to her feet.
"You know," Carly said. "You're getting pretty defensive for someone who claims she's not in love with Freddie. And it was you always told me that one of the sure ways to tell if someone is lying to you is to see how angry they get when you keep trying to get the truth out of them."
"Don't use my own words against me!" Sam said. "And for the millionth time, I don't love Freddie! That's the point of us being broken up!"
She started for the door.
"Where are you going?" Carly asked, somewhat amused at her best friend's reaction.
"Getting out of here," Sam said bitterly. "Someplace where I'm not going to be accused of things."
"Alright, well have fun at Freddie's then," Carly smirked.
"Shut it, Shay!"
….
Fuming, Sam stormed out of apartment 8C.
"Carly doesn't know what she's talking about," Sam mumbled under her breath. "All that crazy chiz…Freddie and me in love…ha!"
And though she did hate to prove Carly right, she stepped across the hall and pushed open the Benson's door.
"Yo, Fredbag?" Sam called out. "You home?"
"Sam? I'm in my room," Freddie called back.
Stepping past Mrs. Benson's disinfection station, Sam headed down the corridor to Freddie's room, where the boy was playing some videogame.
"Hey," Freddie said, pausing the game. "What's up?"
"Carly's being a jerk," Sam said bitterly, throwing herself down on his bed.
"Um…what?"
"Yeah, she's being a hypocritical jerk!" Sam spat. "You know how she's always getting annoyed at us when we argue? Like yesterday when you changed the channel in the middle of the pro-wrestling match I was watching and I asked you to change it back?"
"You mean when I accidently stepped on the remote and you put me in a headlock?"
"Details," Sam said dismissively. "But doesn't she always get on our case about that stuff?"
"Yeah, I guess," Freddie nodded.
"Well today she went on and on about how we've been getting along!" Sam said.
"Wait, she did?" Freddie said, confused. "How come?"
"Because she's crazy!" Sam exclaimed. "All that lip gloss finally got to her head. Come on, let's forget about her. You up for another Go Fish tournament or something?"
"Um, sure," Freddie said. "That's so weird, though. That Carly would be upset about us getting along."
"Eh, she wasn't so much upset as she was delusional," Sam shrugged, grabbing a deck of cards from Freddie's dresser.
"Delusional? What do you mean?"
"I mean she said because we have the occasional moment where we're not fighting, we're suddenly in love," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "Delusional, right?"
"Um, well-"
"Who does she think she is? Going around saying that," Sam continued, her voice raising. "I mean it's completely ridiculous! It's insane! It's-It's-"
"Run out of adjectives?" Freddie smirked.
"Whatever," Sam said. "Let's just forget about her for right now. You want to deal or should I?"
"Um, you can," Freddie said.
The two sat in silence while Sam handed each of them their cards.
"You know," Freddie finally said. "It's not exactly a crazy thing to think."
"What?"
"Nothing," Freddie said quickly.
"No, what is it?" Sam asked.
"I-Okay," Freddie conceded. "It's just…well, we are close."
"Yeah…" Sam nodded. "But I'm close with ham too, and Carly never accuses me of being in love with any pigs."
"Though I will say, you were getting pretty friendly with that pig at the petting zoo we went to last weekend," Freddie chuckled.
"Ha, ha," Sam said.
"But, um, anyway," Freddie said, clearing his throat. "Like I was saying…we are really close. I think we've even gotten closer since we've broken up."
"Yeah, but that's the point," Sam said. "We're broken up."
"I know, I know," Freddie said quickly. "But I'm just saying…you could see how maybe someone could, you know, interpret things, well, a certain way-"
"Oh don't defend her!" Sam snapped. "She has no right to be saying things like that!"
She tossed her cards down and jumped up to her feet. "You know what? If you're just going to take Carly's side, then-then whatever."
But she made no effort to leave the room.
"Sam," Freddie sighed, setting down his cards as well. "Why are you getting so mad at Carly over one little thing she said?"
"Because, she always does this!" Sam said. "She always goes and thinks she knows everything about everything, and she'll get some idea stuck in everybody's head. And then by the time you realize that she was just sprouting some ridiculous idea that could only actually happen in Carly land, you already have your hopes up and have to deal with all the horrible feelings that come after while she just moves onto her next big idea."
Freddie didn't reply.
"She's just too stuck in dreamland," Sam said softly, sitting back down on the bed. "She doesn't know how hard it hits you when you realize reality isn't so perfect."
"What did you mean," Freddie spoke up. "When you said…when you said you get your hopes up?"
Sam's eyes widened. "Um…what?"
"You said you didn't like Carly saying things like the idea of us being in love because it just gets your hopes up," Freddie said slowly.
"Um…no-no I didn't," Sam said lamely.
"Yes you did."
"You should tell your mom she needs to clean out your ears more than once a month," Sam said. "Because you're clearly hearing-"
"You're mad at Carly," Freddie said, cutting her off. "Because…Because you're mad that she's starting to put the idea back in your head…The-The idea of us being back together again…The idea of us being in-"
"Guess spending so much time with you lately is really coming back to bite me," Sam said softly. She turned away. "Look, unlike Carly, I just don't like wasting my time thinking about stuff that's clearly never going to happen. We broke up for a reason."
"Yeah, because we both agreed we didn't click well as a couple back then," Freddie said. "But…we also said we'd try it again sometime."
He sat down next to her and she looked up at him.
"And, well, as everybody's been pointing out lately…we're definitely clicking better than we ever had before," Freddie continued.
"But-"
"And that night, we did also say one other thing," Freddie cut her off. "We did say we loved each other. And, well-"
"What are you saying?" Sam frowned.
"I-I don't know," Freddie said. "I guess I'm saying…the idea of us being in love isn't as crazy as it seems, and you shouldn't be afraid of getting your hopes up because I-Look, just-just-maybe we shouldn't dismiss the idea of us being in love so quickly."
"Well…are we in love?" Sam asked reluctantly.
"I-We-We could be…maybe," Freddie said lamely.
"Maybe?" Sam said, raising an eyebrow.
"Well I don't know!" Freddie said. "Is there someway to test if you're in love?"
"Wait a minute…" Sam said, her face lighting up. "There is!"
"No there isn't," Freddie said. "I was kidding. There's no way-"
"Your moodface app!" Sam exclaimed.
"My app?" Freddie repeated. "But-But it's an app. It doesn't actually work."
"Come on, if you made it, it has to work," Sam said. "Besides, it did before."
She grabbed his Pearpad and tossed it to him before opening her bag and pulling out her own.
"Are we really doing this?" Freddie asked.
"Yes," Sam said firmly. "That way we'll know if-if Carly was onto something. And if it turns out she's wrong, I'll have concrete evidence to shove in her face. Alright, how do I work this thing again?"
"Just stare into the camera," Freddie sighed. "And stay completely still for about ten seconds. Then…Then we'll have our results."
"Alright," Sam nodded, holding up her Pearpad. "Let's do this, Benson."
And so Sam and Freddie both activated the moodface app at the same time, each of their expressions being scanned and compared against thousands of other faces within the apps database.
"It says it's searching…" Sam said.
"Yeah, mine too," Freddie nodded. "You have to give it a few seconds."
"Well why didn't you design this thing to go faster?" Sam snapped.
"It can only compare minute facial features so quickly!" Freddie said. "You can't rush-"
Suddenly a loud beep emitted from both Pearpads. Sam and Freddie looked at one another.
"Alright…on three then?" Sam suggested.
"Three works," Freddie said, taking a deep breath. "One, two…three."
Sam looked down at her screen and saw her own face looking back at her with the words In love typed out underneath it. She felt her stomach begin to flips.
"S-So?" she said, looking up at Freddie.
Freddie hesitated for a moment before slowly showing her his screen, which also read In love underneath his picture.
"No way…" Sam said softly.
"What?" Freddie asked. "What, did-did you not-"
Sam handed him her Pearpad.
"Whoa," Freddie said as he stared at the screen. "So we-we're-"
"We're in love," Sam nodded.
The two sat there for a moment, both too stunned to speak or move."
"You-You know," Sam finally said. "It doesn't say who we're in love with. It-It doesn't have to be with each other."
Freddie raised an eyebrow.
Sam sighed. "Yeah, okay…but-but where do we even go from here? Yeah, I'm in love with you, you're in love with me, great, but-but what do we do with that?"
Freddie gave her a small smile. "I think we're starting to really overcomplicate things now."
Sam couldn't help but laugh. "Well…hasn't that always been our thing?"
"True," Freddie agreed as he leaned forward, gently pressing his lips to hers. Sam wasted no time reciprocating the kiss at once, wrapping her arms around Freddie's neck as she pulled him even closer to him.
"I love you," Freddie whispered once they pulled apart. "And I never needed some lame app to tell me that."
"I love you too," Sam responded, her face breaking out into a huge grin. "And…And I guess I did know that even without the app too."
Freddie chuckled as he leaned in to kiss her again.
"God, Carly's going to be unbearable when she finds out how right she was, though," Sam sighed when they pulled apart again.
"I know," Freddie nodded. "But you know what…I think all this will be worth her 'I told yous'."
Sam smiled up at him. "Yeah…yeah, I think you're right."
