Cluster

"Ugh!" Sam groaned as she threw open the door of her and Carly's shared dorm room. "I hate working!"

"Rough day at the bookstore?" Carly asked, looking up from the essay she was working on at her desk.
"You have no idea how many stupid people I had to deal with!" Sam said. "I don't know how half of them even got in here! I don't know what I hate most about this stupid job. Having to answer the most idiotic questions, pointing out textbooks that are literally right in front of people's noses, or dealing with my jerk of a boss who won't let me leave at the end of my shift until I arrange all of the bills in the cash register by crispness!"

"Well, I think it's great that you're working," Carly said. "I mean you're getting experience, taking on responsibility, earning some cash-"

"Yeah, the eight bucks an hour is really gonna make me rich," Sam sneered, pulling an envelope out of her pocket. "At least I did get my paycheck today, though."

She hopped onto her bed and grabbed her laptop. "Let's see…alright, if I add this paycheck to my savings…take out the hundred bucks I have to use to pay for that window I broke in the library…then I should…yes! I did it! I finally saved enough!"

"Saved enough for what?" Carly asked.
"To buy a plane ticket," Sam replied. "I'm gonna go surprise Freddie at MIT!"

"No way!" Carly grinned. "That's a great idea; he'll love that! It's been two whole months since you guys have seen each other in person."
"I know," Sam beamed. "I can't wait. I have it all planned out. You know how next week we have that three-day weekend? Well MIT also has a long weekend, so it's perfect! I'll fly up there, surprise Freddie at his dorm, and then we'll spend the weekend catching up!"

"Aw, see?" Carly said. "I told you getting that job at the bookstore wasn't going to be the end of the world. Now you can afford this trip! Doesn't that make the hours you spent doing inventory, restocking shelves and dealing with customers worth it?"

"Maybe a little," Sam smiled. "Oh, but remember, I want to surprise Freddie. So if you talk to him, don't mention this, okay?"

"Of course," Carly nodded.

"Good," Sam yawned, closing her laptop and laying down against her pillows. "Alright, wake me up in a few hours."
"You're taking a nap?" Carly frowned. "It's three in the afternoon. And you have class in thirty minutes!"

"But I just worked a six-hour shift," Sam moaned. "And it's just my stupid Italian class. I know how to speak Italian; that was the point of me taking that class. So I could skip it!"

"Yes but-"

"Tell you what, I'll go to both classes next week," Sam said, curling up beneath her covers. "Deal?"

"Sam," Carly said. "Your Italian class meets four times a week."

"Huh?" Sam frowned. "You're kidding, right?"

"Well," Carly sighed. "I guess it is a good thing you already speak Italian."

….

Finally, Sam thought to herself the next weekend as she stepped out of her cab in front of the entrance at MIT. I made it!

It had been a long day of travel, but she was thrilled that in just a few moments, she'd finally get to see her boyfriend after nearly two long months of separation.

"Let's see," Sam said, pulling up a campus map on her phone. "Freddie said he lives in Simmons Hall which looks like it's that way…alright, that's not too far."

As Sam started her way through campus, she noticed how different it was than Washington State.

Frednub must love it up here, Sam thought, passing two boys at a picnic table engaged in what sounded like a heated debate about processing speeds. This place looks like his little nerd paradise.

This campus was also much bigger that her own, and by the time she had finally found her way to Simmons Hall, over an hour had passed.

"What was his room number again…?" Sam mumbled as she began scrolling through her old text messages from Freddie, where he had mentioned this information several weeks ago. "Here it is; 432."

Freddie's room was on the fourth floor, and once she reached it, she had to take a moment to catch her breath.

"Of course he lives on the top floor on the furthest spot on campus," Sam muttered under her breath.

She spotted rom 432 right away, and she quickly hurried over and knocked at the door, her heart already racing in anticipation of what was to come.

But there was no answer.

She knocked again, but was still met with no reply.

Maybe he's at class, Sam figured. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her trusty bobby pin, thankful that Freddie lived in a single room, and she wouldn't have any roommate to worry about. She'd just wait in here for Freddie and surprise him once he got back.

Once she unlocked the door, she stepped into the room, looking around at the small area.

She hadn't seen the place, except for the space behind his desk when they would web chat. The room looked somewhat similar to the way his room looked back in Seattle. He had a few Galaxy Wars posters hanging up on the walls, and his shelf was filled with various HDMI cords and other computer parts.

Sam smiled, glad to see her boyfriend's dorky taste hadn't changed at all. She stepped over to the dresser and picked up a small, framed photograph. It was the two of them at prom several months ago. She had the same photo on her own desk back in Washington.

This weekend is going to be perfect, Sam thought, sitting down on Freddie's bed. It's going to be just like old times.

Just then her phone began to ring, and her face lit up when she saw it was Freddie calling, as he always did at this time.

"Hey," Sam answered, pressing the phone to her ear.

"Hey, baby," Freddie said on the other line.

"What's up? What are you doing?" Sam asked.

"Nothing much, just getting out of my last class of the day," Freddie said. "Ready to start this long weekend."

"Well, um, are you in your room?" Sam asked, trying to sound casual.

"Heading there now, actually," Freddie replied. "I'm going to drop off my books before I grab some lunch. What about you? You guys have a long weekend too, and you said you don't have classes on Friday, so I guess you're starting your fun now."

"Yeah, you could say that," Sam grinned.

"Sucks that we can't spend our first long weekend of college together," Freddie said. "Remember our last long weekend in high school? You and I spent the entire time at your place watching reruns of Girly Cow."
"We didn't leave the house once," Sam chuckled. "That was nice…"

"Good times," Freddie laughed. "Well, I'm sure you and Carly made plans for this weekend. What are you two going to do? Go visit Spencer? Hit the mall?"

"Eh, I was just going to hang around," Sam replied, smiling to herself.

"Well, have fun," Freddie told her, and at that moment, Sam heard a key turning in the door. "But not too much fun. Just make sure you don't-"

The door flew open, and Freddie stepped into the room, his phone still pressed to his ear.

For a moment, he simply stared at Sam, an expression of complete shock etched onto his face. He quickly recovered though.

"Sam!" he exclaimed, dropping his phone and bag. "I-Oh my God! You're here! You're here!"

"Yeah, I am!" Sam grinned, tossing aside her own phone as she jumped up and ran over to Freddie. Freddie wrapped his arms around her, spinning her around as he kissed her like there was no tomorrow.

"I-I don't-how did you-" Freddie stammered once they pulled apart.

"Surprise!" Sam laughed.

"I don't believe this!" Freddie cried happily. "You-But how did you-"

"You remember I told you I got that job at the bookstore back at Washington State to make money to pay for a vending machine I broke?" Sam said.

"Yeah," Freddie nodded.

"Well, I lied," Sam said. "I didn't break a vending machine! I was trying to save up enough to get a plane ticket to come out here and visit you!"

"What?" Freddie laughed. "Sam! That's-That's incredible! I'm so glad you're here! I've missed you so much!"

"I've missed you too, baby!" Sam said, kissing him again.

"I-Wow, this weekend just got a whole lot better," Freddie said. "I-I have to show you around campus! And-And I want you to meet my friends. Oh! And there's this great burger place that you'll love I need to take you to! And there's this park just right off campus that we can go to. It's beautiful. I've been there a few times, and every time I go, I always wish that you were there with me. But now you are and-"

Just then there was a short knock at the door, and a second later two girls let themselves in.

"Freddie, you ready to go?" the first girl asked. "We already-"

She stopped talking as she spotted Sam, who was staring at the two girls.

"Oh, Sam!" Freddie said. "This is perfect, you can meet two of my friends now. I told you about Jamie and Alex. Well, Jamie and Alex, this is my girlfriend, Sam."

"Hi!" the first girl, Alex, said, extending her hand to Sam. "Oh, it's so nice to finally meet you!"

"Yeah," Jamie nodded, also shaking Sam's hand. "Freddie talks about you all the time."

"Yeah, he's-he's mentioned you guys too," Sam nodded. Of course he never said you were girls. "Um, you're both software design majors like Freddie, right?"

"Uh-huh," Alex replied. "Good thing, too. I wouldn't have gotten through our first systems exam last week without Freddie's help studying."

"Come on, that's not true," Freddie said modestly.

"Well, um, we just came by to see if you were ready to go get lunch," Jamie said. "But we can see you have company, so we'll just let you two catch up."
"Yeah, that'd be great," Freddie nodded. "Oh, but why don't the four of us get dinner tonight? I'd really like for you two to get to know Sam. That sound good to you, baby?"
"Um yeah, that sounds great," Sam nodded quickly.

"Well okay," Alex replied. "We'll see you later then."

"Nice meeting you, Sam," Jamie called over her shoulder as the two girls left the room.

"You'll really like them," Freddie told Sam. "They're two of my best friends up here. They're really smart and nice and funny and-"

"Girls?" Sam finished.

"Oh, um, I guess," Freddie shrugged. "Wait…you're not…you don't have a problem-"

"No," Sam said quickly. "No, it's fine. I don't care if you hang out with other girls. You know, it's just…you never mentioned it."

"Really? Huh, guess it just never came up," Freddie said. "I'm sorry-"

"No, seriously, it's fine," Sam said. "Don't worry about it. Like I said, I don't care. I'm just glad your nubby butt managed to make friends up here."

"Cute," Freddie smirked, rolling his eyes. "Well come on, we still have awhile before dinner. Let's try to make up for the two months we've been separated. Let me take you to that burger place I told you about."
"Well I do love a good burger," Sam smiled. "Or four."

"Good, because I'm serious, they're to die for," Freddie said, taking her hand as he grabbed his keys from the floor where he had dropped them.

"I'm so full," Sam a couple hours later, as her and Freddie walked along the sidewalk.

"Well you did eat six burgers," Freddie chuckled, his arm slung over her shoulder. "Last time we ate together, your record was five."

"I know, I've been practicing," Sam said proudly. "There's this place near Washington State that has pretty decent burgers too. Not nearly as good as this place, though. I should come back here before I fly home and get me some for the plane. Do you come here a lot?"

"Yeah, sometimes Jamie and Alex and I come here after we finish a study session or something, since it's not too far from the library," Freddie nodded. "Funny story, actually. See, Alex thought she had broken some kind of record because she had eaten two of those burgers, but then I told her about you. She was real impressed."

"Wow, that's…cool," Sam said. "Sounds-Sounds like you hang out with those two a lot."

"Well like I told you, they're my best friends here," Freddie said. "They're in my major, they live on the floor beneath mine, we all have a lot in common."

"Well…um, that's great," Sam said.

"Sam," Freddie said slowly. "Um, are you positive you don't have a problem with this?"

"Dude, I'm not jealous of you hanging around other girls!" Sam said. "I'm not some crazy girlfriend who doesn't trust her boyfriend and tells him who he can and can't hang out with."

"I know," Freddie said. "I was just making sure. Hey, you want to go walk around that park I told you about for a little bit? After a couple of laps you may have worked up an appetite again for dinner."
"Or…" Sam said, smirking seductively. "How about we go to the park and walk around once and then we got back to your room and take advantage of you not having a roommate? I can think of a few things we could do to work up an appetite in there."

Freddie laughed, leaning down to kiss her. "Man, I have really missed you, Sam."

….

"-So then we realized that the professor's mustache wasn't really a mustache," Alex said later that evening at the table as the four ate their dinner. "It was a mushroom."

"Yeah, it was gross," Jamie laughed.

"I tried to get a picture to send you, Sam," Freddie told her. "But I couldn't get the right angle."

"Hey, that's kind of like the time Ms. Briggs had that chocolate on her mouth that looked like a giant, pointy mole," Sam said. She turned to Alex and Jamie. "See, in high school we had this English teacher who-"

"Yeah, we heard all about her," Alex nodded. "Freddie's told us tons of stories."

"Yeah, when you stay up until four in the morning doing homework three nights a week, you hear a lot of crazy stories," Jamie said.

"Ah," Sam said simply, taking a sip of her lemonade.

"Hey, did you tell her about the thing with shoelaces?" Alex asked Freddie, causing Freddie to almost spit out his drink in laughter.

"I almost forgot about that!" Jaime grinned. "That was weeks ago!"

"I know," Freddie laughed. "See, Sam, there was this one night when we were all hanging out in my room when-when-"

He couldn't even finish his sentence, though, for he was laughing too hard, along with Jamie and Alex.

"I guess I'll take your word for it then," Sam said.

As she watched the three continue to laugh, she suddenly felt a pang of nostalgia. Wasn't it just a few months ago that it was her, Carly and Freddie sitting around a table at the Groovy Smoothie laughing just like this?

"Um, hey, I'll be right back," Sam said, pushing back her chair and getting to her feet. "I just, um, have to make a call."

"Okay," Freddie nodded. "Hurry back, though. I want to tell you this hilarious story about the time the three of us got locked in the dining hall."

"Can't wait…" Sam said.

Once she stepped out of the restaurant, Sam leaned against the stone wall outside, letting out a deep breath. It was all so surreal, seeing Freddie with two other girls who weren't her and Carly, laughing about all the crazy, insane adventures they had had.

She pulled out her phone and began scrolling through the old photos she had saved on there. There was her, Carly, and Freddie hanging out in the iCarly studio, brainstorming new ideas for the show; Carly and Freddie cheering on Sam as she chugged her twelfth smoothie at the Groovy Smoothie; the three of them clustered together under one umbrella after being caught out in one of Seattle's infamous rainstorms; of them at graduation throwing their caps into the air…

"Sam?"
Sam spun around to see Freddie walking out of the restaurant and heading over towards her.

"Hey," Sam said quickly, shoving her phone back in her pocket. "I-I was just about to come back."

"Sam, um, listen, I-I know I've asked you this twice already, but-but are you sure you're okay? You um, seemed a little quiet in there."

"Yeah, I-I'm okay," Sam nodded.

Freddie sighed. "Look, I-I swear, there's nothing going on with me between either of them. Alex has a boyfriend and Jamie is so busy with school and her internship that she doesn't even have time for a relationship. And you know how much I love you! There's nobody else who I would even consider-"

"Freddie, honestly, I-that's not what's bothering me!" Sam said. "I know you'd never do anything like that to me. I mean you can talk to other girls without me freaking out, you know!"

"But…so there is something bothering you?" Freddie said. "Something else?"

Sam shook her head. "Look, forget about it. I didn't fly out here for me to bring us down."
"But Sam, if something's upsetting you, I want us to talk about it," Freddie said. "Seriously, baby, you can tell me."
Sam rolled her eyes. "Fine. I-I guess…I guess…well, this is it, huh?"

"What is?" Freddie frowned, confused.

"It's really all over," Sam sighed.

"What is?"

"You know," Sam mumbled, looking down at her feet. "The-The old iCarly trio. I mean, the three of us, me, you, and Carly…that-that used to be us in there! We were the ones who'd sit around for hours talking about all of our antics and bursting into each other's places and hanging out until four in the morning! And now…now it's all done. You're here and me and Carly are back in Washington…"

"Aw, Sam," Freddie said gently, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"I know we've been doing okay with the whole long-distance boyfriend-girlfriend thing," Sam said softly. "But…I sometimes miss times like that too. Where we'd all just hang out and have fun together. But-But now it's Freddie, Jamie and Alex instead of Freddie, Carly and Sam."

"Sam, I-I get it," Freddie said. "Trust me, when I first started hanging out with Jamie and Alex, it-it was kind of weird for me too. I mean, I was so used to you and Carly that it was weird to suddenly be around people who weren't you two. But-But you have to realize…this trio up here…it's not replacing the one back in Seattle. I mean, neither Jamie nor Alex are anything like Carly. Both of them are more into computers than random, quirky hobbies, and they don't have her same sense of humor. And well…there's nobody who could come close to replacing you. Ever."

Sam gave him a small smile. "Duh."

"Jamie and Alex aren't replacing anyone," Freddie assured her. "I promise. And as for that old iCarly trio…come on. You think we're ever going to dissolve? You know the second I get home for winter break things are going to go right back to they way they were. The two of us will practically live over at Carly and Spencer's, who will both yell at us every ten minutes for making out on their couch."

"I have missed that," Sam chuckled. "You know what…you're right. The three of us…we'll be fine. I guess…I guess it all just hit me, you know. We're adults now. Things change…"
"And things will," Freddie said. "But not us. Not the relationship between me, you, and Carly as best friends, and definitely not our relationship as, well, more than best friends."

Sam nodded. "Thanks…I kind of needed to hear that. Just…promise me one thing? Don't start some comedy web show while you're up here, deal?"
"Deal," Freddie laughed. "After all, how can I top the one we've already made?"

…..

"I wish you could've stayed longer," Freddie said sadly a couple days later as he watched Sam zip up her bag.

"Well, just another month-and-a-half then we'll all be back in Seattle for break," Sam pointed out. "You can last that long, can't you?"
"I can try," Freddie said, wrapping his arms around her and pressing his lips to hers. "I'll definitely miss that a lot, though."

"Come on, you went fourteen years without kissing a girl," Sam said, giving him a small smile. "You'll be fine."

Just then there was a knock at Freddie's door. Freddie walked across the room and opened it, letting Alex and Jamie in.

"Hey, Sam," Alex said. "We just wanted to come say bye before you left."

"Yeah, it was nice finally getting to meet the girl Freddie talks non-stop about," Jamie nodded.

"Non-stop, huh?" Sam smirked, looking over at Freddie.

"Thanks, Jamie," Freddie said, rolling his eyes.

"Anyway," Alex continued. "Have a safe flight back to Washington. You'll have to come back here soon."

"Yeah, I will," Sam nodded. "Oh, hey, I'm glad you guys came by. There's something I wanted to give you." She cleared her throat. "For years, as you probably know, I prided myself in making Freddie's life as chaotic and unpredictable as possible. Even once we started dating, I always made sure that I kept him on his toes. And, well, it kind of pains me a little bit that, well, I-I can't always get to him to prank him or embarrass him now that we're on two opposite sides of the country. So…I'm going to have to entrust you two with that duty now."

"What?" Freddie exclaimed as Alex and Jamie both grinned.

"Quiet, nub," Sam said quickly.

"Yeah, Freddie, let Sam speak!" Alex nodded.

Sam reached into her pocket. "Jamie…this is a copy of the shampoo contract that Freddie's mom made him sign until he was eighteen promising that he 'double pooed' in the shower. Do with it what you will."

"Oh my God!" Jamie laughed, taking the paper. "Freddie, I can't believe your mom made you do this! This is excellent!"

"She was worried about my scalp!" Freddie defended.

"And Alex," Sam said, turning to the other girl. "This is a picture of Freddie's eighth-grade Halloween costume."

"Are you a witch?" Alex asked Freddie, her face lighting up. "Oh this is just too perfect."

"Just make sure to use them to drive Freddie crazy," Sam said. "But, you know, not too crazy."

"We promise," Jamie said.

"Yeah, no worries," Alex said.

"Well thanks for that," Freddie sighed.

"Hey, got to make sure you don't go soft on me," Sam said.

"Well we'll let you two finish saying goodbye," Jamie said.

"See you soon, Sam," Alex said.

As they closed the door behind them, Freddie wrapped his arms back around Sam. "You know neither of them will ever come close to your level with making my life chaotic."

"Of course not," Sam said simply.

"We should probably get you over to the airport now," Freddie sighed, looking at his watch. "Your plane leaves in three hours."

He leaned down, giving her another kiss. "I love you, my Blonde-Headed Demon."

"Love you too, Frednub."