Scenario
Sam sat on the Shay's couch, alone, staring at the blank television, deep in thought.
Everybody said it would get easier; everybody said that the first few days would be the worst, and then she'd start get back to normal. But it had already been four days and Sam still felt like she had been punched in the stomach. She still felt like breaking down every time she was alone, and when she would actually have to see him…that was the hardest for her.
Freddie and I weren't even together that long, Sam thought miserably. Barely even a month…I could understand if we had been going out for a year or something, but I should be over this by now! I bet he is! He probably isn't sulking around his living room, thinking of me. He's probably-
She was cut off from her thoughts, though, as the apartment door opened and Freddie himself stepped in.
He seemed surprised to see Sam, but he quickly recovered as he closed the door behind him.
"Um, hi," Freddie said, awkwardly clearing his throat. "I-I didn't know you'd be here. Um, where-where are Carly and Spencer?"
"They went to the grocery store," Sam replied softly, not looking up at him.
"Oh," Freddie said. "Well, um, my-my mom's not home and I forgot my keys this morning so-so you think it's okay if I, you know, hang out here with you for a little bit?"
Sam shrugged. "It's a free country."
Freddie slowly sat down in the armchair, and at once, a silence fell between the two.
I need to get out of here, Sam told herself after several moments of stone quietness. I-I can't do this. This is just too weird. God…I'm a mess. I can't even be in the same room as him anymore.
"Um, I-I actually need to go," Sam said, getting to her feet. "I-I forgot I have a thing at-at a place. So, um, I guess I'll see you-"
"Are you as miserable about all of this as I am?" Freddie suddenly blurted out.
Sam turned around, seeing him staring right at her.
"W-What?"
"Sorry," Freddie said quickly, his face reddening. "Um, never mind."
"No," Sam said. "What-What did you mean? Miserable about what?"
Freddie sighed. "Alright," he conceded. "Look, I-I just…ever since-ever since the break-up, have-have you been feeling…have-have you just been…have you-"
"I've hated every second of it," Sam said truthfully, surprising even herself.
Freddie looked down at his lap. "Yeah…me too. I just…I didn't know if it was just me."
"Oh," Sam said. "Well um…no, it-it's not just you."
She glanced over to the door, but made no motion towards it.
"Hey," Freddie said. "Do-Do you think that maybe we-we kind of, you know, acted on impulse that night?"
Sam frowned. "You-You mean that night at the lock-in?"
"No," Freddie said at once. "I mean four nights ago….when-when we broke up."
Sam blinked. She had certainly not been expecting that.
"Well…I dunno," Sam mumbled. "We-We had been fighting, hadn't we?"
"But we've always fought," Freddie pointed out. "That's been our thing since we've met each other. We always knew how to work it out between ourselves, though."
Sam nodded. "Yeah, but-that was different. We weren't a couple then. And-And you've heard what Carly said. Couple's are able to handle being around each other without fighting all the time and be able to enjoy each other."
"I always enjoyed being around you," Freddie said earnestly. "Even if we did fight."
Sam thought about this for a moment. "I-I always enjoyed being around you too," she whispered. "And-And even if we did fight…it-it was never to the point where I didn't want to be around you anymore. It-It was actually kind of entertaining, going back and forth with each other. But-But, okay, so-so maybe the fighting wasn't as big a deal, but-but we did have trouble finding stuff we had in common. Like Carly said, couple's are supposed to explore each other's interests."
"Well, yeah," Freddie agreed. "Yeah…that-that's true."
Sam started back over to the couch, sitting down again.
"But…you know," she said carefully. "It's not like we don't have anything in common. We have a ton of stuff we both like to do. Meat Golf, Cupcake Slam, watching MMA fights, hanging out at the Groovy Smoothie, relaxing at the park-"
"Yeah," Freddie nodded. "We-We did always have a great time doing all that. And-And we also had things that we enjoyed alone too. Like my Train Club meetings and your prison visits. There's nothing wrong with that…is there?"
"No," Sam said slowly.
The two were silent for a moment.
"But-But remember what else we said when we-when we broke up?" Sam said. "We were just kind of forcing that whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing. That-That can't be healthy for any relationship."
"Did we say that?" Freddie said heavily. "Or did somebody else say that, and we just went with it?"
Sam's eyes widened with realization.
"Do you get the feeling," Freddie said slowly. "That-That the reason we broke up was because of what other people said about our relationship? Not-Not how we felt about it?"
Sam thought about this. It was Carly who told them that they needed to explore each others interests, not knowing that they were already very in tune with what the other liked. It was Spencer and Jenna who were the ones forcing a connection where there wasn't one…her and Freddie had had a connection for years now; one that no one could understand but them. It was Gibby who was the one who complained about their fighting, perhaps too used to his own relationship with Tasha, who agreed with everything he did, to realize that that was what fueled their spark.
"Oh my God…" Sam said slowly as she took this all in. "You-You're right. We broke up because-because everybody else-"
"-Made us feel like we had to," Freddie finished for her.
The two were silent for a moment.
"So-So do you think that if it wasn't for that," Sam finally asked. "Do you think we'd have still…you know?"
"Broken up?"
"Yeah," Sam said heavily.
Freddie pondered this. "No," he said. "I-I don't."
He stood up and sat down right next to Sam. "Sam, I-I know we had some ups and downs together, but-but I was always genuinely happy when I was with you. The only times I even questioned that was when I thought I had to. But-But there was never any question in my mind…"
Sam gave him a sad smile. "Well…too bad we can't go back and just block out everybody else's comments about our relationship. Seems like that was our real problem. It wasn't us at all."
"Maybe-Maybe we can," Freddie said.
Sam frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Well…both of us agree that we were happy together, right?"
"Right," Sam nodded.
"And that we wouldn't have broken up if it hadn't been from all the comments and suggestions we had been getting from everybody telling us how we should do stuff, right?"
"Yeah," Sam agreed. "But-But I still don't-"
"Well then why don't we get back together?" Freddie said.
Sam felt her heart begin to race. "What?" she said shakily.
"If we both feel that we shouldn't have broken up, then-then it just makes sense that-that we fix that, doesn't it?" Freddie pointed out.
"That's true…" Sam said quietly, hardly daring to believe what was happening right now. Were her and Freddie really going to do this? Were they really going to get back together, finally putting an end to the misery she had been suffering through.
"Only this time," Freddie continued, giving her a mischievous smirk. "We don't tell anybody about us."
"Huh?" Sam said, confused.
"I'm saying we get back together, but we let everybody else keep thinking we're broken up!" Freddie said. "Don't you see? That way we won't have them ruining our relationship again by trying to force their opinions on us!"
"Whoa…" Sam said, impressed. "That-That's brilliant!"
"I know!" Freddie grinned proudly. "So, um, are-is-are you in? Do you want to, um, you know, get back together with me?"
Sam felt her face breaking out into the first real smile she had shown since the break up.
"More than anything. And this time…we'll do it our way. The right way."
"Nobody will mess this up for us," Freddie agreed, looking absolutely delighted at their newfound arrangement. He moved closer to Sam, giving her the small, lopsided smile he used to always give her right before leaning in for a kiss.
Sam got the message loud and clear, and gently craned her neck up, kissing the soft, warm lips that she had been consuming her thoughts since she last touched them four nights ago.
"I've missed you," Freddie whispered when they pulled apart.
"Me too," Sam smiled. "Come on, we've got a lot of lost time to make up for."
…..
It had been three days since Sam and Freddie had secretly gotten back together, and things could not have been going better for the couple. Nobody lectured them every time they would have an argument, no one tried to butt in with unwanted suggestions or advice…it was perfect.
Currently, the two of them and Carly were sitting up in the iCarly studios, going over next week's show. They were sitting apart, but were in the middle of sending one another flirty text messages while pretending to listen to what Carly was saying.
"So you guys are both cool with us moving the dinosaur thing Gibby's doing to after the Random Dancing with Catfish bit, right?" Carly said, scribbling notes down on her index cards. "Right? Guys?"
She looked up and frowned as she saw that her two best friends were ignoring her as they texted away on their phones.
"Guys!" Carly said loudly. "Come on! Who have you even been texting all day?"
"Wendy," Sam said quickly.
"Brad," Freddie lied.
"Well can you cut it out?" Carly asked. "We're almost done, you can text later!"
"Yes, mom," Sam smirked as her and Freddie put down their phones.
"Alright, so just one more thing," Carly said. "Do either of you two have an old leash or something we can use for the pet store skit?"
"I haven't been allowed to own a pet in all my seventeen years," Freddie replied. "You've seen how terrified my mom is of ticks!"
"Well what about you, Sam?" Carly asked. "Can we use one of Frothy's leashes?"
"Why would Frothy have a leash?" Sam frowned.
"Well don't you walk him?" Carly said.
"You don't walk cats," Sam scoffed. "They like just sitting around doing nothing. That's part of their charm."
"Fine, I'll just ask Spencer to pick one up while he's out tomorrow," Carly sighed.
"So is that everything?" Freddie asked. "Are we done?"
"Yeah, we're done," Carly nodded.
"Sweet!" Freddie grinned, getting to his feet.
"Why are you so happy to get out of here?" Carly asked. "Usually you drag these meetings on for hours going on about all the special effects and updates you're planning on adding to the site."
"Well, um, it's just…I-I something I need to do back at my place," Freddie said. "Um, my-my mom's gone so I have the apartment all to myself. So-So I'm just going to go over there and-and enjoy that time I have with absolutely no distractions or interruptions."
As he said all this, he looked directly at Sam.
"Huh?" Carly said, confused.
"Um, o-okay already, Benson!" Sam snapped quickly before Carly could question Freddie's odd behavior. "We get it! You're going back to your empty apartment, jeez! Hopefully no one bothers you in say, five minutes."
"Well I hope not!" Freddie said, starting towards the door. "Okay, I-I'll see both of you tomorrow then."
"What was with him?" Carly asked as Freddie left the studio. "Why was he acting so weird?"
"Who-Who knows?" Sam said lamely. "He's just a nub….that's all."
"Um, okay then," Carly said, giving her a strange then. "Anyway, speaking of Freddie, though, how are you doing? You know, with the whole break-up? It's been about a week, hasn't it?"
"Um, just-just about," Sam said, avoiding her friend's gaze. "But-But I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" Carly asked gently. "I know the two of us never really got a chance to talk about all of this. And, well, I didn't want to say anything right away, but I have noticed that you have been acting a little odd around Freddie these last couple of days."
"No I haven't," Sam mumbled, looking down at her lap.
"It's okay, Sam," Carly said. "It's normal to feel weird around your ex right after you break up. When me and Griffen broke up, I dreaded running into him in the lobby. But I think I have just the idea that will help you really get over Freddie. What are you doing Saturday?"
"Um…I don't know," Sam said slowly, taking a sip of her iced tea.
"Well, I met these two really great guys at the Groovy Smoothie and I arranged for the four of us to all go out on a double date!" Carly said excitedly.
Sam chocked on her drink. "You what?"
"That's right!" Carly said proudly. "And they're both such nice guys, Sam. Their names are Harry and Walter; you'll be with Walter. And they're super cute and funny and-"
"I-I'm not going on a double date!" Sam sputtered.
"Why not?" Carly moaned. "It will be fun! Plus it's good for you to get back into the dating game! And what's the worst case scenario? You and Walter might really hit it off and-"
"Carly, no!" Sam said firmly. "There's absolutely no way I'm going on some double date with you!"
"So what? Are you just gonna sit around and mope over your break-up with Freddie then?" Carly asked.
"I'm not moping!" Sam exclaimed, getting to her feet.
"Well then why have you been acting extra strange these last couple of days?" Carly demanded, crossing her arms.
Sam sighed. "Look…I-I just don't want to, um, rush back into things, okay? You-You're right. I'm still upset about the breakup, but I think that me going on dates with other guys right now is the worst thing for me."
"Oh," Carly said, her tone softening. "Well…okay, if-if you really don't think you're ready. But I still want to help you get through this, Sam. You're my best friend; it's my job!"
"Tell you what," Sam said. "We can have a sleepover tomorrow night. You know, cheesy movies, junk food, dumb magazines…that-that might be okay."
"Well, okay," Carly agreed. "Having some quality best friend time could actually be beneficial."
"Cool," Sam grinned. "Um, so, I-I'll see you later then."
"Wait, where are you going?"
"Oh, um, my-my mom wanted me to help her pick out a new hair color," Sam said. "So…yeah, I-I'm gonna go do that. Um, bye!"
Before Carly could inquire any further, Sam turned and hurried out of the studio and out of the apartment, quickly letting herself into Freddie's place across the hall.
"What took you so long?" Freddie asked as Sam closed the door behind her. But he didn't wait for a response as he pulled Sam into his arms, leaning down to kiss her deeply.
"Someone's antsy," Sam chuckled.
"Well that stupid iCarly meeting took forever!" Freddie moaned as him and Sam made their way to the couch. "You know how hard it was being so far apart from you?"
"I know," Sam nodded. "And then after you left you'll never guess what Carly tried to rope me into."
"What?"
"She wanted me to go on a double date with her," Sam said, rolling her eyes.
"Wait, what?" Freddie frowned. "You-You're going on a date?"
"No, I got out of it," Sam assured him. "But apparently Carly thinks I need to get back out there because I've been moping over you."
"You've been moping?" Freddie smirked.
"Shut up," Sam said, wrapping her arms around him, kissing him again. "But-But she has been saying that we've been acting weird these past couple of days."
"Do you think she knows?" Freddie asked nervously.
"No," Sam said. "I think she's just chalking it up to the break-up. But in a few weeks she might start to get suspicious. But come on, enough about that. We have an empty apartment! Talking's the last thing we should be doing."
"Hold on," Freddie said quickly. "Maybe-Maybe we should discuss this. I mean…eventually we're going to have to let people know we're back together. We can't keep this up forever, after all."
"Why not?" Sam asked. "This has been so perfect."
"I know," Freddie agreed. "But-But we can't keep sneaking around. I mean, I can't even take you out for a nice dinner because we're afraid somebody will see us. I can't hold your hand in public and-and who knows how many more dates Carly will try and set you up on."
"But that's what ruined this last time," Sam reminded him.
"I know," Freddie sighed. He thought for a moment. "How about we make a deal? Since we were together for one month before the pressures that everybody put on us broke us, we-we wait two months before we tell everybody. After that, we can tell everybody and they'll see that when we're left alone to do everything our own way, we can really make this work."
"Two months?" Sam repeated. "Okay…Yeah, that-that sounds good."
"We'll just have to be extra careful," Freddie told her, playing with the loose ends of her gold curls. "We'll have to go out of town if we want to get dinner and-and I-I'll force myself not to reach for your hand and-and we'll just shut down any date offers we get."
"Yeah," Sam smiled. "That will work. We'll be fine."
"We will," Freddie agreed, leaning down to kiss her again.
…
Unfortunately for Sam and Freddie however, as the weeks went on, it began getting harder and harder to keep their secret. Any time the couple wanted to spend together had to be carefully planned ahead of time in order to avoid suspicions from their friends. And then there was the added difficulty of spending so much time together with their group and not being able to even give one another a quick peck on the lips.
So as Sam, Freddie, Carly, Spencer and Gibby all sat in the Shay's living room one afternoon, the two made sure to sit on two opposite sides of the sofa to resist any temptations.
"You know what we haven't done in a really long time?" Spencer said. "Gone to see a play."
"A play?" Sam repeated.
"We've never gone to see a play," Freddie pointed out.
"Well then we should start!" Spencer said.
"Yes!" Gibby agreed. "And you know what we should see? The one with the singing cats!"
"Or…" Spencer said. "We can see the thrilling portrayal of a young woman in colonial Williamsburg struggling to make enough soup to feed her entire villiage before winter."
"What?" Carly frowned. "Why would we want to see that?"
"Because I lost a bet and had to trade my annual pass to the waterpark for five tickets to that lame play," Spencer sighed. "So whose in? It's this Saturday night!"
"Can't," Carly replied at once. "I have another date with Ryan."
"That's your third date with him," Sam grinned. "Things going good?"
"You know, they really are," Carly smiled. "He has a great sense of humor, he's super polite…and he has a brother."
Sam groaned. "Not this again…"
Freddie quickly averted his gaze, biting his tongue.
Sam got to her feet. "I'm going to grab a soda before I start getting ambushed."
"I-I'll grab one too," Freddie said, getting up as well.
Once the two were safely in the fridge, Freddie lowered his voice.
"We can't go to that play on Saturday," he whispered. "We have those reservations in Olympia."
"I know," Sam nodded. "Which is why I never said I would go."
"Okay…just checking," Freddie mumbled. "So how are you going to get out of that double date though?"
"I'll think of something!" Sam hissed.
"Okay!" Freddie said. "Jeez, why are you in a mood?"
"Oh like you don't know!" she snapped.
"No, I don't!"
"You're wearing that stupid cologne again!" Sam said. "The kind you know I love! I'm going crazy in there smelling it!"
"This isn't the kind you said you loved," Freddie said. "This is a new kind I picked up at the mall last week."
"Well it's making me just as wound up as the other kind!" Sam said.
"Well sorry," Freddie said. "But for your information, it's not picnic for me sitting over there being forced to stare at the layers of lip gloss you're wearing! Are you trying to kill me or something?"
"I am not wearing layers of lip gloss!" Sam snapped. "And it's lip balm, you nub!"
"Well when I haven't gotten to kiss you in seven hours, any amount of gloss or balm is enough to drive me insane!"
"So what? Am I supposed to just walk around with chapped lips?"
"Yes!"
"You-Fine!" Sam said. "Then you can't go waltzing around in those penny t's any more!"
"What's wrong with my penny t's?"
"Do you have a mirror?" Sam said, rolling her eyes. "You can see everything in that shirt! I can actually count your abs. And don't think I didn't see those chicks at the Groovy Smoothie checking you out in it this morning!"
"Well what about your little-"
"Um, guys?" Spencer called from the living room. "What are you doing over there?"
"Nothing," both said at once. Sam quickly closed the fridge and the two returned to the living room, each looking slightly flushed.
"Okay, Sam, how about this?" Carly said right when Sam sat back down. "You-You don't even have to label it a date with Ryan's brother. How about you two just come out with us and-and just hang out. You know, like friends."
"Friends who you're going to, what, conveniently leave halfway through the date, forcing us to be alone with each other?" Sam asked knowingly.
"Well…maybe," Carly admitted. "But come on, Sam! I think you and Ryan's brother would really click!"
"I'm not going," Sam said firmly. She snuck a look at Freddie, who was staring intently down at the carpet.
"Why?" Carly moaned. "This guy is perfect for you! You know he's on his school's wrestling team? You guys could talk about, I dunno, fighty stuff!"
"Not happening," Sam said again, trying to keep her cool.
"But Sam, you deserve to have a nice guy!" Carly exclaimed. "Someone who can make you happy! Someone who you'll have fun with! Someone who-"
Suddenly, clearly not being able to take anymore, Freddie jumped to his feet, and without even a word to anybody, hurried upstairs.
Sam, though, was able to catch sight of his face before he disappeared, and the expression he was wearing made her heart almost break.
"What's up with him?" Spencer frowned as the others exchanged confused glances.
"Yeah, why'd he ditch us?" Gibby asked.
Sam, no longer caring how suspicious it looked, quickly got up and hurried upstairs after him, leaving the other three behind.
When she reached the iCarly studio, she found Freddie sitting in one of the beanbag chairs, his head resting on his knees.
"Freddie?" Sam said softly, stepping over to him. "Freddie…baby, come on. Don't-Don't take what Carly said to heart. Remember, she-she thinks we're broken up."
"I know," Freddie mumbled, still not looking at her.
"Obviously she's completely wrong about that dude's brother," Sam continued. "You're the one who makes me happy."
"I-I know," Freddie said again, finally lifting his head. "It's just…I hate having to act like you and I are just-just-"
Sam moved closer to him, gently putting an arm around him. "It's for the best," she reminded him, kissing his temple. "Two more weeks and-and we'll tell everybody, okay? It won't be that bad."
Freddie sighed. "Two more weeks of me having to pretend I'm not crazy about you…You-You know the other night while we were at that shopping plaza and-and you mentioned that you were kind of cold? It killed me that I couldn't give you my jacket to wear because that's something a boyfriend does, and as far as everybody else knows, I'm not your boyfriend. When you tripped on that crack in the sidewalk today, all I wanted to do was rush to your side and make sure your okay, but I didn't think I could act just mildly concerned. I love you…but-but I hate having to bottle that all up for most of the day."
Sam nodded, her arm still wrapped around him. "Then you know what? Enough is enough."
Freddie frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, we're letting what happened the first time basically happen again!" Sam said. "First we were concerned about trying to shape our relationship to the way everybody else wanted. Now we're so concerned about keeping them all from finding out about us that that's starting to hurt us. So you know what? Come on. We're going down there right now and we're going to tell everybody that we're back together and if they know what's good for them, they'll keep their mouths shut and let us worry about how this relationship is going."
Before Freddie could even speak, Sam grabbed his arm and pulled him up and led him out the door and downstairs.
"Hey! Listen up!" she said loudly as they descended.
Carly, Spencer and Gibby all looked over at her, noticing that she was holding Freddie's hand.
"Um…what's happening?" Carly frowned.
"Wanna know what's happening?" Sam snapped. "What's happening is for the past six weeks, Freddie and I have been back together!"
Spencer gasped and Gibby nearly fell out of his seat.
"What-What do you mean?" Carly stammered, looking absolutely flabbergasted.
"We mean," Sam said. "We realized that the only reason we broke up at all is because you clowns kept pressuring us to be some couple that we're just not! We like arguing! It's fun for us! It keeps us both on our toes and keeps things interesting! Neither of us likes giving the other person an easy time! How boring is that? But you know what? We've never forced any connection between the two of us; there's has always been something there! It doesn't matter if any of you can see that because we can see it! So from now on, Fredgut and I would appreciate it you would all keep your traps shut about our relationship! We don't need anybody else's opinions or suggestions, and if we do, we'll ask. Kapeesh?"
"I-Um…kapeesh?" Spencer nodded, slightly taken aback.
"Whoa…she's scarier than her normal type of scary," Gibby whispered.
"But-But I don't understand," Carly said. "Sam…Freddie…you-you know all those times I-I might have interjected slightly in your relationship…I-I was just trying to help you guys. I-I didn't know that-"
"Yeah, we know," Sam said, her tone softening. "But, the thing is, Carls…nobody understands Freddie and me better than, well, Freddie and me. So…yeah, we-we know nobody meant to butt in and all but…"
"Yeah, okay," Carly sighed. "I-I get it. And…from now on, we'll all leave the Sam-and-Freddie relationship to the experts."
"Thank you," Sam said, satisfied.
"Er…yeah," Freddie said, clearing his throat after finally finding his voice. "Thanks."
"Um…well…now that that's all settled," Spencer said, still looking slightly confused. "Can we get back on the subject of my play? Who's coming with me?"
"So there's no cats?" Gibby frowned.
"No."
"Then I am out," Gibby said firmly.
"And I still have my date," Carly told her brother.
"Well what about you two?" Spencer asked Sam and Freddie. "Hey! Plays are a super romantic couple's activity! And I'll just be there as a fun, loveable third-wheel."
"Um…yeah, we-we're gonna pass," Sam said firmly. "That play sounds worse than listening to Ms. Briggs lecture. Besides, Frednub and I already had date plans. Date plans we now no longer need to leave Seattle for, right baby?"
"Right," Freddie grinned happily, putting his arm around her. "And I plan to spend the whole night making sure the entire world knows how much I love this girl right here."
