Half
"Thanks again for letting me stay here during my spring break," Freddie said as he set down his bag next to the sofa in Carly and Sam's apartment.
"No problem," Carly smiled as she laid out a few pillows and a blanket on the couch. "It's just too bad our spring breaks never fall around the same time. We had ours three weeks ago, so we'll still have to be going to classes while you're here. But it will still be fun hanging out together."
"More fun than hanging out at my mom's place, that's for sure," Freddie nodded.
"Yeah, how did you convince her to let you stay here instead of with her?" Sam asked, looking up from the coffee table, where she was painting her nails.
"Um, well, I-I pulled the I'm-an-Adult-Now card," Freddie said. "But-But you guys might get some threatening emails from her. It's okay, though, I'll drop by a couple of times and see her."
He looked down at Sam. "And what are you doing?"
"What's it look like dork sack, I'm painting my nails," Sam replied, blowing on the fresh coat to get them to dry faster."
"Yeah…why?" Freddie frowned. "I didn't even know you owned nail polish."
"It's mine," Carly chuckled. "I told her she could borrow it because she's going on a date soon."
"Shut up, it's not a date," Sam said, blushing.
"Ah," Freddie nodded, rolling his eyes. "What poor guy did you sucker into taking you out? I should warn him not to take you anywhere with parmesan cheese…"
"Hey!" Sam snapped, aiming a kick at Freddie's ankles. "Watch it, Fredlump! I didn't have to sucker Wyatt into taking me out on a date."
"So it is a date?" Carly asked.
"I-I don't know," Sam admitted slowly. "He said he just wanted to grab some burgers and 'hang out' just the two of us. But I-I don't know if he wants to label it a 'date'. But hey, maybe if tonight goes well next time it will be a date! How awesome would that be?"
"Yeah…you-you've really liked this guy for awhile," Carly said, suddenly becoming very busy fluffing Freddie's pillows.
"What kind of a name is Wyatt anyway?" Freddie scoffed.
"Um, probably the same type as Fredward," Sam retorted. "But he's about ten times cooler than you. He rides a motorcycle and got arrested twice last year and is on the Do Not Serve list Pink Bunny."
"Right," Freddie said slowly. "Way cooler than me. I mean why would you want to date a guy that can actually get frozen yogurt."
"At least he's not a total nub!" Sam said. "Unlike some-"
She was cut off, though, by a knock at the door.
"Is that him?" Carly asked, starting over to answer.
"Yeah, I think," Sam said, jumping up to her feet, a huge smile appearing on her face.
Carly opened the door and young man with long, dark hair and a leather jacket walked in.
"Sam, hey," he said, nodding over at the blonde.
"Hey, Wyatt," Sam beamed. "Um, glad-glad you found the place. Oh, you've met Carly before, right?"
"Yeah, we've met," Carly said, pulling on what Freddie recognized as a very forced smile. "Hey there, Wyatt."
"'Sup?" Wyatt replied simply.
"Oh, and this is our friend, Freddie," Sam continued. "He's here from MIT for his spring break."
"Hi," Freddie said politely, extending his had.
"'Sup?" Wyatt said again, looking down at his phone and ignoring Freddie's hand. "So you ready to go, Sam?"
"Um, almost," Sam said. "Just give me three minutes to get changed really quick, okay?"
"Whatever," Wyatt shrugged. "I'll be down out front then. Just meet me in the car."
"Alright," Sam nodded. "I'll be down in a sec!"
As Sam hurried into her bedroom and Wyatt let himself out of the apartment, Freddie turned to Carly. "Um…okay, I know my opinions of Sam's dates might be a little biased as one of her ex-boyfriends, but that guy was a total jerk!"
"Thank you!" Carly exclaimed. "I can't stand that kid! He thinks he's so great and that he's above all rules and that any girl would be lucky to have even five minutes of his time! I can't believe Sam's interested in a guy like him; it must be the whole bad boy thing…it can drive girls loopy sometimes."
"I can't believe he's not even waiting in here for her!" Freddie continued. "What kind of a guy doesn't at least walk her to his car? Even if it's not an official date. And he was on his phone the entire time he was in here. And he-"
"I know," Carly sighed. "But Sam's an adult now. We can't tell who she can and can't date just because we don't like them. If we do we'll just make her mad at us."
"Yeah, but-"
"Alright, I'll see you guys tonight," Sam said, hurrying out of her room as she straightened her jacket.
"Okay," Carly said shooting Freddie a silencing glare. "H-Have fun tonight! Call us if you need anything!"
As Sam left the apartment, Freddie looked over at Carly. "So what? We just let her go out with that jerk?"
"Well Freddie, there's really nothing more to do," Carly said. "Like I said she's an adult; she's nineteen. She can do what she wants. And-And it's Sam. She-She can look out for herself. She won't let anybody hurt her."
Freddie frowned, but didn't say anything. He knew Sam wasn't always as tough as she looked. If she trusted this guy enough to let down her walls and show her more vulnerable side, he could really take advantage of her.
He had seen this vulnerable side…he loved that she had trusted him enough to show him. He knew things about her that not even Carly did…things that made him see more than just a girl with an untamable appetite and brutal strength.
So Carly was wrong…Sam could get hurt.
"Come on, let's-let's order a pizza or something," Carly said. "I bet your hungry from your plane ride."
"Yeah, I guess," Freddie nodded, not sure of what else to do.
"Hey," Carly said gently, putting a hand on his shoulder. "She'll be okay."
Freddie didn't reply. He really wished he could believe that.
…..
Later that evening, Freddie lay in the dark, living room on the couch, tossing and turning underneath his blanket, unable to fall asleep.
Carly had gone to sleep hours ago to try and get some rest before an exam she had the next day, leaving him with nothing else to do but to try and not think about what was happening between Sam and Wyatt.
He picked up his phone, glancing at the time. It was almost four-thirty in the morning! Sam should've been home by now! Something had to be wrong, didn't it? Should he call her? Would she be mad that he was checking up on her like this? He quickly decided he didn't care and was just about dial her number when suddenly he heard the apartment door open and Sam entered.
At once, Freddie knew something had happened because the second she stepped foot into the apartment, Freddie heard her sniff back a soft sob.
"Sam?" Freddie frowned, sitting up as Sam stormed into the living room. Though it was dark, Freddie was able to tell that her face was tearstained and blotchy.
She looked over at him, startled to find that he was still awake at this hour. For a second, their eyes locked, and Freddie felt his heart break as he realized how hurt Sam was right now. But she quickly looked away and bolted into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.
"Sam!" Freddie said again, jumping up and running over to her door. He knocked and then tried to twist the doorknob, but Sam had apparently locked herself inside. "Sam! Sam, what happened? Are you okay? Sam! Come on, please open up so we can talk! Sam!"
"Freddie?" Carly yawned, coming out of her own bedroom. "What's going on? It's four-thirty in the-"
"Sam just got home," Freddie said softly. "And-And she was crying, Carly."
"What?" Carly gasped, instantly waking up. "Crying? What happened?"
"I-I don't know," Freddie sighed. "She locked herself in her room and-"
"Sam!" Carly yelled, pounding on the door. "Sam, are you okay? What happened?"
But still, there was no answer.
"What do we do?" Freddie asked Carly.
"I don't know," Carly sighed. "Maybe-Maybe we should try and give her some space right now, since-since that's clearly what she wants. We-We can try talking to her in the morning.
Freddie nodded slowly. He knew she was right; there was no chance of getting Sam to talk if she didn't want to. Still…he wanted nothing more than to be in there with her.
"I-I hope she's okay," Carly said heavily as the two stepped away from her door. "I-I hope Wyatt didn't do anything…"
"If he did," Freddie mumbled, shaking his head. "I'm going to kill him. What were they out until four in the morning doing anyway? And you know what? I bet that idiot didn't even walk her up here either! He probably just let her out by the curb like some package! I knew that guy was trouble!"
"Freddie, calm down," Carly shushed him. "You-You're shaking."
"That's the anger!"
"I know, I'm angry too!" Carly said. "But-But before we do anything, we need to figure out what actually happened."
Freddie let out a long breath. "Fine. I-I'm just worried."
"Me too," Carly nodded. She looked at the clock on the wall. "Well…I definitely can't just go back to sleep after all of this. I'll put a pot of coffee on. Maybe in another hour or so Sam will be more up to telling us about what happened."
So for the next three hours, Carly and Freddie sat silently out in the kitchen, both anxiously turning their heads towards Sam's door at even the slightest sound.
At around half-past seven in the morning, Carly slowly got up and knocked on Sam's door again. "Sam?" she said gently. "Sam, please open up. Freddie and I are both worried about you. We just want to make sure everything is okay."
Still, there was no response.
Carly sighed as she shuffled back to the table.
"Want me to break the door down or something?" Freddie asked.
"That might be a little extreme," Carly said. "But, well…maybe-maybe Sam would be a little more, er, willing to talk if-if it were just me here. No-No offense Freddie, but-but she just might be a little more comfortable talking with a girl or something."
"Oh, um, yeah," Freddie nodded. "Yeah, I-I guess you have a point. I-Well I guess I can just go and um, see my mom for a little bit then. But-But let me know if-"
"I will," Carly promised him.
…..
Freddie returned to the apartment about four hours later, just as Carly was pulling on her jacket.
"Oh, thank God you're back," Carly said. "I-I have to run to class now. I'd miss it today but I sort of have an exam that counts for half my grade. I just didn't want to leave Sam alone right now, though."
"Did she finally tell you what happened?" Freddie asked.
"Yeah," Carly said darkly. "And just a heads up, you might get a call from prison later to bail me out, because if I get my hands on Wyatt on campus today…"
"Did he hurt her?" Freddie demanded, his fists clenching instinctively.
"He crushed her!" Carly nodded. "I-You were right! We-We shouldn't have let her go out with such a jerk!"
"Well what-"
"After the two of them ate, they-they went back to Wyatt's place," Carly sighed. "And-And he had this whole romantic set-up for them. He had chocolate covered strawberries and flowers…the whole nine-yards. And-And they hung around for a little bit enjoying everything and-and he told Sam that he-he really liked her…that he thought he could be falling in love with her."
"You-You're kidding," Freddie said, knowing this wouldn't be ending well.
"Nope," Carly said. "And-And well, as much of a jerk as we thought he was, Sam-Sam really did like him. She's been wanting to go with him ever since he sat down next to her in their criminology class this semester. So-So obviously hearing him say all that…she-she loved it. And, well, one thing led to another and-and they, well…"
"What?"
"I-Ugh, come on, Freddie, you're in college!" Carly snapped. "You should know what I mean! They-They slept together, okay? And-And then not even five minutes after, he told her that she needed to go. That-That it wasn't going to work out between them."
"He what?" Freddie cried angrily.
"Yeah," Carly muttered, disgusted. "He pulled this whole little act just to get her into bed with him. He told her that she had a nice body, but that was about it. And that's not even the worst part…you-you know this was Sam's-Sam's first time. So-So now whenever she thinks back to this, she-she's always going to have to remember that it was with some loser. I think that's really upsetting her. I-I just feel so terrible for-"
"I'm killing him!" Freddie said, anger coursing through his body. "Where is he? I swear, when I get ahold of him-"
"Freddie, you-you can do all of that later, but right now can-can you just please stay here with Sam?" Carly begged. "She shouldn't be by herself."
Freddie sighed. "I-Alright. Where is she?"
"Still in her room," Carly replied. "I don't know if she wants to talk, but-but if she does-"
"I'll be here," Freddie nodded. "You-You go ahead and go take your exam."
"Thanks," Carly said.
Once she left, Freddie simply stood in the middle of the kitchen for a moment before slowly stepping over to Sam's door.
"Sam?" he said softly, knocking on the door. "Um…hey, um, I-I just wanted to check on you. You-You want to let me in?"
Nothing.
Freddie headed back into the kitchen and reached into the bag he had just brought back with him and pulled out the large pack of Bolivian bacon he had purchased while he was out. If this couldn't get Sam to talk, then nothing could.
He placed a few strips into the frying pan and began to cook the meat, the delicious scents filling the kitchen at once. Sure enough, within a few moments, he heard Sam's bedroom door creak open and Sam stepped out into the kitchen; her hair a mess and dark bags under her eyes.
"Hi," Freddie said brightly, giving her a small smile.
"What are you cooking?" Sam asked, her voice cracking.
"Oh, just thought I'd whip up some Bolivian bacon," Freddie said nonchalantly. "You-You don't want any, do you?"
Sam didn't reply.
"Here," Freddie said, sliding a few pieces onto a plate and handing it to her. "Eat. Have you had anything today?"
Sam shook her head, taking a bite of the bacon.
"I bought three packs of this stuff," Freddie continued. "Figured it could be a thank you for you and Carly letting me stay here. I can cook it all now or maybe we could save it for tomorrow and-"
"Carly told you everything," Sam said, looking down at her plate. "Didn't she?"
Freddie set down the spatula. "Yeah…yeah, um, she did."
"Great," Sam said softly. "Now everybody knows how much of an idiot I am…"
"You're not an idiot," Freddie said at once. "Sam, that-that guy is a sleeze! How-How dare he do that to you? Seriously, the only idiot is him."
"But I fell for his little stunt, didn't I?" Sam said loudly. "I-I mean come on! I actually believed that the guy was-was into me! I mean it was so obvious it was all just some big set up! The flowers, the strawberries…all of it! Nobody would actually do that for me because they liked me!"
"That's not true," Freddie said. "I-I'm sure there's lots of guys out there who would."
"No," Sam sighed. "You were right about what you said yesterday…about me not really being dating material…I'd have to sucker in a guy to get him to even consider going out with me."
"Oh, no, Sam, I-I-that's not what I meant," Freddie said quickly. "I-I was just kidding around. I-I don't really think that."
"Well, either way, it's true," Sam mumbled. "And I should've realized that sooner. Now I went and-and I did the stupidest thing I've ever done! I can't believe I wasted my first time on that freak!"
Freddie felt his cheeks redden as he quickly looked down at the frying pan.
"Oh, um, sorry," Sam said, clearing her throat. Sex was uncharted territory between the two of them. Back when they were dating, the furthest they had ever gotten was third base, after all.
"It-It's cool," Freddie said.
"I-I'm just gonna go back in my room," Sam said, her face completely flushed. "Thanks for the bacon."
"Wait, Sam, stay," Freddie said. "You-You can talk to me."
"No, it's too weird," Sam muttered.
"Come on, we're friends," Freddie said, giving her a reassuring smile. "And-And this is what friends do…Look, Sam, I-I'm sorry your-your first time I had to be like this. It's supposed to be, well, special…not-not like this. You didn't deserve this. But-But it will be alright."
"It doesn't feel like it," Sam said heavily.
"It will be," Freddie told her. "Eventually. One day you-you'll find someone who will make you forget all about that guy, I know you will."
Sam said nothing.
"Trust me," Freddie continued. "I wish I had a way to somehow go back in time and-and fix this for you, I really do. But-But right now there's really nothing left to do but to…move on. Don't give that jerk the satisfaction of doing this to you! And-And you know, you-you don't have even count this as your first time if you don't want to."
"What do you mean?" Sam frowned. "Like you said…it's kind of done; there's nothing I can do to change that."
"Yeah but, well…okay, you-you know how back when we would do iCarly bits, if-if we didn't like how our first take would turn out we'd just, you know, have a redo?" Freddie said.
"A redo?" Sam repeated, confused.
"Well…think-think of this as your redo," Freddie said. "A blooper, if you will."
For the first time that morning, Sam gave the smallest of smiles. "A blooper?"
"Yeah!" Freddie nodded, pleased to see her starting to perk up. "A blooper. One day you'll find someone who-who actually appreciates you and loves you and wouldn't do anything to hurt you and-and well…when certain events occur with him it-it won't be like this. It will be the way your first time should be. And that's what you'll always remember as your first time."
"You think?" Sam said slowly.
"Uh-huh," Freddie nodded. "Besides, Wyan or whatever his name was doesn't deserve that spot in your memories."
"You know what?" Sam said. "He really doesn't…What he deserves is to be on the other end of my butter sock."
"There's the Sam I know," Freddie grinned, holding out his arms to hug her. "Hey, you think you're up for another plate of bacon?"
"Definitely," Sam nodded.
Freddie and her pulled away from their embrace and Freddie began piling more bacon onto her plate.
"That actually helps, you know," Sam said quietly, sitting down at the counter. "What you said about that whole 'blooper' thing…so, um, thanks."
"You're welcome," Freddie replied.
"I guess I should be lucky I at least got out of my first kiss thing without all this drama," she chuckled. "At least I didn't need a redo on that one."
"So I take it I sufficed?" Freddie smirked.
"Yeah, you sufficed," Sam laughed, rolling her eyes. She stared down at her placemat. "I just hope that when-when I get around to doing my redo of this, it-it can end the say way that all did."
"It will, if you find the right person," Freddie assured her, handing her the plate of bacon.
"If I ever find him," Sam shrugged him.
"Don't worry," Freddie said, handing her a bottle of steak sauce, a flavor he knew she loved pouring onto her bacon. "You will."
