Target

"Oh, don't you think these wall stickers would look so cute in our dorm room in the Fall?" Carly asked Sam as passed her best friend a catalogue.

"They're just purple and pink polka dots," Sam frowned.

"I know, I think they'd really spruce up the room," Carly nodded. "I was looking at pictures of Washington State's dorm rooms last night and I'm already not a big fan of the drab, white walls. It looks like a prison cell."

"Carly, I know from experience that a prison cell doesn't look nearly as nice as a dorm room," Sam smirked. "And anyway, you know my policy on pink decorations."

"Well what about the purple stickers then?" Carly asked. "You tolerate purple!"

"You gonna pay for them?" Sam asked.

"I was planning on it."

"Then knock yourself out, kid," Sam shrugged. "Don't know why you're already shopping for our dorm, though. We still have four months before we leave for college."

"I know, but aren't you excited?" Carly asked. "It's college, Sam!"

"Yay…harder classes, student loans, and ten times the amount of annoying people as high school," Sam said dryly. "Can't wait."

"I saw that Washington State t-shirt you bought at the mall," Carly grinned. "I know you're excited, Puckett."

"Am not," Sam mumbled, quickly looking away.

"Alright, alright," Carly chuckled. She looked down at her phone. "Hey, where's Freddie? I thought he was coming over for iCarly rehearsal."

"How should I know, I'm not the nub's keeper," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"But he's always on time for rehearsals," Carly frowned. "I wonder if-"

Just then the apartment door opened and Freddie hurried in. "Hey, sorry I'm late," he said, hanging up his jacket.

"Hey, we were just wondering where you were," Carly smiled.

"No, you were wondering," Sam corrected. "I could care less where you hang around, Benson."

"Oh how I won't miss those comments when I leave for college in September," Freddie sighed.

"Guys, be nice," Carly said.

"Sorry, Carly," Freddie said. "Anyway, I was late because I was walking Lisa back to her house."

"Aw, that's so sweet of you to walk your girlfriend back home," Carly said.

"I know," Freddie said proudly.

"I'm sure all of her neighbors were wondering what a creep like you was doing following her home," Sam said, getting to her feet and heading into the kitchen.

"Sam…" Carly sighed.

"Don't worry about her, Carly, I'm in too good a mood to let her get to me today," Freddie said. "I had a really great time with Lisa. We spent the whole day at the science museum, it was so much fun."

"Who takes their date to a museum?" Sam smirked.

"Lisa happens to enjoy science," Freddie snapped. "She had a great time. She told me herself. Hey, Carly, is Spencer home? I want to see if Socko's cousin still works at that aerospace museum across town. I was thinking he could hook me up with some tickets and I could surprise Lisa by taking her there for our one-month anniversary next weekend."

"Nah, he's out getting a pedicure with Gibby," Carly said. "But I'll ask for you when he gets back."

"Okay, thanks," Freddie smiled. "Alright, you two ready to go start rehearsal?"

"Yup," Carly nodded. "Oh! Hang on, I need to go move a few boxes out of the studio first."

"Boxes of what?" Freddie frowned.

"Stuff I'm packing for college," Carly replied.

"We don't leave for college for another four months, though," Freddie pointed out.

"Don't waste your breath," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"I'll only take a few seconds," Carly promised, heading towards the stairs.

"Okay," Freddie said, stepping into the kitchen and helping himself to a banana from the fruit bowl.

"I just know that chick's gonna try to start making me pack for college pretty soon," Sam said as Carly disappeared upstairs.

"Yeah, probably," Freddie nodded as his phone buzzed in his pocket.

"I don't understand why she needs months and months of preparation," Sam said as Freddie looked at his phone. "All you need to bring up to school is some clothes, pillows, sheets, slingshots, stink bombs, your laptop, and a few dozen crates of snacks. Even you're not packing for MIT yet, and you've been geeking out about going there for years, right?"

Freddie didn't reply; he was staring down at his phone with a confused expression.

"Dude?" Sam said. "Are you even listening to me? God, the one time I try to have an actual conversation with you that doesn't involve throwing stuff at you and you don't even pay attention? See, this is why I need to insult you and give you wedgies all the time."

"Huh? Um, sure," Freddie said, looking up from his phone. "Sounds good."

Sam frowned. "What's up?"

"Um, nothing," Freddie said quickly, shoving his phone back into his pocket. "Hey, um, I-I just realized I have to do, um, things back home. Right now. So can you just tell Carly I'm sorry and that we can rehearse tomorrow?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I know that look, Fredwash," Sam said. "That's your wazzed off look. What happened? Did they delay the new Galaxy Wars movie again."

"No," Freddie replied.

"Did you get a 'B' on your science project?"

"No!"

"Did you finally accept that you're stuck being a total nub for the rest of you life?"

"No!" Freddie exclaimed. "Look, I don't want to talk about it right now. Especially with you."

"What do you mean especially with me?" Sam frowned. "Hey! Get back here, Benson!"

She hurried over the front door and stood in front of it, preventing Freddie from leaving.

"Sam, come on, I'm not in the mood," Freddie sighed.

Suddenly, something in Sam's head clicked.

"It's Lisa, isn't it?" she said slowly.

Freddie didn't reply.

"Oh…" Sam nodded, his silence confirming her suspicion. "You're having problems with your little girlfriend."

"Drop it, Sam."

"Oh come on, I'm sure you're just being dramatic," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "Look, she's probably just upset that you made her spend the day in museums. So just call her up and tell her that you'll make it up to her by taking her out to a movie or something actually enjoyable, and everything will be fine."

"I can't call her up," Freddie mumbled under his breath.

"Why not?" Sam asked.

"Because…" Freddie said. "Because she-she dumped, me, okay?"

"What?" Sam said. "She dumped you?"

"That's right," Freddie said heavily. "I got dumped. Go ahead, start the teasing."

"Why'd she dump you?" Sam asked. "I thought things were going great between you two. You always went on and on about how great she was."

"I don't know why she dumped me," Freddie shrugged. "I-I did think things were going good between us."

"When did it happen?" Sam asked. "During your date today? Was everything you told me and Carly just a cover-up?"

"No!" Freddie said. "We-We did have fun there! She told me she had a great time and that she'd call me tonight."

"Wait, so if she didn't dump you at the museum today, then when did she dump you?" Sam asked, confused.

"About two minutes ago," Freddie sighed, holding up his phone. "She sent a text."

"You're kidding me," Sam said. "She dumped you through a text?"

"Yup," Freddie nodded. "She said that she that she didn't think she was getting what she wanted out of our relationship and that she wanted to end things and see other people."

"And she didn't think to tell you that in person when you were with her an hour ago?" Sam said. "What a coward!"

"Sam-"

"You can't dump somebody by text message!" Sam fumed. "That's the lowest move there is! Not even you deserve that! Lisa is a total skunksack! You know what you should do? You should egg her house or something! Oh! You could put a moldy sandwich in her locker so it smells. Or you could-"

"I'm not going to do any of that," Freddie said, sinking down on the couch.

"She dumped you over a text!"

"I know," Freddie said. "But I don't want to be some jerky guy who gives a girl a hard time over breaking up with him."

"Ugh, you and your 'being a bigger person' junk," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "So you're okay with this then? You're okay with being dumped over a text message?"

"I didn't say I was oaky with it," Freddie said. "I just don't want to get back at Lisa."

"Wow…you wouldn't make it ten minutes in Juvie," Sam said, shaking her head as she sat down next to him.

"I'm just really confused," Freddie said. "What do you think she meant when she said she wasn't getting what she wanted out of our relationship?"

"Er, you should probably ask Carly about that," Sam said. "I'm not good at reading into chick talk."

"I mean it sounds kind of like she-she didn't think I was a good boyfriend to her," Freddie said softly. "Maybe that's it…She dumped me because I was a terrible boyfriend."

"Dude…"

"No, I-I think that's it," Freddie said. "I mean I took her to the science museum! God, what was I thinking! And-And the other day she asked me if I wanted to go to a basketball game at school with her and I told her I couldn't because I had to work on a history project! Oh my God…I was horrible to her!"

"No, you weren't," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"But I-"

"Dude, you're a dork, you ramble on and on about weird chiz that nobody cares about, and you wear clothes picked out by your mom," Sam said. "You have about a million weird things going on with you at any given time."

"Thanks," Freddie muttered, looking down at his lap.

"But the one thing you're not is a bad boyfriend," Sam said sincerely.

Freddie looked up at her.

"Maybe Lisa dumped you because she just wasn't in to you," Sam said. "Maybe she dumped you because she was falling for some other guy. I don't know; there are a ton of reasons. But there's no way it was because you're a bad boyfriend."

"You think?" Freddie said.

"I would know, wouldn't I?" Sam said, giving him a small smile.

Freddie felt his cheeks flush. "Yeah…Yeah I guess you would."

"Anyway," Sam said, clearing her throat. "I still say you should at least put a snake or something in Lisa's purse for dumping you over a text, but if you want to 'take the high road' and just let it go, then whatever, do what you want."

"I think I'll be alright," Freddie said. "I mean I wish Lisa would've done this in person but, well, I've had more painful break-ups."

"You've had like, one other break-up," Sam smirked. "And that was with me."

"I know," Freddie said. "And…I don't feel nearly as bad right now as I did after that."

"You don't?"

"No," Freddie said. "It-It's kind of weird, actually…After we broke up I felt all depressed and down-in-the-dumps, but right now…I'm really okay."

"Well…great then," Sam said slowly. "But um, you should still probably take it easy for the rest of the day. Go home and watch a sci-fi flick or something. Carly will understand."

"Nah," Freddie said. "You know what? I think talking with you actually helped me feel better."

"Well you better not make a habit of trying to have talks about feelings and junk with me," Sam said, though she smiling playfully. "It's bad enough when Carly tries to force these moments out of me. You get one more minute of this and then we're back to normal, you got it?"

"One more minute?" Freddie repeated.

"Well fifty seconds now," Sam said. "I've already started my timer."

"Okay," Freddie said. He moved closer to Sam and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. "Thanks Sam. What you said about me not being a bad boyfriend, I-I really needed to hear that. I guess that was just an issue that I was a little insecure about, but you-ow! Hey! Did you just give me a wedgie?"

"Well I told you, you had a time limit," Sam smirked as the two pulled away. "You should've kept an eye on your watch. Now come on, let's get up to the studio. Carly's probably wondering where we are."