"Real- ...Me?"

She just looked at me for a second before speaking.

"Is it that hard to believe?"

"Well, I just-"

"I've been fighting the urge to kiss you for over a year now."

"I-"

She threw her hands up and began venting to the ceiling.

"Come on, Sam, don't tell me you haven't thought about it. Don't tell me it doesn't haunt your dreams and-"

"Carly!"

Her eyes found mine again. I smiled, finding her frustration cute.

"I-..."

My eyes darted to the left towards the door, then slowly to the ground, then back up at her. I found that it was hard to speak at this moment in time. Of course I'd thought about it; I'd thought about it more than I thought about kissing any boy. Did that mean I was-

"Yeah, I have."

I smirked, caught up in one of those ephiphanous moments, where every little clue that I failed to pick up on when I was younger suddenly made sense. The army men in place of Barbies, the constant gawking over other women that I thought only meant I wanted to be like them, the lack of interest in guys, the boyish style of clothing and the hating of dresses. Then later, the awkward feeling that encompassed me when Carly would come out of the shower in just a towel, the way I watched her lips move as she talked, the way I hung on her every word, the smile that seemed to creep across my face when she would say or do something that I thought was cute, the fact that I found things she said or did to be cute. Hell, she was cute. These weren't normal, best friend occurrances. At least, I didn't think they were.

"Sam, we-"

I stepped toward her and hooked an arm around her waist, pulling her close to me and crashing our lips together again. I pulled my head back a bit, then kissed her again, and again, not wanting to ever stop.

Suddenly, the door knob bean to jiggle and, before I could back away from Carly, Ms. Briggs jerked the door open and planted herself in the doorway.

"What the- What the hell are you two doing in my house?"

I dropped my arm from Carly's waist and turned to my teacher.

"I, uhh, just checking out your Randy shrine, Francie. Looks good, yep!"

Grabbing Carly's hand, I went to push past the short Scottish woman but she stopped me with a hand on my shoulder.

"No you don't, Puckett. I'm not letting you off that easy. Now, tell me what business you two have hiding in my shrine, euh, closet!"

Carly shoved me out of the way, realizing I would do nothing but make this situation worse than it already was, and she was right.

"We were doing some research for our next iCarly segment."

"In my closet? With your hands all over each other?"

My eyes widened; Carly froze.

"We were-"

"Carly's back was hurting, I was only trying to find the knot and massage it out...it's what best friends do!"

I touched Carly's back and she pretended to wince.

"Yep, there it is. Now, if you'll excuse us.."

I looked up at Ms. Briggs. She gave us a once-over and sidestepped out of the way, taking in a deep breath and unleashing her shrill voice right into my ear.

"Get out of my house before I call the cops, you hooligans!"

As we sprinted out, I heard the same dog tags from before rapidly jingling behind us. That damned dog was chasing us. Carly let out a shriek and threw herself against the glass door, trying with all her might to pull it open. I snickered and looked behind me at the dog. It was a small Scottish terrier who's head barely came up to my calf. No threat there.

"Might wanna unlock the door, Carls."

I pointed to the black latch behind the handle. She giggled and flipped it up; then jerked the door open and we fled out of it.

"Peace, Francine!"

And there she was again, sauntering out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel, making me awkward and feel like I shouldn't look at her.

"You know, you're not bad at improv."

I chuckled.

"Yeah, getting out of sticky situations is an art of mine."

She laughed and sat on the bed beside me. Awkward, yet exciting.

"So..."

Reluctantly, I peered over at her. She was staring at me with a foreboding gleam in her eyes.

"So..."

My face twisted into a look of worry.

"We need to talk about what happened, Sam."

I sighed quietly.

"Yeah."

I looked away.

"We kissed."

"How did it feel?"

I didn't really have to think about it at all. It was lovely. Kissing her made me feel things I had never felt before.

"It was good. You're a great kisser."

I smiled at the blanket in front of me then looked at her. She seemed discontented with my answer.

"Emotionally, Sam."

"Carly, can we do this after you put some clothes on?"

I shot her an uneasy grin. She just giggled at me.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?"

I laughed sarcastically at the rhetorical question.

"Are you trying to make me think bad thoughts? You can't sit there in a towel and expect me to just be okay. You do things to me, Carly. Things!"

My discomfort was showing all over my face and in my body language.

"Things? So the kiss did affect you?"

"Of course it affected me. Why do you think I kissed you the second time?"

I paused.

"Clothes, woman!"

She stood up and went over to her dresser to find pajamas, all the while smiling. And then it ocurred to me: sleeping next to her tonight was going to be harder than it had ever been before. I shook my head; back to the topic at hand.

"So it was a good experience?"

I didn't look at her while responding, as she was changing into her pajamas.

"Umm...definitely...good."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I, uhh...it made me feel all tingly and stuff."

"Tingly..."

"It felt right..."

She walked back over to the bed and sat down beside me, positioning herself in my direction.

"It did."

I looked up at her, any doubts far from my mind. She was smiling, a twinkle in her eye, lips begging me to take them and make them mine. I gently touched her face with my right hand, giving her fair warning of what I was about to do. Leaning forward, I pressed my lips to hers, noting that they were very soft and luscious. I pulled back then kissed her again, this time opening my lips some. She mimicked me and allowed my tongue to slide into her mouth and onto hers. They danced together so naturally like it had been done a thousand times before. It did feel right; it felt like this should have happened long ago, like it was meant to be this way: she and I. Carly and Sam: the "and" wasn't just an article anymore, it was a connection, an identifier that let people know what we were. Not that we were dating or anything, but that we were like soul mates or something. That's what it felt like, anyway. When I linked my fingers with hers, they felt like they belonged there; like our hands were two conjoining puzzle pieces, made for one another and intended to fit together. She broke the kiss, eyes closed, lips still parted, almost out of breath. As her eyes opened, I could see they were glazed over with tears.

"Carls, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just...so happy."

I smiled, still minutely stuck in my own reverie.

"I like you. Really like you. More than a best friend should."

Pausing, I caught my breath.

"So, what are we gonna do about this?"

Okay so...reviews, please? I need to know if you guys like where this is going so I can continue. :) As always, thanks so much for reading!