A/N: hey, just a bit of shout out to those who posted a review. PD31, SirRay, cameddie and one anonymous guest; I appreciate the compliments :) To tell you the truth, this was just a product of a very long winded writer's block and of course constant listening to the band aforementioned Not to worry though, I'll see to it that this is done. I'll need you're insights though, I'm fairly new to this by the way. But I try. :D On to the next chapter.
Arriving to her decision, Sam walks inside not even attempting to hide her presence while wearing a neutral expression on her face. Stopping about two meters from the bed, Freddie felt her presence and stiffened as he was half naked jeans and shoes still on propped on top a slender bodied teen, long brown hair and very prominent cheek bones.
Looking to see what had made Freddie stiffen on top of her, she peered over his shoulder only to catch sight of one of Freddie's best friends, Sam. "Argh, not again, I swear Freddie, everytime…" Sam would know that voice and added the very prominent cheekbones she only seen once. She heard Shelby Marx groan in frustration and sighed at her last word.
Freddie scoffed and got off of Shelby as he rolled to her left, revealing her to be half naked as well and lay down looking up at the ceiling, "Hey Sam, sup?" Freddie sighed and greeted Sam.
This left Sam for the second time tonight utterly shocked, after a moment, "What the hell Freddie!? This is what you meant when you said you had plans for the night?" Sam said in a barely controlled voice, "And Shelby! Would you please put your shirt back on… no way I'm leaving here anytime soon." She crossed her arms and mumbled the last part but was still caught by the brown haired teen fighter.
Shelby chuckled at Sam's words and stood up to pick up her discarded shirt and leather jacket. She then sat back down on the bed crossed legged beside Freddie, wearing an expectant expression.
Sam raised an eyebrow at how Shelby seemed unconcerned despite the fact the she had just caught her and Freddie in the middle of a very 'intimate' activity. "Well?" Sam asked when the two had remained silent with unconcerned, not even a trace of guilt expression.
It was Freddie that broke the silence, "To answer your question, no, this isn't what I meant when I said I had plans for the night." Freddie held a hand up to signal that he's not finished. "I went to the gym, found Shelby, asked me to spar with her, she caught me in a grapple hold, I reversed it, and things got heated, again, so we went back here." Freddie recounted in a nonchalant tone.
Sam blinked, thinking if she heard right. "Wait, did you just say again!? How long has this been going on?" She asked unable to hide a bit of hurt from her voice.
Freddie sighed, but it was Shelby that answered the question. "I don't know, since about three weeks ago right Freddie?" Freddy nodded.
"So are you two boyfriend and girlfriend since 'this' started?" Sam did a circular motion with her hand gestured towards the two.
Shelby simply answered, "nope, more like uhmm, friends with benefits."
Sam dropped her arms, and pressed a palm to her forehead with the other arm on her waist. "I don't believe this, how did this start? No wait, don't answer that." Sam said, earning a chuckle from Freddie and Shelby. "Freddie, I need to talk to you in private."
Shelby stood up. "I guess that's my cue to leave." She then leaned back down to Freddie to give him a quick peck on the lips, "See you tomorrow Freddie."
Halfway to the door, Freddie called Shelby. "Shelby, take my car, I'll jog to the gym tomorrow." He said as he tossed his keys to her.
"Thanks, later Sam. Try not to have too much fun." Shelby teased in a dulcet tone as she closed the door.
Sam turned to say something but Shelby had left, so she turns back to Freddie that had already gotten up and walked to the hanging sand bag that's near his pear phone music jack set up which is now playing a slow and sensual tune. Sam shuddered at the thought of what the two must now be doing if she hadn't interrupted.
"What are you doing?" Sam asked while Freddie was changing his playlist.
"Blowing off some 'steam', give me a minute." Freddie nonchalantly said as he put on a 'post hardcore genre' playlist, he then proceeded to wear his thin boxing gloves used on the sand bag and let out coordinated blows and boxing combos on it.
Sam just stood frozen, the face he's wearing is neutral, but the look in his eyes; was something she had never seen from Freddie, not even in all those times that she had gone a bit overboard with her physical abuse on him. The look in his eyes is no longer guarded but the emotion his brown orbs radiated was that of cold anger, he threw punches without mercy; Sam was only thankful that he had kept his focus on the sand bag but she had remained motionless nonetheless.
After what Sam had counted about a total of three songs; Freddie stopped, took off his gloves, turned off the music, wiped himself with a towel, put on a shirt and turned to Sam. "So, what did you wanna talk about?" He asked in an expectant tone and expression that Sam knew too well to be very well rehearsed as he had been doing this since, Carly started dating Steven! It dawned on her.
"What's this all about Freddie?" Sam asked hoping he'd be honest with her.
"What do you mean?" Freddie asked in return with a smirk.
"This!" gesturing to Freddie, "This change, you're never around unless it's for the show, why do you think we schedule more rehearsals than before; when you talk to just about anybody, you're guarded and calculating with very well practiced expressions, you run off to God knows where every time we invite you to just laze around and hangout. Well I guess I've solved that mystery now." Sam said with an increasing difficulty to control the volume of her voice.
Freddie chuckled at Sam's last statement as he moved to sit on the bed, "Why don't you sit down Sam." He invited and rolled his eyes when Sam's frown turned into a look of worry and slightly a bashful expression as she struggled to suppress a blush trying to replace the flush of anger on her face. "I'm not gonna do anything to you, here, I'll sit on one side while you sit on the other far end side."
Sam nodded and sat cross legged by the headrest of the bed while Freddie sat on the foot of the bed with his legs stretched out and leaned his back on the wall. "So you've noticed all those huh? Damn, and here I thought I was getting better at it." Freddie said and snorted out a short laugh.
"Maybe you could have fooled other people, you could've even fooled your mom, but we're you best friends Freddie." Sam said with emphasis.
Freddie contemplated for a moment, "Hmm, have you and Carly talked about this?" He asked.
"Yes, she's more troubled by it than I am; I even thought that I may have caused this with what I did at the Lock in. I figured you'd come around if you're ready to talk about it." Sam said as she looked down and fiddled with her thumbs avoiding his gaze.
Freddie chuckled, "Hey Sam" he called out so she'd look at him, "If anything you gave me a way to numb the pain; heck you saved me, if you have any idea what I planned to do after giving you that pep talk about Brad…" He shook his head in disgust at his thoughts.
Sam had a confused expression, "What were you gonna do?"
"Let's just say that it would have effectively canceled all the future Lock-ins at Ridgeway, I never would have been able to trade in my Toyota for that old gt500 Mustang and restored it, and a certain iCarly tech producer would have made the news the next day while you guys order a tomb stone." Freddie said with an even tone.
Sam's eyes widened and asked again wanting a straight answer, "What were you gonna do!?" She asked more forceful this time.
Freddie looked at Sam, trying to asses if he should tell her. "I was gonna go up to the roof top and jump off of it Sam." He said in a tone as if he was talking to a child, "I had timed the pear pad to play a video of me stating my reasons for what I have done but I deleted it after you left, to go to Carly I suppose, after you kissed me."
"What were you gonna say in the video?" Sam asked in a dead tone, horror written all over her face.
Freddie snorted, "I know you've already figured it out since we started talking, you just want details, and I don't think you really want to hear it so just get to your point Sam." He said in a surprisingly conversational tone.
"You're still in love with Carly." Sam said meeting his gaze.
Freddie smirked, "I don't know if what I felt…" he rolled his eyes when Sam gave him a look of disbelief, "Fine, still feel for her could ever justify the word, but I knew there was only one thing I could do to finally let her go and 'move on'. Who knew that constant pain bull I fed myself would come back to haunt me? I guess I just couldn't take it anymore and just wanted it all to end."
"So fooling around is plan B that I unintentionally gave you!?" Sam asked with more life on her voice.
"If it keeps me alive, then yeah, you never know; I might find someone I can start salvaging my heart with." He said in an optimistic tone.
"Shelby's just the recent one isn't she?" Sam asked basing on a hunch.
"Well, Wendy was so much like Carly that it was kinda emotionally hurtful for the both of us, she said she understood after our third night, then I got in touch with Tasha, but that didn't work out after about a week. So when I went to the gym about three weeks ago, well, you get the picture." Freddie recounted.
"You could have asked me." Sam mumbled, she avoided his eyes and didn't even bother to suppress her blush.
Freddie sighed, "I can't hurt you like that Sam. In a different universe I may have considered it, the best friend of the girl I love, but here? No. You don't deserve to be just a back up. You deserve someone better than me, I'm broken Sam, shattered pieces of my heart are scattered all over the place, and I won't let you settle for that." Freddie said and let out a tired breath.
Sam blinked and looked up at Freddie; she never knew he's thought a lot more about it than she did. Sure she knew he could be mushy and romantic but to think that he'd considered a relationship with her in a lot deeper sense surprised her. So he's cared that much all along, She thought.
"I understand… I didn't know you cared that much." Sam said still with a bit of surprise in her voice. "So are you just gonna keep on going like this?" She asked with a concerned tone.
Freddie shrugged his shoulders, "I've got nothing else to do, when I'm at school, I'm in auto drive, listen to teachers, answer the question if you know the answer, take notes for exams and ask when you don't understand. When I'm at home, I try to tune out mom while I blow through my hobbies. To be honest, there are only two things that keep me going, doing iCarly with you guys and working out at gym or sparring with Shelby." He said, then Sam threw him a disgusted look, "Not 'that' kind of sparring, she is a CFC fighter remember?" Freddie cleared to Sam and chuckled.
"I guess I can come and hang out with you and Carly again… but I expect you to understand when I just happen to make an excuse for a quick escape, being in close proximity with Carly… well, she just reminds me of how twisted and broken I am, how sick I was; I can only last for so long before…" Freddie let out an exhausted breath seeming lost for words, so Sam just nodded in understanding.
Freddie shared a semi comfortable yet at the same time semi uncomfortable silence with Sam. He snorted a short laugh after a moment and said, "I bet you've never had a Friday night like this…"
Sam looked up to him and shook her head, "No, not one where I felt so utterly useless."
"It's getting late, let's go down. I gotta get some sleep; Shelby's not good at holding back after all and after tonight. We'll you know." Freddie said to Sam with a smirk.
They both got up from the bed and headed down to the 8th floor. Freddie and Sam rounded the corner to the hallway between the Benson's and Shay's. The moment Sam stood in front of the Shay's apartment door to knock (or pick it if nobody answers), the door swings open revealing Carly on the other side, "Where have you been!? I was about to call the cops! Nobody was answering at your house and you left here without telling Spencer or txting me where you were going!" Carly asked in a less than subtle tone to hide her worry.
Sam gaped like a fish out of water for a moment, and then she noticed Carly peer over her shoulder, so she made it easy for her to see by turning to one side. "Oh, hey Freddie." Carly bashfully greeted as she brought up her left hand to her right elbow.
Freddie turned around, "Hey Carly. Little early for your date to be over isn't it?"
"I didn't wanna be out too late." Carly responded. Freddie raised an eyebrow, something felt off to him. "Were you with Sam?" jealousy laced her tone, "Wait, I thought I saw your car drive out from the parking lot before I entered the lobby."
"Oh that was Shelby, it was getting late and we drove here in my car, lent it to her so she can go home. Sam sorta interrupted us, so Sam and I have just been talking. Anyway, I'm tired. Goodnight girls." Freddie turned and went inside his apartment leaving Carly confused.
When Sam was sure that Freddie had gone to his room she shrugged and said, "I caught them making out in his old rented room, didn't know he kept it; he turned it into a mini gym with the sand bags, weights and mats, there's even a fridge and a bed."
Carl stood wide eyed in shock, "Making out!?... With Shelby Marx!?..." She exclaimed with her eyes darting from one thing to another. "You said there was a bed… did they uhh… were… were they… did they have their clothes on?" Carly timidly asked avoiding Sam's eyes as she was unable to keep her face from turning scarlet.
Sam snorted and giggled, "Oh they had their clothes on…" She said while nodding, "From the waist down." She teased with a sly grin.
Carly's face by then could match a tomato, and then a pang of jealousy out of nowhere rose up from her chest, "Is Shelby uhhh… Freddie's girlfriend?" She asked looking at her thumbs.
Sam laughed for a moment, "You're gonna have to asked him yourself Carls." She held her hands up in surrender and said, "Hey, not my story to tell cupcake, we can wait for him to finish his weekend workout tomorrow."
Carly huffed out a disappointed breath and stomped her way to her bedroom like a child deprived of sweets, lips pouting and all. Sam followed suit laughing at her best friend's reaction and entertained a passing thought, Geez Carly, it takes Freddie trying to move on from you for you to realize you're in love with him. If you only knew what that boy almost did to finally let you go. She lets out sigh before she follows Carly inside the bedroom.
A/N: I wonder if that was too short for anyone's liking, anyways; drop some reviews and comments on what you think. You're also welcome to add in some insights or ideas on how I should proceed.
