THE AFTERMATH OF iCARLY

Freddie: just think before you speak

Today was weird, he thought. One minute they were sipping smoothies at the Groovy Smoothie and the next Brad shows up out of nowhere. Then he walks Sam Puckett home only to be told that she "doesn't want to see him getting hurt". Yep, today was weird.

He turned to face the door that she'd disappeared behind moments earlier and raised his fist to knock on it, but stopped himself.

All he wanted was her to come clean and tell him the honest truth. That was it. It bothered him that Sam wouldn't tell him exactly how she was feeling. The truth. That was a little too much to expect from a girl who'd been brought up with the notion that lying about things reduced the pain and suffering. Just like the other notion of crying not being a healthy way to express your emotions. She wasn't like other girls.

The boy lowered his hand, bit his lip and walked away from the door. Resisting all temptation.

Coming to think of it, Freddie had never once seen Sam cry. Sure he'd seen her sad. The night that Carly left for Italy proved that the blonde headed demon had some feeling inside of her. They even sat together, brooding over the departure of their best friend.

Freddie sighed and walked back to the Bushwell Plaza, in dire need of a heart-to-heart with Carly. But her not being in the country was a huge road-block. Great, the only person in the entire universe that actually knows Samantha Puckett was not there. He sighed once more and looked up at the sky. There was a slight chance that someone up there could help him - he hadn't attended church in a long time. It was something that his mother and he used to do together. He sure could use some sort of miracle right about now.

His phone rang. He looked at the screen and an unknown number flashed across it. He ignored the call. They'd leave a message if it was so important. No message was left after all that. Then a text message came through.

'freddie, its brad. do u haf Sam's no.?'

So it was Brad who tried calling him. He must've kept his phone number. Why didn't he keep Sam's?

He typed back to Brad: 'sure do. y?'

'i need 2 ask her sumthing' came the reply.

'ok. gud luck dude' he typed, along with Sam's phone number.

'thanks man. i o u.'

Freddie laughed at the message in front of him. Then his mind wandered to other places, such as: what was so critical that Brad needed Sam's number? Was he interested in her? Something churned in the pit of his stomach as he swung the apartment door open. The doorman was no where to be seen.

If Brad was going to ask Sam out... would she accept?

That was ridiculous. Of course she wasn't going to just say "yes" to dating Brad. Although she did look quite happy to see him when he "bumped into them" by "accident" whilst they were enjoying smoothies together. No, come on man, he thought. That couldn't be possible. Sam liked him, not Brad.

Besides, maybe it wasn't about asking her on a date. Maybe Brad wanted to... help her with a job application. He forced a smile and grabbed out his keys, dropping them as his mind ticked over again. He bent down to pick them up. Why did he think it was so crazy? Sam is, for all intents and purposes, beautiful. Although if you said that to her face, you'd probably not live to see another day. Definitely not a risk worth taking.

He walked in, closed the door and made his way to the kitchen. There was note on the fridge saying that his mom was doing a late-shift at the hospital and dinner was ready to put into the oven.

"Thanks mom," he said out loud.

Later on that evening, he pulled out his phone and checked for any other messages. And his phone rang, as if the universe was listening to his every thought.

"Hello?"

There was no response for a little while. "Hey Freddie."

"Have you eaten all that chocolate covered bacon yet?" He was joking, and the voice on the other end laughed softly too.

"What if I have eaten it all?"

Freddie was tempted to ask her why she was calling. Perhaps a few years ago, he would have. But he knew better than to do something like that. It was best to let her come to you. Which is why he hadn't made any attempt to ask her out on a date - it would have scared her off.

"Listen, Brad asked me for your phone number," he finally says. Just a statement of the truth, really.

"I know," she replies. "He called me to ask me to-"

"Go on a date with him?"

"Well, not exactly. His sister is getting married, and he needed a date for her wedding."

There was silence. Freddie's heart thumped loudly against his rib-cage as he thought of something smart to say. But nothing popped into his mind. All he could visualise was Sam and Brad drinking champagne, dancing at the wedding reception, watching the bride and groom all happy... and when it would come time for the bride to throw her bouquet-

"Fredward," she interrupts his thoughts. "I told you I'm not into Brad like that."

"Are you trying to convince me or are you trying to convince yourself?"

He immediately regretted the words just slipping out of his mouth - he was out of control. Sam sighed on the other end of the phone, and he could hear some bitterness in her voice as she spoke the next words. He deserved every ounce of spite and sass that she was about to serve him. He also knew that this was far from over.

"Why? Are you jealous?" She was teasing him. But he wasn't about to fall for that trick.

"What do I have to be jealous about?"

There was a long pause. Freddie shut his eyes, opening his mouth ready to apologise. But then... a verbal attack!

"I hate you."

"No you don't."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"And you heard me! I hate you, Freddork Benson. Always have, always will."

"And I'm saying that you are lying."

"Go to hell."

"You first."

"Bastard."

"Bitch."

"Moron."

That was it. The straw that broke the camel's back. Fredward Benson had finally snapped.

"Just... grow up, Puckett! I can't wait for you to make up your mind! I know you like me! My patience has run out. You either tell me the truth right now, or I ring Angela and ask her out on a second date."

A pause. The other end of the line was silent for good minute and a half. Freddie shut his eyes and sighed. Really, he was sick and tired of her little mind games.

"How do you-"

"Don't try to change the subject. Well...?"

"Have fun on your second date."

"So that's it? What are you so afraid of? You know I'm not going to hurt you."

"Goodbye Fredward."

That was the end of that conversation/argument. The line went dead. He groaned in sheer frustration. The girl was infuriating, annoying and a complete coward. Freddie was angry at her, and perhaps more so at himself. Why did he have to ruin their friendship? He shouldn't have said anything. And now, because he did, she was running scared.

He felt like a complete idiot.

They hadn't fought like this in a while. It was always just shoved under the proverbial carpet and there was nothing they could do or say to make it disappear. Here he was, convincing himself that she liked him. The question he should have been asking was: 'if Sam and Brad date, why does that scenario bug me so much?' It was like she said. He was jealous. That meant that he liked Sam, just as much as she liked him. Sam was jealous of him and Angela dating, that had to be it.

Now he really felt like a complete idiot.

By pushing her into saying something she was obviously not ready to say yet, he was pushing her away from him and right into Brad's waiting embrace. Wedding or no wedding. Those two had every right to begin dating. Freddie didn't like that idea.

But it was his own damn fault. If only he'd shut up and just acted like he didn't know anything of her feelings, they'd still be talking on the phone right now.

There was only one thing he could do. He dialled Angela's number, and waited for her to answer. It rang several times, until her voice-mail answering machine spoke: "This is Angela, sorry I'm unavailable right now. But please leave a short message, your name and number and I'll get back to you soon. Thanks!" There was a beep. He recorded his message, stumbling through it. Leaving messages was awkward.

"Hey Angela, it's Freddie. Listen, I'd like to take you out on a second date. If you're keen. Let me know. Oh, it's Freddie, by the way. I think I said that already. Okay, bye."

He threw his phone down and lay on the couch in the living room, waiting for a response. Perhaps she was busy... perhaps... oh wait! He recalled her saying something about Thursday being her webcasting day - she would have been right in the middle of that. He closed his eyes and focused on his second date with Angela and not the fact that Sam would be attending Brad's sister's wedding with Brad. Brad all dressed up in a tux. Sam all pretty and girly wearing a nice dress and heels... her golden curls swishing around as they both waltz around the ballroom...

Stop it, he told himself. You're making it worse. Come on Angela, I'm counting on you. Ring me back.