THE AFTERMATH OF iCARLY

Freddie: what is life?

It had happened so quickly. They caught the bus from Ridgeway mall, right to his apartment. And they were involved in a tickle war. Freddie was winning.

The girl underneath his hands wriggled and giggled whilst telling him to stop the tickle torture. It was her own fault for telling him she wasn't ticklish. At least, that was his version of the story. Whilst he tickled her, he felt a sense of guilt wash over him - this is something Sam and he would usually do. Ugh, Sam.

"We need to focus here," says Angela, through her giggles.

"I know," he replies.

It had come down to this. Angela offered to concoct a plan with him so he could get Sam back. Not that he was entirely sure that anything would work. Not after he had laughed in her face after she confessed exactly what he'd wanted to hear. But it was unbelievable to him. He's not even sure why he laughed. It just kind of... happened.

Putting aside the fact that he was probably the biggest jerk on the face of the Earth right now, he looked at the girl and let her sit up.

Angela sat up and immediately fixed her hair, which was all messed up from the tickle torture before. Freddie watched her be all fussy and it reminded him of Carly. Carly had always cared about her appearance. If anyone touched her hair, you wouldn't have lived to tell the tale. It was weird that she became so "Sam-like" when it came down to what she looked like - and in particular her hair.

"Now, we have step one. That's your apology."

"Along with the chocolate-covered bacon," Freddie nods as if it would solve his problems with Sam. Angela cringes. "What?"

"Girls tend to respond better to flowers, or jewellery."

It was Freddie's turn to cringe.

He imagined the reaction from the blonde headed demon if he rocked up on her doorstep with the cliché 'red roses' and 'a box of chocolates'. It involved the chocolates being snatched from his trembling hands, the flowers being stomped on and him being thrown down the stairs at the front of her house with a few swear words thrown in for good measure. He shuddered at the thought.

"I don't think that's a good-" Freddie began.

"Do you want Sam back or not?" Angela interrupted.

"Yeah but-"

"You're getting her flowers."

"But-"

"No buts! This is important!"

"Angela you-"

"Shush!"

That was final. It would only make matters worse for him. But who was he to go against "girl advice" from a girl? She obviously was speaking from experience. Freddie sighed and decided he could always sneak Sam a bag of chocolate-covered bacon later, without Angela seeing it. Wait... he wanted to go see Sam secretly? Apparently he did. Pushing that thought aside, he watched Angela closely. She was quite a pretty girl.

The girl beside him wrote something down and handed it to him wordlessly. He looked down at it and screwed up his nose. She had to be kidding!

"There's NO way Sam's gonna like a poem," the boy says, scrunching up the paper.

"All girls love poetry!" Haha, this girl didn't know Sam at all. Freddie shook his head.

"Not her."

There was a silence as the two of them stared at each other, not angrily or anything. It was just a thoughtful silence. The type your mom gives you when you ask "what's for dinner?"- then she inevitably says "food". Then you go into your own thoughtful silence, wondering what is actually for dinner.

Freddie made a mental note to ask his mother what was for dinner that night.

"So, she doesn't like flowers, jewellery or poetry?" Angela asks, eyes full of disbelief.

"That's Samantha Puckett for you."

He then wondered if he had jumped to that conclusion a little too quickly. He recalled what Carly had said a while ago, something about her just wanting to be accepted and loved. Did that mean flowers and chocolates? Or maybe it just meant spending his spare time with her - and not laughing in her face.

As he buried his face in his hands. He felt a hand pat his shoulder softly, as though it provided comfort to his problem. Yeah, the problem of being an idiot.

"There, there," she says. "Maybe... maybe you should stick to what you know she likes... even if it is bacon."

Bacon. Sam's most favourite thing in the whole world - according to her, that is. Freddie looks up at Angela, who is still there, with her pretty looking smile. He reaches over and touches her hair gently and sees her face slowly turn red. She was blushing. He pulled his hand away.

"Sorry."

"It's okay."

"Not really."

Angela giggles and rests her head on his shoulder. He immediately smells her shampoo - strawberries. He didn't mind her lying on him. He didn't mind at all.

"Angela?"

"Hmm?" He notices the dream-like sound to her voice and her eyes are closed.

"I am sorry for messing everything up."

"Feelings can't be helped..."

Her voice trails off and Freddie feels another guilty wave wash right over him.

The girl raises her head, and their noses are very close to touching. It would be easy to lean across and kiss her. At least that's what he was urging himself to do. Well, one half of him screamed out "yes" and the other screamed out "no". The screaming got so loud that he felt a headache coming on.

Their eyes met. His flickered to her lips - the same lips that pecked his cheek on the night of their first date. They looked soft. His hand reached up and he brushed a finger over them slightly. He heard her breath hitch in her throat. The guilt faded slightly, but was still there. He knew he'd never forgive himself for doing this. As he leaned closer and closer, Angela's eyes widened almost to the size of saucers. Freddie's finger left her lips and replaced it with his own mouth.

It was happening. And he was enjoying himself far too much.

The same could not be said for the girl whose lips he was attached to. She was stiff as board the whole time and finally snapped back into reality, enough to force him away from her face. They looked at one another, not taking their eyes off of one another.

"Freddie!" Angela gasped.

A lot of thoughts were running through his mind currently. He had kissed her, fully on the lips. She had pushed him away and was now probably hating him. The worst thing was though, he wanted to kiss her again. It's not that he was a jerk... Sam and he weren't dating each other.

So... why did he feel so damned guilty about it? Perhaps, says a little voice deep inside him, because Sam means a lot more to you than you realise.

"I need to-" starts the girl, standing up quickly.

"Don't leave!" Freddie says, grabbing her hand, pulling her back down to him. His brain is screaming at him to stop. "I've wanted to do that since we met."

"But not like this!"

There were tears in her eyes. Damn it, he thought. Damn myself for allowing it to happen. His insides instantly knotted up. She was going to burst into tears and it was all his fault. He had always promised himself that the one thing he'd never do was make a girl cry. He had failed big time. Here was a pretty girl sitting in front of him, starting to sob. His heart pounded and he wanted to flush his own head down a toilet.

Angela sniffed and he quickly pulled her into a hug. She sobbed into his shoulder - like some cliché movie scene from a bad rom-com.

Freddie held her tightly, comforting her. Not that he was sorry for what had happened, such as kissing her. Oh no, he thought. He could kiss her again and agaoin and still not apologise for it. The girl was most likely a good kisser. Just like Sam. But something about Sam's kisses were full of something he hadn't felt whilst kissing Angela. The passion just exploded from both him and Sam. Much like the time they... well... shared their first time.

"I c-can't kiss you," she sobs. "It wouldn't b-be right. Sam l-loves you, a-and you love Sam."

He doesn't say anything, and holds her tighter, trying to make her hurt go away. If only his feelings for Sam weren't existent. But you can't control the way you feel about another person. Ugh, feelings. He rests his chin on top of the girl's head.

"Freddie, I like you."

The girl trembles now as she looks up at him, he looks down at her. The boy wipes the tears from her eyes and strokes her back and her hair gently, in comfort. He doesn't want to tell her exactly what he's thinking. Because it involves physical intimacy, which she'd be against, because of him and Sam and their feelings for one another.

Ugh, he thought. Feelings.

"Freddie, I..."

His finger slips under her chin, tilting her face up. He wasn't even sure why kissing her seemed like a great idea - it just did. And that explanation just covered it all. She was there, she said she liked him. She said she couldn't kiss him. But she didn't say she didn't WANT to. There was a difference, in his opinion.

The opportunity reared its head once more. This time though, Angela closes her eyes, and she's expecting to be kissed by him this time.

Their lips meet in a soft and gentle embrace, and they're both kissing each other. Freddie's stomach knots up even further, as the memory of the times that he and Sam had kissed springs into his mind. He tries to block them out and focus on the girl with him now. Her hands slide around his neck and her head tilts more to the side.

It felt nice. It wasn't meant to feel nice. It was meant to feel wrong, and he was meant to forget his thoughts about kissing her. Damn it! He thought.

Her lips didn't pull away for a while. He wanted to punch himself in the stomach and yell to his reflection WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? But it didn't happen. Angela was a lovely girl. And he was kissing her. There was nothing else to it. Carly, he thought. I have screwed everything up now. He was definitely a jerk. There was no point in denying it. Not that he ever did, since the thing with Sam came out of nowhere.

Sam.

He still loves her more than he could ever say or think about. The only question that could be asked of himself now was: "What is life?"