THE AFTERMATH OF iCARLY

Sam: a date with a fudge-making legend

After crying the whole night, and not getting much sleep, it was going to be a fairly laid-back day.

That was until her phone rang. The name on the screen was Brad and his cheerful picture made her feel a little less sad. There was one thing that she wanted to accomplish and that was to stop feeling sad. She hated feeling sad, just as much as sad people around her made her angry too. It just wasn't her thing.

"Hello Brad," she says. He must've sense something was wrong, in her voice. Damn it!

"Hey Sam, are you okay?" Brad replies, voice full of concern.

"I'm fine." Feeling anything but.

"You don't sound fine."

There was a slience between them, and she couldn't bring herself to tell him what was really happening. Telling Gibby was bad enough - although he was an okay kid to talk to. But this was Brad, the fudge-making legend who seemed to always be in a good mood.

"But I am." Liar, she told herself. "What's up?"

"I was actually wondering if you would like to see a movie with me, I have these tickets and-"

"I'd love to." She cut off the rest of his sentence.

Anything to get her out of the house and away from her own misery was bound to be a good thing. Sam thought it's exactly what she needed. A movie date with Brad. She could hear him smiling that cute-looking smile and it seemed to be contagious. Yep, she thought, a movie date with Brad.

"Great! I'll come around soon. We can grab a smoothie before going."

"Sure. See you ... soon."

He chuckles and he says 'bye' and hangs up.

She decides to put on something a little bit nicer this time, rather than the same clothes she'd been wearing all week. Not that he'd care, probably. It was weird to think of Brad being her "boyfriend" ... especially when Freddie had told her that he still loved her not even twenty-four hours ago.

Only twenty-four hours ago? It seemed like a year ago.

The knock on her door snapped her back into the present, and she whisked out of her room and opened the door. She could see Brad was checking her out. She did a kind of sexy-looking pose - and he grabbed his phone out and snapped a photo of her. She wasn't sure why she felt like being so damned girly today. Perhaps Freddie had something to do with it... and the way he had broken her heart. She tried not to think about it.

"You look hot," he says.

"Thanks dude," she replies. "You don't look too shabby either."

Brad grins and offers her his arm like a gentleman. The thought of Freddie doing the same thing crept into her mind, and she immediately pushed it aside. No, she thought. Be with Brad, Puckett. He was nice to invite you out somewhere, so be with him today. Not with "you-know-who".

"I brought you a little something."

Please be fudge, please be fudge, please be- she kept hoping. Until he brought out a plastic box with a blue ribbon around it, with a card the had her name on it, complete with smiley-face. Brad was truly a good guy.

"Yes!" It was fudge. She turned to face him and then tackled him in a hug. "Thank you! You're the best!"

"No problem, I like making fudge for people."

He chuckles. She nods and recalls him saying the exact same thing after he presented Carly, herself and... "you-know-who" with a similar looking box filled with delicious, sweet fudge. They appreciated the fudge, for sure. Especially Sam. Who loved all things food-related. This is why she had some sort of affection towards the guy. Which is kind of why Carly had suspected her love for Brad - that and a stupid computer app.

They walked to his car, he opened her door and hopped in on the driver's side. Off they went, Sam nibbling on a piece of home-made fudge as they drove down the road.

There was a parking spot not far from the movie-theatre and they walked together into the Groovy Smoothie, greeting the shop owner. T-Bo looked at Sam and then at Brad and smirked before offering them an avocado on a stick. They both declined his thoughtful offer and wondered how on Earth he could have put an avocado onto a stick - since they had a big seed right in the middle of them. Brad and Sam looked at one other and shrugged, finding a table.

Sam ordered the smoothies and paid for it with Brad's money. Ahh, some things will never change. She brought them to the table.

"Thanks Sam," says Brad, taking the cup.

"Don't mention it," she replies, taking a huge gulp and instantly getting a huge brain-freeze. "Arrgghh!"

"What's wrong?"

"Brain-freeze!"

The boy moves around to the other side where she's sitting and puts his hands around her head and massages around it ever so slightly. She flinches as he touches her, and he'd be on the ground by now if it wasn't Brad. But since it was Brad, and her brain-freeze was subsiding greatly, she let it slide.

It felt quite nice.

"Is that better?" It sure was.

"Yeah, a little..."

She wanted him to keep going, despite her brain-freeze kind of being finished already. But she kind of liked the feeling of his hands massaging her head. As she thought earlier, it felt quite nice. Brad, quite oblivious to the fact that Sam was leading him on, continued. He was a smart boy, but not too smart.

The massage ended, and Sam was a bit disappointed. But carried on, this time sipping her smoothie much more carefully. Brad looked at her and sipped his too.

"So I wanted to ask you about Freddie."

Sam choked on the mouthful of smoothie and recovered quickly. Brad's eyes met hers, and hers widened a lot. She placed the cup down and cleared her throat. As she fiddled with the straw, her voice dropped to a more quiet level of volume. He wasn't about to look away, and she knew it. At least until she had explained it.

"What about him?" It was all she could manage.

"You two fight a lot." Not a question or anything. He was just stating the fact of their weird relationship.

"Yeah, your point?"

"I heard him say that he still loves you."

Sam's mouth opens and closes, much like a goldfish. She fiddles some more with the cup in front of her, and keeps her eyes focused on his eyes. Brad doesn't look away. He's determined to crack the case of Sam and Freddie. It hurts her to think about what exactly was going on between her and "you-know-who".

The silence overwhelms the both of them. He drops it for now but Sam knows she's far from safe. He'll be constantly wondering, until she finally spills her guts.

T-Bo walks by, and looks at Brad, then looks at Sam, who are awkwardly sitting together as a sort-of but not really couple. Sam can read his expression and she strongly resists the urge to punch him where it most hurts. It's not long before T-Bo catches the drift of Sam's glare and scampers off back behind the counter.

"Some people." Sam comments with a bit of a scowl. They should really mind their own beeswax, she thinks.

Brad nods and taps his cup on the table. Sam does the same. They look at each other from across the table. Their hands are placed in front of themselves, and almost touch each other. One brush against his hand, and Sam knew she'd be in a lot of trouble. She studied his eyes, and his nose and his lips. Those lips.

"We should go see the movie now," says Brad, suddenly standing up and disposes of his empty smoothie cup.

"Uhh, yeah," says Sam.

They walk out of the Groovy Smoothie and waste no time in getting to the movie theatre - where the line is pretty much out the door. Sam groans and Brad doesn't look all that happy either. He asks if she still wants to see the movie. She says 'yeah' but she really wanted to go back home, curl up in her bed and pretend the world didn't exist.

Brad and Sam stood in line, and passed the time by making small-talk. Something that she didn't really appreciate usually. But today, it was different.

"I have a confession," says the boy, next to her.

"What's that?" she replies.

"I kinda sorta uhh..."

"Spit it out."

"Like you."

"Beg your pardon?"

"I, uhh, I like you, Sam."

Sam looks up at him and notices he's looking quite serious about this new-found confession. His eyes widen as they catch eye contact with one another, and suddenly look away, pretending they didn't just stare at each other. You know, like you would do with someone you have a huge... HUGE crush on. He or she looks at you, and you're already looking - but as soon as they do, you know you're toast if you don't quickly pretend you weren't just drooling over how cute he or she looks today.

Yeah, it happens, believe me. It just doesn't happen to Sam Puckett all that often. Until now... with the fudge-making dude. Well, he's pretty cool, you can't deny it.

The two of them don't say very much, until they're sitting next to each other in the cinema, waiting for the movie to start. Of course, there's all the annoying adverts about a new car, health insurance, some kind of animal shelter and a whole range of other stuff that no one pays any attention to.

"Don't you just hate movie adverts?" Brad finally whispers.

"Yeah," agrees Sam, with a laugh. "I mean, who cares about hearing aids? No one in this movie theatre is over thirty."

They laugh and carry on, until the person behind them kicks their seats and tells them to "pipe down" which only causes them to laugh harder - because... who says that? Pipe down. Both of them were trying to calm down, before that same person threatens to call on the usher and "have them thrown out".

After the credits were rolling, and everyone had left, they were the only two sitting in the dimly lit theatre.

"Thanks for asking me out today," says Sam. She usually makes a point to take everything for granted - such as being asked on a date.

"No problem, Sam." Brad replies, his eyes looking straight into hers. "I had fun."

There was silence.

Neither of them wanted to walk out of the cinema, and Sam could tell that something was quickly turning into "a moment". One moment of something she recognised as "sparks" or "feelings". The similar feelings she'd experienced when she kissed Freddie.

Damn it! She wasn't meant to think about it or HIM! The girl quickly turned to face the boy seated quietly beside her.

"Brad."

"Yeah?"

"I... I had fun too."

"Good."

Sam couldn't even take her eyes off of his. Brad didn't want to look away from her. He grabbed her hand quickly and slowly started leaning in towards her.