THE AFTERMATH OF iCARLY

Freddie: spying isn't exactly a crime

Let's rewind a little here.

It was the day before, Sam was tucked up in her apartment, without a date. Freddie was still wondering what life was, and kissing a pretty girl called Angela who supposedly liked him. The feeling was mutual, he thought. But it didn't feel as passionate as the feelings he felt when Sam was around.

It wasn't until Freddie and Angela pulled away for some air that he realised perhaps he'd jumped to the wrong conclusion too fast. She was nice enough though.

They both felt the need to catch their breaths before continuing what they had started. That is, if they were going to continue. The girl decided that what they were doing was very wrong and told him to go and find Sam to apologise to her. Which is the whole reason she had come home with him in the first place, to help him sort out the mess that were his feelings for Samantha Puckett.

One thing had led to another and... well, you read what happened. The unthinkable! And yet, they did it anyway. Twice. Once was bad enough.

After Freddie apologises for being a jerk to Angela, but still doesn't apologise for what had happened between them, she leaves him to his thoughts. His thoughts of "why me" and "what is life" and "you're a complete idiot who doesn't deserve a second chance". He kind of wished Carly was here to talk him through it all.

The next morning came after a very restless night. And unbeknown to him, Sam had received a phone call to be asked on a movie date. See where it all connects here?

He walked out of his room and got himself some breakfast before realising he wasn't the least bit hungry. Yeah, he thought. Guilt does that to you. He'd kissed Angela. Sam had kissed him. He knew which kiss he preferred. But he also knew which girl was healthier for him to be in a relationship with. Carly would know what to say in a time like this. She was full of relationship advice.

"What would Carly say?" Freddie asks himself, out loud.

Probably that he's an idiot. And probably that Angela is right about... well everything. The truth was that everything that Angela had told him, was pretty much what he'd expect his best friend to say as well. Carly was more honest than Sam. In fact, Carly couldn't lie to save her life. She'd get severe looking rashes all over her face.

It was like she was allergic to not telling the truth.

Sam had often said that if the girl was ever in a life-threatening situation which caused her to lie, she'd be as good as dead. He recalls being very judgemental. But the blonde had a point.

He wondered what she was doing now. Maybe she was plotting some sort of plan to murder him in his sleep. After all, he did laugh at her after she said something he thought he'd never hear. Something to do which having feelings for him. And he'd confessed his feelings before that... he was sure that it was a joke.

Idiot, he told himself. Just go over to her house and freaking apologise already!

What if she doesn't forgive me? What if she's so angry that I lose a limb? Or end up in a coma? Or dead? All these petty thoughts washed through his mind, but one thought overruled them all, with a fighting passion. So what? You're the idiot. She said she loves you - in a sort of roundabout way - and you declined everything. You deserve any sort of punishment from her... don't you think?

It was unfair. But, he did have a point. And also he felt a little stupid even arguing with himself.

He grabbed his jacket and his umbrella because the forecast called for a little rain later that afternoon, and who knows when he'd be back home. This apology thing could possibly take all day. But, he thought. It will be worth it if Sam forgives him after all this madness. And hey... maybe they'll start dating again.

Wishful thinking, Benson. Wishful thinking.

He left the apartment, locked the front door and made his way down to the lobby. On his way out, he bumped into Spencer Shay, Carly's wacky older brother. He hadn't spoken to him in what seemed like three years. But it was only last month. Spencer smiled and waved. He had become less wacky since his sister left.

"Hey Freddo," he greets. "How are you?"

"I've been better," says Freddie. "How are you?"

"I'm good. I have a date."

"A date? With whom?"

"Pretty sure it's with a woman."

Freddie couldn't help but let out a laugh, and he felt a little bit better. Laughter, as they say, is the best medicine. For everything. Spencer and his "lady-friends". It reminded him of all the times he, Sam and Carly had walked into the Shay apartment only to find him wrapped around some girl who he'd met less than five minutes ago.

This one, apparently, he'd been seeing for a little while. Freddie had heard about it when he'd talked to the man last month. That and if he'd heard from Carly.

"How's Sam?" Spencer suddenly asks.

"Sam is... Sam."

"Well that's not vague at all."

The boy looked at his feet and moved them nervously. He wasn't sure if telling Spencer the whole story was such a good idea - since Spencer was pretty much Sam's older brother too. He'd mentioned that to Freddie the first time he and Sam started dating. It sounded like a warning - the type that a suspicious dad of a daughter would say. Freddie still recalls the coldness in Spencer's eyes. He shuddered.

"I gotta get going," he says, quickly.

"Yeah, take care kiddo. Give my regards to Sam."

Now how on Earth did he know that he was on his way to see Sam? Freddie shrugged the thought off and made his way out the front door and onto the bust Seattle street, which was bustling with morning traffic. He walks past a lot of buildings before stopping in at the super-market.

He's at the cash register, paying for what he was buying and voice behind him calls out. A voice he hadn't heard in quite sometime.

"Fred-man!" It says. "Wait up will ya!"

He turns around to see a much less chubby and could it be? More handsome looking boy approach him. Yes, it was Gibby. He waves frantically and suddenly trips over his own feet. People standing at the checkouts point and laugh, Freddie tries to pretend he doesn't know him. That is until the boy is standing next to him.

"Hi Gibby," he replies. "Long time no see."

"Yeah," says Gibby, looking around. "Listen, you got a minute? There's something I think you gotta know about Sam."

"What about her?" A pang of guilt wrenched his stomach towards his throat. He swallowed.

"Not here," he whispers, like he's some kind of secret agent spy.

Freddie looks at the guy and figures that he hasn't really changed at all. Still the same weird dude that used to help them with iCarly things, including entertaining "bits". They got a lot of hits from stuff that the kid joined in with. Plus, he was a pretty decent boy to begin with. It helped.

He paid for the item and Gibby followed him out, bouncing around energetically like some school-girl who knows you have a crush on someone. He did, but that was beside the point.

"Sam likes you."

A little too late for that one, Gib. If only you'd appeared like... I don't know, the beginning of this story! That would have saved a WHOLE lotta grief on Sam's part.

"I know."

"...and... you like her too?" Nothing gets past the grand-master detective, Gibby Gibson.

"Ye- No. Maybe?" The answer wasn't exactly reassuring anyone. Freddie shifted uncomfortably. "I'm actually on my way to apologise to her."

Gibby looked at him like he had grown an extra head. The boys were both thinking the same thing. Apologising to Samantha Puckett was like organising your own funeral. It just didn't make sense. Yet, Freddie knew if he didn't, the friendship and everything else potentially on the cards was going to be off the table.

"I'll pray for you, dude."

"Thanks?"

Yep, same old Gibby, he thought.

Freddie left Gibby and proceeded down the street, until he approached Sam's house. There was a fancy looking car pulled up out the front, and he was quite certain Mrs Puckett hadn't the skill set to afford a car like that. He didn't know much about cars, but this one would have been classified as "sexy". He grinned despite everything else he was feeling and it instantly vanished as he saw someone he knew step out of the car.

It was Brad.

Hold the darn phone, he thought. If Brad's here, and he's visiting Sam with his car then that would mean... No, no surely not. The thoughts subsided slightly and Freddie approached the scene with caution. He hid in some shrubbery on the side of Sam's house and waited patiently, to see what the heck was going on.

"You look hot," he says. He sounds like he means it too.

Oi! Freddie thought. Get your FILTHY eyes off her, fudge making dude!

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

Sam was sounding not quite like her obnoxious self. She sounded kind of... reserved? That can't be right.

Freddie was very worried, not only about the change in her voice, but the fact that she'd let Brad take her on some sort of weird date. It was a complete slap in the face, three times over. Then again... he knew he deserved it - and much worse.

Here he was, spying on Sam and Brad, like some weirdo spy guy.

It didn't exactly feel normal.

But what's a boy to do when his girl is swept off her feet by a much more decent guy? Plus there was a present that he gave her too. But he didn't see what it was for they had disappeared into his car fairly quickly. Damn his luck today.

Brad was officially not a nice dude, concludes Freddie and hops out of his hiding spot.