THE AFTERMATH OF iCARLY

Freddie: how could you refuse?

If it wasn't for Gibby, he wouldn't be in this mess right now.

Good on ya, Gibby, he thought. He'd thrown both himself and Sam in an awkward situation. She was meant to be with Brad right now - since he'd asked her to be his date for his sister's wedding. But here she was, standing with arms folded looking less than impressed. Score one for... well no one actually. No one could win this ongoing battle.

Freddie wasn't too sure of where he was standing. Of course he knew WHERE he was standing - outside a lovely looking chapel, with surrounding trees and with the girl who was currently staring at him, waiting for him to say something else that was going to be considered stupid.

"So talk." There it was. The invitation to screw up, yet again.

"I..." he had to stop himself.

What the heck was he meant to say right now? That he wanted her to not go to the wedding with Brad? That he loved her dearly, and he meant the proposal to be a reality and NOT hypothetical? That he just loved her. And that was that? He felt that everywhere he turned there seemed to be a dead end. No way out. No way to escape. Everything seemed kind of hopeless to him, actually.

"Talk mister!"

"Aarrgghh!" Freddie yells, unable to find something coherent to say.

"Nice. Well, if that's all-"

He grabs her wrist before she can move much further away from him. Sam grinds her teeth, and he knows that's a dangerous sign.

"That's not what I wanted to say."

"Yeah. I figured that."

Freddie pulls her close and there's a magical moment between them. SPARKS. Just like all the other magical moments shared between them. There were many. But this one seemed to mean a lot more than all the others. For some reason. Nothing else really mattered.

"Nothing else really matters."

Hey! That was MY line! You can't just steal MY line! That is plagiarism! Fredward Karl Benson. How dare you steal my- Oh, just forget it.

"But it does," says Sam.

"No, it doesn't."

"Does."

"Doesn't."

"Does!"

"Does NOT! I'll prove it to you!"

The boy yanks her toward him, and presses his lips upon hers instantly. He can feel her guard dropping every time he kisses her. It's a wonderful thing, he thinks to himself. Sam's a wonderful thing. He doesn't think that he could spend another waking moment away from her. It would kill him if she walked back into that chapel to be with Brad - despite it being just a pointless date.

They broke off the kiss. Sam looks at him, like he's gotten less-nerdy or something. The point is, he knew he was right.

"See? Nothing else matters. As long as we stay together."

"You realise I'm going back to finish this wedding date thing for Brad, right?"

This revelation just crushed him.

The two of them stared at one another, before Sam turns on her heel and walks away from him, yet again. He was kind of used to it... but this time it stung. It stung like hell. She may as well have punched him in the gut, and it would have hurt less.

Brad! he thought, disgustedly. What did Brad ever do to deserve Sam's respect and "niceness"? Here he was, pouring his heart out, kind of, and she just treats him like garbage! All Brad did was make delicious fudge. There was that one kiss, at least, he hoped it was just one kiss. A kiss!

He kissed Angela. But that was different, right?

Angela! He totally forgot! He was meant to call her yesterday to apologise for being weird - and for hurting her too. He wondered if it was too late. He had gotten a bad habit of being a (for lack of a better word) douche bag. He was kind of surprised that Angela and Sam hadn't teamed up together and planned some kind of "vendetta" against him. Even so, he felt bad for everything.

Carly would say "It's never too late to apologise for being a complete jerk." Oh Carly. Always the sweet tempered, adorable one.

"Freddie," says a voice, suddenly. He jumped about a mile into the air.

"Don't DO that!" Freddie shouts at Gibby.

"Sorry, bro. How'd it... uhh... how did it go with-"

"It didn't work, okay? She's gone back to Brad."

"Sorry."

Freddie stuffed his hands in his pockets and kicked at some loose dirt of the car-park, he aimed at the fancy car that Brad had driven him and Sam in not that long ago. He hated her. He hated Brad. And most of all, he hated himself for even believing that she'd understand his reasons for proposing to her.

Not that he'd explained himself THAT clearly. That was beside the point! He just hated her, that was it. But it was kind of a waste of energy - being angry at the world.

It wasn't her fault that he had messed everything up. They both were at fault. They broke up mutually. They kissed, mutually. They shared something special... also mutual, at least he hoped it was. He was sure that she wouldn't have agreed to it, if she didn't want to. Sam wasn't all that sentimental, as we all know by now. But some things meant more to her than anyone would realise.

He knew that he couldn't or wouldn't stay mad at Sam for long.

His love was stronger than his hatred. Despite the emotions being very close in relation. One was negative passion. One was positive passion. Must be true what they say - about opposites attracting one another. But mathematics is true, he thought. Negative plus a negative always equals a positive. Both were right. Both were shockingly relevant at the moment.

Gibby was looking at him this whole time, just absorbing the silence. They both turned to go to the car, leaving the heroics for one day.

"We tried, man. No one can say we didn't try."

"You know, for once," replies Freddie. "I agree with you."

Freddie hops in the front passenger seat and grabs out his phone and searches for Angela's phone number, then hits 'call'. It goes to voice-mail, but he decides to not leave a message. Not after his last attempt at leaving a message. That was very awkward.

"Where to, Fred-man?"

"Home. Actually... no. Here's an address. I have something important to take care of."

"Cool beans."

Cool beans? Really? Thought Freddie. That was a seriously random comeback line. Pushing Gibby's weird speech aside, he focused on what he needed to do that was so important. Again, he wasn't about to blurt it out to the guy sitting next to him. Nope.

The car sped back down the way they came before. The trees zoomed past the windows, and Freddie leant back, silently. But it wasn't that long until Gibby's "borrowed" car pulled up out the front of an apartment building. He gave Gibby a weird sort of man-hug and thanked him for driving him to Sam - despite their efforts being a bit on the fail side.

As the car drove off, probably finding its way back to its owner, hopefully, Freddie turned and walked inside the door of the building.

He pushed a button on an intercom looking thingy, before being buzzed into a place where stairs and an elevator were. It was an old place, by the looks of it. The boy took the stairs, thinking that it may be the safer of the two options. Besides, it was only level two that he needed. Not much climbing, really. And besides, exercise was good for you.

There was a door there. The door he needed. The door he wanted to be knocking on. So he did just that. He knocked softly at first, and hearing no one answer, he knocked a bit harder.

It opened, and there stood a girl dressed shabbily. But she still looked nice, thought Freddie. She had her hair tied up in a messy bun and white stuff on her apron. As soon as she saw Freddie, her mouth turned into a small smile and let him inside. Her place was neat and tidy, just like he'd expected. But the kitchen was a bit of a shambles.

"Cookies," she explains, taking a tray from the oven.

"Always a good thing," he replies. "You've been busy."

"I'm leaving for New York tomorrow."

Freddie looks at Angela. Angela reaches behind her and fiddles with the knot. She's having trouble untying it. He doesn't take much notice. He wants to know why she's leaving. Part of him already suspects something. But he's not going to admit that he knows.

"New York, hey? What's in New York?"

"A new job offer."

But, he thought. She had a perfectly good job right here, in Seattle. Close to him. Wasn't that good enough? Obviously not. He had no right to sulk about this though. Not after everything he had gone and done. He had no choice but to be happy for her.

"Congratulations," he says, and walks over and hugs her tightly. "That's wonderful news."

"Thank you, Freddie. Sorry, could you-"

The girl turns around so he could pick at the knot of her apron strings. He works on it and she talks more about the opportunity to meet a lot of people in the music game. The contract will be for five years or so and blah blah blah. He stopped listening after a while. Plus, this knot was stubborn!

"Those cookies smell nice," he changes the subject.

"Have one," she offers, placing the plate on the counter in front of him. "Oh thanks for untying the knot."

They were close. Close enough for Freddie to take a deep breath and catch her scent of perfume - not overdone. Just nice. He can't resist brushing some dusted flour from her cheek. She tries to look away, but he knows that she likes him. He's a very perceptive young man.

Freddie watches Angela close her eyes, and breathing slowly and calmly. Was she seriously expecting him to kiss her?