The next day, Carly acts completely normal. Again.
When Freddie asks you guys to go mini golfing, she grabs your arm and gets all excited and says that yes, of course you would both love to go.
You don't mind that she answered for you, you would've gone just because she was going to be there.
So now you're at hole fourteen out of eighteen, and she's started to give you looks. She's actually been giving you looks the entire time, but now they're really obvious, lingering, making your skin tingle. You look at her too, but at least when she catches you, you look away. Mostly. She doesn't even to attempt to when you catch her.
By hole sixteen, Freddie has started to pick up on something, "Did you two fight or something?" He asks, sounding genuinely concerned.
"No, we didn't fight," Carly answers in a flat tone, glancing at you. No, you far from fought.
The rest of the game passes in awkward silence and Freddie wins, beating both you and Carly by at least fifteen "points." Not that you tried, cause if you had, you would've totally kicked his ass. But you don't really even remember the game at all, just her. Standing in front of the waterfall with the blue-dyed water, leaning casually against the plastic picket fence that surrounded the hole that looked like a farm. You don't even think you made fun of Freddie after he fell into the bushes after a particularly ferocious swing.
When you're all driving home in Freddie's truck, you and Carly double buckled and pressed tight to each other in the backseat because Freddie has the rest of the seat space jammed with all of his tech-guy stuff. Any way you move, you're touching Carly, and it's definitely doing things to you, especially because Freddie can hardly see you guys over all of the stuff in his car.
"You guys want to stop for ice cream?" Freddie shouts over the piles of metal that separate you.
Carly turns to you and your noses are almost touching, you're so squished together, "Want to?" She asks.
"I'm always up for food," you tell her, grinning and slightly breathless.
"Sounds good, Freddie," she yells up to him.
A few minutes later, the junk Freddie has in his backseat is sliding hard into you and Carly as Freddie takes a sharp turn into a U-shaped driveway of an ice-cream stand right off the highway.
By this time, you're all kind of high off that feeling you can only get when you're young and driving fast with the windows rolled down and your hair whipping around your face. The awkwardness is still there, just masked for the time being.
There's only one other group there, some kids about your age who probably go to the school that's nearby, just outside Seattle. As you pull up in Freddie's beat up truck, they sort of stare until you get out, Carly's hand lightly brushing your back, and stare right back. You were always one for confrontations.
Freddie orders first; medium maple walnut-it's the "manliest" thing they have-and you order the largest thing they have on the menu (A triple fudge sundae with chopped almonds, m&ms, cherries, sprinkles, and caramel sauce), and Carly gets a small orange sorbet with a cherry-just one-on top.
As you sit and eat your ice cream on the tailgate of the truck, you talk. And it's almost like nothing ever changed. Sure, maybe Carly's eyes catch yours a little too often, but maybe they've always done that, and you sure as hell aren't going to complain. You talk about everything from iCarly to Spencer's new girlfriend (this one has a nose the size of a small basketball but despite that is actually really sweet).
Carly does drive you mad with that single cherry though, dangling it in front of her lips and reaching out with her tongue to lure it in. Freddie is having difficulty watching this too, and you see him start to fidget with his pants. Hah. If he only knew half the things Carly did with that tongue...in your mouth, you think proudly. You catch her eye and she grins and wraps her arms around both yours and Freddie's waists, content.
All too soon it's over, and you're all squashed back into Freddie's truck, windows down with the radio playing classics like Summer Of '69 and Sweet Home Alabama. And you're happy. And Carly's happy. And you don't mind that you don't know the reason she's touching your arm right now, because you're happy, you're so, so happy.
Yeesh. I'm an awful updater aren't I?
Don't answer that.
Sorry about that really long break, I just haven't been in the iCarly mood, you know?
There'll be more updates soon!
Reviews=love -.^