A/N: remember, the stuff in italics is the flashback!

Chapter Six: Flashback the Third

It was a sad, sad time. Not only was I not going to live out my dream of playing for the Seattle Cobras (Carly will tell you I chickened out, but don't believe her!), but no one had heard from Freddie in like a week. You see, Freddie played a prank on Sam, handcuffing her to Gibby - an incident that Gibby still has nightmares about. So, to get him back, Sam revealed to every iCarly viewer that Freddie had never kissed a girl.

Freddie took it hard, and I don't blame him. This one time Marla Madson (or as we called her, "Manly Marla") told everyone that we had kissed. Ugh. I had to go to school as 'Estan from Sweden' the rest of the semester.

I miss that accent….

But that's not the point. The point was, Sam had practically ruined Freddie's life, at least according to Carly. I wasn't so sure. You see, the day that Freddie came home from school early, he came to me. Not really because he wanted to; his mom wasn't home and he had forgot his key, so he just came over to our apartment. But no matter the circumstance, it allowed me to talk to him. At first, not much was said. He just plopped down on the couch and started watching TV. Finally, I decided I needed to talk to him.

"Hey Freddie" I said, sitting next to him on the couch. He just grunted and turned up the volume. "Look, I know you're going through a lot, but I want you to know that you can always talk to me." Freddie turned the volume back down and turned toward me.

"Why does she have to ruin my life?" he said, and I could sense more than pain in his voice. As soon as he said it, I knew now was my chance to drop a few hints, work a little 'Spencer magic, if you will.

"Maybe it's just her way of hiding the truth." I said calmly.

"Huh?" Okay, maybe he needed more than hints.

"Maybe she doesn't hate you. Maybe she just picks on you because she…"

"Because she what?"

"…likes you" I finished. The look on Freddie's face was a mixture between shock and…well, I'm not sure what else. But it wasn't disgust, it wasn't fear, and it wasn't loathing. Just honest surprise.

"Hah!" he finally said. "Sam doesn't like me. She's made that perfectly clear all too often." Freddie turned the volume back up on the TV. I must have hit on something that he was trying to avoid. But he wasn't getting out of it that easy.

"Or…" I continued, but Freddie continued to ignore me. "maybe it's just a game you've been playing since the sixth grade, a game that will continue because both of you are too afraid to stop." Freddie turned off the TV and slowly turned towards me. He looked as if he as about to say something, and I leaned forward in anticipation. But instead of speaking, he got up and started toward the door.

"Freddie wait!" I said, running after him. I caught him just as he put his hand on the knob.

"I want to be alone, Spence"

"Yeah, okay… but…" I searched my mind for the right thing to say. Finally, an idea popped into my head and an evil smile spread across my face. Luckily, Freddie had his back turned to me. "I know where you can go. You know, if you want to be really alone." That got his attention. He spun around to face me.

"Where?"

"The fire escape." Freddie furled his eyebrows. "I used to go there when I didn't want any distractions. Maybe it'll work for you." Freddie looked down at his feet for a second, mulling it over. Then he looked back up, the slightest hint of a smile on his lips.

"Thanks, Spence. I'll give it a shot." and then he was gone. I chuckled quietly and closed the door, silently congratulating myself for my brilliant plan, and inwardly hoping it would work.

When Carly got home I told her about the little encounter. Well, I didn't tell her what the conversation was about, just that we talked and he went to think out on the fire escape. How was I to know that he would stay there for a week straight? How was I to know that I had led him to the place where he would receive his first kiss? How was I to know that a plan of my own creation would ever work so great?

How was I to know that that was only the beginning?