I Lie
Just as the iCarly trio is about to head out for an after-web show-smoothie, shrieks from Spencer's room stop them in their tracks.
"Hold on," Carly sighs and goes to check on him.
A moment later, Carly runs into the kitchen and starts digging through the drawers frantically. Sam and Freddie exchange a glance.
"Do you need hel-"
"No!" Carly interrupts Freddie. "Just… you guys go ahead. Bring us some… smoothies." She mutters distractedly.
"Are you sure?" Freddie asks carefully.
"Yes! Just… go!" She impatiently waves them out of the room. Freddie looks at Sam, who simply shrugs and walks out the door.
As they get into the elevator, Sam tries to ignore that disgustingly anxious feeling in the pit of her stomach. She tells herself that it's just worry about whatever Spencer's done, or annoyance that she has to go to the Groovy Smoothie with a nub.
Until she meets Freddie's eyes and he smiles at her and the feeling explodes and she can't deny that she's never been so excited to go to the Groovy Smoothie.
Sam wordlessly takes the back way, knowing there will be plenty of hobos to make Freddie uncomfortable. She has to stifle a laugh every time they walk past a dirty hobo and he nervously pulls at his sleeves and takes a step closer to her.
"You think Carly's all right?" He casually asks on the way over.
"Of course you would be worried about your precious little Carly," Sam mocks, rolling her eyes. And maybe it has a little something to do with the fact that this was the one night where he wasn't supposed to be thinking about her.
"Actually…" Freddie hesitates, pulling at his sleeve, "I don't have a crush on her anymore."
Sam looks down and tries to steady her racing heart, forcing herself not to smile.
"So what completely out-of-your-league girl have you fallen for now?" She manages to ask mockingly.
"I think I'm done with that for now. We all know I'll never find any girl to love me." He smiles and at her and she laughs, but not for the reason he thinks.
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"My two favorite little mushrooms! What'd y'all want?" T-Bo yells as the two walk into the Groovy Smoothie. Before Freddie can order, his phone starts ringing. He glances around the room before looking to Sam.
"It's Carly. It's too loud in here, I better…" he fades away as he starts walking to the front of the store. "Just make me something T-Bo," he calls distractedly as he walks outside.
He stands there then walks away
My god if I could only say,
"I'm holding every breath for you."
He stands beside the door, running his hands through his hair as he talks to Carly. From the way he sighs in relief and his shoulders shake in laughter, Sam can tell whatever happened with Spencer is nothing serious. Watching him laugh at something Carly says, Sam wishes she could just be honest with him for five minutes and admit that he isn't the worst human being on the planet.
Sighing, she forces herself to turn away from the stupid nub and back to the counter. "Hey! Freddie doesn't like strawberries!" Sam blurts without thinking when she sees the smoothie T-Bo is working on.
T-Bo slowly stops and gives her a dramatic look. "What does Little Freddie want then?"
"Banana Bash," she says without hesitation.
T-Bo turns back to the smoothie, muttering in frustration.
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"What's Freddie like?"
Sam looks up from her phone to see an extremely excited girl standing next to her. The girl had complimented iCarly and asked for an autograph a minute ago.
"Huh?"
The girl is smiling as if her life depends on it.
"I just love-love-love your webshow! But Freddie's never on it. So what's he really like?"
Sam stares at the girl blankly for a minute before answering, wondering if she's serious.
"He's a nub." The girl giggles as if Sam's the funniest person in the world.
"No, really! Tell me everything about him!" Sam ignores her as her mind flows with a million different pictures of what makes Freddie Freddie: of pearpads, and yellow fruits, and deep brown eyes, and galaxy war dolls, and Spanish words that don't make sense and-
"When's Freddie's birthday?"
She watches all of the past birthdays of his she pretended to forget, the gifts she knew he'd love but never bought, and the parties she pretended to hate flash through her brain.
"Dunno," She mumbles.
"Oh. Well… what's his favorite color?"
The dozens of shades of blue of his wardrobe and the walls of his room and his bedspread run through her mind.
"Hot pink."
"Does he have brothers? Maybe a sister?"
"God, I hope there aren't more Bensons."
The girl's smile finally falters. Thankfully, Freddie appears at the table and satisfies the screaming fan-girl. Sam starts messing with her phone and ignores the small-talk Freddie's making with the random fan.
"Fuego!" Freddie suddenly yells when he takes the first sip of his smoothie. "Banana, my favorite! How'd you know, T-Bo?" Freddie calls across the store. T-Bo shrugs.
"It's a gift, kid."
Freddie turns back to the fan, who's telling him how she watches every episode and always sends e-mails about how he should be on the show more often. "Yeah, I'm such a huge fan of yours! I was trying to ask Sam about you, but-"
Freddie laughs. "That's pointless; Sam doesn't know anything about me!"
Sam pretends she doesn't hear them.