Chapter 18
I am so going to kill Freddie when I see his nerdish face! Sam thought as she stood in the elevator waiting for it to take her up to Carly's floor.
She had a horrible night with David and his parents, and it began with the four of them getting out of the car when they had reached Jaffe' Restaurant. She was getting helped out of the car by her boyfriend while his parents were waiting patiently standing at the curb. Sam wasn't watching where she was stepping and she accidently stomped in a puddle left on the curb from the previous rains. The dirty water splashed up and got on David's mother's dress, as well as her own dress. David's mom scowled at her, and marched into the restaurant to go to the ladies room to clean up. That wasn't a good start to the evening.
As they were waiting for their meal, Sam accidently spilled her soda onto the table, and some landed in her boyfriend's lap. She tried to apologize, but she was visibly shaken and nearly wanted to break down in tears. David tried to reassure her that it would be okay, but he wasn't very convincing.
She was so upset with the way the evening was going, that she could hardly eat anything (you know that had to be bad for her not to eat). She just sat back in her chair at the table and looked at what was happening around her. She noticed that David's dad was looking around the restaurant checking the other women out. Now she had understood where David's flirting came from. After getting wet from Sam stepping in that puddle earlier, David's mom hardly said a word to her. Instead she turned her attention to her cell phone, and the friends or family she was talking to. Even David wasn't much company for her. There was no chance for any kind of romantic evening for them tonight.
After dessert, they all left the restaurant to go attend a movie. They went to a romantic movie that had just premiered over the weekend. Sam knew that David's parents had picked out the movie, because Sam had never wanted a movie to end so badly. At one point, Sam had actually fallen asleep during the film and she was snoring in the theater. David had to shake her awake, and she got what seemed like looks of hate from his parents. She did everything she could to stay awake the rest of the way through the movie.
When the movie ended, they were initially going to stop off for ice cream, but David's mom insisted the evening was over; and they drove Sam home. When they arrived back at Bushwell Plaza, David was going to walk her up, but his parents insisted on "needing to go". So, Sam walked inside alone.
Why did Sam have such a tough night? One word: Freddie.
Ever since her "almost kiss" with him just prior to the date. All she could think about was what nearly happened between her and Freddie on the couch. She was thinking about how close they've become, especially in the last week or so. She was thinking about how bad she had been waiting for him to make a move.
But why now of all times? She thought.
She was trying to make her relationship with David work, and Freddie knew this. David was her boyfriend, and Freddie knew this. She had even left wide open suggestion or situations for Freddie to try to make a move on her, and Freddie wouldn't take the bait. Sam felt that if Freddie would've gotten a clue and responded to her hints that maybe she and Freddie would have been dating right now and there wouldn't have even been an issue with David.
But Freddie would never tell her what she wanted to hear. As far as Sam was concerned, Freddie looked at her as one of his best friends in the world and that was all. How was she to think any different?
Since her mind was preoccupied the whole night, she couldn't concentrate on her date or anything else. This is why the "accidents" happened to her tonight. The worse the night got, the angrier she felt inside, and the more she wanted to take it out on the thing that started it.
Sam exited the elevator and made her way down the hallway. When she reached the Shay's apartment, she opened the door, and let herself in.
Carly and Spencer was sitting on the couch watching Comedy Central when they looked up to see Sam enter the apartment. Carly looked at her watch, "You're back already?" She asked, "I thought you'd be out later." Carly looked at Sam's body language and saw that things were not good.
Sam paused by the side of the couch. "Yeah, well, we kinda ended the night a little early." She said agitated.
Spencer turned to look at Sam, and Carly asked, "What happened tonight?"
Sam raised her head towards the ceiling for a second, and sighed heavily, "I just had the worst possible night of my life," she imploded, "I splashed in a mud puddle on Mrs. Gomez, spilled a soda on David, fell asleep during a movie, and wound up snoring in the theater." She was beginning to shake with anger.
Carly stood up and walked to her friend. "Calm down, you're beginning to scare me a little," she begged as she grabbed Sam's armed and kept her from rocking.
Sam closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She stopped shaking and stood still for several seconds. Then she asked, "Is Freddie still here?"
Carly had let go of her friend, but stood there beside her, "Yeah, he's still here," she answered curiously, "why?"
Sam began to slowly walk towards the stairs. She paused for a moment to face her friend, "I just need to talk to him about something important is all," she said very calmly.
"Okay," Carly answered as she returned to the couch, "Are you spending the night by the way?"
Sam was nearly up the stairs when she hollered down, "I'll let you know later."
XxXxXxXxXx
Freddie was wrapping up his cleaning project up for the night. He had just put away the last of his camera cases, when he turned to see Sam staring at him from across the room.
Sam stood quietly at the entrance to the studio staring at Freddie. Carly had calmed her down when Sam was down in the living room, but when Sam caught her first gaze of Freddie, her mood changed. She had anger towards him, but yet she also felt compassion for him at the same time. She was angry because she blamed the date disaster on Freddie, but at the same time she was more frustrated because he wouldn't share his feelings to her. She just stood there and watched him, trying to figure out how she was going to handle this confrontation.
Freddie stood up and began to walk slowly over to talk to Sam until he noticed how she looked. He saw that the bottom of her dress was dirty in spots, her hair was a bit of a mess, and her body language told him that she had had some kind of rough night. The way she was staring at him was making Freddie uncomfortable. He was still thinking about what almost happened a few hours beforehand, and he was curious about what was going on in Sam's mind.
The silence was a bit awkward, so Freddie decided to break it, "Hey Sam," he asked cautiously, "so, how did your date go this evening?"
Sam snapped out of her trance. Her temper began to flare up when she heard the question, how do you think it went, you freakin' dork? She thought. "Well, if you must know," she began sarcastically, "I believe I had, like, the worst possible date known to man." Her face expression was darkening.
Freddie didn't like the mood she was in, so he tried very hard to be sympathetic with her, "Gosh Sam, I'm sorry," he said apologetic, "What happened?"
What happened? Sam thought angrily, You! Are what happened! She told Freddie the same thing she had told Carly downstairs, but added, "I've got you to thank for this you know." She finished in a harsh tone.
Now it was Freddie's turn to anger slightly. He looked at her with a confused look, "What exactly did I do to ruin your date?" He asked calmly but firmly.
"Oh, come on Freddie," Sam retorted, "How about the fact that just minutes before I was to go on a do-or-die date with my boyfriend, you try to make a move on me." Her anger was escalating, "How dare you try to do something like that!"
Now Freddie's temper was rising. "Hey," he said defensively, "as I recall it, I wasn't the only one that was making a move," He paused for a second, and blurted out, "You made a move on me too."
Sam's eyes widen to their limits, and her temper was at its worst level in some time. She snapped, and with a sudden fury, she charged at Freddie.
When Freddie saw Sam coming at him, he thought quickly, Oh man, I went too far. This was all he could think as his body tried to defend the blow that Sam had given him with her arms. He wasn't expecting this, and tried to get his arms up to stop her. But he forgot how strong Sam could be, and in the next moment he found himself getting knocked off balance. The blow he received caused him to slip and fall backwards onto the floor near his equipment. What was worse is that the back of his head caught the corner of his work table, and an immediate flash of pain entered his forehead. He lay there on the floor feeling like he was losing his wits, and he was actually beginning to black out a bit. The back of his hair felt wet, and he had an idea that he was bleeding back there, and he began to turn pale. But before he could reach back to touch the back of his head with his hand, he felt the weight of a 110 pound girl on him.
Sam had ignored the fact that she had just pushed Freddie to the ground and that he bumped his head. She was determined to set Freddie straight about what happened earlier on the couch. She lurched on top of him, and grabbed him by the back of his head, so that he would be looking at her while she spoke to him. "Let me tell you something Freddie Benson," she began powerfully, "No one tells me what I…"
She stopped speaking as she noticed her hands were getting wet and gooey. She pulled back her left hand to look at it, and she turned white when she saw she had blood on her hands. Her anger was gone, and she began to shake. She shrieked, "Oh my gosh, Freddie, you're bleeding!"
She quickly jumped off of him and began to look around the room to find something that would stop the bleeding. She saw some beach towels that they had used on a previous iCarly episode lying on a table next to the elevator. She hurried to grab one. She came back and knelt down next to Freddie. Sam wrapped the towel around his head to try to stop the bleeding. She felt horrible; tears were beginning to form in her eyes. She laid Freddie's head on her lap with the towel on the back of his head.
Freddie had been in a lot of pain through this sequence. He had heard Sam yelling at him, and he also felt Sam taking compassion on him too. For a few minutes, he was fighting the urge to black out; now that Sam put the towel on his head to control the bleeding, he was beginning to finally get his wits about him again, and the throbbing pain began to cease.
When his vision became clear, and he was thinking clearly again, he spoke to Sam softly, "I'm sorry Sam," he knew in his heart now that what happened on the couch had affected her date. "This was my fault. I guess I should have told you how I felt about you a long time ago."
Sam was softly rocking Freddie in her lap. She was glad to hear him speak after a few minute's silence. But she was confused with his statement. "What do you mean, Freddie?" She replied curiously.
Freddie took a deep breath, "I've liked you for a very long time now…probably since the day I saw you shoved aside by Danny when he and Carly first dated." He paused for a breath; then he continued, "I didn't tell you how I felt, because I wanted to be sure of what it was I was feeling for you."
She blushed slightly, but knew there was more she wanted to hear from him. "I don't understand, why couldn't you tell me?" She asked confused.
"Remember that day when Danny did that to you, and you and I wrote notes to each other in algebra class? Your final note to me was something I wouldn't forget, and I've tried to make sure that I wouldn't do it to you. You told me that you didn't want to be somebody's second choice. Do you remember that?" Freddie asked as he looked into her eyes.
Sam met his gaze and slowly nodded, "So, is that what you're trying to tell me, that I'm your second choice behind Carly," she asked trying not to let Freddie know she was getting hurt inside.
Freddie was feeling better now, and he rose up from Sam's lap and took the towel from her. He felt to see if his head was still bleeding, but it had finally stopped. He sat there next to Sam and took her hand.
"That's what I was trying to avoid," he said softly as he was feeling a little weepy himself, "I wanted to analyze how I felt about you as opposed to what I felt for Carly. Carly was a girl that seemed perfect to me because she was just like me, and my vision was that we would have the perfect life together."
Sam looked away, but Freddie used his other hand to gently pull her face back to face him.
"Sam, you are a girl that is the complete opposite of me, but I realized that I would have a more interesting time with you, because you try to bring the best out in me. You compete with me, and you've toughened me up." He smiled at her as he said this, trying to get her to grin, but she was still looking very sad and hurt.
"All right," she said, "so you've told me what it is that you liked about me and Carly. But I feel like I am your second choice, since Carly turned you down."
Freddie squeezed her hand. "But the reason I waited to tell you was because I wanted to be sure of my feelings. There is a difference between how I felt for Carly, and how I feel about you. I realized this in the last week."
Sam looked a little confused, "What's the difference?"
Freddie grabbed both of her hands now. "Carly Shay was never anything more than a crush to me, and I was able to move on from her…but, I can't from you though, Sam…" he paused as tears began to run down his eyes, "…I'm in love with you."
Sam didn't know what to feel as she heard these words spoken to her. She couldn't help but have tears flow down her eyes as well. Even though Freddie had her hands, she still trembled a bit. She tried to force a smile as she replied very shakily, "Y-You love me? Really?"
"Yes," Freddie smiled as he took his right hand and placed it on her cheek, "I love you Sam." He moved into her and softly put his lips on hers. She softly responded back by pressing in a bit to make their kiss deeper. After about 15 seconds she backed off the kiss and looked into his eyes.
Sam smiled through tears of joy that were falling from her face. She let go of his hands, and she put them on his face. "Freddie, I was hoping you were going to say this to me someday…" she paused as she tried to control her happiness for a second. "I-I love you too, Freddie." She finished.
Freddie smiled like he was at peace. He reached over to embrace Sam, and they held each other for several minutes. Fireworks were going on in his head, and in his heart he was finally content.
Sam closed her eyes and held him close to her. She knew that the feelings that she was having for Freddie right now were nothing like the feelings she had had for David. She knew that everything was going to be all right. She knew she wouldn't have to worry about other girls with him. Best of all, she knew that she was going to be loved, and there was no better feeling than that.
Author's Note: I spent some extra time tweaking this chapter so it would come out right. I hope you enjoyed it. When I originally had the vision for this story, I had the story ending here, but for whatever reason, I kept writing. 8 chapters to go. Let me know if this was okay or not. I hope to hear from you. Thank you all so much to everyone who has liked the story. – kwags74