Ruined Puzzle Pieces

Part 4:

2:00 PM at Sea & Trees National Park's beach hotel:

Sam was only slightly distressed at waking up past noon. She normally hated missing both breakfast and lunch but today she felt unusually well-rested and was admittedly a bit proud of herself for finishing The Nickel Fortune in one-sitting the previous night.

Course, now I don't have anything to do, and Carly probably went ahead to the beach with Spencer without me… Though she did seem a bit more excited about this trip than I was.

Sam knew she wasn't being fair. Her dad once took Sam and her mom on a camping trip when she was little and it had been one of Sam's best family memories. Being here now with Carly and Freddie brought back an uncomfortable reminiscence but Sam was too good a friend to let her unwarranted qualms about camping ruin the trip.

Sam walked past Spencer and Freddie's room which was right across from Carly and Sam's, and heard Freddie on the phone.

That's weird… Figured dorkface would've been right on the heels of Carly in a swimsuit.

Crushing the tiniest of scruples (Despite what she prolifically says, Sam still felt them to an extent), Sam listened at the door.

"Yes mom, I'm wearing my anti-bacterial swim-trucks. *sigh* Yes, there are certified life-guards here… I haven't eaten in the last hour… No, mom I refuse to wear inflatable wings on my arms when I know how to swim…"

Sam moved on, feeling a little annoyed. She never took well to Mrs. Benson's incessant and overprotective parental nagging that carried on to an obsessive fault.

Crazy woman calls Fredward more in a day than my mom calls in a year.

Sam walked down the stairs, recalling in the brochure that there was some sort of all-day buffet for guests at the hotel and Sam had learned that if there was one thing that never seemed to disappoint you in life, it was food. Food was simple, tasty, and produced instant happiness on command.

30 minutes later…

"Wow… I have no idea who came up with the crazy idea of combining French Fries and Chocolate Milkshakes, but they were a genius." Sam said quietly to herself and dipped another French fry into her malt of chocolate. It was one those weird food combos that looked like it would taste disgusting together, but proved otherwise… like Peanut Butter and Jelly. Sam personally thought that the fact of the combination of sweet and salty being so unique actually added to the taste.

Sam was finishing the last of her shake (getting a little bit of malt on her nose) when a guy who probably should be more appropriately called Handsome Incarnate walked over and sat down next to her. Sam knew there were more attractive ways to break the ice aside from choking on a milkshake, but Lady Luck never seems to agree with you when you really need her. A hacking cough and forced swallow of water later, Sam quickly evaluated her gorgeous guest: lovely tanned skin, midnight black hair, looked like either a junior or senior in high school, and had a very pleasing smell of aftershave.

"Hey, Ummm… Aren't you Sam from iCarly?"

OmigodThisissoawesomeHeissocuteandItotallyhavemilkshakeallovermyfacerightnowdon'tI?

Sam wiped her face quickly with her sleeve before answering.

"Yeah, you like the show?"

"Yeah! It's totally fresh and awesome. You and Carly are hilarious." Handsome Incarnate than paused and looked off at some point on the ceiling, "Ummm by the way, is Carly here too?"

…Say what? Oh, you have got to be kidding me…

"Say, can you level with me and introduce me to her because I have this huge crush…"

Sam was angry… really angry. She could tell because instead of slamming the mashed potatoes, (which had tasted really stale) at her offender's face, she had chosen the only piece of meat deluxe pizza she had on her tray. There are some foods that never should be thrown no matter how dire the situation, and meat deluxe pizza was definitely one of them.

Dude didn't even offer his name to me… I really should've known.

As the unnamed guy was about to get up and walk away with what little dignity he had left, Sam felt a twinge of regret and started to retrieve her pizza. (It was too good to go to waste on him.)

"You don't want to do that," said Freddie as he sat down next to her with his own tray of food. Freddie took a meat deluxe pizza slice from his own tray and put it onto Sam's. "You don't know where his face has been." Freddie nodded his head towards a group of ditzy girls across the cafeteria. They were currently swarming all over Mr. Pizzaface and were trying to help clean him of the offending tomato sauce and cheese with napkins without dirtying themselves. If Sam wasn't so annoyed, she probably would have gotten a good laugh out of the situation.

Sam turned and prepared a glare for Freddie, one with the message "Did you see everything?" encoded into the look, but he wasn't paying attention to her and was nonchalantly chewing on his food. He probably expected the look and rather than answer a question with an obvious answer, Freddie knew sometimes it was better to avoid an argument with Sam all together. They had gotten used to each other over their years of friendship, and normally Sam would have gladly let the situation slide clean, but right now she was hurt, distressed, and yes wanted to take out her anger on something.

"Did baby Freddie finally convince his mummy that it was okay to come out and pway? Sam asked in a mocking toddler voice. Sam resorted to her reflexive need to insult whenever she was uncomfortable and distressed. She never seemed to do well around Freddie. The guy revolved himself around things she didn't understand, took pleasure in things that made no sense to her, and his ridiculous idolization of Carly always put Sam on edge. This situation like a lot of others was no different.

"No, but I don't plan to listen to her." Freddie's terse and straight-forward reply admittedly caught Sam off-guard and she didn't she follow up on his statement. Freddie put his small portable 12" laptop on the table and booted it on. Sam noted that for a guy that looked like he was about to do computer work, he looked more like he was dressed for an outing on the beach.

"Benson, you okay? I thought you'd be out with Carly on the beach."

"I was, and then I saw her entourage of male fans." Freddie was looking at his computer screen, but didn't really seem to be paying any attention to it. "I could ask you the same question by the way."

"Free food," replied Sam nonchalantly, "And I'm still confused. Shouldn't you be out there beating the men off of her with a stick or something."

Freddie chuckled before replying, "You and I both know how Carly would react to that. Besides, I am not clueless. I know when I am outclassed, so I figured that instead of wasting my vacation getting distressed over a situation I have no control over. I plan to do something both relaxing and productive." Sam could see Freddie bring up a video screen on his laptop. Sam couldn't contain her curiosity and feign indifference.

"What are you working on? Something new for iCarly?" Freddie smiled. Sam didn't quite know if she should be annoyed that Freddie was in a good mood, or that Freddie just seemed annoying because she was in a bad mood. Regardless, Freddie's current sunny disposition was a little contagious and Sam found herself relaxing, all thoughts of stupid Pizzahead fading to nothingness.

"Nah, this is a videogame I'm making for fun." Freddie started typing some gibberish in another language on the screen, and seemed to be enjoying himself. Sam suddenly felt a twinge of jealously, as she remembered all the hobbies and activities that Freddie did voluntarily and seemed to have fun in. Sam only had iCarly and if it wasn't for her awesome friend, Carly, she… Well Sam would have a lot less. Even with iCarly, Sam had always felt lost in the world, never sure what to do with her life, just taking in the small pleasures that conveniently came to her. Sam hated feeling inferior and Freddie had a way of making you seem insignificant and stupid.

"Ah, more geek stuff."

More stuff that I don't understand and don't really care about, but I kinda wish I did. Freddie always has a way of hitting a nerve. Like two years ago when he commented offhand on my sloppy hair and horrible sweatpants, I couldn't let it go and went for a new look. Luckily, I found out that I like looking nice. Though Crazy Benson still always gets to me…

"It's not that bad. I'm actually remaking a game I totally loved as a kid: Hungry Hungry Hippos." Freddie hit a few more buttons and maximized the video game screen, and turned the laptop towards Sam.

"No way! I totally loved that game!" Sam leaned in closer to the screen for a better look, and noticed four differently colored cartoony hippos occupy the video screen. It seemed Freddie was trying to implement a reimagining of the game as the hippos seemed to be able to move and aim their heads, and there seemed to be many different kinds of balls to eat. Had Sam been paying attention, she would have noticed the awkward and confused look on Freddie's face due to her proximity.

Freddie blinked rapidly a few times and managed to collect his thoughts, "Heh, for some reason, that doesn't seem surprising at all." Even though she didn't ask for permission, Sam was already pressing buttons all over his keyboard trying to illicit a response out of the hippos.

"So when do you think you'll be finished?" Sam found herself genuinely interested in Freddie's latest project. She supposed according to the law of averages Freddie would have to appear interesting at some point. She thought about voicing that last opinion, but then thought better of it.

"I don't know, maybe a week or two. I kind of want to get the game to use actual controllers." Sam then thought about saying that she wanted to playtest it with him, but then thought better of it. She never voluntarily spent her free time with Freddie, and there were reasons for that. It wasn't fear of boredom since Sam always found herself amused when she was with Freddie (mostly at Freddie's expense unfortunately.) It was… well there were reasons.

"Hey Sam… Do you want to playtest it with me when I'm done? I mean… if you miss the game as much as I do." Sam felt her heartbeat slightly increase, and her breath was involuntarily caught halfway in her throat. If Sam could classify the feeling, it would be nervousness which was new and rare to Sam since it never happened to her about anything before. She took a quick breath and smushed the feeling down.

"Uhhhh…" Sam quickly thought of possible responses: Do I get paid?; You wish; Only a unintelligent monkey would want to play game made by you; I'm allergic to your face…

"Sure… why not." Sam found herself saying before she could finish her thoughts. Sam put on her best nonchalant mask but inside her head was a different story.

What the… I… Freddie… What was I thinking? Is this a good thing?

"Great! Sam, this is going to be so awesome with Carly and Spencer. I totally can't wait. I mean Hungry Hungry Hippos is totally amazing with all four people playing." Freddie grabbed a sandwich from his tray, took a bite, and totally missed a surprised look on Sam's face.

Oh…

Yeah… Huh, I need… some air… and time to think.

"Ummm I am going to see Carly and what she's up to." Sam excused herself and walked towards the exit. Freddie looked over at Sam as she left and then back at her tray (which she didn't bother to put away.)

Sam never leaves a meal unfinished. What's going on?

A/N: Yay! Longer chapter! Roughly two times longer than the previous ones. I really hope people like this chapter. Writing Sam is harder than I thought. Her character on iCarly is by far the most eccentric and it becomes difficult to try to ground her behavior in reality with causes and reasons because (well, honestly sometimes she's just random) My interpretation of Sam is that Freddie really is like an alien to her. She doesn't understand a lot of things about him, and that is fundamentally the reason she is uncomfortable with him and Sam never likes to feel either inferior or uncomfortable with the situation so she attacks it. She seems to have a lot of vulnerable facets that she tries to hide with her attitude and comfort food. Even in light of all this, Sam seems to have an obsession towards Freddie which is why I love the pairing so much. She seems to the be the center of the conflict in the couple and she's seems too emotionally damaged to engage in a mature relationship with anyone and through Carly has been forced into a friendship with Freddie. Freddie though seems to have his own issues like gaining the confidence and strength to stand up for himself and grow into his own person. Both characters need time to develop and grow to make it work. It's not like the magical Disney pairings you see a lot in a lot of their movies. I know that a Seddie pairing on iCarly now would jump the shark on the show, but I would really love to see Dan Schneider and the writers slowly work their way towards a Seddie pairing with a possible get together in the final episode kind of thing. It's why I liked the Ron and Kim pairing on Kim Possible. Both characters had to grow into the relationship. It's more fun that way. Phew… long ramble.

A/N/N: Please read and review.