iCarly - Things Can Change
Disclaimer: Oh, please.
Pairings: Sam/Freddie and Sam/Spencer fluff – non-romantic relationship
A/N: Okay, so I'll admit right now to being too old watch this show, but I cried for four days after I watched the finale. I decided the only way to quit moping was to start writing. Now, this isn't my first story, but it is the first time writing in this fandom. Let me know what you think.
Chapter 3
"I took- a cab." That was the first thing out of Sam's mouth when she stumbled into the Shay apartment close to midnight the second weekend after Carly had left for Italy. It was also nearly twenty-four hours after a guilty call of admission from her best friend. For the first time ever, she had hung up on Carly – and had promptly turned her phone off. She had spent the night walking around the city, not trusting herself on her motorcycle when she was so full of anger and tunnel vision. She went back home as the sun came up and slept for several hours. When she woke up in the early afternoon, her mother was still gone, and all Sam could see was the liquor cabinet glaring back at her…
Spencer gave her a sideways glance from where he was watching recorded episodes of Celebrities under Water, and then did a double take and stood up. "Are you drunk?" he asked incredulously.
It was a stupid question on his part, she looked like a complete disaster, but he was shocked. Sam's mother enjoyed a bit too much alcohol on occasion – he was pretty sure Sam didn't touch the stuff. But here she was, standing in his doorway in her pajamas and flip-flops, duffle bag hanging loosely from her hand.
She blinked at him owlishly and made her way to the couch – discarding her bag and shoes behind her as she moved – and flopped on it, taking up all the space. "You know what?" she muttered into a pillow.
He sighed. "What?"
"Tequila and Crystal Light packets don't mix well", she answered seriously. "You're living room is spinning", Sam offered observantly after a few more seconds.
Spencer sighed exasperatedly and went to the kitchen for a minute, coming back with a bottle of water and a few acetaminophen tablets. He forced it into her hand. "You are so going to regret this in the morning", he said seriously.
She managed the pills and a few swallows of water before grimacing, eyes scrunching tightly. "I already do", she admitted quietly. "The second, third, and fourth times I had the cab driver pull over so I could puke really convinced me not to do it again."
"Eww", Spencer grimaced.
"And he charged me an extra thirty bucks", she rolled her eyes. "I'm pretty sure 'vomit inflation' isn't a real cost add-on."
He chuckled. "I've never heard of it."
Sam sat up slowly curling into the corner of the couch, elbows on her knees, and forehead in her hands. Spencer took his seat back on the cushion next to her.
"You want to tell me what happened?" he asked after a few minutes of silence.
"Do you know how much it sucks not to have your best friend at school? It sucks! Everything sucks! Nobody else plays my conscience and tells me not to skip classes or not to try to get detention-"
"Sam, this is way more girl drama than I-"
"-and I didn't know until this week that I hate every single person I go to high school with! How does that happen?! The only other people I was friends with beside Carly graduated last year", she finished, pretending like he hadn't interrupted.
"What about Freddie?" Spencer furrowed his eyebrows, "And Gibby?"
Sam snorted. "I said people. Gibby is practically a pet. And Freddie", she growled distantly. "He's number one on my hit list right now."
"Why?" Spencer asked warily.
She sighed, thumb and forefinger pinching the bridge of her nose, all tension leaving her body, anger oddly absent, before she murmured, "Carly kissed him before she left."
"Oh. Sam-"
"No, I'm fine- it's fine. I am not crying", she hissed viciously, cursing under her breath at the stinging behind her eyes.
"Sam", he prompted again, tugging on her wrist until she finally gave up and leaned against his shoulder, and he pushed her hair out of her face instead of letting her hide behind it. "Do you want me to hook up the Wedgie Bounce again?" he offered seriously after a few minutes of only hearing her choked sobs echoing around the loft.
She laughed through tears streaming down her face. "Yes", she admitted, "but no."
"Does Freddie get fair warning that you're about to murder him, or are you planning a sneak attack?" he sighed.
"I just… wanna throw things at him until he figures it out", she muttered.
Spencer raised his eyebrows. "Isn't that how you play Boomba?" he chuckled.
Sam grins for a brief second before nodding seriously. "But not with oranges. With rocks, and nun chucks, that brick in my backpack… my butter sock!"
"Okay, okay- rein in your crazy just a bit", he suggested warily. "You could try talking to him-"
"Very funny", she interrupted dryly.
"Sam, if you're gonna be mad-"
"I'll get over it", she said tightly.
"Sa-am", he groaned exasperatedly.
"I said I'll get over it", she shook her head. Sam gave up several minutes later. "I miss Carly", she admitted quietly.
He nodded. "I know. Me too, but no more drinking, okay? I promised Carly I would try to make sure you didn't get arrested", he teased.
She chuckled, but nodded anyway, "Promise."
Sam falls asleep on his shoulder, and eventually starts snoring. She doesn't wake up when he carries her up to Carly's room and tucks her in.
00
Sam wakes up a little after ten the next morning and finds herself in Carly's bed. She goes to the bathroom to induce a last round of vomiting that finally settles her traitorous stomach before brushing her teeth and taking care of the rest of her morning routine.
She slinks downstairs silently, still in her skull and bones pajama pants and a faded black band t-shirt, and takes more medicine to get rid of the mining elves in her head with some water and curls up under a blanket on the couch. Sam dozes off again watching Food Network.
She groaned when Spencer shook her awake sometime around noon. "Nnhh, go 'way", she complained, shoving a pillow over her face. "I feel like squished monkey poo."
He drummed on her head purposefully, ignoring her attempts to duck. "It's called a hangover, kid. I'm supposed to torture you so you won't do it again."
"Gah" she whined. "Please be nice."
He grinned. "Want some breakfast?"
She groaned. "No!"
00
When Freddie comes over later that afternoon, Sam's first instinct is to get away from him or give him a black eye.
"Move." It was her only growled warning before she plowed straight through him, not even stopping to comment in his girlish yelp of surprise and pain when she stepped in his foot. Sam tossed a look over her shoulder. "I'll be back in ten." She slammed the door behind her, glad she had actually bothered to change out of her pajamas.
"What the heck is the matter with her?"
Spencer shook his head. "Uhhh... She's pretty cheesed off. Just duck and cover if he starts throwing things", he advised.
Freddie snorted. "Oh, please. After all this time... I've gotten good at catching what she likes to throw."
"Yeah, don't lead with that", Spencer advised sarcastically. "Maybe running would be a better idea…"
0
Sam did come back half an hour later. Neither Spencer nor Freddie mentioned her discrepancy with the time as she went into the kitchen and took a container from the cupboard.
"Are you eating sugar packets?!" Freddie raised his eyebrows in bewilderment heading in her direction.
"Got a problem?" she snarled.
"And I'm backing away slowly", he murmured, stepping out of the kitchen the way he had gone in and went to watch television.
She was mostly subdued by the sixth sugar packet, and went to the computer.
Spencer eyed the mopey girl thoughtfully before he got an idea and disappeared into his room for a few minutes. "Aha!" he shouted finally.
Sam was focused on the computer screen when Spencer sneaked up behind her and rubbed something furry on her cheek. Her shriek made Freddie laugh, and she nearly fell of the chair.
"Spencer!" she complained, then stopped abruptly when she saw what he was holding. "Is that Mr. Fuzzy?"
He grinned and passed it to her. "I always meant to give him back", he shrugged. "But that was the first time you ever shared with someone besides Carly. I didn't know how to give it back without upsetting you and keep you from never sharing again."
She held the stuffed panda against her thigh, allowing her muscles to relax. Sam smirked. "Yeah, that sharing thing really took, didn't it?" she drawled sarcastically.
Freddie snorted from the kitchen where he was pouring iced tea.
She softened slightly for a brief second. "Thanks, Spencer", she murmured.
He just pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. Spencer is slightly surprised that she takes the offered comfort, but she hugs him tighter for a moment before pulling back, and he lets her go.
Sam remembers being nine years old and falling off her skateboard at the park while playing with Carly. She had skinned her knee pretty badly, but managed to keep her tears to a minimum, only a few rolling down her cheek. Spencer had taken care of her, cleaning the scrape and putting a Band-Aid on it while letting her chew on a lime ice pop. It was the first time in a long time that she could remember feeling safe.
She said a quiet 'thank you' and handed him her stuffed panda before heading to the freezer to give Carly a pink ice pop so she would stop sniffling over her best friend getting hurt.
Freddie sees the exchange out of the corner of his eye, but wisely says nothing. Whatever was going on with Sam, she obviously didn't want to let him in on it right now, and he didn't have the right to push.
00
A/N: Thanks for the reviews so far! I'm glad you're liking this so far. Keep in touch.