Chapter 15: The Triangle

Disclaimer: Let it be known across the land: Dan owns iCarly, yo.

Day 8 - Night

1

Spencer had heard the phrase, "you could cut the tension with a knife." He had never actually experienced it himself, although as a sculptor he actually enjoyed the thought. He changed his mind once he came into the apartment. The first thing he noticed was the distance. The three teenagers formed a triangle, but the distance among them was so vast that Spencer immediately noted it. The three of them were often so close that they practically sat on each other on the couch.

Carly was standing near the computer. Freddie was near the stairs. And Sam was standing closest to Spencer, next to the couch and close to the door.

"What's going on, guys?" he asked. They turned away from their three-way death stare and looked at him. That seemed to break whatever spell had been cast over them.

"Nothing. I'm out of here," Sam said and moved past Spencer and pulled the door wide open and left. She didn't close the door. When she went, Freddie started to take a step. He stopped, and deliberately looked away, up the stairs so that he didn't need to look at Carly. Spencer looked at her.

Carly took a step toward Freddie. "Freddie?" His eyes flashed to her quickly.

"Yeah, I think I should go, too. See you later, Spencer." And he left, closing the door behind him.

"Carly, what happened?" He stepped toward her, stopping when she held her hand up. Her face, which had been clear when the others were there begin to sparkle with tears.

"I'm going upstairs." She left.

"What happened here?" Spencer asked the empty room.

2

Earlier:

When Freddie came home, he stayed there for a while. That wasn't that common. If he had taken the time to delve into it, he would have realized he spent more time at Carly's than he did at his own apartment. But today, he just didn't feel like it. For the longest time in a while, he didn't even want to see Sam. But he had to go over there eventually, right?

Sam walked down the hall the same time he opened his door. They looked at each other, but didn't say anything. Freddie held the door open for her. Carly was sitting on the couch and looked at them almost guiltily when they came in.

"Hey, guys," she said. Sam grunted, and Freddie nodded at Carly. "So you guys gonna do the tutor thing?"

"I guess," Sam said. "I was thinking I would look more into this poem thing."

Freddie spoke up for the first time. "You don't have to. I talked to Te...Principal Franklin. You don't have to do that anymore-just the tutoring and staying out of trouble."

"I thought I told you not to talk to him, nub."

"You're welcome, Sam. Your gratitude makes it all worthwhile."

"What did you tell him, anyway?"

He looked at her. "I told him I wrote it." Both Sam and Carly looked at him.

"And what did you say when he asked who it was about?" Sam asked. Her neck was slightly flushed. Carly felt like every muscle in her body was tensed.

"I said it was about you, Sam." He looked at her. She said nothing back.

"Well, that's good, guys. Sam won't get expelled. I guess the tutoring should begin," Carly said, trying to break the intense looks between the two. She felt uncomfortable being the only one sitting and got up and moved nearer to the kitchen. "Anybody want any lemonade?"

"Why would he believe you wrote a poem about me, Freddie?"

"It seems he believes there is something going on between us." He turned toward her, so that they were facing each other. Sam looked into his eyes, both afraid and hopeful. "It seems he's not the only one."

Sam looked over at Carly quickly, and then turned her eyes quickly back to Freddie.

"I know you like me, Sam," he said, although he didn't seem particularly happy about it.

"I can't believe you said something, Carly," Sam said loudly, turning away from what she thought was disgust in Freddie's eyes. "You promised."

"I...I...I didn't."

"Wait. You knew she liked me, Carly? And you didn't say anything, even after you forced it out of me," Freddie said. Sam turned back to him.

"Forced what? You two were talking about me?"

"Guys," Carly moaned.

"I have to say something, Sam," Freddie said.

"Freddie," Carly said, but could think of nothing to follow up with.

"When Melanie came over yesterday..."

"Oh, I knew you were going to bring that up," Sam said and moved away from him.

"I kissed her, Sam. I thought she was you, and I kissed her."

"You kissed my sister?" Sam asked. She wanted to rip his face off. She wanted to rip her own face off. "How could you do that?"

"I don't know, Sam, maybe because you had her pretending to be you, and we were on the fire escape and I didn't think you remembered our kiss, and it just happened."

I'll always remember, she thought. She looked at him. "So because you thought I didn't remember a kiss, so you thought you would kiss my sister?"

"He didn't know it was Melanie, Sam. He thought it was you," Carly said. Both of them looked at her. She blushed.

"You were spying on us?" Freddie asked.

"I...just wanted the best for the two of you," Carly mumbled.

"Why don't you stay out of this, Carly? The nub doesn't care for me. Apparently he's just moved on from brunettes to blondes." Freddie grimaced.

"He does care about you, Sam. He wrote the poem for you."

"Shut up, Carly," Freddie said. Carly gasped. She couldn't think of a time Freddie had ever talked to her like that.

"I can't even look at you, Freddie. Whoever you are is not the person that wrote that poem. That person would have known the difference between my sister and me..."

"That person probably would have thought you wouldn't try to manipulate him," Freddie said, angrily. "That person probably wouldn't have expected to go to the principal's office only to find out that he knew who wrote the poem and decided to play matchmaker for his 'favorite' student, not that she would ever consider or appreciate all the help other people have given her. That person thought he could fall in love with somebody who obviously can't show love herself."

"Guys." Carly wanted to turn back time. She wanted to go back and break both their promises, even if it would make them mad at her. Maybe they would only be mad at her for a while, but they would still have a chance, not attempt to destroy it like they were doing now.

"I..." Freddie started, but he didn't seem to be able to express anything else. They stood there, like statues, for five minutes, before Spencer came and broke the silence.

3

He had kissed her sister.

You sent her there. That didn't matter. If he really cared about her, he should have known it was Melanie. But it was okay if he didn't notice it was Melanie when you were trying to see if he liked you?

She made it past the lobby, the same scowl on her face. Her Samness was displayed for all to see. There was no weakness. Not until she left the building and found a spot where no one could see her.

Only then did she let herself cry.

4

His mom had left for work while he had been gone. That was perhaps for the best. She might have said something about him looking unwell and wanting to try one of her time-tested remedies, and he didn't want to snap at his mother.

He had wanted to take back everything he had said. Why was it that the person he loved most in the world caused him so much frustration and anger? He hadn't known it was Melanie! Couldn't she understand?

Melanie. He had better let her know before Hurricane Sam struck. He went on Splashface and went to Sam's page. He clicked on Melanie's name. She was online. That was good. Maybe. He sent her a chat request.

Melanie: Freddie?

Freddie: She knows, Melanie. I told her.

Melanie: Oh. How did it go?

Freddie: Imagine the worst possible scenario. Worse than that. I screwed up.

5

Spencer stood outside Carly's door. Unlike his sister, he was not often given to eavesdropping, but he was concerned, and he didn't know that she would talk to him. He was surprised to hear her talking. She was on the phone. That was good. Maybe she was already making up with Sam or Freddie.

"I messed up, Gibby. I don't know if they'll ever talk to each other again. Or me."

Gibby. She was talking to Gibby. The Observer hadn't observed that.

"I don't know," Carly continued. "Apparently Principal Franklin knew Freddie had written the poem."

Spencer winced. He had been thinking, when he first came up, of telling Carly it might be best if she didn't try to interfere in her friends' lives so much, but if Principal Franklin was involved, there was probably a pretty good indication of who the start point of all this was. Spencer Shay.

6

Sam was on her bed, reading the poem for the one-hundredth or two-hundredth time. Freddie had written it. In her wildest dreams, she had wished it were so, and now here it turned out to be the truth, and she couldn't find any joy in it. The phone buzzed with a new text message. It was probably Carly. She didn't want to talk to her. She didn't think it would be Freddie. No, he had made it clear. If he did have feelings for her...well, why would he have feelings for her anymore? All she did was cause him pain. The phone buzzed a few more times.

She read the poem again. She folded it up and finally looked at the text message. It wasn't Carly. Or Freddie. It was Melanie.

Sam, Freddie told me you know. I should have been the one to tell you, but I was so scared. I'm sorry. Freddie loves you. I know you don't believe me, but he does. It was my fault. I went there thinking I could act like you, but everything I did I screwed up. He told me that you felt he should have known right away it wasn't you. Perhaps. All I know is he knew as soon as he kissed me, Sam, and as soon as he knew, he stopped. Please believe me. I'm sorry. He loves you. I love you, too, Sam.

Sam looked at the well-creased poem on her night stand. She put her phone on top of it. She really couldn't handle this tonight.

A/N: Oh, no. Well, nothing can fix this, unless...no, nothing can fix this. Perhaps strength will come from the most unusual places.

Thank you for reviews from: Flutter360, Julefor, Geekquality, PurpleJerk, Kressxblack, Icarlya, SeddierFTW, seddiegirl25, kiyokoseddie, Penny Tee13, and clarksonfan.

Julefor: I find it amusing you think I'm piling on Sam, while others think I'm piling on Freddie. This chapter I decided to drop some on everybody.

PurpleJerk: There is no happily ever after. Maybe Sam and Freddie will get there "generally happy, although she's kind of mean and he's kind of a nub".

SeddierFTW: Freddie is nice. Although, Freddie does have flashes of not-niceness, usually in response to Sam-they usually don't last very long, though.

Penny Tee13: Yes, so kind of Principal Franklin. I think they might want to check his and Carly's DNA to see if they're related somehow-that kind of planning ineptitude can't be an accident, can it?

clarksonfan: It's Sam! She's not one for immediate thoughtful reflection. She might figure it out, though.