Against All Odds
Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly
A/N:I want you to know that Sam/Freddie will have strong moments.
Chapter 3 (Attempting a Connection)
On their way to the supermarket, Spencer would occasionally glance at Sasha, she hadn't said a word to him since they left. He didn't want her to doubt him, but he couldn't say he could possibly blame her. She had every reason to doubt him, especially with their last argument. He pressed his lips together as he pulled to a stop at a red light. He rubbed his thumb along the steering wheel and leaned back, sighing heavily. "You can't just ignore me forever, Sasha." He smiled at her and lifted his eyebrows, trying to think of something they could touch on. Anything. She closed her eyes and shifted her weight to the right against the door.
"I'm not ignoring you. I just have nothing to say to you. And yes, I know that I was the one that left you, and yes I know that you have every right to be ticked off with me for not telling you about Blake." Spencer pressed his lips together and turned his eyes to the stoplight.
"What did you think, I would just deny he was my kid and want nothing to do with him? You of all people should know I'm not like that…" She put her arm down on the arm rest and scoffed slightly.
"How was I supposed to know that? How am I supposed to know that you wouldn't start working on some sculpture and forget all about Blake?" That was a blow to his ego, but he was getting used to that. He didn't want to be like that with his family, he really didn't. Sure he'd have to get his priorities in order, but for the most part, he was certain where he wanted to stand. "You were just a boy in a man's body."
"I like to think that I'm a man…"
"Are you still relying on your father's money or are you holding your own?"
"I…" He winced and felt her stare on him. She was right, he hated to admit it, but he had to. He didn't have a job, his art wasn't bringing anymore money in, hardly enough, and his dad still thought he was in law school. He definitely didn't feel like a man with all that going on.
"Uh huh, that's what I thought."
He needed to think of a different subject, perhaps asking her about how her life had been up to this point. Though, she was struggling a bit before, but since she had gotten into that Pak Rat game again, she had been having a lot of fun with it. "Yeah well…what about you? Have things started looking up?" He winced as she slowly stared at him. What wording!
"What do you think?"
"Okay so I worded that wrong. I mean, is there anything good going on lately? Have you been playing Pak Rat any?"
"Don't really have a lot of time for video games, nor have I had any time. Believe me, I'd love to have some time to do those things, but I just don't." She bit her lip and glanced up at the stoplight. Once it turned green, Spencer started driving. "Hm, well…I know Carly's good with kids, so what do you say after we get the supplies for Blake, you and I hit the old arcade?" She raised her eyebrow as Spencer smirked, if he was correct then she would not turn him down. Not if she was still the same old Sasha he knew and loved. While having a child, it most likely changed people, it couldn't have changed someone that much. "I got a high score on the old arcade street fighter game down there. I'm pretty sure you couldn't possibly beat my score." She rolled her eyes and looked away from him, but he could see her trying to resist that urge inside her.
"I could do it…" She spoke softly and kept her eyes away from him. He smirked and slowly shook his head.
"Nope, nope, nope, you look me in the eyes and tell me you think you could beat me." She closed her eyes and chucked. She hated being challenged and not meeting the challenge, Spencer knew this well. She slowly turned her head to him and glared sharply into his eyes.
"I know I could beat your score. I told you three years ago, I practically raised myself in arcades, there's no way in hell your pitiful score would stand a chance against me."
"Yeah, you ruled at Pak Rat, but you're in my territory now. Remember who won the last time?" She narrowed her eyes as he pulled into the parking lot of Wal-mart.
"Bring it. After we're done shopping, I'm taking you down."
About two hours later, Spencer and Sasha were driving into the parking lot of the arcade. They'd dropped the items off at the house and checked on Blake, it seemed he was quite taken with Carly, so they were able to let her keep watching him while they went to the arcade. Currently, Spencer was singing along to a song on the radio, not realizing Sasha was watching him oddly as he sang with Tonight I'm Lovin' You, by Enrique Iglesias.
"Okay Spencer, I'm ready to kick your ass." He stopped singing at that and stared at her with uncertainty, was she talking about the game or real life? He could swear, with the way her eyes were burning him, that she probably wanted to do it in real life. How was he supposed to win her respect? Could he even do that? It seemed so simplistic, he ought to be able to get her to believe when he said he wanted to give his all to her and to Blake, as well as Carly.
"What's it going to take to get you to realize that I want to be with you guys? I mean, I'm willing to give everything just to make you happy…is it going to take something that extreme? I mean, I told you, I'm sorry for the things that I said back then. Why should it be so difficult?"
"I'm giving you a chance, Spencer. Give it some time. I'm just curious to see what you're like now…I don't really have much of a choice." His stomach tightened as she opened the door and got out. He put the shift into park and sighed as he undid his belt.
"Nice to know I'm just the backup plan for when everything goes wrong…" He muttered his words and left the car, his heart ached with longing as he watched Sasha walk ahead of him towards the arcade. Was it fair for her to be this upset at him? What was he doing wrong? Or maybe she wasn't upset with him, maybe it was something else. He placed his hand on his stomach and smiled vaguely as she stopped in front of the door and looked back at him with a smile of her own.
"What are you waiting for? Come on!" His eyebrows went up, she was smiling for the first real time today. The sun lit her features and the light dazzled in her soft brown eyes, she was still attractive in every way. "Don't keep me waiting too long, I might get bored." He chuckled and started moving forward.
"I'm coming, I'm com-" He felt something hit his foot and let out a loud grunt as he stumbled forward, nearly falling onto the ground. He caught himself and panted as he stared at the ground with frustration, he tripped on a damn crack! He heard Sasha laugh and move over to him.
"Well Spencer, I have to say. I haven't heard that exchange in three years. If I didn't know better, I'd say you just got done with a really good time." His cheeks started burning as she smacked his back and walked with him inside the arcade.
"That. Was a low blow."
"I know, but admit, you enjoyed my tease." He chuckled and led her to the street fighter game, his mind was already reeling with ideas on some wagers. Some were not so appropriate, but some were small and innocent. There were also some ideas that he wasn't sure which they were. "So, have you thought up any bets for this game?"
"As a matter of fact, I have."
"Name it."
"I win, you kiss me and agree to start dating me again while I prove to you that I can take care of you and Blake." He froze and smacked himself inwardly for speaking so quickly, he hadn't wanted to say that. That was one of those inappropriate ones! He was certain to catch hell from her now! He swallowed hard and watched her closely, she was standing there with a slightly bemused and baffled expression.
"Well…" She clasped her hands together and smirked dangerously after taking a deep breath. Her expression was relatively calm, a sign that maybe she didn't hate him. "Okay then. If I win…" Her eyes narrowed and he awaited simple doom. "Well, I'll let you know when the thought comes to me."
"So I don't even know what I could be getting if you win, huh? Could be good or bad…"
"Pretty much." He tugged nervously on his collar as Sasha turned to the arcade machine. He had no choice, he had to win this. Of course, why would they seriously base their whole future on one video game? Granted, how many futures happened due to a video game? "Come on Spencer. You're going down."
"We'll see who's going down tonight." He walked to the arcade machine and paused his hand over the controls. He clicked his tongue with embarrassment and closed his eyes, groaning inwardly at the choice of his words. What the hell was going on with him today? He looked to Sasha, she seemed unfazed by the comment. Her eyes were closed and her body relaxed. His mind trailed back to three years ago, the way she moved whenever she was relaxed, she always was incredibly flexible. She still retained the sharp wit as well, which was a plus in his mind. His heart steadied its pulsing as Sasha exhaled.
"Spencer. Just choose your character. I swear…"
"That came out wrong, you know."
"Choose. I want to get home to Blake soon."
"I'm with you on that." He clicked the two player button and selected Ryu, Sasha went with Chun Li. A classic matchup for the game. He was hoping that she was rusty with the game. "You'd better get ready for a double dose of defeat."
"Right. We'll go with that." Once the game started, Spencer was the first to charge into battle. He glanced over at Sasha as her character slammed his into the pavement, she had a damn good poker face. Then again, she always had that, whenever she was focused on a game, she would get so into it that she didn't look like she was really reacting.
"Do you hate me?"
"No." Spencer fired off a hadoken and Sasha dodged it with a jump. "I know I seem tense, but I have good reason to be today. I mean you have to think about what's been going on with me lately."
"I know…" They'd had that discussion already, he was scared for her when she told him she'd slashed those men's tires and took off.
"I'm sorry if I came off the wrong way, I don't hate you, Spencer…" Spencer eyed the game screen as Ryo fell to the ground, Chun Li was victorious in the first round. He had to focus. Round two begun with Sasha running her character over to him, he countered with a quick punch to the midsection. "Am I upset over what happened three years ago? Yeah, but does it keep me from actually caring about you or thinking about you? No." His heart lifted up and began to fill with hope, she was so into the game that she probably was just speaking her mind. It's what she did back then, she would speak her mind without really thinking, the best way for him to know how she felt about something. So maybe he still had something to hope for. Then again, did it really matter? He wanted to win her back, the only question was how to do that.
"You do seem like you hold it against me."
"I hold what you said against you. I mean you basically told me that your art was more important than I was and more important than a family would be. You were also continuing to lie to your father, and I don't know if he knows you're not in Law School or not…"
"He doesn't…" Spencer watched Chun Li fly back into the air, her life bar drained completely, he won one match. Now, it was down to the final match. If he was to court her in any way, he needed to win. "Both he and Grandpa think I'm an irresponsible screw up…"
"Go figure, huh? Those two…I wonder what you plan on telling them about Blake."
"I have no idea. I'm just thinking about right now…"
"You can't just think about what's in the now, you have to think about the future too. Always anticipate. Then again, you've never been one to anticipate what was coming."
"Oh really?"
"Yes. You probably have no idea what's going to happen in the next few minutes. If I were planning something, you wouldn't be able to anticipate it." He chuckled as he blocked a blow by Chun Li.
"Well if you weren't so hard to read, but then again, I've always loved that about you." Suddenly he stopped himself and heard her gasp. Chun Li's character hesitated for a split second, then shot forward. Spencer wasn't quick enough and his character fell, defeated. His eyes widened and his heart began to panic, he'd lost. He was now at Sasha's mercy.
He moved his eyes to Sasha and saw a very serious, yet blank, expression upon her face. She took a step back and turned towards Spencer, smirking slightly. "Looks like I win." He swallowed hard and turned towards her, his hands began to tremble as she tilted her head to the right. "I'm definitely going to enjoy this."
"So what's your punishment? What's your torture?"
"Hm?"
"What do you have planned? How are you going to get me back for the things I've said…or will you ever forgive me?"
"Maybe in time…I'm more concerned with my victory." He became disheartened, his confidence was shot. She took a step forward, her smirk growing in intensity. She lifted her hands up to his chest, for a second he thought she was going to push him away. "I'll bet you think you're quite the ladies man. How many girls have you dated since we were together?"
"Not that many, none of them really felt right…"
"I love how honest you are, you know that?" His eyebrows rose as she closed her hands around his shirt. "You're not dating any other women, got that?" He could take that, no problem. With Sasha, he'd rather be with her than anyone else. Suddenly she surprised him, she yanked him forward and kissed his lips. Her lips sparked a fire upon his lips and burned into his body. He gasped lightly and closed his eyes. He lifted his arms up and wrapped them around her, bringing some extra passion into the kiss.
What the hell was he doing? What was she doing? He never expected this to happen, but he wasn't complaining. He tightened his embrace around her and deepened the kiss. The memories of the passion they had from three years ago came flooding into his mind, perhaps they still had it.
He could feel her heart melding with his, her soul slowly returning to his. His muscles tightened around her and the world seemed to disappear. Fortunately, there hadn't been anyone in the particular area they were in. He moved his dominant hand up to her hair and grasped it gently as she pressed him forward against the game. He wanted to hold on to her forever.
The past seemed to evaporate as they slowly sank to the floor. Spencer sat against the machine as Sasha moved her hand to his chest and pulled her lips away. He opened his eyes and gazed back at her with great longing. Her eyes were wet with tears, they broke his heart. They'd been separate for far too long, and it had been killing them both, not just him, and he could see that in her eyes.
"W-we shouldn't be doing this, Spencer…"
"Sasha…" They heard a janitor's radio outside of the room, it was playing off Far Away, by Nickelback. That song struck him in a soft spot, it always had. Sasha glanced at it briefly before moving her eyes to his. She let out a single sob as she traced the frame of his face with her hand. "I'm sorry, for the things I said. I never should have…I've regretted that all this time…Then you said you didn't want to be with me anymore-"
"It was an impulsive decision, I'd been going through some stuff then. When you never called me, I kind of figured you'd moved on already…" He pressed his lips together as she slowly moved her finger to his lips. "I…I needed that. I wanted it."
"Even though you don't think I'm capable of being there for you and Blake?"
"I don't know, I worry, just…" She moved to his shoulder and circled her index finger in his shirt. "Hold me for a little bit. Let me feel you."
"Okay." He moved his arms around her as she slowly closed her eyes and breathed out softly. "Does this mean…you're willing to date?"
"Yes. I just…I think there's some pretty big factors to talk about."
"We'll talk about them soon."
"Okay, good." Right now they just wanted to hold on to each other. After a minute, another Nickelback song started to play. This janitor really enjoyed Nickelback. The song was Feelin' Way Too Damn Good. He chuckled inwardly and breathed in Sasha's vanilla scent. What could possibly go wrong? Though in the words of the great band, he was definitely feeling way too damn good just cuddling her in his arms. It was strange, usually the songs by Nickelback that made him think of Sasha were Far Away, and Someday, he'd be happy to add this one to the list now. His lips curled upwards and he tightened his arm around Sasha's waist as she cuddled closer to him. Who knew an arcade would help them see eye to eye again? One thing he knew without a doubt, and hoped she felt the same way, he still loved her.
I hope you liked this, tell me what you thought of the arcade. No this doesn't mean things are completely okay between the two of them, but at least they're making some headway.