The Greatest Secret
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own iCarly
A/N: This story details what it would be like if Sam and Freddie were secretly together during the series. Read it, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
Chapter 46 (Carly's Bet)
The summer passed by without much happening, Tyrone had dropped in to visit Emily every now and then, but he didn't every hang around too long. The reason was simply because Freddie wasn't there. He did try to figure out who Freddie's bride was, so he could save her from any more torment before he returned. Of course, it was torture just dealing with him.
Carly did have her moments where she spoke of Freddie, but it wasn't as often as Sam was afraid. Sam even managed to get Carly's mind onto other guys, yet that was at Valerie's help. Valerie and Carly weren't really friends, though they did talk sometimes over the summer. Sam needed Valerie's help a lot, since whenever Carly did talk about Freddie, she was usually praising him and saying how she really hoped he changed and that she would consider dating him. Every time Sam imagined Carly dating Freddie, she felt sick to her stomach and had to go talk to Valerie or Emily.
Spencer actually did the tech stuff for iCarly, but it wasn't perfect. During the summer, Sam was able to role play with Jonah and Valerie, and she actually fit right in. They made sure she wasn't a third wheel, but then, she never could be. After all, why would they leave their best friend out of anything they did. Today was the day that Freddie would return from military camp, so naturally, all of them were excited. Carly wasn't able to greet Freddie, and Emily had a job. Luckily, Jonah got his driver's license, so he was driving the group around.
Currently, Jonah was leaning against his kitchen counter and waiting as the girls prepared themselves to meet Freddie. "Hurry up in there!" Jonah said as he glanced at his watch. "It's not like Freddie's going to wait all day!" He sighed and tapped his foot impatiently. Valerie popped her head out of the bathroom door, she was holding a brush in one hand and a bottle of perfume in her other hand. Jonah raised his eyebrow and crossed his arms.
"Jonah, Sam wants to look perfect for Freddie!" Valerie said in a quick voice. Jonah rolled his eyes and chuckled lightly.
"It's not as if she doesn't already look perfect to him. You should know us guys by now, we don't care how dolled up you are, you look perfect no matter what you look like. In fact, you could look like a tornado, and we'd still think you're beautiful." Valerie laughed and shook her head as she rushed back into the bathroom. Jonah let out a sigh and started whistling a tune. He lightly beat against the counter and waited for the girls to get out of the bathroom. "I think Freddie's going to be waiting for thirty minutes…"
"It could be hours," Sam said as she and Valerie walked out. They had smirks on their faces. "Seriously Jonah, patience is a virtue. When dealing with women, you need to learn that we want to be perfect regardless. After all, the more we look good, the more attached you men are to us." Jonah raised his eyebrow and Sam looked toward Valerie. "Unless of course, you completely paint your face, then we just look hideous." Jonah crossed his arms and tapped his arm, waiting for Sam to finish.
"You done yet? We need to go pick up your boyfriend now." Valerie laughed and Jonah picked up the keys from the counter. He glanced over at Sam and raised his eyebrow, she had on a tad more makeup than she usually did, but that was fine. "You look great, I'm sure Freddie will love the makeup. Now, the question is, if he loves the makeup, what will he think of you?" Sam smiled and rolled her eyes while walking past Jonah. "Yeah, just remember, as his best friend, I'm qualified to tell you that he loves a girl's natural beauty a lot more than makeup."
"Oh, I know that, Jonah. After all, he would hate kissing my cheek and getting all that powder and makeup in his mouth! Yet, I still need makeup for this. Now let's go, we're going to be late, and I don't want to be late on seeing Freddie!" Jonah chuckled and shook his head as he walked out the door. The group made it to the car and Jonah started driving. "Please don't wreck the car. I want to see Freddie before I die!" The girls grinned and Jonah smiled as he watched the road, they loved teasing him since he just got his license.
"It's a shame Jake isn't able to greet Freddie on his return," Valerie said as she looked out the window. "What did he say he had to do?" Jonah shrugged and turned left.
"I think he said his girlfriend wanted him to go to some sort of class with her. It's no big deal, though. I think we'll be enough of a welcome party for Freddie any day. It beats him having to return home and automatically pretend to hate Sam."
"Yeah, that wouldn't be fun." Sam shook her head as Jonah moved into the right lane. Of course, it's been far too long for Sam to care about pretending, though she still would have to do it. If only she knew things would be perfect with Carly, if only she could know if Carly would be just like Jonah and Valerie were, but she didn't know, so she couldn't tell her. Jonah turned on the radio and the group sat in silence until they arrived to the airport. Once they made it to the airport, they parked and quickly hurried to the pick up area. There they saw Freddie sitting on a bench, his luggage surrounding him.
"Freddie!" Sam called out. Freddie glanced up and over at Sam, smiling brightly. She ran over to him and wrapped her arms around him as he stood up. "I missed you so much!" She gave Freddie a quick kiss on the lips and smiled. Jonah and Valerie stepped behind him and looked at him with smiles on their faces as well. Sam looked at the hat that Freddie was wearing and smirked. "I love the army, that's what it says...so, are you going to join the army?"
"I'm thinking Air Force," Freddie said as he kissed Sam's forehead. "However, that time will come eventually. I still don't know if I'll join the military or not. Colonel Morgan and Mr. Shay are in the Air Force, and they seemed to know a lot." He smiled and looked over at Jonah and Valerie. "Hey guys, it's been a while!"
"Yes it has," Jonah said as he patted Freddie on the back. Valerie gave him a hug and rubbed her chin.
"I'm thinking the Air Force suits you," Valerie stated. "In fact, Jonah was considering joining the Air Force after college. You two could go into the military together."
"Ah, but then you girls would be army wives," Freddie said with a subtle smirk. "You ladies would have to deal with the possibility of us going to war and not making it back."
"It would be for a good cause," Sam said while giving a slight nod. "I would love for my husband to fight in order to keep this country save and free. I know that it would be hard to handle, though." Freddie smiled and ran his hand through his hair.
"Yeah, it wouldn't be too bad. By the way, I got you guys some things!" Freddie turned around and started moving things in his luggage, he pulled out a hat and placed it on top of Sam's head. She blinked and glanced up.
"You got me a hat?" Jonah looked at the hat and chuckled.
"Not just any hat," Jonah stated while rubbing his chin. "It says 'I love Army Men.'"
"Yeah, it was either that, or the cap that said Military Wife," Freddie said with a smirk. "At least with that hat, you can wear it wherever you go." Sam smiled and gave Freddie another hug, kissing him on the cheek. Freddie moved back to his luggage and pulled up a rolled poster, he grinned and handed it to Jonah. "This is a poster of the United Air Force; I know you have a really big interest in them, so I thought I'd get one for you."
"Thanks!"
"I also thought Valerie might like this." Freddie picked a bag from the luggage and handed it to Valerie; she pulled out the contents and saw various gift cards. "Those are gift cards that enable you to get discounts on the items at any Rosa Bakery shop in the country. Become a regular, and you may just get a job at one." He knew Valerie loved to cook; she wanted to become a world famous chef one day, so starting out with bakeries would be a good thing.
"Thank you, Freddie!" Valerie squealed as she gave him a hug. Sam laughed and patted Valerie on the back.
"Okay, three second rule on hugging my boyfriend," Sam stated. Valerie laughed and let go of him, it was just a friendly hug. They joked with each other over time and said when hugging one of the guys, there was a three to four second rule when it came to the other girls' boyfriend.
"Anyway, let's get going," Jonah said with a smile. "We have a lot to catch up on, and you have to tell us everything that happened. We'll tell you some things that happened over the summer as well."
"I can't wait," Freddie said while picking up some suitcases. Jonah grabbed the rest of the luggage and started walking with the others. "So Jonah, you finally are able to drive?"
"He's a monster, Freddie!" Sam said in a melodramatic voice. She placed the back of her hand to her forehead and leaned back onto his chest, giving a sigh. "He's a killer of the roads!" Jonah rolled his eyes and Freddie merely laughed.
"I'm not a bad driver!" Jonah defended. Sam snickered and crossed her arms as the group neared Jonah's car.
"Just messing with you, Jonah…" Sam gave a sweet smile and Jonah huffed while looking away.
"So mean." Valerie laughed and gave Jonah a kiss on the cheek, she and Sam both enjoyed teasing him, and now they could tease Freddie.
-NEW SCENE-
A week later, school was back in session. When Freddie returned, Carly seemed thrilled to see him back and gave him a hug. Sam started feeling uncomfortable when that hug lasted longer than five seconds, Freddie had to push himself out of Carly's grasp. Tyrone hadn't bothered them in a good amount of time, but ever since then, Sam enjoyed letting Lisa pick her up from school every now and then. Even Sasha chose to pick her up sometimes. At the end of this current day, Lisa was driving Sam and Carly to the Bushwell Plaza. Sam and Carly reached the Shay apartment and Carly gave her a smile.
"Thanks for letting your mom drive me home," Carly said in a quick voice.
"Eh, she just likes me hanging out with you because she thinks it will keep me out of jail." That was somewhat true; Sarah Puckett had always wanted Sam to hang out with good people so Sam wouldn't wind up in jail. Freddie stepped out of the apartment and looked over at Sam.
"Why did it take you guys so long to get home from school?" Freddie asked.
"My mom had to stop and pick up her ointment, anymore questions?" Freddie shuddered and Carly smiled as she opened her door. In reality, Sam just wanted Lisa to stop somewhere so she could actually talk to her about something. Carly had gone to a separate area of the store for a bit during that time.
Sam and Freddie entered and saw Spencer working on various sculptures, going at a fast pace, he told them he was doing it for some art gallery. They talked until Sam decided she wanted a snack and followed Freddie into the kitchen, listening to Spencer as background. "Hey Freddie, I had an idea."
"What is it?" Freddie asked as he took a bowl from the refrigerator.
"Well…I'm not sure if you'll like it."
"Go ahead." Sam smiled and took a bite from the item in the bowl.
"Well, I was thinking that you and I could find some time to do a bet for this week. It would be fun for Carly to see, too." Freddie raised his eyebrow and Sam gave a small sigh. "Well, you know how Carly thinks I can't go five seconds without insulting you? I was thinking that maybe we find a perfect opportunity to start this and you bet that I can't be nice to you for one week or something…"
"And then you act like you're having trouble with it?" Freddie smiled and gave a slight shrug. "Sure, it works for me…I'll think of something." Freddie looked up and saw Carly walking toward them, he sidestepped and gave her a smile, Sam did the same.
-NEW SCENE-
Freddie and Sam stood in the lobby with Carly the next day, they were waiting for Harry Joyner, the famous artist, to arrive and check out Spencer's sculptures. Carly had talked to Freddie about how he and Sam always seemed to fight, and Freddie told her that Sam seemed just like that, she couldn't pass up the chance.
Carly looked away from the door of the lobby and sighed; waiting for the artist was hectic. Freddie and Sam decided that this would be the perfect time to start the said bet. Carly talked about the pictures of Spencer's sculptures, so Freddie said it was cool, cuing Sam to throw an insult.
"You know what else is cool?" Sam asked in an excited voice. Freddie raised his eyebrow and looked over. "Not you!" Freddie groaned and rolled his eyes.
"See, Carly! I told you, she can't pass up an opportunity to insult me!" Freddie said in a quick voice. Freddie crossed his arms and looked into Sam's eyes, flashing a slight smirk. "Anytime a chance comes along, you just have to insult me." Carly sighed and shook her head disapprovingly.
"You really should be nicer to him," Carly stated. Sam frowned and Freddie gave a small scoff.
"She couldn't be nicer if she tried," Freddie said as he turned to Sam. "She has no self control." Sam scoffed and shrugged her shoulders.
"I have oodles of self control!" Sam said in her defense. "I self control myself all the time. This was where Carly surprised them completely.
"Then prove it," Carly said while smiling and raising her eyebrows. "Don't insult Freddie for a whole week." Sam and Freddie gasped softly and Freddie turned to her.
"A-And what if she doesn't?" Carly shrugged and looked at Sam.
"Okay, for every insult, you owe Freddie five bucks." Sam felt weak, she was sure Carly was doing this just because she was upset that Sam always argued with Freddie. It was true, Carly had not heard their discussion the prior day, but she didn't like that Sam constantly bickered with Freddie. He could tell Sam was looking sick, and he really wanted to end this, because he too was getting sick.
"Uh…" He quickly put on a smile and faked a laugh. "Yeah, good luck, that's not going to happen!" Freddie said in a quick voice. Sam huffed and smirked.
"Nope, I'm not going to say one mean word," Sam replied. She smiled and her eyebrows rose, Freddie smirked at her.
"Oh really, then why don't you kiss me?" Carly snickered at the absurdity of the statement, she knew Sam would never kiss him, and would definitely insult him at that moment. Sam fumbled with her words and opened her mouth.
"Kiss you? Please, I'd rather…" She stopped herself and knew she wouldn't really be able to insult him. Truthfully, there wasn't anything she'd rather do than to kiss him. Only, being nice to him in front of Carly, wouldn't it raise suspicions? She sighed and shook her head. "I'd rather not do that at this time, but thank you for your kind offer." Well, that was true enough, she couldn't kiss him at that time, but she was definitely going to give him a kiss later. Freddie smirked and leaned back.
"Aw, how cute...Oh, I'm so going to kiss her later. But…why the hell would Carly do this? What is Carly…oh…" He sighed and crossed his arms over. "Impressive."
"Good girl," Carly responded. Both Freddie and Sam suppressed the urge to scowl at Carly, she just commented on Sam as one would a dog. Ignoring the comment, they just sighed and looked into each others eyes, flirting through eye contact. Soon a man walked in and asked for Carly, it was Harry. Carly turned around and started talking with him. After they started to walk away, Freddie looked at Sam and smirked.
"My mom is my hero." Sam blinked and looked to the side.
"It's going to be a long week, isn't it?" Freddie laughed and patted Sam's shoulders. She looked over and saw that Carly had left the lobby completely, so she sighed and looked to Freddie. "Freddie, why did Carly do that? What's going to happen? We can't make it look easy to be nice to you, and she may know that there's something more…"
"Don't worry about it, Sam. As I said, there's no reason not to stick to the original plan, just pretend you can't stand being nice to me. It's like you said, she's slightly bothered with that said crush she has on me when you, her best friend, hate me. So, she probably wants to see you be nice and hope that it means you'll be nice to me and she won't have to worry about you hating her if she continues to like me."
"You know…it just feels like…I don't know." Freddie sighed and hugged Sam, giving her a gentle kiss on the forehead.
"Relax, Sam, just relax. In one week, we'll go back to pretending that we don't like each other. Also, remember that the money you have is also the money I have." Sam chuckled lightly and nodded her head, Emily gave them each an allowance. "If you really want to, then you can insult me at the end of the week, pay me money, then I'll pay you it back when we get home."
"I guess so. Thanks, Freddie." Sam lifted herself up and softly kissed Freddie on the lips, he smiled at her and placed his hand on her back while walking toward the stairs. They didn't want to keep Carly waiting and they were interested in seeing what Mr. Joyner thought of Spencer's sculptures.
I hope you liked that chapter, I enjoyed writing it. Leave a review!