The Greatest Secret
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own iCarly
A/N:
Chapter 158 (The Imperial Fireballs)
Tomorrow morning, Freddie, Jonah, and Sam met up with Gibby and Tasha at the AMF Imperial Lanes bowling alley on 1201 22nd Avenue South. When Freddie entered, he had been met with the enticing aromas of wonderful food and the splendorous sound of pins being knocked over by bowling balls. He could see this, as well as the Groovy Smoothie, being major hangouts for them all. The friends were sitting at a table just outside aisle 20, their designated alley for the day.
Jonah had his son with him, which wasn't surprising at all. Tasha was fawning over baby Aaron while Jonah, Freddie, and Gibby talked about the band. "It's kind of interesting that iCarly ends and then you all come back together to form a band." Freddie chuckled at Gibby's words and shrugged his shoulders, he couldn't exactly help that fact. Both Sam and Carly were pretty important to him after all. "Either way, I think I mentioned before that I have an uncle who can line up some pretty good gigs here and there. That is, if you guys would ever be into that."
Freddie gave some thought to that and nodded as he pictured them performing on stage. It wouldn't be all that much of a problem, considering that was the whole idea of having a band. "I think it could work. Now if my sister would show up already, I'd be happy." They'd been there for a few minutes and all of them had already pretty much agreed to let Griffin join the band. They wanted to see him play the guitar a bit, but for the most part, they had no doubt that he would perform well.
The table they were sitting at was round and had enough room for seven chairs. Gibby sat in the chair closest to the six o'clock position, facing the doors. Freddie sat across from him with his back facing the alleys. To Freddie's left, at the one o'clock position was Sam. At the eleven o'clock position was Jonah. He had a small reclining high chair for Aaron to sit in, at four months he was able to use a high chair safely. To Gibby's right, at the five o'clock position was Tasha's main seat, although currently she was at the high chair next to Jonah, playing with the baby and making him laugh.
A waitress came up to the table with a tray of soup, seven soups. Carly called up and said what she wanted, which conveniently was the same as everyone else, French Onion Soup. In the middle was some bread with cream cheese and butter, as well as some bacon cheese fries. Along with the food were drinks, varying from water to tea. The waitress smiled at them as she set the food down. "I hope you enjoy your meal. Alley 20 is ready for you whenever you are."
"Thanks, we'll get to using it as soon as our friends show up." The waitress walked off and Freddie took the spoon next to his bowl and grabbed a spoonful of soup. He blew on the soup and brought it to his mouth. The warm soup made his taste buds sing and his throat gracefully accepted the first bite. "You guys, this soup is awesome!"
"Hell yeah it is!" Gibby exclaimed as he bit into a piece of bread that he dipped in the soup. Jonah took a bite of the soup and nodded his head.
"I have to say, I like this place every time I come here. Last time I came here was with Valerie, we had some amazing onion rings and played a good game of bowling." Freddie smirked and pointed a piece of bread at him.
"To which she kicked your ass, right?"
"No! I uh…." Freddie lifted his eyebrows and Sam watched with eager anticipation. "I lost. Horribly…Italians have good aim." Freddie laughed and Jonah quickly glared at him. "It's true. It doesn't even matter that she's only half Italian, she's still got good fucking aim!"
"Oh? Have you ever pissed her off to the point she throws something at you from a distance and it just so happens to hit your dick?" Jonah held up his finger to protest, but paused momentarily. The color drained from his face and Freddie smirked triumphantly as Jonah winced and continued to speak.
"Italians can get really pissed when you agitate them, especially during pregnancy." Freddie laughed again and Sam snickered, causing Jonah to slowly turn his head away from them in an attempt to cover up the embarrassment. He saw the doors open and Carly came walking in with Griffin. Their hands had been together, but once they entered the door, their hands parted. "Hey guys, look who just arrived. Fashionably late I might say." Gibby turned around in his chair as the others all looked over to Carly, who waved at them.
"Hey guys, sorry I'm late. My friend had a little trouble with his, uh…his bike." Freddie lifted his eyebrow as Griffin's eyes met his. He gently nudged Sam with his knee and she quickly jumped up. Carly looked at her and smiled. "His name's Griffin."
"Your friend is a biker?" Sam put her hands on Griffin's arm and giggled once as Carly watched her with a smile. "Oh my god, he has muscles. So if he's a biker, does he have a girlfriend?" Sam looked past him and wagged her eyebrows suggestively. Freddie rubbed his chin as Griffin chuckled nervously. Carly smoothly avoided the question and started walking towards the table.
"You'd have to ask him." Carly moved to the seat next to where Sam had been sitting and leaned back against it. "Hey Griffin, you got a girlfriend?"
"Uh, yeah I do actually." He walked over to the table and Sam quickly moved back to her seat. She had a bit of a skip to her step.
"Cool! When can we meet her?"
"I'm not sure about that, I'd have to ask her." Sam nodded and Freddie watched as Carly took a seat at the two o'clock position of the table. Griffin sat next to her and looked down at the soup. "Looks good."
"It is pretty damn good," Freddie commented. "Anyway, Carly here says you're good with a guitar. This true?"
"Yeah, I've been playing the guitar for about two years now."
"Well, I'm looking for more free roam during my songs, so if you can play well enough, then maybe you can take care of the guitar." Griffin smiled and slowly nodded his head, he really did want to take that opportunity. Freddie smiled back at him as the others started eating their soup. "Okay, after this we play some bowling then I'll grab the guitar from my car. Sound good?"
"Yep. And thank you for the opportunity." He nodded and started eating, unsure of what else to talk about. They could talk about the performance they had coming up for Christmas weekend and New Years, anything to keep people off the subject of Griffin being a biker.
"Is everyone prepared to have the performances at the Groovy Smoothie on Christmas?" The others nodded and shrugged their shoulders. Carly and Freddie already talked about it the night before, she said she was fine with it as long as she was able to have fun. Jonah set it up, so he obviously had no qualms about it. Gibby was perfectly fine with the whole thing, as it really wasn't all that new to him. Sam, of course, would be unable to be there as she'd be two hours away with her family. "Griffin? Do you know the schedule?"
"Yeah, Carly filled me in on that on the way here. I'm fine with the times."
"Okay good." He paused momentarily and raised his eyebrow as he hung his spoon just inches away from his mouth. "Wait, how did you two get up here? I hope not on that bike…"
"Not at all, she drove her car and I came along with her. I don't think I'd let her ride my bike too often." He hoped not, he didn't want to imagine Carly being thrown off the bike in the event of a sharp turn. "Anyway, I thought I saw T-Bo's car out in the lot, you think he's around?"
"T-Bo? I haven't seen him." He looked away from the table, down the alleys in search of the man, but couldn't see him at all. Jonah nudged him and pointed towards the snack bar.
"There he is, and it looks like he's arguing with some short guy." The group shifted over and froze, to the point that even Jonah now recognized who it was. "Holy shit, is that Nevel?"
"What are they arguing about, you think?"
"I'll get a closer look," Griffin stated as he got up from the chair. Freddie nodded and quickly followed him for the hell of it. The two hid next to a wall and listened in to the argument.
Nevel was shaking a finger at T-Bo, who had his arms crossed and didn't look very attentive. "How can you just replace me? That was my slot!"
"Yes, and now it belongs to another band. I'm sorry, but nobody wants to hear a group of harmonicas and other windpipes play the sad little tale of the sad little boy that no one cared enough to visit, on Christmas! So I've booked a better band." Nevel growled and twitched his hands.
"Well you better have a good reason, what band would be better than my quartet of windpipes?"
"A rock band called the Seattle Beasts. Look, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to find another venue."
"Where? How? The Groovy Smoothie was the best and only place around this area that we could get!"
"Again, that's too bad!" Nevel roared angrily and started pounding his fists on the counter like a child having a tantrum. Freddie lifted his eyebrows and stared at him for a while, since when did Nevel have a band? He looked to Griffin and smirked as an idea came to mind. Griffin frowned and eyed him with suspicion.
"What are you thinking?"
"We talk to the little bratty kid?"
"…about what?"
"I don't know, I just haven't seen or heard from this guy since we quit iCarly. He was pretty upset over it." The fact that Nevel had nothing to do with iCarly's end was something that he just couldn't handle at the time, so Freddie was curious to see just how well he fared since then. "Come on, come on." He walked around the booth and Griffin sighed, following him closely. T-Bo glanced at him and waved. Nevel ceased his rampage and looked over, meeting Freddie with wide eyes.
"What are you doing here?"
"I'm just hanging out with my friends, how about you?" Nevel crossed his arms and leaned back against the counter, narrowing his eyes and studing Freddie up and down.
"I followed T-Bo here to find out why he told me that I was being replaced on Christmas weekend!"
"Yeah, about that…" He rubbed the back of his head and Nevel slowly turned his gaze to Freddie's. "I couldn't help to overhear. Man that's got to suck. I didn't know you were a part of a band."
"Yeah, well, when iCarly ended…so did my website. Didn't have anything to do, so I gathered a couple friends and started a band." He stepped forward and jabbed an angry finger into Freddie's face, causing him to stumble backwards. "And if I find that band who stole my place at the Groovy Smoothie, I'll ruin them! They'll rue the day!" Freddie chuckled absently as Nevel glared up at the ceiling and pointed at it, angrily shouting out. "Do you hear that, Seattle Beasts? You'll rue the day! Rue it!" T-Bo and Griffin had to stifle their chuckling as Nevel growled and venomously stormed past Freddie, who was breathing in and looking around.
"Well, I do believe he's a hyperactive little man. Feel up for some bowling, Griffin?"
"Yeah, that'll be great. Any idea who'll win? We should have like a bet go down."
"That's actually a great idea. Maybe the winner will have the rest of the band pamper them and their date." He smirked and Griffin laughed vaguely before shaking his head. "Then again, I can see how that'd be problematic for three of us. You and I have a secret relationship with our girls, even though Jonah knows about my relationship with Sam. Jonah's girlfriend is also on an apprenticeship in New York."
"So what, that leaves Gibby then?"
"Yep." So there was a bet that wouldn't work at all. He looked over at the table to see Carly watching them closely, her eyebrows were raised up and her lips were pursed in confusion. "Oh I'm guessing Carly's wondering what we're going on about over here."
"Well I'm sure if I had a sister who had a secret boyfriend that I was talking to away from her range of hearing, then she'd be giving me the stink eye also." Freddie closed his eyes and heaved a heavy sigh. Griffin made sense, Carly probably did not want them talking about stuff she couldn't hear. "So, I have a question. I know Jonah's your best friend and Sam's your girlfriend, so…"
"They found out after I saw you and Carly outside my house on Thanksgiving." Griffin chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck, so much for laying low.
"I can understand that, you probably had a big 'what the fuck' moment there, huh?"
"Yep." He began walking and Griffin soon followed after him. Once they made it to the table, Freddie grinned and pointed to the alley. "Okay folks, I have a wager. Whoever wins gets to suggest a new band name." The group looked at each other and all agreed on that, they needed a name that stood out a bit more than what they had.
As the day went on, the main bowlers were Freddie, Jonah, Carly, Gibby, and Griffin. Sam didn't care to bowl, even though she enjoyed the game, and Tasha didn't have enough confidence to play. As the game went on, it was Carly hitting most of the pins. She had a strike on nearly every other frame. When the game ended, it was clear who won. With every strike, the ball shot down the alley like a flaming ball of death, a harbringer of doom for the pins. Thus, she chose the band name that everyone agreed on: "Imperial Fireballs", a play off of the bowling alley and the speed of the bowling balls shooting towards the pins.
After the day of playing, the group was resting beside the building, laughing and playing around on the guitar Freddie had brought with him. He was sitting on a dumpster with his right foot propped up on it and his left leg going down the side. The guitar was in his lap and he was gently running his fingers along the strings. Jonah was leaning up against the front of the dumpster, tapping his feet on the ground. Carly was on the other end of the dumpster in a similar position as Freddie while Sam sat in the middle on the lid. It was an oddly clean dumpster, which was why they were there in the first place. Gibby and Griffin were on the other end of the narrow alley, leaning up against the building with their hands in their pockets. Tasha was in the center of them, dancing with the guitar.
"Hey guys, how about we write a song based on this place? I got an inspiration." Jonah nodded and glanced over to Freddie.
"Sounds good to me, but first, let's see what Griffin's got. I think we promised him a shot at that guitar before we can make him a completely honorary member of the Imperial Fireballs."
"All right, yeah, come over here man." Griffin pushed himself from the wall as Freddie carefully handed him the guitar. "Strum us up a song, let's hear it."
"All right, I got a good one for ya." Griffin took the guitar and thought for a moment. "This one I call A World of Pain. It's a song I wrote about how holding secrets, no matter how small, can eventually spiral out of control, leading to greater and greater chaos, until they destroy us." The others nodded and waited as he started strumming and skillfully and singing his original song. As he played, the others started to feel the effects of the music making their bodies yearn to move with the beat. Gibby and Freddie were drumming their hands on the surfaces they were with while the others bopped their heads. It seemed they also found their official songwriter too.
As Griffin wrapped up the song and smiled at Freddie, he handed him the guitar. Freddie jumped off the dumpster and grinned while giving Griffin a thumbs up. "Congrats Griffin, you're in the band. You also get to be our honorary songwriter, because the song was awesome!"
"Great! Thanks man."
"No problem. All of us together, even Sam, we are the Fireballs. Let's rock the house."
Nevel's back, albeit briefly, it seems he's pissed Freddie's band is taking his slot XD. Well, the band has a new name, I think it's a good one. I enjoyed writing this chapter quite a bit ^_^. Griffin is an honorary member of the band, and the band is indeed complete. More drama to come, it won't be long before Carly discovers something big.