Wooo, look at this, not a 17 year gap! :D
I must give a HUMUNGOUS thank you to everyone who stuck around after all of that time between updates. I am not kidding when I say that I love each and every one of you a whole heck of a lot, and I think you should come here and we can hug it out. All of you are what makes me motivated to keep working on this story, and I really appreciate it.
This is another chapter where Carly is fairly absent, though I try to keep a balance since they are best friends, so she'll show up more in future chapters. :) Just remember this is ultimately a Seddie story, so obviously I need a lot of that development present.
Anyway, I hope all of you enjoy this chapter, and the full title is down below. Thank you and please tell me what you think in the comments!
Chapter 22: My First Visit to Freddie's Apartment
"Go, go, go, go, dangit!" I let out a frustrated sigh and tossed my Pear Phone at my bed in frustration. No matter how much I yelled, apparently my game didn't want to listen.
Just as I picked it up and went to start again, there was a knock at the door, which was promptly opened without any sort of reply from me first.
"Samantha." Great. She seems cheery as always.
I just raised my eyebrows and waited, knowing she'd probably go on even if I was lying on the floor dying.
"You can't stay here tonight."
"I do live here, too, you know."
"But do you pay the rent? No? I didn't think so. Now, Frank, you probably were never paying enough attention to life to remember him, but he's the man who moved here from Ohio, and, well, long story short, his nearly ex-wife apparently doesn't want him in her house anymore for some reason, and he got an apartment, but he can't move in until tomorrow, so I'm letting him stay over, and I don't want you to intrude upon his visit. So go stay with Charlie or whoever that kid is."
In truth, I don't think I ever met this Frank guy. I'd developed this opinion over the years that attempting to make the men she went out with seem at least a tad bit familiar to me was my mom's way of making up for the fact that she went out with random men all of the time, as if it would redeem her failure as a parent. I guess she wasn't a complete failure, I mean, she did feed me and put a roof over my head (though apparently only when it wasn't an inconvenience to her), but she was relatively absent, and because I didn't enjoy spending time with her, I didn't mind all that much. Plus, by this point, I'd kind of conditioned myself not to care anymore. It was a regular habit, and it wasn't as if she was going to marry any of them, so I just didn't pay attention. I still didn't understand how she couldn't remember Carly's name. It really wasn't that hard, but she seemed to guess every other "C" name in the book.
"Fine," I shrugged. Not like it really matters to me.
"Good girl," she flashed me a fake smile and then turned out of my room. "Be out in half an hour," she called from the hallway.
"Already on it," I shoved some pajamas in a bag, pocketing my phone and stopping at the fridge on my way out to also throw in a bag of leftover ribs from lunch the day before.
The trip to Carly's house was uneventful as always, though I did stop to pick up a chilidog on my way there. Street carts are so handy. Never know when a craving might hit you. They hit me quite often. I should report abuse.
Finally, I got there and decided to climb the stairs, already done with my mid-route snack. I knocked lazily on her door, but there was no answer. Not exactly the most patient person in the world, I started knocking again. No one came to the door and I tried to just open it, but it was locked, so I started knocking more vigorously. "Carly! Carly! Carly Shay! Spencerrrrr!"
This was frustrating. They always answered their door or left if open, and I didn't think they were this sound of sleepers even if they were napping. I let out an annoyed groan and then started to pound on the door again. Before I got very far, there was a noise behind me and I turned around, only to come face-to-face with Freddie as he opened his door.
There was a hint of a smirk on his face and I narrowed my eyes, crossing my arms. "What're you looking at, Benson?"
"I'm not exactly sure."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Just what I said. So, why are you knocking crazily on Carly's door?" For some reason he was taking amusement in this situation and speaking in that voice he only uses when he's finding entertainment in something I'm doing, and I was already fed up enough between my mom's demand and the fact that no one was coming to the door.
"Because I want to get inside, nub, and I know that her spare key was sent in to be fixed because something happened to it, and I can't pick the lock, because last time that happened, Lewbert heard and your mom freaked out that everyone was going to be murdered and everyone had to pay for new locks."
He rolled his eyes but still appeared amused. "Well she's not home. I heard her and Spencer leave early this morning. Didn't she text you or something?"
Why wouldn't she tell me something like this? I pulled out my phone and didn't see any unread texts, but once I unlocked it and went to the home screen, I saw there was one. Ohhh, so that's who texted me while I was playing Running Monkeys before my mom came in. Maybe I should stop ignoring my texts while playing. Uh, yeah right. That'll never happen. "I guess she did."
"What does it say?"
"Mind your own business."
There was silence as I read it. Apparently their granddad was sick and so they were making a trip to Yakama to visit him, and would be back within a day, and if I needed any meat, I was not allowed to pick the lock, though she'd give me some when she returned to make up for it. I let out a sigh and looked up; Freddie was watching me expectantly. "It's their granddad."
He nodded solemnly and didn't ask questions for once, which was a relief. "So."
I scuffed my feet for a moment. "So." We'd seen each other plenty of times after what I called our non-date, but none of them actually without Carly. When she went to the bathroom or to grab a coat was one thing, but now we were stuck together and she wasn't going to be there soon at all.
"Why were you so desperate to get in?"
"Hungry."
"Really?" he didn't seem to buy it. Since when did he know me so well? It was kind of unnerving.
"I need a place to stay."
"Did your mother's house get taken by the government?"
"Just because no one knows what she does for a living, doesn't mean she doesn't make enough money somehow to keep us in our house," I rolled my eyes, not sure if I was more defending my mother or wanting Freddie not to hate me. Unfortunately, it was probably the latter. The feelings I definitely don't have for Freddie apparently still make me pathetic. But I don't have them anymore, so it doesn't matter.
"Sorry," Freddie seemed a bit guilty. "So why can't you stay in your house?"
"She just told me I couldn't. Some guy's staying and apparently I'd get in the way or who knows what." I shrugged, but I was starting to feel less okay with it as I retold the incident.
There was a flicker of a moment when he seemed to be contemplating something, and when he spoke it was hesitant. "Would you spit it out? Just because I have nowhere to sleep, doesn't mean I have all afternoon."
"I was just going to say-" This sounds way too familiar. I was on my way to remembering something when I stopped myself. Now was not the time for dwelling on what I couldn't have. "If you want, you can stay with me."
"Why would I ever want to stay with you?"
"Well, for starters, it'd be a proper place to sleep, even if it is a couch."
"Fair point, Frednub." I sighed. Since when did Freddie get to beat me with his logic? Okay, don't answer that. I wasn't going to let myself have feelings for him, but I supposed we were friends, and sleeping on a couch sounded really appealing. Maybe I could be allowed to accept. "It's not like I can, anyway. Your mom will probably attack me with all sorts of sprays and products. In case you haven't noticed, she hates me."
Then he chuckled again. How was he in such good spirits? "Don't worry, my mom won't be back until tomorrow afternoon because she's at another one of those cleaning product conventions. And she doesn't hate you. At least not as much as she hates Carly."
I shook my head and smirked, "typical. But who could possibly like me more than they like Carly?"
"My mom, apparently." Freddie fidgeted and looked like he was going to say something else but didn't. I hated people who beat around the bush, but I was keeping enough secrets to myself to say something. Not that I was big on fairness. But he did know two of my largest three secrets, and that scared me, especially because all of them involved him.
"So, are you going to let me in or not?" I looked at him expectantly, breaking up the tension that had for some reason settled between us.
It took a moment for him to get it, but finally he nodded and mumbled something I couldn't make out, going into his apartment and letting me walk through before he closed the door. I looked around curiously. I'd only come in here to drag him out the several times he tried to run away from me, but I'd never taken a proper look inside. The place pretty much looked like Carly's, just with much plainer furniture, and pretty much nothing around, and not a thing out of place. As in very boring and controlled by freakish Mrs. Benson. I was surprised she hadn't wrapped he furniture in bubble wrap, but that was probably just as awful because of the germ percentage or something.
"Hm," I gave a nod, unsure of what to say.
"It's a little…"
"Creepy? Hospital-like? Overly-clean? Freakish?" I suggested.
"Uh, yeah, one of those," he finally nodded. "You can put your stuff by the couch right here, and the bathroom's over there," he pointed. "My mom's room is upstairs and mine's over there, so we're going to have to share a bathroom. Try not to make a mess, because I only have so much time to clean before my mom gets home." I felt a little mischievous, especially since he'd just pointed out he couldn't get his bathroom dirty, but I was also in a weird mood, and didn't want to get kicked out if this was the only place I could sleep that wasn't illegal or outside. Or both.
I plopped my bag on the floor where he pointed and then threw myself on the couch. This was odd. I was alone with Freddie, which was bad enough, but then, on top of that, I was in his apartment and had to stay there. It was rather uncomfortable.
"You can watch TV, if you want," I was distracted by his voice and looked up to see him holding the remote out to me.
"Oh, cool," I gave a half-smile and grabbed it from him, not sure why this was even more uncomfortable than being in the hallway had been.
"Want some juice or something?"
"Uh, sure." As he walked away, I sat back on the couch, arranging the few pillows around me.
"Well don't you look cozy?" I met his gaze and saw he was smirking again.
"Oh, be quiet, Frednub," I stuck out my tongue, though he sat next to me and put two glasses on the table full of something I'd never seen before. "What's even in there?"
He sighed. "My mom won't let us have normal juice because it has too much sugar, apparently, so this is a special thing she made that tastes just like juice but has like no sugar.
I was just about to drink some when I heard what he said and I held the glass out away from me. "She made it?" I looked at him suspiciously. "What sort of weird things did she put in here?"
"Sam, it's fine, I drink it all the time."
"That's my point."
"Sam," he rolled his eyes. "Just drink it. You won't die."
"And if I do, you better take full responsibility when you break the news to Carly once she returns."
"You're not going to die."
"You don't know that."
"Just drink it."
"Shut up."
He let out a frustrated sigh, though after another pause, I finally took a sip. It didn't taste too bad, so I drank some more and then put down my glass.
"Look at that, you're still alive," he shot me a patronizing smile.
"Yeah, I probably should've just trusted y-" at that moment I flopped down onto the couch, strewn over Freddie's lap and lay there like I was dead.
I could practically see him shaking his head in amusement and heard him put his glass down as he reached over me. "Haha Sam, very funny." I didn't move. "C'mon Sam, get off of me. It wasn't poisonous." I still didn't move, finding this way too entertaining. "Sam…" his voice was a bit more unsure this time as I just lay there.
Then I felt him shaking me and didn't respond. "Sam…" he groaned. "Sam, Sam, wake up, Sam." There was more vigorous shaking of my shoulder. "Sam!" he was getting louder now. "Please don't be dead, Sam."
That did it for me. Since when did he care if I lived or died? Since he realized he'd have to tell Carly, probably. Either way, I took that moment to open my eyes and grin. "Will you quit shaking me?" I removed myself from his lap and laughed.
"Sam! That wasn't funny; you can't just play dead."
"Seemed pretty funny to me," I flashed him a smug look.
"Well it wasn't."
"Will you quit complaining? You're like a two-year-old," I poked him in the shoulder and laughed.
"Am not."
"Are too."
"Am not," he bumped me.
"Are too," I was about to bump him back when I thought back to how those experiences didn't always turn out too well, as our bump-turned-tickle-war at the baby shower and our bump-turned-floor-thing at the bowling alley both proved.
Instead I reached over him and grabbed the remote from where it'd fallen out of my hand as I played dead. "So, what shall we watch?" I straightened up and put on a fake haughty air. I clicked the button and my eyes widened.
"No," I looked at him and then a grin started to spread over your face. "Don't tell me your mom watches this channel." I gestured with the remote toward the scree, which was displaying the Cleaning Network. "I didn't even know this existed."
He looked at me for a moment. "Have you ever met my mother?"
"Good point," I pointed at him. The woman was a nutcase, so of course she watched this.
After changing the channel about sixteen times and then twenty times more, we finally settled on one and passed the afternoon like this, talking generally as we watched. It turned out that things really weren't that awkward once we got past that initial meeting with nothing going on and no one to force us into a situation where we'd be more at ease.
Finally dinnertime came, and we ate sandwiches on the couch and stayed up talking until we were both nearly falling asleep on one another and had to go our separate ways. He tossed me a blanket and then we said our good nights and he left for his room. It had actually been a pretty good night, I supposed.
There was a ringing noise and I flopped over with a groan, reaching out for my nightstand where I usually left my phone, only to find nothing there. I forced myself to pry my eyes open and had a moment of confusion. Where am I? This isn't Carly's apartment. Everything's weird and clean and white and weird. It took several more minutes for it to sink in, but finally I remembered what had happened yesterday.
Before I could dwell on it much longer, another ring caught my attention and I looked around until I located my Pear Phone, which was on the floor under the table.
"Mhm?"
"Sam?"
"That's me."
"I know, silly." Carly.
"Hey Carls."
"Hey sleepy head." She knows me so well, I smiled to myself as I lay back on the couch.
"How are things?"
"They're good, actually. Much better than expected."
It took me a moment to register what she was saying, but then I remembered the whole purpose of her trip. I might not have been the most sentimental, but Carly supported me too much for me not to do the same when it really mattered.
"He's okay, then?"
"Yeah. Thanks for asking. He was in the hospital, but they let him out, so we're just going to stay for the rest of the morning and afternoon and then probably be home late tonight."
I found myself smiling at this news. The happiness was evident in her voice, and that made me happy. "Take your time." I don't really know why I said it, because I missed her and I wanted her meat, and I was generally a somewhat selfish person. Maybe it was because I'd seen it on TV once or twice, or maybe I actually wanted her to stay and spend time with her granddad. I finally admitted it was the latter, but I am still definitely not a sentimental person. I'm Sam Puckett.
"Thank you, Sam. That means a lot," I could almost feel her smiling through the phone.
"No problem," I shrugged, even though she couldn't see it.
"Well, I suppose I'll talk to you later. Spencer says hey."
"Hey Spencer." I heard some yelling in the background that implied he was trying to say hey even though he wasn't at the phone, which made me laugh.
"Bye Sam."
"By Carls. Good luck with, y'know, things."
"Thanks." There was a click and I put my phone on top of the table this time, falling back asleep before I realized it.
Somewhere I could smell bacon. It was quite the pleasant dream, and I didn't want it to end. But something about it seemed just too real, and that wasn't to say I didn't know exactly what bacon smelled like to recreate it in my dreams, but it smelled like it was really close by.
My eyes popped open and I sat up, looking around for a moment before I sprang up from the couch, still holding the blanket that'd been covering me. There, in the next room, which I could see over the half-wall, was Freddie, standing by the stove. "What are you doing?" I asked as I walked in.
"Well good morning to you, too," he turned to me with a grin.
"Yeah, yeah," I dismissed his smugness with my hand. I took a seat and watched him dazedly, still working on waking up when I realized something. "Why do you have bacon in your house?"
He turned off the stove and grabbed a plate. "Hm?"
"Why do you have bacon? I would've thought Mrs. Crazy had banned it or some other horrible shenanigans like that."
Freddie chuckled as he put the plate in front of me, along with some eggs he'd apparently been making at the same time. My nose had focused on the bacon. "She uses it as mouse bait because apparently she's trying to coax Lewbert into making this a peanut-free apartment complex."
"Are either of you allergic to peanuts?" I grabbed a strip of bacon and started eating it.
"Nope."
"Weird."
"I don't even ask at this point," he admitted, looking a little sheepish.
"Is little Freddie-kins starting to grow up," I reached out and pinched his cheek and he swatted my hand away, though he did seem amused.
"I did turn 17 nearly two months ago."
"Oooh, look at you showing off," I teased him.
"Is Sam mad because she's still only 16?"
"Hey, I only have two more weeks of this," I retorted, but I smiled.
"Right, and-" suddenly there was a whooshing sound and both of us turned around, only to spring up from our chairs when we saw the pan on fire.
Before I really registered what was going on, Freddie was spraying the thing with a fire extinguisher. As he was setting it down, he turned to look at me, and suddenly there was panic in his face. "Sam! What are you doing so close? You could catch on fire and die." Well that made two times he cared if I died. He must be really scared of Carly's wrath.
Then I was distracted from my thoughts when I felt myself being pushed against the kitchen wall, and I blinked several times before seeing that Freddie had shoved me away from the fire, which was now just smoke.
I could feel his arm keeping me pressed there, but luckily I wasn't having any trouble breathing. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him turn his head away from the pan and toward me and I did the same toward him, though when I met his gaze, our faces were far too close together for comfort, and I could feel my insides churning in a way I had been trying not to let them for weeks now.
"Freddie," was I really going to do this? "I-"
The phone rang. "That'll be my mom," he mumbled after a pause, shifting so he wasn't looking at me anymore and then walked over to the phone.
While there was a lot I was currently confused about, one thing was clear.
Starting now, I wasn't ever going to give up on loving Freddie.
I hope you liked it! I know it was fairly short, but it was really important. Also, I know I'm mean, but heehee, it's my story and I can do what I want, and, truthfully, this is a torturous wait for me, too.
A special thanks to Mike2101, green aura, Maiks-heart, XxThe Penny TreasurexX, and Alex for reviewing my chapter, it truly means a lot. xD
Just one last important note: keep in mind that while some MLoF chapters correspond w/episodes, not everything in iCarly happened, like iTTK didn't happen (Sam's three big secrets are that she and Freddie kissed, that she keeps her list of firsts, and that she's in love w/Freddie, and the first two he knows), etc.
Also, not the next chapter, but the chapter after that is one I'm particularly excited for. ;) Let the guessing begin because I'm mean like that haha thanks again for reading and reviewing!