Serendipity (Book 2)

iThink I Miss You by ColorsOfTheSky101

Chapter 8

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Sam's jaw dropped, but she quickly snapped it shut, refusing to give Freddie the satisfaction of her complete shock.

Freddie was going to sing? Why would he want to sing? Wouldn't he have told Carly if -

Carly. It suddenly hit Sam and brought her back down from her moment of shock. He was here for Carly. He was singing for Carly.

A smile broke out on Carly's face. "Freddie!" She got up, and ran to give him a hug. "I missed you tons!"

"Same here," Freddie smiled, but glanced quickly at Sam. This wasn't going as he'd planned.

"Hey Freddie-o!" Spencer called. "Good to see you're here!" Spencer went to his laptop and started a video clip for iCarly viewers to watch.

Sam didn't move from the judge table. She merely rolled her eyes and pretended to be occupied by something on her hand.

Great. Just great. She thought bitterly. Just when everything was getting back to normal, Freddie's back. Back for Carly. And he's going to sing for her. And then they're going to move to Maui and raise beach llamas and have honeymoons, and I'll be stuck in a little cottage house with fifty-six cats and -

"Sam?" Her head shot up, and there he was, standing right in front of her.

"Oh, hey, dork." She grumbled, trying not to give him eye contact. She suddenly felt trapped; boxed in. She scanned him quickly, and noticed he hadn't changed anything about the way he looked. His hair wasn't messy, he was wearing blue, not green, there were no flowers in his hands, his hair was still tidy. He hadn't taken any of her advice. She found that strange. "Good call not taking my advice, that entrance was much more dramatic."

Freddie looked at her. She was trying really hard to avoid his eyes, he could tell. "No, it's not that. Well, it sort of is, but..." He trailed off.

"Still no comebacks, I see?" Sam smirked. She stood up. "Welp, the clip's going to end soon, so I'd better - "

"I missed you." Freddie suddenly said, feeling brave. Somewhat shocked by that straight-to-the-point statement, Sam looked up, finally seeing his eyes. There was something different in there, although she didn't have the patience to figure out what. He was still the dork. Not a dork. The dork. Her favorite dork. But something wasn't the same. "You, uh, kinda stopped answering emails after a while..."

"Yep," Sam stood her ground. "I didn't want you dorking up my inbox anymore." She grabbed her water off the table and went to go stand next to Carly.

Freddie frowned. Ugh, I feel so stupid! There's no way I'm going to be able to go through with this now.

"That monkey sure knows how to rollerskate, huh Sam?" Carly asked, smiling.

"Uh, yeah, sure...donkeys." Sam was completely out-of-it.

"Um...Close enough, I guess!" Carly sighed. "Alright viewers, turns out, we've got one more contestant...Freddie!" Sam pressed the "boo" button on her remote. Carly glared, as if to say, come on, Sam.

"Wrong button?" she said sheepishly. Carly grabbed the remote and clicked the applause, and Freddie entered into camera view, holding a guitar.

Sam went to go sit down, just wanting to get it over with so she could leave. Maybe go home and eat some bacon and try to forget about Freddie and emails and the fact that he missed her, and she couldn't muster up the strength to say it back. Sam raised her eyebrow when she realized Carly and Spencer weren't taking their seats next to her. "Uh, guys? Table's over here, in it's ugly, red glory!"

"We know." Carly smiled.

"Then get over here..." Sam said, through a clenched smile.

"No, we're fine right here." Carly told her. "Right, Spence?"

"Righty-o, Carls." Spencer nodded.

"W-What's going on?" Sam asked, utterly confused.

"Nothing, nothing." Carly kept smiling. "We just think you're the only important judge for this song. So we're going to sit this one out." Carly and Spencer sat down on bean bag chairs out of camera view. "Wait, Spencer, the table!"

Spencer ran over and pushed the rest of the table and chairs away.

Sam stood up. Her only barriers left were gone. All her walls were crumbling down. He'd gotten through. She couldn't handle it. "There's no way I'm doing this!" Sam began walking away but Carly got up and stopped her.

"Sam, just listen to the boy sing the song, okay?" Carly asked.

"No! I can't take it anymore, okay?! I just can't!" she yelled. Freddie's eyes widened. She was getting really frazzled. "What're you trying to do, give me a front row seat to Freddie serenading you? 'Cause if so, I think I'll pass."

"Sam, will you just -"

Freddie stood up, looking sort of hurt. "Look, Carly, if she really doesn't want to -"

"Sit your techie butt down, now!" Carly yelled. Freddie obeyed.

"Funny you'd listen to her." Sam rolled her eyes. "I'm out of here." Carly ran in front of her and blocked the door.

"Sit." She commanded.

"But I don't - "

"Sit!" She said louder. Sam looked at Freddie, and then back at Carly. There really is no way out of this, is there?

"Fine," she grumbled.

Freddie watched the whole scene fall out, deciding this was good. He was making her feel; he was causing her panic. Maybe she's just as nervous as I am.

Sam sat back down. Crazy. This was just too crazy. And when it was too crazy for Sam Puckett...Well, then it might as well be walking on water.

"Freddie, we've got time for the chorus." Carly said, and stepped out of the camera's view.

There was a brief silence, a silence that caused the whole room to fill with tension, before Freddie took a deep breath, and spoke.

"I picked this song especially for someone." Freddie began, and smiled a smile small when he said, "Her name rhymes with ham."

Sam's eyes popped out of her head. "Carly" didn't rhyme with ham. "Sam" did. She did. He's singing to me.

"She's cold and she's cruel, but she knows what she's doing.

Knows just what to say so my whole day is ruined..."

Sam frowned. Was he insulting me? He was surprisingly a good singer though.

"'Cause she's bittersweet

She knocks me off of my feet

And I can't help myself, I don't want anyone else.

Wait...want? Does he -

She's a mystery, she's too much for me

But I keep coming back for more..."

Freddie smiled at Sam's shocked expression. It was funny, really.

"She's just the girl I'm looking for."

Sam was frozen. Just, completely frozen. She definitely didn't expect that. An inevitable blush crept to her cheeks. She couldn't help it.

Because no one had ever done anything that was sweet as that for her. It was only hearing stories from Carly and her other friends before this. But nothing they told her could top this.

Sam wasn't one to believe in fairytales. Or magic, or fairies, or happily ever after's. She had been proven wrong. Freddie came out of nowhere and completely swept her up in that moment. Her walls were gone. She had no defenses against whatever he made her feel. And she would just have no choice but to give in; lose a battle, just this once.

"Hey, Sam." Freddie snapped her back to reality. Which she didn't really mind. "Any comment? What did you think? You know, before I faint...?"

"Not bad," Sam smirked. "For a dork."

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