Carly was totally zoned out. There was a conversation; she could hear the light strains of Freddie and Sam arguing about something, but frankly, she didn't care about anything except for the deep deep blue of the sky, and how prettily it contrasted with the emerald green of the trees and the pearly white clouds floating lazily in the breeze. It looked like music, like that sunny indie stuff that was always playing faintly in the local coffee shop. She thought fleetingly of putting on her headphones; lying back and soaking it all in. She decided not to, considering it would be rude to interrupt Freddie and Sam, since they were so focused on… whatever. Carly looked at them, trying to pretend like she was listening, when all of a sudden Freddie turned around and curled his hand around the back of her neck. He smiled, and looked from Carly's eyes down to her lips before leaning in and kissing her, soft and deliberate before Sam's hard stare. He pulled back after a second, and Carly sputtered, wiping her mouth, and looking angrily between the two, who, without skipping a beat, had continued their argument.

"What?!?" she said, still utterly bewildered. "What the hell was that?"

Freddie raised an eyebrow, "Calm down, I was just proving a point."

Carly could feel her face flaming crimson, and she really, really wasn't sure why. "What point, that you're completely psychotic?"

Sam piped up, "Well, there were two points. One, is that you totally weren't paying attention,"

"Which anyone could see, because you were doing that 'lalala, nature!' thing with your eyes," Freddie added.

Sam bit her tongue to stop from laughing, and Carly still felt oddly flushed. "That, which he did prove, and pretty damn well. The second was, well." Sam stopped, and looked at Freddie expectantly.

He rolled his eyes, "The second point was that I do not have a crush on you anymore. And I proved it, cause-"

Sam laughed, "You'd never kiss someone you have a crush on?"

Freddie scowled, "No, you freak. Because, uh," he faltered, "Because I'd never kiss someone I had a crush on in front of you!"

"You kissed Valerie in front of Sam." Carly said, almost before she could stop herself.

Freddie narrowed his eyes at her, "You remembered that?"

Carly, still red, looked down, shrugging noncommittally, "Well, yeah, I mean, it was like your first kiss. Sort of."

Sam bit her lip, clapping delightedly. "Ooh! And Carly, remember your first kiss with Ben Hoopscher in third grade! That was totally in front of me too!"

Freddie looked at Sam, "You're stupid," he said. He looked back at Carly, "Okay. So just cause I kissed Valerie, sort of, in front of you, that doesn't mean I have a crush on Carly!"

Sam rolled her eyes, "Okay, fine, just one more thing. Are you gay, cause last week Mark totally made out with Carly and said it was-"

"WHAT?" Sam looked pointedly at Freddie, and Carly burst out into a round of nervous giggles. "Wait, are you serious? You and Mark?"

Carly shook her head, still giggling, "I think she was proving a point, Freddie."

Freddie crossed his arms, sticking out his lower lip in a stubborn pout. He looked about five years old. "Shut up," he said, barely masking laughter.

Sam burst out laughing, then, and so did Carly. A few seconds later, Freddie reluctantly joined in, and soon all three were holding their stomachs, faces red with tears streaming from the corners of their eyes.

After they had calmed down, Sam looked at her watch, wincing, "Shit, I better go, my mom needs a ride home from the laser hair removal clinic." she wheezed, and waved a quick goodbye before heading away from the grassy field they'd been laying in.

Freddie and Carly stayed, lying on the field, still giggling and sighing. Finally, they wound down, and there was a long beat of silence, before Freddie suddenly turned to Carly again. Her eyes were trained on the clouds, and he could see the tiny strands of hair that fell across her face. "So, uhm," he said, starting awkwardly, "What if, just say, I'm actually really awful at proving points?"

Carly breathed in sharply, running his words over in her head. She told herself to calm down, to think rationally. After all, this was Freddie, her best friend. She sighed, biting the inside of her lip, "Well, I guess I'd be really happy," she said, turning her head, and smiling just the tiniest bit.

"Huh," Freddie said, as they faced each other, only separated by an inch of short spiky grass. "Awesome." He stretched his neck a little then, and kissed her, just like that. And Carly wasn't surprised that the earth didn't shake and the clouds didn't part for angels to start singing. The grass did tickle her cheek, and she did smile against his mouth, ingraining the way that the grass mixed with Freddie's signature laundrysoapandmintandsomethingelse

smell into her memory. And yeah, her heart didn't explode into ten million beams of light or anything, but when he pulled her closer, she fit right there between his shoulder and under his arm, and it was just right.