Chapter 6

I'd gotten a text yesterday morning from Carly saying she'd spoken to Sam, and that her response "seemed favorable", which really just meant that Sam hadn't thrown anyone into a trash can or a bank of lockers after she and Carly had spoken - and really, that could have just been for lack of people, trash cans, and/or lockers in the vecinity of the conversation.

So, I decided that I'd stay out of the way for a while. Even though I'd heard them laughing in the hallway after school yesterday afternoon, I stayed in my apartment. iCarly rehearsal wasn't until tonight. I'd have to see them both then, but until that time, I chose the path of non-confrontation...Until my doorbell rang. (We actually keep our front door locked. My mom had an alarm and keypad installed. If the wrong code is entered, an insanely loud screeching goes off. It's deafening. I'd never before seen a facial mole throb the way Lewbert's had the first few days before I'd memorized the forty-one digit code...and thankfully, not since.) I was genuinely surprised...and immediately afraid of what I found after opening the door.

"Hi," Sam said reluctantly.

"Hey." I reflexively took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. I checked, out of habit, to see if she appeared to be concealing any weapons, but she looked clean. I stood aside to let her in, but she didn't move.

"So….You wanna go out with me?" Sam asked, in a way that almost seemed as though she'd been put up to it.

Cue raised-eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"You wanna go out with me?" she repeated. "I'm going shopping for props and costumes for iCarly." Sam gestured with a wave of her hand as though it was an afterthought for her to ask me.

"Oh," I breathed out in relief. "Um, I – I guess. Are, uh, are you sure you want me to come with you?"

"Well, somebody has to carry the bags." Duh.

"Ah." I got it. "Okay, sure." I leaned back and called out to my mom that I was going out shopping with Sam.

We started walking down the hallway towards the elevator bank. It was tense. I wanted to ask her if things were okay with us. Even though I knew Carly had spoken with her, and that she'd gotten somewhat positive results, I couldn't tell if Sam had really forgiven me. I started to ask, "So, does this mean we're –"

We were about to turn the corner when Sam suddenly broke into a sprint. She reached the door to the Emergency Stairwell and depressed the bar to open it. She yelled out, "Last one down's a Freddork," and disappeared through the doorway. What else could I do but go after her?

I could see Sam's blonde hair swinging from side to side a little more than a flight below me. We were both bounding down at top speed. The longer length of my legs gave me a slight advantage over her as I would jump half-way down each set of steps. I was gradually gaining on her. By the time we reached the first floor, I was able to grab her arm as she turned to head down the last flight. She laughed as she pulled away from me, and made it to the lobby door. Sam pressed down on the bar to release the door, but it stuck. Unable to control my speed and stop myself, I slammed into Sam's back, and our combined weight pushed the door open. We fell through the doorway and onto the stairway landing in the lobby. Fortunately, Lewbert wasn't at his desk.

I landed on top of Sam, but before I could get my bearings, she was already trying to shove me off. I rolled to the side off of her, and was able to help her up. We were both breathing raggedly, leaned over with our hands on our knees for support. She looked up at me, and smiled. I was caught off guard by her smile, but I was able to smile back. Minutes ago, when I'd answered the door and she'd invited me to go out with her, I would have never thought I'd be seeing that smile again, not for a long while. I still hadn't caught my breath, but Sam had regained hers and said, "Nice play, Freddork." She leaned into me in a playful manner, but effectively pushed me out of the way, and continued down the steps.

I dusted off my pants, stood to my full height, and followed her down the steps. "So…where to?"

"You'll see," Sam said with a smirk. She walked over to the door to the outside and reached out to open it.

"You're in a good mood," I began, but Sam's head snapped back to face me, and her eyes were filled with warning. I knew not to press any further. Our condition was stable, but appeared vulnerable to going critical at any moment. It seemed Sam's cure was to just avoid and move on. It seemed to me to just be putting a Band-aid on a gaping wound, but I didn't want to ruin my chances at making things better. I didn't want to ruin my chances with her.

I followed just a foot or so behind Sam until I realized that we must be headed toward the theater and garment district downtown. A few turns at a couple of corners along the way and my thoughts were confirmed. For a long time, though, we walked in silence. And I was beginning to think I'd really blown it back in the lobby at the apartment building. But just then, Sam stopped at a food cart with roasted nuts. She ordered a large bag of cashews. And when the street vendor held out his hand for payment, Sam - her cheeks full to capacity with nuts - nudged me with the whole right side of her body and replied with something that I deciphered to be, "It's on him." I reached into my pocket to retrieve my wallet, and somehow felt comfort in the act of handing the man five dollars. It's silly to say, but I thought it a small price to pay for Sam's acceptance. By the time we'd reached the costumers two blocks away, she'd finished the whole bag - minus a small handful she'd reluctantly allowed me to have, after hearing my stomach growl embarrassingly at the corner while waiting for a walk signal and standing next to a father taking his baby daughter and dog out for a walk.

We walked through the door, Sam in the lead and me in tow, and a bell hanging from the inside corner above it clanged our entry. A man looking up from a book lying open on the counter turned toward us. He gave us the once-over, and with a definite appearance of disinterest, looked back down at what he was reading. He must have deemed us non-threatening. Clearly, the man read me correctly…but underestimated Sam's potential.

Sam didn't seem to notice the storekeeper. She moved through the store aisles with ease, as if with muscle memory. She dodged overflowing displays and unusually-shaped end-caps with the grace of a panther. I, on the other hand, bumped into two different awkwardly-placed tables in the exact same spot on my thigh. I could feel the bruise purpling almost immediately.

Sam knew exactly where she was headed. I followed her into a back room filled with garment racks and tons of clothes. There were racks with clothes from various eras and parts of the world, and an area devoted to accessories. Bags and hats and scarves and belts hung from spokes stuck into the walls. There was also a bin filled with ties, and a glass display case with costume jewelry.

"Whaddyu think?"

"I think they ought to hang these, otherwise they'll get tangled and snagged," I answered, sifting through the tie bin. I came across an interesting glow-in-the-dark tie with a palm tree pattern on it that I thought Spencer might like to go with his socks.

"Not about that, Frednerd," Sam said. She swatted at my hand in the bin with irritation. "About this," she guestured with a sweeping arm toward the whole room, "all of it."

"What about it?"

"New stuff for iCarly. I was thinking of introducing a few new characters to some of the skits. That bin over there has underwear. We could add a couple of bras and...panties to – "

"Wait. How are we gonna pay for all this?" I leaned my left palm and hip back against the tie bin and tilted my head suspiciously toward her waiting for her answer.

Sam rolled her eyes and replied, "I have three hundred dollars."

My brows knit in contemplation; Sam could never save that amount of money in any given time span - a lifetime even. The tension in my forehead released automatically with my surprise as I exclaimed, "The three hundred I paid – I mean – gave you? The money I gave you?"

"Yeah." She looked away from me, pretending to be distracted by a colorful sombrero dangling from a hanger on a nearby hook in the wall.

I realized then just how badly I must have made her feel asking her - paying her - to practice kissing with me...to impress another girl. And I hadn't even given Tanya any thought since that afternoon on the fire escape, not since the moment Sam had stormed off and I'd thought I'd lost her - as a friend...or anything more that could have been. She wanted to get rid of the guilt money. But ultimately, Sam could also be practical. I asked, "Do you ever buy anything for yourself?"

"Whaddya mean?" she asked, still not comfortable with looking at me while we spoke.

"I've never seen you buy anything for yourself. Whenever you buy something you like, it's usually something you wanna share with someone else. Or, food. Which, doesn't really count."

"So?" Sam asked defensively.

"So, I was just wondering if you ever buy anything for yourself."

"I dunno, I never really thought about it."

A/N: I know it seems like it's been years...and, literally, it has. I apologize, and really, really hope you review.