The fan spun noiselessly, trying with all its might to cool off the blonde sitting in front of it, least it suffer the fate of its predecessors dashed against a nearby wall. Sam was not pleased by the heat nor by the cheap fans that were failing to cool her off. Just as her annoyance reached its peak and she was reaching for the fan to take out her anger, Carly walked into the studio and shouted at her.
"Sam! Don't you dare throw that fan!" she warned, gesturing at the broken fans against the wall with her free hand. "If you're so hot, you should have just turned them all on at once."
"But there's only one outlet," Sam said, pointing at the wall.
"Freddie has a spare surge outlet right here," Carly replied, picking up the white object from beside a laptop.
"Oh... Didn't see that."
Rolling her eyes, the brunette walked past Sam and plopped down in a beanbag chair. From the bowl in her hand, she retrieved a red popsicle and popped the end into her mouth as the blonde watched. Standing and plopping down in the beanbag chair next to her friend, Sam watched Carly's popsicle for a long moment.
"So, whatcha got there?"
Sighing and smiling, Carly held out the bowl which contained an orange popsicle. "I was waiting for you to ask, you know."
"Thanks, Carls," Sam exclaimed and snatched the popsicle out of the bowl.
She devoured it in less than a minute, leaving Carly to stare at her friend in shock, her own popsicle held just before her gaping mouth. In the heat, a popsicle was not safe. Carly's had already began to melt at a quick pace and now dripped onto her exposed neckline just above her pink tank top. Jumping at the feeling, Carly dropped her popsicle into the bowl and looked around for a napkin to clean herself off. Before she could reach into her pockets however, Sam suddenly pounced on her.
"Sam! What are you doing?"
"Cleaning you off," the blonde mumbled and proceeded to lick the popsicle drippings off of Carly's skin.
Carly looked up at her friend, her cheeks blazing red that had nothing to do with the heat. The look Sam gave her was mischievous at best and arrestable at the worst. It made the brunette nervous and tingly in ways she had never been before. The blonde leaned in and kissed her friend, the kiss tasted sweet from the popsicles. Panic flooded Carly then, tearing her between the odd feelings coursing through her and a sense of fear she didn't understand in the least. Pushing Sam away, she blinked at the blonde as her mind swept through a jumble of words that she couldn't piece together.
"What the hell are you doing?" finally came from her lips, low and confused.
"Did I go too far?" Sam looked confused herself.
"Did you go too far? Sam, you just kissed me! After licking my chest! Of course you went too far," Carly was on her feet now.
"Look, I thought you wanted to," Sam argued, taking up the defense as she got to her feet too.
Carly gaped at her in shock. "What would even make you think that?"
Crossing her arms and having the decency to finally look slightly embarrassed, Sam shrugged. "I don't know, but you can't say you didn't enjoy it. If you didn't, you would have been barfing your brains right now."
Caught, Carly quickly sorted through the jumble in her mind, opening her mouth to speak and looked away with a grimace. Without a word to her friend, she stormed out of the studio, leaving Sam to stand awkwardly in the empty room. Hurt by the brunette's reaction, she ran her hands through her hair in annoyance and caught sight of the bowl with Carly's popsicle in it. Grabbing it, she left too via the elevator, wondering why she had done such a stupid thing.
---
Freddie was in the middle of a computer hardware repair in the privacy of his bedroom when the door burst opened and Carly stormed in. Behind her, Mrs. Benson was asking her what was wrong, but the brunette paid no mind to the woman. Seeing distress in Carly's face, he jumped up and got between Carly and his mother at the threshold of his room.
"Mom, give me a moment alone with Carly will you?" Freddie asked as he gripped his door.
Pausing in thought, Mrs. Benson wrung her hands, debating the possibilities of the scenario before her. She trusted her son and knew Carly was his best friend. If Carly was so upset about something that she wasn't her usually polite self, then something big must be bothering her. With a reluctant sigh, she took a step back. "All right," she said and allowed her son to close the door.
"Sam kissed me," Carly blurted when they were alone and bit her lip, almost wishing she hadn't said it.
"What?" the young man said, trying to make sure he had heard correctly.
"Sam kissed me," the brunette repeated. "We were in the studio and it was hot and I had some popsicles and then she KISSED ME!"
Always one to check every possible angle of a situation, Freddie blinked and asked, "On the cheek?"
Stopping the pacing she had been doing, Carly stared at her friend as if he was mentally challenged. "No, Freddie, on the lips. If she kissed me on the cheek, would I be here freaking out?"
"No..." Freddie paused. "How did she do it? Demonstrations always help."
Carly grabbed the young man's shirt and stared at him with a deadly glare. "Jokes are not appreciated at the moment," she warned.
Sweating in mild fear, Freddie snapped his mouth shut and nodded in understanding. "Sorry."
Feeling guilty, Carly released Freddie's shirt and took a seat on the edge of his bed. "No, I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm freaking out like this."
Seeing the almost tired look on his friend's face, he felt bad himself for being stupid and sat next to the brunette. He wondered what to say, as he fiddled with a watch on his wrist. Freddie tried not to feed into the jealousy that lurked beneath his quiet exterior, knowing that Carly needed a friend right now - not a jealous crush. Touching Carly's hand gently, he pulled her hand into his and stared as their fingers entwined in wonder.
"So Sam kissed you..." he did his best to keep the hate out of Sam's name when he said it, "and what happened next?"
"I spazzed out, asked her what the heck she was thinking, and left. I didn't know what to do, so I came here because Spencer's out. Not that I would know how to really explain any of this to him."
Smiling because he felt touched that Carly came to him at her moment of need, Freddie bit his lip. "How do you feel about the situation?"
"I feel... Weird," Carly answered honestly. "I've liked guys before and kissed quite a few of them, but this kiss with Sam was different."
"Different how?"
Squeezing Freddie's hand, she said, "Like nothing I've ever felt before. I think kissing Griffin was the closest I've ever come to this feeling. It was a good feeling, but this is Sam. A girl. My best friend since we were little. I just don't know how to handle this." Carly bit her lip in thought for a second. "I think I hurt her feelings."
For the first time in his life, and Freddie was certain he would never feel this way toward Sam again, he felt bad for the blonde. He knew all too well the feeling of pain from being rejected by someone he loved and was sure that Sam probably was hurt by Carly's freak out. Running his thumb over the soft skin over Carly's knuckles, he sighed deeply. As long as he could remember, his friends had been close, so close that this incident wasn't really surprising. It was clear Carly had feelings for Sam that went deeper than friendship, feelings he wished she harbored for him. As it was, it would be wrong of him to try and talk Carly out this.
"You like her, in 'that' way, don't you?" he asked slowly.
Carly stared at the floor for a long time before answering. "Yes, I do."
"Carly look at me," Freddie demanded softly. What he was about to say, he wanted to say and be able to see her reaction. "You know I love you, and I always will. I'm sure that in Sam's own weird way, she feels for you as strongly as I do. If you love her the same way that she loves you, then don't let her slip through your fingers. Doesn't matter if she's a girl, love is love. So, don't be afraid of it."
Tears filled the brunette's eyes as she soaked in Freddie's words, silent the whole while. With a large smile, she leaned against her friend and kissed the corner of his mouth before getting to her feet.
"Thank you Freddie," she said, wiping at her eyes.
Freddie pulled Carly's hand, still clenched within his, to his lips and kissed her knuckles lightly before gently letting her go. "You're welcome."
---
The blonde had only made it as far as the Groovy Smoothie, her mind full of things she didn't want to deal with at the moment. She sat with an untouched Blue Marshmallow smoothie in front of her, staring at it as if would suddenly speak and give her the solutions to her problems. Carly probably hated her now and there was no one to blame for it but her own stupid spontaneity. Sam felt lost, torn between anger at herself, anger at Carly, and anger at the world in general. Most of it was unnecessary, but it still gnawed at her. She didn't bother to look up when the door chimed and so she didn't see when Carly entered.
"Sam."
Looking up in shock, the blonde watched Carly walk awkwardly over to her. Debating as to whether or not she should get up and leave before any weird questions or accusations came, she was surprised when Carly touched her hand. Without a word, the brunette leaned against Sam and kissed her, vanishing every single thought that had been in the blonde's head since the earlier kiss.
"I'm sorry," they both said when they pulled away and laughed nervously.
"I didn't mean to come out of nowhere like that and just kiss you," Sam said when the laughter subsided. "I should have asked first."
"I'm sorry for freaking out like I did, but starting out a kiss by randomly licking your best friend is bound to result in similar reactions you know."
"Well, I couldn't let any of that popsicle go to waste," Sam grinned. "Tasted quite good off of you, by the way."
Blushing, Carly sipped Sam's smoothie as she tried not to picture Sam doing something like that again.
---
Three weeks later, Carly and Sam were in the iCarly studio debating over what they should do in the next week's episode of the show. Freddie had gone off with his mother to a Mother-son fencing meet, having forced himself to give the two girls more privacy. A knock at the studio door revealed Spencer with a bowl in his hands and a blue popsicle in his mouth.
"I need some popsicle sticks for a sculpture and I was hoping you two would help me?" He said, holding out the bowl filled with popsicles.
"Why don't you just melt off the popsicles?" Carly questioned as Sam took the bowl.
"Isn't as fun! Now eat up and I'll be back later with some more," Spencer said cheerily as he left.
Carly looked away from the door in time to feel Sam slip a popsicle down her shirt. The blonde licked the stick as Carly cried out and squirmed from the cold. Just as she was going to jump up to get rid of the ice cold treat from under her shirt, Sam pinned her down to the beanbag chair. Frantic to get away from the cold, Carly bucked against the blonde, trying to get away. However, Sam was stronger and she smiled as she watched her girlfriend squirm. The brunette was protesting, threatening with empty threats, as Sam dipped her mouth down to where the popsicle had first slipped against Carly's skin before sliding down her shirt.
"Sam! What if Spencer comes back?" Carly said, squirming still as the popsicle settled on stomach.
"He won't," Sam assured as her hand slipped down to Carly's jeans, unbuttoning them despite Carly's protests.
"You're going to get us in trouble!" Carly hissed, slapping at the blonde's hand.
"We'll be okay."
Sam rolled her eyes as Carly finally grabbed her wrists and stopped her from touching anything further.
"Stop."
"You started."
"How did I start?"
Sam grinned. "By tasting so delicious when covered with popsicle juice," she replied and crashed her lips against Carly's to drown out anymore protests.