iCarly – iWant To Kiss #1 – iHave Second Thoughts
Sam Puckett was up early that day. It wasn’t like her to show up early, let alone the earliest, but today was different. Today, she couldn’t wait to get started. In fact, she’d gone to bed fully dressed the night before just so she wouldn’t have to waste time on that this morning. Five minutes of freshening up, and she was on her way to the best place in the world: somewhere other than her house.
"Freddie! Hey, Fredwardo." Shouting didn’t work; punching did.
"¿Qué está pasando?" asked the boy whose bed she was sitting on.
Sam was certain he only spoke in Spanish to annoy her. "We’re shooting our scene for iCarly in half an hour. Get up."
Freddie looked at her weirdly. "When have you ever been early? And how did you get in here, anyway?"
Sam flashed him her most devious smile. "I stole a key last time I was here. Now, you coming or what?"
Rather than giving him time to protest, she grabbed his ankle and dragged him across the hallway. He still protested. That boy was such a pain.
* * *
"Carly? Hey… wake up."
Though she was awake, all Spencer could get out of his little s*ster was a half-hearted slap on the arm and a sl*epy murmur. "Carly? I’m going … alarm … up now." She was unable to hear most of his sentence, so still couldn’t give a proper response. When her br*ther walked out of the room, Carly Shay smiled blissfully and turned around for a more comfortable position. Within moments, she had returned to the comforts of sl*ep.
Her peace didn’t last long. A sudden cacophony caused her to sit straight up as she flailed around to eliminate the noise. Spencer watched in amusement. "New sculpture. I call it ‘The Alarm’. Pretty nice, huh? See, I sculpted a big clock, but I thought something was missing. So I added a couple of air horns and a drum set! Well, parts of one, anyway. It’s loud!"
"Spencer… Why?" She wasn’t quite capable of full sentences yet – 7 AM was an awful time to be awake. Luckily, Spencer did understand her.
"Sam and Freddie are waiting for you downstairs. Your iCarly segment, remember?" It took a moment for Carly to realise what he was talking about: they were supposed to shoot it at sunrise.
Reluctantly, she stepped out of bed and headed for the stairway. Along with the memory of the segment, she remembered why she had such trouble getting up now: it was because she’d been stressing out about it all night. Yeah, they’d be just acting, and nothing would really happen, but still… Just the thought was enough to give her nervous butterflies. After all, a lot of people would be watching that video.
"Carly!"
"What?"
"You need to get dressed."
"…Oh."
"Anyway, I have a date. Good luck with your iCarly shoot."
"Yeah…"
After Spencer left – ‘who schedules a date this early?’ – Carly splashed some water into her face, picked an outfit and quickly got changed. A comb through the hair, brushing of the teeth, some light make-up, and she was ready to go. Part of her really wanted to just return to her bed and forget about the whole thing.
* * *
"So what’s the deal? Spencer and me, both up before you?" Sam asked, with a smug grin seemingly stuck on her face. Freddie Benson didn’t say anything, but from the way he leant towards Carly, it was obvious that he was also curious for the answer.
Normally, Carly was the one waking up Spencer. Now Spencer had to wake up Carly, and Sam woke him up. Then dragged him out in his pyjamas, making sure to be as obnoxious as she could for the twenty minutes they waited in Carly’s living room. Freddie could only hope his mother was still asl*ep.
"I’m not telling." Carly was pretty clear in her statement, but judging by the way her voice went up a few pitches, the reason was obviously embarrassing enough to justify her refusal.
Although Sam looked ready to press the issue further, Freddie helpfully pointed out that they should hurry if they wanted to be in time for sunrise. Carly mouthed a ‘thank you’ at him as Sam readily jumped up from the couch. The blonde actually seemed to be looking forward to it. Of course she was. She was the one who suggested it in the first place…
Carly, on the other hand, looked more nervous than ever before. He reached for her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Her reaction seemed startled at first, but the grateful smile that followed made Freddie’s heart flutter.
"Just relax," he told her. "You’ll do fine."
* * *
"In five, four, three, two…"
"Hey, everybody!"
"Especially the boys and girls!"
"Who else would be watching?"
"I dunno. Robots?"
"Ri-ight… Anyway, I’m sure you’ve all noticed this romantic setting…"
"Mushy, mushy, mushy."
"…but it has a reason. See, today, me and Sam…"
"That’s me!"
"…will be kissing on camera!"
"For everyone to see!"
Without another word, Carly and Sam turned towards each other, wrapped their arms around the other’s neck, and leaned in. As they approached lip contact, romantic music started playing, courtesy of Sam’s remote control. Freddie zoomed in further, to show that the girls’ lips were apart by mere centimetres… Their eyes were closed, their heads were tilted, their mouths were slightly opened…
And abruptly, the camera zoomed out as the two girls broke away. Sam walked close to the lens, and directly addressed the audience.
"And that concludes our ‘Pervert Test’! The results: if you’re disappointed… you’re a perv!"
Freddie announced that they were clear, and high fives were exchanged.
Still, the after-shooting celebration lacked its usual spark. While they had different reasons, and although none of them would like to admit it right now, the three of them did share one dominant thought.
They were each disappointed.