Carly had seen it, of course —  if she hadn’t she’d never in all her smoothie-induced-dreams, believed it. Here she stood, there they stood — with bright grins upon their faces, hand-in-hand, and blushing with delight.

There was a silence among them, although it was not an awkward silence — the kind that caused tension or discomfort — at least not for the ‘smiling two’. However, Carly was the one to break it, shocked and VERY unsure as to resound to the situation at hand, the tween began with a low pitched “Uh ...”, staring at the ... “couple”(?) she wished for a wild moment she could develop a new interest in her sneakers, and look downward for a moment or two to escape her embarrassment. “Uh ...” she stated again, “Um ... guys? ... what’s goin’ on?”

“Carly ...” Sam began, “Freddie and I ...”
“Are together!” Freddie finished, excitedly

It wasn’t as if she hadn’t expected this to be the next few words out of her best friends’ mouths, but it was still a little overwhelming ... and ... weird.

Even less aware of how to respond now, Carly blinked heavily, and commanded herself to speak again ... “Oh ...” she said, lamely “Uh ... why?”

As quickly as this statement left Carly’s mouth she was met with wide-eyed faces from the two ... however, these expressions quickly reverted back into huge grins again ...

“Well because ...” Freddie began
“He’s so cute!” Sam finished
Freddie then turned towards his girlfriend(?) flashing an expression of mock-hurt before stating,
“NO! You’re so cute!” as he gave Sam’s belly a playful poke
As this, Sam giggled, and let out a gasp
“NO!” she joked, lightly elbowing Freddie in the ribs “You’re WAY cuter!”
“Yeah,” mumbled Carly, uncomfortably “You’re both adorable ...”
Both ignored her remark, as if not to hear her
And Freddie giggled ... “Who’s my cuddle-bug?” he cooed, jokingly
Sam let out another giggle “I AM!” she cried.

Freddie then, seized the squealing Sam, placing his hands around her waist,  hauling her backward into a dip, before leaning down to kiss her.
Carly watched this scene eyes wide, and mouth agape — this was insane! Something like out of a dream ...  

Just then, Spencer had entered the iCarly studio wearing a tuxedo, and a grin that had exactly matched the ones previously worn by Sam and Freddie — he held what appeared to be a stick of salami in his out-stretched arms, spinning around and laughing madly, as he and his “dance partner” circled the room.

* * * *




The iCarly trio, each awoke with a start, in their bedrooms —  having had the same dream.

Carly sat up suddenly and rubbed her eyes — titling her head to one side, she recalled the    dream — Salami?

Her best friends had done the same, however, it was another part of the dream that seemed to be troubling them, their heads were swimming with thoughts — of each other(?)

Sam punched her pillow angrily, “Get a hold of yourself, Puckette!” she grumbled, “Your losin’ it!”  “... Your losin’ it ...” she mumbled, again into her pillow before drifting off into an uneasy sleep.

Freddie however was unable to rest, laying his head down, and blinking a few times, he mumbled into the darkness — “Sam ...”

* * * *

The next day, was far from a normal one as thoughts of the most disturbing, yet oddly thought-provoking dream buzzed around in their brains throughout the day — Freddie stood, pacing uncomfortably and vigorously in front of Carly’s locker.

“I am in love with Carly!” Freddie scolded himself, “... Not Sam ...” he stopped for a moment or two, to collect his thoughts before starting again. “I-I mean sure – we kissed – b-but it was just to get it over with ... get it out of the way!” Freddie muttered, nodding at his own conclusion. “No, it couldn’t possibly have MEANT something — could it?”  Fed up with this self-argument, Freddie stopped pacing, squared his shoulders, and it in most mature, and positive tone he could muster, proclaimed, “It meant nothing!” ... “nothing ...” he muttered again, uneasily.

But, thoughts of Sam began to fill his head again, causing Freddie to beat his head violently against the closed door of Carly’s locker, “Darn it, Sam!” he screamed “Get outta my head!” This caused many of his peers to stare at him, as they passed — the iCarly tech-nerd had lost his sanity, and was too lost in his tirade to notice.

Just then, a calm, yet slightly disturbed-sounding voice called to him, reverting him back to some form of normalcy — “Freddie?!”

“Oh!” Freddie cried “uh ... Hey, Carls!” he perked up, flashing his best fake grin, and smoothing out his hair.
“What were you ... uh?” Carly began, eyes wide and head tilted back slightly. However the tween quickly decided to change the subject, and kindly ushered Freddie aside, to allow access to her locker, as she began to twist the lock — Sam appeared, looking as flustered and out-of-place as Freddie had, and holding a half-eaten donut (jelly-filled) in her hand.

“... Borrowed it from, Gibby ...” she said, in an uneasy tone — unusual for Sam, apparently she had been thinking of the dream as well.
An awkward silence had formed among the three at this time — the first in, well, ... ever.
“Uh ...” Carly began, as she turned, and closed her locker, casting odd glances from Sam to Freddie, then from Freddie to Sam and back again — she’d been thinking of the previous night too.
“Uh ...” they replied back in unison — making Carly’s mind reel, with thoughts of the odd fantasy — ‘Any second now,  they’ll starting makin’ out,’ she thought ‘... Although, it was kind of sweet ... and weird’

“Did you guys ... uh ... sleep well ... last night?” she said nervously
“Sleep well?” said Freddie, a look of nervousness dancing across his face.
“Yeah ... ?” said Sam, as cooly as she could muster “Why?”
“Well ...” Carly, began “I had this really weird dream last night — kept me up all night” she paused, smirking slightly “... Spencer shared a dance with some deli meat ..." "salami" she added, noticing Sam's mouth begin to open in question "... but the thing that I was REALLY freaked about, was that you guys were ...” she paused again, her amused look gone, and replaced with the same look of nervousness that Sam and Freddie now bared.

“We were ... ?” Freddie asked, both eager and frightened    
“You were ...” Carly began, flushed “YOUWEREKISSINGANDSMILINGANDHOLDINGHANDS!”
She blurted out, suddenly causing the looked of panic to spread farther on her friends’ faces.
The bell screamed its piercing call causing all three to flinch — a look of total panic washed over Carly’s face as she headed, without a word, down the hallway ahead of her — leaving Sam and Freddie in her wake, to fester in the awkward silence.

The two peered at each other — incredibly flushed and embarrassed — Sam shuffling her left foot, Freddie’s hand in his hair.

“See, ya!”
“Later!” they each called out, as the made their way to class in opposite directions — not meeting each other’s eyes. The same (frightening) thought on their minds — ‘Maybe we SHOULD start dating’

And somewhere in the school, Carly’s nervousness faded, allowing a smile to grace her lips, ‘Sam & Freddie ...’ she thought fondly, while scribbling on a blank notebook page. ‘Maybe they SHOULD start dating ...”