A/N: I'm not sure if this is even going to be any good, but any reviews would be awesome, even if they're negative, I'm just trying to figure out if I'm any good at writing.

I do not own iCarly or any of the characters.

iOpen My Eyes

Chapter 1: Rainy Days and Broken Hearts

CPOV

I knew that when Ben walked up to me at the end of the school day that something was off with him. He didn't give me a hug or anything, like he does every other day. He just grabbed my hand and looked at me. And then, he said the four words that are basically the end to any relationship. 'We need to talk.' I was upset, I'll admit, but I also wasn't surprised. He had been acting distant for the past couple days, but I hadn't wanted to pry. It hadn't been a big scene. He had admitted to me that he had begun to feel strongly about someone else. Still, I was surprised to find that as I began to walk home, I was crying. It was as if the weather knew what I was going through, because suddenly, when I was half way home with about a half mile to go, it began to pour. By the time I made it in the front door, I was sobbing, drenched to my skin, and simply miserable.

I hurried through the lobby, pointedly ignoring Lewbert's high pitched squealing as he yelled at me for dripping on his floor. I decided to take the stairs because it would give me longer to pull myself together. My brother Spencer had devoloped a strong sense of when something was bothering me, or when I was keeping something from him. I hadn't seen what I looked like yet, but I'm sure I wasn't looking to good at the moment. I hoped that the rain would be a good enough excuse for the mascara that I was sure was dripping down my cheeks, and the cold an excuse for my red eyes and nose.

I started to reach for my key in my backpack, but I decided at the last second that I needed a few more minutes to pull myself together a little. I slid slowly down the wall outside of the apartment I shared with Spencer. I tried to dry my face somewhat, at least of the tears, but I don't really know how successful a job I was doing. As I sat there for a few minutes, collecting myself, I looked up, and saw Freddie's apartment. Looking at his door, I remembered how Freddie used to stand on a table watching out his peephole, waiting for me to come home. I had a fleeting thought, wishing that he were looking out there now, and that he would come sit with me. Not that he would need the table anymore, since his growth spurt this summer. He had gone from standing on a table to towering over me in just a few months. But still, it would have been nice to talk to someone about it, and try to calm myself down before finally facing Spencer.

After another ten minutes, I finally dragged myself up off the floor, fished my key out of my backpack, and unlocked the door. I tried to keep my face clear of any emotions, because I knew that Spencer could read me like a book. Unfortunately when I walked in, Spencer was right in the middle of the living room, building his latest sculpture. His latest project was a sculpture of a chicken, and from the looks of it, he had a lot of work to do.

She breathed a small sigh of relief to see that he was completely caught up in his work, and she started to walk quickly towards the stairs. However, her sigh must have been louder than she thought, because all of a sudden he snapped out of his trance and turned around to look at her.

"Woah, Carls! What happened to you? You look like you went swimming!" He shouted in her direction.

"It's nothing Spencer, I decided to walk home today instead of getting a ride with Sam's mom, and then it started pouring half way home."

Spencer nodded knowingly.

"Catching a cold does sound like a safer alternative to driving home with Sam's mom." Carly tried to smile, but she just ended up shrugging.

"Why don't you go run upstairs and take a nice hot shower, and try to stop that cold in it's tracks," He suggested, and although a hot shower sounded really good right now, because I was freezing, I was also very relieved because he had given me a perfect escape.

I agreed with him, and started to walk up the stairs to my bedroom. When I was halfway up, I heard Spencer call my name, and i made the mistake of turning around.

"Yeah?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady and even.

"Are you okay, kiddo? You seem a little quiet?" He narrowed his eyes and I knew that he was on to me, so I had to make sure when I answered him that I was totally void of emotion.

"I'm fine Spencer. Just really cold. You need to stop worrying so much, you're starting to sound like Mrs. Benson." I crossed my fingers behind my back that my face didn't betray me and flash my feelings.

"I guess you're right." He said with a laugh, and turned his full attention back to his sculpture.

Carly turned again, and raced up the stairs as fast as she could, before he changed his mind. She was finally safe in her room, and she collapsed on her bed.

FPOV

I know that I shouldn't be looking out the peephole. I don't want Carly to think that I'm stalking her or anything, like she used to tease me about when we were younger. I told her that I stopped doing it years ago. I don't do it every day anymore, just sometimes when I haven't spent a lot of time with her. It's been a long time since I've burst out of my apartment like I used to whenever she would approach her door.

It's really hard to like someone who doesn't like you back. At first, I was hurt that Carly didn't like me back, and I thought that maybe there was something wrong with me. Then I realized that maybe if I asked her out enough or did enough nice things for her, that eventually she might start to feel the same way about me. It didn't work. I decided that I should stop bugging her about going on a date with me, and focus on our friendship. So for the last two years, I've been trying to be the best friend I can. I listen to her when she needs someone to talk to, and I try to be there if she goes through a hard day, or a break-up, even though it hurts me. See, as soon as I let go of my stupid crush, our friendship became really strong. But then, something changed. I fell in love with her. I know that sounds stupid and cliche, but as soon as I let go of my feelings, we started talking about any and everything, for hours everyday. We can tell each other anything, except for the one thing that I could never say out loud.

Sam teases me all the time, if I say anything nice to Carly, about how 'I love her,' and whenever she does, I laugh it off or roll my eyes, but deep down it hurts because it's true. I really do love Carly. That's why I was so upset when I saw her out my peephole that day. She came down the hall, soaking wet from the rain, and she looked completely miserable. I looked at her face, and realized that her face wasn't only wet from the rain. She was crying, or she had been crying recently. It took all my strength not to rip my door open, go out into the hall and demand to know who or what had made her cry. For right now, I couldn't do a thing.

It broke my heart to watch her cry, so I turned away from the door, and walked to my room. I'm sitting on my bed thinking of a small way that I could make Carly feel even a little bit better, because it makes me miserable to see her upset like that. I decided that if I go to Groovie Smoothies and get smoothies for the three of us for the web cast, it won't seem like I'm singling Carly out, and it won't be obvious why I got them. There's an hour until the show is scheduled to start, and maybe if I'm lucky there won't be a line at Groovie Smoothie, and I can have a few precious minutes alone with the girl of my dreams before Sam comes. I grab my jacket and head down the hall, completely ignoring my crazy mother as she screams something about catching pneumonia. I open my front door and begin my walk to Groovie Smoothie. Nothing else matters right now except making Carly happy. I'm on a mission.