Moments of Truth
Seddie, Rated T
mandylynn4 – for feedback

Chapter One: 11:59

~*~Freddie's POV~*~

It's 11:59 and we're just staring at my Pearphone, silently watching the seconds tick by until we are not a "we" anymore - until we're Sam and Freddie plural instead of SamnFreddie singular.

I'm glad I told her I love her, really, truly, honestly, but now I feel like I should've waited until now – this fast/slow moment of our lives to let her in on that fact. She's breathing softly, but I can hear it and smell her sweet trace of perfume in this tiny quiet space. She started wearing the perfume shortly before we starting dating – something Carly probably mentioned to her long ago. The smell will be forever engrained in my memory with this moment – this long, painful moment that's going by too quickly.

We should speak or kiss or at least look at each other – anything to remind ourselves that we're still together. But I don't know what to say or do and I'm sure she doesn't either. This morning we were fine – Sam was still calling me baby and I had the pleasure of nuzzling her neck as we cuddled and watched TV in Carly's living room. We flirted and kissed, held hands and played lover's games.

Then we'd heard Carly's innocent words meant for someone else and that's when the world came crashing down around us. Defeat took over Sam's body – pain tore at my heart as I realized what Sam was thinking. I wished we'd just stayed upstairs and away from all of it. Now, with one cruel twist of fate, we were standing in the cramped elevator sullenly watching time tick by.

The clock flipped to midnight and I took a sharp breath as if I hadn't realized that it would actually come. Sam let a breath out and stepped back to look at me. She forced a smile, not realizing that I could tell that she was far from happy. "So….," she began.

"So…."

"Friends?" she asked after a moment. Her eyes were hopeful as they caught mine.

I let my shoulders slump slightly, then I nodded once. "Okay. Friends." I tried to give a reassuring smile. She returned it, eyes slipping down to the floor, then back up. This was wrong. This was not how things were supposed to be happening. I'm not sure what I expected our fling to evolve into, but this was not part of the overall plan. And now it was over…

Sam leaned forward and pressed the elevator button. The elevator jerked to life and I finally realized that we'd been alone and uninterrupted inside this box for nearly two hours. The whole Shay household sounded quiet as the elevator stopped on the main floor and the doors opened. Carly and Spencer were nowhere to be seen – the lights in the apartment were dim as they usually were when the siblings were sleeping. I sighed. My whole life had just been turned upside down and no one even noticed we were gone.

Sam stepped out of the elevator, turned to me, and said, "Thanks."

I looked up at her. "For what?"

Her lips pursed and she blinked a few times, as if trying not to cry. "For not breaking my heart," she whispered. She bowed her head and turned away, walking quickly to the door. Then she was gone and I was left in the dark, gaping after her, hand tensing on my phone.

I swallowed thickly. "You're welcome," I whispered back to no one.

~*~Sam's POV~*~

"You what? Wait…why?"

Carly stood at our lockers, one hand cocked on her hip, the other resting on her backpack strap. I rummaged in my locker for nothing, just trying to look busy and aloof. It wasn't working apparently. Carly tapped her foot, waiting for an answer. "I just decided we'd played house long enough," I grumbled. I picked up my hairbrush, put it back, then found an old chunk of beef jerky that wasn't that dusty and tossed it in my bag. "Never really got along anyway," I shrugged, shutting my locker.

Carly frowned at me. "But you guys were working on that. The number of fights you had was down a ton since the beginning…weren't you getting better? I mean…."

"Just lay off, alright? It's over and done with. Me and the nub aren't a couple anymore. End of story." I check the clock that hung on the wall. "Let's go."

"Wait!" I pushed past my best friend and started towards the stairs, but Carly's hand clamped down on my wrist. I sighed. "You tell me that you and Freddie broke up last night and you won't even talk about this? What's wrong with you?" Worry furrowed her brow and her hand was still tightly gripping my wrist. I tried to tug away, to no avail – the girl was getting stronger. If I really wanted to get away, I could, but class wasn't really that important and I didn't want to hurt Carly. What was important right now was getting out of the area. It was two minutes until 9:30 and that meant that Freddie would be coming down the hallway from Spanish and he'd be passing right by us. As much as I liked to think our break up was mutual and everything would be fine, I wasn't ready to cross that bridge yet.

"I just don't get it. Did something happen that I don't know about?"

"Hey guys, wait up!"

I groaned. That voice. Freddie was jogging up to us, looking every bit as normal as I wanted to feel on the inside. He looked as if nothing had happened last night and today was just another day of the week. Carly let go of my arm and I spun around. "Gotta go!"

"Sam, wait!" I paused, glanced back at my friends, and shifted my backpack on my shoulder. "Please?"

I straightened up and looked at Freddie dead on. If I was going to spread the rumor that I broke his nerdy little heart, then I was going to have to act like it. "What do you want, nub?" I growled, face growing hotter by the second. I wasn't ready for today – I wasn't ready for any of this yet.

Freddie looked as if I'd hit him square in the jaw. His mouth frowned, his head jerked back slightly, and his eyes were hurt. There. That's what he needed to look like if we wanted to pass off the story that I broke up with him. "So…," he said, voice soft and almost wavering, "we're back to that, Sam?"

"Sam!" Carly warned. She crossed her arms over her chest.

"What? Just thought everything was back to normal. Right, Freddork?" I searched my bag for the jerky, not wanting to look up – not wanting to see the hurt I was causing. It hurt me, too, but no one needed to realize that.

"Uh…right. Normal." Freddie took a small step backwards, still frowning, and tugged at the bottom corner of his shirt. "Look…I was just going to see if you guys were up for the Groovy Smoothie after school, but…"

"Sure!" Carly chirped. She smiled at him reassuringly. I retrieved the jerky and took a large bite, buying myself some time before answering.

"Can't. I gotta go to Build-a-Bra with mom tonight," I said between chewing. "Sorry."

"You did that last weekend with your mom," Carly said, looking confused.

I panicked. I looked at Freddie, whose eyes were still downcast. I shook my head and swallowed. "Well I've got plans, alright? Later." I turned quickly and dashed up the stairs to the classrooms, safe from the awkwardness that was now iCarly. My whole life was screwed up and nothing would ever be the same again. How could I have liked Freddie in the first place? This was all his fault…