Serendipity (Book 1)

Hearts That Hum Like Helicopters by iloveyou123

FanFiction.net

Hearts That Hum Like Helicopters by iloveyou123

TV » iCarly
Rated: T
Language: English
Genre: Angst & Romance
Characters: Sam P., Freddie B.,
Words: 2,387
Published in FanFiction: Apr 25, 2010

A/N: This has a non-linear time line. It is also inspired a lot by the the book The English Patient. The quote at the end is from The English Patient, as is "When you leave, forget me." The quote at the end is the one on Freddie's post-it note, in case anyone gets confused.

***

Once, a girl leaves a note on a boy's pillow.

"Sometimes it feels like I've known you since the beginning of time." She tells him, her legs swinging over the edge of the fire escape ledge. Her hand dangles closely to his.

"Well, you haven't." He replies, shortly. But he knows exactly what she means - sometimes he imagines her, a well-read book, pages worn and crinkled from being thumbed through, edges dog-eared, letters faded. He knows her too well, maybe, and at the same time he doesn't know her well enough.

Her mouth curves into a smirk. He wishes he could kiss her.

He doubts they'll ever change.

Freddie and Sam fuck sixteen times over the course of one year (their junior year of high school). It is a story they already know by heart, have memorized and breathed it in along with the feel of each other, the scent of their skin, the bite of Sam's teeth, the grasp of Freddie's arm. They already know the ending, the middle, the beginning, because they have lived or will live each and every part of it.

Sam whispers to Freddie, after this we'll either never see each other again or see each other every day for the rest of our lives.

He believes it to be a choice, an option - she does not.

One day, he wakes up to nothing but an empty bed and a note on the pillow next to him.

Freddie knows things Sam will never know.

He knows how to solve the Pythagorean Theorem, how to fix a laptop that's crashed, how to reassemble a broken heart without running away.

He knows this last one solely because of her. She leaves so many times sometimes Freddie thinks he will permanently have a shattered heart. It is in so many pieces - she takes one each time she leaves, each time he wakes up and she isn't there.

He also knows he is in love with her. She'll never know that, either.

Carly shoots herself a year after they graduate.

There is a gravestone with the name Carly Shay on it. That's all Sam remembers.

(She blacks out right after that, and tries to dream she is in heaven with Carly, a place Sam suspects she'll never really reach.)

Sam reads the newspaper article exactly ten and a half days after Carly dies. She rewrites it for her, cuts and pastes and crosses out all the information that doesn't matter. In the end, the only thing it says is,

Carly Shay died of a broken heart.

Apparently she walked into her apartment and put a gun to her head.

"Blow out your candles, Sammy!" Carly's laugh echoes in her ear. Sam grins at her, a cocky, arrogant smile, and says,

"Let's do it together." Carly rolls her eyes,

"It's your birthday, crazy."

Nameless strangers mill around them. A man knocks into Sam, she pushes him away.