Chapter 21

"So, what's the verdict?" I asked, noticing the clear annoyance in Freddie's expression.

With a clenched jaw, Freddie replied, "You were right." It was evident that he didn't appreciate being proven wrong. After thoroughly reading the YouTube guidelines, he immediately realized his mistake. As the tech producer of iCarly, he disliked the idea that he had hindered their growth by not expanding to YouTube. The fact that Lucas had pointed out his error, especially in front of Carly, only fueled his frustration.

"Great!" Carly exclaimed, brimming with excitement. "Once we have a YouTube account, we'll reach a wider audience and gain more viewership! Thank you for the advice, Lucas!" Carly couldn't contain her joy, and without a second thought, she hugged me tightly.

On the sidelines, Lucas noticed Freddie balling his fists in anger as he witnessed Carly embracing another teen.

"No problem, Carly," I said, gently breaking free from the hug. As enjoyable as it was to witness Freddie's frustration, I didn't want him to harbor any resentment towards me. From what I remembered, Freddie was actually quite intelligent. I vaguely recalled him creating an app that could detect emotions, although I wasn't sure if such a thing was feasible in this world.

Nevertheless, it showcased Freddie's exceptional coding skills. The potential of combining my knowledge of future popular apps with Freddie's talent was immense. We could create groundbreaking apps like Fruit Ninja and Temple Run, and with iCarly as our platform, they would undoubtedly become massive hits.

Realizing her mistake, Carly's cheeks began to flush with embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I overreacted," she stated meekly, her voice filled with genuine remorse.

"It's fine," I replied, offering her a reassuring smile.

For a brief moment, an awkward silence enveloped the room, causing Carly's discomfort to grow. Determined to break the tension, she suddenly exclaimed, "Snacks! I'll go get us some snacks!". She darted towards the elevator, adding, "You guys stay here; I'll be right back with snacks!"

I couldn't help but chuckle at the whole situation. Carly's embarrassment was palpable, but her determination to rectify it with snacks was endearing.

Seeing that Freddie and I were the only ones left in the room, I decided it was the perfect time to clear the air between us.

"Hey Freddie," I said as I approached him at his work station.

"What?" Freddie replied, clearly annoyed, giving me a side-eye.

I sighed when I saw his reaction. "Look Freddie, I want to be clear about something. I have no romantic feelings for Carly," I stated directly.

"W...what?" Freddie stammered, his eyes widening in surprise. He had never even considered that Lucas would address such a topic with him. The fact that Lucas outright stated he had no romantic feelings for Carly completely caught him off guard.

"Look, Freddie," I said, trying to reassure the boy. "I just want to make it clear that I have no romantic feelings for Carly whatsoever. She's a nice girl, but I genuinely see her only as a friend. I don't want any misunderstandings or tension between us, okay?".

"Um.... yeah....Okay," Freddie replied reluctantly, unsure of what he was going to say.

"So we cool?", I stated while having both my thumbs up.

"Sure," Freddie replied, his brows furrowed as he gave it some serious thought. He found himself deliberating over whether what Lucas had just said was true. Memories of the past interactions between Lucas and Carly flooded his mind, and he started to realize that it was indeed Carly who had a crush on Lucas, and not the other way around.

Seeing that everything was settled for the moment, I moved closer to Freddie and asked, "Would you mind if I use your laptop to create my own YouTube channel?". Since I hadn't had the opportunity to set up my personal YouTube channel back at Meredith's house, I thought it would be convenient to do it here on the set of iCarly. Besides, the setup process was relatively straightforward.

Additionally, I wanted to gauge Freddie's reaction to me using his equipment. Now that I had made it clear that I had no romantic interest in Carly, I hoped he would see me as a friend rather than a love rival.

After a brief pause, he responded, "Okay, once I'm done setting up iCarly's YouTube channel first."

It was at this moment that Carly returned with Sam, the former bringing chips and drinks while the latter was still busy munching on her meatballs.

"So, our tech producers made a mistake. Not cool, Fredward," Sam stated, her mouth full of meatballs.

Freddie didn't bother reacting to Sam's statement as he was engrossed in his work. It was unclear whether Sam disliked Freddie's silence or if she simply had meat juice running down her mouth, but she immediately wiped her mouth on Freddie's sleeve, causing him to pause his work and give Sam an annoyed look.

"Sam, don't bother Freddie," Carly interjected, pulling Sam away from him.

Taking note of the girls' idle state, I seized the opportunity and suggested, "Hey, how about you two become backup singers for a song I've written?"

************************************************************

EXTRA SCENE: DURING THE NIGHT DEREK INFORMED LEXIE AND MEREDITH ABOUT LUCAS' TRUE IDENTITY

Derek found himself alone in his office, feeling more exhausted than usual. After informing Meredith and Lexie about Lucas, Meredith had made the decision to avoid any interaction with him. Even during patient consultations, she would purposely assign the interns to handle the cases, completely disregarding Derek's presence in the room.

Letting out a weary sigh, Derek retrieved his phone from his pocket. Amidst the chaos, he hadn't found the opportunity to update Debra about Lucas. Realizing he had some time now, Derek decided to give her a call.

"Ring....ring....ring..."

"Hi, Deb. I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time," Derek said.

"No, not at all. Unfortunately, if you're asking about Lucas, I'm sorry, but I don't have any leads yet," Deb replied in a sad tone.

"Actually, that's the reason I'm calling you."

"Really? Why?"

"Lucas is currently in the hospital where I work. Unfortunately, he's in a coma, but at least he's been found."

"That's a relief, I suppose. Do you think he'll be alright? The poor kid has already been through so much,"

"We're not sure yet. We're doing everything we can to help him recover," Derek added.

"Honestly, when you contacted me to look for a missing person, I was initially reluctant to take the case," Debra replied.

Surprised, Derek asked, "Why is that?"

"Among the P.I. community in Seattle, and let me tell you, there aren't many of us, we've encountered several missing persons cases in recent years that we couldn't crack. So, I initially thought Lucas might end up being another unsolved case," Deb explained.

"That's interesting. I didn't realize Seattle had such a high number of missing persons cases,"

"It's a big city, after all. Anyway, is there anything else you wish to discuss?"

"No, that's all for now. I'll transfer the payment to your account. Thank you for your hard work,"

"Anytime. Take care, Derek," Debra stated.

"You too, Debra. Take care."

**************************************************************

Author's notes:

I actually forgot to include this extra scene early on. My bad😅.

Take care.

Thank you for the support

*******************************************************************