"Sorry about that. My brother can be a little too much," Carly stated shyly, suddenly becoming fully aware of what she and her brother had done in front of Lucas.

I just smiled, hearing this. "It's fine. It was interesting to watch, to be honest with you. Anyone who saw that could clearly tell that you and your brother have such a close relationship."

"Yeah, he's been the one taking care of me since I was a kid," Carly replied.

I tilted my head towards Carly and asked, "I've noticed that only your brother is around. Where are your parents?" As someone who had watched the iCarly series in the past, I know that Carly only lived with her brother, Spencer. One thing that wasn't addressed in the show was the whereabouts of Carly's mother. In the show, every celebration for Mother's Day was transformed into Brother's Day by Carly. This could mean that Carly's mom has passed away or she abandoned her family.

"Well, my father works in the U.S. Air Force. As for my mom... we don't talk about her," Carly stated while biting her lower lip.

Seeing her reluctance to answer, I gently rubbed her back. "It's fine if it's too personal to share," I said with a warm smile on my face. Perhaps I would never know the answer to that question. I couldn't force a poor girl to open up to me, especially considering we had only met a few days ago.

Pushing it would definitely ruin the friendship that was just starting to form.

The two of us fell into a comfortable silence until eventually, the elevator door opened. We immediately saw Freddie finishing up the preparations for the show later in the night.

"Hi, Freddie," I greeted as I approached the one-man production crew of iCarly.

"Hi, Lucas," Freddie replied annoyed, something that didn't escape my notice.

I could only inwardly sigh at his jealousy. It seemed he was still bothered by the attention Carly was giving me.

I scanned the room and noticed a portable Yamaha piano on the side.

Carly followed my gaze and said, "This is the one I got from school."

I wasn't particularly sure which song I was going to sing, so I asked Carly if she could borrow a piano from school to increase the variety of songs I could play. Carly was well-liked by the teachers at Ridgeway, so if she asked for it, the chances of the choir instructor agreeing were higher than if I, as a new student, had requested it.

I played the piano keys for a while and said, "This will do. Thanks, Carly."

Carly blushed at my words, which seemed to only fuel Freddie's frustration as he angrily typed on his laptop.

"Curious though," I asked. "I know you stream iCarly live for your webshow, but have you considered posting the previous episodes on YouTube? This way, you can gain more viewers by diversifying your reach on both your personal website and YouTube channel."

This was something I noticed about the iCarly webshow. They showed their content live and only posted the recordings of the show on their website. I couldn't help but think it was a missed opportunity. In 2008, with the relatively low number of creators on the YouTube platform, iCarly had the potential to dominate the YouTube homepage. Their content would undoubtedly garner a significant viewership, making iCarly even more famous and positioning them as part of the first wave of official content creators.

Before Carly could answer, Freddie immediately butted in, eager to prove his expertise in the tech-side of iCarly.

"If we did that, how would we ensure that the content we upload on YouTube remains our property? There's a risk that YouTube could claim rights to our content, jeopardizing everything we've worked for," Freddie said smugly. He glanced at Carly, as if implying how foolish my question was.

Ownership rights of content? Was that a concern for people during the early stage of YouTube? I wasn't a content creator in my previous life, so I don't have much knowledge about it. However, from what I understand, that statement seems incorrect.

"I don't believe that YouTube would claim rights to your videos simply because you upload them on their platform. They should have guidelines in place regarding this matter. Have you checked them out recently?" I asked.

"Look I don't think I should----"

Before Freddie could finish his statement, Carly interrupted him, saying, "Why don't you look it up, Freddie?"

"Please? We still have a few hours before the show. It won't take too much of your time," Carly added, her gaze fixed on Freddie's eyes.

For a brief moment, Freddie was torn between entertaining my idea or not. He had no intention of considering it, but Carly's pleading look was difficult for him to resist.

Just as Freddie was about to give in to her request, Carly delivered the final blow, saying, "Please, Freddie. Do it for me?"

And just like that, a smile spread across Freddie's face as he responded, "Well, alright. I'll do it for you, Carly."

Damn, witnessing such a cringe-worthy level of simping almost made me facepalm myself. If Freddie continues with this behavior, he's going to find it challenging to earn respect from women in the future. I should probably find a way to help this kid out before it's too late.

Since Freddie was occupied with looking up YouTube guidelines, I took a moment to text Meredith and let her know that I was already at my friend's house. It had slipped my mind earlier, as I hadn't been accustomed to informing someone about my whereabouts in a while. Being a bachelor and living alone in my past life, I didn't have the habit of keeping others updated.

"Izzie texted me that your friends have a webshow and that you might sing something. Send me the site link so that I could watch it live", Meredith replied.

She is probably trying to see if I'm going to sing a sad song again.

Suddenly, an idea came to my mind. I'm pretty sure that Meredith and Derek during this time had broken up but were still sleeping with each other. Why not sing a song that might hit the both of them.

With a smile on my face, I sent Meredith the link for iCarly and I also texted Derek the same link and told him to watch my performance. I mentioned that he might just like the song I was going to perform tonight.

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AUTHOR'S NOTES:

This is my head canon about Carly's mom. Carly's mom gave birth to Carly in her 40s, causing the pregnancy to be so dangerous that she and Carly almost died. In the first season of the show, it was briefly mentioned that Carly was a sickly kid, so I'm basing my analysis on that statement.

Anyway, the near-death experience caused Carly's mom to have a mental breakdown. She decided that having a family wasn't for her. She divorced Carly's father, signed all rights to her ex-husband, and left the family. This is why she is never talked about in the show.

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Thanks for the support!!!!!