Just Take the Thing
Title: Just Take the Thing
Summary: At Playa des Losers Noah has taken to hanging around with Beth, but starts to get jealous when Justin seems to take an interest in her as well. But with Cody's help surely he can win her attention, right?
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Pairings: Main: Noah/Beth/Justin, Side: Duncan/LeShawna, Gwen/Tyler, Ezekiel/Bridgette, and Cody/Eva
Warnings: The usual!
Winter-Rae: What? New pairings!! Exciting no? I think it is. Now you all know I like Justin just fine, but he is a bit of a jerk in this one. So don't get mad at me about it. Anyway, enjoy.
Just Take the Thing
Noah was starting to think that Total Drama Island was the worst thing to ever happen on this green earth. It was screwing around with people's minds, ruining the digestive tracks of the campers, and causing horrible and no doubt long lasting psychological trauma. Not only that, but it was messing with the social norms!
Since when did a tech geek hook up with the strongest girl in the world? Since when did a goth date a jock, a talentless jock at that? Since when did a home schooled prairie kid get to make out with a sweet surfer girl? Since when did a loudmouth, take-no-crap sister make it to second base with a jerk-off delinquent?
The normal steps of society as Noah knew them were crumbling down around him, and he didn't like it one bit.
The more Noah watched his fellow campers, the more he was certain that these were some signs of the end of the world. He was just waiting for the Four Horsemen of the apocalypse to show up and start causing all kinds of chaos and destruction. For all he knew they could already be here. And that was a terrifying thought since War, Famine, Pestilence and Death were not really things that interested him.
"Hi Noah," Beth greeted warmly. The cynical bookworm looked up at her suspiciously. Now Beth was someone he could tolerate. She was alright. She wasn't annoying like certain squealing BFFFLs; he could only take those two in small amounts. Beth wasn't dumb like a certain blonde and, not a bitch like a certain CIT and queen bee. Beth was actually, for lack of a better term, a very nice person. As long as he wasn't around.
"Hello Beth," Noah replied.
"How are you?"
"As well as one can be expected; while stranded on a God forsaken resort with ten other people who are slowly losing their minds."
She cocked her head to the side.
"What do you mean?"
Noah nodded over to where Tyler and Gwen were. The odd couple were sitting by the pool, dressed in their swimming attire, with their legs in the water. Tyler was whispering something in Gwen's ear which made her eyes widen and then she blushed.
"That is not normal."
Beth giggled.
"Oh I don't know," she said, "I think it's really sthweet. The way Tyler sthood up for her after Heather read her diary; he's a real knight in sthining armour."
"Too bad he'd fall off the horse and impale himself on his sword before he had a chance to slay the dragon though," Noah mused. Beth laughed.
"He tries," she said, "I think that counts, and Gwen would probably agree with me. If not, I doubt sthe would have given him a chance."
"Okay so what about them?"
Noah pointed to Bridgette and Ezekiel. Pretty much all they did was make-out in the hot tub. It was very annoying to Noah since he would have very much liked to relax in there with a good book. But as far as he was concerned the hot tub was a no go for singles.
"What about them?" Beth asked, "Geoff was being a jerk to Bridgette and Ezekiel really liked her."
"Girls like her don't like guys like him, it's not natural. Maybe there's something in the water that's making people lose their minds."
Beth rolled her eyes.
"Why doesth it bother you stho much that people in different sthocial cthircles are getting along?"
"Because, I'm comfortable with norms," he said. Noah was a person who strongly disliked the idea of change. Growing up with eight older siblings, things never stayed the same for long and thus Noah had a deep resentment for it. People were always coming and going and someone was always mad at someone else, it was enough to make one's head spin.
So Noah opted to hang around with people that were considered to be in 'his' crowd. And that limited him to Cody, Beth and Ezekiel. But since Cody and Ezekiel were now attached to their girlfriends, Beth was his last companion.
"Well, I like change," she said, "Without change things would be like they were back in the old days. Cthertain groups being repressthed because of colour, or rthace, or whatever. Not to mention there wouldn't be any woman's rights."
"You bring up a good point I suppose," Noah mused, "But that doesn't mean I have to like what's going on around here."
She smiled and patted his shoulder in a comforting gesture.
"Of coursthe you don't," she said, "That's one of the things I like about you. You're very sthtubborn."
Beth waved to him and then wandered off to go and talk to LeShawna. The plus sized sister was sitting in a lounge chair by the pool with a magazine in her hand. Noah watched the two of them and then frowned as he saw Duncan sneak up behind Beth. The punk then picked her up and tossed her into the pool, thankfully she had her swimsuit on. Beth was laughing and spluttering as she surfaced and yelling at the punk.
"Oh you jerk," she laughed.
"Sorry Beth," he said, "Couldn't resist."
Noah then watched as LeShawna, in an awesome display of her own strength, picked Duncan up and threw him into the pool.
"Ah sweet revenge," Noah muttered. Duncan surfaced and glared at his girlfriend. LeShawna just grinned and struck a pose.
"Take that Duncan," she said, "Admit it, I am the queen."
"I admit nothing," he said, pulling himself out of the pool and chasing after her, "Come here!"
"No running around the pool!" Bridgette called out to them, her lifeguard senses tingling. Noah rolled his eyes as she then went back to kissing her boyfriend.
Duncan grabbed LeShawna around the waist and the two of them tumbled into the pool together, splashing the bookworm in the process.
"Nice one!" Noah snapped at them as he tried to shake the water off of his book.
"Sorry Noah," LeShawna said, she then dunked Duncan under the water, "This kid never thinks before he does something."
Duncan surfaced and then splashed her.
"Oh please, he needs to lighten up, hey Noah, come for a swim."
"No."
Duncan started to climb out of the pool after him. Noah took this as a bad sign and started to run for the hotel, screaming in the process.
"What a wimp," Duncan mused.
"Aww leave him alone," Beth said, coming to Noah's defence."
"Yeah," LeShawna agreed, "Leave my girl's man alone."
Beth blushed.
"He's not my man," she said. It was Duncan's turn to roll his eyes now.
"Sure Beth," he said, then turning to LeShawna and winked, "How about you let me teach you the 'breast stroke' LeShawna?"
The loudmouth giggled and pulled him in for a kiss. Beth smiled but took this as her cue to leave. As happy as she was for her friends and their new relationships she couldn't help but feel a little left out. She was the only girl at Playa Des Losers who was still single after all. She sighed.
'Such is the life of a farm girl I suppose,' she mused to herself as she went in search of a towel to dry herself off.
Meanwhile Noah was running as quickly as he could to his room. He rounded a corner and bumped into something firm and solid, knocking him back onto his rear. He looked up at said object and frowned.
"Justin," he growled.
"Noah," the male model said smugly, flicking some hair out of his face.
"What are you doing here?"
Justin looked down at him.
"I was voted off too remember?" he said smoothly, "Or do you not recall?"
"Shut it Anti-me," Noah muttered as he got to his feet, "I meant what are you doing in this vicinity, why aren't you at the spa?"
Justin shrugged.
"I decided to seek out some company, have you seen Beth anywhere?"
Noah's guard was instantly up.
"Why? What do you want with her?"
"Why do you care?"
Noah tried to play it off; however, he wasn't very good at it.
"Hmpf, I don't care, I was just curious."
"Well, you know what they say," Justin mused, "Curiosity killed the cat."
"But satisfaction brought it back."
Noah could tell that he was annoying the model with his banter and he was glad for it. The two of them glared at each other.
"Now what are you two boys talking about?"
Noah turned to see Beth enter the hotel wrapped in a towel.
"Nothing," the two said in unison and then glared at each other once again. Beth cocked her head to the side in confusion but decided it was better not to ask.
"Duncan threw me in the pool," she explained, "I have to go get changed."
"Well that wasn't very nice of him now was it?" Justin asked, flashing her one of his bright smiles. Noah frowned as Beth giggled and blushed.
"Oh he was just playing around," she replied, "No big deal."
"Might I escort you to your room?" Justin asked, offering her his arm. Noah watched in shock as, again, Beth was reduced to a giggling mess. She took his arm and the two of them started to walk towards the elevators. Justin looked back at him with a smug look on his face. Noah growled and turned on his heel.
'This is war,' he thought to himself, 'No way are you going to get away with using Beth like that.'
Now, Noah's primary intentions might have been to just try and look out for a friend's feelings, but what he didn't realize just yet was that there was more to it than that. He liked Beth and it was going to take going up against 'Anti-me' for her attention that would make him finally realize it. Of course he was going to need help, so naturally he turned to the others at the resort. And of course, they were only too ready to help him in his endeavour.
"No way, forget it," Gwen said, "Why should I help you anyway? All you ever do is make fun of Tyler for being a good guy and me for going out with him."
Noah then realized that maybe slamming the odd couples that had formed recently might not have been the best of ideas.
"Umm, please?" he said. Gwen rolled her eyes.
"What's going on Gwen?" Tyler asked. The jock then placed an arm around Gwen in a protective manner. He frowned at Noah for a moment.
"Is he bothering you?"
"He wants help in getting Beth's attention away from Justin," the goth girl replied, "I'm just trying to think up a creative way to tell him to bite it."
"Oohh I've got one," Tyler said, then looking at Noah he added, "Bite it."
"Oh how creative," the bookworm said, "You should leave the insults to your girlfriend. She's much more creative than you are."
Tyler smiled.
"Isn't she though?" he asked, "She's so good at art, and at writing poetry and stuff. I'll never be that good at anything."
"Why does that not surprise me?" Noah muttered. Gwen kissed Tyler's cheek.
"You're good at being you," she said, "And that's what I like best."
"Excuse me while I throw up, but are either of you two going to help me or not?"
"Why do you want to get her away from Justin anyway?" Gwen asked, "What's the big deal if they start to date?"
Noah's eyes widened.
"Are you kidding me?" he asked, "Justin is a creep; I know he is! He'll hurt her feelings and Beth is my friend. I can't let that happen!"
Gwen and Tyler exchanged looks and then laughed.
"What's so funny?" he demanded.
"Oh boy, you have it bad," Tyler said. Noah arched an eyebrow.
"What are you talking about?"
"For someone who claims to be so smart, you're kinda dumb," Gwen pointed out.
"You're just figuring that out are you?"
Noah winced and turned to see Eva and Cody approaching them.
"Hello Eva...Cody."
"Hey Noah!" Cody greeted, "What's happening my man?"
Noah rolled his eyes. Cody's desperate attempt to be a ladies' man was usually a source of amusement to him, especially when he failed epically at it. However, now that he had a girlfriend who could snap him in half, Noah had to check his remarks at the door and leave them there.
"Lover boy here is trying to get Beth's attention away from Justin," Gwen informed. Eva laughed.
"Good luck with that," she said, "There's no chance of that happening."
"And why not?" Noah demanded.
"Hello, he's like the hottest thing to ever come into existence," Gwen said, "Hotter than Edward Cullen, hotter than Cedric Diggory!"
"Didn't the same guy play him in the movies?" Eva interrupted her.
"Oh yeah, you're right," the goth mused.
"And besides, Edward Cullen is not hot, now Lestat, Armand and Louie from Interview with a Vampire, they were hot. Real vampires don't friggin' sparkle."
"Ah touché, okay then hotter than Patrick Swayze."
Tyler gasped.
"No one is hotter than Patrick Swayze!"
The others all looked at Tyler oddly. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, flushing in embarrassment.
"What? He was in Ghost, I love that movie."
"Okay!" Noah snapped, "Now that we have established I'm up against someone who could rival Patrick Swayze, can we please move on! Are any of you going to help me or not?"
"I think I would much rather watch you fail," Eva mused.
"Thanks Iron Woman," the bookworm muttered bitterly.
"Why don't you just tell her you like her?" Cody asked. Noah looked at him.
"I don't have any idea what you're talking about; I'm merely looking out for the well being of a friend."
"Right," Gwen said, "And Duncan and LeShawna are 'just' teaching each other different swimming strokes. Get real Noah, I think you have a crush on Beth."
"I do not! Justin is a jerk and he will hurt her, as friends we have a responsibility to make sure that doesn't happen."
"A noble cause Noah!" Cody said, throwing an arm around his shoulders, "And thus I shall help you unleash your inner ladies man to win Beth's heart!"
"Keep your distance please," Noah muttered, shoving him off, "It's bad enough people thought I had a thing for you."
Cody laughed.
"Righto, come on, if I can help Harold and Lindsey hook up I think I can get you and Beth together."
"How the heck did you help Harold and Lindsey get together?" Noah demanded, "All you did was knock Lindsey into quicksand!"
"Thus making Harold unleash his inner mad rescue skills!" the tech geek pointed out.
"Okay if he says 'thus' one more time I'm gonna choke him," Gwen muttered. Tyler snickered.
"Come on Noah," Cody said, "I have a plan!"
So Cody grabbed Noah's arm and pulled him along, leaving Eva, Tyler and Gwen to exchange slightly concerned looks.
"This can only end badly," Eva said, "I love it."
"Okay, so first we need to teach you some pick up lines," Cody said as he paced in front of Noah who was sitting in a chair.
"For the last time, I do not have a crush on Beth!"
"Denial is more than a river in Egypt my friend, so we'll try out some non dirty ones first, most girls don't like the ones that sound perverted."
"Oh you're a genius."
Cody ignored Noah's sarcasm and went on.
"So try this one 'if I said you had a nice body would you hold it against me?'"
"I'm not saying that!" Noah snapped, "She'll slap me!"
"No she won't, now it you said 'if my left leg was Easter and my right leg was Christmas would you like to spend some time up between the holidays' then she'd slap you."
Noah smacked his forehead.
It was going to be a long day.
"Hey Beth?" Gwen said, seeing a chance to talk to the farm girl on her own. Justin was apparently off getting his nails done, so it was a perfect chance to talk to her.
"Hi Gwen, how are you?"
"Good, you?"
"Alright."
"So, what's the deal with you and Justin?"
"No deal," Beth replied, "I think he's trying to hit on me though. Does that sthound conctheited of me to sthay?"
"No," the goth replied, "Do you like him?"
Beth shrugged.
"He'sth okay looking but I don't think he'sth the nicest guy in the world."
'That's an understatement,' Gwen thought.
"Is there anyone else you like?"
Beth blushed slightly.
"Maybe."
"Can I ask who?"
Beth shifted.
"Noah," she said, in a sort of dreamy voice, then quickly she added, "But he doesn't feel the sthame. Not that I blame him, I'm not really pretty."
Gwen waved that off.
"You're beautiful inside and out Beth," she insisted, "Don't let anyone tell you different. If you like Noah I think you should go for it and tell him."
Beth frowned slightly at the goth girl.
"Do you know sthomething I don't?" she asked her.
"Trust me," Gwen said, "I think you'll be saving Noah a lot of heartache if you went and talked to him right now."
"No!" Noah barked, "I'm not wearing that cologne! It stinks!"
"It's been proven to attract the opposite sex!" Cody argued as he chased after the bookworm with the bottle that he considered to be his secret weapon.
"NO! Forget it!"
Noah stood on one side of a table while Cody stood on the other. It was a standoff now as they tried to figure out which way the other would run. There was also a huge arrangement of flowers on the table in a porcelain holder, so they had to watch it. If they broke that they would be in huge trouble.
"Noah, I'm serious, this will work."
"I don't want your pick up lines, your fancy clothes, the strut, the cologne or the hair gel!" Noah barked at the tech geek, "I am fully capable of letting Beth know how I feel on my own, thank you very much!"
Cody grinned and wriggled his eyebrows.
"I thought you didn't like her."
Noah stammered in reply.
"I don't! Uh...I mean...she's very...Shut up!"
Cody suddenly looked over his shoulder.
"Hey Beth!"
Noah jumped and whipped around. He had been tricked. Beth was not standing behind him, no one was. Noah turned just in time to see Cody hurry around the table to try and spray him with the cologne. Noah ducked under the table and was nearly out of the way when Cody grabbed his ankle.
"Let go!"
"No!"
"Cody, I'm gonna kill you! Release me!"
"Forget it, get back here and let me spray you!"
Cody managed to pull Noah out from under the table and was on top of him, trying to spray him with the cologne. Noah, however, was fighting for his life. Holding Cody's arms away from him and trying to buck the other boy off of him.
And this was how Beth happened upon the two young men.
"Oh my," she said, blushing. They looked at her.
"Beth!" Noah said, "It's not what it looks like! Help me! Cody's trying to spray me!"
Beth giggled and helped the two of them to their feet.
"You guyths are stho sthilly," she said. Noah flushed. Cody however, seized the opportunity to squirt him with a small amount of the cologne.
"CODY!" Noah roared. The tech geek laughed and took off before Noah could grab him.
"You'll thank me later!" Cody called out.
"I'm gonna kill him, slowly," Noah growled. Beth laughed again and patted his arm.
"Oh Noah, go easthy on him, what was that all about anyway?"
"Cody is delusional," the bookworm ranted, "He seems to think that wearing this blasted stuff will attract you to me. It's stupid!"
Beth looked slightly hurt and Noah mentally kicked himself.
"Not that I don't want you to be...umm...attracted...to, you know, me."
He was very frustrated and felt even more embarrassed when Beth laughed at him.
"Right," he said sarcastically, "That's just grand; make fun of the loser for actually being interested in you and not willing to break your heart, like Anti-me. Why do girls always fall for the douchebags anyway?"
"Noah!" Beth said, "Relax."
"Whatever," he said. He went to the flower arrangement and grabbed up the only rose that was in it. He checked for thorns and then looked at her.
"I have nothing to offer you," he said, "I'm lazy, sarcastic, cynical, and can be a royal pain in the butt sometimes. I know all of my faults, but what I won't do is use you and that's exactly what Justin is going to do. You're my friend and I won't let that happen."
He then held out the flower to her.
"Here."
The farm girl was surprised by his words as well as his actions. So, for a moment, all she could do was just stand there, looking at the flower. Noah felt his face heat up and he looked away, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. He wished that she would just take the flower and then leave him so he could die alone of embarrassment.
"Will you just take the thing," he said. Beth did and smiled.
"Thanks Noah," she said, "It's beautiful."
She then leaned in and kissed his cheek.
"You really meant what you sthaid?" she asked, "About not wanting to let me get hurt?"
Noah nodded.
"Yeah, hurting you is like kicking a puppy, it's just wrong."
"Aww!"
Beth then threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly and placing kisses on his cheek. Noah was totally taken by surprise but that didn't stop him from hugging her back.
"I'd kissth your lipsth but I don't want to cut them with my bracthes," she explained. Noah nodded and then kissed her cheek.
"I have no problem with waiting," he said.
"What!" Justin cried out when he saw Noah and Beth together, "How did that happen? I had her under my spell with my good looks! How could she pick him over me? It doesn't make any sense!"
"Guess you aren't as rough as you thought eh?" Ezekiel asked, walking by him with Bridgette.
"Smooth sweetie," she reminded him, "Smooth."
"Oh right."
Justin, being the vindictive boy that he was, held out his leg and tripped Ezekiel. Then Bridgette, being the wonderful girlfriend that she was, dumped her fruit drink over the model's head.
"Ah!" he screamed, running away to the showers, "My hair!"
"Thanks Bridge," Ezekiel said as she helped him up to his feet.
"Anytime Zeke."
Later that day, Noah and Beth sat on the edge of the pool with Tyler and Gwen.
"You know you owe me one now right Noah?" Gwen asked him suddenly. Noah glanced at her.
"How so?"
The goth girl grinned at Beth and she nodded.
"It's true Noah," she said, "Gwen told me to go and find you."
Noah frowned.
"I thought you weren't going to help me," he said. Gwen shrugged.
"Gwen is a very giving person," Tyler said, "Isn't she wonderful?"
Beth giggled while Noah rolled his eyes.
"Fine, yes Gwen, you're amazing, now what do you want?"
Gwen smiled.
"Tyler and I are on our last Oreo, go get us another bag from the kitchens and we'll be even."
Tyler was holding said last cookie in between his teeth and offered it to Gwen. Noah rolled his eyes and looked at Beth.
"Sorry sweetie, but if you think we're doing that with confection treats, you've got another thing coming."
Beth laughed.
"Don't worry Noah; stho how is this for sthocial norms?"
Noah glanced around at the other couples, all of whom looked so happy to be together. He wrapped an arm around Beth's shoulders and kissed her forehead.
"Okay, so maybe the norms are a little over-rated."
Winter-Rae: Aww Noah and Beth, how cute! And I don't own any of the famous people or characters mentioned in this fic, I think the only one I'd be interested in having is Patrick Swayze. Oh and the Gwen and Tyler cookie thing, only few of you will get, especially if you have seen a certain picture on Deviant Art. So yeah, there's a couple new pairings from me. Two more I get to add to my list! Woohoo! Thanks for reading everyone! Cheers!