A Cup of NoCo

As the rescue boat sped away the teens (along with a television host, a mountain of a chef, and what to the casual observer would appear to be a mummy strapped to a dolly) could still hear the sounds of an erupting volcano in the background. There were only three of them sitting on the rear deck of the ship, a guy and two very strange girls. One of them was bench pressing the ships anchor, and the other was scratching behind her ear with her foot. But still, both were every now and then sneaking concerned glances at their short friend who was doing nothing but staring into the sea.

His name was Noah, and the reason he was receiving looks of concern from his odd female friends was that on their boat the only other conscious people were the pilot, the medics, and another young man with a gap in his teeth and a history with Noah. His name was Cody, and he was not on the deck of the rescue ship because he was grasping the hand of a very tall, and very bald, girl who had passed out while they were stranded in the ocean. She, the mummy woman Blainly, a now less handsome Alejandro, and that season's winner were all getting much needed medical attention. And Cody would not leave her side.

He just sat there, saying over and over "Hang in there Sierra….It's going to be Ok." The host and his burly lackey were there trying to get them to sign waivers, and the medics were juggling keeping their patients stable and keeping Chris and Chef away from them. As one can imagine it was quite the rabble in there. But if you looked at Noah face, you would think that he couldn't hear a noise in the world.

"Hey N-N-NOOOOah!"

"No Izzy."

"NoooOOOOah! Come on, talk to us! It'll make you feel better."

"I said no, drop it. And stop scratching like that! You're making me itchy."

"Eva dear." The orange hair girl snapped her fingers, and bear of teen glanced at the boy.

"Talk. Now." The boy rolled his eyes.

He wrinkled his brow in frustration. "I said-" And Eva promptly bit the anchor in half. "Ok, I'll talk."

"Thought so."

Noah looked over at the other boat a few yards away and wished he was on it instead. Because of weight issues, either Own or three other people would have to ride with the injured. And at that Izzy jumped at the idea of reuniting "team E-Scope" as she called it. Now not only is he stuck on a boat with his ex, he has to talk about it. At least Cody can't hear him over the engines and Chris's yelling.

"Well," He let out a sigh and leaned over the edge of the boat. Watching his reflection as the water went by he started. "At the start of the season everything was fine. Heck, Izzy you were there in Germany when were flirting."

"Tiny sausage, ha ha!….Ahhh, classic."

"We were planning on working the game from two teams and making it to the finals together. And then…." He let out a long sigh.

"Spit it out shrimp! I don't have all day." Eva impatiently began using the anchor halves as dumbbells.

"….And then…Paris. It all went to hell in Paris. City of love my foot…"

"We didn't see much of each other during the challenge itself. We were both busy on opposite sides of the Louvre getting out statue pieces. Still bummed about losing those shoes….stupid laser… But I kept my head in the game anyway, and as I'm running with Venus's head, I look out the window. And do you know what I see?"

"Oh! Oh! Was it the Eifel Tower? Or maybe," Izzy bared her teeth and deepened her voice, "Godzilla on vacation! Crash! Smash!"

Raising an eyebrow, "Mmmm….no."

"Dang." lowering her head in disappointment.

"Izzy, shut up. Noah, get on with the story!" starts squat thrusts.

"Ok, ok….I saw him and Baldy McStalker there sitting outside, having a romantic dinner in the most romantic city on the planet while I was running from a purple sasquatch. Needless to say, it pissed me off."

Izzy was now sitting on the floor with her legs behind her head, nodding and listening. "I see. My ex-boyfriend Gramm did something like that."

Eva raised an eyebrow, "He went on a date with another girl?"

"No, he was chased by a sasquatch! And he didn't invite me, that's why we broke up. That and the restraining order, those things just kill the spark." Noah and Eva looked at each other and shook their heads. "But I can see the romantic dinner thingy bothering you to. But was that enough to dump him over?"

"It wasn't just that." The boy looked down at his feet. "All competition long it's been 'Gwen, Gwen, Gwen.' I get that he's bi and into girls too, but damn. He was MY boyfriend!" Noah wiped his watering eyes with his sleeve. "He said he was doing for the camera, but I could tell, any idiot could."

"I couldn't!"

"You just proved his point."

"I could tell" Noah continued, "that he still had feelings for her. So all his time was spent either being flirted with by Sierra, or hitting on the goth chick, but almost never doing those things….with me…"

"If a guy ever did that to me," Eva tied the two anchor halves into a knot, to Izzy and Noah's amazement, and then hurled it at least a hundred yards out into the ocean, "I'd do that to him." Izzy was now enthusiastically clapping with her feet and yelling "Encore!"

"Well iron woman, as bad as the terms we're on now are, I don't want to tie Cody in a knot."

"Want me to do it for you?"

"No, that's ok."

"Oh let her do it! I'll be so cool. I'll video tape it and put it on YouTube!" Izzy then produced a camcorder from only god knows where.

"No," Noah pushed away the crazy girl's camera, "I don't want to hurt him. We actually had some pretty good times together." He chuckled, "It's too bad you had to do season two Izz. That was when Cody and I spent most of our time together." He sighed again, but with a smile this time. "It was the best time I've ever had."

"Ahhh! Eva, did I miss out a lot? I bet I missed out a lot. Darn you Explosivo for making me do that season! DARN YOU!"

"Right…." Noah inched away from the redhead who was still angrily shaking her fist in the air.

Eva, resuming her squat thrust, didn't even flinch. "NO! All you missed out on was Noah and his nerdy boy-toy's lovey-dovey relationship. All day every day: holding hands, looking at each other's eyes, cuddling in the hot tub. And all day every day people yelling 'Get a room!' I swear, if I hear that one more time I WILL LOSE IT!" And Noah inched back toward Izzy as Eva's neck vain started to very noticeably throb.

"Yeah…I think that might have been the best time of my life…."Noah looked through the ships window to the inside at the boy he had once loved. He noticed how his hair parted in just the right place, and the certain shade of cerulean that showed up in his eyes in the right light. Noah felt his heart pain a little at the sight, and he missed what he had lost.

Eva and Izzy noticed this look of hurt, and they also had the good grace not to say anything. They just let their friend alone for a moment to gather himself. They would have waited longer, but he started to laugh for some reason.

"Hey Eva, you weren't there when he and I hooked up were you?"

"No. My BACKSTAPING team mates voted me off second. Right before a dodge ball game too!" She crossed her arms and under her breath muttered," Idiots."

"Well," Noah began, but was stopped by Izzy who put her hand over his mouth.

"Oh let me tell it! It was a dark and stOOoormy night!" Noah pushed her hand aside, and covered up her mouth with one of his own.

"No, it was a warm summer day, as cheesy as that is." Noah started as Eva sat down next to her friends and listened attentively. She would never admit it, but the muscle girl loves a good love story.

"It was during the Awake-A-Thon. We had already lost and were just hanging out." Noah leaned back with his elbows on the rail of the boat, and craned his neck up to look at the sky. He smiled as he continued. "It was awesome. It was so early in the competition that I thought everyone else was a pack of slobbering Neanderthals, so it was nice to talk to someone smart and funny." He paused for a second before noticing the looks of annoyance on his friends faces. "Oh, this was before I got to know you guys! I don't think your slobbering Neanderthals!" his the girls smiled again. In his head Noah thought, "Your either one or the other, but rarely both."

Eva raised an eyebrow, "So you two hung out. Don't see why that made you hook up."

Noah, blushing as he looked at his feet again, "Well, you remember the…*cough*….'incident'?"

Eva and Izzy stopped to think for a second, and then burst out laughing. Yes, they did remember the "incident" when Cody and Noah had their first unwitting kiss. They remembered how the boys had screamed when they realized what had happened, and it was hilarious.

Noah blushed again in embarrassment. He looked in the boat's window to make sure Cody didn't notice the girls' laughter. But Cody was too busy talking to a medic and Sierra who had just woken up to notice.

"Ha, ha. Laugh it up."

"Oh we will pip-squeak." Eva still chuckling, "That was one of the best moments on the show. I didn't know that was the reason you to got together though."

"I know right? But that's how it happened. That night he pulled me aside, and asked me to go to the dock of shame. I wasn't sure what he wanted, but I was curious. We sat down on the edge of the dock, letting our feet dangle above the water." Noah turned to Izzy, "The moon was full that night. You would have liked it. It made everything silvery and light." The girls 'Ahhh!"ed, and Noah continued.

"He wanted to talk about what had happened. I wanted to pretend it never did, but he convinced me too anyway. One thing led to another, and soon we had our first real kiss that night." He smiled and looked through the window again.

"Hold on, hold on." Eva stood up, crossed her arms, and starred Noah down. "You hooked up with a kiss. Under full moon light. By a lake. On a warm summer night." She closed her eyes angrily as they twitched. "And you STILL BROKE IT OFF! That was the most romantic thing I've ever heard!" She threw her arms up in the air in frustration. "Idiot."

There was an awkward silence.

Awkward.

Awkward.

Izzy spinning on her head, but still awkward.

The silence was finally broken when one of the medics came out on the deck with three cups in her hand.

"You all must be upset by this whole ordeal." She handed a cup to Izzy and Eva who smelled it, and finding it satisfactory, began to quietly sip. Then she went over to Noah and held out a cup for him.

"Here, would you like a cup of noco too?"

Izzy and Eva stopped sipping their drinks and turned to look at a very bewildered Noah. He was shocked at the word. He hadn't heard it is so long he almost forgotten about what the total drama fans called him and Cody.

"Umm…What did you say this was?"

The medic smiled. "It's noco. A coco free, hot chocolate drink substitute. We find that when people have suffered a natural disaster, avalanche, mudslide, volcano or what have you, hot chocolate helps sooth their nerves. But a lot of people are allergic to coco, so we make noco. It's a bit more sweet than coco and a little harder to get, but I like it." She turned and pointed at Cody and Sierra through the window. "I heard those two talking about noco, and that reminded me to give you all some. Here," she put the cup in Noah's hand, "drink it. Noco may not be perfect, but it sure makes you feel good."

Noah grasp the cup as the medic went back in the boat to attend to the injured. Izzy and Eva went over to the other side of the deck to give their friend some space, pretending that they didn't see the significance of what the woman had said.

"They…they were talking about NoCo?" Noah thought. "About us? I wonder…."

Slowly Noah raised his head and looked into the window one more time, and his dark brown eyes were met by a pair of brilliant cerulean ones. They looked at each other unspeaking for a moment. Each wondering what the other was thinking. And then Noah smiled, and took a long drink from his hot cup of noco.