Monday, 2:04 pm.

A rhythm is set in the form of Logan relentlessly tossing a baseball in the air. It lands in his hand only for a moment before it returns skyward. Michael is being quiet for once, listening to his iPod and drumming on his knees. The calm is shattered as Chase opens the door, pads his way to his bed, and just collapses. The other two eye each other carefully, as if playing 'rock, paper, scissors' to decide who gets to leave and who has to talk Chase out of his slump.

Logan loses.

Michael moves to the door and steps outside without warning, but it doesn't seem to matter; Chase doesn't notice. Huffing out a small breath, Logan sits up and lets the ball crash into the floor and roll under his bed. That can be addressed later.

"Hey, Chase…" he starts slowly, scratching at the back of his neck. "Is this about Zoey?"

The silence is answer enough.

"You're being stupid about this," he adds bluntly. "She's just a girl." A glare meets him, almost makes him cringe. "What if I told you I could help you out? Take my advice, and I can guarantee she'll be all over you in two weeks or less." He can't promise. Or if he does, he can't keep it. But he also can't sit by and watch his friend suffer.

"How?" Chase asks quietly, sitting up to look at Logan. "I've tried everything. She's not interested."

"Easy," Logan says with a small scoff. "Just pretend to be interested in someone else. She'll get jealous and realize she's in love with you."

Perhaps it's a good idea in theory. Perhaps it's worth a shot. But if he tries and it doesn't work, what then? He will have embarrassed himself, and whoever allows him to flirt with them knowing nothing will come of it.

Most people would want a relationship if they were going to be flirting endlessly with someone for two weeks. Or, at the very least, sex. Something physical, emotional. Something good and true. Which it wouldn't be. Maybe this is morally wrong. Maybe he shouldn't.

But he's already saying yes.

"Flirt with who?"

Logan smirks, as if the answer should be obvious. As if he shouldn't have to ask. And it makes Chase's stomach drop because the boy must be cooking up some sort of awful plan and it's probably going to get one or both of them slapped or hated. Maybe both. Chase just wants this to go well.

Is that possible?

"We should start hanging out more, excluding Zoey when you and I want to do something. She'll think you think I'm better than her, get jealous, and confront you. That's the perfect time to kiss her."

The benefit for Logan is that he gets to spend time with his best friend, which hasn't happened in… months.

The tables shift; Chase turns him down.

"I don't want to get her that way. If she likes me, she'll let me know. Until then, I'll keep trying."

Wednesday, 4:17 pm.

Her hair curls perfectly around her collarbone and her smile is what lights the room. She's the only one. Quinn and Mark are at a movie. Lola is griping about some guy who turned her down. Logan's still upset about Chase rejecting his proposal and Michael is god-knows-where. But Zoey loves beating Chase at foosball.

"So, I met a guy the other day and…"

Immediately, Chase's heart stops; his hands stop moving. He stops listening. The small soccer ball gets past his goal and she looks up at him, wondering what just happened. He swallows and manages a nervous chuckle.

"Are you two, like… going out?"

Not that he cares to hear the answer. Logan listens for him, ears like a satellite collecting information. The guy's name is Jake and he just transferred into her history class. And they are definitely dating. Chase is heartbroken, though Logan can't exactly blame him.

"Wow, Zo, that's great. I'm… really happy for you," he says sincerely. He's one of those people who can't help but be happy for their friends, even if the outcome isn't something he'd been hoping for. But one thing is clear: if he wants Zoey, he needs to do something.

And Logan's offer is starting to sound more appealing every minute.

Ignoring it temporarily, the foosball game continues. Zoey wins and thankfully no one comments on how distracted Chase is.

Thursday, 3:21 am.

He checks the clock for the third time. It's almost 3:30 and Chase still isn't back. He groans and closes his eyes again in an attempt to sleep, though that's a hard thing to accomplish when he's this worried about his friend.

Though he doesn't count, or even bother checking, he figures it's at least an hour later when he finally hears the door.

Logan stiffens and rolls onto his side, tired eyes staring at Chase's, though he's at least had coffee. He'd have a killer headache in a few hours when he couldn't sleep, but he's still had coffee. And Logan? Logan's just exhausted. Turns out, avoiding your best friend is hard work.

"Was worried about you. Where the hell've you been?" It comes out harsher than he means, so he decides to blame it on the sleep deprivation.

"I've been thinking," Chase says, walking to the other boy's bedside. "About what you said, and I think I agree. I want to try."

"You want to flirt with me?" Logan says with half a smirk.

Chase hesitates, squatting down on the floor to get a better look at his friend. "Yeah, but only because we both understand it's nothing." Isn't it? "We can go to Sushi Rox tonight, just the two of us."

The issue? Logan gets territorial. Not that Chase expects him to under these circumstances, but he still does. And if anyone tries to get on Chase about it, he will kick their ass and have them deported, screw their citizenship.

"It's a date," he answers tiredly, completely oblivious to the discomfort caused by the word 'date.' And, to him, that's what it is.

Even if he knows he promised it's nothing. Because something like this could never be nothing to him. It doesn't matter if he's helping his crush get with someone else because it will make Chase happy. And in the end, that's all he wants.

He just wishes that Chase would be happy with him.