A/N:
I lied. This fic is kind of fluffy.
fluff (n.): A fanfic that has no plot. Only humourous or romantic nonsense.
Yep. Sorta.
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Some time later, they were curled up on a bench near the fountain together and gazing up towards the stars. Time was ticking toward midnight, and they had places to be the next day, but at the moment, neither of them cared.
"And that's Cygnus," Chase said, pointing to a set of bright lights that formed the shape of a crooked X in the night sky. "It's supposed to be a swan."
"It doesn't look like a swan," she observed.
"That's just the thing. You have to use your imagination. Most constellations don't look anything like what they're supposed to look like. See, if these parts are the wings, and this is the tail..." With his index finger he began to trace an imaginary outline in the sky.
When he was finished, Zoey said, "It looks more like a flaming scarecrow when you draw it like that, actually."
He squinted at her. "A scarecrow?"
"A flaming one," she confirmed.
"Well, okay." He chuckled. "I'm glad you're using your imagination."
"Me too. By the way, since when have you been interested in astronomy?"
"Since I studied it in Covington with a real telescope," he replied.
"Cool. Was it fun?"
"Yeah, it was fun. I had to stay up late and then I'd fall asleep in class the next day, but it was worth it."
She smiled at him, and then remembered something suddenly. "Oh, yeah...speaking of London, I've been meaning to ask you - did you date anyone while you were in London?"
"Oh, yeah." he said nonchalantly. "I did. A sweet girl from my British History class. Annabel. I was pretty clueless in the subject, you know" - he shrugged - "because I've never taken it before. She helped me out, and we ended up liking each other, and we just took it from there."
"And...?"
"And, it was really nice for a while, but then either the novelty of dating an American guy wore off, or, she figured out that my heart wasn't really into it."
"Oh yeah? Why's that?" She glanced away. Honestly? She just wanted to hear him say it.
"Well." He sighed. "I guess it was pretty obvious that I was in love with another girl. "
"Who, me?" She teased, and he chuckled a little. "And you're mad that I didn't tell you about James?"
"I'm not mad! Like I said, it's okay." He smiled at her and she was reassured. "You know, Anna did say that whoever the girl was, she was very lucky."
"She was right about that," she agreed softly, and sat up. "Hey - that's kind of also why Mark and Quinn ended up breaking up - because Mark was cheating on her with this girl he was tutoring. And after she got together with...with..."
"Logan. I was slightly, uh, flabbergasted when I saw them together, yeah."
"Just slightly?" She snickered.
"Okay, very. They're probably the least likely couple on this campus to actually become a couple."
"I know, right? I found out about it at the same time that you did - apparently they've been keeping it a secret for who knows how long."
"Yeah. But I would too, if I was in their situation," he said. After a moment, his brow furrowed. "Hey, uh, Zoey...can I...ask you something?"
"Ask away," she said softly.
"Was that - was that Vince who was with Lola at the dance? As in Vince Blake? As in, the Vince Blake who I caught cheating on a test, and then pummeled me and Michael and Logan into a bloody pulp, and then got expelled?"
Zoey breathed out. "Yep. That was him. He came back. Obviously."
"Okay. I just wanted to make sure that my eyes hadn't been playing nightmare tricks on me or something. Anyway, care to explain?"
"Well," she began carefully, "he'd been in counseling for a year, and then Dean Rivers let him back into PCA. Lola met him in a yoga class, and sort of started to like him, and...they've dating for a few months now. None of us trusted him at first -"
"No kidding," he muttered.
"-but he's really proven himself and we're all sure he's changed now. He's been good to Lola, at least." She saw the stubborn look on his face and continued gently. "Hey. It was a long time ago. I'm sure if you met him you would see that he's genuinely sorry about what he did."
He sighed. "If you say so, Zoey."
"Chase-"
"Look, it's okay. You wouldn't lie to me, would you?"
"Of course not."
He turned to her and looked into her face. "Then I believe you."
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oO{}(){}Oo
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Chase had one more thing to explain to his girlfriend, if only just to clear up a little spot of black on his reputation with her.
"Hey, do you remember that "Gender Defenders" contest the six of us were competing in once? And that text message I sent you by accident that I couldn't tell you about?"
"The one that you stole my TekMate for so that I couldn't read it? How could I forget? What about it? She peered at him, searching his eyes.
"Well, you see, the message said..." He breathed out slowly. "It said, 'I love you.'"
A look of understanding dawned on her face. "Ahh," she said triumphantly. "That makes a lot more sense. Oh, Chase. You were planning to tell me then, weren't you? But then why didn't you?"
"Well, I was about to, but," - he threw up his hands - "we got conveniently interrupted just before I did."
Zoey rolled her eyes a little, but she was still smiling. "Our friends have some great timing," she said, an edge of sarcasm in her tone. She nudged him. "Now, that wasn't so hard to say, was it?"
"It was even easier than the first time," he acceded quietly. She beamed.
"I love you too," she said, completing their repeat of the exchange from the beginning of the semester. "But you could've just told me later, when we were alone, you know."
"I don't know," he said thoughtfully. "Maybe it wasn't the right time, or else I wouldn't have hesitated. Things happen for a reason, you know. Maybe I ran my bike into that flagpole four years ago for a good reason."
She leaned onto his shoulder. "Well, reason or not, I think it was the luckiest fall of my life."
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oO(())Oo
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Zoey returned his trust with some of her own.
"I'm still going to be friends with James, though. I hope you don't mind," she said.
"Why would I mind? I'm not going to be like Rebecca - I'm not going to try and tell you who you can and can't be friends with."
"So you won't get jealous if I'm close to other guys?"
"Well, I didn't say that..."
"So you will be jealous."
"Yeah," he admitted, in a very matter-of-fact manner, "unless it's Michael. But I'm human, you know." Zoey snorted. "I can't help it. We can deal with that when or if the time comes."
He tactfully decided it was time for a change of topic.
"Speaking of the future...tell me, Zoey, what are you planning to do after you leave PCA?"
She began to describe some of her dreams of working in the fashion industry, and new ideas for designs that she already had in mind. Then he unfolded the plans he had to make use of his writing talent - which, coincidentally, didn't involve drafting plays where his love was scripted to kiss his jerk of a best friend. After a long discussion about college possibilities and their planned career paths, their conversation turned to the immediate future.
"I can't wait to go to Hawaii with you for the summer."
"I know," she said dreamily. "It's going to be awesome."
"Yeah. Sun and sand and surf-"
She guffawed. "I'd like to see you surf!"
He seemed to ignore this mockery. "...and you in a bikini?" He shrugged hopefully.
"Pfft. More like a cabana girl uniform, seventy percent of the time. "
"Well, I'm just saying, it would be a nice sight," he said, and dodged the grass she threw at his head. "Hey. You can not get grass in my hair."
"I know, it gets stuck. Fuzzyhead." And with that, Chase's hair became a more literal bush, with bits of grass sticking out of it. When he lifted his hand to pluck the grass out of his hair, Zoey noticed the scrapes on his arm from the fall he took earlier. Her eyes widened.
"Chase!"
"What? What?"
"Your arm!" She grabbed his hand and tried to look more closely at his injuries, but it was too dark to make out anything.
"Oh, it's - it's nothing. I barely feel it." He winced when she touched the fresh, barely formed scabs.
She pulled him up and began to walk him in the direction of the nearest building. "You should at least get it cleaned. I'm pretty sure Quinn spilled some freaky chemical mixture on those stairs a few days ago."
"Really?" he asked curiously.
"Nope. C'mon, let's go to the nurse's office."
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A/N:
Like I said, just sophisticated fluff.
There should be at least one more part after this.
I found it strange how their group was seniors (or juniors?) and we never saw them talking about college or career plans. So I don't know exactly what their thoughts on that are, but they did have that conversation, which is what's important.
R & R please?
c:
~Vina