Suite Life on the Yard

by SprouseGoose

With most everyone finishing college at the end of SLOC, its time for everyone to move on with their lives. Whether that be grad school or entering the real world or both, they will be facing new and different issues than they ever have before. Now, I will be introducing more new characters as well as giving some minor characters from SLOC more prominent roles in this story.

7. Epic Showdowns

Chapter 7

"Epic Showdowns"

I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did.

Wait...In this story, I created some of the characters, so I will actually own them.

Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves.

And as to the ones I create, who they are is up to me, so...

An Auditorium at Harvard Business School, Monday morning

Bright and early the following Monday morning, Zack found himself sitting towards the back of a large auditorium. Every so often, he would look around and see even more and more people filing into the room and taking seats. Sighing, he shook his head knowing that his orientation was about to begin shortly and signal that his summer summer was officially over. Zack then checked his watch and sighed again. Normally, he wouldn't have been there so early, but Maya woke him up at 6:00, fixed him breakfast and then walked with him to the subway stop to make sure that he wouldn't be late. So, he just sat there and alternated between looking at the binder he had been given as well as occasionally looking around to see if anyone walking in looked familiar. Zack remembered Cody saying there was only about a hundred fifty people in his incoming medical class, and from what he had been told by the lady at the table he got his binder from, he knew that about six times as many would be in his incoming class. While the odds of knowing something were better, he shook his head and realized there was no chance of that happening. So, in defeat Zack looked back down at his binder to read the schedule for the day until he heard a voice come from right next to him.

"Is the seat next to you taken?"

He shook his head but wondered why someone would want to sit right next to him in such a large room. "No, go ahead. I..." But that's when he looked up and saw a familiar face grinning at him.

"Amanda! What are you doing here?"

She plopped down in the seat next to him before giving him an innocent look. "Why, I'm here for orientation for Harvard Business School. I'm in the right place, aren't I?"

Zack was confused. "Well, yeah, but I thought you said you were staying at BU?"

Amanda laughed. "So did I until this weekend!" She teased him. "Once they let you in here, I applied myself figuring they were letting in anyone who applied. Unfortunately, I was wrong as I was wait listed. Figuring that was as close as I was going to get, I never brought it up to you. But on Saturday morning, I got a call asking if I was still interested in coming, so here I am!"

He laughed. "Well, congratulations! It'll be nice to have at least one person around here I know."

"Likewise. And even better, you should have seen the look on my Dad's and sister's faces! I thought he was going to burst with pride. And he didn't even flinch when he cut another check to Harvard before getting his money back from BU..."

"Wow..."

"And I thought Kathy was going to have a stroke. No longer can she hold her going to Cornell over my head any longer. I know both are ivy league schools, but Harvard and Yale have just a little more prestige to their names than the other six. And I've been teasing her like crazy about that!"

Zack laughed again. "Congrats on that too. I still remember the look on Cody's face when I got in. I think he was actually proud of me..."

"As he should be. Speaking of which, how are the newlyweds? How are they liking married life so far?"

He shrugged. "Once I find out anything that's changed for them except being able to file a joint tax return, I'll let you know."

Amanda laughed this time. "Well, that's got to be a good thing..."

"Speaking of pride, I bet Jake is pretty proud of you as well."

She nodded. "He is..." She smiled. "He's even taking me down to his parents' place in Martha's Vineyard to celebrate this weekend."

"Well, I guess inviting you over to the hotel for another cookout on Sunday would be out for you then..."

"Yeah, I guess so. I'll take a rain check for the next one though."

"Consider it done." Zack smiled. "And look at it this way – we've finally stopped being Terriers! No longer are we yip dogs!"

Amanda laughed again. "Very true. Now, we're Crimson. Not Crimson Tide, just Crimson - whatever that's supposed to mean. But on the bright side, we don't have to really worry about getting used to new school colors too."

"And, we have a much better athletic program. Yeah, our new football team hasn't been good in a long time, but we do have seven national championships." He paused. "Of course, the last one was 1919, but still..."

"And our basketball team actually has a chance of making the NCAA tournament." She paused. "Of course, it'll likely end in a one and done, and not the good kind that Kentucky has."

"Tell me about it. And as long as our best players don't get into any cheating scandals again, we should at least win the Ivy League."

She stopped to think. "Now that I'm at Harvard though, do I automatically have to begin hating Yale and MIT?"

Zack shrugged. "I think its encouraged but not required. I know Cody and Bailey are still loyal to Yale, and I personally have nothing against the place."

Amanda laughed. "You don't? Even after you got blitzed off your butt there your freshman year?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah..."

"Speaking of those two again, when do their classes start."

Zack checked his watch. "About fifteen minutes ago. They had orientation the past two weeks and start for real today. I'll go ahead and warn you though – if ours is as boring as they said theirs was, don't be surprised if I use your shoulder for a pillow."

"Good call on picking seats in the back then. If we fall asleep, less chance of getting caught."

He smiled. "Hey, I did the same thing the first day I met you. I know I've changed a lot, but not in some areas."

"Well, seeing the schedule they've given us, I don't think we'll have quite the same kind of easy classes we did at good ol' Beacon Hill."

"Very true. Looks like its a flex schedule where we either have classes on Mondays, Wednesdays and every other Friday or Tuesday, Thursday and the alternate Fridays."

"Let me see your schedule. Maybe we have some classes together?"

So, that's what they did. And as luck would have it, they were in the same section and did have their Finance I, Financial Reporting and Control (FRC), Leadership and Organization Behavior (LEAD), Marketing, Technology and Operations Management (TOM) classes together as well as being assigned to the same group to do their Field classes together.

Zack whiped his brow in relief. "Thank you! I'll actually have someone to work with that I won't have to worry being a elitist jerk..."

She teased him again. "I wish I could say the same..."

"Hey!"

"Just kidding. But do me a favor. If I ever start acting like one of those types, smack the hell out of me!"

"Will do if you promise to do the same thing to me."

Before they could say anything else, their orientation began in earnest. And like Zack had feared, it did turn out to be just that boring. He didn't actually fall asleep, but he was close to losing consciousness on a few occasions. Fortunately, one of the perks of having a friend there with him was she kept nudging him to keep him awake. Besides, Amanda figured if she was going to have to stay awake, Zack did too. Finally, about noon, they were released to go grab some lunch.

"Hey, I was supposed to call Maya and see if she would be free to join me for lunch. You should join us so we can all celebrate your admission. And I have my car with me, so we can pick her up and head up to this place on the Yard that I saw on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives."

"You actually watch that show?"

Zack paused. "Ummm...Cody made me watch it."

"Uh huh..."Amanda shrugged. "But it sounds good to me."

Five minutes later, Zack put his phone back in his pocket. "Unfortunately, Maya just had a walk-in she had to take care of, but she wanted me to pass along her congratulations to you as well. She said it would be good for me to have someone up here to keep me in line for her..."

"Tell her I said thanks...I think."

"Well, we only have so long before our afternoon naps begin back, so we better get moving..."

And even though lunch was all too quick, it was a nice break away from the monotony of their mornings. The only downside was one they didn't notice – the fact that someone else had caught them having lunch together and took pictures of them together on an I-phone.

Cody & Bailey's House, the following Saturday morning

A week later, Cody and Bailey officially had a week of medical school and in particular, Molecular and Cellular Basis of Medicine under their belts. Sure, it was a little strange to them to be in the same class everyday for four hours, but they were adapting to it pretty quickly. Mostly, they just kept up the same work ethics they had in college and found themselves to be well prepared everyday for the lectures. But, they were looking forward to having the long Labor Day weekend to unwind a little. Besides, the following week, they would have three more classes (Introduction to Social Medicine, Pursuing Inquiry in Medicine and Patient/Doctor I) begin, but those would only be one afternoon a week, and only Patient/Doctor I was scheduled to meet every week.

Likewise, for Amy, she now had two days of college under her belt as well, and she was loving every minute of it so far. Like her sister before her, she was finally getting the challenge she had been waiting for her whole life. And while her college courses were nothing like the ones she had at Kettlecorn High, she was reveling in how the professors kept the discussions going without having to slow down to make sure everyone kept up. Even better, she and her new roommate, Beth were getting along very well. While they grew up in different states, both were able to bond over mutual interests and in the fact both had been raised on farms. Yes, Beth had been raised on a horse farm and was studying to be a veterinarian so she could return to hers, they still shared many common experiences of their childhoods.

On that Saturday morning, Amy and Beth had decided to go out and hit the Labor Day sales as they still weren't quite satisfied with their dorm room's décor, and the invited Bailey to go out with them. So, they met up and Cody and Bailey's place to have a home cooked breakfast before heading out for the day.

Beth smiled. "Thank you again for breakfast, it was delicious."

Bailey smiled back at her. "No worries. Even though our dining hall at Yale was voted to be among the best in the country, Cody and I both know that breaks away from it every now and again are good things."

She laughed. "Well, ours isn't as bad as I feared, but I don't think we could get blueberry and cranberry pancakes like these over there. And you say your husband actually made them?"

"Yeah, Cody is the primary cook around here."

Amy laughed. "And Bailey is the primary handy woman around here. They've switched the normal gender roles. Its like I keep telling you, these two aren't normal..."

Beth held up her hands. "Hey, as long as it works for them, more power to them. After seeing this, I may have to add the ability to cook to my list of things to look for in a guy."

Bailey grinned. "Speaking of which, have you two begun checking out the guys on campus yet?"

Amy shook her head. "Not yet. We've actually been pretty busy this week with orientation and then classes. We both kind of figured we should let ourselves get acclimated before we did anything else..." She paused and smirked at her sister. "Unlike you, neither one of us has a boyfriend beginning college with us..."

She laughed. "Yeah, yeah. But, I do think its a good idea not to spread yourselves too thin too early. Cody and I did the same thing our freshmen years and it worked out for us. We waited to do extracurricular activities when we knew we would have time to do them. Speaking of classes though, do you two have any classes in common?"

Beth nodded. "We sure do. We have our writing class, evolutionary biology and our class on Middle Eastern cultures together. While Amy is knocking out social science requirements, I'm knocking out a math and inorganic chemistry classes."

"Been there before myself."

She laughed. "Yeah, since you're now in medical school, I imagine you have." Beth looked around and nodded at a couple of pictures. "I have to say though, I love your wedding photos. While I like the serious pose, I think the one of Cody carrying you in your arms is absolutely adorable."

Bailey turned to look at the picture and smiled. "Yeah, that's our favorite one too." She paused and laughed herself. "Four years ago, I don't think Cody could have done that though."

"I couldn't have done what?"

The three turned and saw Cody walk into the kitchen. "Oh, I was just telling them I didn't think you could have lifted me like you did in our wedding picture there."

"I think I could have."

She gave him a look. "Need I remind you of the gold bar?"

He rolled his yes. "Yeah, yeah..."

Bailey just gave him a smile. "Sure you don't want to go out shopping with us?"

"Oh, I'm sure. Besides, I need to go get a haircut. I haven't gotten one since before we left on our honeymoon, and my hair is starting to get too long."

Amy teased him. "Awww, and here I thought I was going to get to see your shaggy look in person. But, if you want to dye it red again, that would be even better."

Cody looked at his wife. "Just had to show her the photo albums, didn't you?"

Amy grinned and continued. "Its not like she has any grounds to complain though. You've seen pictures of her in her pigtails days. Plus, in the past ten or so years, I've seen her alternate between being a blond, brunette and a redhead. If you ask me, she needs to pick one and stick with it..."

Bailey turned to her sister. "Hey!"

Cody patted his wife's bottom. "Doesn't matter to me at all. I would think she looks beautiful even if she had green or bright pink hair. And for the record, I saw her wearing a jet black wig a few years ago, and she was stunning with it on."

Bailey kissed his cheek in thanks as Amy shook her head. "Yeah, yeah...Like I keep saying, you two aren't normal."

Beth laughed. "Well, I think its sweet." She paused. "But that does remind me. I need to find a new hair salon myself here in Boston."

"Yeah, me too. I'm so used to going to Buck's that it never crossed my mind that I would need to find a new one."

Bailey paused before leaning in close to them. "I'll take you two to the place I found around here as long as you two don't tell London anything about it though. She took me to her stylist once, and I almost freaked out when I saw the bill was $200. The place I go to is good and reasonably priced."

Cody laughed. "Well, you ladies have fun. I'm going to head on out so I can get back and have some bonding time with Al when I get home." Cody kissed his wife's cheek again before whispering. "I am going to win this bet."

She whispered back. "Yeah, keep dreaming..."

That caught Amy's attention. "Did I just hear something about a bet? What's the bet?"

Cody shrugged. "I bet your sister that Al and I would be buddies by the time Halloween gets here."

"And what do you each get if you win?"

Cody just grinned but Bailey shook her head. "Don't you worry about it..."

A couple of hours later, Cody had returned from getting his haircut and stopped by their mailbox outside of the complex's clubhouse. As he was looking through their mail, he just shook his head when he saw it was either advertisements or political fliers. Realizing there was nothing in the mail that day that needed his immediate attention, he turned to head back to their townhouse. However, before he got too far, he heard his name being called.

"Cody!"

Turning around, he saw his medical school classmate, C.J. standing there giving him a funny look as he held the leash connected to a very large dog. "Hey, C.J., what are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you the exact same thing. I live here."

Cody gave him an astonished look. "You do? Bailey and I live here too." He pointed towards their place. "Right over there. Number 1166."

C.J. pointed in the exact opposite direction. "I'm in 1106." He paused and laughed. "I guess that explains it. We both live in opposite corners, so there is little chance of us seeing each other come out our front doors every morning."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Though, I would have thought we would have discovered this last weekend when we got back from the Booze & Shmooze..."

"Well, we stopped at the liquor store to get a bottle of wine after we exited the subway, so that probably explains it."

"Makes sense. Speaking of that Saturday night though, was one of your neighbors having a party?"

Cody shrugged. "Not that I'm aware of. Why?"

"Well, I heard some weird noises coming from the area of where you say your place is. Any idea what that was?"

Cody's eyes went wide, but he shook his head. "Again, no idea. But I'll keep my eyes and ears open in the future."

"So, what are you up to today? And where's Bailey?"

"Oh, she's out shopping with her sister and her sister's roommate. With all kinds of holiday sales, they couldn't resist."

C.J. laughed. "Is that a good or bad thing?"

"It varies. Fortunately, Bailey isn't one to spend money just to spend money. Occasionally, she'll buy something that I wonder what she was thinking, but I've long since realized that's going to happen from time to time. Sometimes though, she surprises me by buying things we actually need. A couple of weeks ago, she bought me three new pairs of boxers she found on sale that three for ten dollars."

He gave Cody a look. "You let her buy your boxers?"

He shrugged again. "Well, she knows my size and what brands and styles I find to be comfortable. Besides, she's the only one who gets to see me in them, so if she likes them..."

"True I guess..."

"So, what are you up to today?"

C.J. patted the head of the large dog sitting there beside him. "I just got back from taking my dog, Rufus for a walk."

Cody looked down at the large creature and took his first good look at it. "You sure that's a dog? Looks like a small horse to me!"

C.J. laughed. "I'm sure. While he's a mutt, the vet thinks he at least has some Mastiff and Newfoundland in him. Maybe some St. Bernard as well."

"I can definitely see that. Were you taking him for a walk or was he taking you for one."

He paused. "I'd say about 50/50."

"Maybe you should get him a saddle then? You could just ride him..."

"I guess, but I don't want him to be too tired to be a good guard dog. I don't think anyone would be happy if they broke into my place and found him growling at them."

"Very true. Unfortunately, our pet would rather attack me instead..."

"He still trying to repay the favor for neutering him?"

Cody sighed. "Yeah, he got me real good this past Sunday morning. But, I think I have a plan to solve my little problem. In fact, no time like the present to implement it."

"Good luck to you then, Neighbor. See you tomorrow over at your brother's place."

"Yeah. Hopefully I'll be there without any new scratches..."

Once Cody got back inside his and Bailey's place, he sorted the mail into their cubby holes so Bailey could look through them later. After that, he went to the fridge to get himself something to drink. And as he sipped his drink, he couldn't help but laugh.

"I can't believe Bailey has gotten me hooked on Southern sweet tea. That stuff is almost impossible to find up here in Boston without making it yourself..."

He was about to fix himself some lunch before getting down to his task at hand when he heard something. And as quickly as he could, he stepped out of the way just in time to see Albert pounce and crash head first into one of their kitchen cabinets. As the cat stopped and shook his head to try to clear the cobwebs out of his mind, Cody knelt down and laughed. "Sorry, Al...you're going to have to be faster than that!"

Al stared up at him and growled. "I'll get you next time!"

"I doubt you will. From now on, I'm going to be one step ahead of you..."

The cat paused as his eyes went wide. "Wait a minute! I understood what you just said!"

Cody smirked. "And I understood what you just said too! Your days of tyranny around here are over!"

The Roof of the Boston Tipton, Sunday afternoon

The next day, everyone began arriving at the Boston Tipton a little after noon and eventually made their way up to the roof to enjoy the weather on a beautiful early September day. And even though Amy had spent some time at the hotel before, she and Beth still met up with Cody and Bailey before riding the subway over together. When they got there, they found Gabby hanging around the lobby looking a little lost. So, they rescued her, and after formally introducing her to Amy and Beth, the five of them all headed up to the roof. And when they got there, they could see Zack was already cleaning the grill up while Maya was setting up some tables and chairs. When Maya saw Gabby, she smiled.

"I've got some good news for you. My boss said Monday and Friday afternoons would work perfectly for you to come by the center for rehab."

Gabby sighed in relief. "Oh, thank goodness. That is good news."

"She was on cloud nine that our little department would have someone of your stature using our facilities."

"I don't know about all of that. In the world of the Olympics, your a has been a year after your games unless you plan on returning to defend your title. I mean, look at the Misty and Kerri. They won three straight gold medals, but because they aren't going to head to Rio together, people have already forgot about them."

Maya laughed. "Well, I doubt any male over the age of seventeen has forgotten about them. Especially those bikini uniforms they wore..."

"Very true. I can't say much because ours weren't much better. Even once I was used to them, it still took me about five minutes to put one of them on."

"Really? Well, I guess because they had to be aerodynamic..."

"That they were...and a pain in the butt - both literally and figuratively."

"I'll take your word on that. Well, I know tomorrow is a holiday, but do you want to start then or wait until Friday?"

Gabby paused to think. "Lets say Friday. I wouldn't want you to have to go in and work on the holiday. Besides, I'll probably spend all day tomorrow doing my reading for Tuesday."

Maya paused and leaned in. "Okay, be honest with me. I know Cody and Bailey have said that it hasn't been that bad so far, but I also know how easy things like that come to them. How has medical school been thus far really?"

She shrugged. "It could be worse I guess..." She laughed. "I'll let you know later when we have to deal with cadavers." She paused. "Though, my ACL came from one, so maybe it will give me a leg up so to speak..."

About that time, C.J. finally found his way up to the roof as well. And almost immediately after he did, Bailey pulled him off to the side to introduce him to her sister and her roommate.

"C.J., I would like you to meet my sister, Amy and her roommate, Beth. Amy and Beth, this is C.J., our classmate and from what Cody told me yesterday, our neighbor."

He nodded. "Nice to meet you both."

Amy shook her head. "So, you're the guy who is our age and is already technically a doctor?"

"Well, sort of. I do have a PhD, but I don't really consider myself a doctor yet. That won't be for four more years."

"Still. It blows my mind that someone my age has already accomplished so much." She turned to her sister. "I know you still love Kettlecorn, but even you have to admit how much it has potentially held us back."

Bailey rolled her eyes. "You're only 18 and you're a freshman at Harvard now. I think you'll be okay..."

"I guess..." Amy turned back to C.J. "Well, its nice to finally meet you. When Cody and Bailey told me about you, I had this picture of a short nerdy guy with glasses. But after meeting you, you actually seem fairly normal."

He paused before laughing. "Thank you...I think. Actually, now that I think about it, that might be the nicest thing anyone my own age has ever said to me."

She laughed too. "Oh, give it time. You keep hanging out with my sister and brother-in-law, and I reserve the right to give you pure hell. Despite what anyone else says, those two are definitely not normal. Don't let them rub off on to you."

C.J. frowned in confusion. "They've both been nothing but nice to me..."

Bailey shook her head. "Ignore her. You know...little sisters and all."

"Ahh...Gotcha now. I know all about how they can be. Speaking of Cody though, did he survive yesterday in one piece? When I ran into him, he said he was going to try to tame your guys' pet cat."

She paused. "As far as I know, there were no more attacks. In fact, ever since I got home yesterday, it seems like Albie has been avoiding Cody at all costs. Whenever he sees him, he bolts off running in the other direction. Its like something has spooked him or something..."

Across the roof, Zack thought the grill was now hot enough to begin cooking, so he turned to Maya.

"Hey, Babe. I think I'm ready to get started here. Would you mind heading down to our suite and bringing up the meat?"

She shook her head. "Not at all. Be right back."

So, Maya headed downstairs, and when she got to their door, she saw Will was there wandering the hallway looking lost.

She laughed. "Hey, we're all upstairs on the roof. I just came down to get the animal flesh to take it up to cook."

He sighed. "Thank goodness you found me. I remembered you saying the 23rd floor, but I couldn't remember the exact suite number. Need a hand carrying stuff upstairs?"

"Sure, why not? Come on in."

She lead him into the suite where she immediately headed over to the refrigerator where she pulled out the burgers they had patted out earlier as well as the dogs and brats.

"Other than this suite, did you have any trouble finding this place?"

Will shook his head. "Not at all." He looked around the suite. "So, this is where you and Jack live together, huh?"

"Its Zack and yes. He's lived in this suite for three years now, and I've lived here too for a little over a year now myself."

"Sounds pretty serious between you two then if you're living together..."

She smiled. "We are. We're not married or anything like his brother, but we've discussed the topic ourselves. We both feel like its only a matter of time before we get there too."

He paused trying to shake that image out of his head. "Good. The last time we hung out together, you got your heart broken..."

Maya laughed. "Yeah, I was thinking about that same thing the other night. It makes you realize how stupid you can be when you're sixteen. But, I've moved on from then, and I'm exactly where I want to be in my life."

Will sighed. "Well, that makes what I have to tell you next a little difficult..."

"What's that?"

"This past Monday, I was having lunch on campus. And well, I don't want to upset you or anything, but I'm pretty sure I saw your boyfriend having lunch with another woman."

Maya just looked at him and laughed. "I know. Zack was having lunch with our friend, Amanda. He just found out that she would be joining him at HBS. I was supposed to join them to celebrate that fact, but I had a new patient come in at the last minute."

"Oh...well, after the last time we hung out, I just thought you should know..."

She smiled. "I appreciate that, but I know I don't have to worry about anything like that now." She looked down at the food on the counter. "I better get this upstairs before everyone begins rioting due to there not being any food."

When they got back up to the roof, they carried the food over to Zack who was chatting with Cody. When he saw Maya had finally returned, he teased her.

"What took you so long, Babe?"

Maya smiled. "I ran into Will downstairs. And get this - he told me he ran into you the other day on campus when you were having lunch with Amanda."

That caught both Cody and Zack's attention, and Zack turned his attention to Will. "Is that so?"

Will squirmed a little bit as he was wishing Maya had kept that to herself. "Yeah, I saw you at a restaurant over near the Yard. I was pretty sure you looked familiar, but then I remembered you did had a twin brother."

Zack was still staring at him. "Yeah, but he was in school then himself, weren't you, Bro?"

Cody just nodded realizing the implications of what Maya had just said and now the tone of voice Zack was using. "Yeah..."

Zack continued. "You should have come over and said hello, Will. I would introduced you to my friend, Amanda. In fact, I invited her to come here today, but she already had plans with her boyfriend..."

Maya spoke up seemingly oblivious to the sudden rise in testosterone. "Well, the next time you see him on campus, Will, feel free to say hello. Zack, doesn't bite...I promise."

Zack turned and winked at her. "Well, not people I don't know..."

She laughed. "Behave yourself, Zack." She looked down at the grill and shook her head. "I can't believe I forgot a bunch of stuff downstairs. Let me go get it, and I'll be right back. Cody, would you mind giving me a hand?"

Reluctantly, he nodded, and with that, they headed back downstairs.

With them now gone again, Zack refocused his attention back to Will again. "So, let me guess. You just happened to mention to Maya that you saw me out with another girl, huh?"

Will swallowed. "Well, I was just trying to protect her just in case. Maya and I go back a long time, and as her friend, I thought it was something she needed to know."

"Uh huh. Something tells me this wasn't the first time you've tried to do this..."

He swallowed again. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I bet you don't..." Zack glared at him. "Either way, Maya doesn't need you to protect her. She is more than capable of taking care of herself. After all, she is a black belt, but I bet you didn't know that. And I'm the last person she needs to be protected from. You got that?"

Will wasn't backing down. "I've known her for a lot longer than you have. Don't try to intimidate me."

"I wouldn't dream of it. But, if you try to cause problems for me and my girlfriend, you'll find out that I'm a black belt too..."

Back down in the suite, Maya was collecting up the remaining things they would need upstairs as Cody stood there waiting for her to organize everything. "Alright, what do you need me to do?"

"You see that cooler over there? Think you can carry it to the elevator for me? And on the roof, put it over by the tables."

"I can do that." He paused. "Can I ask you a question before we head back up though?"

"Sure thing. What's up?"

"Well, its that Will guy. I know its really not any of my business, but..."

Maya smiled and cut him off. "Nothing to worry about. He's just an old friend of mine from New York. You know, kind of like how Tapeworm and Bob were for you guys here."

"I can see that, but on the other hand, I've never seen either of those guys giving either Zack or me the same kind of looks like that guy is giving you..."

She frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Cody sighed. "I may be way off here, but he's not giving you the look a friend would give another friend. He's giving you the look that someone would give to an old...crush."

Maya laughed. "Trust me, that couldn't be further from the truth."

"If you say so then, but I don't think Zack was happy that that guy tried to rat him out."

"If there are any problems, I'll smooth them over. But there is nothing for anything to get upset about. You'll see, everything will work out just fine."

Meanwhile, back on the roof, Will wasn't comfortable with the third degree that Zack was seemingly giving him. And fortunately for him, Maya and Zack's brother arrived back shortly so he wouldn't be alone with him. Deciding to seize the opportunity to change the subject, he did. "So, Zack, were you a big athlete in high school?"

Zack just grinned as he realized what was going on. "Not really, my freshman year, I played basketball here in Boston..." He paused and looked up. "RIP, Coach Little..." (RIP Michael Clarke Duncan)

That confused Will. "Huh?"

Maya rubbed Zack's shoulder. "He just found out that his old high school basketball coach passed away this past week."

"Ohhh..."

Zack focused himself back on Will. "But after I headed to the boat, Seven Seas High didn't have many traditional sports teams. But, I did get an offer to join the US croquet team..."

"I see. Well, I was all state in crew in high school and then a three time all American at Princeton." Taking the chance to look better in Maya's eyes, Will smirked. "Compared to croquet, I guess you could say I actually played a real sport."

If he wasn't sure before, he was then. Zack was positive – he didn't like this Will guy. "Yeah...if you consider rowing a boat to be a sport. Personally, I don't. Anyone can do it. In fact, if I'm honest, the only real athlete here is the lady over there. She actually has a gold medal. As for rowing, I'm more impressed that my brother and sister-in-law were four time defending intramural ping pong champions at Yale..." He smirked. "At least they went to a real Ivy League school..."

That got a rise out of Will. "Crew is a lot more difficult than it looks! It takes a certain type to be able to do it." He seethed before smirking back. "But if you're interested in a challenge, I'd love to race you some time..."

"I'd love too!" Zack paused. "But aren't those boats usually for two people..."

"Yeah, they are. I'll bring my roommate. He was my teammate and fellow All-American at Princeton."

"No worries, I'll bring..." Zack paused to think. Not really liking any of the options that were crossing his mind, he sighed. "...my brother."

"Fine. Next Saturday then!"

"Next Saturday it is!"

Maya looked back and forth between the two of them. This was definitely not going anyway how she thought it would have. And as the two guys continued staring each other down, Cody returned from putting the cooler over by the tables. Seeing the tension filled stare down, he paused.

"Ummm...what's going on here?"

"Nothing, Broseph." He paused. "You have any plans for next Saturday yet?"

"Not that I know of..."

Zack grinned. "You do now!"

To be Continued...