I Got a Date

Wednesday Afternoon


"Zack, what are you doing?" Mr. Moseby asked the blonde haired boy as he stood in the doorway of the equipment room, his hands on his hips and glaring suspiciously. Zack was currently leaning half out of a porthole window and when hearing his name he crawled back through, showing that he had a long net in his hands. "Why did you make the captain turn the boat around? You don't have the authority to do that."

"I'm looking for a stuff bear that's floating in the water." Zack replied.

"Well, that shouldn't be too much of a problem," Mr. Moseby responded sarcastically. "What are you going to look for next? Goldilocks?"

"I'm being serious, Mr. Moseby." Zack replied and Mr. Moseby could tell that he was telling the truth. His blue-green eyes didn't hold any mischief like it used to, it showed seriousness and determination.

"Why exactly is there a stuffed animal floating out in the water?" Mr. Moseby asked instead. "I know you have something to do with it."

"Long story," he sighed. "It's Riley's."

"And you're making me turn the boat around to retrieve one of Riley's toys?"

"I said it was a long story."

"So…" Mr. Moseby spoke up again, "I take it this wild goose chase has something to do with that big boot mark on your face?"

"You take it right," he lightly touched his bruised skin. How the hell was he ever going to cover that up? By the time of the dance – scheduled for Friday, he'd have the ugliest, biggest bruise ever known to mankind.


After a ton of trouble and an abundance of curse words, Zack finally managed to get the Care Bear out of the water and back to normal—or close enough anyway. Blow drying it had somehow made it a lot fluffier than it was probably supposed to look. Still—Zack lifted it up a little to observe his work—it was better than nothing.

Zack sighed and grudgingly made his way to where Riley had been holed up ever since the argument, in hers and Rhuben's cabin. He didn't want to give her the toy back. Maybe if he just put it somewhere where he knew she would find it? Neither one would say anything about it and she'd be happy and everything would go back to normal without a word ever having been spoken.

That might be a good plan if he didn't know the full extent of the situation. He needed to apologize and he needed to make it a damn good apology. He knew that. He just didn't know exactly how to go about it.

"What do you want, Zack?" Riley's voice echoed forth as she opened the cabin door. She avoided his gaze, so she couldn't see the rescued toy in his hands.

"Sweetie Tweetie?" He held a bag of candy out to her.

"Go away," she muttered, flipping flopping down onto her bed.

"Or Care Bear?" he sheepishly held the toy out to her.

"You rescued Grumpy?" Riley turned to face him and raised and eyebrow at the look of it. "Wait… why's he so fluffy?"

Zack sat on the edge of her bed. "He kind of had a misadventure with a mud puddle."

"Why'd you rescue him?"

"Because I felt really, really, really bad about the whole thing."

"No, it's okay," she shrugged, lying down again. "It's kind of stupid to hang onto this thing anyway."

"So, I rescued Grumpy for no reason?" Zack snorted in annoyance.

"No, I'm glad you rescued him… even though he looks really weird now."

"Well, it took me two hours just to get him looking like that." He ran his hands through his hair a little nervously. "He was in bad shape before I took the blow-dryer to him."

"You blow-dried my stuffed animal?" she raised an eyebrow, the mental image almost too much to not laugh.

"Yeah, it didn't work out too well," he admitted. "I'll buy you a new one, if you'd like?"

"No, I don't want a new one," she was quick to tell him.

"Um…" He moved a little further onto her bed. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright," she shrugged and then watched, as Zack became deathly silent. She could tell he was trying to think of something to say, but apparently, he didn't know exactly what. Thinking that was exceedingly strange for him, she tried to prod him along. "Was there something else, Zack?"

"Er… yeah, there is." He shook his head a little. "See… well…" He sighed before trying once more. "The thing is—"

"Zack, since when do you stutter?" she interrupted in monotone.

"Since I don't know where to start." He sighed again and plopped down next to her, taking over most of her pillow. Typical Zack, she thought dryly, moving over a little to give him more room. "Okay, so the thing is that I shouldn't have pushed you like I did."

"But that's just how you are," she pointed out. "I am used to it, you know?"

"Well, if this was just another normal argument, I certainly wouldn't be apologizing," he decided he needed to point that out, "but see, this isn't a normal argument."

"Really?" she blinked. "It's not. What's so different about this one than our others? Besides the fact that you're apologizing… which, by the way, never happens."

"How many people know about your family, Riley?" Zack asked as he put an arm behind his head and turned to look at her.

"Well…" she trailed off, taking in the piercing green eyes that were waiting for her answer, "… just you and Cody, and London, although she probably forgot. And you mom, and Maddie, and Mr. Moseby."

"Yeah," he sighed, "And, I mean, you and I aren't close anymore. Not like when we first started dating anyway, but I'm still one of the only people who know."

"So, what are you trying to say?" Riley asked after a second. She looked at him and then immediately looked away.

"Just that I should have realized the significance of the toy." Zack replied simply.

"You're not a mind reader. I don't expect you to know every single thing about me." Riley rolled her eyes and picked at her fingernails, desperate for something to do.

"Yeah, but I did know this." Zack finally sat up and looked down at her. "You told me as much when I first gave it to you as a gift. I just forgot and I'm really sorry."

"I'm fine," she tried to assure him, thinking it strange that she was the one assuring him. How had the roles gotten turned around?

"Are you positive?"

"Yeah, I mean, you rescued Grumpy. I shouldn't have thrown him out the window in the first place. I can't believe I did that."

"Why not?" he asked. "It's totally in character."

"Shut up," she grinned.

"The anniversary's coming up soon, isn't it?" he turned serious again.

"Yeah," she fiddled around with the fluffy Care Bear, "… couple of days."

"Eight years?" he pressed.

"Yeah. Hardly seems like it's been that long." She twisted around a little, trying to get comfortable.

"Sweetie Tweetie?" he offered.

"Thanks," she took a few. "So, I guess you told Bailey and Woody what the whole thing was about, huh?"

He turned to face her and simply said, "No."

"Why not? They asked, didn't they?"

"Yes, but it's not really my place to tell," he shrugged. "I've kept it to myself for this long—you think I'm just gonna blurt the whole thing out because of one argument?"

"Well, I guess not." She gave a little smile. "But I bet Cody would have as soon as Bailey looked at him."

Zack laughed in agreement. "I don't know about that, but you can trust them, you know. They'll probably be able to handle the whole thing better than me any day.

"What's the matter? Don't you like knowing something about me that no one else does?"

"Well …" he smirked, "if it was something I could blackmail you with, that'd be another thing all together."

"Always thinking of yourself," she good-naturedly responded. "And you know, you've never handled it badly. You've always been pretty good about it. Especially when I first told you."

"But then all that shit happened."

"But you've never told anyone or thrown it up in my face to try and make me feel bad. So, I'd say—for you—you've handled the whole thing remarkably well."

"Hmmm…" he stood up, preparing to leave, "I still wish I wasn't the one of the only ones in the entire world who knows about it. Surely, you could use as much support as you can get?"

"I'm fine, Zack. It's been a long time since it happened," she insisted.

"Okay," he slid off the bunk, deciding to leave things at that. "Are you still hungry?"

"Starving," she admitted, and followed him to the fiesta deck.


"Ok, Cody, today you're going to ask Bailey to go to the dance with you." Rhuben commented as she followed Cody around the sun deck as he picked up and folded towels. Cody, who was walking in front of her, suddenly screeched to a stop and she barely had enough time to stop walking before walking into him. "What?" she asked when he turned around.

"Say it any louder why don't you?" he hissed, shifting his yes back and forth for someone who could possibly be overhearing them.

"Cody," Rhuben placed her hands on her hips and smirked. "I haven't been on his boat long, and I can tell that you like her. A monkey would be able to."

"I don't think it's very nice to call Zack a monkey," Cody said in a teasing tone and then chuckled a little bit. "Even though it's true."

"Cody, do you want her to be your girlfriend or not?"

"Yes, please."

"Then listen to me!" Rhuben snapped forcefully. Cody took a step back, his eyes wide.

"Yes, ma'am." He squeaked. Rhuben smirked again and nodded as she crossed her arms over her chest. "What do I have to do first?"

"Listen well and follow me." Rhuben replied and started to walk away.

"But I can't leave my job!" Cody protested. "I need the money and I can't get fired now."

"So go on a break" Rhuben replied as if it was obvious. "Cody, what you need to learn is that you need to take risks sometimes. And the day that you were on the game show 'Risk It All' doesn't count. Now come on!"

Across the sun deck, Bailey pulled down the sunglasses that she was wearing and turned to Patrick and Noah with a worried expression on her face. "You don't think he likes her do you?" she asked them. "I mean, I don't think your sister is bad for him as they dated before, but-"

"Bailey, its fine." Noah said in his quiet tone as he turned to give a small smile. "They're only friends and I can tell by the way that he acts around you that he likes you."

"Yeah," Patrick agreed as he lowered his hands from his head, where he had just been gingerly touching his hair spikes to make sure that none of them had fallen over. "I mean, you like him, he likes you, why don't you ask him out?"

"What makes you think that I like Cody?" Bailey asked defensively, her cheeks turning red.

"Oh, I don't know," Patrick shrugged and gave a evil grin. "The fact that you care so much, the fact that you're blushing, and the fact that you want him to ask you to the dance."

"The other deciding fact to this is that we're guys, and we can tell whenever girls like us." Noah replied with a cheeky grin. "Trust me; you don't have anything to worry about."

Bailey beamed. "Thanks guys."

"No problem." Patrick replied with a good natured, sincere smile.

"I'm going to go find him and ask him to the dance." Bailey got up and ran off in the direction that Cody and Rhuben had just gone.

As soon as she left, Noah's smile faded as fast as he had gotten it. "Unless, of course, Rhu-Rhu still likes Cody." Noah added as an afterthought.

"I was thinking the same thing." Patrick sighed.


"Now, the last thing you need is chocolate." Rhuben stated as she led Cody over to the candy shop that was on the boat. "Because girls like chocolate and will always love a guy that boy chocolate for her."

"I'm assuming that girls just like to get gifts." Cody deadpanned as he shifted the flowers and a small box that was in his arms.

"Yes," Rhuben stuck her tongue out teasingly. "We like to spoiled." She paused and added as an afterthought. "We love to be right too, but that doesn't make us as happy as getting gifts."

"I'd like a box of chocolates, please." Cody said to the cashier. "At least five dollars worth."

The cashier took Cody's money and handed him a gold box of chocolates that was wrapped in a silver bow. "Here you go." He handed it over to Cody and gave a small smile. "Is this to ask a girl to the dance?"

"Yes, I-"

"I hope you have a good time together," the cashier continued and smiled at Rhuben, who didn't say anything in reply.

"Oh, wait, I'm not-"the cashier turned away and Cody let out a sigh of frustration. "Why didn't you say that we aren't going together?"

"Because it's not really any of their business as to whom you are, or aren't going to the dance with," Rhuben replied and looked over Cody's shoulder for a second before abruptly turning and walking away.

Cody opened his mouth, about to call after her, but hearing his own name caused him to close his mouth in confusion. His eyes widened and he whirled around to see Bailey standing behind him, looking confused and hurt at the same time.

"Bailey, what's wrong?" he asked, seeing the look on her face.

"Y-you're going to the dance with Rhuben?" she asked. "Not that there's anything wrong with that." She added hastily. "But, you see, I…well…"

"I'm not going to the dance with Rhuben," Cody replied, looking confused himself.

"Then who are the flowers and chocolates for?" Bailey asked as she motioned to the gifts. "I mean, it looks like you just asked Rhuben and…it looks like she turned you down or something."

'No, Bailey…t-these are for you." Cody held out the gifts that were in his hands, but made sure that she wasn't able to see the box that was in his hand. He quickly shoved it into his pocket when Bailey looked away from him. "I…I was wondering if you….wanted to go to the dance with me….if you didn't already have a date."

"Wow," Bailey blushed in happiness. "I'd love to go with you, Cody."

"Ok." Cody beamed.

"Ok." Bailey repeated with a nod.

The two nervously looked at each other, smiling widely, before they backed away, saying that they had stuff to do and left the hallway. Smirking to herself, Rhuben walked out of a connected hallway and congratulated herself on a job well done.

"Am I good or am I good?" she laughed to herself.

"Hey Rhu-Rhu," Noah greeted his older sister as he strolled into the hallway. "What's going on? What are you smiling about?"

"Oh, nothing," Rhuben replied. "I just got Cody to ask Bailey to the dance, so now he can stop moping around and he can be happy." She turned to him with a questioning expression. "Do you have a date for the dance yet?"

"I do now." Noah replied teasingly as he took Rhuben's hand in his and gently swung it back and forth before letting it go, a serious expression on his face. "Why'd you help Cody with Bailey?"

"Because I knew that he wouldn't have the guts to do it on his own."

"Are you sure it isn't because you want him to be happy, and that if he realizes who made him happy he'll dump Bailey for you?"

"Has anyone ever told you that sometimes you can be smarter than Sydney?"


A/N: Next chapter has to do with the dance, has a lot do with London, and also focuses on the BaileyxCodyxRhuben love triangle.

So, here's some good news, some of my stories have been nominated for Round 2 of the Site Life Awards. You guys can go over to the Suite Life Awards forum and vote for them there. Thanks! - Riley

Here are the ones that were nominated and for which category:

Home Is Where The Heart Is and Camp Suite Life - Best Comedy

Home Is Where The Heart Is - Best Romance

Duel of Fates/Illusions/Souls w/ mikromb13 - Best AU, Fantasy

Xenophilia REWRITE - Best Au, Fantasy

Core - Best Villain

Camp Suite Life - Best Kiss

Stranded - Best Comical Scene