Squib sat frozen as the girls walked towards him and Cameron. Cody looked beautiful. Squib, of course, had always thought she was attractive, but tonight she left him breathless. She hadn't changed much in a month. Sure, her hair was longer, and he thought that maybe she had grown just a bit (then again, it could've just been that Adena had forced her into heels), but she still looked like Cody, and for that he was glad.

Adena, Tannis, and Cody said goodbye to Sunny at the door, as she left to chat with sponsors. They now found themselves face to face with Cameron and Squib.

"You ladies are looking lovely tonight," Cameron complimented.

"Very nice," Squib added quietly, nodding. He wondered if he should say something to Cody, but right there in the middle of the room with all their friends watching didn't seem quite right. He was trying to figure out a subtle way to lead her away from the rest of the group, when Adena spoke up.

"Tannis and I were going to go say hi to some of the sponsors, why don't you join us, Cameron?" It seemed she already had it all planned out. Cameron shrugged and the three walked away, smiling.

"So," Cody spoke up first, "how was the tournament last week? Last I heard, Adena said it was going well." Great, she thought. Not even two minutes alone and she was resorting to tennis talk.

"Uh, yeah," Squib answered, realizing how weird it felt to talk to her after two months of virtually no interaction, "it was good…." As he proceeded to tell her about it, she looked over his shoulder and saw their friends watching them hopefully.

An hour later, Cameron, Tannis, and Adena still hadn't returned. No matter where Cody and Squib moved in the room, their not-very-subtle friends were watching. To make matters worse, they were running out of topics. They had talked about tennis, the students at Cascadia, Cody's new classes, her teachers; heck, they had even resorted to talking about the weather! Finally, after Squib once again caught the three watching them, he decided he had had enough.

"You wanna get out of here?" He asked Cody, in the middle of her sentence about one of her teachers.

For a moment, she looked like she was going to refuse him, but then, "Sure. I'm sick of them watching us, anyways,"

"Could they be any more obvious?" Squib laughed as the two snuck out the back door. "Where to?" He asked once they had successfully made their exit.

"Doesn't matter to me," Cody answered. They soon found themselves sitting in the bleachers of one of the main courts.

Cody searched for something say, "So…"

"I wanted to call," Squib cut her off.

"What?" Cody asked after a moment of stunned silence.

"I wanted to call you. That night, when I promised I would. It's not like I just decided, no, I don't feel like calling. I sat in front of that phone for hours. But I just…couldn't," he finished, in his opinion, somewhat lamely.

"Oh, yeah, that's fine," Cody tried to brush it off, "I mean, we didn't leave things on the best of terms and…" she trailed off, apparently finished.

"I should've called,"

"It would have been nice," she admitted.

"And about the night you left, I'm sorry about that, too. I was way out of line, I had no right to…"

"Did you mean it?" This time it was Cody cutting him off.

"Mean what?"

"The stuff you said."

"Oh, well, yeah," Squib said slowly, choosing his words, "I mean, of course I didn't want you to leave. You're one of my best friends."

"Oh," said Cody, sounding disappointed.

"What?" Squib asked, wondering what he had done.

"Friends?"

"Well yeah, we are, aren't we?"

"Honestly Squib, I don't know," Cody snapped, "first you're kissing me on boats, then you're going after hot physiotherapists, then you're begging me not to leave, and now we're 'just friends' again!"

"How can you be mad at me for this?" Squib yelled, "What did I do?"

"I wish you would just make up your mind! You make everything so difficult with this all this on again-off again drama," she shot back.

"Me? I'm the problem here?"

"What, so you blame me?"

"I'm not the one who left!"

Cody started at him, hurt and shocked, "What was I supposed to do, Squib? Did you expect me to stay at a tennis school forever?"

"This isn't about what kind of school you're at, Cody!" Squib yelled, "It doesn't matter whether you're at a tennis school or an art school! What matters is where your friends are! The people who care about you!"

"Well you're obviously not one of those people!"

"Don't you dare say I don't care about you! I have always cared about you!" He insisted.

"Really? Because you're being unbelievably selfish right now for someone who cares about me so much!" With that, Cody stood, "This was a stupid idea." She turned and walked quickly down the bleachers, heading back towards the dance. Squib sat there for two more hours, before finally deciding to head inside.

Sunday morning, as Cody was packing the last of her things, she heard the doorbell. She walked downstairs, and opened the door, revealing Squib. To say she was shocked would be an understatement. The two had skillfully avoided each other all of Saturday; they hadn't spoken since Friday night.

"Uh…hi," Cody said.

"I know you don't want to talk to me right now. I don't even know why I'm here," he explained, "I'm still too angry to apologize, but not mad enough that I could just let you leave."

"Okay…" Cody said slowly, still trying to understand him.

"I just," he paused, "I didn't want to leave it like last time. I don't want to spend another month fighting with you."

"I don't want to fight either, Squib, but it doesn't look like we'll be resolving this anytime soon," she said quietly.

"I know," he agreed, "I just wanted to see you before you left."

Cody wondered when it had gotten so complicated between them. A month and a half ago, they were walking through the halls, laughing and joking together. And now they could barely have a civil conversation with each other. The sound a horn honking signaled that Cody's dad was ready to take her to the airport.

"See ya, Squib," she said quietly. She placed one hand on his hip, pulling him in slightly, and placed the other on the junction between his neck and his shoulder. Then, standing on her toes, she placed a soft kiss on his cheek, before turning around and walking toward the car.

Squib lie in bed for hours that night. He could still feel her hand where it had rested on his hip, still feel her fingers on his neck. He could still hear her whisper as she leaned in, and he should still feel her soft lips and warm breath on his face. He knew he should be happy, but he couldn't be. He could tell by the look in her eyes, and the way she spoke to him; it wasn't a kiss filled with promise or hope, it wasn't a kiss of forgiveness. It was a kiss goodbye.

Still a little bit of your taste in my mouth
Still a little bit of you laced with my doubt
Still a little hard to say what's going on

Still a little bit of your ghost your witness
Still a little bit of your face I haven't kissed
You step a little closer each day
Still I can't say what's going on

Stones taught me to fly
Love taught me to lie
Life taught me to die
So it's not hard to fall
When you float like a cannonball

Still a little bit of your song in my ear
Still a little bit of your words I long to hear
You step a little closer to me
So close that I can't see what's going on

Stones taught me to fly
Love taught me to lie
Life taught me to die
So it's not hard to fall
When you float like a cannon

Stones taught me to fly
Love taught me to cry
So come on courage!
Teach me to be shy
'Cause it's not hard to fall
And I don't wanna scare her
It's not hard to fall
And I don't wanna lose
It's not hard to grow
When you know that you just don't know

-Damien Rice 'Cannonball'

-ducks incoming objects- I'm very sorry, it broke my heart to have them fight again, but I AM a fan of the drama…