Little Beach Party
It was finals week at PCA, and pretty much everyone was stressing out, especially Zoey. It felt like everyone and their brother, or more specifically even her little brother Dustin was coming to her for help studying for their tests. In every single class she had this semester she had at least three or four different kids asking her for help reviewing or if they could borrow her notes. Zoey was never one to say no to helping people, but she felt like that policy was coming back to bite her. The only good thing was that by explaining everything to everyone else, she felt like she was prepared for her own tests. She couldn't wait for them to be over.
She was taking a few minutes away from studying to type up an email to her parents when Chase ran up to her table looking flustered.
"Hey Zoe! Listen, I've got my biology exam this afternoon so would you help me go over the whole recessive/dominant gene thing again?"
"Sure thing, sit down." Zoey closed her laptop as Chase sat down across from her.
"So I have brown eyes right?" Zoey pointed at her eye.
"Right." Chase nodded, he glanced up at her face to look directly into her eyes for a few moments, which made Zoey feel weird, not a bad weird, but strange nonetheless, like he was paying more attention than just her eye color.
"That's a dominant gene. And you have green eyes." Now it was Zoey's turn to meet his forest green eyes, she almost felt like she could get lost in them sometimes.
"Green eyes." Chase nodded his head at her.
"That's a recessive gene."
"OK."
"So, if we ever got married and had a baby, there's a seventy-five percent chance he'd have brown eyes, and a twenty-five percent chance he'd have green eyes."
"Are you asking me to marry you?" Chase joked with her, hopefully covering up the vision of Zoey in a white dress, or even more the idea of him and Zoey with a kid. He couldn't help it, the idea of him and Zoey marrying someday, he cared about that much more than biology at the moment, but he also knew he had to pass this test today. He thought he at least had a chance of accomplishing that compared to the fantasy filling his head right now.
"You want to be serious?" Zoey laughed off his joke with a giggle, the idea of marrying Chase sounded so ridiculous to her, he was her best friend. Plus he'd probably look pretty funny in a tux. And knowing Chase, there was no way that would probably ever happen.
"Ok ok. I think I got it, Brown eyes dominant, green eyes recessive. And that's what the square thingies do?"
"Yeah." Zoey pulled out a notebook to draw a Punnett square, "see if you get stuck you can draw it out like this, and as long as there's at least one dominant trait than that's the one that will be visible."
"Right, thanks Zoey, you're a lifesaver."
"Hey Zoey!" Zoey turned her head to see Brad standing over by the coffee cart. "Later on would you help me study for my chemistry exam?"
"AHHHH!" Zoey just screamed in response, so Brad got the message to walk away.
"Little tense, are ya?" Chase asked.
Zoey finally let it all pour out, she had just been typing this up for her parents, but she was always happy to let everything out to Chase more than anyone else she knew. "Well everyone keeps asking me to help them study, and I want to be nice, but I have my own exams too you know and it's not like anyone offered to help me study and-"
"Alright, alright." Chase reached around the table to put both of his hands on her shoulders. "Shh, just calm down. Exams are over tomorrow morning and then we get to go to the best party, like ever."
"Is it really awesome?" Zoey asked with a smile back on her face.
"It's the best, Mystic Beach is incredible! We get to play volleyball, go boogie boarding…"Chase listed off. "Think you can make it?"
"Yeah, I'm sure I'll be fine, I can't wait to go to the beach with you and everyone else."
"Me neither, so do you need any help studying anything?"
"I guess I could use some more help on English, I've already helped a lot of people study already, but I wouldn't mind some pointers from you Mr. Playwright."
"Sure thing, look I have to go take my biology test now, but if I survive that I'll meet you in your room at 4:00, and we can review everything you want."
"Sure thing Chase. I'll see you then."
"Thanks again Zoey. See you later." Chase stood up to head to his test, as he walked away, he had to shake his head to try to remove the visions of Zoey in a white dress from his mind. He needed to focus on biology right now.
Zoey smiled and breathed in deeply for a moment to recenter herself. She didn't know what it was about Chase, but she already felt a bit calmer after talking with him for just a few minutes, she only had her English and History tests tomorrow, but several more study appointments already lined up, so she knew she had to get moving again soon. She almost wished Chase had stayed long enough for them to play a few rounds of would you rather to really take her mind off things. Maybe later tonight they could let off some steam by playing their favorite game.
Later that night Chase walked back into his room after studying with Zoey for a few hours, and thankfully without any thoughts of marrying Zoey someday filling his head, he had been able to keep their focus on studying for their English and history finals tomorrow, and when they decided they had enough, they let off some stress with a few rounds of would you rather.
"Hey Michael, you still studying?" Chase asked, seeing as Michael had a textbook open in his lap while Logan was up on his bed, studying his reflection in a mirror, earbuds playing who knows what.
"You know what? I think I'm done for tonight. Either I'm going to know it on the test or I won't. I've had enough!" Michael declared and slammed his book shut and shoved it into his backpack. "So where have you been?"
"I just got back from studying English and history with Zoey."
"Right, I'm sure, studying," Michael said sarcastically.
"Yeah, we do have two more tests tomorrow you know."
"You sure you didn't do anything besides studying?" Michael grinned at him.
"Well after we finished we played would you rather for a few minutes."
"Anything else?" Michael kept badgering him as Chase dug through his closet for pajamas.
"You know, why do I have a feeling you're fishing for a certain answer?"
"Dude, this is the last week of school."
"You just realized that? That's why all the tests are called finals." Chase joked.
"Of course I know that, but come on dude, your time is running out."
"Running out for what?"
Michael shook his head at him. "Telling Zoey how you feel."
"Why would I do that?" Chase just tried to act oblivious.
"Cause this is the last two days you'll see her until next semester. So don't you think you should tell her before we all leave?"
"No way, first off, I am in no way ready to tell her, because obviously, she doesn't see me as anything more than friends. I mean when Glen and I both matched with her for the dance she chose to go with Glen. Obviously, she doesn't like me like that. Plus right before summer vacation is the worst time to tell her. Why would I ask her out and then not see her for three months?"
"Because I'm sure it will make you happier over the summer, and maybe this could even give you an excuse to visit each other over the summer. Plus I still don't understand why you think Zoey will hate you if you tell her."
"I know you're right that I don't know for sure if she'll hate me or not but I'm not willing to risk it. Plus we still have our finals tomorrow, I'm not going to do something that will distract her so she does badly on her last tests."
"Well there's an obvious solution to that, ask her out when we're all out at the beach. I'm sure you'll be able to sneak away and have a private conversation. And then she says yes and everyone's even happier."
Chase shook his head. "I know that isn't going to happen."
"So when are you going to tell her?"
"I don't know, maybe someday, but definitely not tomorrow. It's just horrible timing. You have to admit that I'm right about that at least."
"OK, I admit it isn't the best, but I'm sure out of anyone at PCA, you two will make it work. I know you two are already planning to call each other every weekend to stay in touch and most likely play your would you rather game. Am I right?"
"Yeah, so?"
"I understand that you're Zoey's best friend, and I'm still your best friend, but if you want to be something more, I really think you should go for it dude."
"Look Michael, it's not going to happen, so can you drop it."
"Fine, but when you two start your weird flirty conversations, don't blame me for getting annoyed."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Right." Michael just sent him a knowing look. "Well, if I'm going to do good on my tests tomorrow I better get some shut-eye. Night Chase."
"Night Michael."
Chase climbed into bed himself, and thought for a while, he could admit to himself Michael was right about some things, but he knew now especially was not the right time, maybe next semester, but he knew even if he could miraculously work up the courage to, now would be the worst possible time to tell her.
The next morning everyone finally finished up their last exams and after celebrating in their history classroom for a few minutes, Quinn ran in the room excitedly.
"OK people, you have got to check this out."
"Uh oh, what now?" Michael asked.
"You aren't going to blow us up are you?" Chase asked.
"No. Well, I could. Anyway, I finished my chemistry exam in like ten minutes. So, since I had some extra time I combined a few chemicals and accidently created an aroma that smells exactly like coconut." Quinn was ecstatic as she shared her discovery.
"Cool, but no one cares," Logan said sarcastically.
"Oh come on, just sniff it." Quinn insisted, she unscrewed the cap on her vial and held it out to everyone to take a sniff.
"Wow, it does smell like coconut," Nicole said excitedly.
"I know, isn't it cool?" Quinn took a sniff herself.
"Awe man. I feel like taking a nap." Michael stretched his hands up over his head as a wave of drowsiness hit him.
Suddenly, everyone else felt yawns coming on too.
"What? We can't sleep. We gotta, we gotta go to…to the beach." Chase yawned and moments later the whole gang suddenly collapsed into unconsciousness and spread out around the desks.
A few hours later, Michael woke up from his phone ringing. He answered it, but it was a wrong number. He hung up and wiped his hand over his eyes, he still felt a bit drowsy for some reason. He glanced around the room, everyone else was still passed out on the floor, and then his eyes caught something very interesting.
In between the desks, Chase and Zoey were snoozing away on the floor right next to each other, in fact, they were doing more than snoozing away with smiles on their faces. Chase had one of his arms snaked around Zoey's waist from behind her, while his other arm rested underneath her head, Zoey's back was pressed lightly against Chase's chest so he was spooning her from behind. Maybe this was just what Chase needed to get him into gear.
Michael couldn't help himself he had to get a picture for the next time Chase tried to deny there was any chance of him being closer to Zoey than he already was.
Michael saved the picture and only then noticed the time. It was already 11:45. As much as he didn't want to break up the adorableness cuddling on the floor in front of him, they had been asleep for over two hours. So he reached out and gave everyone a shake to wake them up.
"Zoey! Chase! Dana! Guys! Wake up!"
Everyone slowly stood up, still yawning as they got their wits about them.
That is except for Chase and Zoey, who, when they finally woke up. Froze for a few seconds as they tried to make sense of their positions, and then Zoey rolled over to meet Chase's eyes a few inches away from hers.
That made them both quickly jump away from each other, both of them wide-eyed and fully awake. "What even happened?" Zoey asked.
"We all fell asleep!" Michael shouted.
"Must be an effect of my synthetic coconut aroma." Quinn hypothesized. "That's weird."
"So are you." Logan added.
"What time is it?" Dana asked.
"11:46!" Michael told them.
"What? The last bus to Mystic beach leaves at noon!" Chase shouted.
"How are we going to get there in fourteen minutes?" Nicole asked,
"We have to run, come on!" Zoey shouted.
Every ran out of the room in a rush until Zoey realized Dustin wasn't running with them so she grabbed Quinn and Chase's hands to go check on him. He was still sleeping, which Quinn explained was because he was younger and smaller than them. So Chase just picked him up over his shoulder and promised to bring him along.
"Thanks Chase, we'll go back to our rooms quick and meet at the bus, do you need anything?"
"Just tell Michael to grab my bag, I packed everything last night." Chase told her.
"Thanks Chase, you're the best! I'll see you soon."
Everyone sprinted to their dorms as fast as possible, and then quickly changed into their swimsuits and beach clothes, while hurriedly packing up everything else they would need. They all ran out to the parking lot, but they were too late. The last bus to Mystic Beach pulled away ten seconds before they ran up to it.
"Well now what are we gonna do?" Nicole pouted.
"Can't someone else take us?" Dana asked.
"That was the last bus." Zoey sighed.
"Ah man, the whole school's on their way to Mystic Beach." Chase groaned.
"We'll just call a cab," Logan suggested.
"A cab? Mystic beach is like 55 miles from here!" Zoey reminded him.
"Do you know how much a cab would cost?" Chase added.
"Oh gee. If only we knew someone with a very rich daddy, and his very rich daddy's credit card." Logan opened up his wallet and pulled out his platinum credit card. "Relax children, we'll be at that party in no time," Logan said with complete confidence on his face.
Except that they weren't so lucky. After they arrived at the beach they quickly realized that they weren't at Mystic Beach. It looked like Logan gave the cab driver the wrong directions, and to make things worse they didn't even have cell service to call anyone. They spent over an hour walking around looking for cell reception, but that wasn't working, so eventually, they decided to just make the most of what they had. They may not be with everyone else at PCA, but they could still party it up themselves.
So they spent a few hours having fun building sand castles, swimming, and playing games like limbo and tug of war, everyone was having a blast. Until they took a break for a bit and realized the chances of anyone finding them out here were still pretty slim.
But once Michael brought out his laptop to try communicating via IM, Quinn declared that she could combine the laptop with one of their phones to boost the signal, and hopefully they could call someone. With some pain, Michael and Chase gave up their devices for the greater good. While Quinn started her newest quinnvention, Zoey, Chase, and Logan went fishing for something to eat, while Michael, Dana, and Nicole collected firewood for a fire. Dustin meanwhile was staying out in the water since he currently lost his trunks to the waves.
A few hours later everyone was enjoying their fish dinner around the crackling fire.
"Mmm, I usually don't like fish, but this fish rocks, doesn't this fish rock?" Nicole asked.
"This fish rocks," Zoey agreed, "but Nicole we eat sushi all the time."
"Yeah, that doesn't have fish in it."
"Um yeah it does." Logan said.
"No it doesn't. Come on Chase you still work at Sushi Rox, does sushi have fish in it?" Nicole asked him.
"Yeah, why do you think it's called a tuna roll?" Chase chuckled at her.
"I don't know, I just thought it was some Japanese word or something. I can't believe it, I've been eating fish all semester! I guess I do like fish then. Oh well, you know, this day started out really suckish, but I really had fun."
"So you girls aren't bummed that you missed the big Mystic Beach After Exam Party tradition?" Chase asked.
"No, we started our own tradition." Zoey smiled.
"I say we do this every semester after exams," Michael suggested, and everyone nodded their heads in agreement.
Zoey held up her fish on a stick. "A toast, to our new after-exam tradition."
"Cheers!" Everyone cheered and raised their sticks in salute.
"I got it!" Quinn declared excitedly, "I think I increased the cellphone's range by over 400 percent!"
"Ahh, my cellphone!" Chase groaned, seeing as now it was just a mess of wires and circuits.
"My laptop!"
"It'll be ok." Zoey jokingly patted Chase's back in a comforting gesture.
"Who should I call?"
"Oh I know," Chase said.
"I think I do too." Zoey and Chase glanced at each other for a moment before speaking in unison. "Mr. Bender!"
"Why? He's a teacher." Logan asked.
"He's a cool teacher, and his number's already programmed into my cell," Chase told him.
"Go on Quinn, call Mr. Bender," Zoey ordered.
"Alright." Quinn held the remains of Chase's phone against her ear. "Hi Mr. Bender, this is Quinn. See we missed the last bus to Mystic Beach, so we could use a pickup back to PCA. Um…let me check the GPS…Quinn opened Michael's laptop and typed something in. OK, we're about 57 miles north of PCA, near a place called Magic Beach. OK, great. We'll be fine for a few more hours, see you then. Quinn hung up the phone and smiled brightly. Mr. Bender's coming to get us, he says he'll be here in about 2 hours."
"Great, so what do we want to do for two more hours?" Zoey looked around at the rest of the gang.
"Oh I know, let's all share our favorite memory of the semester," Nicole suggested. "I'll go first! Mine was when I scored the winning point our first disc golf game so we never have to run laps in PE again! Thank you so much for trusting me, Zoey."
"Of course I did, we couldn't have won without you."
"What are you talking about? You didn't score, the juvie kids all ran into the woods so we won by default." Logan corrected her.
"The details don't matter. So Logan, what was your favorite memory?" Michael changed the subject before a fight could begin.
"Easy, I've got two favorite memories, making out with Mandy Jensen-"
"Make out Mandy? Of course, that would be your answer." Dana scoffed at him.
"Why? Think you can do better?" Logan smirked at her. "Feel free to prove me wrong."
"In your dreams."
"Oh you are," Logan said cockily, scanning Dana up and down until she slugged him in the shoulder.
"So," Michael asked, "what's your second thing?"
"Oh when we won the 8th-grade basketball championship, and I can admit we probably wouldn't have done it without Zoey and Dana on our team. So I can admit I was wrong about you girls at the beginning of the semester."
"Wow Logan, thanks so much. Michael, what about you?" Zoey rolled her eyes at him.
"Oh, when we tricked Logan after his whole webcam stunt. That was hilarious."
"Hey, you were watching them too!" Logan reminded everyone.
"Shh, we don't need to bring that up." Michael shushed him, while everyone else was laughing at the memory.
"So Dana?" Nicole asked.
"The Drake Bell concert for Spring Fling was pretty fun. And before you say anything, he is much cuter than you are." Dana glared at Logan.
"Cuter maybe, but not hotter."
"Zoey?" Nicole turned her attention to her.
"I don't know, I've loved just about everything about PCA, and I love all of you guys, but if I had to choose one thing…" Zoey tapped her chin for a moment, "oh when all of you worked together to stop me from being expelled by Mr. Bradford, that's when I knew you would all do anything for me, and I will always do anything for you."
"Awe. We love you too Zoey." Nicole said, while at the same time Michael shot Chase a knowing look, which Chase just shook his head at as imperceptibly as possible so hopefully Zoey wouldn't notice.
"Chase?"
Chase shook his head, seemed like he zoned out there for a moment and now Zoey was looking at him funny.
"Your turn, what's your favorite memory from this semester?"
Chase's head flashed through the memories, but all of them always led back to one person. Zoey. From the moment they met, and Chase ran into the flagpole, to all the countless times they spent in the lounge together studying or playing foosball or would you rather, to when she refused to kiss Logan during the play, when she hugged him after they stopped Mr. Bradford and said he was the best, when they skipped rocks and she forgave him after the school dance, or when he thought she was really asking him out to go on a double date with Quinn. He couldn't imagine changing anything about this semester, well there was one thing he would have liked to change, but despite what Michael kept telling him, he had no plans to follow his advice.
"You know what Zoe? This year has been unlike any other year at PCA, and I think we all agree its been different with all you girls here with us. So I'll just say move-in day when I first met all of you, and we started getting into our crazy adventures."
"Here here!" Quinn cheered loudly.
"Thanks, Chase I have to agree, every day since I met you and all of you has been the best day ever." Zoey turned to Chase for the moment, missing the knowing looks everyone else was sending between themselves.
"Yeah, so uh, Quinn you're last," Chase said.
"Oh, that's easy. My first date with my knight in shining armor, Mark." Quinn swooned, "I wish he could be here with us."
"Yeah, he's just who we need," Logan said sarcastically, but Quinn didn't really notice.
"Hey, Dustin!" Zoey yelled out in the water where Dustin was still without trunks. "What's your favorite part of this year?"
"When I ate a whole jar of gummy worms!" Dustin shouted back, earning laughs from the rest of the gang.
"OK, I guess that's everyone, what do we want to do now?" Nicole asked.
"Well, we could play spin the bottle," Logan suggested.
"Absolutely not!" Chase, Zoey, and Dana all shouted in unison and glared at Logan.
"Come on, you ladies know you want me, this is your last chance."
"You know we do have that rope still, we could tie you up and leave you here," Dana suggested.
"Hey, we wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for me."
"You know that doesn't help your case right?" Dana shot back.
"Whatever I get it, you girls are all afraid that no other kisses will ever rock your world after you see what I can do."
"Actually it's because I'm pretty sure it's hard to kiss someone when the girl is busy throwing up." Dana shot back.
"Well anyway, what else do we want to do?" Chase asked instead.
"Let's just keep talking about our semester, like remember the Jet X contest…" Zoey suggested.
So that's what they did, they sat around the fire just talking and laughing about everything until Mr. Bender eventually showed up in his blue pick-up truck to bring them all back to PCA, along with some pants for Dustin. So, everyone climbed in the back and they were soon on their way.
Chase was sitting beside Zoey and with nothing better to do they of course started playing would you rather while everyone else broke into their own groups and conversations.
"So Zoey, would you rather live at PCA for the rest of your life, or live on that beach for the rest of your life?"
"Come on, that's so easy. Obviously PCA, PCA has everything I could ever need, and it has you, if I'm stuck at PCA forever, I expect you to be there with me."
"Of course, I would, and yeah, I guess I have to agree. But anyway, your turn."
"OK, Chase would you rather have to eat sushi you made yourself, or eat fish cooked over the campfire like we made today?"
"Cooked fish, I would not trust any sushi not made by Kazu, and least of all sushi made by me, I'd probably give myself food poisoning, and the fish we caught today wasn't that bad."
"Yeah. I guess I would have to agree with you. We're so in sync today." Like when we dug up the worms together and freaked Logan out, that was so hilarious."
"Yeah, I guess we are. But not to kill the mood, but we should come up with some harder choices if this is going to be our last time playing before we have to go home."
"I know I'm going to miss you so much this summer, I've gotten too used to seeing your fuzzy head every day." Zoey giggled and ruffled his hair.
"And I've gotten used to coming to you with all my problems and you always have a solution, and always know how to have a fun time. But we don't have to worry, we're still going to talk at least once a week right?"
"Yeah. I know. But I still know I'm going to miss you." Zoey reached around Chase to wrap her arm around his waist.
"I know, I am too." Chase copied the gesture and pulled her closer to him in a side hug.
"Chase, I… Wait a minute." Zoey glanced around, "why is everyone asleep? Indeed all the rest of their friends had quieted down and were slumped over all around them."
"Well, we have had a pretty long day, and especially Dustin, since he was in the water for the last six hours." Chase reminded her.
"Yeah," Zoey giggled, "Hey do you smell coconut?"
Chase took a deep breath in and then he yawned loudly. "Actually yeah, I think I…"
"Chase I think I-" Zoey yawned too before they both slumped down into unconsciousness. But they didn't release their hold on the other, so when they slipped down into the bed of the pick-up, they were still holding each other close.
About an hour later when Mr. Bender finally parked back at PCA, he walked around to the back to check on all the kids. To his surprise, every single one of them was out like a light, and nothing he did to wake them up worked. He couldn't stop himself from smiling though seeing Chase and Zoey curled up together. Chase was so obvious with his crush on Zoey, there was a reason he sat them together in his class.
Then he noticed a small glass vial loosely held in Quinn's hand. He grabbed it and studied it closely, but it looked like it was empty. Curious he took a sniff of it and could detect the coconut scent. But suddenly, he felt like he could barely keep his eyes open. He stumbled a few feet away before curling up on the ground and falling into dreamland himself.
It wasn't until the next morning that everyone started waking up with the sunrise, their long, exciting day combined with Quinn's chemical was enough to make them all sleep peacefully through the night.
Chase was the first to wake up this time. He was confused at first, he felt really stiff, and wherever he was definitely wasn't his dorm room. After blinking his eyes for a few seconds he realized his arms were snaked around someone, so he looked down to see Zoey's beautiful blonde hair only a few inches away from him.
Chase's eyes shot open, he was wide awake now. He craned his head, thankfully they weren't alone, all the rest of their friends were spread around them. So it wasn't just him and Zoey together for some reason. Suddenly Chase remembered, they were in Mr. Bender's truck. The last thing he remembered was…smelling coconut, it must have been Quinn's chemical again.
So Chase was pretty sure he knew what happened, but he didn't know what to do. He slowly lifted his arm so he could check his watch, it was already 8:30 in the morning, and Chase knew today was everyone's last day at PCA before summer began. He was pretty sure they all had plenty of packing to do, so even though he wanted to stay right here as long as possible with Zoey in his arms, he knew the right thing to do was to wake everyone up and get moving.
"Zoey, Zoey." Chase shook her gently.
After a few moments, she opened her beautiful brown eyes and yawned. "AHH! Chase? What are you doing? What are we doing?" Zoey asked, her voice still thick with sleep, which only made her seem even cuter in Chase's eyes.
"I swear I didn't plan this I just woke up. I think Quinn's chemical knocked us all out again." Chase explained before she could ask any questions or any bad ideas.
"Oh, OK. Are we back at PCA?"
"Yeah, I think so. And it's tomorrow morning, so we have to get packed up to leave soon."
"I know you're right." Zoey sighed, "I was so happy about exams being over I wasn't even thinking about really leaving yet. But you're right, we better get everyone moving." Zoey pushed herself up against the truck bed, leaving Chase's arms and together they all shook the rest of their friends awake and got them moving, with some mild protests from Dana and Logan.
But everyone knew their time was limited, but they agreed to meet up one more time before they all had to leave, and then they split off to head to their dorm rooms.
Chase and Michael quickly took some showers to clean any remaining sand off and then got to work packing all their stuff up, Logan meanwhile just crashed in his bed again and said he had his moving crew to take care of all his stuff.
The more Chase packed his stuff, the more he realized he was getting closer to a moment he had been dreading, saying goodbye to Zoey. He knew they had their plans to keep in touch already, but he didn't know what to say to her. He had so much more he wanted to say to her than a simple goodbye.
Finally, a few hours later after they all got Sushi Rox for the last time for the next few months it was time to say goodbye. Nicole was already bawling her eyes out about having to go back to Kansas for the summer. Everyone else though was staying mostly composed as they shared hugs goodbye.
And now, somehow they were now the only two left waiting for their parents to come and take them to the airport. Chase turned to Zoey, he studied her closely, committing every inch of her beauty to his memory, he knew he'd still think about her every single day of the summer, just like he did every single day of this semester.
"Chase…. I'm going to miss you the most." Zoey threw herself at him and hugged him tightly. She was dreading missing all her friends, but now, saying goodbye to Chase, suddenly everything was rising to the surface.
"I'm going to miss you the most too Zoey." Chase hugged her just as tightly, "so what if we'll have a thousand miles between us? We're still going to talk all the time."
"Yeah, we will. We'll talk so much and play so many would you rather's that you'll be sick of me." Chase could have sworn he heard her voice shaking with emotion.
Chase glanced down to see the tears gathering in her eyes, but not yet falling. "Hey, it'll be OK, I promise. You have no idea how much I'm going to miss you for the next three months, but it'll be over before we know it. And we can still have fun."
"I'll never have as much as when I'm with you though."
"Sure, you can. I bet Dustin can keep life interesting."
"Yeah, he can, but not as interesting as you." Zoey reached up to dry her eyes. "And I know I'm going to have Nicole blowing up my phone all summer, and I'll probably be talking to Dana a lot too, but if I could have one person with me all summer, I would rather be with you."
"I would always rather be with you too Zoey, it's no contest."
"I know, well, I guess I'll see you next semester. Chase." Zoey hugged him tightly one more time and then backed away.
Chase just stood there for a moment, and then he made his decision. "Hold on Zoey." Chase reached out to grab her hand and pull her close to him again. "Before you go, there's one more thing I have to do."
"What is it Chase?"
"I know I might be stupid, but I need to do this and know I've waited way too long, but I'm doing this, and no one can stop me. Chase paused for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts, but then he decided to just tell her. "I really like you Zoey. As more than friends."
Zoey paused for a moment in confusion, and then smiled even brighter. "I like you too Chase. Took you long enough."
"Wait a minute, you knew?" Now Chase was the one who was confused.
"How could I not? I know we've been best friends since day one, but did you really think I would buy the whole protect me from jerks at the dance story you came up with?"
"Um…yeah?"
"You could have just told me you wanted to go with me, and even as more than friends back then."
"Really? So are you saying…?" Chase barely dared to breathe.
"I like you too." Zoey nodded. "You've always looked out for me and been there for me when I need you, I couldn't ask for a better best friend, or…."
"Or what?"
"A better boyfriend?"
"If you want me to be, I'll do anything," Chase promised her.
"I don't need anything, I just need you."
"But wait, we're about to not see each other for three months, how will that work?"
"Let's just change our plan, how would you like to call or Webchat every day instead?"
"I think that sounds like a great idea Zoey."
"I do too, don't worry, we'll think of some way to see each other, but if not, now I really can't wait for school to start again."
"And for the first time ever, me neither." Chase agreed.
"I'm really going to miss you now. But call me tonight when you get back home."
"I will. I promise I'll see you soon Zoey. Somehow."
"Someday. We can do this because we will always have each other."
"And nothing can ever get between us."
"Have a great summer, Chase. It will be over before you know it, and we can be together again."
"I can't wait."
