A/N: Quick shout outs. Enjoy the next chapter.

lkwREADer - I will definitely keep that in mind! Thanks for letting me know.
Veronica - Nah uh, you're awesome! lol.
Step2stepgirl - What are you talking about? Sky & Z are already paired up...for now? lol.
garnetred - Yeah, let's hope that they do stick together! thanks for reviewing.
Crimson Mystery - Thanks for the review! I'm glad you're liking it.
CamFan4Ever - Don't you just feel so bad for Bridge?

Chapter 3

"Action Speaks Louder"

A few days later, Bridge continued to re-program and upgrade RIC in his room when suddenly Sky came walking in after a trip to the mall with Syd. Bridge looks up and noticed how content Sky is as he sat on his bed and took out a tiny white box from the shopping bag he carried. "Check this out." Sky excitedly opens the white box and revealed to him a solid silver ring. Bridge's eyes fell open at the stunning jewelry. "What do you think?"

Carson pauses on the project with his lips slightly parted. "Wow. I umm..." He stammered wordlessly. "I didn't know it was getting this serious."

"It's a promise ring. Syd helped me pick it out. You think she'd like it?" Sky asks.

Bridge stared at the ring for a moment as his thoughts fell upon Z. He shook his head and shrugged. "Sky, let me ask you this. How well do you know Z?"

He presses his lips together. "You don't think she'd like it."

"No, I never said that." He chuckled. "It's obvious that you guys are ready to move on to the next level. But how well do you know her? In fact, how well do you know each other?"

Sky gave him a blank expression. "I don't understand..."

Bridge groans. "Alright let's see. Did you know that whenever Z is mad she does that winking thing with her eye?" Sky raises a brow. "And did you know the only time she wears her Z necklace is when she goes to bed? What about her favorite cat joke? Did you know about that?"

Sky wrinkled his forehead. "No, I don't."

"What about her favorite song? The most outrageous thing she's ever done in her life?" Sky looked down, not knowing the answers to any of his questions. "Did you even know that she participated in a beauty pageant when she was a little girl?"

"No!" Sky scoffed out of frustration. "I don't!" Bridge fell silent as he watches his roommate get up and face the wall. "But I do know she can't sleep without listening to her music on her headphones. I know she likes to party. I know Z can't eat pizza without mild sauce. She does all crazy things like bungee jumping and sky diving. She took gymnastic classes as a young girl, and likes to play football. Bridge, I may not know everything, but I do know I'm falling deeply in love with Z and I can't stand being away from her." He pauses and sighs. "Not even for a second."

Bridge pursed his lips and sighs. "You sound really in love."

"I am." Sky responds softly. "She makes me feel alive you know?"

"Yeah…" He smiles at the thought. "I know what you mean."

"About that cat joke…" Sky thought curiously just to get off the subject. "How does it go?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Bridge grins. "Well, the cat crosses the road and gets run over by some vehicle." He begins to explain. "So the cat was brought to the hospital and sadly its left side is paralyzed."

Sky frowns. "Poor cat."

"Yeah, so then the owner visits the cat in the hospital and asked, 'Are you okay?' The cat responds, 'I'm all RIGHT now.' Bridge lets out a good laugh. "Get it?"

He chuckled hysterically. "That's so obvious, but funny."

"Hey, I liked it." Bridge smirked as his roommate lightly punches him on the shoulder. Their laughter subsided. "Hey, Sky?"

He raises his head up. "Hmm?"

"About the ring," Bridge pauses in mid-sentence and smiles, "I think she'll love it."

In the girl's room, Z waits for Syd's return from the mall after hours of pondering and waiting for her arrival. The thought of her and Sky going together was quite a disturbance to her head as she tries to shake it off. 'Why didn't he ask me to go with him?' She thought in jealousy. 'Oh right, Z. You're not exactly a shopper.' She pouts. 'But still...why didn't he ask Jack or Bridge to go with him? Why did it have to be Syd?'

Moments later, Syd came walking in joyfully with loads of shopping bags in her hand. She looks at Z and flashes her hundred watt smile. "Hey!" She squealed. "I got you a little something."

Z weakly smiles. "Gee, Syd. You didn't have to."

"But I wanted to! Here!" She hands her one of the bags as Z kindly accepts it. "It's a shirt!" Z looks at it carefully with an odd expression. "So what do you think?"

"Well..." She wrinkles her nose. "It's umm...very yellow."

"And?"

She lifted a brow. "It has your face printed on it."

"Isn't it great!" Syd shrieks excitedly. "I got one for the guys, but in their perspective colors of course." Z stares at her weirdly. "See! I got myself a pink one!"

Cadet Delgado chuckled. "Great. So...umm...did you and Sky have fun?" She asks.

"We sure did!"

Z wrinkles her forehead. "What did you guys do?"

"We shopped around. Then we hit the arcade, played with the bunker cars--having a fantastic time!" Syd giggled. "It's nice seeing Sky lighten up and have a great time yah know? I miss hanging out with him."

Z forces a smile. "Yeah..."

"Be right back. I'm gonna see what Jack is up to." Syd squeals as she waves off and exits the room with his gift. "Later, girlfriend."

Z pursed her lips and sighs. "Yeah...later."

Meanwhile Bridge and Sky continue to share a few good laughs, which they haven't done for awhile now as their laughter roared and echoed the entire room. After nearly an hour of cracking jokes, their laughter gradually subsided and Bridge suddenly fell silent. "What's wrong?" Sky asks curiously once he noticed his change of mood.

He looks up. "You're like my best friend Sky, and we always tell each other everything."

"Yeah." Sky smiles. "I know."

"Well..." Bridge presses his lips together and sighs. "There's something I have to tell you."

Cadet Tate arches his brow when suddenly Syd came barging in the room. "Hey, guys!" They looked her way and smiled. "It's a beautiful day out!" The perky blonde squeals as she threw a shopping bag over to Bridge. "I got you a cool shirt."

Sky chuckled. "We all have matching shirts." Bridge takes out the green shirt and weakly smiles.

"Nice picture, Syd."

"Thanks! I know."

"This would look great on my wall."

Bridge and Sky laughed playfully along as Syd rolls her eyes from behind. "Ugh, whatever." She groans. "Anyway, hurry up! Jack, Z, and I are gonna hit the park."

Sky shrugs. "Let's see, I've done all my daily assignments. I'm down."

"Yeah." Bridge nods. "Me too."

"Yes! Another day at the park! Whoo!"

B-squad left the academy once they completed their daily assignments as they spend the rest of the day at New Tech City's community park where they played a friendly game of flag football and afterwards throwing around the Frisbee. Syd tosses it first as the wind blew the Frisbee towards Bridge and Z's direction. When it went over their heads, two tried reaching for it as the wind picked up more speed. Once it landed somewhere behind a blanket of trees, Bridge and Z looked at each other and began racing for the Frisbee. As they fought their way through the deep end of the park covered in green, searching for the Frisbee, Bridge and Z spotted the round object nestling in the bushes as they grabbed it at the same time and wrestled to the ground. With both grasps on the Frisbee, Bridge and Z came rolling on top of one another, laughing and pulling like crazy for it.

"Alright. Alright." Bridge surrendered with both hands up. "You win."

"Ha!" Z pulled away from him, carrying the Frisbee in the air with triumph. "I win." She extends her free hand and helped him up. "Nice try, buttery boy."

He grunted in pain. "Yeah, thanks."

"Come on, let's go."

"Hold on a sec." Bridge grabbed a hold of her arm. "There's something I need to tell you." Z searches his eyes carefully as her eyebrows flared in curiosity.

"What's up?"

He breathes in nervously. "Z, I really like--"

"Come on, guys!" They heard Jack's voice yelling from behind the trees. "Hurry up!"

"We'll be right there!" She shouts out excitedly. Z turns back to Bridge. "Okay. So what were you about to say?"

He looks down and groans. "Maybe this will tell you." Out of nowhere, Bridge pulls Z towards him as he planted a kiss on her lips. Z's eyes widens as she abruptly pushes him away.

"Bridge!" She shrieks while covering her mouth in shock. "What do you think you're doing!"

He couldn't believe what he just done as he touches his lips. "Uhh...kissing you?" He responds nervously, knowing it wasn't the answer she was looking for.

Z scoffs impulsively. "What for!"

Bridge scratches his head and sighs. "I have been hiding my feelings for awhile now...even before you and Sky started dating." He explains as Z's mouth fell open in bewilderment. "But you deserve to know." He pauses and takes a long deep breath. "Z, I'm falling for you."

She shuts her eyes, in a state of disbelief. "Oh no."

"I can't help the way I feel." Bridge drew in a few nervous gulps. "I would never want to come between you and Sky. Sky is my best friend, Z. But I have to know if you felt anything when I kissed you."

Z folds her arms and glares at him in dismay. "Nothing."

"Nothing?"

She groans. "Bridge, I had no idea you felt this way about me and if I did it wouldn't make a difference. I'm with Sky now and I really like him. You can't just drop a bomb like that on me, Bridge. It's not fair for me or you."

"I know." He looks down and sighs disappointingly. "And I totally understand."

Z nods her head. "Alright. Can we just pretend none of this ever happened?"

Bridge's expression was almost blank and uncertain as he feels the rejection sinking in deeply. "Sure." He replies vaguely. "And I'm sorry."

She slowly turned around, disturbed by the whole situation as she began to feel uncomfortable around him. Z began walking through the trees and bushes to meet up with the others when suddenly a thought came to her head. Just when she thought she'll get her first real kiss with Sky, it was Bridge who has given it to her instead.

"Z?" Syd slowly walks up to her once she appeared from behind the trees. Bridge follows not too far behind. "You okay?" Z kept silent with her gaze fixated on the ground. "Hey, Z? You there?" Syd waves a hand in front of her as Z slowly looks up. She chuckled. " I thought I lost you there for a second. You okay?" Z looks over her shoulder, staring at Bridge coldly for the unexpected kiss. 'I can't believe he even had the nerve to do that!' She thought angrily. "If Sky finds out, who knows what would happen!'

Z snaps out of her deep thoughts while turning over to Syd. She sighs in response. "Just great."

A/N: Review pretty please! I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.