Spring Break Up
AN: This chapter is split up into 5 separate scenarios because Chase had so many opportunities in this episode. I hope you enjoy!
I Chase gives the Tekmate back.
The PCA gang was listening to Logan's dad explaining the rules of Gender Defenders, but Chase wasn't paying any attention to him, all he could think about was the message he sent to Zoey.
"Dude, Zoey's wearing her Tekmate." Michael whispered in his ear.
"I know." Chase whispered back.
"She read your message?"
Chase pulled his Tekmate out. "Nope, still says message unread."
"So…what are you gonna do?"
"I'm going to wait till she's not looking, sneak her Tekmate off her hip, delete the message, and put it back."
When everyone turned around to look at the safes that would be opened from the scavenger hunt, Chase ever so slowly reached over and gently removed Zoey's Tekmate from its holster on her hip.
Chase turned away from Zoey, using Michael as a shield, and quickly deleted the message. Chase took a sigh of relief that the most important part was over.
Michael noticed his smile and gave him an inconspicuous thumbs up. Chase slowly reached back over to try to slide Zoey's Tekmate back into her holster, but right at that moment, Logan's dad blew his air horn to start the scavenger hunt, and Zoey ran away from him when he was barely two inches away.
Chase chased after his team as they tried to read and figure out the first clue, Logan realized the juice of a cow was milk and sprinted off, Michael and Dustin following behind him.
"Michael!" Chase yelled, "I have a problem!" He pointed to his pocket where he had shoved the Tekmate.
"Later!" Michael shouted back, already too focused on the competition.
Chase didn't know what to do. So, he just awkwardly waved to Zoey. "Good Luck."
"Yeah Good luck to you too, but I'm here to win."
"And who says I'm not?" Chase shot back.
Zoey turned away, waiting for her teammates to return.
Chase's smile disappeared, he was really panicking now, What do I do, what do I do? I know I wasn't paying close attention, but Logan's dad said something about the captains' Tekmates, I can't let Zoey think I'm cheating just to win this stupid competition.
Chase's mind was racing for some way to fix this, then he got an idea. He slowly took Zoey's Tekmate out of his pocket again, making sure it was hidden by his hand. When Zoey turned away from him as the boys' team ran past, Chase quickly threw the Tekmate so it landed next to her foot on the ground.
Chase straightened his stance and ran his hands through his bushy hair to calm himself down. He took a deep breath and then called out. "Hey Zoey! You dropped your Tekmate!" He pointed to her foot.
"Oh, thanks Chase." Zoey bent down and picked it up, and as she did, she smiled. "Perfect timing, looks like you're going to lose."
"Why?"
Instead of answering Zoey turned to her safe and rapidly spun the combination. "14…7…21." Zoey smiled as the safe opened with a click to reveal…
"Iced tea?" Zoey asked. She ran to Logan's dad, iced tea in hand.
The guys all ran back. Dustin shouted "37, 12, 36!"
"Hurry!" Logan demanded.
Chase turned around and started spinning the dial, but Logan's dad blew his air horn again.
"And the girls win the event!"
"What? How? The girls aren't even here!" Logan demanded.
"We used our brains and our Tekmates. Thanks, Chase I probably wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't said anything."
"Noticed what? What did you do?" Logan demanded
"Nothing, it's you guys who weren't fast enough." Chase tried to play it cool as the girls returned and started celebrating.
"Did you get it?" Michael asked.
"Yep, everything is taken care of."
"You know you really should just tell her."
"Dude shut up, she's right there."
"And now its time for our next challenge!" Logan's dad announced.
One thing Chase decided is after the multiple heart attacks he had today, he wasn't even going to think about telling Zoey until after this whole thing was over.
II Chase tells Zoey the truth at Logan's house
Chase chased after Zoey, this was even worse than her reading his message. "Zoey! Zoey! Zoey Come on."
Zoey finally turned around to face him. "You're the last person in the world I thought would cheat."
"I didn't cheat."
"You took my Tekmate."
"I…no I did." Chase admitted.
"And that made us lose the event."
"I didn't mean for that to happen."
"All the girls think you did."
"So just because they think I'm a liar and a cheater, you have to think it too?"
"OK, don't try to turn this around on me."
"Look, I just can't believe you would accuse me-"
"I'm not accusing you of anything! I'm just saying, tell me the truth, tell me why you took my Tekmate and I'll believe you!"
Chase looked away for a moment before he met, Zoey's eyes again. "I…I can't." Chase shook his head, he turned his eyes to the ground.
"Why? What are you hiding?"
"Zoey…I didn't cheat. You know I'm an honest guy." Chase met her angry and hurt eyes again.
"Honest people don't hide things." Zoey started walking away.
Chase reached out and grabbed her hand, "Wait. OK, I'll tell you the truth, the whole truth, the full truth, and nothing but the truth."
"OK." Zoey turned back around. "I'm listening." Zoey pulled her hand back and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Look, the reason I took your Tekmate was that, I wrote a text message to Michael, and I sent it to you by mistake."
Zoey nodded along, waiting for him to continue.
"And, I had to get your Tekmate away from you so I could erase the message before you read it. I tried to put it back but you ran off so…I couldn't."
"OK." Zoey nodded again.
"So…do you believe me?"
"Should I not?"
"No! You, you should."
"Then I do."
"OK." Chase sighed in relief.
"So…?"
Chase shook his head nervously, "Don't ask."
"I'm asking."
"Zoey, seriously."
"What was the message you sent to me by mistake? Tell me!" She demanded as Chase was still silent, not even looking in her eyes.
"I'd really rather not tell ya."
"Why? Was it mean?"
"Huh?"
"Did you say something mean about me?"
Chase rushed to correct her. "No! God no, it was nothing like that. I could never say anything mean about you."
"Then what could you have written that was so important to hide from me?" Noticing Chase clamming up again, she asked again. "What was the message?"
"You really want to know?"
"Yeah."
"You're sure?"
"I really wanna know."
"OK," Chase took a deep breath, no going back now, "the message was that I'm in love with you."
That finally got Zoey to pause. "You, you're in love with me?"
"Yes, I am, I have been for a really long time, but I could never tell you because I always knew we were each other's best friends and I didn't want to mess that up."
"And you told Michael this?"
"He's known since the day we met, I mean. Uh…"
"You've been in love with me since the day we met?"
"Yeah, pretty much, when I fell off my bike, I fell for you, hard. Michael has been trying to convince me I should just do it, but I was always too scared to tell you, I've always wanted to tell you, but also way too terrified to actually go through with it."
"OK, I guess I have a confession to tell you. Remember my time capsule DVD?"
"Yeah?"
"I didn't show it to anyone for a very specific reason and there was no way I could let you see it, because when I talked about you, I talked about how I maybe thought you liked me, and how I maybe liked you too. I've been feeling the exact same as you have, I was convinced we were best friends and nothing more. Plus when you went out with Lola that was all the confirmation I needed that we were just friends."
"But you said you were cool with it."
"I thought I was, but I quickly realized I wasn't. That was the first and only time I yelled at Nicole about keeping her big yap shut."
"Really? So wait a minute does this mean?"
"I like you too Chase." Zoey revealed with a smile, her eyes sparkling in the sun.
"Great, so Zoey will you go on a date with me?"
"Definitely." Zoey reached out and gave his hand a squeeze. Sending a jolt of electricity through his arm.
Chase smiled, "In all honesty, I think this day just became the greatest day of my life."
"You didn't have to take so long, not that I can blame you."
"What's important is we're together now."
"Yes it is, but this doesn't change anything."
"Any what? Do you not want to be my girlfriend?" Chase asked, his heart pounding in panic, yet again.
"Oh I do, but you're still going down, don't expect any help from me in the next event."
"Oh no, you're the one that's going down Zo. Remember we have Fazzed up Dustin to give us a speed boost next time, and Logan should give us home field advantage. Plus now I'll be focused on winning, and not panicking about your Tekmate. I didn't mean to cheat, but there is no way you girls are coming back now."
"Well, maybe I have to distract you then."
"Distract me how?"
"Like this." Zoey smirked and leaned close, to press a quick peck on Chase's cheek.
Chase knew he probably had the dopiest grin on his face as Zoey nonchalantly walked away.
She turned back around, "How about we make this interesting? Winner gets to choose our first date?"
"You bet, it's on now."
"You better hurry up then." Zoey started jogging back and Chase hurried to catch up.
When they got back with everyone else, the guys and girls both immediately surrounded their captains.
"Dude, that was a smart move stealing her Tekmate, What did you tell Zoey? Personally, I would have just said too bad, so sad if she wasn't smart enough to win." Logan said.
"I told her the truth."
"You mean?" Michael asked with a grin. He looked like he just won the lottery which was also exactly how Chase felt.
"Yep." Chase nodded.
"EEEEEEEEEE!" The girls' team screamed in unison from where they surrounded Zoey.
"Chase it's about time!" Lola shouted.
"Wait a minute, you all knew?" Zoey asked.
"Everyone at PCA knows Chase is in love with you. Except you apparently." Quinn added.
"Wait everyone knew?" Chase asked.
Lola laughed, "Did you think we'd be surprised? Even I knew and I've only been at PCA this year."
"Well Michael, I guess you win the bet." Logan said.
"What bet?" Zoey asked.
"We've been waiting for you two to finally break your denial for the last year." Nicole said. "Michael called Spring Break. I thought for sure Chase would have done it before Christmas."
"Lola were you in on this, why did you ask Chase out then?"
"Just to test the waters, and can you blame me Chase is cute."
"Yeah, he is, I guess I can't blame you."
"You think I'm cute?"
"I incredibly do." Zoey said slightly blushing.
"Michael, is that why you kept pushing me? Because of a bet?" Chase asked.
"Not just because of a bet, well that was a bonus, but look you two are happy, you finally did it, and it's not the zombie apocalypse or anything. You're welcome. Although that Tekmate situation was all you."
"So what do you win?" Zoey asked.
"Everyone has to take turns covering my sushi for the next month, and boy am I feeling hungry for some tuna rolls." Micheal said, rubbing his stomach.
"Well, fine but only because everything worked out I guess I can forgive you." Chase smiled.
"Yep me too." Zoey agreed, taking hold of Chase's hand.
"OK, who's ready for the next challenge?" Logan's dad walked back over.
Zoey and Chase smiled at each other, "It's on!"
Dustin came tearing around the house, still bouncing in place. "OK OK let's go go go, can the next challenge be a race? I know I'll win that, ohh can it be running up a staircase?"
"Hey Dustin," Logan called out. "Chase finally did it."
"About time, hey does that mean Zoey didn't do it first?"
"Do what first?"
"Tell him you like him."
"You knew too? And how did you know I liked him?"
"You talk to Chase every day even when we're not at PCA, you're always playing would you rather or going to movies together, plus Chase made it so obvious, except for when he stole my girlfriend. That's what made me think you'd be the one to tell him first."
"So what exactly did you bet Logan?" Zoey asked, glaring over at Logan.
"He has to do my math homework for a week." Logan answered.
"Really Logan? You need a 7th grader to do your math for you?"
"Well, I don't mind, and he doesn't mind. We're in the same class after all. I knew you wouldn't let me take anything crazy from him."
"OK, fine. But Dustin, don't tell Mom and Dad before I do."
"OK. Just buy me a giant jar of gummy worms when we get back to PCA."
"Fine, but only after you get Quinn's juice out of your system."
"Deal."
"OK how about we get back to Gender Defenders, we do have a schedule to keep, after all. To the next Challenge!" Logan's Dad finally refocused everyone. And the competition continued.
III Zoey reads the first message
Zoey opened her eyes and stretched her arms up as she woke up. Too bad they were only at Logan's house for a week, this bed was much comfier than her bed at PCA. She rolled over in bed, Lola, Nicole, and Quinn are all still lost in dreamland. She grabbed her Tekmate to check the time, it was a little after seven. Zoey shouldn't be surprised she still woke up when her alarm would normally go off. She wanted to enjoy sleeping in on Spring Break, but she knew now that she was up, she was awake for good.
She was about to set her Tekmate down when she noticed she had a text message from Chase. She opened the message and read it.
For the billionth time no, If I tell Zoey I love her it could wreck our friendship.
Zoey's eyes popped open, she was now fully awake. She read the message over again, thinking she must have misread it, but nope, it still stayed the exact same. "What?" She gasped out loud.
"What is it Zo?" Nicole asked, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.
"I…I don't know."
"What is it? What's wrong?"
"Chase sent me a text message."
"So? You two are texting all the time, what'd he say?"
"This." Zoey walked over and handed her Tekmate to Nicole.
Nicole slowly read it out loud, "For the billionth time no, If I tell Zoey I love her… EEEE!" Nicole screamed, abruptly waking Quinn and Lola up.
"What is it? Is there a fire?" Lola asked, looking around in a panic.
"No Zoey just got the best news ever look at this!" Nicole tossed the Tekmate over to Lola who read it and let out her own scream.
"What? Is there a chemical spill somewhere?" Quinn asked, putting on her glasses.
"Nope. Quinn read this." Lola threw the Tekmate over to Quinn.
"For the billionth time no, if I tell Zoey I love…OMG Zoey this is great!"
"Guys, stop, what do I do?" Zoey glanced around nervously and looked at her friends like they lost their minds.
"What do you mean?" Nicole asked, "Isn't this great news?"
"I don't know what to do, do you really think Chase loves me?"
"Well yeah, isn't it obvious?" Quinn asked.
"How is it obvious?"
All three girls shared a look of exasperation before they started taking turns listing everything as if they rehearsed it. "He cheated to make sure you would go to the Spring Dance with him last year." Nicole counted off,
"He wasn't into dating me at all a few months ago." Lola added, "and he claimed the girl he really likes is from his hometown. Like it wasn't obvious what the truth was."
"He will do literally anything for you, including pretending to go on dates with you." Quinn joined in.
"I had to say you were ok with me asking him out for him to even consider going out with me."
"He always tries to stop Logan from being a jerk, but especially to you."
"He got super mad when you didn't quit the play and were going to kiss Logan, and when you went to the dance with Glen."
"You two are always playing would you rather when you don't have anything better to do."
"You guys get sushi together at least once a week without the rest of us."
"OK, OK, I get it, but Chase is my best friend. He can't be in love with me."
"I think the evidence begs to differ." Quinn said, handing the Tekmate back to Zoey.
"But I was with him late last night going over the game rules and he never said anything, why would he send me this now out of nowhere? Maybe this is some trick by Logan to distract us."
"While we all agree Logan will do anything to win, do you think he's smart enough to think of something like this?" Quinn asked.
"And how he says it, it sounds like he didn't want to tell me."
"Maybe divine intervention." Nicole suggested.
"Or the sim cards could have a bug that made the message go to you instead of whoever he's talking to." Quinn added.
"Or just a butt dial." Lola gave her opinion.
"This seems way too specific to be a butt dial."
"So who cares. Chase loves you." Nicole shook her head exasperated.
"So what are you going to do?" Quinn asked
"I don't know, he's Chase."
"Don't deny it, you know you like him too." Nicole reminded her.
"As a friend."
"Then why were you so mad at everything the week Lola and Chase started going out?"
"You were mad at me? Why did you say it was ok then?"
"I wasn't mad at you, I was just confused, and I was especially mad at Chase when he suddenly didn't have time to even grab sushi with me, and forgot our tennis game, and only had time…"
"And…?" Nicole asked.
"Fine, I was jealous OK. Maybe I do like Chase. But I never dreamed he would like me back."
"Congrats Zoey, you're officially the last to know." Lola shouted.
"Everyone at PCA knows, and I mean literally everyone." Quinn said.
"Everyone?"
"Do you have any idea how many guys ask me first if you two are dating?" Nicole asked.
"What? And you told them no, right?"
"Not quite, if they're cute I'll tell them no and send them your way, and of course if they're really cute I'll tell them yes, and casually mention that I'm available."
"Seriously Nicole?"
"Zoey I knew there was something going on after my first month here, there was a reason I asked you before I asked out Chase."
"Fine OK, we've established that Chase likes me, and I like him, what should I do?"
"Text him back, obviously," Nicole suggested.
"No, I have to go find him and do this face to face."
"So what are you gonna say to him?" Lola asked.
"I'm going to talk it out and tell him the truth."
Zoey ran out of the bedroom to go look for Chase.
Chase was sitting on the couch in the living room, watching cartoons and sipping on some orange juice.
"What's up?" Michael shouted from above the stairs, startling him.
"Hello." Chase turned to look at Michael as he walked down.
"Man, you woke up early."
"Yeah." Chase agreed.
Michael flopped on the couch behind him. "So…how was last night?" he asked with a grin.
"What do you mean?"
"Did you tell Zoey you love her?"
"No man, I told you a thousand times, I'm not telling her. Didn't you read my text message?"
"What text message?"
"Uh on your Tekmate? The one I sent you after you messaged me."
"You didn't message me back."
"Yeah, I did." Chase grabbed his Tekmate that was laying nearby.
"Look man, I wrote, For the billionth time, no. If I tell Zoey I love her it could wreck our friendship."
"I didn't get that message."
"Well, I sent it."
"Let me see." Chase handed the Tekmate over to Michael and he started scrolling through the message, before he stopped and read over the screen a second time to make sure he was reading it correctly.
"Uh…you didn't send that message to me." Michael said slowly. He had to fight to hide his grin because he knew Chase would freak out when he realized.
"I didn't?"
"Nope."
"Then who did I send it to?"
"Chase!" Zoey called down the stairs. "Can we talk?"
"Yeah sure, what about?" Chase asked, his eyes automatically following Zoey as she came down the stairs.
"I'll just leave this here." Michael put Chase's Tekmate on the couch and ran back up the stairs. But he ducked down just behind the wall. "This is gonna be so good." He rubbed his hands together in anticipation. He was then surrounded by the rest of the girls.
"Ahh! what are you doing here?" He whispered.
"We want to watch the show. You won't believe what Chase finally did." Nicole started to explain, all of them were shaking in anticipation.
"Oh, she's read it already?"
"You knew?" Lola asked.
"Yes, but guess what, Chase doesn't even know. He's about to have a heart attack. And then the best day of his life…I hope?"
"Oh it will be." Nicole nodded.
"Shh. I want to hear everything." Quinn pulled out her recorder. "You know what, everyone quiet, I better record this to play at their wedding."
"What's up Zoey?"
"Do you really mean it?"
"Do I really mean what?"
"The text message you sent me.'
"What…oh my god, I sent that to you?" Chase shouted, his voice rising. "I am so…dumb and so, so sorry. I-"
"Chase stop. Do you really mean it?"
Chase looked into her eyes, he was really going to do it, he finally had no other choice, "Yes Zoey, I'm in love with you. I'm so sorry you found out over a text message, I meant to send that to Michael because he told me I should just do it, but I knew it was a bad idea and-"
"Chase. Stop. I don't think it was the worst mistake you ever made."
"What?"
"I like you too, maybe even love you."
"Really, are you being serious?"
"I seriously am."
"So you don't hate me and want to stop being friends with me?"
"No, I could never hate you, but I do want to stop being just friends."
"What?" No no, this is exactly why he told Michael he couldn't ever tell Zoey the truth, he was about to lose her forever.
"Chase you are my best friend, and if you want to, I would love to call you my boyfriend too." Zoey smiled.
"Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. I would love to be your boyfriend!" Chase jumped up in excitement. "I mean…cool I'm cool but I'm really happy." Chase couldn't stop his smile.
Both of them reached forward and wrapped each other in a warm, tender hug.
"See I told you dude!"
Both Chase and Zoey looked up to see their friends peering down at them from the top of the staircase.
"OK I admit you were right."
"What are you guys doing here?" Zoey asked.
"You think we would miss this? We've all been waiting literally forever for you two to break your denial." Nicole shouted.
"Or in my case, Chase to get over himself and finally be a man so I don't have to hear him go over every single thing Zoey does that makes him love her but he can't ever tell her because it will ruin their friendship." Michael joined in.
"Is that really why it took you so long?" Zoey asked.
"Of course, I could never do anything that even had the tiniest chance that I would lose my best friend."
"You don't have to worry anymore." Zoey smiled, pulling him even closer.
IV Zoey reads the second message
Zoey was standing in the lounge, watching Gender Defenders with everyone else, she had enjoyed spending Spring Break at Logan's house, and even competing in the admittedly dumb and sexist game show. Now that she met Logan's dad, she sort of understood why he was well, Logan.
Unfortunately, her argument with Chase had been recorded and looked even worse to her. Despite the fun they all had together, this felt like one of the worst weeks of her life, because of Chase. But she thought about what Chase had said, what could he have sent her accidentally? She believed him when he said he could never say anything mean about her. She could never think of anything mean to say about him either.
Zoey thought to herself, he was talking to Michael and said something about me, the night before we were going over the rule book and joking around like we always do. I have no idea what he could have said if it wasn't an insult that made him so desperate for me not to see it. Well, maybe…but no. There is no way Chase could have sent something like that.
She felt her Tekmate vibrate on her hip and she looked down. She grabbed it and opened it up. She had a text message, from Chase. She glanced up at him and he was staring at the Tekmate in her hand with a look, she could only describe as nervousness, but also hope.
She looked down and opened the message. The message was… I LOVE YOU!
Zoey stared down at it for a moment, then looked up to meet Chase's eyes from across the room again. He sent her a nervous smile, and she couldn't help herself from smiling back. Seems she was proven wrong after all, but right now she needed a lot more than a text. She needed a full explanation.
She slowly walked through the lounge to stand in front of Chase who smiled nervously.
"I can explain."
"Not here, come with me." Zoey marched through the halls until they reached her dorm. Zoey closed the door behind them and they both sat on the couch.
"So, you see, I…Michael was telling me I should tell you that I love you because Spring Break would be the perfect time to finally do it, but I told him I can't because it will ruin our friendship if I did. Then the next morning I realized I sent it to you by mistake, that was my worst nightmare come to life, that not only did you find out, but you found out over a text message. So then I had to take your Tekmate to delete it before you could see it. And you know the rest of the story. I promise you that's all of it." Chase rushed out.
"So…is it true?"
"Yes it is, I love you Zoey."
Zoey paused for just a moment. "I love you too Chase. And now your behavior makes total sense."
"So, I'm forgiven?"
"Yeah, other than you taking so long." Zoey laughed, and playfully swatted his head.
"What?"
"Well first I had to badger your confession out of you, but I've kinda had a feeling for a while now."
"Wait you knew?"
"I truly believed we were just friends, but apparently everyone else at PCA thinks differently. You have no idea how many people ask me about you, or assume we're already dating. And I have to tell them no. But I won't have to do that anymore."
"So you mean?"
"Since it will probably take you forever, Chase, will you go out with me?"
"Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! But, for the record, other people have asked about me?"
"Yes, don't get a big ego, now I can tell them that you're all mine. Let's just say I think there's a reason neither of us has had many dates, besides you with Lola."
"Sorry about that again."
"I don't blame you, well maybe a little bit for making me mad, but I was mostly mad at myself about that."
"Why?"
"Because I basically gave you away, and it was then that I started to realize, whether you had a crush on me or not, I had a crush on you." Now it was Zoey's turn to blush.
"You did? So it was only when Lola asked me out that you realized?"
"That was the final push, but I think I felt that way around you for a while. All I know is you make me happy, you're always here for me, and I want to always be here for you when you need me."
"I want that too, more than anything, but if you really don't want to date me and are just saying these things, I hope we can still be friends."
Zoey rolled her eyes and kissed him, soft and sweet, just long enough to enjoy it a little.
"What was that for?"
"I think you've fallen off your bike too many times if I just said all of that and you think I'm going to friendzone you. I mean it Chase I do love you, and while I love all my friends, you are even more special to me. You always have been, and you always will be."
"OK, if you're one hundred percent sure."
"I'm sure." Zoey leaned over to give him a kiss, and both were entirely lost in each other, until Nicole and Lola walked back in.
"There they are." Nicole said, "OMG!"
V Chase finds the Tekmate in the fountain.
Everyone had dragged them back to the lounge, two seconds before Chase was finally going to tell Zoey he loves her. Everyone was busy watching Gender Defenders, Zoey included. She looked over at him and smiled before turning back to the TV.
Michael's voice rang in his head. Just tell Zoey you love her.
He pulled out his Tekmate and started typing another text message. The message was…I LOVE YOU. He looked up at Zoey's beautiful, beautiful face, the face of his best friend and so much more. Maybe this will be the last time he sees her smile at him, or maybe this will turn out to be the best decision of his life. No more hiding.
He hit SEND and put his Tekmate away, and watched Zoey, waiting to see her reaction. But she never did anything, just stood there watching the TV with everyone else. Chase squinted his eyes and looked closer at Zoey's hip, she didn't have her Tekmate on her.
Chase hit his forehead. Why does this always happen to me? Something always gets in the way. Whatever, it's probably in her room and she'll see it after this cause this time no one's going to delete it. Chase reassured himself.
After Gender Defenders finished everyone went to Sushi Rox to celebrate, and Chase still couldn't focus, he checked Zoey's hip a few times, and she still didn't have her Tekmate with her.
For three days Chase waited for her to say something, anything, but she never did, she never brought up the message again either, maybe that was just because there was always someone else with her too. Or maybe she put it behind her, maybe she didn't know how to bring it up.
Chase couldn't stand the suspense of waiting. It looked like he would have to work up the courage to ask her how she felt once and for all. But to do so, he had to think it over, so he went to his favorite place to think, the fountain where he was about to tell Zoey everything in the first place. He listened to some music and just tried to clear his head of all his worries, he knew what he wanted to do, he just had to man up and do it.
After a few minutes of just staring into the water of the fountain, he noticed a flash of pink on the bottom, his eyes narrowed, and his blood ran cold. It was Zoey's Tekmate. Without even thinking he plunged into the water and pulled it out.
He tried turning it on, but nothing worked, it was dead as the dinosaurs. Chase sighed to himself. Really universe, every time, something stops me. Fine I'll really do it this time, right to her face. And if she hates me it doesn't matter because I'm finally doing what I should have done months ago.
Chase ran back to Zoey's dorm and knocked on the door. "Zoey it's Chase!"
"It's open!" Zoey called.
Thankfully Zoey was sitting alone on her bed, working on homework. "What's up?"
"I ah found this."
"Of course you did, I haven't seen it in the past three days, did you steal it again? Accidently send me another wrong message?" Zoey teased.
"No, I promise I didn't steal it this time I swear. I just found it in the fountain, I think it's dead though. Sorry."
"Well that sucks, at least I can't get any more wrong messages."
"About that, I did send you something, and now I want to tell you what it is, but first." Chase walked back and shut the door, his heart pounding in his chest.
"What is it?"
"I don't want any interruptions. Zoey, the message that I sent to you by mistake, was that I love you."
"You…you love me?"
"Yes, the message I sent you was me telling Michael that I couldn't tell you that I love you, because I was afraid it would ruin our friendship. And you asked me, and I was really going to tell you, but then everyone else dragged us back to watch the TV show, so then I sent you another message and you never got it, because your Tekmate was in the fountain I guess."
"Well, I can understand why you weren't acting like yourself the last few days." Zoey paused, "Chase, I think I love you too."
"Really?"
Zoey stood up from her bed and started to explain. "I hated most of Spring Break, because I couldn't talk to you, and I didn't understand why you would do such a thing, then you told me about the wrong message, and like I said I assumed it was something bad at first, but again I honestly can't imagine you ever saying anything mean about me, because I can't think of anything mean to say about you, other than when I thought you were a cheater."
"Zoey, you are a million times more important to me than some stupid game show."
"I know, you are too, I couldn't stand seeing you and Michael being put on the sidelines when Logan and I were put on TV. And it may have crossed my mind that it was something like this."
"Really?"
"You've been my best guy friend from the day we met Chase. I kind of had a feeling after a while but I was never certain that you liked me, I thought you only saw me as a friend."
"No, I, you've been my girl best friend since the day we met too, and I was always dreaming of something more, but I couldn't take the risk that you'd say no and our friendship would be all weird. Kind of like Spring Break turned out to be. I hated that I couldn't talk to you."
"Yeah, I can understand, it felt weird making it a point to avoid talking to you. It felt like a breakup, and I don't ever want to break up with you, you will always be my best friend."
"Oh, I get it, best friends, if that's all, I'm totally cool with that." Chase said, his face falling.
"What? Oh I'm sorry, Chase, I mean, you are my best friend, but if you want to, we can be more. I love you Chase." Zoey said with more confidence.
"You love me back? But you sounded uncertain before."
"You convinced me, I know how much you care about me, I see it every day, and I can see it now." Zoey stepped forward and hugged him, resting her chin on his shoulder.
"Well then, Zoey, will you go out with me?" Chase asked as they separated after a moment, just enough to see each other's loving eyes.
"Yes I will. Where to?" Zoey asked with a smile.
"How about Sushi Rox?"
"We go there all the time." Zoey rolled her eyes.
"Well, I'm sorry I get the employee discount."
"Just kidding, Sushi Rox sounds great." Zoey laughed. "So I'm assuming Michael knows about your texting fiasco."
"Well, not the stuff we talked about since coming back, but yeah, he knew about the original message."
"Well, if he finally led us to this, maybe I should thank him."
"Why?"
"Who knows what would have happened, now we can be ourselves with each other, even more than we already are."
"We already tell each other everything."
"Not everything, you know the week you were going out with Lola?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, besides this week, that was honestly one hundred percent the worst week of my life."
"Why? Were you that mad at me about the tennis and sushi?"
"Yes, and no, I wasn't mad at you specifically, it was just once you were dating Lola, was when I really realized I didn't see you as just a friend either."
"But you-"
"Yes, I gave you permission I know."
"You know if you had said no, I wouldn't even have looked at Lola."
"You don't have to be that extreme, but you better not be checking out other girls anymore." Zoey nudged him.
"You don't have to worry about that Zoey, and for the last year, I haven't been able to look at a girl without comparing her to you, and no one is ever any contest."
"Thanks, Chase, have I never noticed you flirting with me before?"
"I'd say kinda, anything I have said to you to try to reveal my feelings you usually just take as a joke. Or something or someone interrupts us. Like when we were about to kiss in front of Trisha and Dustin tackled me, and kind of like how Logan always jokes about making out with you."
"Well, trust me, me and Logan will never happen in a million years. Besides, that won't happen anymore. You have all of my attention. I'd say text me the details for our date, but as you know, looks like my Tekmate is dead, but I bet Quinn can save it."
"Hopefully she does. But, just in case, can I see you tonight?"
"Definitely I can't wait."
"Alright then. Bye Zoey." Chase said, walking out the door.
"Bye Chase, see ya!" Zoey waved as she shut the door.
Zoey let out a sigh of relief, that was one mystery solved and she finally had her answer, and Chase wasn't just her best friend anymore, now she could finally tell him how cute he is every single day and she won't have to stop herself. She couldn't wait to see all of the things that they can be.