Back To PCA

Everyone had been back at PCA for two days, it had been great seeing everyone again, but Michael and Chase were fed up with Logan and his $15,000 entertainment system his dad gave him. Logan refused to turn the volume on his TV below jet engine, plus there had constantly been like twenty people crammed into their room to hang out, play video games, listen to music, and do other stuff. Chase and Michael had tried to reason with Logan, but he didn't listen to them at all not really a surprise, since it was impossible to listen to anything in their room right now. So, they decided if they wanted a good night's sleep tonight, their only option was to sleep away from their dorm room. So they had pitched two tents on the lawn outside their dorm.

Chase was just settling down to sleep in his yellow sleeping bag when his cellphone started ringing. He checked the caller ID and saw it was Michael calling him from the next tent over.

"Yeah?"

"There's a bug in my tent."

"So kill it."

"No!"

"Why not?"

"What if it has family?"

"It's a bug."

"Bugs have children."

"OK well, maybe it's a really mean and horrible bug, and all the other bugs hate it, and you'll be a hero for taking its life." Chase suggested. Between jetlag from moving back to California from Baltimore, plus Logan's earsplitting stereo system, he was already tired and just wanted to go to sleep.

"Wait." Michael whispered through his phone.

"What?"

"There's something outside my tent." Michael reported sounding scared.

"It's probably just the wind." Chase suggested calmly even though he was a bit annoyed by now.

"What if it's a bear?"

"Ask him to step on the bug."

"I'm gonna go investigate."

"Have fun." Chase hung up and fluffed his pillow again, hopefully he could finally sleep for real this time.

A few moments later Chase opened his eyes when he heard a chorus of terrifying screams outside. He jumped out and started screaming too. The screaming continued for a few seconds until he realized it was just Zoey and Nicole, and they realized it was just Chase and Michael.

"You almost made me wet my pants!" Michael shouted.

"Ditto!" Nicole yelled back.

"What are you guys doing here?" Chase asked.

Well, we tried to find you at your dorm-" Nicole started to explain, everyone was still catching their breath from their terrified screams.

"Logan said you were sleeping outside in a tent." Zoey continued.

"So we've been walking around here for half an hour trying to find you."

"Yeah, we want to ask a favor." Zoey said.

"What?" Michael asked.

"Can we use one of your tents?" Zoey asked them.

"Why?" asked Chase.

"Cause we are not sleeping in the same room with Freaky Lola." Nicole declared.

"I thought you guys were going to take care of that?" Chase asked.

"Well, we didn't, so can we use one of these tents?" Zoey asked again. Dang it! She was using her cute eyes, not like Chase could ever say no to Zoey whenever she needed something, but he was putty in her hands when she looked at him like that.

"Please?" Nicole begged.

Chase and Michael shared a look between them for a moment and held a silent conversation. "Sure go for it." Chase assented, to no one's surprise since Zoey was the one asking.

"Yeah, take that one." Michael pointed at his tent.

"Yay! Come on Zoe!" Nicole smiled as she and Zoey climbed into the tent, while Michael and Chase turned back to his.

They had just zipped up their tent again when Chase heard more screams from the girls. Chase and Michael rolled back out of their tent to find both girls still screaming and rapidly brushing their hands over their pajamas and hair.

"What happened?" Chase asked.

"There's a ginormous bug in there!" Zoey screamed.

"Really? I did not know that." Michael stated.

"What do we do now? I don't want to live with Freaky Lola, she'll probably try to drink our blood or something else horrible!" Nicole pouted.

Chase's mind raced as he tried to think of a solution, he never wanted Zoey to be upset, she deserved to have nothing but happiness, as he continued thinking he got an idea, that was probably really stupid, but if everyone agreed, it could solve the bug problem, sorta, Chase didn't want to have to go in there and kill it himself either.

"Well, if you want you guys can sleep in our tent with us. We don't mind right Michael?"

Michael shot him a grin. "No, we don't. We'll just let Mr. Bug have that tent, and we can all stay nice and cozy in this one." He patted the side of the tent.

"If that's alright with you girls?" Chase asked again nervously.

"Anything's better than Freaky Lola, I'm in. Zoe?"

"Yeah, I agree, I just want to sleep."

"Great, come on in, mi casa es su casa." Chase tried to hide his enthusiasm over the thought of sleeping next to Zoey. He couldn't make it weird. Him and Michael were doing this to help their friends out, and nothing could happen, they would all just be going to sleep.

The girls stepped in first, and then Michael followed, but before Chase could enter, Michael called out. "Hey Chase, can you grab my sleeping bag?"

"Why can't you get it?"

"Because you're already outside and I'm not going near that bug again."

"Fine, whatever." Chase turned back to the other tent and glanced inside, he froze seeing the bug, resting on the opposite side of the tent, and he agreed with all his friends, he wasn't going to go near that thing. He slowly pulled out Michael's sleeping bag and pillow and then opened the tent's flap completely, hopefully by morning the bug would fly away.

He walked back over to the first tent, threw the pillow and sleeping bag in first, and then stepped inside.

When he did he realized a few things, Michael was sitting up against one side of the tent, Nicole on the other, with Zoey and an empty space for him in the middle. Also, while it had just been him, he had had a ton of room, when it was him and Michael, they still had plenty of space. Now, with four people it looked like they would all have just a few inches between them, lined up like sardines inside the tent.

"So, how do we want to do this?" Chase asked, awkwardly, trying and failing to not think about Zoey spending an entire night just a few inches away from him.

"I call my sleeping bag!" Michael pulled his over to himself, "here one of you guys can use my blanket." Michael pulled out a purple and blue PCA blanket from inside of his sleeping bag.

"Do either of you want my sleeping bag?" Chase asked.

"No, we can take the blankets," Zoey said, "and I see we only have three pillows so Nicole and I can just share the blankets and one of the pillows. That sound good Nicole?"

"Yep, that sounds great. Even though that blanket is orange, that is not a good color on me."

"I'm sorry I like the Orioles." Chase replied sarcastically.

"Relax, no one is going to see you." Zoey said, pulling the pillow and both blankets over to their side.

Everyone laid down and settled in for the night, Michael and Chase snuggled into their sleeping bags, while Nicole and Zoey spread the blankets over themselves and laid on their sides facing away from each other.

"Goodnight everyone," Nicole said.

"Night," Michael replied.

"Goodnight," Zoey repeated.

"Goodnight," Chase said, looking directly at Zoey since she was facing him, only a few inches away.

To stop himself from just staring at her, he closed his eyes and tried to force himself to sleep, still thinking about all he wanted to be with Zoey, but how he was still too scared to be. No matter how close they were right now, Chase knew more than likely this would be a one-time thing. He had missed her so much over the summer, and while they had caught up a lot so far the last two days, he still hadn't spent enough time with her yet to make up for the time they were apart. Even with how much he was thinking about Zoey, he soon drifted off to sleep.

Chase woke up in the middle of the night. He checked his watch and saw it was two in the morning, so he still had a few more hours to go back to sleep. He had turned so he was facing Michael and his arm beneath his body was feeling kind of numb so he rolled back over so he was facing Zoey, but when he did, he was surprised to see the sparkle of her eyes open and staring back at him.

"Hey Zoe, you awake too?" Chase asked.

"Yeah, Nicole stole my blankets a while ago, and she's so wrapped up I can't take them back without waking her up." Zoey sighed.

Chase lifted himself up on his elbows and glanced over Zoey's shoulder, indeed Nicole had wrapped herself up so that she looked like a blanket burrito, and he wasn't surprised Zoey wouldn't want to wake up her friend unless it was an emergency. As his head hit the open air he also realized it was a bit cool. They may be in California but it still got chilly at night sometimes, and it looked like tonight was one of those nights.

"Are you cold Zoey?" Chase asked her.

"No, I'm fine, you can go back to sleep Chase." Zoey insisted, but Chase could swear he could see her slightly shivering, plus he knew her too well, he knew she was lying to try to ease his mind, but he wouldn't allow that.

"Zoey, don't try to lie to me, I can see you shivering. Are you cold?"

"OK, maybe I am, but I'll be fine. I'm not going to freeze to death, you just go back to sleep."

"You may not freeze to death, but you could still get sick. What kind of friend would let you do that and do nothing to help you?"

"But I don't want to wake Nicole up, so there's nothing you can really do."

"Take my sleeping bag then." Chase offered immediately.

"No. Like you said, I'm not going to let my best friend be cold and be sick just so I can be warm. Besides its your tent and your sleeping bag, you deserve to use it." Zoey crossed her arms either in stubbornness or in an attempt to warm up, Chase couldn't really tell, but he didn't really care, this time he wasn't planning on backing down.

"Well, I'm not going to be able to sleep a moment more if I'm worried about you."

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

Chase of course came up with another solution immediately, but Zoey would never go for it. Would she though? It was too much though. Don't be greedy Chase, you're already sleeping just inches away from her, why would she want to be closer to you? But he knew he wouldn't get back to sleep if he was worried about Zoey, so with no other clear options, he took a chance on his idea.

"So, to be clear, you won't wake Nicole up, and won't let me give you my sleeping bag to warm you up. Correct?"

"Yes. Where are you going with this?"

"Then you only leave me with one option to make sure you stay warm for the rest of the night." Chase unzipped the side of his sleeping bag. "Hop in here with me, so that way no one else has to wake up, and neither of us will be cold."

"Are you sure Chase? I don't want to keep you up or anything.'

"It's cool, as long as it's cool with you. Either you do this, or I'm giving you my sleeping bag for you to sleep in yourself and there is nothing you can do to stop me."

"Fine," Zoey relented, "but only because I want to make sure you stay warm too." In the darkness of the tent, they could just barely see the other's eyes shining, and both were thankful their blushing faces were hidden in the shadows.

Chase spread the side of his sleeping bag wide open and Zoey crawled in and zipped it back up. She then rolled back over and found herself barely an inch away from Chase's face.

They both awkwardly tried to get into comfortable positions, their legs tangling together and both pushed and poked against the other as they tried to move around. The sleeping bag was big enough to hold two people, but just barely. With nowhere else to put his hands, Chase nervously, with his heart pounding, slowly extended his arms around Zoey's torso and let them meet around her back.

"What are you doing?" Zoey asked.

"Sorry, I…just tried to get comfortable, I can move my hands if you want. I'm sorry."

"No, you don't have to do that Chase. Its fine."

They were still basically pressed chest to chest against each other and Chase was already feeling the warmest he had ever been from every place he could feel Zoey's body against his own. "Are you feeling warm again?"

"Yeah, with the two of us in this thing it's like we have our own furnace. You've warmed me right back up." Zoey promised him.

"OK, so do you think you can sleep again now?"

"Yeah, I think I can. Goodnight Chase."

"Goodnight Zoey." Chase answered back.

They stared at each other one more moment just looking into the other's eyes before they both laughed at the awkwardness and Zoey rolled herself over so she could face away from him and he was now spooning her from behind. Chase closed his eyes and breathed in the fruity scent of her shampoo from her hair that was resting just beneath his nose. This was the greatest night of his life. Forget Logan's stupid entertainment system, Chase wouldn't change a thing, even if this was only for one night.

When Chase opened his eyes again, rosy dawn light surrounded him, he was still hugging Zoey around her waist, but their bed was much softer and comfier, the dark blue walls of the tent had disappeared. Her beautiful brown eyes opened a moment after he did, and she leaned closer to him to press a tender kiss to his lips. "Good morning Fuzzyhead, how did you sleep?"

"Oh just great, just as great as I always do when you're with me."

"I slept great too, must be something about having the greatest fuzziest teddy bear in the world to cuddle with to help me sleep." Zoey kissed him again.

"Did you have any good dreams?"

"Oh yeah, just like always, but my dreams can never be better than the day you finally told me you love me. Can you tell me the story again?"

"Sure. Whatever you want. I love you Zoey, I always have and I always will." Chase promised and leaned forward for one more kiss.

Zoey woke up a few hours later as the sunrise started shining into the tent. All she could think about was how safe and warm she felt right then. Then her brain started working more when she realized she felt someone's hands gently folded around her waist, and her back pressed into someone's chest, gently breathing behind her. Her mind raced for a moment as she remembered everything that happened last night. When she remembered she was with Chase she relaxed even further. Only he could make her feel so good. He always did, she had missed him so much over the summer but she never would have dreamed she would have ended up in a situation like this two days after she got back to PCA. But here she was and feeling the happiest she had felt waking up ever.

She was thankful that last night the shadows had hid her blush when Chase had made his suggestions, first when she realized she would be sleeping right next to him all night, even though that had happened before a few times last year whenever Quinn made her sleep machine and the coconut scent that made everyone unconscious.

The night before Nicole and Zoey had tried sleeping in Quinn's room to avoid Freaky Lola, and while thankfully this time Quinn held off on any nighttime experiments, her snoring had kept both of them awake all night. So then they had decided to try sleeping in the guys' dorm, but seeing as Logan's stereo was even louder and more obnoxious than he was and finding out about Chase and Michael's plan, they both thought they had found the perfect solution.

But that horrible bug had to ruin everything, or make it even better. Like she didn't notice that Nicole had gotten in first and claimed the far side, and then Michael took the other side, leaving her and Chase in the middle. When he finally stepped in, they all only had a few inches separating them, and while she was always happy to be near Chase, this felt entirely new, maybe it was just that they hadn't seen each other for three months, or the fact that they would be sleeping right next to each other had set her heart rate pumping.

Thankfully it wasn't too awkward and everyone went right to sleep, until Zoey woke up hours later, freezing cold with Nicole surrounding herself in a cocoon using both blankets. Zoey had tried to tug some of it free, but she could barely unwrap it enough to cover her arm. And she didn't want to wake Nicole for no reason. Zoey would be fine, she just curled up her arms and legs and tried to stay warm.

Until she heard Chase roll over and his eyes opened, barely a few inches away from hers. Of course, he was always a gentleman and her best friend, so he obviously argued with her that she wasn't allowed to freeze on his watch, but she was just as stubborn as him and wouldn't allow him to give up his sleeping bag for her.

Her face had flushed cherry red, she just knew it, despite the cold she could feel the heat rising in her cheeks. She had thought of that idea too but was too embarrassed to actually suggest it to him, but when he did, she couldn't make herself refuse even if she wanted to, and she really didn't want to. So she snuggled up with Chase and they were suddenly pressed right against each other in the now tight sleeping bag, and all her chills quickly disappeared. No one had ever made her feel so warm or protected as when Chase finally hugged his arms around her.

She was pretty sure she had fallen asleep within a few moments. Despite her nerves and emotions firing on all cylinders with Chase surrounding her, she had never felt more comfortable in her life, even though she knew in her heart this would have to be a one-time thing.

She just smiled and closed her eyes once again, maybe pressing herself even closer against Chase. If this was a one-time thing, she might as well enjoy it.

Then over the slight snores of Michael, who was much quieter than Quinn and actually kind of relaxing, she could just barely hear Chase mumbling in his sleep. He sounds so adorable, I wonder if he does that a lot? She thought to herself. The first few words she couldn't understand at all, but then his next sentence rang loud and clear in her ears, and her eyes shot open when she heard it.

"I love you Zoey. I always have, and I always will."

Did she hear what she just thought she heard? Was she dreaming? She was pretty certain she was still awake, she could feel the hard earth below her, could see the beam of sunlight shining in her eyes, she was definitely awake. But why would Chase say that to her? Was he dreaming? Did he dream about her as much as she dreamed about him? Could he actually mean it?

Zoey had no idea what to do, it wasn't like she had never thought of him like that before. She knew she loved him. He was her best friend in the world, ever since they first met on her first day last year. There were even a few moments where she felt like she might have a crush on him, and he may even like her back. But every time they had a moment together where it seemed like maybe he wanted to say something, he never did, and she never took a chance either. Because she knew as much as she wanted it, he only saw her as a friend.

But this, how does someone even begin to deal with this? How does she bring up that she overheard him confess his love for her while he was sleeping? She kind of wanted to run away from Chase as fast as possible so she could think about this herself, but she also really didn't want to leave the sleeping bag until she absolutely had to.

She knew as many fun moments they had had together last semester, there were plenty of times where it seemed like Chase was stopping himself from saying something more, like at the dance or prank week. When he thought she would have to leave PCA forever, and when he apologized over the dance, with a really lame excuse. She knew he was still hiding the real reason as if part of her couldn't guess, but she never wanted to stay mad at Chase, so she had accepted his apology that he was being a dumb jerk and moved on.

This changes everything though. I don't know what to do. So if Chase does love me as more than a friend, do I love him back? She thought for a moment and it didn't take her long to find the answer. Just feeling him surrounding her, she knew she loved him if he loved her. But what would happen if she was wrong? She couldn't ruin their friendship.

She just laid in the tent for a while, silently thinking everything over. Chase didn't mumble anything else that she could hear. But he did occasionally shift in his sleep, every so often he would hold her tighter before relaxing again, or his legs would knock against hers, he even nuzzled his nose against her neck a little bit, every new touch felt like a spark going off from her skin. She eventually drifted back into a drowsy state, not quite awake, not quite asleep by the time the alarm Chase had set on his phone went off about a half-hour after she first woke up.

She flinched slightly in surprise and felt Chase hold her tighter as he began to wake up with a massive yawn right in her ear.

Michael and Nicole were also waking up around them. Michael was the first to speak. "Good morning dudes." He said as he sat up in his sleeping bag before noticing the unusual sleeping arrangement right beside him. "Well, well, well, what have we here?"

"OMG!" Nicole whisper-screamed, finally noticing them as well.

"Um, we can explain." Chase said nervously.

"Yeah, there really is a simple explanation," Zoey said. They both started trying to move around to get out of the sleeping bag until Zoey's knee hit a sensitive area that made Chase's voice rise an octave higher than normal.

"Oh, I'm sorry Chase." Zoey was blushing even more now.

"It's fine, just the family jewels, no big deal. Let's just get out of here. A little help guys?"

"Oh no, this is the best morning entertainment I've ever seen.' Michael laughed.

Zoey finally found the zipper again and opened the sleeping bag enough that she could slide herself out, with Chase quickly following right behind her.

"See, everything's fine." Chase insisted, his voice back to normal.

"So…?" Nicole asked.

"This is all your fault." Zoey accused her while laughing to hide her embarrassment.

"How is it my fault?"

"You took both blankets, so when Chase found me freezing my butt off, he wouldn't go back to sleep knowing I was cold, so he offered to share his sleeping bag with me. That's it, that's the story. Don't make it weird."

"Alright, I guess." Michael nodded, but he was still grinning at Chase like he was proud of him for some reason.

"I'm sorry Zoey, you could have woken me." Nicole apologized.

"It's fine, it was great." Alright, she may have said a bit too more than she should have. Zoey could feel her the heat rising to her face once again.

"It was?" Nicole asked, now sending her a grin identical to Michael's.

"Yeah, it was cramped but…it was super warm and toasty, but still perfectly comfortable, I slept like a baby. That's all you need to know."

"Yeah me too." Chase replied back. "So anyway, would you look at the time, we should all go back to our dorms and get ready for school. Let's go, let's go."

Chase was the first to jump out of the tent. Michael rolled his eyes and followed him. Zoey and Nicole followed. Michael and Chase decided to just leave the tents up since most likely Logan would still insist on having everything on max volume again. Michael and Chase headed to their dorm to get ready for the day, while Nicole and Zoey split off to head to their dorm.

"So….?" Michael asked Chase with a knowing grin on his face.

"What?'

"How was sleeping with Zoey, you are such a gentleman, at least I know we'll be safe if we're ever stranded in Antarctica or something."

'It was good, and it doesn't mean anything special, I did it because she's my friend."

"Sure. I tried to help you out dude, but I didn't think sharing a tent would go this well for you. Be honest, how did it feel waking up with Zoey in your arms?"

"Like something out of my wildest dreams." Chase admitted, "but it doesn't matter even if we have to camp out again tonight, Zoey will probably bring Quinn's industrial Quinnvented bug spray to make sure that never happens again."

"What, you really think she's going to hate you now? Dude, did you see her face? She was blushing just as much as you were, and she sounded pretty happy to me."

"I know it's not going to happen again so there's no point in talking about it anymore."

"You should you know, just tell her? Realistically what's the worst thing that can happen?"

"Zoey is creeped out or hates me so much that I never see her again."

"So if that's the worst thing, just think about all the good things you two could do together. As a couple. I mean its so obvious you both like each other I don't understand why you're so worried."

"Because I am, and is that noise Logan's TV? It's 7 am and we're like two hallways away from our room. How has he not been busted by our dorm advisor?" Chase tried to change the subject.

"Option A, Logan bribed him to not cause any problems, or B, he's probably in our room right now playing video games too."

"You're probably right."

"I know I am, in fact, I'm right about a lot of things, including you and Zoey. The two most oblivious soulmates in the world."

"Enough of that." Chase groaned as he finally opened the door, waiting for the sound wave to hit him full force, maybe this would really wake him up now. He was honestly still in a daze from waking up with Zoey in his arms.

"So…" Nicole asked.

"So…?" Zoey replied as they were walking through campus back to their dorm.

"You and Chase? Sleeping together, hello?"

"It's nothing it was the best way to keep each other warm."

"Ugh, you sound like the pilgrims or the settlers in the wagon trains or whatever. You have to admit that was a big deal."

"It wasn't, it was two friends helping each other out."

"No, helping friends out is letting us sleep in their tent with them, but sleeping in a sleeping bag with someone? That is more than just friends territory for sure."

"Look, Nicole, what I'm about to tell you can't tell anyone, you may not believe this but I swear it's the truth."

"Ooh finally some details, I'm listening."

"I woke up a little bit before the alarm and you know Chase was with me, but he was still asleep and I'm pretty sure he said that he loved me in his sleep."

"Oh yeah, that makes sense."

"What? You aren't surprised at all?" Zoey was shocked at Nicole's lack of emotion at this news.

Nicole started laughing out loud "Like I should be? Zoey, Chase pretty much worships the ground you walk on. Plus not even counting everything about last night, he is always so obvious. For example why he cheated to go to the dance with you."

"Yeah, he said he wanted to protect me from other guys who could be jerks."

"That's just Chase being too scared to tell you he wanted to go with you and was willing to do anything to make sure it happened."

"So you think it's true?"

"Absolutely. Have you met Chase? Especially when he's around you? Have you really not noticed how much Chase is into you?"

"But we've always been friends."

"Zoey, trust me when it comes to most guys, there are no just friends, it's I like this girl so I'll be her friend first to get her to like me and then we can go out."

"Chase isn't like that though."

"What about what you heard then?"

"Fine, I guess I better talk to Chase about it, because you aren't very much help."

"What are you talking about? I'm totally helping you, you just refuse to see the obvious like usual. Oh, wait." Nicole stopped Zoey as they reached their door. "Can you go first? I'm scared."

"Fine whatever." In truth, Zoey would rather face Freaky Lola than have the talk she was planning with Chase. She opened the door but Lola was nowhere to be found. "It's safe Nicole, she's gone for now."

"Good. Now let's hurry up before she comes back." Nicole sprinted into the room and rushed to grab all her things. "Zoey…" Nicole said nervously. "What is that? Is that a dead animal?"

Zoey followed Nicole's pointed finger at a white, hairy thing sitting on top of their dresser.

"It's not a dead animal Nicole." Zoey reported when she slowly walked over to investigate, "in fact, I think it's a wig."

"Why would Freaky Lola have a wig if her hair is already white?"

"I don't know but something isn't adding up here." Zoey was welcome to the distraction from talking about or thinking about Chase while they got ready for the day.

"Ohh, hey guys." Lola entered their room again, but she looked different, instead of her short white hair, it was now long and brunette with yellow highlights, and her nose piercing was gone.

"Who are you?" Nicole asked.

"I think that's Lola." Zoey said, "Why do you look so different?"

"OK, I can explain. You're going to think I'm crazy but-" Lola explained, but Nicole interrupted her.

"More like freaky."

"I am an actress and when I knew I was coming to a new school where no one would know me I decided to embark on the ultimate challenge for any actress". Lola started to explain her plan to try to play the part of a freaky goth chick and see how long she could last without anyone finding out the real her.

Zoey and Nicole were both annoyed at first but now that they were meeting the real Lola both had a feeling that their roommate problems may be over for now, they even walked to the cafeteria to eat breakfast together. And Lola promised she'd only be getting cereal, no eggs.

Chase and Zoey were eating lunch alone together later that day. All their friends were busy doing other things so it was just the two of them, which they loved, but both were nervously tiptoeing around the elephant in the room. Zoey had just finished explaining the new Lola situation.

"Honestly, that is not the craziest thing that has happened here, you know that right?" Chase said when she finished her tale.

"Yeah I guess, but I think she'll fit right in with the rest of us."

"So you're roommate troubles are all fixed. Mine still isn't. Any ideas? Otherwise, I'm sure Michael and I will be in the tents again."

"Nope, but don't worry, Nicole and I won't have to crash your party tonight."

"Crash our party? You guys made it a party." Chase smiled.

They both paused then. Neither knew what to say about what had happened last night or how to bring it up without dying of embarrassment. Both had questions they wanted answers to, but they were also terrified at what they might be.

"Chase." Zoey finally said after a few moments. "There's something I need to ask you about."

"OK, ask away."

"Last night, or this morning whatever. I woke up a little bit before your alarm. And you were talking in your sleep."

"OK, did I say something embarrassing? Tell you my deepest, darkest secret?" Chase joked.

"Well, actually kind of. I heard you say that you love me."

"I…I did what?" All the color drained from Chase's face in an instant.

"I know, it's stupid, but I…I want to know, did you mean that?"

"I…oh my God! I mean. Zoey." Chase reached across the table and grabbed her hand. He was freaking out inside but also felt like a weight had been taken off his chest that she finally knew. "I do mean it. Whatever you heard, I guarantee I meant every word. I promise I didn't plan everything with the tent and the sleeping bag to trick you or anything just for my pleasure. Not that I got pleasure from sleeping with you, I mean not that I didn't I mean-"

"Chase, stop panicking."

"I'm sorry. You're my best friend and I never want to hurt our friendship. Me and my stupid mouth."

"Your mouth isn't stupid Chase. And I don't blame you for anything last night. You've always been there for me and you proved it even more last night in spades."

"Alright, so now I have a question."

"Yeah?"

"How do you feel about me?"

"I love you too Chase." Zoey squeezed his hand tighter for a moment.

"You do?"

"Last night was one of the best nights of sleep in my life. I've never felt this way about anyone before, and it started the day we met, but every day it grows stronger, and last night, showed me, even more, why I do love you. I've always loved you, you are my best friend Chase but I think I love you even more than that."

"You do?"

"Yes, I do."

"Then Zoey, may I ask you to be my girlfriend?"

"You certainly may, and my answer is yes."

"That is so great. Last night was definitely my best night of sleep too."

"I bet, so were you dreaming about me?" Zoey teased him.

"Um, yeah I was." Chase started blushing again.

"So what was your dream?"

"Um…I woke up with you in my arms, so I didn't even realize it was a dream at first, I thought it was perfectly natural that you were there. Then you kissed me good morning and told me you loved me."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, you know what I won't apologize for thinking that you are the most beautiful and perfect girl on the face of the planet who somehow says she loves me just as much as I love her."

"Well, it sounds like a pretty good dream. There's just one thing missing from reality."

"What is it?"

"This." Zoey leaned across the table and kissed his cheek.

"Forget dreams then, I could get used to this."

"Don't get your hopes up, lover boy."

"You know if Logan does still have his stereo going tonight, would you keep me warm in my tent again tonight."

"How about we work together to get Logan to stop, but if we can't we'll see what happens." Zoey smiled at him.

"Alright, Zoey, you're the problem solver in this relationship what do you got?" Chase smiled back. He was feeling on top the world, and to think all of this happened because of Logan's dad, a crazy actress he hadn't even met yet, and one very ugly, giant, creepy, horrible bug. This year was going to be even better than last year, because his dreams could never compare to real-life ever again.