Quinn's Date

Chase was riding his bike through campus on his way to his next class. His phone started ringing so he picked it up and answered it. "Hello?"

"Hi Chase." He heard Zoey's voice answer on the other end.

"What do you need Zoe?"

"How'd you like to go on a double date with me tomorrow?"

"A date? Aahh!" That sentence completely broke his entire train of thought making him fall off his bike. Thankfully onto some grass so it wasn't the worst landing he had ever had, but while doing so his phone flew out of his hand. He crawled towards his phone and pressed it against his ear again as quickly as possible. "Yes, yes. That was a yes. A yes to the date."

"Great, come find me after classes are done today, and I'll explain everything."

"Yeah, sure whatever you want Zoey. I'll see you later."

"Bye Chase."

He hung up the phone, and then glanced around wildly before screaming out, "YES!" He had a date with Zoey. Zoey asked him out. He felt the hard ground when he flew off his bike, so he knew this wasn't a dream, but it was a dream come true. He had no idea why Zoey would just ask him out on a date out of nowhere, but he didn't care why, all that mattered was that he had a date with Zoey, the most amazing girl he had ever met.

He had to get ready, his heart was already pounding with excitement. He didn't care what she wanted to do, he knew anything he did with her would always be the time of his life. So after all this time, all this stressing, had she liked him too just as much as he liked her? Had Michael and Logan been right all along whenever they told him he should stop freaking himself out and just ask her out? Whatever none of that mattered, even if he knew both of his roommates would be telling him I told you so whenever he shared the news with them. Zoey Brooks asked him out. He picked himself up and got back on his bike, super pumped for whatever tomorrow would bring.

He finally found Zoey again a few hours later and he lit up even more than usual when he laid eyes on her. "Hey Zoey!"

"Hi Chase."

"So, what are we doing tomorrow night? I am so excited for this. Whatever you want to do, I am totally down with. So what do you want to do? You have no idea how long-"He felt like he was still bursting with how excited he was for this.

"Yeah, about that, don't worry it's not a real date." Zoey interrupted him.

"So, it's not a real date?" What does she mean it's not a real date? What's going on? But she asked me out. Does she not really like me?

"No, see I'm telling Quinn that you and I are going to go on a double date with her and Mark."

"So, it is a real date?" Chase asked, still with a spark of hope in his chest.

"No, listen."

"Listening."

"You're going to ask Mark to hang out with you."

"I ask Mark to hang out with me." Chase nodded along.

"Then Quinn and I are going to randomly run into you guys," Zoey said in air quotes

"Randomly," Chase said in air quotes as well.

"Right, and the four of us will hang out and Quinn will think she's on a date with Mark."

"But Mark won't know it's a date?"

"Yes, now all we've gotta do is get through it without Quinn figuring out it's not a real date."

"And Mark will just think we're all hanging out? By accident?"

"Exactly. See you tomorrow."

"OK." Chase said as she walked away. "My head hurts." And my heart, he thought to himself, of course, Zoey would never ask him out on a date. They were just friends, that was all they ever would be. He should have known that, but if he was on a pretend date with Zoey, and he had to make it believable for Quinn, maybe he could show her what a real date with him could look like.

He rode his bike back to his dorm, he had no idea if Zoey's plan would work or not, usually, they were a lot more straightforward, but he would follow her lead anywhere. And just because this date was fake, didn't mean it had to be the last one. Besides what's the worst that could happen, besides her figuring out his plan and telling him she doesn't like him at all. But Chase could take this chance that she was handing him and he would prove to her he was worth it.

The next day, Zoey was braiding Quinn's hair as they prepared for their double date and she was explaining her version of the plan to her.

"I hope it's OK Quinn, but Chase and I want to join you and Mark on your date tonight."

"So you and Chase are going to double date with me and Mark?"

"Um, yeah, you know, I thought it would be easier for you on your first date if you had friends around."

"Oh, that's so sweet of you, thanks."

"Oh and just so you know, don't mention the word date."

"Why?"

"Boys are weird, sometimes they get nervous putting labels on things, like a date. Just say we're all hanging out together if Mark asks."

"Are you sure?"

"Who here's the expert on boys?"

"Ok, you are," Quinn nodded enthusiastically, "So tell me about you and Chase."

"What about me and Chase?"

"When did you guys start dating?"

"Oh just a few days ago." Zoey said slowly, she had planned out everything she was going to say to Quinn about Mark but hadn't even worried about making up a story for Chase.

"Good for you Zoey. Did you ask him out or did he ask you?"

"Oh, um, I asked him out."

"Good for you girlfriend. Chase is no Mark but you two always look so cute together. I knew there was something between you two. So how did you ask him out?"

"I just asked him, I didn't do anything dramatic, we went to Sushi Rox for our first date, and that was lots of fun. He is pretty cute." Zoey hated lying to her friend, but it was the only way to get out of her bigger lie. "What do you mean you saw something between us?"

"Like it isn't obvious? All the times Chase does anything to help you out with stuff, like didn't he offer to let Dustin watch Elvis this week to help him with his animal phobia? It's just the way you two always look at each other, I'm a master of chemistry and I can tell you two have it together. I hope someday Mark and I can be as close as you two are."

"Yeah, Chase is my closest friend at PCA."

"Don't you mean boyfriend?"

"Yeah, I guess, we haven't labeled ourselves, we've just been hanging out so far like we always do. Remember how I mentioned boys are afraid of labels?"

"Right, right." Quinn nodded. "Well, how do I look?"

"Super cute, Mark will be speechless when he sees you. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he's so tongue-tied he doesn't speak to you all night."

"Really?"

"Really. You look great Quinn."

"Thanks so much Zoey. I'm so excited. And I know, don't mention insects, ointments, or experiments. But speaking of which, I do need to go run to my room quick and check on something I've been working on. I'll be right back."

"OK, don't take too long, we don't want to keep our guys waiting," Zoey said, but her smile turned into a pained frown. She hated lying to Quinn so much, but she wanted to see her be happy too. She hoped this would work. But she was also kind of confused. What did Quinn mean about her and Chase being close and so obvious that they like each other?

Chase was for sure the closest guy friend she ever had, but that was it. Zoey told herself she didn't see Chase like that, and she knew this wasn't a real date, she just knew Chase would be happy to help her just like he always was. When she came up with her plan, she knew instantly that Chase would be the guy she would call. And he was so excited to help her out, even before she explained everything. Or wait a minute. Chase had sounded really excited on the phone before she told him it was fake. Had he been excited thinking it was real? They had hung out and done tons of things together, going to movies, grabbing sushi, doing homework. But none of that had been a date, just friends hanging out. Like this was going to be, but had she accidentally made Chase think it was real? Is that why he had sounded so excited?

And if he was excited about going on a date with her, did that mean he like liked her? As more than friends? Now that Quinn had brought it up, it was all she could think about because it made a little too much sense. Suddenly she felt as clueless as Quinn was when it came to boys. Had Chase always liked her as more than a friend? The signs seemed to point to yes the more she thought about him. What should she do with this information? But what if she was wrong? Would he even want to be her friend anymore if she brought it up?

Even more importantly, now that she realized, how did she feel about Chase? He was her favorite person at PCA, even more than Dana and Nicole. He was the one person she hung out with the most. But did she like him? She thought maybe she could. Did she want to try starting something with him? She felt so confused. But she couldn't think about Chase right now. Right now she had to focus on getting Quinn through this without realizing anything was wrong. She could worry about her own potential love life later.

Chase was hanging out with Mark just as Zoey asked him to, but it felt like he was constantly searching for anything to talk about. They had shared a few classes over the years, but he didn't really know the guy. He didn't even know Mark's last name was Del Figalo until he told him. He was just unpacking the picnic basket when he saw Quinn and Zoey walking up to them.

Chase pointed, "Hey look, it's Zoey and Quinn coming this way. What are the odds of that?"

"I don't know." Mark just shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, how about we ask them to join us? Hey Zoey! Quinn! Over here!" Chase shouted and waved them over.

"Hey." Zoey greeted them and sat down by Chase.

"Oh hey." Chase said, well if he wanted Quinn to think this was a date, he might as well act like it. So for the sake of the mission, he wrapped his arm around Zoey's shoulder.

"What are you doing?" She whispered.

"Just making it realistic." He whispered back.

"Hey Mark." Quinn sat down next to him, smiling bashfully.

"Oh hey Quinn."

"Um…Mark I brought you a flower, it's a Bellis perennis."

"Um…thanks."

Before either of them could ask any questions, Zoey tried to grab their attention. "Let's see what's in the picnic basket." She started pulling things out, "Ooh candle! And it's scented. And sparkling apple juice? Good call Mark." She smiled enthusiastically.

"But I didn't-?"

"And daisies? Mark who knew you were such a romantic?"

"As I suspected, I knew you had a sweetheart beneath your noble exterior." Quinn smiled at Mark.

"Thanks?"

"So who wants some sparkling apple juice?" Chase asked, he poured it out in two cups, with two straws in each. He passed one cup to Zoey who took a sip before passing it back, but instead of Mark sharing his with Quinn, he gulped it all down.

"Um Mark, could you get me another glass of juice?" Quinn asked him.

"Sure."

Chase handed over the bottle and Mark poured another glass full.

Quinn took it gingerly and sipped through one straw while pointing the other in Mark's direction but he didn't take the hint, completely ignoring her.

Chase and Zoey tried to move things in the right direction but without much success. Quinn did seem to be trying to follow all of Zoey's advice, and while she did share some science facts, they seemed to be more about cute things like flowers and studies more related to romance.

Mark though was pretty much still ignoring Quinn, he only ever talked to Chase, trying to figure out what was really going on, but Chase just kept whispering back that they were all just hanging out together.

Meanwhile, Chase did try to play up the romantic angle with Zoey to keep making Quinn think it was a real date. She even seemed to be reciprocating a little bit. They tossed grapes to each other and after knowing each other for a few weeks, neither hardly ever missed a shot. They also held each other's hands a lot, something that he was really surprised that Zoey never pulled away from, and a few times she even grabbed his hand.

After about the fifth moment of awkward silence between everyone, Zoey suggested they all head to the theater and see a movie. Chase and Quinn both excitedly agreed and still playing the part, Zoey and Chase walked away hand in hand ahead of the other two. Chase glanced back once and noticed Quinn was still looking bashfully at Mark like she wanted to hold his hand but wanted to wait for him to make the first move, which Chase could tell would probably never happen. It was about as likely as Zoey actually making the first move, or to be honest Chase making the first move on her. Yep, this definitely took the cake for the most awkward date he had ever been on. But it was still amazing, here he was, holding Zoey's hand. Even if it wasn't real, he knew he would remember this day forever.

"How do you think it's going?" Zoey whispered to Chase.

"I don't know, the picnic was a little rough, but once we're in the movies it's two hours of silence."

Zoey nodded in agreement and kept walking towards the theater, still hand in hand. Chase knew he wouldn't be the first to let go.

While Zoey had tried to focus all her efforts on Quinn and Mark, she couldn't ignore all her questions about Chase, and he was claiming to just put on a show for Quinn, but she honestly couldn't find any problem with holding his hand and all the close contact, and now that she was paying attention it seemed like he was trying to flirt with her a bit. And she found herself flirting back. Even amongst all the awkwardness and nervousness of this whole situation, she found herself enjoying playing the part of Chase's girlfriend for a day. The more they went on though, the more she felt like she needed to really talk to him.

They glanced back behind them and noticed that Quinn had finally worked up the nerve to hold Mark's hand.

"Um…What are you doing?" Mark asked.

"Holding your hand."

"Well, can you not?"

"Oh Mark, I love it when you're so shy." Quinn smiled at him, still totally oblivious. "Could he be cuter? I think not."

Chase and Zoey just glanced awkwardly between themselves, both worried that the plan was probably moments away from crashing down around them.

"Look, Quinn-" Mark started to say something but was interrupted.

"Excuse Me?!" A brunette girl ran up behind them.

"Courtney?" Mark asked, sounding scared, it was the most emotion he had shown all day.

"Courtney?" Chase and Zoey also shared a nervous look. "Who's Courtney?" Chase whispered to Zoey.

"I have idea, but I have a bad feeling about this." She whispered back.

"I cannot believe this!"

"Who's Courtney?" Quinn asked Mark.

"I'm his girlfriend!" Courtney shouted angrily.

"What?" Quinn put her hands on her hips.

"Uh oh." Chase and Zoey said together.

"Mark Del Figalo, are you on a date with this girl?"

"No!" Mark rushed to explain.

"No?" Quinn asked him looking scandalized.

"I, I'm on a date with Chase!" Mark pointed at Chase behind him.

"Uh, it's true! We had a picnic together and uh sparkling juice and stuff."

"They did, I saw it all." Zoey nodded along.

"Yeah, nice try. I can't believe you'd do this to me Mark! We are done! O-VER!" Courtney turned around and marched away.

Unfortunately for Mark, now it was Quinn's turn. "Mark, I can't believe you would date me when you already have a girlfriend!"

"What? Who dated you?" Mark just kept looking more and more confused.

"You may have movie-star good looks but I don't care anymore! Good day, Mark!" Quinn started marching away too.

"But. What?" Mark stuttered out, making Quinn turn around one last time.

"I said good day!"

Mark finally looked over at Chase and Zoey, "Do you two have any clue what just happened?"

"Um…" Zoey said before she grabbed Chase's hand again and they both sprinted away.

A few minutes later they made it back to Zoey's room to hide from everyone, both panting for breath.

"So, that went literally the worst it possibly could."

"Yeah," Zoey sighed, "I thought Quinn was practically stalking Mark for the past few weeks, how did she not know he has a girlfriend?"

"It's Quinn, she just doesn't always understand normal human interactions. Unless they kissed or declared their love in front of her in a super obvious way she probably would never have noticed."

"Yeah I guess that makes sense, I still feel bad for lying to them and accidentally ruining Mark's relationship. I think we should talk to both of them and tell them the truth."

"Yeah, I agree. We had good intentions but this whole thing turned out really suckish."

"Do you want to go look for Mark, and I'll find Quinn? Bring him back to the girls' lounge and we'll tell them everything together."

"Sure, sounds like a plan." They both got up and left Room 101, Zoey was headed to Quinn's room while Chase walked back to his dorm, hopefully, Mark was somewhere in their building.

About a half-hour later, Chase was back in the girl's dorm, but without Mark, he had searched all over his dorm and everywhere close by but he couldn't find Mark anywhere when he got a text from Zoey saying to come back he did, but with dread in his heart. He never wanted to disappoint her.

"Hey Chase," she waved from one of the study tables in the lounge, but surprisingly she had a smile on her face.

"I'm sorry Zoey, I couldn't find Mark anywhere."

"That's because he's right here. Look." Zoey pointed to one of the couches where Quinn and Mark were sitting together and watching TV.

"Have you talked to them yet?"

"No, I was waiting for you, but I don't know how, but I think things may be finally moving in the right direction. But now that you're here it's time to tell them everything."

"Hey Mark, hi Quinn." Zoey waved as she and Chase took a seat side by side on another couch beside them.

"Hi Zoey, Hi Chase." Quinn greeted.

"Sup?"

"Look, we just want to apologize for today, the truth is, Quinn when I asked Mark out for you he said no, but I didn't want to dash your hopes so I lied and told you he said yes. So then I came up with the plan for the fake double date to try to get out of it while tricking you guys into hanging out together. I'm really sorry."

"And Mark, I'm sorry I led you on that nothing else was going on, and that we accidently made Courtney break up with you." Chase apologized.

"It's cool you guys, we've been talking and we already figured out most of it. Zoey thank you for trying to protect my feelings, but it's OK, if anything like this happens again, just tell me the truth and I won't blame you."

"You got it, I promise Quinn."

"It's alright about Courtney too. She was the reason I said no to a date with Quinn, but now that I'm no longer dating her, I can admit that Quinn is really cute, and I love all your cool science facts. And this Science on Ice thing we've been watching has been marvelous."

"Isn't it? You guys just missed Thomas Edison doing a triple axel."

"So…are you two dating now?" Zoey asked hopefully.

"Yeah, I guess. Quinn, will you be my genius girlfriend?"

"I would love to be your girlfriend, you handsome hunk." Quinn beamed back at him.

"OK then, I guess now that everything's good now, Chase and I will let you get back to your date."

"Thank you again Zoey, and if you and Chase ever want to double date with us for real, I think we could have lots of fun together."

"Sorry Quinn, me and Chase were just faking it, we aren't actually dating, we're just friends."

"Really? Because while no one could ever be cuter than Mark, you two are always so cute together. That was the one thing I thought was true about this. Oh well, my hypothesis was disproven. That almost never happens."

"Ha ha, yeah I'm glad you were so impressed by our acting skills then. But we better get going right Zoey?"

"Yep, see you guys later." Chase and Zoey walked out of the room together, but clearly with some distance separating them since they were both spooked by Quinn's theory.

"So what do you want to do now?" Zoey asked.

"Well, we still have the rest of the picnic to go clean up. Want to grab some potato salad and sparkling cider?"

"Sure, sounds delicious." Zoey smiled.

They walked back to where they had abandoned the picnic blanket, by now the sun was just beginning to set and transform the sky into a pale lavender. They enjoyed the potato salad and what was left of the cider and grapes. Just enjoying their time together. Both were sitting cross-legged with their plates sitting between them, now that the stress of all the lying was over they were back in their normal routine just joking and laughing with each other about anything and everything.

But Zoey had something she knew she had to ask Chase, ever since Quinn brought it up, it just wouldn't leave her head. "Chase…I want to ask you something."

"Sure, is it a would your rather?"

"No, it isn't. So you know how Quinn thought we were dating today?"

"Yeah?" Chase asked slowly, he could feel his pulse rising over where this could be leading.

"Earlier today when I told her about the double date, she wasn't even surprised that you and I could be dating and how we apparently look so cute together and it's super obvious how much we like each other and how close we are."

"Yeah, because we're best friends, right?"

"Of course we are, but…"

"But what?"

"I want to be totally honest with you. Will you be totally honest with me?"

"Yeah, I promise I would never lie to you." While he was hiding something from her, she had never asked him flat out if he liked her. So he hadn't lied to her.

"When I asked you to help me at first before I explained my plan, did you think it was a real date?"

Chase was silent for a few moments before answering. "Yes, I did think it was real."

"And you weren't freaked out or confused or anything that it was me asking you out on a date?"

"No, I was…Look, you wanted total honesty, I was over the moon."

"You were, why?"

"Zoey, I, I really like you, you are without a doubt the best girl best friend I have ever had, and I wouldn't want to change that for anything, but from the moment we met, I've felt something in my heart whenever I see you. I really like you, as more than just friends. I have no problem with us being best friends, trust me, you've made the last few months at PCA the best ever. But I do really like you Zoey. When you asked me out, I thought the date was real and I was ecstatic that you must really like me back too."

Now it was Zoey's turn to be silent for a few moments to take everything in.

Chase couldn't stand the silence after a few moments. "I'm sorry, I totally understand if you don't feel the same way. Even if you don't like me as much as I like you, I hope we can still be friends."

"No Chase, I think I do like you too. Quinn just lifted the veil that I haven't been seeing, I think I feel the same way you do. Playing pretend with you today was nice, it probably would have been fun if I wasn't worried about Quinn the whole time. You're the best guy friend I've ever had, and I wouldn't want to change a thing between us. But now, if you want to, I'd be happy to try something new."

"You really mean it?"

"Yeah, I do." Zoey reached out and grabbed his hand.

"Then Zoey Brooks, will you allow me to take you out on a real date tomorrow?"

"I would love to, Chase Mathews," Zoey nodded along, "but why wait till tomorrow? We have everything we need right here. How about we watch the sunset with our daisies and scented candle? Nothing could ever be more romantic."

"Whatever the lady wants." Chase stood up to go sit by Zoey so they could both face the sunset over the ocean. They both leaned into each other and enjoyed the moments of peace and happiness that the truth was finally out in the open and there was nowhere they would rather be than with the person next to them.

"This is a good first date, but want to go on a real double date with Quinn and Mark sometime?"

"Whatever you want Zoey, you know I'll follow you to the ends of the Earth if you asked me to."