I came up with an idea if the Mal situation was a lot more serious to Mike and Zoey's relationship than canon. Don't worry Mal didn't do anything too bad but let's just say it was enough to harm Mike and Zoey's bond. I hope this will be worth the read. Enjoy it as much as you can.
Zoey felt absolutely crushed, Mike and her broke up and it was all her fault.
Well technically Mal also had a hand in the whole ordeal but she also was at fault, and now she was sitting in the pool at the resort alone.
Funny thing about that, is that Chris was able to get the first and second generation cast to come together for a reunion vacation(probably so they wouldn't sue) but either way, Zoey was still saddened by what happened even if there wasn't much bad blood between her and Mike.
Suddenly she heard a little splash and looked to see Gwen swimming towards her.
"Oh hey Gwen." Zoey sighed sadly.
"Hey. I heard about you and Mike, are you doing okay?" Gwen asked sympathetically.
"To be honest Gwen, no I'm not. I lost Mike and it's my fault. If I had just known about Mal sooner, maybe we'd be fine." Zoey said in disappointment.
"I have to ask, what even happened between you and Mal anyway? Did you-" Gwen began asking before Zoey interrupted hastily, "No! Absolutely not!"
"Okay well that's a relief." Gwen sighed in relief, to which Zoey really couldn't blame her for.
"However after Alejandro's elimination he did flirt with me and we ended up making out but I didn't know it was Mal, and thought he was Mike. I felt like such a fool when I found out what happened." Zoey explained.
"Wait, why would Mal even do that? He hates you and practically everyone." Gwen asked skeptically.
"I don't know, probably some sick way to gain my trust or to spite Mike. Either way even if I didn't know it, I still felt guilty and told Mike about it." Zoey sighed.
"He didn't take it too well. I imagine." Gwen guessed.
"That's right but I can't blame him though, he didn't blow up at me or anything but given that happened and how long it took me to figure out Mal's existence, he figured we probably shouldn't stay together. It hurts but I need to accept what I caused." Zoey explained before sighing, "I'm a terrible person."
Zoey began to tear up which really broke Gwen's heart, she didn't like seeing any of her friends this upset, especially since it was at the hands of someone as awful as Mal, she had to help her.
"Zoey, listen to me, you made a mistake, I've made my own share of mistakes but that doesn't make you a bad person. Can I tell you something about me? It might help." Gwen grabbed Zoey's hands as she spoke.
Zoey nodded which gave Gwen the cue to speak.
"When I said I wanted to make up with Courtney I meant it. I felt like a horrible person but I didn't want to admit it. That's why I didn't really accept that me and Duncan kissed while he and Courtney were dating, I didn't want to be a bad person but then I realized after the match that I wasn't a bad person at all and that I made a mistake. So after the challenge I gave Courtney a genuine apology, maybe you can fix things between you and Mike if you talk it out." Gwen told Zoey reassuringly.
"I don't think he's gonna get back together with me just because of that, Gwen." Zoey admitted sheepishly.
"Well at least you could be on good terms. That's a good thing." Gwen said.
Zoey smiled in thought, maybe she can't fix her relationship with Mike, but she can at least salvage a bond between him, yeah this could work.
"That sounds pretty good actually, thanks Gwen. I gotta go talk to Mike." Zoey smiled before swimming off to the pool exit with Gwen smiling as she watched her leave.
"Good luck Zoey." Gwen said to herself.
Zoey soon found herself looking for Mike, she then saw Cameron walking by the bar table and decided to speak to him to see if he knew where Mike was.
"Uh Cameron, if you don't mind me asking, do you know where Mike is, I kinda wanna talk to him." Zoey asked the bubble boy curiously.
"Uh, you're not gonna beg him to take you back are you? I know you care about him but he likely doesn't want to do so." Cameron said meekly.
"No, don't worry, I just want to clear the air between us." Zoey smiled reassuringly.
"Oh that'd be great Zoey, he's by the hot tub, you can meet him there." Cameron said happily.
"Cool, thanks Cam." Zoey replied gratefully before walking off leaving Cameron with a hopeful smile.
Zoey soon found Mike in the hot tub with Brick and Sam, it seemed like they didn't notice her presence because they were more invested in their conversation.
"I mean, I do care about her but I just couldn't get that feeling out of my head. If she hadn't seen the DVD, how long would it take for her to figure it out. It didn't feel right being with her after that." Mike admitted to the two.
Zoey sighed sadly at this but once again, she couldn't blame him.
"I guess I can see why you feel that way, it's pretty careless of Zoey but maybe you need to talk it out, you two have been through a lot after all." Brick began speaking but soon Sam noticed Zoey's presence.
"Looks like he'll get the chance." Sam pointed out and soon Brick and Mike turned to see Zoey who waved sheepishly.
"Uh hi Zoey, uh… yeah this is awkward." Mike said nervously.
"It's fine Mike, I just want to apologize to you. Brick, Sam, can we have a moment?" Zoey began.
"Of course ma'am. Sam, shall we take our leave?" Brick nodded as he turned to Sam.
"Yeah, this was getting pretty tense for me anyway." Sam said before he and Brick left the hot tub leaving Mike and Zoey alone.
"Look Zoey, if you want us to get back together, it's not gonna happen, it just doesn't feel right after what happened with you and Mal." Mike said.
"I know, but I don't want us to end on bad terms so Mike I'm sorry for what I did, and I'm sorry that it took so long for me to figure out Mal. My devotion to you blinded me and made me ignore the warnings Alejandro and Duncan gave me." Zoey sighed, "Can you forgive me?"
'Mike's look softened and he looked remorseful himself, which confused Zoey a bit.
"I have to apologize too, Zoey. I should've told you about Mal, but I thought if I did that, you would turn away from me. I should've known better and maybe you would've figured Mal out much quicker but we can't change that now." Mike admitted.
"So, is there anyway we can stay friends?" Zoey asked hopefully holding a hand out.
"Definitely." Mike shook Zoey's hand.
Zoey found this bittersweet, on the one hand she wa upset things between her and Mike would never be the same but on the other hand, Mike accepted her as a friend and well, she'd rather have Mike in her life than without him at all.
Wasn't that bittersweet? Yeah I ship Zoke, I won't lie but let's be honest, things seriously could have ended this way between them. I really hope I did a good job on this, I haven't really written this type of story before.
