"CODY! CODY! CODY!" Zack shouted loudly as he threw the door of their room open.
Cody shot up in his bed, his eyes half open. "What do you want?" he asked his brother in a half annoyed, half sleepy voice.
"You'll never believe what just happened to me!" Zack exclaimed, ignoring the annoyed look Cody was giving him.
"What, you made your bed?" Cody asked fake excited.
"No," Zack said, like he believed Cody actually meant it when he asked that. "It's even better. Maddie and I were under the mistletoe, and she actually kissed me on the cheek!"
Cody, still half asleep, replied in a sarcastic voice, "Oooh, she kissed you, what a big…" His eyes then shot open. "She kissed you!"
Zack then folded his arms and tilted his head a little, looking proud. "She sure did. Right on the cheek."
"She meant it as a friendly kiss though, right?" Cody said, still surprised that Zack had actually got what he wanted.
Zack then hung his head a little. "Probably, but at least I can pretend that it was more romantic. Well, I'll guess we'll see which one it really was tomorrow when she comes," Zack said, a little bit of hope in his voice.
"I guess so. Now go to bed," Cody said, falling back down in his bed, falling asleep quickly. But Zack went to sleep with a huge grin on his face. He fell asleep after a few minutes of thinking, and dreamed, of course, about Maddie.
The next day, Zack was awoken by the alarm clock. He shot up and threw a glance at the sleeping Cody and then back at the alarm clock, which was next to Cody. He took a pillow and threw it at Cody, which woke Cody up quickly.
"Turn that stupid thing off. I don't even know why you set it," Zack said wearily.
Cody's hand hit the top of the alarm clock, which stopped instantly. He then rolled over and went back to sleep. Zack lay back down, and tried to fall asleep again. But he found it hard. He couldn't do it. So he simply got up, and walked dragged himself to the bathroom door, and slipped in.
Cody woke up half an hour later, as Zack emerged from the bathroom fully dressed in jeans and a sweater.
"About time you woke up," Zack said to his sleep brother as he walked over to the mirror.
"What's that smell?" Cody asked curiously. It didn't smell bad though. It was actually quite a good smell.
"My cologne," Zack said, grinning.
"You mean my cologne," Cody said, putting a large emphasis on the word 'my'. "And why did you randomly decided to use it?"
"I randomly decided to use our cologne," Zack started, putting more emphasis on 'our' that Cody had put on 'my', "because I don't want to stink when I talk to Maddie."
"Wow, first you actually start to bathe, and then using cologne. You might actually be clean for once in your life," Cody said, mock-excitedly.
"Ha ha, very funny," said Zack sarcastically.
He went into the living room and over to the kitchen as Cody went to take a bath. Zack quickly ate his cereal and drank his mil and rushed out the door. He rushed to the elevator, pressing the down button. He waited for about half a minute before there was a ding, and the doors slid open. "Finally," he muttered under his breath. He stepped in, and pressed the lowest button, which had the word 'lobby' printed over it. He leaned on the back of the small elevator while it slowly made its way down, letting out a barely audible ding every time they passed another floor. Finally, there was a louder ding, and the doors slid open again.
Zack ran into the lobby, and hopped the few stairs, landing in front of the candy counter. He shifted his eyes to Maddie and grinned. "Hey, sweet thang," he said, using the line he used all the time.
"Before you get any ideas, Zack, that was only a friendly kiss last night," Maddie said.
Zack's grin was quickly replaced by a frown, and he hung his head. "That's what I was afraid of," he said depressed.
He sulked over to the couch, and plopped down as Cody walked out of the elevators and sat next to his brother on the couch, looking at the tree.
"So how'd it go with Maddie?" Cody asked.
"Exactly how you predicted. It was just a friendly kiss," Zack said, still very sad.
"Well, at least it was a kiss. You can still do what you said you could do last night. You can still pretend it was more than a friendly kiss," Cody said, trying to cheer his brother up.
"It's just not the same," Zack said. He decided to try to get over it though, so he put a smile on his face. "Wannna go sledding, bro?" he asked cheerily.
"Are you sure you're in the mood?" Cody asked.
"Of course. I'm always in the mood for sledding. You go get the sleds, and I'll go…do whatever I need to do outside to get prepared." Zack said.
Cody rolled his eyes and went to the elevator as Zack went outside. Zack plopped down in the snow, looking at the hill behind the hotel while waiting for Cody. He looked at all angles, trying to find the part of the hill with the biggest slope, which, of course, would be the most fun to sled down. Just as he found the right spot, Cody appeared with the sleds. Zack quickly got one, and set it down where he knew the best slope was.
"Wanna race?" Zack asked, grinning because he knew he would win.
"Sure, why not?" said Cody, setting his sled down near Zack's and getting on it.
"1…" Zack started.
"2…" Cody followed.
"3!" they exclaimed in unison and kicked off, flying down the snowy hill. Zack glanced over, and Cody was neck and neck with him. Zack looked confused, but got even more surprised when Cody leaned forward more and got a little ahead of Zack. Zack narrowed his eyes, and leaned forward more himself. But he happened to lean too far over in hope that it would make him go faster. He fell head first and the sled rolled over him. He began laughing, and Cody was soon in front of him, doing the exact same.
"That's what you get for trying to use the biggest slope as an advantage over me," Cody said. Zack gaped.
"How'd you know I did that?" he asked.
"Oh, please. What else would you do when you were waiting?" Cody replied sarcastically.
"Good point," Zack said, beaten.