Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama Island, and I am not making any money off of this story.

Hopefully this update will make up for the length of time it took to post. I've noticed this story got quite a bit of attention while I was gone though, hopefully this means this chapter will be a record breaking hit. Also, this chapter will introduce another fanon couple that certain fans are bound to recognize.

Chapter Nine: What Makes a Date?

Lunch at the resort wasn't quite as extravagant an affair as the buffet that was served for breakfast, but the café offered a nice variety of food and it was all well made. Much better than the garbage that Chef had forced on them. Everyone knew that he could cook, he just messed it up to make them all miserable, something Courtney pointed out when they sat down to eat in a corner booth.

"Well if there's any justice in this world, Chef doesn't have a date tomorrow." Cody replied, flipping open the small menu out of habit, he already knew what they had.

Courtney giggled slightly to herself; the thought of Chef going on a date was absurd.

But who knew if the man was even interested in girls, he was dressed in a skirt or apron more often than not.

Eww, don't go their Courtney! The CIT told herself mentally, the mental images would ruin her appetite if she got into them.

"You okay Courtney?"

"Fine, just a particularly sick train of thought," Courtney replied in a tone that said not to pursue the subject.

Cody looked at her for a moment. "Okay then, what do you want to order?"

"A club sandwich I suppose," the brunette looked up at her boyfriend. "What are you thinking?

"Hamburger and some fries I think."

"Bridgette's not going to like you if you keep eating like that you know." Courtney's tone was matter-of-fact, but Cody knew there was more too it. And he thought about it as he went over to the counter to place their orders.

Bridgette was one of a very small number of people, on or off the island that Courtney was really comfortable with. He knew that she wanted him to become friends with her for the coming season, especially if they ended up on the same team.

Bridgette was a nice and fairly pretty young woman and Cody did hope that they would become friends. They had never interacted much on or off of the show, but he hoped that would change in the near future. Not just to put Courtney at ease, but to make friends like he had intended too on the show in the first place.

Then a thought occurred to him.

"You think Chris would put us on different teams now that he knows were together?" Cody asked in a slightly worried tone. Because that meant he would have to fight his girlfriend, and he knew that Courtney played to win and you shouldn't get in her way.

Courtney took a few minutes to think it over; somehow it had never occurred to her that Chris would go out of his way to separate them now that he knew they were together. A separated couple would create no small amount of drama.

"Yeah, yeah that sounds like something he would do." Courtney finally agreed, now feeling slightly depressed. Their sadistic host had already done that to Trent and Gwen, and that had just spiraled out of control.

Cody tried to think of something cool and reassuring to say, unlike in movies, it was rather hard to think of the right to say in moments like this.

"Well he can't separate us here, so let's just enjoy ourselves. Besides, the next season is still a ways away and no one knows what'll happen.

Courtney didn't seem to be convinced, so Cody looked for another way to change the subject.

"Is that Heather and Ezekiel over their?" The words left his mouth before he was even able to process them, so even he was surprised by what he saw.

The raven haired popular girl and the home schooled prairie boy were, in fact, sitting together at a table in the corner. There were two small pizzas sitting in front of them, though Ezekiel seemed to be the only one eating. Heather was going on a tangent about something and waving her arms for emphasis. Ezekiel sat across from her, chewing a slice of pepperoni, but seemed to be giving her his full attention none the less.

The other two teens in the room stared at them, Courtney slightly more blatantly. There was just something so wrong about the sight in front of them, but it made an odd amount of sense. The most disliked male and female on the entire show were sitting together.

Though the former was somewhat debatable after everything Justin had pulled during season two.

"What in the world?" Courtney asked in disbelief. "That's just so wrong!"

Cody nodded, but for a different reason than his girlfriend. He knew that the girls didn't like Ezekiel for the most part, though that anger had faded somewhat over time. But the toque wearing teen had said those things more out of naïveté than any real sexist thoughts, and most people had come to realize that and move on.

Heather, on the other hand, was one of the meanest girls Cody had ever met. The girl had pretended to be friends with several people and then ditched them when they weren't useful anymore. She had caused rifts inside the teams that had them turn on one another for no real reason. And to top it off, she had tried to break up Trent and Gwen just so they wouldn't look out for each other during season one.

She had been slightly mellower during season two, only acting like a general brat at times compared to season one. Even so, she had done better than she had any right to.

"They're on a date." Cody said in faint disbelief.

"They're not on a date," Cody turned to look at Courtney. "It just can't be there's no way!"

"They're sure look like they're on a date." Cody insisted lightly.

"They're having a bite to eat, that doesn't make it a date."

"We're just sitting and having lunch."

"That's different; we're dating so that makes it a date."

"Maybe they're secretly dating."

Courtney gave her boyfriend a disbelieving look.

"What, like any of the other couples here make sense."

"They're not even having a real conversation, Heathers just whining about something and no one else will listen."

"Poor guy," Cody muttered lightly.

He honestly hoped she was right, if this was a date then Heather probably wanted something from Ezekiel, though what the prairie boy could have that she wanted was another question all together.

"He can walk away any time he wants, it's his choice to be there."

Cody and Courtney managed to stop staring before Heather or Ezekiel noticed. But even after Cody got up to get the food when it was finished they continued to give the two small looks.

Eventually, Heather stopped ranting and started to eat her pizza. Ezekiel contributed little to the actual conversation, but gave the occasional reply. This might have been the longest conversation he had ever had with a girl on the show, and he had yet to insult her.

Cody managed to get Courtney's attention and asked her about the new book she was working on. She had already written a successful self help series for teenagers, but had put her writing career on hold after that to focus on other things and was only now getting back to it.

The meal was nice, and the conversation trailed off into simple areas while they ate. Friends of both, those who did and did not have dates, had come to get some food and stopped to say hello to at least one of them.

It was enough to keep the pair from touching on anything sensitive, and nothing truly interesting happened. The only noteworthy moment was when Heather seemed to realize other people were now in the cafe and quickly left her table, not even pausing to say goodbye to Ezekiel.

Her hasty retreat wasn't lost on the prairie boy, who looked somewhat put out when she left. And even Courtney, who still held something of a grudge against the boy, thought it had been bad manners.

After she finished her meal Courtney began to excuse herself.

"Since we're going to spend tomorrow together I'm going to go talk to some of the others. You don't mind, do you?"

Cody was still finishing his meal and shook his head. "Nah, go have fun. I'll see what the others are up too.

After a hug and kiss on the cheek Courtney was walking over to DJ. DJ had two salads in front of him, one for him and the other for bunny.

Cody was just finishing the last of his fries when Leshawna walked in. Harold was working on something in his room so she decided to get a bite to eat. The city girl had first grabbed a bottle of water. She had intended to get some food too, but when she saw Cody without Courtney she decided now was a good time to have a talk with him.

"Hey short stuff, how's it going?" Leshawna greeted her old teammate with a smile. One he returned, she hadn't meant it as an insult he was sure.

"Pretty good, how about you?"

"No complaints, you mind if we talk minute?"

Cody, who was taking a drink, simply shook his head in response.

"Cool, I need to know if that new girl of yours is going to get over what Harold did anytime soon."

Slightly put off by the way she referred to Courtney, the Brunet told Leshawna about what had happened between them that morning. Leshawna looked a bit relieved to hear what happened.

"Finally, Harold's been guilt tripping over that forever. It's about time she let it go."

"Well Harold did cheat to get her kicked off." He knew that they didn't get along, and while he liked Leshawna, he also thought Courtney deserved someone to defend her.

"Yeah, and it tore him up inside! I know you like her Cody, but that girl has one hell of a chip on her shoulder."

"Nobody's perfect," Cody shrugged. Under other circumstances, he would have avoided a confrontation with Leshawna if he could, the city girl could be pretty harsh when she wanted to be, but he had to say something.

"Besides, she did have the right to be mad at him. Did it get a little out of hand? Yes, but Harold never bothered to apologize until now, he's partially to blame for this."

"I'm not saying he was right to do what he did. But that girl didn't exactly make things easy for him."

Leshawna sighed before speaking to Cody again.

"Look I didn't come here to fight with you; I just want this thing resolved before it goes too far." The large sister certainly sounded sincere.

"Like I said, they had a talk. Courtney just needs a bit of space while she gets over things."

Seeming to accept that, Leshawna turned around to leave again, and then paused after she had turned around and faced him again.

"Oh yeah, one other thing I meant to ask you."

"What's that?"

"What did you ever do with Gwen's bra?"

Cody flushed at the question, and looked around in embarrassment. Fortunately no one else seemed to have heard the question, and Courtney had left after a short word with DJ so she wasn't around.

"I gave it back to her after she was voted off during season two. I always meant to give it back, but that was the first chance I had too."

Courtney would kill me if I hadn't.

Nodding, the African-Canadian teen went to get her meal.

Cody sighed in relief when she left; the last question had made him particularly uncomfortable.

He hoped that Courtney never brought the subject up; he didn't even want to think about what her reaction would be.

This was mostly an intermission chapter, so I know not a lot happened. I expect the next chapter or two to get back to the drama part of their relationship. Here's a hint, Gwen and Courtney have a little talk.

Also, to anyone who didn't know, the relationship I mentioned was Ezekiel and Heather from The Kobold Necromancers, Total Drama Comeback. If you haven't read it I suggest you do, the buildup for this pairing was truly impressive.

And on another note, the bra thing was just because some people brought it up. I had honestly forgotten about it, but decided to tie it up as a loose end. Now please review and tell me your thoughts, I'm always eager for feedback.