A/N - This will be the final chapter with innocent fun times between Nicholas and Zack. Starting next chapter, we will dive into the plot! Of course there will be tons more building of Nicholas and Zack's friendship, but you'll actually have a clue of where this story is headed starting next chapter. That, however, is in the future. So for now I hope you enjoy this fun little chapter! ^_^

Chapter 8 – Romancing Gone Wrong!

"Zack, welcome back! So, how was your walk in the forest?" Mr. Moseby asks suspiciously.

"It was alright." I grunt as I walk by him. I'm not in the mood to deal with that guy right now.

Mr. Moseby remains silent as I walk by him and make my way to Cody and Woody's room. Good thing too because the last person I feel like discussing the details of my little outing with is Moseby. He's not exactly one to side with me in the first place.

On the way to Cody's room, I find very few people on the Sky Deck. That's odd? Where is everyone?

Upon arrival, I find Cody's door is wide open. I pop my head into the room to find Woody sound asleep and the shower running. Wow… that church was filled to the brim with every living person in its vicinity, yet around here people are still sound asleep. I envy their slumber right about now.

I walk over to Woody's bed and flip the mattress. "Wakey, wakey! Rise and shine Woodster." I laugh as I watch Woody tumble to the ground. Messing with him never gets old.

Woody snores once, noticeably louder, before popping his head up. "What's going on?" He wipes his eyes and looks at me.

"Come on. Get ready. You can't sleep all day." I say as I toss him some clothes.

"You're one to talk. You're usually not even up by now." Woody rolls his eyes.

Suddenly, the bathroom door opens up to Cody with a towel round his shoulder and a pair of boxers on. "Zack, what're you doing up so early?" Cody asks as he drops the towel in the hamper.

"Why is it so surprising for everyone to see me awake?" I sigh.

"You're just normally asleep until at least noon on Sundays. You can't deny that." Cody states as he scrolls through the clothes in his closet.

"Oh don't you worry, I wish I wouldn't have woken up so early today myself." I groan as I plop down onto my bed.

"Awww, is little Zacky cranky because he didn't get his full nights sleep?" Woody pinches my cheeks. He has problems being serious sometimes.

"No." I brush his hands off of my face. "I meant because I kind of got myself trapped into going to church this morning." I look down. I'm not sure why, but it feels a bit embarrassing to say that in front of particularly Woody.

"That's so unlike you Zack. What were you doing at a church?" Cody raises his left eyebrow in confusion.

"Nicholas was there, so I thought it wouldn't be so bad. Boy was I wrong…" I inform them.

"Who's Nicholas?" Woody asks.

"A friend of Zack's." Cody answers. "So, what exactly happened at church?"

"The idiotic teacher said that we were all worthless. I was pretty close to kicking his worthless ass across the room!" I raise my voice with the second sentence. Just recalling all of this makes my blood boil.

"Zack, please tell me you didn't make a scene?" Cody begs me. I remain silent. "Oh no… you didn't scold the guy, did you?"

I take a deep breath. Cody just knows me too well. "He was asking for it, calling me worthless. How dare he!" I raise my head in discontent.

"How'd Nicholas respond to all of this?" Cody questions me further.

"I don't know. He was trying to stop me, but I still raised my voice anyway. Somebody needed to speak for the crowd and I was the only one willing." I inform them.

"It sounds to me like Nicholas cares a lot about you. He was concerned for you when you decided to argue and I can say it's obviously the other way around. I mean, you wouldn't go to church for just anyone." Cody smiles. I begin to blush in embarrassment for no apparent reason. Cody's smile just makes things more awkward than they should be.

I clear my throat. "Look at the time. I'd better get some breakfast on the Sky Deck before Nicholas gets here!" I jump up from the bed and walk toward the door.

"He's coming?" Woody begins to smile. "Sweet! You'd better introduce me."

"Yeah, yeah. Just get ready and be at the Sky Deck by noon." I say as I close the door to avoid any further talking with them. Those two can just talk all day long.

When I arrive at the Sky Deck, I find that it's quite crowded. I guess a few minutes was all that was necessary for people to pile up out here.

I walk over to the buffet table and pick out some of my favorites, pancakes and bacon. I then obviously drown them in syrup. Yum!

I shove a piece of bacon into my mouth as I pour myself some orange juice. Suddenly, I feel a tap on my back. "Yes?" I mutter through the bacon dangling out of my mouth. I turn around to find Nicholas standing beside me.

Nicholas giggles as I spit out the piece of bacon. "What 're you doing here?" I ask him.

"It's fifteen minutes till noon. Too early for ya?" He continues to chuckle under his breath.

"I guess I must've lost track of time." I inform him. Thanks a lot Cody and Woody.

"Anyway, I wanted to tell you. This boat is amazing! I can't believe you live here!" He throws his head left and right to observe every inch of the Sky Deck.

I stare at him in confusion. I didn't expect him to be so happy after that whole scene I made in church. "Aren't you upset at me for what I did at church?" I ask him.

"Of course not. I was more worried about you than I was about your defiance to my religion. I had to make up a fake name for 'the demon who penetrated our Holy House' to save your butt." Nicholas laughs even more. This isn't how I'd expected him to react at all. I guess he's a better friend than I'd thought.

"Haha, that's what they called me?" I too begin to crack up.

"Yeah! I knew you'd find that funny. Although it won't be as funny if you ever end up returning to church and coming face to face with Lenning again." He warns me.

"Don't worry about it. I have no intention to do so." I roll my eyes. "I still can't believe you just listen to that crap."

Nicholas looks down. "Well, I kind of agree with it. It's what I've been taught my whole life and I feel like it's the way I have to live."

I notice Nicholas' discouragement from the conversation and change the subject. The last thing I want is to waste a day with Nicholas arguing against him. "Anyway, I want to go introduce you to my brother. Then we could have some real fun!" I smile.

"What about your breakfast?" He point to the plate resting on my right hand.

I throw it in the garbage. "To hell with breakfast." I wink at him as I grab his arm. "Now come on. Didn't you say you wanted to meet my twin?"

Nicholas' face lights up once again. "I sure did!" He exclaims as I lead us both toward the boys' cabins. I can already tell that this is going to be an awesome day!

A few minutes into walking toward Cody's room, a particular someone catches my eye. "Hey Nicholas, check that one out." I raise my eyebrows in amazement. From her long blond hair to her beautifully crafted figure, she is nothing but pure eye candy!

"What? Where?" Nicholas squints trying to find the whereabouts of my observation.

"Are you blind? I'm referring to that beautiful girl over there. I think it's about time for you to see the Zack charm in action." I cockily brag as I walk toward her.

"Oh… okay then." Nicholas sighs as he follows behind me. He doesn't sound all that enthusiastic about this, but I'm sure I'll leave an impression on him when he sees how good I am at picking up girls.

"Why hello there. What's such a beautiful babe like yourself doing all alone?" I wrap my arm around her shoulder.

The girl looks at me with a face of disgust. "Get away from me." She backs away and waves her arms.

"Just relax. Good old Zack's here to make your day an amazing one." I begin to massage her shoulders. She's so into me. I can just tell.

"Ughhh." She throws herself back and slaps me across the face. "What part of I'm not interested don't you get?"

"I'll be right back. I'm gonna go get us some food from the buffet table. Why don't you have a seat?" I persistently continue. I don't want to fail in front of Nicholas.

As I walk toward the buffet table, I turn back around and notice that Nicholas is talking to the girl. I wonder what he's up to? He seemed completely against the idea of approaching this girl to begin with and now he's talking to her? I just have to know what they're talking about!

I tiptoe around the two of them and hide behind a tall plant. First I was spying from a tree to watch Cody and Bailey, and now this. I'm really quite the stalker these days.

"You know, you're a lot sweeter than that friend of yours. Maybe we can get together some time and, you know, have a little fun." The girl begins to rub Nicholas' chin with the tip of her index finder.

Nicholas begins to back up toward the plant I'm hiding in as she follows him with a lustful look in her eyes. "Uhhh, no thanks. I'm not… ahhhhh!" Nicholas trips over the plant as he backs away, causing the pot to shatter and the soil to spill all over my clothes.

As Nicholas falls to the ground, he tumbles on top of me in not exactly the most desired manner…

"Dude, get up! My hand is stuck in your ass!" I cry out. He apparently fell in such a manner that my hand was pressed up against his butt. I guess in the grand scheme of things it's no big deal. I mean, it's not like I'm gay trying to fight an urge for him or something. I just would prefer my hand not to be up his ass is all…

"Ahhh, sorry!" He jumps up in dismay.

"Call me." The girl whispers into Nicholas' ear as she slips a piece of paper with her phone number on it into his pocket. I watch Nicholas who's shaking as a result of her whisper. Is he that in love with her that he's actually getting chills?

"Haha, yeah. Bye nowwwaaaaaahhhhhh!" Nicholas backs up again, this time to trip over me. Maybe I should've stood up sooner? "I guess gravity hates me today." Nicholas sighs as he lies on the floor.

"Having fun?" A voice from behind us asks. I turn around and see Cody and Woody laughing at Nicholas and I covered in soil and piled on top of each other on the floor.

"Real funny guys. For your information, Nicholas just got some digits. Who's cool now?" I retort. Serves them right. Sure, I intended to be the one to win over that chick, but since Nicholas got her I might as well use that to my advantage.

"No, no, no." Nicholas stands up and pulls out the phone number. "She's the one who came onto me. I'm not even interested." Nicholas begins to get antsy. Suddenly, he looks at Woody. "You look like you need this phone number more than I do. Why don't you give her a try?" Nicholas places the piece of paper into Woody's hand. Nicholas isn't interested? How is that possible? Not interested… in a HOT GIRL? That's pure madness!

Nicholas walks toward the buffet table as a smile grows across Woody's face. "I love your new friend!" Woody exclaims as he runs off eagerly to give the girl a call.

"Cody can you he…" I look up to find Cody chatting with Nicholas as they get food. "…lp me up?" I roll my eyes as I rest my head on my palm. I guess this day isn't turning out exactly as I'd planned, but for some reason I still have that amazing feeling inside. A feeling that seems to be present during the unexpected. A feeling that my new best friend has given me. Oh, Nicholas, I love you man!

I know it's seems to have been nothing but pointless friendship building up until now, but there's a point to all of this. Stay tuned for next time where we dive into a major plot point!

As always, let me know what you think in a review. This time I would like to hear your thoughts on these fun little scenes between Zack and Nicholas I keep making. Are they boring? Are they interesting? Are they cute? Let me know in a REVIEW! =D