Hey guys back with Chapter 5. The problems happening with my family has died down a bit so I have much more freedom to write the chapters and post them out on time compared to the last few chapters. Here it is, enjoy.

It was the next day as Topher was rummaging around his closet for something to wear for his upcoming lunch "date" with Ella in half an hour. He over slept and was currently looking for something good to wear at the expense of his once-tidy room.

"Damn it!" Topher slammed one of his shirts down in frustration. "How hard is it to find something nice to wear to a simple lunch? No matter what I pick out, it just wouldn't work."

Topher's been at it for at least 15 minutes and was still out of luck. Chef 2.0. just so happen to be the casualty in all of this as the poor cat was literally buried in Topher's clothing.

"Meoow." The cat purred from within the clothing.

"Not now, Chef!" Topher called out to his friend from inside the closet. "I'll give you some milk when I'm done looking for something good to wear." He continued looking searching for some clothing and as he stepped back to take a breather, his foot got caught with a purple dress shirt. Curious, Topher picked up the shirt and began to examine it.

"Hmm why I have never worn this… doesn't look half bad especially if it's just for going out to lunch with someone…out to lunch with….someone."Topher pondered, mentally before coming to another realization. "Why the hell am I stressing so much on how good I need to look for as simple lunch? I mean it's not like it's a date or anything special like that….. this wasted time for nothing. Besides, I 'd look good in anything I wear regardless." Topher smiled to himself as he folded the shirt and brought out some simple black pants he threw out earlier.

"Looks like a match for me." Topher grinned as he flattened them and began to iron it. As he was doing so, Chef 2.0. walked over to his leg and hit his paw at his foot, lightly.

"Meoowwwwwwwwwww." The cat purred out as he continued his activity.

"Ok. Ok. I get it you're hungry." Topher rolled his eyes in amusement. "I'll go get you the food then, I got to quickly get ready because I'm almost out of time." He ran out to his kitchen as he began to prepare lunch for his cat.

Finally leaving his house, Topher hopped in his car and drove off to the intended destination. He and Ella both agreed to eat at a simple salad bar called Salad Guapa. Lame name, but apparently it has some of the best vegetarian dishes around. Ella's not big on the whole meat deal seeing as she's an animal lover and a vegetarian so they opted to go to a salad bar instead. While they originally planned on meeting up at the clinic and going in one car, they felt it saved more time by going straight there and Ella would give him the directions.

"So Ella's directions says to turn left here."Topher said as he drove in the direction of the map. "Then make a right on the main street. Not as far off as I thought but then again, I never really noticed that me and Ella lived in the same city…" As he said this, he reached for his comb, then adjusted his front view mirror as he began to comb his hair while looking at himself on the mirror.

"Damn…look at that fine daredevil staring at you." Topher smiled to the mirror as he continued combing his hair. "I think I'm more than ready for this lunch. Never felt this good in a while. Guess I've still got it."

"Hey watch where ya driving!" A woman yelled as Topher almost drove off to the side of the street while he was fixated on his mirror.

"Ohh shit." Topher cursed as he pulled out the brake pedal and slowed the car down. "Phew, that was close."

"Where did you get your license from? A raffle?" The woman spat out, angrily as she walked away, cursing inaudible words as she did so.

"Yeah up yours!" Topher yelled out as he flipped the bird. Then he began to drive to the salad bar once again. Guess looking too good could cause some complications.

Topher saw the sign that said " Salad Guapa" then he pulled into the parking lot and got out of his car. Topher then began searching for Ella, but found no trace of her. Topher began wondering around the perimeter hoping to find the young woman.

"She said this was the place she wanted to meet, but I'm not seeing her anywhere…." Topher scratched his head in confusion. "Where could she be?"

"Looking for somebody?"

Topher screamed out loud in surprise. He turned around to see Ella, smiling at him in a mischievous manner. She wore a white blouse, pink skirt with flowery designs to it and wore simple yellow flats. Her black hair was free from the bun she had it in the day she did the procedure on Chef 2.0. She looked absolutely stunning.

"When did you-?" Topher pointed to her.

"Me? I arrived her 15 minutes ago so I waited until you arrived so I could surprise or better yet, scare you." Ella giggled. "Once I saw you got out of your car, I secretly made my move and the rest is history. I do hope you can forgive me but I was feeling rather imp-ish today."

"Pfft whatever." Topher scoffed as he dug his hands in his pockets. "I wasn't really scared… I was just a surprised a bit, that's all." Ella put her hand on her mouth trying to control her giggles at Topher's prideful demeanor. "What? I wasn't scared! Let's just go inside."

"Ok." Ella simply smiled as she skipped and danced to the front of the door to the entrance as Topher looked in mild amusement.

"This is going to be a pretty interesting lunch."

They made their way inside the salad bar and made their way to a male customer clerk, who was busy cleaning up his desk.

"Welcome!" The energetic clerk smiled before checking out Topher and Ella. "My, my and what can I do for this lovely couple today? I'm assuming a table for two?"

Topher and Ella's faces turned red in embarrassment as the young man tried to clear up the confusion. "You have it all wrong. We're just friends out to eat some lunch together. That's all. It's NOT a date."

"Yes sir, of course." The clerk grinned which annoyed Topher for some reason. "We have a table opened for you right at this very moment. Please, follow me." After saying this, the clerk walked away with Topher and Ella following right behind him. They made their way to a table right next to one of the windows of the restaurant.

"Here you are." The clerk smiled once again with that signature, courteous smile of his which bugged Topher to no end. "I hope you enjoy the lunch dat- I mean lunch." The clerk chuckled and bowed his head in apology as Topher growled. Once the clerk was gone, Topher and Ella went to the salad bar and pretty much picked up anything that looked nutritious and not meaty since Topher didn't want to upset Ella and he's been meaning to try other nutrients for his physique.

Once their plates were full of food, they both made their way back to the table, as they began to feast upon their meal.

"Wow.." Topher mumbled with his mouth full before swallowing it. "This Caesar salad is to die for. It feels so enriching."

"Alas is one of the many great gifts that Mother Nature has given to us." Ella smiled as she wiped her lips with her napkin. "What would we do without her?"

"I've been meaning to ask." Topher stopped eating as he looked at Ella, who put her fork down to stare at Topher. "Why are you so into nature, animals and singing? Like if there was anything that I could have remembered about you on the show is that you loved singing and talking to birds."

Ella looked down at her plate as she sported a sad smile on her face which Topher noticed.

"Uhh did I say anything wrong?" Topher asked. "If I did, then we could talk about someth—"

"It's because my mother loved nature, animals and singing." Ella whispered, with her head still lowered.

Topher's eyebrow rose in confusion. "Huh?"

Ella looked back at him with the same sad smile. "It's because….my mother loved nature, animals and she loved to sing as she was in choir back in her high school days. On her spare time, she would usually sing to the animals that we encounter at the zoo, the forest, and basically wherever Mother Nature's beloved creatures would be. She sang to them all and sang me to sleep when I was a little girl. She was amazing….atleast when she was still alive."

"When she was still alive? You don't mean…"

"That's right." Ella clarified, sadly. "My mother is no longer with us. She passed away when I turned 10 due to a fatal disease. Her dreams, her love for everything in this world concerning animals and her passion for singing…. I took them all up as my own dreams as I stayed with my mother in her last hours."

Topher frowned in sadness at the story as he could see from Ella's face that the mere mention of her mother brings in great sadness to the usually, cheerful girl. He felt the urge to try to comfort her which is weird since he usually isn't one to do such a thing. He's usually just worried about himself and his goals but with this, it just felt different.

"Wow…" Topher scratched his head, trying to change the sad atmosphere currently taking place. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Oh it's ok." Ella smiled, softly at Topher. "I know my mother's in a better place now and I just wish to make my dreams come true by becoming a master veterinarian and at the same time, try to pursue a career in singing if I ever get the chance. I just wish to carry on her beautiful dreams for the things she loved the most while pursuing my own endeavors."

"I'm sure your mom would be proud of you." Topher said in a reassuring tone. "I mean, so far you've done most of what she wanted to do. That's gotta mean something, right?"

Ella giggled, lightly. "I suppose so. I do like to believe she's proud of me. But enough about me. What about you? What made you want to become a host in the first place? I mean that seemed to be your favorite thing from what I remembered from our season of Total Drama together."

"Well….." Topher began. "It started off as something me and my best friend, Ted wanted to do when we were in middle school. Ted was my best friend actually he was kinda like a brother to me. We just watched a lot of reality shows and got sucked into the idea of one day hosting our own show called the Topher & Ted show."

"Aww how cute." Ella giggled. "You both sounded very enthusiastic as kids. That's a nice trait to have. The belief and hope that you'll someday make your dreams come true….. what became of your plans with Ted? Are you both still going for it?" She noticed Topher's face darken. "Topher? What's wrong?"

"It's nothing it's just…" Topher narrowed his eyes, trying his best to keep it together with his emotions. "Our plans got well cancelled… because…..Ted died."

"What? Oh no.." Ella gasped as she covered her mouth in sadness.

"Yeah. He was killed in a car accident as he was walking back from school couple years back." Topher said. "When I heard that he died, it almost broke me in two. That my partner, my best friend, and the guy I considered a brother… was all of a sudden gone. Just like that. From that day forward, I continued pursuing our old dream of being a host but I would do so without fail. So I become more determined to look the part of the host and pretty much get my body in perfect condition. I wanted nothing less than the best on my way to the top and I guess…. that's why people considered me "arrogant" but I didn't care. I'd do what I can to have my own show one day…. and I was almost close on doing that on Total Drama until…. he interfered."

"Who?" Ella inquired.

"Chris." Topher spat out in disgust as his anger began to surface at the mention of his former idol. "He embarrassed me on live television and made me believe that I was close on attaining my dreams. But it was all just a lie." Topher gripped his fork with so much force that one would think it could break any second. "Ever since that day, I became a laughing stock to those who took hosting classes with me and nobody took me seriously anymore… all my dreams… everything Ted and I dreamed about when we were kids….. all of it just disappeared."

Ella could see the obvious sadness in Topher's voice and face. She hated seeing someone this unhappy and at the same time, she feels like she got to understand him a little better. His arrogance, his pride and his determination on becoming a host of his own show. It all stemmed from a childhood dream he and his friend shared together. It's almost like their lives were somewhat similar as they had a traumatic part of their lives that shaped them into what they were today while still keeping hold of those original dreams their loved ones shared with them.

"Chris… that man has caused so much turmoil." Ella frowned. "How he could torture teenagers for as long as he did is just sickening especially with how horrible he treated me on the show when I was trying to become friends with Sugar." Ella's frown strengthened at Sugar's name. "All I wanted was to be friends with her… why did she hate me?"

"Oh you mean that one crazy blonde chick?" Topher asked before shivering at the memory of Sugar. "Man…. that girl was plain out mean and nasty. She pretty much slammed me on the wall just because I asked where Chris was before the season started. Why would someone so sweet like you want to be friends with a girl like that?"

"It's because… well I could just tell she's not used to having a lot of friends. After looking back into the season, I believe she saw it all as a "pageant show" and lived her life in competition with everyone out to get her. She's not used to kindness so…. I guess that's why she didn't trust me."Ella's face gave out a pained expression at the thought.

"Well, have you talked to her since then?" Topher questioned.

"I haven't." Ella sighed, sadly. "But I hope one of these days, I could make things right with her and we could one day be friends with Total Drama behind us and most of all, Chris. After the season ended, I was able to speak up against his cruelty to the community and I'm assuming that may have been one of the reasons why Total Drama…well sunk."

"Wow, so you basically help take down Chris." Topher nodded his head, pleased at the thought. "Pretty cool. At least he got what was coming to him. Got taken down by the thing he considered his "one true love": his ego. While I still have my "one true love" intact with the hopes that one of these days, my hosting gig will take off once again."

"One true love…" Ella muttered. "It's hard to know if such a thing even exists."

"What do you mean by that?" Topher inquired.

"What I mean is, how can one tell if they've found their one true love? I thought I found mine on the show, but sadly it was just a fairy tale that didn't come true." Ella responded, sadly.

"You had a thing for one of the guys on our season?" Topher's mouth dropped a bit in shock.

"If that's what you would like to call it, but yes I did have strong affections for a boy on the show." Ella replied while she played with her fingers. "His name was David or as you would know as Dave. It was like love at first sight when he found my shoe after I had lost it and placed it on my feet like a prince. I thought I found my one true love there but…" Ella's face saddened at the memory. "How foolish for me to think of such a thing as I confess my love, he rejects me as he held affections for Sky. I was crushed."

Topher listened to the story in amazement. He never knew that such a pure girl could fall for a guy so easily and over a shoe. He's never been in love with anything but himself and his dream but he has had many female admirers from his school but he wasn't interested in any of them as he felt no need to date them. So he never had to suffer heart break from a crush like Ella did.

"Well, that's life. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. There's bigger fish out there in the sea." Topher pointed out.

"I'd like to think that but I guess on my journey to achieve my dreams as a vet and in singing, I think there is one thing I would personally want to find on my own. My own goal that isn't related to my mother."

"Really?" Topher asked, curiously. "And what would that be?"

"Finding my true prince." Ella beamed as she went back to eating her dish with Topher looking on in wonder.

"What a girl. Having so many big dreams at the same time seems like pretty impossible. A fool's errand. But to this girl, she doesn't care about any of that. To her, as long as there's still breathe in her body, she could still make her dreams come true." Topher mused, mentally as he stared at the young woman in front of him.

"This lunch…date was pretty nice." Topher said to himself which Ella overheard.

"Hmmm?" Ella hummed.

"Nothing." Topher chuckled as he continued eating his food.

They finished their meal and Topher paid the bill. Once everything was clear, they made their way outside as Ella pulled out her keys before turning to Topher.

"Thank you for the lovely lunch. I really enjoyed myself today." Ella smiled.

"Yeah same here." Topher chuckled. "So where you heading off to?"

"Well, I have to get my aunt and grandmother that CD they wanted for the longest time." Ella replied. "I mean it's the least I can do for them as they took me under their wing and have been very kind and loving to me ever since my mom died. I wouldn't know what to do without them."

"Well I'm glad you have someone taking care of you." Topher smiled. "But that does lead to another question. Whatever happened to your dad?"

"Ahh that's a good question." Ella pondered before answering. "Let's just say I never knew my father as it was just me and my mother when I was growing up. I'm assuming he must have left sometime after I was born."

"I see.." Topher mused as he folded his arms in thought.

"Yeah… but I really do appreciate your hospitality. We should do this again sometime." Ella beamed as she went to hug Topher, who was frozen at the sudden action.

"Ummm y-yeah we should." Topher stammered, still motionless as the girl hugged him. Once she let go, she gave him a formal bow.

"I'd sing you a song before I leave, but I really need to get going. Until next time!" Ella waved as she rushed to her car and got inside. Topher watched her pull out of the parking lot and head off into the distance. Topher walked over to his own car and looked at himself in the mirror and was surprised to see that he was still smiling.

"Wow… could have sworn I stopped smiling already." Topher touched his lips remembering today's lunch and his time together with Ella. "That girl…. definitely makes life a lot more interesting. That's for sure. I…..feel warm. Like it's a feeling I haven't felt in a while since I almost took over the show 2 years ago."

Topher took out his phone and looked at Ella's number before smiling. "Ella. I definitely wouldn't mind hanging out with you again. If it means getting this feeling more often."

A/N: That ends Chapter 5. Topher and Ella got to bond more over their painful memories and their dreams for the future. Where will this bond take them? Will it get stronger or will it crumble? What of Duncan's situation with Zoey? Will he adjust to this new life style of his? Find out these questions and more next chapter. I'll hopefully have it out by Thursday or Friday. Oh and btw, my co-writer Cherry will be drawing an illustration for the lunch date scene tomorrow so I'll post the picture as the cover or you could check it out on her DA account Galactic Red Beauty. Hope you all liked this chapter. Until next time!