Back with Chapter 6. I'm SO sorry for the delay but I was waiting for my co-writer to finish up with that illustration.. *looks at Cherry* but other things came up for the both of us. The cover image is of said illustration of the lunch date between Topher and Ella. I've kept you guys waiting long enough so here it is. Chapter 6.

Duncan was roaming around the apartment, trying to find something to do while Zoey makes lunch. It's been a whole day since Duncan moved over to Zoey's apartment and at first, Duncan thought the place would look pretty boring but it didn't look half bad as he thought it would be. Most of her decorations are old retro collectables which from what he remembered on the show, fits Zoey's taste being the "indie chick" and all. Duncan doesn't have a problem with retro items but he's not really that much a fan of them either being into punk and all that.

"Man." Duncan groaned as he plopped onto his bed as he stared at the ceiling. "The place is sweet and all, but not a lot of action goes on here. Guess it could be because I've been hanging with RVB for so long." Duncan stopped to ponder about his last sentence. "I wonder how they're doing without me. Scott's probably throwing a stupid party while Lightning is getting scolded by Alejandro for doing something stupid like taking a bath with an electric blow dryer in hand. Good times." Duncan chuckled before replacing them with a frown on his face. "But that's in the past. I don't need them anymore. I can be bad all on my one. I'm the original bad boy. The King of Evil. The Grandaddy of Disaster. The Duke of Villainy. The—"

"Duncan!" Zoey hollered from the kitchen. "Lunch's ready!"

Duncan got up from his bed with a scowl for being interrupted as he gave out his "great speech" but headed out of his room to the kitchen where he was greeted with two plates of spaghetti, a side of salad and chicken.

"Wow all this looks delish." Duncan smiled as he took a seat and immediately began digging into the food. Zoey laughed at Duncan's impatience as she sat in her seat and began to eat. Not much was said between the two as Duncan was currently in Heaven as he continued to ravage his plate. He never knew Zoey would be such a good cook. This beats anything his mom ever made, anything juvie served him and anything Courtney has forced down his throat. Basically, the food was great.

"Man. Gotta give you props Zoey, this food is to die for." Duncan mumbled through bites as he reached for his cup of water.

"Thanks. I get the recipes from my mom." Zoey giggled. "I was worried you'd hate it because…"

Duncan stopped eating so he can look at Zoey. "Because what?" The delinquent asked with confusion on his face.

"Because…" Zoey played with her fingers, nervously. "It's not something you're used to being in street gangs for so long."

"Oh is that all?" Duncan laughed with Zoey giving him a playful pout. "Chill, sweetie. Food is food no matter where it comes from unless it's from Chef."

This caused both young adults to laugh at the joke as they reminisce about how much they hated Chef and his food.

"Those were some dark days especially when we got into it in Season 4 for what he did to…." Zoey's mood darkened a little bit at the thought of him and Duncan could clearly see that he still has an effect on her since she still loves him deep inside her heart somewhere. It's as plain as day just by looking at her face.

Duncan, wanting to clear up all this negative atmosphere, decided to change the subject. "So yeah. Chef's food was the pits. Your food is a major step up in my book from anything I've ever eaten and that includes what I ate with RVB."

"Aww thanks for the compliment." Zoey smiled, putting away her negative feelings as she played with the remainder of her food. "So what did you guys used to eat from the streets?"

"Well we pretty much use the money we stole from other gangs to keep us going." Duncan explained. "I mean our parents weren't going to help us and that pretty much got us where we were today as RVB."

"I never did ask." Zoey spoke up. "How did you guys even become a group in the first place? Last I remember from the show, you guys were never really friends and didn't like each other all that much."

"It's….. kinda a long story. And I mean long." Duncan sighed as he looked away from Zoey, who gave him a skeptical look. "Though one of these days when I'm in the mood, I'll tell you the whole story."

"Promise?" Zoey asked, hopefully.

"I promise." Duncan chuckled before taking another bite of his meal.

"Then let's pinky promise then just to show it's official." Zoey smiled brightly as she raised her pinky on the table.

"Pinky promise?!" Duncan almost choked on his food, punching his chest to get the food going through his airway. "Bad boys don't do pinky promises!"

"But you're not a bad boy, remember?" Zoey giggled while she batted her eyes at Duncan in a playful manner with the boy's face red in embarrassment.

"Uh yeah. Last time I checked I was on the RVB. Biggest bad boy group in the country." Duncan smiled with pride.

"Keyword: was on the RVB. Meaning you're no longer in the group also meaning, you're not really a bad boy anymore." Zoey smiled.

"I am too!" Duncan protested, annoyed at the girl's claims.

"Duncan… please just pinky promise with me. It would mean that it's a sincere promise between us. Unless you don't trust me." Zoey said as she put her hands on her face and began to sob.

"Aww man." Duncan groaned as he saw the girl crying in front of him. Why is this such a big deal to her? It's just a stupid promise that can be made clear with words than with….with… a pinky promise. That's so….unmanly. But Zoey's sobbing was beginning to wear on his nerves so he decided to sideline his pride for now as he stuck out his pinky.

"Ok! Let's just do this already." Duncan grumbled.

"Yay!" Zoey smiled, happily as she locked her pinky with the dumbfounded delinquent. "I knew you were a sweetheart. Only sweethearts would have tried to comfort a girl in need."

"B-but…" Duncan stuttered, shocked at Zoey's deception. "I legit thought you were crying."

"Oh no. Just a little trick I learned is all." Zoey chuckled as she got up to take her plate to the sink. "I didn't know I would be that good if I was able to fool you.

"Because I didn't know you could be so sneaky." Duncan muttered, upset at being duped by Zoey but impressed at the same time. "Never knew the indie princess had a dark side."

"Well I can get pretty tough when I want to be. " Zoey smirked as she put the dishes away. "Just ask Scott."

"I would but he's probably still pissed off about the fight." Duncan shrugged.

"Well I hope you guys patch things up one of these days." Zoey said as she sat down once again. "I mean you guys are friends after all."

"Heh, I guess so… " Duncan trailed off. "Speaking of friends, when was the last time you talked to the bubble dork and Gwen?"

"The last time I talked to Cameron and Gwen?" Zoey corrected, a little offended at the insult at her friend. " Well let's see… about a month ago or so. We've all been pretty busy lately especially Gwen with her job as an artist."

"Wait, Gwen actually got a job in painting?" Duncan asked, shocked at the news.

"Yeah." Zoey responded. "You more than anyone should know how gifted she was in drawing and painting. Her artwork's amazing and apparently the guy who picked her up as one of his artists thought the same thing too."

"Wow…. good for her." Duncan nodded, thinking about his memories with Gwen. Sure she's his ex-girlfriend and all but part of him still thinks of her in a positive way even though she probably still hates him after how they left things two years ago.

"Uh Duncan, you ok?" Zoey waved at Duncan's face trying to get him to snap out of his daydream.

"Oh what? " Duncan looked back at Zoey. "Oh no I'm fine. Just thinking over the news." Duncan got up from his seat and looked around. "So what do you want to for the rest of the day?"

"Well I plan on sort of rearranging some of the things around the house especially now that you're staying with me." Zoey answered. "Want to join me?"

"Uhh…" Duncan looked away trying to think of an excuse to get away from the boring task.

"Unless you don't want to." Zoey turned away to walk down the hall.

"Ugh, fine." Duncan groaned as he followed her down the hall with Zoey turning around to flash him a beautiful smile.

"Thanks Duncan." Zoey beamed. "Would be a lot more fun doing the chore with you around."

"Uh sure no problem." Duncan responded, putting his hands in his pocket. "Ugh two times in a row that I've let this soft side take over. Can't help it when she gives me those puppy dog looks or that pretty smile of hers…. wait pretty smile? What the hell is wrong with me?" Duncan groaned, mentally as he began moving some boxes around the room. He picked up a heavy one and moved it to the corner of the room but a picture flew out of the box.

"The hell? " Duncan saw the photo on the ground and dropped the box so he can pick it up. He was a bit shocked at the contents of the photo. "I can't believe it… to think she would have something like this laying around. Guess Zoey hasn't fully moved on yet if she still has this around." Duncan whispered to himself as he placed the photo back in the box just so he wouldn't upset Zoey but he does plan on getting it back at a later time.

Topher was laying on the couch, playing with Chef 2.0. Ever since he got back from his lunch date, he's been lounging around the house.

"Meow." Chef 2.0. purred.

"It's nothing, boy." Topher sighed. "Just trying to find something else I can do. Today's lunch date was great. So great that I literally don't have much to do but at the same time, I still feel good."

"Meow."

Topher smiled to himself thinking about the lunch with Ella. They got to talk about their childhood, how they grew up, their losses and how it pained them and most importantly, what they want to do for the future. Topher got a lot out of this date than he thought he would get.

"Ella's some girl. She's nice, smart, funny, pretty and full of life." Topher explained with a smile on his face. "Like you can literally feel like sunshine and rainbows when you're around her."

"Meowwwwww." The cat purred once again, rolling on his back.

"Man I would love to hang out with her soon. I got her number so maybe I should give her a call tomorrow or something just to see if she has plans for the weekend." Topher grinned as he got up from the couch and went to the bathroom leaving Chef 2.0. behind.

"…..Meow."

Ella just finished taking a shower and was laying down in her bed. She had time to think about today's events concerning her date with Topher and she was quite pleased with how things turned out.

"Topher is a fine gentleman. " Ella smiled as she turned her fan on. "His background is almost similar to my own. It's crazy. Plus he's become quite the dashing man if he wasn't already handsome before. Plus he's pretty nice as well."

Ella smiled thinking of it all and how comfortable she felt at the end of their date with telling Topher everything about her. Seeing how he was trying to comfort her was something Ella doesn't really get a lot from outside people besides her co-workers at the vet. Most people would find her strange for singing to animals or singing out loud in general. Because of that, she doesn't really have much friends and to see with all those things considered, Topher trying to comfort her in his own way along with being understand really touched her heart.

"I feel happier than ever. But at the same time I don't want to eat the poisonous apple once again. I ate it before when I fell for Dave, hoping for the best and look how that ended up. The poisonous apple that produces the thing called love. It's effects are nothing more than a fairy tale after all." Ella thought to herself as she played with her hair.

"Just a fairy tale…." She repeated as she got up to go and make a call to one of her co-workers about her shift tomorrow.

A/N : And that ends Chapter 6. Topher and Ella got time apart to recollect over their feelings about the lunch date. Where do things go from here? And what of Duncan and Zoey? What did Duncan discover in the photo? These questions will be asked as the story progresses. Hoping to have Chapter 7 done by this Saturday for sure since I'll be pretty busy for the next few days. Hope you guys liked this chapter. Until next time!