The walk back to the tent was a quiet one. Neither Cody nor Gwen was willing to speak first.
"See?" they heard Owen as they entered the tent. "I told you they were fine."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Jared replied, rolling his eyes.
Ignoring this exchange, Cody lie down and fell asleep as soon as he hit the mat.
Gwen sighed. She truly thought this was going to get easier if they had talked, but it only got worse. And now he wouldn't even talk to her. He just fell right asleep as if nothing had happened earlier.
"You okay, Gwen?" Owen may not have been the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but he could definitely tell when someone was upset about something.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she lied, not wanting to get Owen concerned. The less people getting involved in all of this, the better. She wanted it to stay between her and Cody.
Owen stayed silent for a few seconds before speaking. "Okay, but if you need to talk about anything, I'm all ears."
Gwen lay down. "Maybe tomorrow, big guy. I'm a little tired." This wasn't exactly a lie—she had a long night.
"…Alright."
This surprised Gwen a little, as she remembered Owen as the kind of guy to never concede when another person was upset. When they were younger, he was one of those people that would always try to cheer her up whenever she was down.
Much like Cody.
…
…Except with bad odor…
Truth be told, Owen did mature a little since the age of sixteen. Now that's not saying he's much different than he was when he was younger, but the police force had pretty much taught him everything he needed to know about when and, more importantly, when not to talk. And it actually helped.
Though Owen wasn't exactly sure if this actually was a moment where talking wasn't the best thing to do, he respected Gwen's wishes and kept quiet. He always had a deep, mutual respect for her—at least since her astonishing display of strength and perseverance in the obstacle course challenge of the very first season of Total Drama. Though he'd probably do a lot better at that challenge now, he still felt there was absolutely no way he could best her at it.
There were times he felt ashamed about how he acted after winning the whole season, how he practically paraded the check around in front of her. Though she kept pulling him off his high horse a few times, he always had managed to get back on, because HE was the one with the check. And after he ultimately ended up losing the check via a contest that resulted in the start of the second season, it was truly all for naught anyway.
He sighed himself, now recalling what she said she would've done with the money. She would've split it up with him, and they probably wouldn't have had to go through another friggin' season (unless of course she would've gone for the challenge too).
He felt guilty, yes, but yet when all was said and done she still considered him a good friend. He didn't know why, but she did. And that made him respect her even more.
To him, she was like a sister he never had, and it made him feel terrible knowing she was hurting about something right now.
But at the same time, he trusted her. If she wanted to tell him, she would. And if she didn't, well, that was her own decision. But he'd always be there if she needed him.
Always.
-X-
Cody got a very rude awakening the next morning.
"AHHH!" he shouted after a large mass was suddenly brought down upon his body.
"Sorry! I was hungry… sat up too fast… got a little dizzy…"
"Owen… please get off…"
"Right." He quickly got over Cody and left the tent.
The Warden took a few deep breaths before noticing the familiar sound of chuckling on the other side of the tent. "Oh, yes, very humorous, Gwen."
"Oh, come on. Better you than me."
At that, he couldn't help but smile. She was sounding much better than last night.
Maybe he got through to her.
-X-
"Alright, Noah, now you have to tell us," Owen egged on as he, Cody, Gwen, Jared, Duncan, and even Chris crowded around the almost unrecognizable man (due to his recent Izzy-esque antics and his sweater vest now being replaced by a leather jacket of Izzy's choosing) and his redhead "mentor."
"Yeah, man, how the hell did this happen?" Duncan added. "I didn't even think you were straight."
"Ignoring that," Noah began, "it all started at the Playa des Losers, before the Extreme Manhunt game…"
-X-
"Izzy, go away."
"Aw, come on, Noah! Loosen up!"
"Izzy, I'm trying to read… and YOU'RE NOT HELPING!!"
"What is that book called, anyway? Broadway Musicals of the 1940's?"
"Grr! I'm not gay! How many times do I have to tell you that?!"
"Until you stop denying it."
"Ugh! Alright, fine! How can I prove to you that I'm a heterosexual?"
"Well, you could kiss a woman for once—MMPH! Mmph! …Mmmmmmph…"
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
"…That felt… good…"
"…Yeah…"
"See, told you I'm not g—MMPH!"
-X-
"And that's how it all started," Noah finished.
A short silence followed, as everyone around was actually quite surprised that Noah had willingly kissed someone of the fairer sex.
Duncan had broken the silence. "Wow-how-how! Noah, I didn't think you had it in you!"
"Oh, trust me, he does… literally!" Izzy somehow found it appropriate to reply. "See, one of my fetishes is to make Noah pretend he's gay, and I had brought a bunch of d…"
Noah managed to cover Izzy's mouth, but it was too late, as everyone else stared at the two in shock and, in some cases, disgust.
After the awkward silence subdued, Chris clapped his hands together. "Well, that was… good to know…"
"I'm not hungry anymore…" Owen mumbled.
"I never was," Gwen added, looking down at her slop.
-X-
"I'm bored again."
"Me, too."
"Maybe we should head back to Superjail."
"Why?"
"Because the Warden does not want us to kill anyone here."
"Oh… right…"
"…"
"…That doesn't mean we can't kill a few bears or chipmunks or sasquatches, right?"
"I don't see why not."
"Goodie."
"You have the flies?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Then let the fun…"
"…begin…"
-X-
After Izzy's major faux pas at that last minute, the only two people now sitting with them were (guess who) Cody and Jared. Everyone's guess was they were used to this sort of thing.
"So… BDSM and pixie sticks, huh?" Cody questioned.
"BDSM and what?" Jared asked, confused.
"…Oh, yeah… That…" Noah's face flushed slightly. "Well, see, Izzy's into that sort of thing, and… well… I can't say I don't… enjoy it."
"He really likes the pixie sticks," Izzy added. "And the spankings."
"Izzy!"
"What? He asked about the BDSM and the pixie sticks, right? If you didn't want him to know about the pixie sticks, you should've told me sooner."
"…It wasn't the pixie sticks…"
"…"
"…"
"…Oh! So you didn't want him to know about the spankings?"
Noah slammed his head on the table.
Izzy turned back to Cody and Jared. "Sorry. He wants to keep some parts of our love life secret. I don't know why, though. Maybe he's embarrassed of me, or something."
"I'm not embarrassed of you; I'm embarrassed of you telling people of our sex life," Noah explained, though his words were muffled by the table.
Cody shrugged. "I don't know, Noah. You two have only been together, what, three, four days? And you've already gone farther with each other than most people go in a year. I'd say that's a pretty good achievement, and deserves bragging rights, but you know… that's just me."
Izzy giggled and wrapped her arms around her man. "Yeah. Noah's just too stuck up to understand how lucky he is, right Noah?"
"…What are you talking about?" Noah turned his head toward her. "Of course I know I'm lucky. I just don't like it when you tell people about personal things like the dil… like the spanking thing…"
The redhead frowned. "Oh… Why didn't you say anything before?"
"…Because I didn't think you'd blab on and on about…" He stopped himself, realizing that was a stupid thing to assume.
And apparently, Cody agreed. "Um… this is Izzy you're talking about."
"Yeah, yeah, I know…"
Suddenly, Izzy's smile returned and she patted Noah's back. "Ah, cheer up, Noah! How about you and I head back to the tent and maybe…" She whispered something in his ear, and he perked up.
"Uh… Okay… But don't tell anybody, okay?"
"Aw, man…" Cody groaned, as he had not been able to hear Izzy's whispering.
"It'll be our little dirty secret," Izzy cackled. "We just need to hope Katie and Sadie don't catch us."
"Damn, we would never hear the end of it," Noah added as they got up. "Our eardrums would burst from their screams and squeals."
"Oh, that would be so cool!"
"…No, it wouldn't…"
And with that, the two left the lodge, leaving Cody and Jared alone at the table. "Well, that was quite entertaining."
"Yep."
"…Wanna sneak up on them and take a picture to use for blackmail?"
"…That's… probably not a good idea…"
"Aw, dammit, Jared! You never let me have any fun…"
"…Well, it wouldn't be the most illegal thing you have ever done…"
"Now, that's the spirit!" Cody stood up. "Now, to find Chris and ask if we can borrow his camera. You with me?"
"…Do I have a choice?"
"No."
"Then yes."