13: Snowmen: Mike, Zoey, and Cameron

Ever since he got out of his bubble, Cameron has been used to filling the "third wheel" spot whenever he was with his cast of friends. With an odd number of cast mates, it was logical that someone was going to be let out of this Russian roulette dating game. It just happened to be Bubble Boy. Not that he minded really; after all, he had been stuck in a bubble for most of his life. He had some things to experience before going on a date. Once he finished his list though, Cameron was left to stare at the empty void he felt whenever around his friends. Yet when that void was filled by none other than Zoey, that's when things got awkward.

See, because Zoey was still dating Mike, Cameron couldn't do a thing about his crush. That's what he called it, a crush. Something he could squash and get rid of, and soon he hoped, because he didn't think he could handle all these . . . feelings much longer. Cam was a man of science, of rationality. Love, and things like crushes, did not fit that mold. He had difficulties understanding it and his crush on Zoey didn't make things any clearer.

He should have seen this coming though. Honestly, she was the only cast member he felt truly close with while there. She talked to him like he was normal, and she had no idea how much that meant to him. Being seen as a regular guy was a pipedream of his for so long. Once he had it, it was difficult to get rid of that accomplished feeling, especially when Zoey and Mike were official and he lost whatever shallow chance he had with the redhead.

Cameron understood things about Zoey that Mike did not. He didn't know what whenever she was feeling sad, she liked to buy a tub of strawberry ice cream and eat it while watching reruns of her favourite TV shows. Mike had no clue Zoey learned to roller blade when she was three and had been on a professional team where she actually won a medal for that sport, if one could call it that. A hazard was what came to Cameron's mind when he thought of it, but nevertheless, he knew this about her, and he kept every treasure she gave him for safe keeping.

Before the show, she used to eat the ice cream alone. After it, she called Cameron, usually in tears at this point, and asked him to come over and split it with her. Although he was lactose intolerant, he came anyway. He hadn't been able to deny her anything since "Total Drama" ended, including soap opera marathons which made his brain feel like it was literally oozing out his ears, but it made Zoey happy, and that was what counted.

He wasn't trying to say Mike was a bad boyfriend though, because he wasn't. It was just with his multiple personalities, things were difficult. Zoey did research, but with Mike not getting treatment, he wasn't stable all the time. Sometimes he jumped from personality to personality all day, and it got tiring on the girl. She tried to understand, she did, but it was hard. Cameron tried to help, but his efforts were wasted. Mike had a hard time seeing the damage his erratic behaviour caused, driving a wedge between boyfriend and girlfriend to the point where they broke up constantly.

This was draining on Cameron also. He couldn't handle all this back and forth crap. By the time they finished senior year, Cam had had about enough of all this confusion. Whenever she was single, she sought him out to the point where, for at least a few minutes, he thought she like liked him. Then, when she got back with Mike which always happened, she'd put him back in the friend zone.

It was their first winter of freedom, and Zoey invited him to join her and Mike at her house to build snowmen. It was a family tradition of hers that she extended to both boys, showing just how highly she thought of them. Cameron came without question and the African American college freshman arrived to find Mike and Zoey already starting theirs. He went over and greeted them both. Zoey launched herself at him with a hug, clinging to his neck and fogging up his coke bottle glasses. In his bubble years, holding her up would have been impossible, but after Lightning took him to the gym twice a week when they went to school together, he got some muscle. Well, enough to hold the light girl up for a moment, a moment too long if he calculated it just right.

They broke apart and received a smile from Mike. He appeared his normal self, but Cameron made a mental note to keep an eye on him that day.

He started building his snowman, just an average one, when he heard giggling. Cameron glanced over a Zoey from the corner of his eye and felt something inside him snap. The redhead stole Mike's hat and ran off with it. Mike was pouting at her but chased after her with a grin. Cam pretended he wasn't watching, but one eye was always on them. He saw them fall in the snow, Zoey on Mike's chest. He saw Zoey's flushed cheeks, saw them share the same air, but he looked away before they kissed. Something inside him was bubbling up and for a moment, he thought he was going to be physically ill.

Alright, so maybe it wasn't just a little crush, but what was he to do about it? Cameron caught Zoey's beautiful, breathless laugh and sighed.

'She'd never go for me anyways.'

He told himself that, hoping that untrue thought would let him get some sleep at night.