The next day did in fact turn out to be a challenge day. And an utterly thrilling one at that: dodgeball. The only way it could've been worse was if team captains had been assigned to pick their teams, but thankfully, that much had been done for them already, so as least he'd been sparred the embarrassment of being picked next to last like he'd always been in middle school. Noah had mostly chosen to sit out and keep to the bench reading his novel, but with Cody's persistance, he'd been coerced into playing a couple games— both of which of course ended with him taking a dodgeball to the face.
Noah rubbed his sore nose as they left the court. "I can't believe they pulled a win!" Cody exclaimed beside him.
"Maybe if you'd tagged in someone other than me, they wouldn't've," Noah mumbled.
"Aw, c'mon, Noah, you weren't that bad," Cody gave him a little elbow on the arm.
"I was pretty bad," Noah retorted. He glanced sideways at the other boy. "And what was with you taking the hit for Gwen that one game? You could've stayed in. You were basically our MVP."
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
"Before you say it: Yes, I know I agreed to go out with Noah." Cody gestured a hand outward, "But that doesn't mean I can't be nice to Gwen at the same time." He shrugged, "Who knows, maybe eventually she'll come around. Everyone knows that if you're taken, it makes you three times more desireable. It's like an unspoken law of relationships: everyone wants what they can't have."
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
"I dunno. I think she's cute. I didn't want her to get hurt," he explained.
"I guess. If you're into that whole pale-skin, dark-lipstick scene," Noah rolled his eyes. "You know you're never going to get her to like you."
"Yeah, probably not," Cody chuckled anxiously. He didn't want to hurt Noah's feelings by saying that if Gwen did like him, he'd most likely— okay, undoubtedly— be going out with her instead of him. Cody made the quick decision to change subjects. "It's gonna be our team's first elimination. I dunno if I can decide who to vote off. Who are you thinking of?"
Noah snorted. "Oh, I've got a few ideas."
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
Noah crossed a leg over a knee. "Lindsay. She's bringing the average IQ of our team down at least 10 points all on her own."
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
"I'll see you at the campfire ceremony," Noah said in parting.
"'Kay, see you then!" Cody waved. Noah didn't even look back at him. The teen's hand drooped.
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
Cody facepalmed. "Ugh, I hope Noah isn't too mad at me." He looked down at his feet in the bathroom stall, shuffling them against the floor guiltily. "I probably ought to think of a way to make it up to him tonight."
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
—
The vote came down to he and Lindsay. He knew he wasn't anyone's favorite on the team (not even Cody's and they were technically "together"), but seriously? He gave an insulted snort out of his nostrils as Chris pinched the squishy marshmallow between forefinger and thumb tauntingly. Beside him, Lindsay was biting her a-week-past-due-for-a-manicure nails. Well, if it did turn out to be him leaving the island, he wasn't going to give any of these idiots any satisfaction.
"Noah."
The marshmallow came at his face before he had a chance to react, bopping him right where two dodgeballs had impacted earlier that day. "Ow," he commented, annoyed. Owen reached down to grab the fallen marshmallow; he didn't even brush off the dirt before popping it in his oversized mouth.
Cody let out a huge breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
"Dude, for a second I thought Noah was going to get voted off the island," Cody said, his blue eyes wide. "That would've really sucked!"
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
"Lindsay, that means you're out," Chris said, irritated that the girl still sitting on her tree stump hadn't clued in yet.
"Oh nooo, reaaallyyy?!" Lindsay whined.
"Yep, looks like," Heather sniped, putting her hands on her hips. "This is what you get for being such a traitor to your team." The blonde's shoulders fell. "Just you wait and see; the next time the Bass are up for an elimination, they'll vote off Tyler for the same reason."
Lindsay clasped her palms together, bringing them to the side of her face. "Eee, I hope so! Then we can be together again!" she bounced on her heels. Heather scoffed and rolled her eyes.
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
"What's the matter, sweetheart?" Noah smirked, "Upset your dig against Lindsay didn't have the effect you were hoping for?"
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
"This is totally unacceptable," Heather fumed. "Lindsay should have been in tears. How dare she be so happy about losing!" She stomped her foot, only to realize she'd brought her nice cork wedge down in some unidentified substance there on the bathroom floor. Her face twisted, "EWW!"
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
Chef Hatchet arrived with Lindsay's neon-pink rolling baggage, dropping it unceremoniously at the toes of her boots. "Hey thanks, Chef!" she said obliviously, opening up her pocket mirror to check her make-up. Chris rolled his eyes.
"Bye, Lindsay, we'll miss you," Beth waved sadly. Trent and Leshawna waved as well. Noah took note. It gave him a pretty good idea who had cast their votes for him to leave— due, mostly likely, to his unenthusiastic and poor performance on the dodgeball court.
The long-legged girl was just starting toward the dock when her blue eyes widened in realization. "Ooh wait! Beth, I forgot to give you my number…!"
"Get going already!" Chris grit out. "We don't have enough air time for pointless heartfelt goodbyes!" He put both hands on the blonde's back and physically began pushing her down the Dock of Shame.
"Ooh, okay, I guess I'll get it to you later," Lindsay nodded. She waved her hand above her head, "Bye everyone!"
Now that things had been concluded, the campers began to disperse. Noah was on his way for the cabin when Cody bounded up beside him. "Golly am I glad you didn't get voted off tonight," he said.
"Oh?" the dark-haired boy's voice was mocking, "Why's that?"
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
"I'm not really mad at Cody," Noah explained. "I've known all along he likes Gwen. That's partially why I was surprised he said yes to trying things out." He folded his arms, "Really I'm peeved that I took two dodgeballs to the face and what thanks do I get? A near elimination. All these challenges so far have had no mental requirement. How is a guy like me supposed to get ahead?" he gestured his arms out huffily.
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
Cody paused and scratched nervously at the back of his head before shoving both hands deep into his pockets. "Well, because otherwise I couldn't invite you to go on a late-night stroll around the island with me."
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
"A late-night stroll?" Noah's eyebrow lifted half a mile. "That almost sounds romantic. Sans all the killer mosquitos and rampaging bears and other rabies-infested wildlife that will undoubtedly be attempting to eat us alive the moment we leave camp."
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
"Sure," he said slowly. "Just let me get a few things." He turned to resume heading for the cabin.
"I'll be right here!" Cody called after him. He took to kicking pinecones around the camp area while he waited.
Noah returned with a flashlight in his hand and wearing an additional jacket. He flicked on the light. "Alright. Lead on," he prompted the other teen.
Cody nodded and started on ahead. Noah followed, keeping the flashlight's beam on the ground in front of them. The island was big and for the most part, none of the campers had gotten to explore it much yet since arriving a little over a week ago, so Cody didn't have a clear idea where he was taking them, but he kept to some of the most-worn paths so they'd have an easy time making their way back later. About five minutes in, Cody began to feel self-conscious, like he wasn't doing enough to make this good for the boy walking wordlessly beside him with a neutral expression on his face. What kind of date-meister was he if Noah wasn't even enjoying himself? He had to say something… or do something. He bit his lip, glancing down at Noah's free hand. Well, they were well out of range of the campground at this point…
Carefully timing his steps, Cody slipped his hand into Noah's. The dark-haired boy seemed surprised for just an instant, before his hand curled around Cody's in welcome. Cody lit up with a smile.
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
"I don't know if it's weird for me to be saying this but… holding Noah's hand felt really, really nice," Cody confessed. "I mean, of course I always figured the first time I'd be holding hands with someone that that someone would be a girl but, eh," he shrugged, a smile still on his face. "Who cares? I'm still getting practice in being a great boyfriend. And it's pretty sweet to finally be in a relationship! Woohoo!" He pumped his arms above his head.
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
Their wandering eventually took them out of the woods and into a clearing. It sloped upward into a elevated bank looking over a sand beach and the water. "Wow. This is a nice spot!" Cody said, looking around. "I must have a better sense of direction than I thought, aha."
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
"Holding hands? A secluded spot under the stars? Pinch me, I must be dreaming," Noah deadpanned. The camera caught just the briefest of smiles spreading over the teen's face before cutting.
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
Noah reached into one of his cargo pockets and withdrew a spare blanket (the size of which seemed like it should've been impossible to fit inside said pocket, but apparently hadn't been). He unfurled it with a quick motion and bent down to spread it out over the ground. "Nice thinking bringing that along!" Cody said, chuckling a bit as he settled himself down on top of it.
"Well, since we don't have any good way to do something as essential as laundry," Noah mumbled, "I didn't want to get my clothes dirty…er," he added on the suffix as he took a seat beside the other boy. He clicked off his flashlight and set it aside; they didn't need it for the moment and it would allow their eyes to adjust. Casually he reached around behind Cody's back to prop himself as he leaned back, which put them in close proximity, but just shy of touching. From this distance he could catch the scent of the shampoo the brown-haired boy had washed with that morning, he noted.
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
"Noah is so close I can actually feel his breath on my ear," Cody pointed to said earlobe. He tapped his forefingers together embarrassedly. "It's kind of… hot?"
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
Cody allowed himself to lean back into Noah's shoulder. Immediately he found it both warm and comfortable. The action elicited an almost inaudible hum from the other teen and Cody found himself grinning again. "If you wanna kiss my ear again, I promise I won't scream this time," he teased, though the very fact he was suggesting it aloud made his face flush.
"Well, that's a relief," Noah mumbled, but he was smirking somewhat.
"I only screamed cuz you did, you know," Cody continued, snuggling himself a little deeper into Noah's shoulder.
"That so?" Noah queried. "Well then…" He craned his neck forward just enough to press his lips to Cody's ear.
"See? Didn't scream. Ha," he gave a single chuckle, hoping it would encourage the other boy a little more.
"If I didn't know better, I'd say that sounded like a 'challenge'…" Noah murmured, going in for a second peck. The sensation plus the chilly night air made Cody shiver. He bit into his bottom lip with his top teeth. "Are you cold?" Noah asked then, cocking a disbelieving eyebrow.
"Only a little," Cody lied, rubbing his arms.
"You should've brought a coat along, brainiac." Noah unzipped his coat and reached his arms up and over Cody's shoulders, pulling the boy snug against his chest while allowing the material to benefit them both.
"Or maybe this is all part of my plan," Cody razzed, though of course it was nothing of the sort. He grabbed the lapels of Noah's coat and folded his arms over the other boy's, soaking up the warmth he was providing with a happy hum.
"Sure," Noah's voice was flat and disbelieving, "Next thing you'll tell me is you've devised a way to vote Heather off the island."
"Ha. Not just Heather," the would-be Casonova bragged, "Everyone except you and me."
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
"Okay, that was kind of cute," Noah admitted. "As far as cheesy one-liners go."
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
Despite the spark that ignited in his chest, Noah's response was still a cynical one. "I seriously doubt that, considering almost half our team was eager to give me the boot tonight."
Cody shrugged. "They just haven't had the chance to realize your value to the team yet is all. I'm sure they'll come around." He chuckled, his effervescent attitude always present.
Noah was momentarily speechless. "I think that's the single nicest thing anyone's said to me since I set foot on this wretched island."
"It goes for everyone, really," Cody went on, for a moment dropping his cool-dude facade, "Everyone has something valuable to contribute. I rocked the dodgeball court today, but in a couple of days, who knows, Chris might make us all do some kind of Extreme Spelling Bee or something. We'll need you, dude."
Noah highly doubted that, but it was still nice (if surprising) to hear Cody thought he was valuable. He stared out at the placid surface of the water awhile, contemplating where he might be if he'd been forced to board the Boat of Losers earlier that night. "We should probably be heading back to camp soon," he commented.
"If you want," Cody said, pausing for half a beat, "I feel like I could stay out here with you forever."
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
Cody waggled his eyebrows at the camera. "Am I good? Yeah, I'm good."
~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~
"That's because you're sharing my coat," Noah deadpanned, though he couldn't help but be a little amused nonetheless. Cody came off too strong a lot of the time, but it was endearing, in its own way. He stood then, yanking the coat off the other boy's shoulders. Instantly Cody shuddered, his limbs scrunching up in reaction to the sudden cold.
"Ack! Okay okay! Yeah, let's go back! It's freezing out here!" he agreed, bluff called. Noah helped him to standing and quickly shook out the blanket, offering it out to the other boy to wrap around himself for the return trip. Grabbing up his flashlight, the two of them set off back into the woods the way they'd come, but not before Cody's hand somehow made it back into his.