Okay, so the more I kept working out the remaining storyline of this fic, I kind of reworked it so not this chapter but the next one will wrap up the Kitty and Owen subplot, so stay tuned for that ya'll! ;) Right now, as Owen, Kitty, and his family get on the road to go on their fishing trip, let's jump back in with Emma as she returns back to Toronto early to start getting herself ready for the start of her next semester of law school. Hope you all enjoy the chapter! :)

(Emma's POV)

Okay, is there some kind of shortage or conspiracy going on with oranges right now?

So far this morning, I have gone to at least 5 different stores near my apartment just to find a few oranges that I usually eat as a snack between classes during the week. And so far… yeah, I'm honestly about to give up since this is cutting into my study time right now.

Yes, I know my semester doesn't start for another 2 weeks, but if I don't study ahead and get into my routine then I am not going to be as prepared as I like for my first round of exams and then my grades will slip and I'll go into finals week having an ulcer because I didn't get my straight A's early.

I kept going up and down the produce section until… Ugh, FINALLY!

I smirked and grabbed a bag before throwing my usual 5 oranges for the week in it.

Right as I was about to throw it on the scale to weigh the bag before checking out, I heard a familiar, "Oh, hey Emma! What's happening?"

I whipped my head over with wide eyes when I looked over and confirmed who I thought it was.

Cody.

He was standing there with a single paper grocery bag in his right arm, looking like he already checked out at the register and probably would've left if he didn't see me. And I kinda wish he would've left if I'm being honest.

What?

Look, I may be more open and trying to be more social like Kitty always keeps getting onto me about since apparently, I'm a completely 'introverted, anti-social recluse', but… ugh, okay, fine, I just don't like chatting randomly with strangers or even acquaintances I run into out in public.

It's just… awkward and kind of uncomfortable for me since I don't really like small talk.

Again... What? It's just weird and I don't like chit-chatting unprompted with people I run into and barely even know, especially out in public.

Unlike my sister who always has to make it seem like she's running for public office every time we go out anywhere since she'll just 'strike up a conversation' with pretty much anyone, anywhere, anytime.

Plus, I didn't know if Sierra was around or not either. Hey, contract or not that I have with her right now, she still understandably freaks me out.

But, as much as I had the urge to just speed walk away, I responded as casually as possible, "Oh, hi Cody. Nothing much. Just getting myself back in my routine before the semester starts… And I needed fruit. What about you?"

Look, I know what I said and despite all the 'Sierra stuff' that happened recently, Cody's still one of Noah's friends and… I at least owe it to my boyfriend to at least try and be social and talk to Cody right now.

I mean, sure the Sierra thing was still there, and even though I'm still completely with Noah on why Cody's dating Sierra since she still pretty much chronically stalks him (and again, stalked me). Sure she has stepped back and listened to me after I made her sign that contract to stop and I will give her credit for being a surprisingly good negotiator… but still!

But, Cody's never personally done anything to me so… guess I should at least try and make nice here, right? I tried to get my head back in the conversation as Cody tilted his bag down and said, "Hehe, same here! But, I've been here since New Year's since I like being in my own space… that and my parents don't like any noise at home. I was chilling out at my place and I saw needed to gear up for the semester since I know I'm probably gonna pull a couple of all-nighters right off the bat. I was just topping off my supply."

My eyes went wide when I just saw nothing but either caffeine and/or sugar in the grocery bag.

There were several bags of different kinds of candy that I felt like were pretty much rotting my teeth just by looking at them (and being raised by two dentists also probably wasn't helping me there either) and then a couple of different kinds of energy drinks (also probably loaded with copious amounts of caffeine and sugar) just stacked up inside the bag.

I remember one time Noah joked saying that Cody 'runs off nothing but caffeine and sugar' and that 'honestly, I'm surprised the guy isn't in a diabetic coma at this point'.

I mean, I remember seeing on Total Drama that Cody looked like he had a sweet tooth, but I had no idea he was to the point that it looked like he actually was pretty much addicted to sugar. I mean, don't get me wrong, I like cake, chocolate, and cookies sometimes, but this… yeah, I think I have to agree with Noah that I'm kind of surprised Cody isn't in a diabetic coma either and/or hasn't had all his teeth fall out from sugar rot.

But, I think he could tell what I was thinking since he let out a laugh and admitted, "Yeah, don't worry, I know it's bad too. I think if it wasn't for Sierra, I'd probably be worse off since she's the only way I eat 'real food' that isn't takeout. But, I'm used to it. You should hear what Noah and all the guys in our alliance say when I tell them how many energy drinks I have to stay awake during our raids or tournaments after studying. Noah usually says he's always surprised my heart hasn't gone into cardiac arrest before imploding in on itself yet."

I mean, just looking at 'what I was seeing' in the bag… can't say I blame Noah for saying that either.

It was quiet before Cody tilted the bag more toward me as he offered, "Oh, here, you want any? I usually don't share, but since you're with Noah, I can share a piece or two if you want any."

Even though my gut feeling was to almost feel nauseous to the point of vomiting since I haven't seen anything that 'food-related repulsive' since Kitty ate that kabob of fried bat wings and bugs when we were doing that challenge in Beijing.

This; however, was just a whole new breed of repulsive to me considering I even think energy drinks are gross and felt like I was drinking sweetened battery acid the first and only time I had one to help me get through my last set of exams for undergrad and I was paranoid I didn't study enough so I tried an energy drink instead of coffee to stay up later… never again.

But, I was really trying to not be that rude about it as I put a hand up and said, "Uh, thanks, but… yeah, I'm gonna have to take a hard pass on that."

At first, I thought I maybe was a little rude after saying it like that now that I did say it out loud, but then Cody just laughed before saying, "Wow, I thought I could tell why you and Noah got along from the race, but I seriously almost felt like I was talking to Noah there for a second with you. But, no worries. It's cool. Just wanted to offer."

It was quiet again and I was slowly but surely feeling awkward and was going to try to 'excuse myself' somehow to escape the awkward small-talk conversation when Cody said, "Hey, Noah said during our last alliance meeting that he was going MIA for a bit since he got a job and was moving soon."

I quirked up an eyebrow, trying to figure out where this was going, as I responded (despite still being kind of shocked by everything Noah was doing), "Yeah, I know he's looking at some condos out here to be closer to his new coding job and me while I'm in law school. He showed me a couple of places his real estate agent showed him the other day that look pretty decent."

All of a sudden I felt slightly offended when I heard Cody let out a slight laugh and I think he caught the look on my face before I could even say anything as he put his hands up and continued, "Oh! No, it's nothing! It's just… Sorry, it's probably more of just an inside joke I guess, but I still can't believe all the stuff you've pretty much gotten Noah to do that I never thought he would ever do in a million years. Especially if you knew him like I did before he met you on the race."

He paused and smirked as let out a laugh again as he went on, "I never really had too many friends before I signed up for Total Drama. Well, if I'm really being honest, I actually mostly went on Total Drama just to get girls to like me more than anything else. And… yeah, that never really worked out like I wanted it to with girls at my school… or on the show since Gwen never liked me as much as I really wanted her to. But, for 3 seasons, I just went in on it trying to get girls to like me and instead, I ended up dating my obsessed club president and pretty much becoming best friends with a guy who ended up spooning with me on an accidental fluke after we passed out near each other from exhaustion during a challenge."

I had to almost bite back on my bottom lip to keep myself from laughing since I remembered laughing way too hard when I saw the spooning incident between Noah and Cody.

Luckily I was able to cover up how weirdly funny I still thought it was as I responded, "Yeah, Noah never really wanted to talk to me about that when I told him I watched Total Drama Island." Cody let out another laugh as he said, rubbing the back of his neck, "Yeah, that sounds about right. I mean, I try to laugh about it now, but Noah's always been pretty 'uptight' about the fact that the internet 'just won't let it die'. I was always pretty used to regular 'ritual humiliation' to begin with, so having a guy who ended up becoming one of my best friends accidentally spooning with me on TV was surprisingly not the most awkwardly embarrassing thing to happen to me. But, then again, Noah usually took stuff like that way too seriously anyway if I'm being honest. It was about one of the few things I was better at than him. Hehe…"

Cody awkwardly laughed a second longer before looking off to the side and going quiet for a second, looking like he was thinking. I kept looking at him in confusion about whatever was happening until Cody just kept going, "Yeah, before being on reality TV, I meant it when I said didn't really have a lot of friends at school… and being Chess Team Captain also probably didn't help me out in the 'cool' or 'popular' department at my school either. But, on day one of Total Drama, I started talking to and hanging out with Noah and Owen between challenges… you know between me trying and failing to get Gwen to like me. But, Noah and I always got along pretty well. But, it wasn't until the Awake-A-Thon challenge that we were trying to keep each other awake by talking about computers, Dragon Assassin, and Kosmic Kaos. And then we started gaming together once we both got booted and then me, Noah, and Owen even started hanging out outside the show. And sure, Owen's still one of my best friends too, but… Noah was always different for me. He was like the friend and brother I never had. And just like real brothers, we would make jabs at each other (him more than me) and I was also kinda jealous of him… and still am now if I'm being real here. Before going on TV, and even though I was the total geek at my school with pretty much no friends outside the Chess Team who constantly had spitballs shot at the back of my head because I wasn't anywhere near 'cool' at all, I always prided myself on two things. Brains and being tech savvy. And that once I was out of high school and graduated from university, I'd finally have my chance to be good at something for a change. But once I started hanging out with Noah, I felt like I didn't even have that compared to him. He's way smarter than me with a crazy high IQ, he knows way more about coding and computers than me, and he already had a bachelor's degree in Computer Science by the time we were 17. I mean, how was I supposed to compete with that?! Especially with a guy who got stuff like that without even trying and barely did anything with it anyway! Even when we'd go out and girls would recognize us from the show, they would pretty much completely ignore me and just want to take selfies with him even though he wanted nothing to do with it and I thought he was insane since he had girls pretty much lining up to talk to him and saying he was 'funny' and looked like they were into him. And he didn't even care! I would've done anything to have girls pay attention to me like that and all he was doing was saying 'if I take a selfie with you, will that make you go away?' But, even with me questioning his sanity… it was mostly just cuz I was… jealous. Because he was always better at almost everything compared to me. He was smarter than me, funnier than me, taller than me (except now since I'm finally 2 inches taller than him), and he can still grow a beard way better than I ever probably will. But, for me that's more of a personal thing since I just want anything to make me look older than a stretched-out 12-year-old at this point. Even my 16-year-old cousin can grow facial hair better than me! Anyway, I feel like I'm getting off track here, but I guess the point I'm trying to get to here is that… I still can't believe everything you got Noah to do that I didn't think he'd ever do in a million years. When I told him after season 3 that I was quitting TV and going to Uni, he immediately took a jab at me that I finally decided to 'sell out' and he would never do anything like I was doing. Considering Noah pretty much only got into TV for the money anyway. Which for me wasn't anything new since I know if it was up to him, he just wanted a way to win quick and easy cash and buy his own place to shut himself in so he could be alone and either game, read, or sleep all day. So, you can get why I couldn't believe it when he started crushing hard on you. I-I mean, you know, not in that kinda way because of you or anything! Not at all! Cuz, ya know, you're hot… uh, I-I mean, pretty! I… I'm making this weird now, aren't I?"

I stood there and I could tell he saw the confused and slightly uncomfortable expression on my face as I said straight out, "Uh… yeah, kind of." Cody's face went red as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck and stuttered out a laugh before saying, "Sorry, but like I said, I didn't mean anything like that! I just meant that I have never seen Noah remotely care about almost anything for as long as I've known him. So, when you and him and started having a thing, seeing him get pretty far on the last season of Total Drama before he went out with a bang and now he's getting a job and moving out of his room at his parent's house pretty much just because of you? He even mentions you a lot during our meetings and raids when he can't make it to something and usually, he never says anything at all unless it had to do with whatever game we were currently playing… or taking jabs at us during gameplay, but that still hasn't changed. Hehe."

It was silent again as I took that all in before Cody said, "I mean, I guess what I'm really getting at here is… I'm happy for you guys, seriously. I know everyone just knows Noah for being a total cynical, sarcastic know-it-all that makes any smartass comment the first chance he gets, but… he's a really cool guy once you get to know him and I really owe a lot to him. He got me in with his gaming alliance and helped me get more real friends who understand me from that. And I just want to say thanks for giving Noah a 'push' to do more since he can do way more than he has been doing on TV this whole time. Seriously, Emma, I mean that. Thanks. Honestly, I almost feel like I owe you major props for that."

After I stood there just taking all that in, I saw Cody holding out his free hand to me with a slight smile.

And even though I hesitated at first, I gave him a slight smile back and shook his hand, almost forgetting for half a second that we just randomly had this whole exchange in the middle of a grocery store.

Honestly, maybe I'll just ignore that detail right now...

Simultaneously across Ontario

(Kitty's POV)

Okay, not gonna lie… I'm kind of getting a little uncomfortable right now.

Although, I'm not feeling that way for the totally obvious reason of being alone in a truck with a guy who has a crush on me that he thinks I don't know about.

But, it was more because of the fact that we've been driving for the last 20 minutes in almost totally awkward and tense silence, which is so not how either of us usually are. Considering when Owen and I usually hang out we usually never stop talking or at the least are so comfortable that nothing ever socially phased us.

Now though?... Yeah, I am majorly uncomfortable.

All I kept doing was glancing over at Owen, who was practically white-knuckling the steering wheel and looking like he was pretty much chewing off his bottom lip as he was looking forward with eyes looking like they were going to fall out of his head.

And despite this being the perfect opportunity to talk to him about what's going on, I also knew that was probably not the best thing to do right now.

Especially since I don't want to freak him out and make him drive off the road into a field of snow, and that's best case scenario!

That and Owen's still one of my best friends and the last thing I want to do is make him freak out.

I tried to look for something until I just looked at the radio, smiling for a second.

That could work!

Before Owen got his driver's license and we'd drive around in my car with Will and Jade or just us, he'd join into our funny but kinda dorky thing of screaming out the lyrics to songs playing on the radio. It's just fun!

I tried to keep my cool as I started, reaching out for the radio, "Hey Owen, do you…"

All of a sudden the truck started weaving all over the road as Owen let go of the steering wheel and gripped his hands into his hair as he cried out, looking at me in absolute blind panic, "AHHH! I'M SORRY! I DIDN'T MEAN TO!…"

But, I didn't even care about whatever he was screaming about since I was more concerned about not crashing and dying as I grabbed the steering wheel and yelled, "OWEN?! STOP! WE'RE GONNA!..."

Right then we ended up doing what I was trying to avoid as the truck veered off the road and we ended up in an empty, snow-covered farm field.

But, luckily, Owen somehow managed to stomp in the breaks to stop the truck right after I pulled the emergency break. We skidded for a bit until finally the truck stopped.

There wasn't any sound except for the engine running as we both kept trying to catch our breath from careening off the road. We kept trying to come back down until I slowly looked over at Owen, seeing him still looking freaked out and wide-eyed but also almost embarrassed.

I quirked up an eyebrow, but shook it off as I started, deciding to just rip off the honesty bandaid like I probably should've done to begin with, "Um, Owen?… I think we really need to talk."

And after a near-death experience and a classic over-dramatic freakout from Owen… it looks like Owen and Kitty are finally going to come clean about everything that's been going on. Again, stay tuned! But, let's address the bulk of this chapter then shall we? I really wanted to try to come up with a situation to bring back Cody and I also really wanted to write out a situation between Cody and Emma. Specifically, Cody and Emma having a conversation about Noah with each other. Mostly that Cody, despite still being a bit girl-obsessed like he was in his teens with trying WAY too hard to be a 'cool guy, lady charmer' but never being quite that good at it, he was always a character who was a good friend to everyone he developed a rapport with. This to me was the consequence of cutting both Noah and Cody short in their time in TDI and excluding them almost completely in TDA. Because I feel like it would have been nice to see Noah and Cody interact more earlier on with their teams and rivals just to see more of who they were as characters and what they were like as friends to their TD co-stars. After all, as awkward and slightly creepy at times as he was to Gwen due to his crush on her… he still did care about her and her true feelings in his own way. One thing I always thought was really sweet was how despite how envious he was of Trent, he respected that Gwen liked Trent and acted as a wingman to help set them up. Now THAT is true class in my opinion and I don't think Cody ever got much credit for that. And I kinda wanted to replicate that here with him being honest (if not also still kinda awkward) with telling Emma that he was happy for her and Noah as one of his best friends. And for also seeing how good they ended up being for each other, particularly when it came to Emma helping to give Noah the push he needed to move on from his perpetual cycle of failure on reality TV and do something more with his life. That and I also hope you enjoyed seeing Cody was still addicted to candy in his 20's and also now having an equally unhealthy addiction to energy drinks. Lol. XD Don't ask why, but I can totally envision a college-aged Cody between studying, gaming, and partying just constantly shoveling sugar and caffeine into his body to stay functioning with Sierra being the only person making sure he properly takes care of himself and have actual food. Haha. Anyway, I just can't thank you all enough for your continued support on this fic. The journey may be winding down, but I really hope you all are still enjoying this fanfic adventure with me. It is a pleasure to write for all of you and I just hope I continue to do the characters from this series that I love the justice they deserve. Regardless, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and constructive feedback is always very much appreciated if you want to share it. :) Have a lovely weekend!

Stay Classy!

Dexter1995