Disclaimer: All rights to Zoey 101 and any characters mentioned belong to Nickelodeon.
"Stacey Dillsen?! Chase sat, mouth agape, staring incredulously at his former roommate through a computer screen. "She wants you to take cotton-swab-Stacey to prom?! And you're making her take Dustin? Zoey's 8th grade still-thinks-girls-have-cooties little brother?!" Chase exclaimed breathlessly.
His life had been turned upside down once already this semester when he chased his dream girl to another continent, only to find out she'd return to the states after a glitch in their webcam resulted in her overhearing him admit he was in love with her. That same glitch caused his life to be turned upside down again a few months later when he had the lovely opportunity of accidentally witnessing Quinn and Logan ahem 'making up' after Michael laughed himself out of the room at their failed confession. He'd be the first to admit they were an unlikely couple, but he'd been rooting for them since Logan told him he'd had a thing for her back in 8th grade.
Just to add to his secret-keeping repertoire, he now had the privilege of being the only one in the friend group to know of the couple. Which unfortunately meant every little problem the couple had, he had to meditate. And they'd had their fair share of issues the last four months, from the Vaccaro's disaster to Logan just being an all around asshole. And as was natural with the quickly approaching end of their school year, prom was the biggest point of contention between the couple as of late.
"I love her and all but she's being ridiculous, right?" Logan threw his hands up in the air, frustrated. Taking other people was more than just stupid. It was absurd.
"I mean, yeah. But-" A harsh banging on Logan's side of their video call interrupted Chase's thought.
"Hang on." Logan shushed Chase. "Someone is at the door." Logan pushed himself back from his desk before undoing the lock. Any time he talked about Quinn to Chase he made sure to lock the door so James or Michael didn't barge in. He swung the door open to find his very annoyed looking girlfriend.
"Oh, thank god." Chase breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the brunette come into view. This conversation would go much smoother with who was usually the brains of their relationship present. Keyword there being usually. Right now she was acting about as smart as her significant other typically did. And Logan, well, he was acting even dumber than usual.
"Quinn, you cannot be serious! Stacey?! And Logan, Dustin? Really?" These two had severely tested Chase's patience the last few months. It was like ever since they'd gotten together neither could think even remotely straight.
Or sane.
Then again, he moved to England for Zoey….
"Stacey is the only one I can trust him with in that setting." Quinn defended, not missing Logan's face reddening with anger.
"Okay, ouch! We will be talking about that later." He huffed and crossed his arms, rolling his eyes.
"Calm down, calm down. Both of you." Chase reasoned. "Okay. Let's think about this rationality." Quinn took a breath and nodded, Logan stared at him blankly.
"That means logically, Logan." Quinn sarcastically enlightened her boyfriend.
"With common sense, kay?" Chase offered, finally earning a nod from Logan.
"You've been dating in secret for months to save face, yeah?"
The couple visibly softened and nodded from Chase's gentle reminder of their relationship. Sometimes they both forgot who and what they were fighting for, especially since they had to publicly knock on each other nonstop to keep up the 'can't stand each other' act. It likely wasn't healthy, but what other choice did they have? The alternative would be nonstop abuse from the entire campus. Though unbeknownst to the other, both had been substantially warming up to the idea for weeks.
"Wouldn't this obviously well-thought-out plan you two have create same effect? Logan would never live down taking Stacey." Both guys shuddered at the thought before Chase continued. "Quinn, you going with Dustin is somewhat believable given your recent-ish breakup with Mark, but at that rate, going with Logan would make just as much sense." Chase reasoned with the couple.
God, these two could be so dense.
"Well, he's not wrong." Logan shrugged, half annoyed at the mention of Mark.
"I rarely am."
"I guess that means we should just go with each other?" Quinn asked, turning towards Logan.
Chase offered a thumbs up, smiling."Sounds like a plan."
"Bye Chase. Thanks!" The couple waved in unison, before Quinn moved to properly close the video chat software.
Chase opened his mouth to speak, but the screen went blank before he could get a word out.
"If it was important he'd call us back, right?" Quinn looked to Logan.
"Right." Logan smirked, before pulling Quinn out of the chair and moving her to the couch. They had some making up and making out to do. That was until Quinn felt Logan stiffen against her lips, abruptly end their kiss, and lean back to put space between them.
"What do you mean Stacey is the only one you can trust me with in that setting?" Irritation in his voice increased with every word. Anger management was a joke.
"Well, I mean. You have a reputation. We both do." Quinn responded, getting flustered with herself. Taking other people to prom seemed so juvenile now.
"So?" He looked at Quinn, waiting for her to continue.
"So it would be very un-Logan like for you to not be all touchy-feely with your date." A look of recognition washed over his face.
"Oh."
"Yeah."
A silence fell over the pair before Logan reached to grab Quinn's hands. "You know I'd never do anything like that, right? In any setting. Even if we're hiding things, you're my girlfriend and I-" He paused. Now wasn't the time. "And I would never do that to you." He smiled at her.
Both seemingly satisfied with the conversation, Quinn moved to straddle Logan and reconnected their lips, running her fingers through his brown curls.
This time she was the one to pull away. "So when ya gonna ask me?"
He wanted to make a big show of it. She deserved a grandiose promposal like every other girl at PCA. But alas, that would hinder the whole pity date charade they were planning on advertising it as. He did as best he could to make a semi-scene of him asking her. He had to be bothered by it - irritated even. But mark his words, he was going to make it up to her senior year.
He timed it to be in the middle of class change to have as much of an audience as possible, and even brought her favorite flower.
"Quinn." He gently grabbed her shoulder as she passed by him, trying to avoid her eyes.
He knew he would melt and give away their act the second he looked into them. They'd been able to interact with each other since officially dating plenty of times, but he was about to ask her out. Publicly. This was different.
"What do you want, Logan?" She looked at him confused and slightly annoyed, playing her part perfectly.
"Look. I'll cut to the chase. Will you be my date to the stupid dance this weekend? You just got dumped, and I don't need some chick thinking I want something serious." He rolled his eyes, feigning irritation, and forced the acid in the back of his throat down. Calling Quinn 'some chick' felt weird, even if she knew it wasn't directed at her.
"I guess." She shrugged, taking the tulip out of his hands. She mentally fought with herself to keep the blush down. She knew he was going to ask, but she didn't know when. And even if he was severely downplaying it, he was still asking her to prom.
"Cool. But don't worry, we can still make out if you want." He winked, smirking. She would've cracked then and there if someone hadn't passed by them at that exact moment.
"In your dreams, Logan. I gotta get to physics." She brushed passed him, 'accidentally' running into his shoulder as she went.
Some things never change.
For such a large campus, news sure spread fast at PCA. Logan Reese and Quinn Pensky were going to prom together. For real. And even though they had quite the audience during their initial interaction, Quinn was not anticipating the expecting looks from her friends and a 'save me' look from Logan as she placed her tray down on the lunch table.
"What?" She asked the sea of eyes.
"You're going with Logan?" Lola gagged.
"Hey! Don't pretend like any one of you ladies wouldn't be honored to go with me to prom." He defended.
Quinn rolled her eyes at her boyfriend. His ego.
"I guess it just made sense. I probably would've gone alone or not at all, so I figured what the heck." Quinn shrugged, missing the look Zoey and Lola shared.
Lisa and Michael were the first to break from lunch, taking Vince with them for an afternoon yoga session. Logan found it odd Lola stayed back, as she was usually a regular for afternoon yoga, but didn't say about it. He had a hunch he'd figure out soon enough since he was taking her roommate to prom, after all. James left shortly after. Zoey still couldn't meet his eye after his failed 'I love you' attempt the day prior.
Their situation may or may not have scared Logan absolutely shitless. So much so, that he didn't even notice his girlfriend go to stand and toss her tray in the bin nearby.
"I guess text me the details for Saturday or whatever." Quinn mumbled over her shoulder as she left.
And then there were three.
"What?" He stared at the two confused. Neither looked particularly angry at him, but they were still acting…weird.
Lola sighed before checking to make sure Quinn was at a safe distance. "Look, I may not be your biggest fan, but you're a good friend for taking Quinn." Was that some type of twisted compliment towards him?
Coming from Lola?!
He cocked an eyebrow. "Thanks?"
"We think she was secretly really stressed about prom since she's still not over Mark." Zoey conceded.
Logan looked a little stunned at Zoey's comment and willed his face not to show it. Jealousy would not help to support their front. "Of course she's not. That's why I asked her. Duh?"
"Right, but you don't know how bad it's gotten. She's been super secretive of her phone and her laptop. Disappearing during the day." Lola recounted.
"And I swear I've seen her sneak out in the middle of the night." Zoey added.
Lola leaned in to whisper. "We think she's been spying on Mark and Brooke to try and break them up."
"That sounds super suspicious." Logan took a sip of his Blix in an attempt to conceal the smirk forming on his face. Quinn's behavior was definitely odd, but unlike Lola, he had the full story regarding the recent secrecy to Quinn's actions. And it certainly had nothing to do with getting Mark back. But, he had a rep to protect, so he continued. "Look, we all know she's is a determined chick. If she wants him back, she'll get him back. One way or another. And I heard somewhere Brooke and Figgs are on the rocks."
The things he does for this girl. Trying to convince her best friends she's meddling in her ex's relationship. It took everything in him not to gag at the thought of her still trying to win Mark back. Not after what it had done to her the first time. He never wanted her to feel that way ever again, especially not because of his doing.
"Just do us a favor, please." Lola pleaded.
"Sure." He shrugged, stuffing the last of his lunch in his mouth.
"Take care of her, tomorrow. Don't let her wallow all night because of him. She already gave him two years too many."
He nodded. "Understood." That was one thing they could all absolutely agree on.
PCA's junior prom was in full swing. And thanks to their stellar performance a few days earlier, no one batted an eye when Quinn showed up attached to Logan's arm. Though there were a handful of sympathetic eyes she caught as they walked in. She really hoped she wouldn't have to play the broken-hearted damsel in distress the whole night. If that was the case, she may as well just not have come at all.
One thing she really wasn't expecting, however, was the number of girls trying to get with her date with her actively there. I mean, good lord, have these women no shame?! Sure, they had made it abundantly clear they were there as 'friends' but come on! He'd been true to his word though, and done his best to keep a healthy distance between his many suitors. She couldn't help but laugh when she caught his eye as Mandy tried to corner him across the room. Admittedly, her stomach sank a bit when she'd lost sight of him shortly thereafter his encounter with Mandy, but she immediately snapped out of it as a pair of muscular arms wrapped around her shoulders from behind. He spun her around in a quick motion, narrowly missing the laser beam from her zap watch.
The poor punch bowl behind him, however, didn't stand a chance.
He carefully led her away from the scene of the crime, pulling her to the dance floor for the first time all night.
"So Zoey and Lola tell me you're not over Mark. Should I be worried?" He looked at Quinn with playful eyes.
"Oh, god." She groaned. "Yeah, they've got it stuck in their heads that I'm still hung up on him. They probably think about him more than I do." She laughed. "I wish they'd realize I haven't even as much as said his name in months." Quinn moved closer to her boyfriend, throwing her arms around his neck. "Clearly I'm still not over him."
"Yeah, clearly." He snaked his arms around her waist and pulled her against him.
"Logan! People are gonna get suspicious with us this close." Quinn tried to pull away from him, proving to be fruitless as he tightened his grip on her waist.
"So what? We've been here for like two hours and this is the longest I've been able to talk to you." He whined.
"What do you mean 'so what'? Do you want everyone to know we like each other?" She looked up at him confused.
The glint of hope he swore he saw twinkle in her eyes was enough to convince him. It was time.
"I'm tired of not being able to be around you like this. It's getting harder and harder to hide." Those hopeful eyes about popped right out her skull. "Especially since I love you."
Was that Quinn's eyes or the remnants of the punch bowl massacre rolling around under his feet?
For the first time possibly ever, Quinn's 177 IQ brain completely shut off.
Her minimal amount of processing was interrupted when Logan continued to speak. "Don't feel like you have to say it back. We've only been-"
"You love me?" She shyly smiled up at him, a blush creeping up her cheeks.
"Quinn, please let me finish. I know you've been here before and-" He rushed out, determination in his eyes.
"I love you, too."
"Please stop interrupt-"
At some point between the moment she cut him off again and her lips pressed against his he finally processed the words that came out of her mouth almost effortlessly.
He pulled back after a few seconds and pressed his forehead against hers. "You love me?"
"Yeah. I kinda have for a bit now. Wasn't really sure how to bring it up with James and Zoey's issues and us sneaking around. That and last time it didn't go over so well." Quinn grimaced. Really classy of her to bring up Mark in the middle of an 'I love you' confession moment.
"When? When did you know?"
"After we got back from Vaccaro's. When you helped us make it up to Zoey and James, even though you were just as upset about our date being ruined. When did you?"
"Since our ice cream date."
"Our ice cream date? Baby, we've not been on an ice cream date. Kinda hard to do that when we're, ya know, sneaking around." Quinn felt a pang in her chest. Was he thinking about a date with another girl and confusing them?
"Yes we have." She looked into his eyes, confused. "Though you look a lot better in the dress than I do."
Then it dawned on her.
"You've loved me since before we even started dating?"
"Maybe."
They stayed like that for neither knew how long, just wrapped up in the moment and each other, until someone from behind Quinn cleared their throat.
"You two aren't here as friends, are you?" Lisa made a motion between the two.
"That would be a no…" Quinn looked down, her blue heels suddenly becoming very interesting.
"Michael owes me twenty bucks!" Lisa cheered.
"I'll give you thirty to not say anything."
"Logan!" Quinn flicked his forehead. What the hell was he doing trying to put them back in the janitor's closet?
"What? I think we need to be the ones to tell them. Especially Michael." They had been their friends the longest. Plus he highly doubted his roommate would believe it coming from Lisa since he didn't even believe it when it came from them.
"Your secret is safe with me." Lisa winked. "For the record though, you two make an adorable couple."
"Thank you." The duo said in unison.
Apparently they weren't the only ones that had secrets. Both heads snapped towards the entrance when they heard Lola yell. The brief glimpse of fuzzy hair was all they needed to see to know that's what Chase was trying to tell them over video call a view days back.
What they weren't expecting to see was Zoey attached to his side.
"Chase!" Quinn yelled, peeling herself off of Logan and running towards their friend.
"Hey guys!" Chase wrapped Quinn in a tight hug before moving to Logan for a 'bro' hug.
Logan gestured between Chase and Zoey. "I guess you finally manned up and told her, huh?"
"I did. Did you?" Chase asked, semi-jokingly as he glanced at Quinn.
"I did." Logan smiled down at his girlfriend that was standing in front of him facing their friends, who now all shared a slightly confused expression. He was a little upset that he couldn't see her face when he decided to enlighten them. "I'm in love with her."
Quinn froze against him. She had definitely not expected him to come right out and say it, especially not that bluntly to all their friends. Nonetheless, she couldn't stop the heat from rising in her face. But she really, really did not want to do this here.
There was an incoherent flood of gasps, questions, and statements all strung together tossed at them all at once.
"Hey!" Quinn shouted over the flurry of questions. The group grew silent. "Can we please do this later? I'd like to get back to dancing with my boyfriend." She grabbed Logan's arm and tugged him back to the dance floor, leaving her stunned friends behind.
"For the record, I'm in love with you, too." She smiled up at him.
The girls' lounge shortly turned into something akin to an interrogation room after everyone had gone back to their respective dorms and changed out of their prom clothes. An uncomfortable conversation with increasingly uncomfortable attire didn't seem like such a great mix.
"Okay, you two. Start talking." Zoey stood in front of the couple, arms crossed.
"Yeah yeah, pipe down." Logan waved her off, earning him a smack to the chest from Quinn.
"Be nice." She hissed, before turning to face their friends and sighing. "Okay, what do you want to know?"
"Um, I don't know? Let's start when, where, why, and how? Emphasis on the why?!" Lola shouted.
"Well, I guess that's a good place to start." Quinn laughed, preparing herself to recount their relationship's odd origin story for just the second time.
Logan jumped from his spot on the beanbag he was sharing with Quinn before she could get a word out. "Here's the watered down version since I assume you all don't want all the details. When? After Mark broke her heart-"
Zoey stood up, cutting him off. "Hold on - you two have been dating for four months?!"
"Yes, now try to keep up." Logan quipped. "Where? It started on a bench across campus, and about a million other spots behind walls and trees since-"
"Don't forget under tables at Vaccaro's." Chase tossed out haphazardly in an attempt to lighten some of the tension.
Now the whole room was on their feet, the grilling of Quinn and Logan long forgotten. "You knew?!" The room shouted at Chase.
"Long story. Don't wanna talk about it. Still gives me nightmares." Chase shuddered. Nothing Quinn could invent, outside of maybe a mind eraser, would ever fully remove the scene he witnessed from his brain.
Michael pulled his jaw off the floor long enough to sputter out "Birthday party! Birthday party!" Lisa looked at her boyfriend confused.
"I think you may need to lay down, Michael, You've been talking nonsense all day. First about some old man with a bull forcing you to make him sandwiches and juice, and now what's this about a party?" Lisa pulled him back down to the couch.
Quinn spoke up before Michael could protest. "I can't speak for him making lunch for someone, but we sorta tried to tell Michael the day we officially started dating. We thought he saw us hugging, so we went to ask him to keep it to himself, but he was convinced we were planning him a surprise party." She explained.
"Yeah, a party he never got because we weren't lying. May I continue now?" Logan huffed, sitting back down next to his girlfriend. The group silently nodded before returning to their seats as well. "Uh, why? We were both single. And how? Well, I finally stopped fighting it the start of this year and I guess Quinn realized there was something there about the same time."
"Fighting what, exactly?" Lola looked at him suspiciously.
"Let's just say I wasn't the only one who deserved to get shit for pinning after the same girl since PCA let girls in." Chase said smugly. He'd been ragged on left and right about Zoey, especially from Logan. It felt good to give him a taste of his own medicine for once.
"Matthews, knock it off." Logan seethed. So maybe he had left out a small detail during his prom time with Quinn. A detail he was going to tell her eventually, but now it seemed she was going to get to know the same time as the rest of their friends.
Just as he expected, Quinn turned her head to face him. He visibly softened when he met her eyes. "I thought you said since it had been since I helped you with your free throws earlier this year?" She tried to keep her voice low enough for just Logan to hear, but she could feel the gazes of the rest of the room on the back of her head, meaning they'd all heard it as well.
"I said that's when I knew I loved you. I've kinda had a thing for you since the guys verses girls basketball game. Why do you think I've teased you all these years?" His confident smirk had returned, a clear indicator to Quinn he was having a mental battle with himself to keep his vulnerability at bay. She really wanted to drop this part of the conversation and pick it back up with him when they had less of an audience.
Thankfully, Lola shifted the topic with a touch of annoyance in her voice. "Okay, so you two have been together since February. I kinda get why you didn't want to be super public about it, but why didn't you tell us? I mean, we're your best friends."
Quinn turned to her friend. "Lola, I thought you were gonna have a cow at lunch yesterday when you thought we were just going as friends. Can you honestly say this conversation would've gone any different at any point? Plus, both you and Zoey have been convinced I was hung up over Mark, no matter what I said."
Lola sunk back into her seat, realization finally hitting her that she nor Zoey hadn't exactly created a welcoming environment for Quinn to tell them anything as of lately.
"That is...fair" Zoey sighed out. "Quinn we're so sorry. We'd love to hear all the details of how you two got together." Chase let out a groan next to Zoey, earning him a smack to the back of the head from his other half. "Later, since apparently some people have already heard it."
Quinn smiled. "I'd like that."
The girls all shared a smile, the room going quiet before Michael broke the silence. "Okay, so we get why you didn't tell the girls, but what about me?"
Logan scoffed. "Dude, you literally laughed yourself out of the room when we tried to."
"Touche, Reese, touche."
The tension in their makeshift interrogation room finally dissipated for the first time since everyone joined. A comfortable silence fell over the room until grumbling noise came from the area where Chase was sitting. Chase stood up, pulling Zoey up with him. "Sushi?" He offered.
"Sushi!" The room agreed, before all moving to leave. Quinn pulled Logan back as their friends funneled out of the lounge.
"So 8th grade, huh?"
"Listen, I was young and stupid and didn't know how to deal with my feelings and-"
Quinn cut him off with a kiss. "I think it's adorable. But" Logan sighed. His girlfriend starting a sentence with 'but' never ended well. "You do realize if you had just been up front about your feelings, we probably wouldn't have spent the last four months hiding our relationship." Quinn let go of his arm and started towards lounge doors. "Hell, we might have even been celebrating four years together in a few months if you had told me back then." She threw a wink over her shoulder and went to catch up with their friends.
Logan stood stunned for a few beats.
This girl.
AN: Thanks for reading my first go (likely of many) at the Quogan ship! I re-fell headfirst into their relationship over the holidays (thanks, TikTok) and Logan taking Stacey over Quinn has bothered me since I watched the series finale however many years ago. Thus, this was born.
Let me know your thoughts and thanks for reading :)
