Outside, between Zack and Chloe

Meanwhile, Chloe had also managed to sneak away from the others and was now following Zack - even if he had that troubled look of someone who really needed some time to himself. She wouldn't quite let though, and simply caught up to walk beside him down the path through the woods.

"Sorry if I'm bothering you." She started with a cheerful smile, and decided to simply ignore the dull look on his face as he just glanced back at her briefly. "What's wrong with you anyways?"

"It's just... complicated." He shook his head, as he could only manage the same vague answer as he'd given Heather some time earlier. "I can't really talk about it..."

"Well, you can try!" She smiled at him gently, and kept walking casually beside him while he slowed his step a bit. "That's what I'm here for, you know?"

"I dunno..." He finally told her, after a few moments of walking in silence, and then finally turned his face to look back into her eyes. It looked like he was actually wanting to say something more, but then just hesitated and fell back into silence again.

"So, how's it going with Vicky?" She asked him eventually - just to get him started -, while making it sound like the most natural question in the world. Like it had been just a few days ago, before she was stupid enough to try and confess her own feelings for him.

"It's... not getting anywhere at all, really..." Zack replied in a sluggish voice - after a another moment of startled silence -, and it was obviously painful for him to talk about it. He did seem just a little bit more at ease after letting it out though. "It seems like you were right, you know...? About her thinking that we're more than just friends...?"

"And you didn't try and explain it to her?" Chloe smiled at him, but realized she may be acting a bit insensitive about it, and lowered her voice a little while she continued. "Isn't that what about this morning, while you were making breakfast together...?"

"Yeah, I guess..." He admitted, though he looked a little surprised and uneasy about her having overheard their conversation. Then he just shrugged and gave her a wry smile, as if actually finding the whole mess a bit funny. "Now she just seems to think we're fuck-buddies, or something..."

"Fuck-buddies...?" She repeated his words, while she could just barely hold back from laughing out loud, and could see his smile turning softer as well. "Is that what she actually said?!"

"Well, no...!" Zack objected, and seemed almost offended by just the thought of such words coming out of his sweet Victoria's mouth. "Not really, I guess... But she was definitively thinking so..."

"Oh, really?" Chloe looked at him curiously, and then turned her eyes to the sky for a moment while she tried to picture what her life would've been like with a different kind of relation between them. It would've definitively helped her from all those sleepless nights when she'd been all alone in her bed...

"So, fuck-buddies, huh...?" She asked him, as if just tasting the words on her lips again, and laughed as she could see the perplexed look on his face. Then she grabbed his arm as they kept walking slowly together, but decided to stick with another track of the conversation - in fear of scaring him off with what she was actually thinking. "Well, it's a step in the right direction at least...? For your chances on Vicky I mean...!"

"Uh, right..." He mumbled uncertainly, though she could see the smile had returned to lips at least...