Get on the dock and talk to the girls

Zack swam for a while before getting up on the dock. Chloe handed him his towel and he began to dry himself up as he sat beside his friend. The three girls were talking about something that he didn’t pay attention to, since he was too busy trying to stealthily peek at Victoria’s legs. Until he suddenly felt an elbow hit his side.

“Ouch!”

“You can’t act like a lovesick fool or she won’t get interested in you,” Chloe whispered behind a hand.

“You’re okay there, Zack?” Victoria asked with concern on her face.

Zack nodded. “Yeah, it’s just cramps. I’m not used to that much physical activity,” he lied. “So, we have two weeks here but what we’re gonna do today?”

“Oh, Vicky here was planning to cook lunch for us,” Ashley answered. “I already tasted her food, it's pretty yummy.”

“I didn’t know you could cook,” Zack stated, smiling.

“Pay attention to those details,” Chloe whispered again.

As Victoria smiled in response, Zack was beginning to get a a bit annoyed at Chloe, his best friend kept correcting and elbowing him like he didn’t know the first thing about talking to girls.

“Those three are really taking their sweet time, aren’t they?” Ashley asked, referring to Gavin, Heather and Kurt.

“Well, don’t count on Gavin coming down to the lake,” Chloe chimed in. “He’ll probably prefer to stay inside the cabin or at least on the deck.”

At that moment, Zack saw Ashley’s question as an opening to ask the girls something he was meaning to ask ever since they left Azure Rocks. “Hey, what do you girls thought about Kurt?”

“I don’t know what to think, we barely know him,” Chloe replied.

“He’s a pig, Heather shouldn’t have brought him with us,” Ashley stated in an assured tone, glancing at Brandon who was still swimming.

“That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think?” Victoria asked, frowning.

Ashley turned to her friend. “You say that because you didn’t see the looks he was giving us after we arrived.”

“So you noticed it too,” Zack said, a smirk finding its way to his face.

Ashley nodded quickly. “Yeah, you saw him doing it?”

“Yeah, I saw it once when we were unloading the cars,” Zack answered, intentionally leaving out the part where Kurt said stuff about the girls’ bodies. He didn’t want to upset them and cause a fight with Heather because of her cousin.

“We better watch out for him then, just in that case,” Chloe said, mirroring the other girls’ expression of disgust.

After a few minutes, Zack stood up. “I’m going back into the water. Anyone wants to come?” he inquired, turning to the three girls.

“Maybe later,” Ashley replied, glancing at her swimming boyfriend in the water once more. Victoria smiled and nodded in agreement.

“What about you, Chloe?” Zack asked. “Wanna try today?”

Chloe seemed to think for a while before answering. “I don’t think I can right now, Zack,” she finally said, dejectedly.

Zack began to wonder if all that his best friend needed was a little push to get over her body issues. The real question was if he was willing to give that push. Maybe drag her down to the water with me.