Later that evening

Zack lay on his side of the bed as he slept. Despite being off in dream world, he could feel the slight touch of someone massaging his cheek and tussling his hair. Stirring slowly, he turned to face the presence on the bed.

“Hey Roomie,” he said as sleep fell from his eyes.

“Hey Zack. How are you feeling?” Heather responded faintly.

“Better. Thanks,” he replied, “what’s for lunch?”

“Lunch? Kurt and Brandon are prepping dinner. It’ll be ready in an hour or so. Go back to sleep and I’ll come wake you when it’s ready,” the brunette offered. She started to get up when Zack gently grabbed her arm. The contact sent a chill down her spine.

“It’s okay. It’s your room, too. Stay with me. I could use the company,” Zack whispered.

Heather lied back down on the bed and ran her hand over Zack’s forehead and temple.

“You sure? I don’t want you to get sick on us,” the brunette voiced concern.

“I’m fine,” Zack said, now almost fully awake, “Besides I’ve got Nurse Heather keeping an eye on me.”

“Smart-ass” she responded.

“So what all did you guys do today?” Zack inquired.

“Swam. Played cards on the dock. Drank a few beers. Nobody wanted to go too far from the cabin with you not feeling well,” Heather informed him.

“Aww, you could have done something today. Y’all shouldn’t have lost a day of your vacation on my account,” Zack grimaced.

“It’s alright, Zack. It’s one thing if someone doesn’t want to do what we’ve planned, but if someone can’t go with us, then it’s not right to just leave them behind,” Heather reasoned. As she spoke she began to massage Zack’s neck.

“So who did you pick on today, instead of me?” he asked.

“Nobody,” was the girl’s response.

“Why not?”

“Not as much fun when the person isn’t good with comebacks,” Heather stated, “and I can only tease Kurt so much before it gets boring.”

“Speaking of teasing, why did you start in on my when we got here?” Zack asked curiously.

Heather took a moment to answer. She stopped rubbing the boy’s neck and looked him in the eyes. Zack could sense the hesitation, but blamed it on the girl being almost as tired as he was.

“Well, we’ve been good friends for almost three years now, but we haven’t spent a whole lot of time together—you know—just me and you. So I figured it was a good way to break the ice,” Heather said.

“Ah. Thought so. Some of our friends out there have different theories about it,” Zack informed her.

“Such as?” his roommate inquired.

“Well, Brandon thinks it’s funnier than Hell watching us go back and forth. Victoria, as you know, doesn’t like it for some unknown reason,” Zack said.

“Yeah, can’t figure her out sometimes,” Heather remarked, “what about Chloe?”

“She got really weird for a while. First she was mad. Hell, she was pissed. Told me I should be focusing on Victoria like I intended,” he told the brunette, “she was so mad, she pushed me into the lake when I wasn’t looking.”

“NO! And I missed that? DAMN!” Heather laughed.

“That’s not even half of it, just as quickly as she got mad at me, she pulled a complete One-Eighty and came up with this crazy theory about you having a crush on me, you know, because you started teasing me,” Zack informed her.

When Zack mentioned this last tidbit, Heather broke eye contact with him and curled up slightly. The boy noticed his roommate’s response out of the corner of his eye. Watching the normally confident girl before him fidget and bite her lip told him everything he needed to know.

“HOLY SHIT! It’s true,” Zack exclaimed.