Zoey Stops Acting So Distant

With the group gathered in the dining room, the tension in the room was thick, glares were being thrown around, and no one seemed to have the courage to break the silence, well at least until Brian got settled. "Alright," The blonde teen exclaimed with a clap, "So, dinner, I was thinking, we could all do some personal pizza's! You know, pairing up, working together, being friends?" He continued with a near weak smile, "No..." He muttered as his friends merely looked back at him, "C'mon, guys, we're basically halfway through this trip and look at us, we can't even have a fucking meal together?"

"Bry's right," Mindy agreed after a moment of waiting, "Let's have some fun, we can have a little...pizza making contest!"

"Exactly," Brian agreed with a smile, "Fun, remember it? That thing we had planned for this trip..."

"Okay, you broken record, we'll make some fucking pizza's," Rachel sighed with a small toss of her eyes, "Let's partner up, I'll take..." Rachel hummed while looking around at the others. Kenny lifted his eyes and stared at the other blonde with a small frown. Rachel caught Kenny's glare, holding it for just a moment, Christ, what is up with him and this cold mentality? It's like he fucking hates me all of a sudden. "Kai, how about it?"

Kailyn let out a small relieved smile, and Kenny's brow raised, "Sure, Rach, why not,"

"Anna...me and you," Nicole grinned, "You know we can kill it,"

Anna glanced at Eric and gave him a small, **** shrug, "Sorry, but she's got a point. We always made the best stuff in home-ec,"

"I'm a-okay with that," Eric replied with a nod, "Because JJ and I are going to take you two down,"

"Now you're talking, man," JJ grinned, "Let's do it,"

Mindy wet her lips and looked at Kenny and Zoey, catching Kenny's eyes before giving him a small wink, "Bry, let's go me and you," Mindy pipped up,

"Cool, works for me," Brian nodded as he opened up the pantry, starting to pull out ingredients, "Everyone's got a partner now, right?"

Kenny looked over at Zoey, feeling a bit nervous as he hadn't heard a word from the girl since they got back, but to his relief, the redhead flashed him a warm smile, "We're good?" Kenny softly asked,

"Totally," Zoey murmured back as the pair followed the others getting up. Each pair went around, grabbing dough, sauce, cheese and whatever toppings they choice and worked out a small area as a workstation. Zoey and Kenny found themselves at the far end of the dining table, and as Brian started the ten minutes prep timer, Zoey gently placed a hand on Kenny's upper back, "Hey...how are you feeling?"

Kenny continued to knead the dough and did his best to suppress a smile, "Good...Nicole and I are, done by the way," He mumbled out, "I talked to her like you suggested and well, she basically dumped me,"

"I heard, and I also heard you weren't handling things too well," Zoey murmured back as she slowly began to rub the teens back, "I know that things were already tough for you yesterday, thinking that you had to pick between two important girls. Now...I could see if it'd hurt for you to lose the options,"

Kenny cleared his throat and let out a small shrug, "It's not a big deal...you're...you were right, I don't think Nicole and I were supposed to be together. If she could hurt me like this," He said in a hushed tone, "Then what's the point?"

"Yeah," Zoey nodded with a warm smile, "Keep thinking like that, don't...think you could make me a promise?" The redhead asked with a small tilt of her head,

"Sure, what's up?" Kenny instantly replied as he looked over at the girl,

"Please, no matter what is going on this week and how upset you feel...don't crawl back to her." Kenny blinked back at Zoey a few times, "I know you may feel alone, or hurt, or maybe like Nicole's your best chance but she's not, Ken. You deserve better than that, and you shouldn't settle," Zoey sincerely stated,

"Uh..." Kenny whispered back as he soaked in her words, wondering if this was her way of trying to help or prepare him for some hard news he may not want to hear. "S-Sure, I promise, Zoey,"

"Good," Zoey smiled back before looking back down at their pizza, grabbing the cup of tomato sauce and pouring out a bit before spreading it with a spoon, "Mhm, this is going to be good, huh?" She asked with a small nudge of her elbow,

"Yeah," Kenny agreed as he finished rolling up the edges of the dough, "I...I'm sorta happy we got paired together," He nervously admitted, Zoey's eyes flicked up at the teen, and she gave a small nod back. Though as Kenny looked away, he missed Zoey's lips pursing, fighting off a smile while her cheeks turned a light shade of pink.

Forty minutes later, the pizza's were made, cooked and almost done being eaten. The technical winners of the night were, of course, Anna and Nicole who prepped a near perfect pizza in under five minutes while the others took the full time. And thankfully, due to Brian's plan to keep everyone busy on something other than each other, the air of tension slowly loosened throughout the meal and everyone started to leave the kitchen with full bellies and smiles. The last two in the kitchen ended up being Kenny and Eric, and the latter had done his best to make it this way, as he wanted to speak with the teen.

"Hey, Ken," Eric said as he approached the teen who was rinsing off a few plates,

"Oh, Eric, what's going on?" Kenny replied with a friendly tone,

"Look, man, I heard through the grapevine that you and Zoey maybe already...you know," Kenny turned the faucet off and turned around, leaning against the counter, arms crossed and head hanging down,

"Yeah, um...listen, we were both having some issues, we were scared and...found some comfort in one another..." Kenny awkwardly tried to explain,

"I get that, and honestly, I'm not asking," Eric assured as he held up his hands, "What I am trying to say, is this, Zoey was a virgin a few days ago. We had dated for weeks and, it never got to that point in our relationship. We held back, only kissed, sometimes talked about it and got prepared in case it ever did happen, you know?" Kenny nodded with a slightly confused expression, "Ugh, sorry, rambling. Here's the long and short of it, Zoey doesn't just do things, if you and she really did do all that, it meant something to her. And all I'm asking is that you don't hurt her like I did, because you already mean more to her than I ever did," He softly stated before turning around and heading towards the exit of the kitchen,

"Eric, are you...you're okay with this?" Kenny quickly asked causing the teen to glance back,

"It's none of my business," Eric shrugged, "But Zoey was a close friend, hopefully, that will be true again someday, and I don't want her to get hurt anymore,"

Kenny lowered his head and nodded, taking a moment to gather his thoughts before shuffling out of the kitchen as well, unsure if Eric was being honest. If Zoey really did feel something strong for him, then why did she want to be so distant? Sure, she was getting a bit closer to him during dinner, but it felt different than earlier in the day. Or maybe it didn't, Kenny couldn't tell if he was simply overthinking things now that he realized he wanted Zoey more than anything else.

Suddenly, as Kenny passed the hallway closet, the door sprung open, a pair of arms shot out, tugging at the back of his shirt and pulled him inside. The door slammed, and he was wrapped in darkness, though before the teen could even comprehend what was happening to him, a pair of soft lips were pressed against his, kissing him with a deep passion that he could only compare to one person...Zoey.