Tension But No Explosion

Everyone’s hands went up and the group shared a short laugh. “Here, I got some sticks for us,” Gavin said as he began to pass around a little pile,

Ashley ripped open the bag of marshmallows and took a deep inhale, “Mhm, they smell so good. How many do you want, Zack?” The blonde asked, looking at the teen with an eager smile,

“Uh, Three I guess,” Zack replied with a shrug,

“Victoria?” Ashley asked as she glanced towards her best friend,

“Two please,” Victoria replied as she reached over, taking the chocolate off of Ashley's lap. She opened the bar of chocolate and began to break it into pieces, passing the pieces out to the group,

A few minutes later everyone was in the midst of preparing their S’mores, there was a good amount of chatter from the group. Victoria, Heather, Kurt, and Chloe were found themselves reminiscing on their first camping trips, and though Heather tried, Gavin was too nervous to get involved in the conversation. At any other time, Zack's night may have been ruined seeing Victoria and Kurt get along so well, but the teen had more important things on his mind. While Ashley jumped into the conversation a few times, she continued to return her sole focus to Zack, asking him more direct questions rather than the group.

Most of these questions were innocent enough, learning a little bit of his childhood but some were clearly teasing. Zack normally would think he was dreaming, a beautiful blonde cheerleader flirting with him was something that just didn't happen. Yet, he couldn't even try and show it as Brandon was stewing in silence, staring at the pair, shooting daggers into Zack every time Ashley said a thing to him. Zack always heard about Brandon's anger and jealously, the last thing he ever wanted was it targeted at him.

Doing his best to ignore Brandon, Zack finished making his s’more and took a hefty bite. The triple marshmallow made a big mess, smearing over his lips and chin. Ashley peered over and couldn’t help but laugh, seeing his face coated in marshmallow, “Enjoying yourself, Bishop?”

“Okay, maybe three marshmallows were too much.” Zack admitted with a short chuckle before wiping his face clean with a napkin, “Did I get it all?” He asked, turning to face Ashley,

Ashley let out a short hum, looking Zack over then she shook her head. “Nope, you missed a spot. Right here…” She softly said as she moved her pointer finger to his face, wiping a bit of melted marshmallow from his lower lip. Zack's eyes slightly widened at the blonde's tender touch and stayed that way as he watched her bring the finger to her mouth, sucking it clean with a little giggle. “Gotta be more careful, these things can make a hell of a mess.” Ashley merely stated with a little smirk before returning to her snack

Zack sat staring at Ashley for a few moments, stunned. Slowly he turned back towards the fire, his face once more a light shade of red. He quickly raised his eyes to Brandon and felt his heart calm as he noticed the jock, head down, focused on forming his S'more. It was a miracle that he hadn't seen what just happened but Zack was already eternally grateful.

As the hours past on Ashley scooted closer and closer to Zack before finally resting her head on his shoulder to watch the flames. Zack kept his head lowered as he was sure Brandon was glaring at him, ready to rip his head off, which was unfortunately true. The football star had done his best to bite his tongue throughout the night but he was quickly reaching a point where enough was enough. Just as Brandon was working up the nerve to say something Ashley snaked her arms around Zack’s left arm and let out a short content sigh.

Brandon's eyes flared and he ground his teeth, a thousand thoughts flipped through his head. He wanted to yell, hit Zack, beg Ashley to forgive him, tell them to show him some damn respect but none felt like the right. Feeling defeated Brandon let out a grumble and abruptly stood up, “I’m going to bed.” He muttered and stormed towards the cabin, disappearing inside.

“That sounds like a good idea, it’s almost eleven.” Chloe said in agreement as she let out a long stretch, "With that long ride this morning, I am bushed,"

“Yeah, too true, I’m gonna hit it too,” Kurt announced as he got up, "You coming sweetness?" The blonde asked with an easy smile towards Victoria. She let out a nervous smile, nodding while getting up and following him towards the cabin, "Night,"

"Yes, goodnight everyone," Victoria added, waving at Ashley as she left.

Gavin gave them all a little wave goodbye before turning back towards the fire, the remaining four teens were silent for a few more minutes before Ashley let go of Zack’s arm and stood up, “I’m tired too, come on Bishop I’m a light sleeper and I'd appreciate you not waking me up by coming in later.” She said with a set of tired eyes,

“Yeah, alright. Hey, thanks for hanging guys, goodnight,” Zack yawned while giving a nod to both Heather and Gavin. Ashley weakly waved to the pair as well before the duo made their way back into the cabin and down the stairs towards their room, ready to crash.

Another long minute of silence lingered between Heather and Gavin before the geek finally said, “Thank god they left, the tension was killing me.”

Heather almost let out a sigh of relief and looked across the fire towards Gavin with a smile, “I know! Zack wasn’t even doing anything,” Heather agreed, “Ash was the one playing grabby hands and Brandon looked like he was going to go nuclear any second!” She said with a little laugh.

Gavin let out a little laugh and nodded back to her. Heather continued to smile at Gavin for a moment but he didn't continue to talk, rather the silence returned. Gavin desperately wanted to keep the conversation going but he couldn't find the right words, everything he thought of saying sounded dumb, and the last thing he wanted to do was look dumb in front of Heather Ravers.

Suddenly Heather gingerly got to her feet, "Oh, you heading inside?" Gavin asked, his voice slightly low,

“Nah, I’m a night owl. Besides someone needs to watch the fire till it dies down.” Heather denied while making her way over to the seat near Gavin, sitting down in it and pulling her legs up, hugging them tightly, "I just wanted to get away from the breeze, I was getting a little cold,"

Gavin opened his mouth, just nearly offering his hoodie to the girl, but once again he hesitated and convinced himself that it'd only make himself look like a fool. “Cool, I was planning on staying out here anyway,” Gavin merely said with a short smile, which she returned in an easy fashion,

Back inside Zack and Ashley returned to their room, changed into their nightmare, and got into bed. If Zack wasn't so tired he would have been a nervous wreck when he noticed Ashley only slept in a tight tank top and her panties but he was able to keep his cool. Even still, however, Zack left a large buffer between them, scootching right to the edge so he wasn't anywhere near Ashley. Tired or not, he didn’t want to do anything that could destroy his friendship with Brandon.

Still, Ashley was starting to have an effect on him, everything she’d done with him today was so charming and enticing. Having a girl treat him so warmly was something he had been desperately missing since Lisa, and honestly, Ashley might as well have checked everything off on Zack's daydream list with Victoria. He let out a sigh, deciding to let his brain go blank, and just as he started to drift to sleep he heard Ashley’s voice, “Zack, hey, can I ask a favor?” She whispered to him,

“Hm, yeah?” He groggily replied,

“Could you just...put your arm around me. I’m used to cuddling when going to sleep, would you mind?” She asked while nervously biting her lower lip.

Zack really too tired to care at this point scooted close to her, “Sure.” He muttered out as he put his arm lazily around her waist. Ashley let out a smile and moved her body close to Zack’s pressing it against him. Zack slowly fell asleep his face pushing into her hair, smelling its sweet scent. Ashley put her arm over his and let out a little happy sigh. After a few minutes she felt a little poking against her rump, she blushed a bit but calmly readjusted herself so Zack was no longer nuzzled into her ass. She closed her eyes and soon fell asleep while listening to the sounds of Zack breathing.