Chloe Retreats Inside While Ashley Plays Innocent

Chloe's mind ran rampant with some of the very worst of thoughts, in the back of her mind she knew what Ashley was doing. Her plan was thinly veiled, make Chloe question herself and Zack, what destroyed her mind even worse was realizing that it was working. In her mind, she didn't think could match up, Zack never was interested in her until this week while she's heard him mention once or twice that Ashley was hot. Hell, even when Zack had the option to be with her this week, he took the chance to fuck Ashley instead.

She began to lose control of herself entirely while thinking this over and started to cry harder, a sense of fear overtaking her. Zack was not only her best friend but her first boyfriend, and she already felt like she was going to lose him. She quickly started to swim back towards the docks and pulled herself out of the water. Chloe wiped her face a few times, trying to hide her tears before sneaking back towards the cabin. The last thing she wanted was for Ashley to see just how quickly she had gotten to her.

She slipped away without a sound and without anyone even noticing her leaving the lake in the first place. It wasn't fifteen minutes until Zack, who was done racing Brandon multiple times, started to look for her only to see Chloe nowhere to be found. He swam towards the shore and noted that Gavin and Victoria were missing as well, Maybe she went with them somewhere? Zack merely guessed as he got out of the lake and grabbed his towel, drying off while continuing to look. After once again not seeing her, he headed over to Heather who was still sun tanning, "Hey, Heather, you seen Gavin? I think Chloe might be with him and Vicky." He said while approaching her,

Heather lowered her sunglasses and peered over at him, "Uh, no you got that wrong. Gavin and Vicky took my car and headed to town." Heather corrected,

"What?" Zack asked in some confusion, "Why?"

"Vicky said Gavin forgot his phone charger and they had to pick up a new one." Heather said with a roll of her eyes, "I don't see why Gavin needs his games that much when we're supposed to be vacationing together here." Heather added on,

"Yeah but Gavin's not dumb, I saw him pack two chargers, in case he lost or broke the other somehow," Zack replied, more thinking aloud then trying to point out Victoria's lie,

"What's up?" Brandon asked as he and Ashley came walking towards the two,

Heather sat up with a curious look on her face, "Zack just told me that Gavin and Victoria might have been lying about why they had to go to town." Heather replied,

"What? I didn't say that." Zack quickly interjected in defense of himself, "I was asking about Chloe, I thought that she might have been with them. I didn't even know they were gone!"

Heather tossed her hand up, "Semantics Zack, you called out their bluff, now I'm gonna find out the truth when they get back here."

"Oh come on Heather, I'm sure it was nothing, maybe Victoria misspoke," Zack said with a little nervous look, not wanting to get Gavin or Victoria into trouble,

"Maybe, but I'll find out soon." Heather said matter of factly, "Anyway, no Zack, I didn't see Chloe." Heather concluded,

"Wasn't she just swimming with us?" Brandon asked confused,

"What you asking for the redhead?" Kurt asked approaching the other with a smirk. Zack's eyes locked on Kurt and he narrowed them slightly, "She made her way inside a few minutes ago." Kurt explained before letting out a smirk, "Thought I liked her when she came out, but I loved watching her walk away." He added on receiving some scowls from the others, as well as hard glare from Zack.

Zack let out a short exhale, deciding pursuing anything against Kurt would be pointless, and turned towards the cabin. "Wait, where are you going?" Ashley quickly called out to him stopping him in place,

"To go and see Chloe," Zack said craning his head back at Ashley,

"Oh come on Zack, she's probably just using the bathroom or something. I'm sure she'll be right back out, besides we were going to start using the rope swing!" Ashley said with a smile,

"Yeah, I got that thing tied back off properly, so we're all good to go," Kurt added on with a nod,

Zack let out a little grimace, Brandon let out a shrug, "Your call man, though I think she'll probably be right back."

Zack thought it over for a second and let out a little sigh, "Alright, you guys are probably right." He conceded while walking back over,

"Awesome!" Ashley said with a full grin,

"C'mon let's go, cousin, enough laying in the sun, time to have some fun." Kurt said while reaching out and taking hold of Heather's hand, "Let's go!" He exclaimed while pulling her up,

Heather let out a pretend sigh of frustrations, "Okay...if I have to." She said rolling her eyes.

Kurt lead Heather towards a large oak tree, that hung over the lake, with Brandon right behind them. Zack had started to follow only for Ashley to reach out a grab his wrist pulling him back. He instantly looked over to the blonde who waved him closer to her. Zack raised a brow and reluctantly waited a few seconds until the others were out of earshot, "What?" Zack asked,

"I just wanted to say sorry," Ashley said in a low voice,

"Sorry?" Zack asked genuinely confused,

"About earlier, that wasn't cool of me to toss the idea of just leaving Chloe for me like that. It's not fair to you or her, and I hope you can understand where that was coming from in the first place." Ashley explained innocently, "I just got a little lost in my emotions and started blurting stuff out, and again I appreciate you being so honest with me."

Zack felt a little sense of relief from her words, "Oh," He easily said, "No, Ash it's fine, I...yeah, I get it. This whole thing is a bit of a strange situation." Zack admitted,

"Yeah," Ashley agreed, "I mean, I can't imagine how it must be for you. I mean, you have Chloe, who's just so great for you, but then again you have me who's kinda..." Ashley said before blushing, "Well let's just say, I get you huh?"

Zack's cheeks turned a bit pink, and he let out a short nod, "I guess?" He replied, "I mean like I said I felt something for you, but it wasn't like...you know anything crazy."

"No, no, I get it totally. I wasn't trying to change your mind or anything; I was just...talking." Ashley quickly replied,

Zack let out a nod and began to turn around to head back towards the others only to halt; he felt a little nagging in the back of his mind, he looked back at Ashley and said, "Hey, you didn't say anything to Chloe earlier did you?"

"What out in the lake?" Ashley asked in return,

"Yeah, when you were bringing up all the sex stuff," Zack replied raising his brow slightly,

"No, I mean nothing crazy, I was just messing around." Ashley said with a little laugh, "You two are my friends Zack, I was just trying to relieve any tension between us all."

"Oh," Zack said feeling relieved, "Well, thank you, Ash, that's-that was pretty cool of you to do." Zack replied causing her to let out a little giggle and nod, "Right, well, shall we go rope swinging now?"

"Absolutely," Ashley said with a full, confident smile on her face while they both began to walk to catch up with the others.