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Chris woke up all the campers with a loud announcement from the microphones in the cabins (yes, there were cameras AND also microphones). In his very polite manner, he asked everyone to reunite in the center of the camp for a new challenge to start the day. Quickly everyone, some faster than others, joined to hear what torture they had to put up today.
The host planned a challenge inspired by Season’s 4 Chef’s hunt with his meatball bazooka, but this time, he had a gun that would shoot fishing baits to trap whoever he shot, kinda of like catching a wild animal. The campers will have 3 minutes to run and hide before Chef goes to hunt. Scott and Zoey already dealt with Chef’s chasing in Season 4 and were not thrilled to go through that again.
When the timer started, everyone scattered different ways while Chris counted the three minutes he’d given. Zoey ran as fast as she could, parting ways with Mike and Cameron. After Revenge of the Island she practiced a lot for her return in this season, she played sports and acrobatics in her free time and got very good at, well, mostly everything involving physical work. She lost sight of every one of her team, noticing she was in the middle of the forest by herself. Her legs were getting tired from running so much, so she decided to take a little break to catch her breath. Her moment of peace was quickly interrupted when she saw Chef from a distance, sprinting rapidly in her direction. She squealed in fear, panicking, she started looking for an escape. She saw a tall tree which was, seemingly, her only option of escape at the time. As Chef was running towards her, she swiftly climbed the tree, hugging one of the branches like her life depended on it. Thank god she didn’t have a fear of heights.
He tried to climb the tree, but after some failed attempts, he gave up and went looking for other victims. She exhaled a sigh of relief, thinking how long would she have to be up there… also added that she hadn’t had breakfast or anything to eat all morning. Just when she found a comfortable position to sit on, there was a cracking noise on her branch, and before she had time to climb up, the branch cracked below her letting her fall. “This is it.” she thought, unluckily for her the tree she chose to climb was a really tall one and the fall was not going to be pretty.
“Gotcha!”
Instead of feeling her body crash to the ground, like she expected, Zoey was pleasantly surprised to feel Scott’s arms, saving her from falling.
“Scott!” She gasped, looking up at him covered in leaves. She figured he must’ve been hiding in one of the bushes nearby.
“Be quiet! We don’t know if Chef is near us” He whispered.
“Sorry.” She said, covering her mouth.
Honestly, she was glad that Scott caught her, if it wasn’t for him she probably would have some broken bones by now… also, she never noticed, but Scott’s arms were quite strong.
Funnily enough, they were in this same position last season when he caught her from falling from that tree (Rewind to ´Eat, Puke and Be Wary´), weird it happened twice.
He was still holding her in his arms while looking around, assuring there were no signs of Chef or any danger whatsoever. Zoey caught herself staring at him for a little too long and quickly averted her eyes from his.
“I think he went looking for the others,” He said “We are safe for now.” A subtle smile on his face, which she found comforting… which was weird because Scott always makes Zoey feel the opposite of comforted. It angered her how he could be so selfish sometimes, especially in the later season. But, she didn’t enjoy the idea of being on her own with Chef on the loose, and as strange as it sounds, she found herself more at ease with Scott by her side.
“Thanks for saving me, Scott… I knew you weren’t that cruel” She said with a teasing smile.
“Whatever, I’m not that much of a prick to let a lady fall to her death” He responded rolling his eyes, clearly annoyed with the implication of him being nice… especially to Zoey.
“Look Scott, I know we’ve had our differences and we still have them, but can we team up just for once?” She looked at him “I hate to admit it but I prefer to be with you than alone right now.”
He contemplated the idea, it didn’t sound as bad. Sure, Zoey got him eliminated from the competition and was, overall, annoying, but there was something of her that he couldn’t take his mind off. She was a player, intelligent, and knew how to play the game… at least physically.
“You must be pretty desperate if you want to team up with me… buuut I guess it is convenient if we stick together, just in case."
After saying this, he realized he was still carrying her in his arms. He felt embarrassed and quickly but carefully put her down. She grabbed onto his shoulders for balance, giving him a soft assuring smile.
After this, they started walking around the forest, very cautious about not making noise and watching their surroundings. Their goal was to just remain as unseen as possible for as long as they could, and also, win the challenge. They were walking close to each other, not wanting the other to accidentally get lost, it was a vast forest. At some point in the walk, Zoey decided it was too silent for her liking.
“So…” She whispered “Courtney didn’t come with you?”
“Huh? What do you mean?” He replied, arching an eyebrow in curiosity.
“Oh, nothing, I thought something was going on between you two” She regretted asking after saying it, she didn’t want to sound too nosy or to bother him now that they were working together.
“Well, nah, she does her own thing. She’s too bossy for me.” He said stretching his arms above his head.
“What about little Mike? Why isn’t he following you like a puppy?”
“First of all, rude. Second of all, he is my friend and he can do his own thing. I don’t see him as a… you know, anymore” She shrugged. Scott just responded with a slightly surprised face and a nod.
“Y’know, you played well last season.” He said, changing the subject. “I mean, at the last episodes”
That was surprising to hear from him… Scott? Complimenting her?
“Oh! Thank you, when my anger quicks in I get very competitive… I have you to thank for that.”
He chuckled. “My pleasure.”
They kept walking around the forest for a while, having no idea of where they were. The sun started to go down when they heard a pair of heavy footsteps nearby. Zoey swiftly turned and saw Chef staring directly at them from a distance. Scott yelled at her to run and they started to sprint around the forest with Chef right behind them. Zoey grabbed Scott by the hand and pulled him towards a small cabin in front of them. They both ran in and closed the door behind them, but Chef started to kick the door down. Both started to look around for escape routes.
“Here! Hide!” Zoey whispered to Scott and pointed at a kitchen closet.
Both quickly ran and closed the closet’s door. Unluckily the space was very small so they could barely fit together, it was a good thing Zoey was rather petite. They squeezed together between the shelves full of food condiments and other cooking materials. Scott’s head was beside an open jar of spicy condiments, which he accidentally sniffed. This caused his nose to get itchy and slowly turn red. Zoey noticed he was about to sneeze so she quickly covered his mouth and nose with her palm.
Scott looked at her startled, she had a concerned look on her face and softly gripped her fingers around his face… if he sneezed, they were goners.
The footsteps indicated Chef was looking around the cabin, they were near at first but then grew distant, it sounded like he was in another room of the place. Then, there was a loud ‘bang’ sound of the front wood door. Zoey breathed heavily now that he was gone, she was almost holding her breath during the whole thing. She turned to look at Scott, noticing her hand was still muffling his mouth.
“Ah! Sorry!” She slowly removed her hand, feeling embarrassed, she felt her cheeks turn red.
“I-It’s okay… you were quick to act huh.” He turned to face the closet’s door, hiding his faint blush. “If I would’ve sneezed back then we would’ve been doomed.” He chuckled, looking back at her.
Zoey really never stopped admiring Scott since they were always fighting and going for each other's throats, but he was very handsome in Zoey’s eyes. His soft orange hair, big eyebrows, his greyish eyes which always seemed like sleepy eyes or serious eyes… whenever he laughed his eyes squinted, and his shoulders were always exposed with the white tank top he used. His voice was very raspy with a little bit of an accent she couldn’t describe, but it was really attractive to her. It was very nerve-racking to have him so close to her. She didn’t notice but involuntarily she was gazing at him… dammit, she was gazing at him!
“Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to stare for so long.” She let out a nervous laugh, staring at her surroundings and pretending to look at anything but his face, trying to think of an excuse for her glaring.
“No no, uhh, don’t worry, sometimes I catch myself staring too…” He instantly regretted saying that, biting his lower lip in embarrassment. “Shit, that sounded weird didn't it”
Zoey couldn’t help to let out a laugh, as he also started laughing at his stupidity.
“This will also sound weird too, but I was just looking at your freckles.” She admitted. “You have quite a lot.” This was half a lie; she was looking at his whole face but his freckles were a part, yes.
Scott’s eyes widened. “Oh, these things,” He touched his cheek with his fingers. “Yeah, I never actually liked them, I sort of had to accept them, y’know?” She noticed how his hand went to cover his shoulders, covering his other freckles. Maybe she struck an insecurity without knowing.
Slightly turning her head to the side in a motion of thinking, she blurted out; “I think they are really pretty.” without even considering how that sounded. His face lit up at the compliment, blushing appearing visible through his cheeks. He wasn’t used to receiving compliments so this took him by surprise.
“Really?” He asked, still astonished.
“Really.” Zoey confirmed, giving him a little nod of assurance, now blushing too.
He slowly removed his hand from his shoulder and took the courage to grab her hand instead. He interlocked fingers with her, caressing her palm with his thumb. She was surprised, but not taken aback.
“I think you are pretty Zoey.” He said in a low voice, shyly. “The prettiest girl on the island.”
Her breath hitched in surprise, like a soft gasp. That was so genuine and sweet of him, she felt a wave of warmness when he said it. With her other unoccupied hand, she cupped his left cheek, grabbing the back of his neck and pulling his face closer. She did it gently in case he wanted to back off or if he felt uncomfortable, but he happily leaned in, putting his lips against hers… finally breaking the small separation between them.
The kiss was soft, and tender, he rested his left hand on her hip while his right was still holding her hand, caressing her palm. She felt her mind start to relax and only focused on the feeling of his lips against hers. Her cheeks were burning at the sensation. He was the first one to separate, locking his eyes to hers. He took her face with both of his hands, running his thumbs on her rosy cheeks, while her hands were resting on his lower neck.
“Whoa.” She whispered, not believing that that just happened.
“…Zoey,” He said, being in the same state of shock as her.
“Did… Did we kiss just now?” His eyes which were recently closed were now fully open, with a look of confusion and disbelief.
“I think so.” The redhead responded, equally as amazed as him. They were quiet for a little bit, listening to their breaths in the enclosed space, processing what just happened, until Scott decided to break the silence.
“…Can we do it again?” He said, with the fright of crossing a line by saying that, but was surprisingly pleased when Zoey grabbed him by the neck and pulled him into a deeper kiss. He grabbed her by the hips to pull her body closer to him, checking just how far he could go with his limits. Zoey didn’t show any sign of annoyance in that, in fact, she wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing his upper lip. She earned a low groan from him by doing this, which was very pleased to hear. Neither of them wanted to break out of the kiss, instead, Scott pulled her body closer and twisted his head to the side to gain more access to her mouth, which she permitted him to go in when her lips parted, giving him an entrance. The first thing she noticed when she slipped her tongue into his mouth was his fangs. He had very sharp ones, she had noticed it before when he laughed at her in the past, but it was different feeling them. It was quite hot, to her… imagining how would those teeth feel buried in her neck. Just the thought of it made her body shiver.
The kiss lingered, it escalated from passionate to soft and vice-versa. Their minds were so concentrated on how good it felt to kiss the other that they completely ignored the footsteps outside the cabin. Zoey was the first one to notice, breaking the kiss just before Mike opened the closet door.
“Guys! I lost, so Chef made me look for- “ Mike fixed his eyes on the couple.
Luckily, they were both separated just in time, the only thing they couldn’t hide was their obvious blush and messy hair.
“Mike! We were just umm- “ Zoey’s voice was shaky and mumbly.
“We had to hide here, Chef was outside looking for us and we didn’t know what to do! So, so scary” Scott finished the sentence, hoping it was convincible enough. He was sweating and looking at anything but Zoey, he even started to play with a jar of pepper that was beside him, fidgeting it.
“Oh… I see. Zoey, I was worried about you, we got separated with Cam.” The brunette said, grabbing Zoey’s arm and pulling her out of the closet. Zoey looked back at Scott with a gloomy expression, like she regretted being torn away from him.
“It's okay Mike, Scott took care of me.” She smiled back at Scott, which made his frown soften. He got out of the closet and stood alongside Mike.
“Is the challenge over?” Scott asked, to which Mike responded that it was and that Zoey and him won by being the ones who lasted the longest. They both sighed in relief and high-fived, smiling at each other. It felt weird, they were always fighting or planning how to get back at each other, but it felt nice. And they were both glad that nobody caught them, for now.