When Cody came out of the bathroom, he was wearing the same shorts as before and had a towel draped around his shoulders like a cape. He walked like you'd expect someone in so much pain to walk, the poor guy. When he reached the bed, he flopped down on his back, letting out a slight grunt upon impact. I raised an eyebrow at him to imply the obvious question.

"Yeah, I'm fine. But I'll need new bandages" he groaned, adjusting himself so he could lay comfortably in bed. I stood up and straightened out my sweater vest.

"I'll go find a nurse. Don't hurt yourself" I said, picking up my book from the end of the bed.

"Thanks Noah" Cody whimpered, already starting to fall asleep. I rolled my eyes and set out to find the nurse who was usually on lifeguard duty for the idiots who often populated the pool.

Once I was assured Cody would be taken care of, I found a quiet place on the pool deck to lay down and nap. It was quite peaceful until I was brutally woken by my stupid self rolling into the pool mid sleep.

I spat water out of my mouth, leaving behind the taste of chlorine. I grumbled and sat myself on the edge of the pool and watched Tyler, Eva, Justin, and Katie toss around a beach ball. Some more agressivly than others... *cough* Eva *cough*.

As entertaining as it was to watch Tyler near drown himself every six minutes, I wound up stopping to get a mango smoothie out of the fridge, and made my way back to my room.

I turned on the TV to find Total Drama Island being played. After about thirty seconds, I was able to piece together that it was playing the episode with our favorite challenge: The Awake-a-thon.

Needless to say, I didn't get much screen time. Most of the episode had been focused around Gwen and Trent's little hookup. But of course, the one time the camera actually focused on my idiot face was when I went ham on Cody's ear.

I had actually forgotten about that until now, and rewatching gave me a different feeling than it did when it happened. I remember it being annoying and embarrassing, but seeing it happen from third person view gave me a tingling feeling in my face, making my cheeks flush. The second I realized what was happening, I hit myself in the head with the nearest book.

No. No no no no no. Remember what you said before the show started. No romance, no distractions.

Distractions from what? The game that I got eliminated from weeks ago? The education I'm getting here at this cheapo resort? There's nothing here that should stop me from admitting my own feelings to myself.

No one said I have to tell Cody I like him, if that's even the case. Even if I do, after the competition is over I'll never see him again anyway. What have I got to lose?

Your sanity? Common sense? Composure?

My inner dialogue was getting on my nerves. I hit myself in the face again for good measure, clicked off the TV, and stood up. I stretched out my cramped body and made my way to the infirmary to check on Cody.

When I got there, he was watching The Lion King on one of those rolling TV stands that were often found in classrooms. His hair was sticking up in weird places, and he had a loose T-shirt covering up his fresh bandages. When he saw me come in, his face lit like a fire.

"Noah! Thank goodness, I was so lonely up here by myself" he said with a stiff smile. I smirked and sat in the chair beside him, which hasn't moved at all.

"Well this place is so dull, I look forward to the time I spend with the sick kid in the hospital" I said, my voice dripping in sarcasm. Cody chuckled.

"The nurse says I'll be out of here by next week, once the stitches start healing up more" he beamed. I chuckled.

"I'd rather be locked safely in here than be in Eva's rage zone"

Cody gave a small giggle, sitting up using the support from his pillow.

"It sounds like a blast down there!"

I shook my head.

"The longer you stay, the worse it gets. Give it a week and you'll be thinking the same thing"

Cody gave a weak shrug, his shirt clinging to the bandages on his chest.

"Still pumped" he said smiling like an excited child, "heard there was a pool and everything!"

I couldn't help but laugh at his enthusiasm. This kid was so far from being one of the "players" he wants to be, and he knows it too. On the inside he's a genuine kid who loves swimming and chocolate ice cream.

--------

I made my bi-daily trek to the infirmary, where I expected to see Cody still asleep, but instead he was sitiing on the side of the bed, legs swinging back and forth. After all the weeks I spent locked in my room all by myself, it was nice to have Cody to hang out with, even though I was basically just his nurse.

He grinned his gap-tooth little grin as I walked through the room, still sporting my sweatpants and the shirt I sleep in.

"Why so happy?"

I raised my eyebrow sleepily. His grin doubled.

"I get to leave the infirmary today!" He cheered, standing up out of bed. He must've had a bath last night, because he smelled like pine needles and rain. His hair was fluffy and in his face.

When he stood up, it took him a minute to get his balance. He was shirtless and wearing the same shorts he was wearing the week before.

"Woah there tiger, don't you need to check with the nurse?" I said, offering his my arm to help him balance himself.

"I already did!" He grinned, holding up the key to his new room down on the second floor with the rest of us. I chuckled.

"Alright. I'll get your suitcase" I said, grabbing the handle on his red bag and rolled it towards the door. He followed behind me, using the suitcase as his support system.

Once he had stumbled his way down the stairs and into his room, only a few doors down from my own, he ended up crashing on the couch, but not before he admired the quality of his room.

"My own TV!" He shouted "My parents won't let me have one!"

His enthusiasm made me laugh.

"Well I'll let you settle in" I said as he dragged his suitcase into his bedroom. "I'm in room 219, but don't bother me before 9 and after 11" I sneered, giving him a smile.

"Okie dokie!" I heard him chant as I shut the door behind me. He is a cutie, there was no denying that. But I still wondered what I found so attractive about him.

Perhaps it was his innocent persona that he tried to hide. Or maybe it was just the desperation this environment made me feel. But I promised myself I wouldn't think about it too hard, and went to the juice bar.

I grabbed myself a kiwi smoothie and sat at the bar. Not too long after, Tyler and Justin sat down at the bar too, leaving a seat between myself and them. I had no problem with either of them, but as soon as Eva came and tried to pick a fight with Tyler, I was out of that place.

Having no where else to go, I just went back to the room and turned on the TV. I couldn't really tell you what was playing though, because I was lost somewhere deep in the depths of Noah's brain. I wish I could say I was pondering something a bit more noble, but we all know exactly what I was thinking.

Cody's impact on me was all I could think about. The way he wore down my hard, sarcastic outer layer. The way his innocence made me smile the way only a good book or a shirtless super model could. The way he made me so easily fall into his trap without me even thinking about it. I can't believe I let that happen to myself.

And as much as I've been avoiding to say it: I like Cody.

"I like Cody" I whispered under the white noise of the TV. I stood up and shook out my hair.

"I like Cody" I whisper again as I made my way to the door. I shoved my key in my pocket and slammed the door behind me. I walked down the hall to Cody's room and knocked on his door. Within twenty seconds he pulled open the door.

"Hey Noah" he said with a small smile.

"Hi Cody, how's your room treating you?"

He looked around the room as if he had to remember exactly what it looked like.

"Good!" He beamed, looking back at me.

"Want a tour of the Playa?" I offered to him. He immediately nodded. I gestured him out into the hallway, the door closing behind him. We walked, myself leading, down to where the kitchen was. Justin was still there, and Katie was on his right side, admiring him and Beth, who must've arrived not too long ago, was on his left. I gave Cody a quick explanation of the room, him showing complete disinterest.

"Can we go see the pool now?" he asked, giving me puppy dog eyes. God, it was adorable. Adorably evil.

I sighed.

"Yeah, I guess we can" I said and led him out to the pool deck. Only Tyler and Ezekiel were out there at the moment, and Tyler was only half-conscious after hitting his head on the bottom of the pool.

As unimpressed I was, Cody looked absolutely thrilled.

"Can we go swimming?" he pleaded. I cocked my eyebrow.

"Right now?"

He nodded vigorously and I sighed, making it as audible as possible.

"Fine, but you can't make me like it" I spat, rolling my eyes.

"You underestimate me, Noah" he grinned. He grabbed my hand and pulled me up to where our rooms were. His small hands gripping my wrist made my skin tingle with warmth. The contrast between my own dark skin and his pale, freckled hand made me briefly imagine us together in an intimate way. But I quickly shook it out of my head when I felt my face getting hot.

He pulled me all the way down to his room, until he ushered me into my own room so I could change into my own bathing suit. I dragged myself into the bedroom to change.

By now I've been living here long enough for my room to be a bit more "personalized" per se. I had a little pyramid of books on the desk table in the living room, and I had all my clothes organized in the small closet inside the bedroom.

I pulled my swimsuit off it's hanger and threw it on the bed. I took off my shirt, and not in the way you weirdos are picturing this in your heads. In fact, I'm probably the least sexy ex-contestant on this show. Except for maybe Eva, but at least she's in shape. Eh, I probably beat Beth too.

Once I remove my pants, the brief coldness gives me a bit of a problem where problems shouldn't occur when going swimming with another guy who is definitely not gay. And after I opened the door to a very eager Cody in a swimsuit, my problem didn't get any better.

He practically shoved me all the way to the pool, and then literally shoved me in the pool. In exchange I spat all the water in my mouth into his face. But being the enthusiastic child that he is, didn't seem to have any problem with my saliva water all up in his business.

Oh-so lucky for me, literally everyone else was at the pool too, so I ended up sitting at the cabana and watching Tyler and Justin play keep-away with Cody from the beach ball.

I must've fallen asleep right around then, because the next thing I see is a very sunburned Cody sitting next to me slurping some sort of pineapple-y juice. When I sat up groggily, he turned his head and grinned at me, showing off his little tooth gap.

"Noah!"

I gave him an over-emphasized wave.

"Cody! Fancy seeing you here. Such a small world" I said with sleepy smirk. He rolled his eyes.

"Why didn't you swim?" he asked, poking his straw into the ice inside his glass, making it swirl around.

"Swimming isn't really up my alley" I explained, my feet dangling into the water. Gave stuck his lip out in a faux pout.

"C'mon Noah, how often do you get to go swimming?" he pleaded.

"Whenever I want really, it's not like pools are that rare"

Cody rolled his eyes again, a little too forced. He wasn't usually the kind of guy who used sarcasm.

"Fine, we can do something you want to do now" he groans, hopping down into the pool and crawling his way back to the deck to get a towel. I follow him, shaking the excess water out of my hair. I wrapped a towel around myself and faced Cody.

"What do you want to do then?" he asked me, running the terry cloth over his dripping legs.

I smirked but didn't say anything.

I'm looking right at it.