.oO00Oo.

The next day, Cam and Zach went to the toy store. They were only there to pick up a snake and ladder game, but wide array of toys ended up bringing out the child in both of them. Cam spent a whole minute cuddling a humongous tiger, and Zach found a really good Light Sabre and challenged her to a duel. The store had a book section, and while she browsed the teen novel section, he got talked into reading a Dr. Seuess book to a few children. She thought it was the cutest thing in the world and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek when he was done, getting a "Woooooooo," from the kids.

She laughed and buried her head in his shoulder, "That's embarassing!"

"Your girlfriend's pretty, Zach," said a little girl with pink clips in her pigtails.

They both gasped and blushed.

When they had paid for the board game, the tiger the Light Sabre and a teen novel, Cam and Zach walked out of the store hand in hand. Luckily Cam spotted Angela before the other woman could turn around to spot her. She pulled Zach back and reversed, diving into a coffee shop.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Angela!" Cam whispered hoarsely.

"Angela?" he turned to look, and she grabbed his face and focused it on her again.

"Angela! She's standing by my car!" Cam whispered.

"Well, she isn't in here!" said an old lady who was eavesdropping, "So you don't have to act like Double O Seven."

They ignored her.

"Do you think she saw us?" Zach asked.

"No. But I bet she's wondering which of these stores I'm in," Cam brushed the hair from her eyes, frustrated, "I knew she was suspicious."

"Maybe you two shouldn't be going around behind her back," said the old lady. Cam and Zach looked at her. She was grinning at them over her iced coffee.

"Do you have a suggestion as to how we can avoid Angela?" Zach asked her. Cam glared at him for actually entertaining their eavesdropper's point of view.

"You could try telling her the truth," said the old lady, "It has to be better than sneaking around behind her back. Does she really deserve that?"

"Yes. She really should mind her own business," said Cam, "It's not her business if we wanna play Scrabble."

The old woman didn't look convinced, "You two are hiding the fact that you're playing Scrabble from his girlfriend?"

"Angela isn't my girlfriend," said Zach.

"Wait. I'm confused," said the woman.

Cam threw her hands up, "Why are we explaining anything to you? Come on Zach, you walk the other way to the park, I'll get rid of Angela and then I'll pick you up," she told him, grabbing the shopping bag. She clutched his hand a second longer than she had to.

"Okay," he moved in to kiss her, but remember their audience at the last minute. Cam couldn't help but smile a little as he looked down at his shoes in embarrassment.

"See you in a bit."

"Okay," He turned away.

She stood there watching him for a minute as he walked away.

"Playing Scrabble my heel," said the lady, "You have the biggest crush I've seen since my late husband."

.oO00Oo.

The Scrabble board sat abandoned on the coffee table. There were letter tiles scattered all over the off-white carpet. Cam was in Zach's lap straddling him and their mouths were almost fused together.

His hand crept up underneath her thin blue top. She giggled and reached out to hold it, drawing it away from her body. But then his other hand decided to go on the same path that the other on took.

"Zach!" she looked at him, her smile tinged with confusion, "Since when did you get so handsy?"

"You feel soft," Zach said honestly.

Cam felt her heart hammer in her chest, "Oh?"

"Your skin and your hair. Also your lips," he kissed her and she felt a delicious shiver go through her, "And for mainly hormonal reasons, I suspect, I feel the urge to run my hands all over you."

"Gee," Cam could feel her blush spread all over, "Who ever said you weren't romantic?"

"I'm merely stating fact," Zach told her with a straight face. Cam giggled.

"Well, it looks like our game's done," she looked at the scattered game pieces, "What do you say to going back to the school? They're having another fund raiser tonight. A bake sale."

He pretended to be considering, "Do they have chocolate cake?"

"Of course! What self-respecting bake sale doesn't?"

"Okay. Lets go," he grabbed her hand and they got off the floor and headed for the door.

"Wait! My cheesecake!" Cam ran back to the kitchen and grabbed the cheesecake from the fridge, "You can't get in unless you bring something!"

"That seems like bribery," Zach commented as he locked the door.

.oO00Oo.

Zach stared at the giant jar filled with jellybeans. He wrote down his preliminary findings on the paper the officials of the competition had provided. Then he observed the jar again.

He was sure calculating the amount of jellybeans, and therefore winning the prize money and an assortment of t shirts, was simple enough for him to do. It was better than just sitting down and eating cake, like everyone else was.

"So?" Cam popped out of nowhere, jumping in place with excitement.

"I'll need more time, but I've already estimated the volume of the jar."

She grinned, and he couldn't help grinning back, "Excellent. Now..." she held up a slice of cherry cheesecake, "I'm sure you'll need some brain food."

"I'm unsure as to whether cheesecake can be considered brain food, Cam," he told her, "A better choice would be..."

"Just try my cake, silly!" she took off a piece with the fork and held it up to his mouth, "It came out of a box, but I made it. I didn't have time to break out my grandma's recipes."

He opened his mouth and she slid the fork in.

"It's very tasty," he told her.

"Tell Betty Crocker," she winked, handing him the plate, "Now win me those t-shirts."

"Okay," he nodded.

She had been kidding, but as he watched her walk away, Zach decided to double his efforts.

.oO00Oo.

They were walking to the bus stop the next night after dinner at their restaurant, when they saw the movie theatre was still open and showing special movies.

"A movie, Zach! Come on, let's go see one," Cam pulled him up the theater ticket booth and announced to the girl behind the glass, "We need two tickets to Virus Mission, please."

"I don't think we should watch that, Cam," he told her, shaking his head. Cam gave him a smile, and patted his cheek.

"Awww, why not? Too much action?" she teased.

"That movie is in Mandarin with subtitles. You may miss out on something important while reading them."

She kissed his cheek, "It'll be fine. Come on."

"But Cam, I..."

"Let's get popcorn," pulling him towards the concession stands. They got their snacks and went into the movie theater. Zach still looked apprehensive when the credits opened. Cam was a little excited in contrast. She did like kung fu movies very much, and it was the only movie being shown that looked worth seeing. She leaned back in her seat and sipped her Sprite, watching Zach scarf down popcorn out of the corner of her eye.

"Save some of that for me," she whispered to him and was surprised to feel him shiver. A wide grin formed on her face when he looked at her.

"Why are you smiling?" he asked.

"You shivered," she pointed out.

"The theater is cold and your warm breath touched my face," he told her in the cute computer-like way he did , "the mixture of cold then heat made me shiver."

She smiled, snuggling closer to him, "Oh, okay."

Both of them failed to see the person three rows away who was staring at them, her eyes wide and popcorn missing her mouth.

.oO00Oo.

"I can't tell the last time I've been on a bus," Cam commented, looking over at Zach, "Maybe...college?"

"I don't have very pleasant memories of the bus," he told her. She smiled and put her head on his shoulder.

"Believe it or not, me neither. Wasn't the movie great?"

Zach nodded, "Somewhat baseless, and not realistic, but entertaining."

Cam giggled, "Virus Mission is a sci-fi kung-fu movie, Zach. I don't think they had time to make it realistic. Who was your favourite character?"

She watched the easy smile come up on his face, "Ginger."

She hit his shoulder.

"Ow! Why did you hit me?"

"You men, you're all the same! You see tits and ass and you can't bother to look any further! Here I was thinking you'd say Kaolin because she was the brains behind the operation!"

"I disagree," he said, "Kaolin wasn't the brains behind the operation. That would have been John Drew. He was the one who had the actual plan of how to get rid of the virus."

"You know who is my favourite character?" she asked him.

"Who?"

"John Drew," she said smiling, "I like how he wasn't afraid of Ginger, even though she came off as threatening sometimes. You remind me of him."

Zach smiled a little, "You have similar characteristics to Ginger, although the most striking is the shorts," he looked at her, "you have similar shorts."

She smiled, "Yeah. I do," her eyebrow quirked up, "And I also have a similar pair of boots to hers in my closet somewhere."

He looked a bit confused, "Are shoes that reach your thigh practical?"

"Nope," Cam told him, "But such shoes aren't made for practicality."

"What are they made for?" Zach asked inquisitively.

"Hmmm..." Cam pretended to think, lifting her legs and turning a bit in her seat so she could put her legs in Zach's lap, "Well, I used them for Halloween one year, but I'm sure if you wanted to, you could use them for seduction purposes."

She almost laughed when his eyebrow went up a fraction, "Seduction?"

Cam patted his cheek, "Yes Zach. Why is that so hard to believe?"

"It's not. I think that was their purpose in the movie."

"Damn right," Cam put her head on his shoulder, "John Drew fell for it, didn't he? He really liked her."

"It was implied at the end of the movie that they began a relationship."

"I knew they would get together all along," she smiled.

Zach's arm wrapped around her back and held her closer to him. She sighed, comfortable just sitting there with him in the nearly empty bus. She realised how similar they were sitting to how John and Ginger sat together in the movie, as they hid in his lab from the infected mob that was hunting them. She dismissed it. They weren't like that. She and Zach were just friends.

Friends who spent increasing amounts of time together, and who shared spine shivering kisses, and who had their first you're-so-jealous squabble.

It didn't mean anything! she tried to convince herself.

But for some reason, it wasn't working anymore.

.oO00Oo.

"Beaver."

Cam spelled out the word on the board and grinned up at Zach, who was smiling back. She wanted to reach out and ruffle his hair, he was so cute.

"That is a good word," he told her.

"Not as good as...Illiterate," she pointed out the word he had spelled on a previous turn, I mean, it was like Word Kung-Fu when you laid that one on the board."

Zach raised an eyebrow, "Word Kung-Fu?"

"Yes Word Kung-Fu," the expression on his face was so cute, she leaned over the coffe table and kissed him. When she drew away, they were both breathless, "You're like a Scrabble ninja."

"Oh."

"Did I tell you how much I love my new shirt?" Cam smiled and looked down at her purple t shirt with white letters that read, "A Genius was Here."

Zach frowned, "On you, it seems almost suggestive."

"And I repeat, I love it. Especially since you won it for me."

Zach blushed, "All I did was guess the number of jellybeans in a jar."

"But come on! Nobody even came close!" Cam ruffled his hair, making him laugh, "Come on, it's your turn."

Zach scrutinized his letter and spelled 'Risque' on the board.

"I can't ever win, can I?" Cam huffed good-naturedly.

.oO00Oo.

"How is even flipping possible?" Cam pointed at the board, "I want a rematch! There is no way that's possible!"

Zach laughed guiltily, "I'm sorry. I cheated."

Cam's eyes went wide. Then it turned into an elaborate scandalized look, , "Noooo..."

"I'll take it back," Zach too the extra letters off the board, "See? It just spells Phantom now."

"But Mr. High and Mighty, Never Never No Never Cheat Zach Addy tried to pull the wool over my eyes?" her voice was dripping with sarcasm, "There's no way..."

Zach had on his hurt boy face, "I apologize, Cam, I was just making use of a very gainful opportunity."

"Nah," Cam batted his apology away with the flick of a wrist, "That's fine. We'll just call it even. Want more waffles?"

Zach nodded, so they left the game for a moment and headed for the kitchen.

"You deserve a big fat kiss for this waffle iron, Addy," Cam turned and immediately found herself in his arms, "because you are..." she kissed him, "...the most thoughtful..." she kissed him again, "...human being..." she kissed him longer this time, "...on Earth."

"There is no objective way of measuring that accurately," he told her, then bent his knees a little to accept another kiss.

"Oh. But not everyone would pay attention to a desperate plea for a waffle iron. I mean IHOP can only do so much," Cam's pulse quickened as Zach's mouth traveled down her neck and his hand travelled up her top, "Wow. Um, Zacharoni? You sure you know what you're doing there?"

To her disappointment, he let her go and stepped back, "I'm sorry."

Cam tipped on her toes and caught his mouth with hers, feeling her belly bottom drop asa he grabbed her hips and pulled her to him. She put her arms around him, breathlessly kissing him. Then she gasped as she felt her feet leave the ground.

Her back hit the counter hard but she didn't care. Zach grabbed her again and put her on the counter top, leveling their kisses and making the teacups rattle. The temperature rose significantly as they drank each other in and the teacups continued to rattle.

The doorbell rang.

"Oh hell no," Cam muttered as they pulled apart. Zach sighed.

"I'll go see who that is," Cam slid off the counter and walked to the door. She flung it open.

"Hey Cam!" Angela smiled bright as sunshine. Cam tried not to look too annoyed.

"Hi, Angela. What are you doing here?"

"Oh nothing. Just looking for you and Zach. Zach!" Angela walked past Cam, totally the suspicious scowl Cam was sending her.

"Hey! You're still playing Scrabble, huh?" Angela pointed at the game on the coffee table, "That's great."

"Yes, Angela. How did you find..."

"Oh please, you guys can't hide anything from me. I'm the hotter, sexier, female version to Sherlock Holmes," Angela went to the kitchen and dragged Zach out.

"Hi Angela," Zach greeted her, though it was more agitated than friendly.

"This is great. This is so great," Angela grinned, "You two together. Who would have guessed?"

Cam folded her arms, "We aren't together, Angela. Not in the way you're implying."

"How am I implying?" Angela grinned naughtily.

"Your tone implied that we are together in an intimate sense, when we are actually together in a literal sense, being in the same house," Zach interjected.

"Stop talking," Cam whispered harshly.

"Sorry."

"You two are so cute," Angela reached out and grabbed their shoulders.

Cam huffed, "Stop that. What I wanna know is what kind of conclusion you have drawn about me and Zach that makes you so happy."

"That you two play Scrabble, and that you've gone out at least once," Angela counted off on her fingers.

Zach shook his head, "We have not gone out in the way you're implying. We went once together to the arcade, and to a Chinese restaurant, and last night to a Kung-Fu movie."

"Stop talking, Zach!" Cam hissed.

"Sorry."

"So you went to Virus Mission! I knew it!"

Cam frowned, "How did you know?"

"I saw you! I sat two rows back! So..." Angela walked over to the Scrabble game set up on the coffee table, "What's with all the secrecy?"

"It's a part of the game," said Cam, brightening a little now that the topic had changed from her and Zach, "We're having a Scrabble tournament. It lasts a week usually, but we had to start over a few times because I kept cheating."

"And I still win," Zach remarked triumphantly.

Cam hit him playfully, grinning, "Okay, yes you do. We were planning on letting you guys in on the next one, if you want to join in."

Angela considered, smiling, "Sure! I'd love to! And I guess everybody else would love to as well. You two seem to be having fun."

"We are," Cam bit her lip, remembering how much fun, "We were about to make waffles. Would you like to stay and have some with us?"

Angela grinned, "Waffles?"

"Yeah. Zach got me a new waffle iron," Cam jerked a thumb at him, "He was tired of me begging him to go to IHOP."

Angela's attention went to their Genius t shirts, "Nice shirts you guys."

"I won them," said Zach.

Cam rolled her eyes, "He can't stop boasting. You know what? Just for that, you're mixing the batter this time," she pushed him towards the kitchen.

"But I don't know how," he protested.

"Well, honey, you're gonna learn!"

Angela followed, wondering if they realised how much like a couple they sounded.