Such Great Heights

A/n: Wow, if you can believe it, this is the second to last chapter. Came fast, didn't it? I have a sequel-maybe-not-sequel planned. We'll see. Thank you to all of my reviewers. Hearts!

Disclaimer: Dan no longer says hi, now he's screaming. Oops…

Chapter 7

I tried my best to leave this all on your machine

But the persistent beat it sounded thin upon listening

And that frankly will not fly you'll hear the shrillest highs

And the lowest lows with the windows down when this is guiding you home

Chase was pulling a complete Tom Cruise in his dorm room at this exact moment. He was jumping on couches, dancing around in his underwear, and whatever other silly things Tom Cruise may do.

He was on cloud nine, seventh heaven, you name it he had been there, owned it, and come back with a sandwich.

He was dancing around the room, attempting to dance with Logan and Michael who were huddled together fearfully in a corner of the room watching their friend.

Every cheesy love song you could think of had been played at one point or another and Chase had danced to it.

"Seriously, I'm beginning to think this kid is either bipolar, or has major mood swings." Logan commented to Michael.

"Chase, CHASE!" Michael called, trying to get his attention. Chase looked up and paused the music. Logan let out a sigh of relief.

"What's up?" Chase asked.

"Did you even officially ask her out?" Michael asked him. Chase just stared at him.

"Um…"

"Thought so." Michael said. "Oh well, I guess it's a start in the right direction." He said looking at Logan.

This morning's activities had been wild and all over the place, a complete emotional rollercoaster. It was true, Chase and Zoey weren't official yet but at least they both knew how the other stood, officially. The next part would be a lot easier now.

"So now what?" Logan asked, sitting down on their couch.

"Um…" Chase replied, pulling on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, finally. "We hang out?"

"Yeah but things will be different now, you hooked up." Michael said.

"Do you think?" Chase asked.

"They might seem awkward, yeah." Logan replied.

"Crap."

"Don't worry about it bro. Why don't you give her a call and ask her to go get something to eat?" Michael suggested.

"Good idea." Chase agreed reading for his phone.

"Um Chase… when was the last time you showered?" Logan asked.

"Last night before I went out, don't worry I'm clean enough." Chase replied, dialing Zoey's speed dial. He put her on speakerphone and put the phone down on his bed so he could finish getting ready.

"Hello?" He heard her voice say.

"Hey Zoe." Chase said from across the room, trying to put on socks standing up.

"What's up Chase?" She replied.

"Have you eaten yet?" He asked her.

"Um, Nicole brought me a muffin from the cafeteria before, why?"

"Do you wanna go get something? You can pick, whatever you want, I'm just starving."

"Ok sure. Meet me at my dorm in like fifteen minutes, or if you're ready now, just come over and wait while I finish getting ready." Zoey suggested.

"Alright that works, I'll be over in a few minutes."

"See you soon."

"Adios." He heard her click the phone and he walked over and closed his cell and stuck it in his pocket.

Chase tied the laces on his shoes and ruffled his fingers through his hair quickly.

"I don't get why you do that." Logan said. "It does nothing."

"Shh Logan, he likes to pretend it does." Michael replied.

"Alright, I'm out of here, bye guys." Chase said, heading for the door.

"Good luck!" They both called back at him as he left.

Chase made his way down towards the girls' dormitory so he could pick up Zoey. He was glad things had made such a turnaround compared to both last night and early this morning. Chase had no idea what came over him this morning when he grabbed Zoey's hand out in the hallway outside her room.

Whatever it was, he thanked it. A million times. Chase's hand reached up to knock the door but before he could he heard Zoey behind him.

"Hey kiddo." She said. He turned around, to see her returning from the bathroom completely ready to go minus a wet head tossed up in a towel turban. "I just have to brush out my hair real quick and then we can go get lunch. Or breakfast. Or whatever." She unlocked her door and stepped inside. "Come on in."

Chase followed her inside and sat down on the end of her bed.

"Hey Chase." Nicole said with a smile, who was also brushing her hair. Chase assumed she probably had some sort of a nervous twitch, because she was always brushing it.

He watched as Zoey quickly brushed out her wet hair, then shook it a few times to get any excess water off.

"Zoey!" Dana exclaimed. "Water! Flies when you shake wet hair!" Zoey giggled.

"Sorry Dana." She looked at Chase. "Ok I'm ready let's go." She walked over and simultaneously grabbed his hand and her cell phone and pulled him up leading him out the door. "Bye guys!" She called to her friends.

"See you later." Chase said as he was dragged.

Chase and Zoey made their way across the campus to the cafeteria and looked inside to see what was on the menu.

"Aww, they stopped serving breakfast already." Zoey said sadly. Chase had noticed that she hadn't let go of his hand yet but didn't say anything.

"So how about this, we'll take a bus down to the beach and go to a restaurant there. We can go to like IHOP or something if you want." Chase suggested. Zoey smiled at him.

"You're awesome." She said smiling at him.

"Ok well let's get going so we can try to catch a bus." Chase said, now taking lead and bringing her towards the bus stop.

Five minutes later they were sitting on a bus together headed down to the boardwalk to get breakfast.

"I hate taking the bus, it always grosses me out because everyone uses it and you never know when they clean it." Zoey said as she sat awkwardly in her seat.

"Well don't think about it then." Chase suggested.

"And what should I think about then?" Zoey asked.

"I don't know, happy thoughts." Chase said.

"Like unicorns being slaughtered by the Amityville killer?" Zoey said with a laugh.

"Exactly." Chase replied, smiling at her.

The two sat in silence for a few moments until Chase spoke up.

"I was attacked by the wrath of Logan this morning." He said.

"Really? Why?"

"Because of last night. Logan was all like 'blah blah blah she came back to her room, she wasn't supposed to, what did you do, you screwed up, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera."

"Oh, that." Zoey said distantly.

"Yeah, and I had already woken up in a foul mood and the last thing I needed was him bitching at me." Chase then looked at Zoey questioningly. "Did you really cry last night?" Zoey sighed.

"After I left, I got back to my room to see Dana, Logan, Nicole, and Michael all hanging out in my dorm watching tv. It was fine, whatever, but what really got me was Dana and Logan sitting on her bed together, cuddling. Like she was close to him and he had his arms around her and they looked so happy and perfect. And I freaked out."

"Why?" Chase asked.

"Because they were exactly what I wanted. Logan wasn't afraid to say what he felt, as arrogantly as he expressed it, and Dana reciprocated. And they cuddled together, they didn't care if anyone looked at them or said anything, because it didn't matter, they sat together wrapped up in each other, just chilling and watching tv, and it's not fair because I want to be happy like that too!" Zoey wiped at the tears that were beginning to form in her eyes. Chase just looked at her.

"Zoe…" He whispered.

"I can't believe I'm jealous of Dana and Logan, what they have, whatever it may be, isn't that great, but at least it's something. I at least want something." At this point a few tears streaked their way down Zoey's cheek. Chase lifted up his hand and wiped them away gently with his thumb.

The same force that had come over Chase this morning telling him to grab Zoey's hand and hold her close to him came to him again and he wrapped his arm around her back and pulled her close into him. Zoey sighed and rested against his chest. He kissed the top of her hair and laced his fingers with hers.

"No more crying." He whispered softly. "I'm here for you."

The two sat like that for the rest of the bus ride until they arrived at their destination.

"IHOP, here we come." Chase said, as they walked off the bus and onto the boardwalk.
"I'm so excited!" Zoey said with a smile. Chase took her hand in his and held it as they walked towards the blue roofed restaurant that loomed in the distance.

Getting to IHOP was the easy part, waiting in the lobby for 25 minutes to get a seat proved to be a bit more difficult.

"In my entire life of going to any IHOP anywhere in the world, service was always slow, no matter what." Chase said with a groan as he slouched against the plastic seat cushion.

"Well don't worry; at least we don't have to worry about them stopping the morning breakfast service." Zoey said with a laugh because they both knew that was completely impossible.

"Matthews, party of two." A waitress said.

"That's us." Chase said standing up, then taking Zoey's hand and pulling her up as well. They followed the waitress to a little corner table in the back and sat down.

"Do you need time to look at the menu?" The waitress asked them.

"I'm ready." Zoey said. Chase laughed.

"I guess I am too then."

"Alright, what can I get you kids?" The waitress asked pulling out her pad and a pen.

"I'll have two eggs scrambled with sausage, hash-browns, toast, and pancakes, with strawberries on top, and a milk please." Zoey said. Chase stared at her with his jaw dropped. "What? I'm hungry." Zoey said, embarrassed.

"Ok well I'll have um, the same thing." Chase said grinning at her.

"Do I sense a challenge?" The waitress asked.

"Possibly." Chase replied, still looking at Zoey.

A/n: this IHOP scene is making me sick to my stomach, I can't stand it, we're fast forwarding.

A few hours and a few plates later, Chase and Zoey had both finished everything placed in front of them and were now sitting in their chairs groaning.

"Oh my god, I'm not eating for weeks." Zoey said.

"Just being in here is making me feel even fuller." Chase added.

"Let's get out of here." Zoey suggested.

Chase took the bill and paid it, much to Zoey's arguing, and then they walked out into the California sun.

They took a seat on an empty bench and Zoey leaned back and closed her eyes, basking in the warmth of the sunlight.

"Working on your tan?" Chase asked.

"I think yours needs a bit more work though." Zoey replied laughing.

"Hey!" Chase said pretending to be offended. "I like my pale-ness."

"Well yeah, it's cute." Zoey replied, looking over and smiling at him.

"R-really?" Chase asked.

"Yeah, you're the tall goofy pale boy with the big hair." Zoey said laughing.

"Oh you're gonna get it." Chase said pretending to sound mean. Zoey kept laughing.

"Bring it on. Oh wait, you already took care of that with your song."

"Who was the one in the cheerleading skirt?" Chase said smirking at her.

"You mean like the one you secretly wear every night?"

"Oh that's it Zoe, you better run, you're dead!" Chase said lunging at her. Zoey squealed and jumped up, running off down the boardwalk towards the beach.

Chase got up and ran behind her and chased her all the way down to the soft hot sand of the beach. He jumped at her and tackled her down into the sand. Zoey squealed again but went down laughing. She rolled over on to her back and looked up at him. He was hovering right above her, leaning on his hands on either side of her head for support so he wouldn't land on her.

All of a sudden Zoey pulled his head to hers and their lips met and she kissed him. Chase taken completely aback had to struggle to hold himself up so he wouldn't fall on her out of shock. Chase sat back on his heels and brought Zoey up into a sitting position with him, still kissing her.

"Chase Matthews, where have you been all my life?" Zoey asked staring into his eyes.

"Waiting for you to come to PCA so I could love you forever." Chase replied. They both stood up and he wrapped his arms around her waist as her arms snaked their way around his neck. He kissed her softly and quickly on her forehead. "I love you, Zoe." He whispered.

Fin.

A/n: Aww look everything's perfect, except one thing's missing. They're STILL not going out yet? Will it come? Or will I end this story with them as only friends? (Aka 8 is the last chapter, kids). You'll find out if you REVIEW!

--f.c