Reasons, Numbers & Those Pesky Feelings

Title: He Likes Me, He Likes Me Not...
Pairing: Ami/Zoi

Word Count: 1370

Summary: Five reasons Ami thinks Zachary Atwood may be interested in her. Like, that kind of interested. Well, sort of.
Author's Note: This is AU. Basically Ami and Zach are both attending a (uniform-required; hence the tie mentioned in story) boarding school students who work on the literary magazine together. The five reasons are not really connected, but I think 'four' actually mentioned something from 'one'. If this seems confusing, don't sweat about it; the background doesn't play that big a role in this fic. Enjoy the story!

&one.

She's pretty sure that he spends at least one-tenth of all his conversations with her staring at her legs.

After many hours of debates in her head, three pages of hurried scrawling, and two pages of equations, she's decided that she's twenty-four point two seven percent okay with this.

&two.

They are assigned to be partners in an assignment for the school literary magazine

He strolls over to her, "So how are we going to write this essay, Infallible？"

She chokes on the bite of biscuit she is quietly chewing, "Wh-What did you call me?" Looking up, she sees his trademark smug smirk. Git. (She'll ruminate on the fact that she uses too much British English another day.)

He is perfectly unruffled by her surprised outburst, "Cucumbers, Infallible, cucumbers." Now she looks at him like he's gone completely bonkers. (And maybe he has, she silently mutters.) She raises one inky blue eyebrow condescendingly and calmly stares at him. Very. Calmly.

He waves one hand nonchalantly, as if to dismiss the whole matter. "The essay, Infallible."

She will demand and receive an explanation from him one day, but for now she will yield and brainstorm with him on the essay.

-

She spends an unhealthy amount of time pondering over his nickname for her when she works on the essay. Or rather, the presently non-existent essay. Her computer screen is completely blank save for one line, "Infallible? Infallible! Infallible?!!!" She scowls at the blinking cursor as she presses the "Backspace" key with a vengeance. A few seconds later, facing a completely blank screen, she gives up on writing the stupid essay and grabs her purse to go to Mina's.

Just as she prepares to knock, a thought hits her. He couldn't be... She purses her lips and vehemently denies the new theory. But, he could be... Well, sort of. Kind of. Vaguely. Interested. Like, that kind of interested. But she does not like this new development in her theories so she abruptly cuts off her train of thought and knocks on Mina's door.

Mina is wearing that infinitely smug grin of hers when Ami quickly delineates the situation. When she finishes, the self-proclaimed Goddess of Love gives her The Look. As in the please-don't-tell-me-you're-so-much-of-an-idiot-that-I-actually-have-to-explain-this-to-you-look. As in the what-do-you-think?-of-course-it's-that-theory-look.

Mina's response is short and to the point, "He's interested in you." And her look plainly says, Yes, that kind of interested.

&three

They argue. A lot.

Or as Mina patronizingly says, "Banter. The accurate word is banter." And then she gives Ami yet another of her please-tell-me-you're-smarter-than-this-looks. And after that, she launches into a rather passionate tangent on the differences between the two. Ami just tunes her out. Mina notices this and gives her a saucy smirk, "Flirtatious banter, maybe?" She grins in satisfaction as a blush suffuses her friend's face.

-

"Of course he has good fashion sense! His scarves are brilliant!" Ami argues heatedly. She steps out of the newsroom and into the hallway with her partner. She stares pointedly at him, "Well, what do you think?"

He blinks at her, then pronounces haughtily, "I think that having a conversation with me about the fashion choices of an imaginary character is pathetic, Infallible." He snorts, "Not to mention the fact that the character is from Gossip Girl, of all shows."

She scowls at him (and ignores the nickname), "I know for a fact that you have watched every episode of the show."

He caves and offers his opinion after a few more seconds of her unyielding gaze, "Chuck Bass' fashion sense is deplorable. The scarf never matches any other part of his outfit!"

"That's why the scarves are perfect! They show his originality!"

"What originality? They're just another mismatched piece of his outfit!"

"Mismatched is just part of who he is. I mean, Nate always sticks to the boring school uniform in his cookie-cutter boring, boring, boring way, but Chuck has charisma." She stoutly defends her beloved character.

"Charisma? Please. His cashmere scarves are just an excuse for his lack of fashion sense."

"No! They reflect who he is as a person. The scarves are always fun and colorful, which reflects his living on the edge, but they're cashmere, so that shows that he's got a good heart after all, even if he is afraid to show it..." When she finishes her in-depth analysis of Chuck's scarves and his character, Zach is shaking his head slightly, chuckling softly to himself, "Jeez, Infallible. Most people just watch the show for the melodrama or the clothes or whatever." He gestures towards her, "Only you would think of psycho-analyzing a character based on his choice of clothes. God, Infallible, you need--"

He's got this undefinable look on his face when he stares straight at her and suddenly the hallway is spinning, spinning around her and she breathlessly finishes his sentence for him, "To get a date?"

And just like that, he's back to his psychotic jackass mode. He adjusts his uniform's tie and replies haughtily, "I was going to say get out more, but you obviously know what you so desperately need."

She rolls her eyes at him, not bothering to stop the insult that comes out, "Git."

His smile is purely roguish as he bends down slightly towards her, "Would you like a date?" They freeze like that for about five seconds (no, she was not counting) until she pushes the words out of her mouth, "No, of course not." He grins cheekily as he straightens up, "Of course. I'd imagine that having a date with you would be quite torturous." And with that he saunters away.

She shouts to his back, "I happen to like guys who are nice, thank you very much!"

Although, now that she thinks of it, she should have said something like, "I'd rather give away my book collection than go out with you!" At this thought, she bangs her head against her AP Economics textbook.

"Damn it!"

&four

They have this little, slightly more than occasional speaking-in-unison thing.

"Pecksniffian? What was our darling editor-in-chief thinking?" Zach complained.

"Thing is, he wasn't thinking." Ami grumbled, more than a little annoyed by the editor-in-chief's article. "But the word 'Pecksniffian' sounds so familiar."

Zach frowned, "Actually, it does sound extremely familiar. Like..."

She bit her lower lip, deep in thought. Her face cleared as she thought of something, "Wait!"

They spoke in unison, "Martin Chuzzlewit!"

They stared at each other then, both surprised by the coincidental harmony in their speech. And she couldn't deny that when he looked at he just then, the crooked smile on his face was just for her.

&five

She's always the only one to get a slice of the (much-coveted) raspberry white-chocolate cheesecake his mother sends him once a month.

She digs in with a hurried thank you when he hands her this month's cheesecake just before breakfast. After a mouth-full of the deliciousness, she looks up to see Zach laughing at her, "I think you're the only girl who dares to eat this stuff."

She sends him a dirty glare as she savors the flavors floating in her mouth. She swallows quickly, "I'm underweight anyways." She notices him looking over her appraisingly as she finishes her next heavenly bite and reminds herself that she's twenty-seven point two four percent okay with this. (Or was it twenty-four point two seven percent?)

He watches her eat greedily for a few moments in (surprisingly companionable) silence before she speaks up, "Tell your mom that I love her." She nods furiously as she continues gushing, "I love her truly, passionately, and sincerely for the rest of my life." A pause. "And her absolutely incredible, too-fantabulous-for-words cheesecake as well, of course."

He just chuckles at her antics. After a few more moments of watching her eat greedily, he stands up and bows mockingly,"Given the fact that I have faithfully delivered thy beloved treasure to thee, I shall be on my way." He smirks,"Lastly, a few warm wishes and words of wisdom: Don't choke on the cheesecake."

He laughs when she starts choking immediately at his words, "See you in class, Infallible."

The smirk he wears on his way to class is decidedly very smug.

----------

---Next: "Any Other Woman On Earth" -- Five reasons for why going out with Ami would be a very Bad Idea. Not that he's actually thinking of doing so, of course. Right?

Ramblings of the Author: So how did you like it? Which was your favorite? The least favorite? Is it worth continuing? Any constructive criticism? laughs I don't mean to bombard y'all with questions, but I'm a bit nervous about this piece and would lovelovelove feedback. ♥, aminitna.