Tugging at my Heartstrings

Title: Tugging at my Heartstrings

Summary: It's a game of Totally Dramatic Tug-a-War with a huge meal on the line. With Owen on their side, his team has it won right? Not so much.

Disclaimer: I own my puppy Who is an attention whore and won't let me finish this.

Pairings: Main: Lindsey/Owen, Side: Izzy/Ezekiel, Duncan/LeShawna, Harold/Bridgette, and Eva/Noah

Warnings: The usual. I'm not writing it every time. You guys know how I role.

Winter-Rae: Okay, so this is for ironbloodaika who wanted a little Owen and Lindsey action. I hope everyone likes this. Sorry about the Harold/Izzy oneshot, clearly it was a disappointment to many. Enjoy this one!

Tugging at my Heartstrings

"Everyone wake up!" Chris shouted into his megaphone, "It's six in the morning. You have twenty minutes to get ready before breakfast is served and then, being the nice person that I am, I have a surprise for you all!"

"SHUT UP!" eleven voices screamed back at him. Chris jumped, nearly dropping his megaphone in the process. He then ducked as a barbell came flying at his head. Eva's arm was getting better every day, but his reflexes were also improving.

"Come on now people," he said, the megaphone making his voice unbearably loud, "Don't you want your surprise?"

An eerie silence greeted him until Eva trudged out of the girl's cabin. She grabbed the megaphone out of his hands, broke it in half, threw it on the ground, stomped on it a few times, spit on it and then went back into the cabin. Chris watched this happen in complete shock.

"Whoa, touchy," the host muttered after all was said and done, "Oh well, after they find out about the surprise they'll thank me. I'm such a great guy, sometimes it's so hard being me."

"Come on guys, you heard Chris!" Owen shouted happily in the guy's cabin, "Let's go and get some of Chef's awesome grub!"

"Don't mention grubs around me please," Noah muttered from his bunk, "Why do people call it grub anyway? Grubs are nasty little bugs and the last thing I want associated with my food is bugs."

"It's six in the morning eh," Ezekiel groaned, "Isn't it a little early for you to be complaining."

"I have a quota to fill," the bookworm replied, rolling his eyes, "Owen why don't you go and wake Duncan, I'm sure he's just as happy as you are about getting up at this time."

"Really?" Owen asked, "Okay!"

The large teen hurried over to the punk but was stopped by Harold's lightening fast reflexes.

"Not a good idea man," Harold said in a low voice, "He's cranky."

"How do you know?" Owen whispered.

"You can tell by how he's got his pillow over his head and how he's clenching it tightly with his hands, he's probably imagining it's someone's head. That, and as a member of the Killer Bass team, Ezekiel and I have seen him in his moods. You and Noah are the newcomers here."

"Oh come on," Owen said chuckling, "You're paranoid."

He moved to shake Duncan but the punk grabbed his wrist.

"Touch me and die," he muttered.

"Jeez Mr. Grouchypants," Owen said, "Suit yourself; I'll just have to have all that awesome camp food to myself."

"Knock yourself out; if the food doesn't first," Duncan replied, "I'm not going anywhere."

"But Chris said..."

"Earth to Owen," the punk said sitting up, "I don't care."

Owen frowned slightly and glanced out of the window as something caught his eye. The girls were already up and heading to mess hall. LeShawna was in the back of the group with Lindsey, apparently the blonde was having trouble with her bandana and LeShawna was helping her with it. Owen grinned.

"Alright then," he said, "I guess I'll just have to keep all the girls company all on my own. It's hard being the only nice guy on the island sometimes. Maybe they'll need my help opening a jar of pickles. Well, probably not Eva, I wonder if she could bench press my weight. I bet she could."

"I'm nice!" Harold said cutting into the large teen's rambling.

"Me too eh," Ezekiel added. The two were already starting to pull on their clothes. Duncan and Noah exchanged looks.

"Reverse psychology," Noah said, sounding impressed, "Not bad Owen. However it's going to take more than that too..."

"Whoa, is that Eva in a bikini?" Ezekiel asked. Noah literally flew out of his bunk and to the window, in a motion completely uncharacteristic for him. When he saw he had been tricked he glared at the prairie teen.

"I hate you."

"Not my fault you wanna get into Eva's pants eh."

Lindsey yawned and stretched before she took her spot at one of the tables.

'I am so not getting enough sleep,' she thought to herself, 'I'm gonna start getting bags under my eyes!'

Heather sat down next to her and started to file her nails. When Lindsey finally noticed her, she turned up her nose at the raven haired girl. Heather saw this and rolled her eyes.

"Oh what now Lindsey?" she asked, annoyance in her tone, "Is this still about what I said last night?"

"I'm breaking my 'not talking to you anymore' rule just so I can yell at you today," Lindsey said angrily, "Now take it back! I'm a lot of things but what you called me last night was just mean and totally not true."

"Umm hello," Heather replied, "It is true and you know it. Get over it already. I have."

"What are you two white girls fighting about now?" LeShawna asked. She was sitting at the other table with Bridgette, Eva and Izzy. They all preferred to avoid Heather as much as they could.

"Heather is mean," Lindsey said simply, "I thought we were BFFs but she totally stabbed me in the back! Well not totally, I mean I'm not dying or anything like that, but still! How could you do that? We were supposed to be BFFs and we pinky swore even!"

"It's funny how something we find so simple can be such a big deal to someone else," Bridgette mused, "I haven't pinky sworn to anyone since grade six."

By now the guys had entered the mess hall and exchanged looks upon hearing Lindsey yelling at Heather angrily.

"I thought they were friends eh?" Ezekiel whispered to Owen. The large teen nodded.

"Me too, maybe Lindsey doesn't like her anymore, I wouldn't really blame her. Heather isn't very nice. You think she needs a hug?"

"She's scary too," Harold added. Duncan scoffed.

"You guys are a bunch of babies," he said, "Girls aren't scary."

"Come again?"

Duncan froze as Eva glared at him and cracked her knuckles.

"Umm, morning Eva."

"Down girl," LeShawna said to the tough girl, "We're gonna have to break up a cat fight soon anyway."

"Yes!" Duncan said, "Catfight!"

Lindsey got to her feet and pointed at Heather.

"Take it back right now!"

"I will not," Heather replied, "It's your own fault for telling me anyway."

"But you said you wouldn't tell anyone," Lindsey replied.

"And I didn't, you acting like a psycho is doing that for me."

Lindsey crossed her arms over her chest.

"What did Ms. Harpy call you anyway?" Izzy asked, "Did she call you a freak? Izzy hates it when people call her that."

"Last person who called me that ended up in the hospital for three months," Eva mused. The others all looked at her.

"I had nothing to do with it; the idiot went and got into a car accident."

"No, she didn't call me a freak," the pretty blonde said, "It was so much worse!"

"Must have been pretty bad," Harold mused.

"You have no idea Harry."

Harold smacked his forehead but didn't bother to correct her. Lindsey, on the verge of tears pointed to Heather again.

"She called me a stupid chubby chaser!"

The others stood dumbfounded while Lindsey and Heather continued to glare at one another.

"Are you?" LeShawna asked. Lindsey looked at her.

"Am I what?"

"A chubby chaser?"

"Well yeah, obviously, but I prefer the term 'Fat Admirer,' she replied, "But that didn't bother me, because I know it's already true. It was the 'stupid' part that bothered me most and she won't take it back!"

"I'm not taking it back because it's true too!" Heather barked.

"It is not!" Lindsey argued, "I know I might get people's names wrong sometimes, and say the wrong thing but that doesn't make me stupid!"

"It makes her blonde," Noah muttered, earning him a glare from Bridgette.

"Oh I beg to differ," Heather mused, "Anyone here will agree with me that you are, indeed, stupid."

Lindsey looked back at the others, her blue eyes watering and her bottom lip quivering.

"Is that true?" she asked.

Now the others weren't about to give Heather the satisfaction of being right. And for the most part they all did like Lindsey, sure she was a little ditzy and sometimes rude but most of the time she didn't really realize it and thought she was being nice. Her heart was in the right place and she mostly just needed someone to let her know what she was saying was wrong.

LeShawna put an arm around Lindsey's shoulders.

"You're an awesome girl sweetie."

Lindsey brightened up right away.

"Thanks LeFonda…oh I mean LeShawna, sorry, I am really bad with names you know."

"That's alright girl."

"Izzy likes Lindsey too," the red head chirped, "She knows you have a freak flag! Let's wave them together!"

"I don't have a flag though," Lindsey pointed out.

"Never mind that," Bridgette said, "You're awesome."

The girls looked back at Eva, waiting for her to add something in. Eva shook her head, but Lindsey's puppy dog eyes were hard to ignore.

"Alright fine then!" she said, sounding exasperated, "I'd rather hang out with you than Heather."

"Thanks E….va," Lindsey replied clapping her hands, "You guys really made me feel better!"

"Damn," Duncan muttered, "I was hoping for a catfight."

The rest of breakfast went by fine, aside from Noah nearly choking on his meal. Lindsey glanced at Heather who had her usual 'I'm superior' look on her face. The pretty blonde hoped that her yelling at the queen bee wouldn't make Heather do anything nasty. She tried to ignore her and listen to what the others were saying, but it wasn't doing much good. She kept coming back to what Heather had on her.

'She won't tell Owen,' the blonde thought, 'She promised.'

Lindsey had started to develop a little crush on Owen about the second week into camp. She had to admit that while his passing gas and burping sometimes grossed her out, what she really liked about him was his big heart. She had never seen or met someone as kind as he was, all the guys she knew back home were creeps who only wanted to get into her pants. Not Owen, he was completely different.

She loved how he laughed and was always happy no matter what happened. His attitude was certainly contagious. She smiled as he said his usual morning greeting to her and hoped she wasn't blushing. It was so hard to keep cool sometimes.

"Are you gonna eat that?" Owen asked her, pointing to her nasty looking breakfast. She shook her head and passed it to him.

"Are you sure?" he asked her, "I think you need to eat more Lindsey. You're so skinny."

"Awww thanks Owen!" she said, thinking it was a compliment. Owen looked confused for a moment but returned the smile. As he ate, Lindsey went back to her daydreaming. She might have the occasional blonde moment but Owen was totally clueless about her feelings. If she was lucky, even if Heather said anything to him she doubted he would treat her badly about it. Some guys used a girl's feelings for them to their advantage, another thing she hated about the guys back home.

"Down to the final eleven," Duncan muttered darkly, breaking her thoughts, "Is this ever going to end?"

"Not anytime soon convict," Eva replied, "Jeez I hate this place."

"I thought you liked competing though eh?" Ezekiel asked the buff girl. Eva glared at him.

"None of these contests let me show off my prowess," she replied bitterly. These three were debating on if they wanted to attempt to eat Chef's awful food. Duncan decided he wasn't that daring, Eva knew she didn't have the stomach for it, and as far as Ezekiel was concerned, he'd rather swallow glass than Chef's food.

"I would kill for some real food!" Eva groaned, shoving her plate away. The rest of the final eleven looked up in fear.

"Figure of speech!" she snapped, "Jeez, if I wanted to kill anyone I would have done it already, and no one would find you."

"I think you have an imbalance of some kind," Noah spoke up, "You should probably get that checked out."

Eva launched herself at him, only to be stopped by Duncan, LeShawna, Bridgette and Harold. Noah arched an eyebrow.

"Yep," he mused, "I know a few good doctors."

"You're gonna need them all when I get through with you!"

"Nate you should be nice to Eva," Lindsey pointed out, "It's not getting you any points."

Noah and Eva exchanged looks and then crossed their arms stubbornly over their chests. Lindsey giggled. People in denial were so cute.

"Good morning campers!" Chris belted out as he walked into the mess hall, "Good sleep?"

No response.

"Okay then," he said, "I will take that as a 'no'. But have you enjoyed breakfast."

Bridgette threw a spoonful of disgusting looking porridge at him. She missed as he ducked out of the way but she still proved a point.

"I'll take that as a 'no' too then," he chuckled, "If you're all done, let's head down to the beach and discuss a special little challenge I've cooked up."

With groans and some complaints they followed the host and Chef down to the beach where a long rope sat. Chris held up the middle part of the rope where they saw it have been marked with white paint.

"What's this for Chris?" Owen asked.

"Well my man, this is for your next challenge, I call it 'Totally Dramatic Tug-a-War!'"

"Oh you have got to be kidding," Heather said. Eva punched her fist into her palm.

"Finally, something I can get behind!"

"So how this is going to go," Chris explained, "Is I will pick two team captains and they'll pick who they want on their team, pick wisely people. Then you guys will complete the challenge for a huge gourmet meal! Well not really gourmet. Mostly it's just allowing all of you to pick your own meal from your favourite restaurant, if your team wins."

The teens felt their mouths water.

"But one team will have one more member than the other eh," Ezekiel pointed out.

"Yeah, but its Noah so that doesn't count," Chris replied.

"Hey!" Noah was about to argue but then he shook his head, "You know what, never mind, he's right."

"Okay since Eva and Owen are probably the strongest people they will be the captains, pick your team."

Owen looked at the others; this was going to be hard. He didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings by not picking them. Eva, on the others hand, just wanted to win the contest and have a huge steak dinner.

"LeShawna," she said.

"I pick Lindsey," Owen said. Lindsey cheered and hurried over to Owen, blushing in the process.

"Thanks for picking me Owen!" she said happily. Owen laughed.

"You bet we're gonna rock this challenge!"

"Yay!"

Duncan, who saw her blush, arched his eyebrow and snickered. He was called over to join Eva and LeShawna while Izzy went to Owen and Lindsey. This went on until only Noah was left. He was reading another book however so he clearly didn't care. The teams stood at opposite ends of the rope.

"Okay," Chris said, "The teams are Eva, LeShawna, Duncan, Heather, and Bridgette on the right side and Owen, Lindsey, Izzy, Harold, and Ezekiel on the other. Since no one wants Noah…"

"Hey!"

"I want him!" Owen chirped, and then caught himself, "No! Not like that, I mean I want him on my team!"

"Fine," Chris said, sounding annoyed, "Does Eva's team oppose that?"

"No," Eva said, "We're good."

"Oh joy," Noah muttered darkly as he went to Owen's team, oh how he hated sports. Was tug-a-war even a sport? Whatever it was, he hated it too. The two teams picked up the rope and after Chris drew a line in the sand he and Chef stood off to the side to watch.

"Okay," Chris said, "First team to let go, or be pulled over the line loses! On your mark, get set, PULL!"

Eva's team pulled their hardest but with Owen as the anchor for the other team they were hardly budging. Owen's team wasn't even trying to pull as they knew that one pull from Owen would win the contest for them.

"This isn't working!" Duncan strained.

"What do you want me to do about," Eva growled as she pulled as hard as she could.

"I have an idea," Heather offered.

"No one cares," Bridgette grunted. Heather frowned and took matters into her own hands.

"Owen, look!" she cried out, pointing behind him, "Donuts!"

"Where!" Owen said letting go of the rope and turning. His team all yelled as they were dragged over the line and made to do face plants in the sand. Since Noah was on the bottom, he was having the hardest time. Ezekiel was on top of him and since Izzy was on him, she was refusing to get up.

"Izzy thinks Ezekiel is very comfortable," she purred.

"Sorry Noah eh," Ezekiel said, "She won't get off."

"Oh please," Noah said as he tapped his fingers in the sand, "Take your time."

"That's cheating!" Harold said as he helped Lindsey up. Owen looked very crestfallen that he was fooled and thus had cost his team the challenge.

"Too bad losers!" Heather taunted, "Tofu burger here I come!"

She left, snickering, leaving her team to stare after her and shake their heads.

"I don't know about you guys but I feel really lousy," Bridgette said.

"I hear ya girl," LeShawna agreed, "As much as I was looking forward to some decent food, this wasn't worth it at all."

"I'm sorry guys," Owen said sadly.

"That's okay Owen," Lindsey said, patting his back, "I forgive you."

"Thanks Lindsey, you're so nice."

The blonde smiled happily.

"Get off now!" Noah barked.

"Someone's cranky!" Izzy sang out as she hauled Ezekiel to his feet. Noah scrambled to his feet.

"Well that was horrible," he said, "You cost us a decent meal big boy!"

"You leave him alone Nate!" Lindsey said to him, "It's not his fault donuts are good! Although I can't eat them, my dietician says it's bad for my complexion."

"It's Noah!"

The bookworm stalked away.

"What's wrong with Nate?" Lindsey asked, "And who is Noah?"

So while the winning team sat in the mess hall, waiting for their food, the losing team was out by the girl's cabin. Lindsey was still trying to console Owen by offering him some of the low-cal snacks she had brought along with her. Owen however, wasn't biting. Lindsey patted his shoulder.

"Owen, its okay," she said, "No one's mad at you."

"Speak for yourself," Noah muttered.

"Nate's just bitter," the blonde went on, "I would be too if I had no sense of humour."

"So Lindsey," Harold mused, "You like big guys?"

The pretty blonde nodded.

"I sure do, who better to keep me warm, I get cold really easily you know. I have bad circumvention."

"I'm surprised you even know a word that long," Noah mused, "But I think you meant circulation."

"That too!"

Owen smiled, feeling slightly better at this revelation.

"I like you too Lindsey."

"Really! That's so great, now Heather can't make fun of me anymore!"

"Why was she making fun of you eh?" Ezekiel asked, trying to pry Izzy off of him. As much as he liked the attention she was practically choking him. Lindsey frowned.

"She kept saying that I wasn't allowed to like big guys, can you believe that!? She said that I probably only liked him because we both have the say I.D. Whatever that means."

"I.Q," Noah pointed out, when Owen and Lindsey looked quizzically at him he smacked his forehead, "Why do I bother?"

"You shouldn't let Heather tell you what to do," Harold pointed out, "Only you can control who you keep in your heart."

"Wow Harry," the blonde said, "That's so deep! No wonder Bridgette likes you!"

Harold blushed madly.

"I have no idea what you mean."

"Well Bridgette likes the ocean right? That's deep and so are you!"

As Noah withheld the urge to say anything he noticed the other team, minus Heather, leaving the mess hall and coming towards them.

"Come to gloat?" he asked.

"No," Bridgette replied, "We're here to share."

"Duncan managed to snatch some extra food from the kitchen," LeShawna explained, "So as long as Owen paces himself, we got enough for everyone."

"Awww," Lindsey said, "You guys are so nice!"

The other team took the time to notice she was perched on Owen's lap, looking rather comfortable.

"Wait a minute," Eva said pointing to the two of them, "you two...together?"

The two blondes exchanged looks. Owen grinned and Lindsey giggled.

"I need a moment to process this," the strong girl said.

"You're telling me," Noah muttered.

The group went into the cabin, so as not to be founded out by Chris and Chef that they stole extra food. While inside Duncan walked over to Owen and handed him a box.

"Here man," he said, "Found these and I thought you might like that."

Owen opened the box and his eyes widened in happiness. He grabbed Duncan up in a bear hug.

"Donuts!" he yelled happily. Duncan felt as if his ribs were about to break.

"Down boy!" he said, trying to get away, "Go hug your girlfriend, let me go!"

Owen dropped him.

"Girlfriend?"

"Umm yeah," the punk said, "Lindsey, hot blonde, huge boobs, ring a bell?"

"I just didn't think to call her my girlfriend before," Owen said, "This is so cool! I never thought I would date someone as cool, as pretty, as funny, and as nice as her! It's so awesome! Woohoo!"

The large teen hurried over to the pretty blonde who was sharing some of Bridgette's Greek salad.

"Hey Lindsey!"

"Yeah?"

"We're dating!"

"I know right!"

"And you're my girlfriend!"

"Yeah and you're my boyfriend! Isn't that great?"

Owen nodded enthusiastically. He grabbed her up in his arms and placed a big kiss on her lips. Lindsey swooned and held onto her big handsome man.

"Oh wow," she said when the kiss ended, "Best kiss ever!"

The others weren't quite sure what to make of the odd couple, but if they were happy then that was what mattered.

Three Weeks Later

Lindsey was relaxing by the pool at Playa de Losers. She and Owen had both been eliminated in the past three weeks. Apparently their somewhat constant making out was a source of annoyance to some. Lindsey didn't care though, she was happy with her big man, how could one not be? He was sweet and funny and kind. He also didn't make fun of her when she had her blonde moments, which could be often.

"Hi Lindsey!"

She removed her sunglasses as Owen joined her by the pool, handing her a strawberry filled donut. True her dietician said they were bad for her but Owen got her hooked on them. They were very tasty.

"Thank you honey!" she said.

"No problem beautiful."

Lindsey giggled and opened her arms to hug him.

"Give us a kiss please," she said. Owen laughed and did as she asked him. He didn't know why some guys thought girls were bossy. If Lindsey's demands for kisses and hugs were supposed to be bad he could really get used to this.

"Would you two knock it off!" Heather snapped. She too had been eliminated after the others found out she had a hand in getting Lindsey and Owen kicked off.

"Leave us alone Heather!" Lindsey replied, "You're just jealous!'

"Why would I be?" Heather snapped, "How anyone could like something that fat is beyond me."

Owen looked down at his stomach and then apologetically at Lindsey.

"I know I'm not the best looking guy," he said. Lindsey frowned at Heather.

"Don't listen to a word she says Owen!" the blonde insisted, "I not only like you, but I love you! I don't care what you look like at all! If you're happy then so am I!"

Heather rolled her eyes and screamed as she was suddenly knocked into the pool. Had Heather noticed that Duncan was walking by her at the time she said the 'fat' comment she probably would have kept her mouth shut. She surfaced and glared at said punk.

"Shut your mouth you harpy bitch," Duncan said and then gave a hang lose sign to Owen and Lindsey, who waved to him. After that he went back into the hotel to watch how things were going on the island, and of course to root for LeShawna.

"You'll pay for that Duncan!" Heather screamed after him as she climbed out of the pool.

"Wow," Owen said, "Heather needs a boyfriend, maybe then she wouldn't be so mean."

Lindsey rolled her eyes.

"No way, meanness is contagious."

"Really!" Owen gasped, "Quick, let's go up to my room and that way we won't get infected!"

"Okay!" Lindsey said excitedly.

Winter-Rae: I have to admit, that was fun. But now, do you think Owen had ulterior motives? Yeah me neither. Kobold Necromancer actually gave me the idea for Heather getting knocked into the pool by Duncan, it was fun! Anyway! Thanks for reading everyone! Cheers!