Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story. It's all fiction, and I make no profit from it. Unless of course Degrassi wants to hire me! Haha. Will write for food.

Author's Notes: This is the first Degrassi story I've wrote in a couple of years. This story is based around Eric Hutchinson's song: Watching You Watch Him. Hopefully I do it some justice!

Just want to briefly say that I've honestly missed you guys, the readers. You guys give good feedback and you're all very nice, it's always cool to write to an audience that will read something and then give feedback and review it. So thanks to each and every one of you, I hope you enjoy this.

The dark-haired teen grudgingly pushed the mop back and forth near the far corner of the store. His mind had kept him up half the night on Friday, and into today, trying to come up with a plan to show Maya that they belonged together.

But she chose Cam, said a voice in the back of his head, and now you have no one. He sighed, pausing a moment to look up towards the ceiling, begging whatever deity was up there to give him a sign. He knew he was partly to blame for the situation he was in, but why should he feel so bad about following his feelings, following his heart? Did his girlfriend – no, ex-girlfriend - really want him to lie to her? That every time he kissed her, he was thinking about someone else? That, every time they hung out together, he was wishing a certain blonde-haired girl was with him instead.

"Zigmund, honey," called out a strong, female voice from the other end of the store, "can I see you for a minute?"

"Coming, mama." He responded, wheeling the mop and bucket off to the side and placing a caution, wet floor sign, near his area.

The elder Novak rubbed her eyes, each lid feeling as if they weighed a ton. Her uncle, who occasionally ran the shop when he could, had taken ill recently and was currently bed ridden. While she appreciated the help her son gave, she also knew he was a kid whose responsibility shouldn't be shopkeeper every day. She also knew, just by looking at him, his lips set in a thin line, the way he shifted from side to side every other moment, that something was bugging him. When she asked him if he and Tori had any plans during their break, he had just shrugged her off and evaded the question.

She placed her hands on her son's shoulders and gave him her patented motherly-speech-incoming look. "Now, I know sons don't tell their mother everything, and you have a right to your own privacy. I don't know what's going on with you but I know something is eating at you. I won't pry for now, but you better tell me soon, okay?"

"Mom?" He questioned.

"Oh don't give me that look; I wasn't born yesterday, Zigmund. Your mother can take care of the store. It's obvious your head isn't here, so go. Go before I shoo you out of here."

A genuine smile spread across his face, his green eyes alight with hopefulness. "Thanks, mom," he said as he leaned in quickly and gave his mother a kiss on the cheek.

A light spring breeze whipped up as he exited the store. His long, dark-brown locks quickly becoming disheveled. Any other time he may have quickly fixed his hair, and thrown a curse at the wind, but he had only one thing, one person on his mind.

Maya.

Oh shit! Oh shit oh shit oh shit… quick! Gotta find somebody fast. Oh, not you. He thought quickly as he turned the corner, his eyes frantically scanning the hallway to find a viable candidate. You! Perfect. He ran to her quickly – introductions be damned. "If you could save a life, would you?"

He chuckled at the memory while he sat down on his bed, his guitar sitting comfortably on his lap His eyes glanced to the side, locating his pad of sheet music Tori bought for him, but he never once used. He preferred to play and let the melody and the words come to him. Much like skateboarding, he preferred to go by his own rules. He thumbed at the paper. Maya and Mo were always harping on him to start writing if he wanted to get serious.

He strummed a few chords as he thought of the best way to approach Maya. He couldn't just knock on her door without any plan at all; she would just shoot him down again. No, he had to put some effort into what he wanted to do. His gaze fell to his clock by his bed. "Not much time left," he murmured, a look of determination settling upon his countenance. He began playing a couple of chord progressions as the music swam inside his head. He needed to put together a song that would show Maya not only how he felt about her, but about the situation they were in. The last song he wrote for the band was a dud, and that had taken him four weeks to come up with. No, he couldn't fail this time. He would get this done.

"I love you... from the bottom of my heart..."

"Zig," Maya said, "you can't just show up at my house without warning." Her hand darted out and grabbed a bag of potato chips that was in his hand. "Bringing me… ketchup, my favorite," her tone softened from the caring gesture. Quickly realizing she was trying to stay mad at him, she hit him on the arm. "Ya big jerk!"

"Ow," he responded, holding his arm in mock pain.

She smiled at his antics, shaking her head as he stood in the middle of her kitchen, the corner of his mouth pulling up in that grin she knew far too well. Still, what they did couldn't be undone, and she wasn't going to leave Cam. "I'm still staying with him."

The happy expression that had found its way on Zig's face had melted away in an instant. He ground his teeth in frustration. "Why?" he squeezed out, the pain evident in his voice. If she didn't care for him, then why string him along? Why show him all the signs of interest, and then pull away? What was she so afraid of?

After a moment of silence, he reached out to touch her arm, but she evaded his touch as if it were a cattle prod. Why couldn't he understand that they would never work together? They would just wind up hurting each other.

"We can't be together!" She cried out, her voice rising from the frustration. She didn't want to alert Tori or Cam to what was going on, so she began pacing pack and forth to burn the anxiety she felt welling up inside her.

"Why not?" He shot back, equally as frustrated from her evasiveness. "I care about you Maya; I know you felt something when we kissed." He stopped her, his hand grabbing onto her wrist and turned her to face him. His eyes shone with intensity. "You can't say you felt nothing!"

Her stomach turned with uneasiness. She wasn't going to be one of those girls that her sister hated so much. She wouldn't be some two-timing hussy. She pulled her arm out from his grasp and took a couple steps away from him, away from the source of her problems. "I'm with Cam, okay? And you're with Tori!"

"No," he said, "I'm breaking up with her, Friday, after the show is done."

"That's crazy! Why would-"

"Because stringing someone along when you no longer have feelings for them is quite cruel," his eyes showing a layer of pain she hadn't seen before. "And I won't do that, I would never do that. Ever."

The blonde-haired teen chuckled as she sent her sister, Katie, a text, telling her to have a safe flight on her airplane trip. Their parents had barely allowed her to go, asking her to check in every four hours, and threatened her under penalty of death not to partake in any illegal substances while she went down to Vegas. Maybe she and Cam could go down to Vegas in a couple of years, or Cancun, even. She quickly stifled that thought. He'd be too busy with Hockey to ever get enough time off during Spring Break for a trip.

Speaking of Cam, I wonder how their game is going tonight against Brampton. She pondered while checking her messages to see if he had left any response. It's not like he ignored her, at least never intentionally, but sometimes when she would text him wishing him good luck, he wouldn't respond back. She knew he had to get focused and get ready, but it only took a couple seconds. It was the little things that sometimes bothered her. But then the big things seemed to make up for it, like the make-out session they had before he left, or the bracelet he bought her.

Getting up off the couch, she stretched her arms over her head, and then placed her phone down on the table, intent on visiting the kitchen for a late-afternoon snack. Her parents, gone for the weekend, had left her some money on the counter in case she wanted to order anything for dinner. Her hand wrapped around the handle of the fridge, when a series of knocks sounded from her front door.

"So, I had an idea," Zig began as he strolled into the tent without a care in the world. "What if… we just rushed out on the stage and start playing without permission?"

"Right," Maya said, stringing out the word longer than necessary, "and then get the security guards to drag us off?"

His green eyes shone with amusement as she took the bait. "Well you gotta admit that'd be pretty rock 'n roll," he said with a big grin.

She laughed, one of the things Zig could make her do so well, whether she was stressed beyond belief or trying to stay mad at him, he could always make her crack a smile.

"See? There she is!" he exclaimed, his smile now bigger than ever. "I missed smiling Maya."

"Coming, I'm coming," she said, her voice laced with annoyance. If Tori is coming over again without calling me first, she thought, but then quickly dismissed it. No, she hasn't answered any of my calls since last night. Then who could it be?

"You ready to go?" Maya asked, giving Cam a sideways look as she helped Imogen pack away their equipment from the show. Cam smiled and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, when a certain person walked through his peripheral. "In a minute, I'll be right back."

He jogged the distance between him and the other person that he wanted to talk to. There was something he needed to get off his chest. "Hey, Zig," Cam said as he grabbed his arm.

Zig offered Cam a curious look, his mind spinning with different reasons as to why Cam would come over to talk to him. Perhaps he wanted to offer congratulations on third place? He bit back a chuckle, his mind replaying the events that happened not even twenty minutes ago. Rejected by Maya again. He looked down at Cam, his eyebrows rising up in surprise as the realization hit him. Cam knew.

"You're not mad." Zig stated. "Why? How are you not mad?"

Cam pursed his lips and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know," he offered lightly, "I guess I just don't see you as much of a threat."

"Oh…" Zig trailed off.

"Look, I'm not the best with beating around the bush so I'm just going to say it. You've had your chance to go after Maya. I'm terrified, you know? But I'm going for it because that's how much Maya and I mean to each other. We work. So if you really care about her, you won't mess this up."

After a brief pause, and no response from the taller teen, Cam stepped away and started back towards Maya. "Oh, and nice job placing third." He said over his shoulder.

Screw you, Zig thought, balling his fists up, his eyes boring a hole in Cam as he walked away from him.

The sight before Maya stunned her into silence. It wasn't Tori, and who could blame her for that, seeing as how Maya was partly to blame for her not having a boyfriend anymore. It wasn't Tristan, who should still be in bed rest at home. It was Zig, whose messy hair was all over the place. His breath quick and erratic, and his guitar slung behind him, out of its case. Why does he constantly do that? She always chastised him about not putting it in its case and – wait. Her blue eyes narrowed petulantly. "Zig… what are you doing here?"

"I…" he huffed, out of breath, "I need to get this off my chest. Please, give me that much, alright?

The blonde-haired girl folded her arms across her chest and leveled a glare at him, making no move to invite him in, but not slamming the door on his face, either.

Well Zig, it's now or never.

Author's Notes: Finished! How'd you like it? Good, bad, so-so? I do plan on continuing this a bit, I have a few ideas rolling around in my head. Any more than that and the space get cramped, but yeah! Hope you all liked it. If you did, go check out some of my other stories as well.