Zoey generally loved winter. She loved the way the snow fell, covering the grass in a large, white blanket. She also loved how ice would wrap itself around tree branches and the gutters of her house. On days like this, she'd sit in her living room -where there was a nice little windowed nook- with some hot chocolate, a good movie -preferably something fluffy and christmasy- while she scrolled through tumblr. So of course, she wasn't pleased to be spending christmas eve at one of Chris McLame's 'I got another Gemmie!' parties.

The final four from all of the seasons had been 'invited' to attend, which meant 'you have a contract, I own you, so you kinda have to come'. So far, she'd seen Gwen and Duncan making out in a back hallway, Owen raping the buffet table, Sierra suffocating Cody in a corner, while Beth and Cameron seemed to be having some idle nerd discussions. She stood awkwardly against a wall, clearly out of her comfort zone. She rubbed her one leg against the back of the other. She tugged at her white dress that came down 5 fingers above the knee; she thought it was too short. She would occasionally be startled by a stray curl that her father had insisted on putting in her hair.

She looked in the doorway, seeing Lightning walk it, a large, proud grin plastered on his face, as he was swarmed with tabloid scum. She rolled her eyes at the scene. Zoey jumped, noticing one of so called 'scum' had set their gaze on her. 'shit'. She saw no escape route, accepting her fate. "Zoey! Can I get a word with you!" The plastic looking woman exclaimed.

"Yeah sure." She groaned as the woman had finally closed in on her pray, getting in the redheads face with a tape recorded. She put on her best 'nice to meet you' face.

"So, how's life been after the show?" the woman clicked the little red button on the recorded, signaling the start, while she waved for her camera man to start getting pictures. Zoey didn't think that a stupid game show would make them 'famous'.

"It's been fine I guess."

"Oh, so you must be pretty popular at home now?"

"N-not really. Everyone's still pretty self involved." She pushed the fake looking woman away from her, jumping when she was the flash from the camera.

"Oh so you get bullied?" The woman smirked. FLASH. Zoey was feeling overwhelmed.

"N-no. I-"

"How about you and Mike?"

"What about-"

"Are you still together?" Before she knew it, the redhead was feeling dizzy, trying to get over the anxiety she was feeling. Suddenly, she could see it. A familiar freckled smirk heading in her direction. The ginger walked over, wrapping an arm around the girl. He leaned down so only she could hear him.

"Play along and I'll get you out of here." She nodded at the request and scott looked up at the slimey woman. "Chris need to talk to us." He placed his hand on Zoey's lower back, guiding her away.

"Scott and Zoey sneaking off? Get a picture of that, will ya?"

Scott pulled Zoey out of the main room and into one of the large hallways. She breathed heavily, overwhelmed and anxious tears filling the corners of her eyes. "Hey, calm down."

"What the heck, Scott?" She whimpered.

"Wha-"

"Your hand was WAY too close to my butt!" She gave him a pouty looking face and he chuckled. "Why'd you help me?"

"I dunno, guess I spent all evening dodging these people and thought I'd help out an old 'friend." He explained. She rolled her eyes at him. They stood there silently for a couple minutes, before Scott slid down the wall, patting the spot next to him for her. She examined him for a second, feeling there was no harm in just sitting. Once on the ground, she looked at him pale face, curious.

"So what are you still doing here?"

"Well, after the trauma chair, my pappy sued McLean and got me a special surgery-"

"No, I mean HERE, with me. You know, in the hallway."

"Oh. Well, I figured we'd catch up, considering we've both been alone all evening. I thought you could use some company." She nodded. She had been pretty alone all evening, hell, she would take Lightnings company if she had to.

"Alright. So what's new?" She attempted at small talk.

"My family just moved, trying to start over, and we also had some extra money after my surgery, so we moved into a little farm house about 30 minutes from here."

"Wait, 30 minutes? You mean Earlton, don't you?"

"Yeah, that's it." She looked horror struck. His smile grew wide once he had realized that's where she was from. "So, I guess we're neighbors now, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so." She sighed. The one person who had caused her so much torment was now living in her town. There were only a few schools in her town and only one high school. She placed her face in her hands, taking in a deep breath.

"So hows multiple Mike?" He questioned, trying to break the tension.

"He's fine, I guess." She turned to Scott, who was giving a 'you guess?' expression.

"Well, we don't really talk much any more. He said it upsets the 'others'."

"Oh." He hadn't known how to respond to that.

"You don't need to fake be nice to me." She hissed. Her whole demeanor had become extremely hostile. He raised an eyebrow, feeling a bit hurt.

"Oh wow, me, fake?" He said sarcastically. "I have nothing to gain here by faking sweetheart."

"You had nothing to gain by faking the first time!" She began raising her voice. "You didn't have much to gain from getting my friends kicked off, or being so mean. Maybe if you had played fair, you could have won!"

"Says the girl who crushed me with a fucking boulder."

"That has nothing to do with this and you know it. Besides, that boulder was originally meant for Chef. My second obstacle just happened to be there." She scoffed.

"Oh, I'm sorry I voted of your crazy boyfriend."

"That's not even the biggest issue here." Her tone softened, while she stood up and prepared to walk away.

"Then what is, Zoey? What's the BIG problem?" He furrowed his brow, feeling agitated.

"You used me." She whispered. "You pretended to be my friend and then you stomped on that. I thought... I just thought you were actually me friend. Being a girl who grew up with no friends and finally feeling like I got one was kind of a big deal." That was the moment when he had really realized what he had done to this girl.

"But, it was a competition." He started. "We weren't there to make friends."

"That's why I was there." Zoey could feel hot tears sliding down her face. She had finally gotten out what she had been feeling since she left the island. Her silent tears soon turned into hysterical sobbing. He wasn't good at comforting people, so he figured he'd just do it how people in the movies did it. He walked over to her, pulling her closely -a bit awkwardly- and rubbing her back.

"I'm sorry." She was shocked by his gesture. "When I was there, I honestly did care about anyone's feelings. Just the money. But now everywhere I go, I look like a criminal." He was surprised that she had yet to fight his embrace. Instead, she gripped his shirt in her small hands, balling it up with every frustrated sob. "We both probably feel pretty alone right now. We may not be best buds, but it's nice to have someone."

She wanted to still be mad at him. She wanted to yell and tell him he was full of shit, but she was no good at being angry. She was far too forgiving and working things out with him might end in all of her anger finally disappearing. He was obviously just as frustrated and alone as she was. She pushed away, looking into his blue eyes.

"Ok. I accept."

"Good." He chuckled. "I think we should go get a bite to eat, I can't tell if the food at the buffet was winking or bubbling." She gave him an agreeing nod of the head. "So, who's driving?"

"I took the bus here." She stated.

"You took the bus all the way here?" She nodded. "From Earlton?" Another nod.

"Ok. Then I guess I'm driving." He pulled his his keys out of the pocket of his black jacket. She didn't notice until now that he was dressed rather nicely. Scott was wearing a black suit with a light blue shirt and a black tie. It was simple, but made his eyes pop. "Hey Zoey, I know I'm gorgeous, but you don't have to stare." Her face turned red and she scrunched up her nose at his comment.

-

After they had spent the rest of their evening at one of those kids pizza places, Scott offered to drive Zoey home. He looked at the clock in his truck, seeing it was already midnight.
They had finally gotten back to Earlton. "So where do you live?" He asked. No answer.

He turned and saw she was passed out, head against the window, eyes shut, while her hair had somehow managed to stay put all evening. She kinda looked like a doll to him. Fair skin, large eyes, red lips. Though most dolls were blonde and had blue eyes. He sighed, not knowing what to do. If he woke her up, she'd probably hit him where it hurt. His pappy always told him, 'Scotty, ladies need their beauty sleep. You wake em up and It'll be the end of ya." He groaned, not knowing what to do. It was a tough decision, but for the sake of his kiwis he made one.