(Wow, this is a long one...! I fully intended to have Bronzo in here as well but it's almost midnight here and I'll have more Bronzo coming soon enough so I decided to just stick with the BGZ~ This chapter takes place in between chapters 30 and 31 of Limelight)
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Someone had put up mistletoe in the entrance to the light garden, and no-one would admit to doing it.
With the homecoming game, the cheer championship and even the block party behind them, the zombie community was back in the good favours of the humans of Seabrook. And a number of the zombies and humans gathered at the Christmas zombie mash were already eyeing the mistletoe and formulating plans to somehow catch that special someone underneath it. The ones who were successful would no doubt be bragging about it over the final week before school let out for the holidays.
Over the next few hours, that mistletoe would see it all.
~ CHAZ AND MACKENZIE ~
Cortez was getting sick of this.
He had spent the first half hour of the party trying to get Chaz to take his eyes off Mackenzie for just a second, but to no avail. He should be enjoying himself, not stressing over something that was so obviously bound to happen sooner or later.
"OK. Look," he finally grabbed Chaz and spun him around, making him scowl and awkwardly stumble back before he straightened up and tried to act like nothing happened. Cortez wasn't the least bit amused, "You ain't getting nowhere like this. Suck it up and go talk to her."
He gestured back towards Kenzie but that only made Chaz look at her and get distracted again. Cortez smacked him upside the head and he flinched, turning back to him while rubbing the sore spot, but said nothing.
"Come on, Chaz, she likes you. You've got nothing to lose."
"How about my dignity?"
"Yeah, you never had that. And yet all of this... whatever it is you got going on here? Mackenzie actually thinks it's cool," Cortez placed both hands firmly on Chaz's shoulders and slowly shook his head, "And no-one thinks it's cool, Chaz."
Letting down his guard for a moment, Chaz glanced back at Kenzie.
"I can't just walk up to her like that! What am I supposed to do?"
With a sly smile, Cortez turned him a little further around and pointed out the mistletoe. Chaz's eyes widened.
"Kiss her...?"
His friend nodded and he gulped. One little push from Cortez and he was on his way. It took everything he had to hide his nerves. He made his way towards the light garden, keeping his eyes on Mackenzie as she was about to walk past with Mitzi. They crossed paths a few feet away from where the mistletoe hung and Chaz took a deep breath.
"Kenzie...?"
She stopped in her tracks, as did Mitzi, and stared at him in shock, then smiled wide.
"Chaz! Hi!"
"Uh, c-can I..." oh, Z, now he was stuttering. He cleared his throat and forced himself to stop shaking, "Can I... talk to you for a sec?"
Mackenzie didn't respond until Mitzi hissed in her ear, "Yes...!"
"Yes!" she nodded, "Absolutely."
He barely noticed how the girls turned to each other to softly squeal in excitement. He was too busy hyping himself up.
Mitzi left the two of them alone and Chaz led Mackenzie out of the way of the noise and bright lights – right in the doorway of the light garden. When he stopped and looked at her, she was staring back at him hopefully and rocking back and forth on her heels, her hands behind her back. If she noticed the mistletoe, she didn't say anything.
"Um, Mackenzie, I-I..." he almost choked up on the spot. The way Cortez had been talking to him made him feel pressured but then he locked eyes with Mackenzie and a soft smile tugged on the corner of his mouth. It was adorable the way she was looking at him; eyes wide, lips slightly parted and clearly very eager to hear what he had to say. For some reason, it made Chaz relax and the words just fell from his mouth, "I really like you..."
"Oh, my Z, why?" she breathed, her hand on her heart in surprise, and Chaz's face fell. Mackenzie brought her hand up to her mouth when she realised what she just said and tried to backtrack, "I- N-no, I didn't mean, I just... Why me? Like, you are just... so out of my league...!"
Chaz was shocked, to say the least. He stood there, his mouth hanging open, staring at her, and it took him a moment to find his voice again, "Y-you think so? I... Wow, I always thought you were way out of my league!"
They both let out a surprised, but relieved laugh, still staring at each other before Chaz spoke again.
"In that case, would you... maybe consider," this wasn't the plan but things seemed to be going better than expected, "... being my girlfriend...?"
All Mackenzie could do was nod as she beamed.
"Good, because..." Chaz pointed up at the mistletoe and Mackenzie gasped when she saw it.
"I didn't even see that...!"
"So... can I kiss you?"
"Yes. Definitely. Please."
Not too far away, Mitzi was watching and the second their lips met, she let out a shrill squeal and Cortez, along with a few other partygoers in the general vicinity, covered their ears and cringed. Cortez frowned at her.
"Since when were you loud?"
She ignored him and ran over to Mackenzie.
"Hey," she smiled at Chaz, "I'm just gonna borrow Kenzie for, like, one minute. OK? She'll be right back."
Mitzi dragged her away before either of them could say anything and once they were far enough, they were both chattering away excitedly. Chaz was staring after her when Cortez appeared and clapped a hand down on his shoulder, making him jump.
"Well, you did it."
Chaz, getting over the slight scare, turned back to look at Mackenzie disappearing into the crowd, "I kissed her."
Cortez nodded, "Yup."
"I asked her out."
"Good work, man."
"And she said yes...!" he gasped, eyes still stuck on the last spot he saw her.
"It's a Christmas miracle!"
Chaz didn't even look at him.
"I'd punch you if I didn't feel like I was gonna faint."
~ ZEKE AND IZABELLE~
Zeke had noticed the mistletoe above the doorway soon after arriving and his first thought was, of course, that it could be the perfect excuse to kiss Izabelle again. He found her with Riza, Zadie and Jazz on the dancefloor and as soon as Izabelle stepped back to take a break from dancing, he was there.
"Hey there, Belle."
"Keep it down," she hissed, "If anybody hears you call me that, I will end you."
Zeke just chuckled and held up his hands in a calming gesture, "Alright, easy, I get it. But how about we hang out a little?"
"... Fine," she said, only just managing to hide her enthusiasm.
He kept her distracted with idol talk until they were passing by the light garden and he stopped, feigning surprise as he looked up at where the mistletoe hung directly overhead, "Well, would you look at that."
Izabelle frowned, glanced up then slowly dropped her head and quirked an eyebrow as if to say 'Really?'. She clearly wasn't impressed. Instead of leaving, though, she walked past him into the garden. Zeke scoffed and followed after her.
"You can't not kiss me, Belle, that's the rule about mistletoe."
She turned around again with a smug smile, "I'm not under it anymore. You missed your chance. Besides," she rolled her eyes and looked away as she neared the platform, "Why do people think they deserve a kiss for standing under a zraghan branch? That's just dumb."
With that, Izabelle hopped up onto the platform and leaned against the railing. She had Zeke's full attention as he made his way over to join her. For a moment, Izabelle stood looking around and Zeke stood looking at Izabelle. It was rare to see her so calm and peaceful.
"You like it in here?" he asked, his voice soft, and she shrugged.
"Who doesn't?"
"I don't see you like this often. It's nice."
Izabelle looked at him, then down, then at the wall opposite them, "... It's a little more special to me, y'know..." she mumbled and Zeke tilted his head, curious, "... Bonzo painted that mural," she nodded towards it and he turned to look, "He said he ran out of the house one night after a fight with his parents and he ended up staying in the power plant till the next morning, painting."
There was a pause.
"You really love your cousin, don't you?"
"I have to. It's not like his mom and dad are gonna do it."
He wasn't going to deny that. He thought about it for a moment, "You care so much about the people you love. I just wish other people could appreciate that about you."
"I don't need other people to appreciate me, I can appreciate myself plenty."
"You may not need it but you do deserve it," he smiled and edged closer to her, "We're not as different as I used to think we were. We both just," he was looking at her with those eyes and she tried to avoid his gaze, "... Really care. The only difference is how we show it. And even that's not all that different."
Izabelle finally looked back at Zeke and realised just how close they were. She quickly pecked his cheek and jumped off the platform.
"You earned that."
Without looking back, she ran out of the room but Zeke wasn't far behind.
~ ZEPHYR AND ALONZO ~
Their second zombie mash as a couple and it already felt so natural to be together like this. They'd pretty much been touching in some way the whole night so far, apart from during their set, and that was quickly remedied once it ended by Alonzo wrapping his arms around Zephyr and kissing his cheek before they were even offstage, earning them a couple of cheers and a whistle from the crowd. Al laughed as he stepped back, pulling Zephyr by the hand. Zephyr groaned in mock annoyance and let himself be led away – now they had some time to really enjoy the party.
They watched Zach try to flirt with various humans, who he suddenly had the chance to flirt with, and get shot down every time. Roz had disappeared to go find Keira. Zephyr couldn't help feeling proud of his friend for finally getting a date with her. Rizzo was off somewhere, probably with Zane, and the two of them would be keeping an eye on everyone, but Zephyr wanted to keep Alonzo and himself out of his sister's sight for the time being. They danced to the Christmas playlist Bonzo had put together and Zephyr tried, and failed, to hide how he was blushing when Al leaned closer to whisper-sing All I Want For Christmas Is You to him.
"What, Bowling For Soup doesn't have any Christmas love songs you can serenade me with?" he joked.
"I'll work with what I got," Al shrugged and grinned as he kissed Zephyr's cheek.
Some time later they were walking around when Al spotted the mistletoe outside the light garden. He stopped and tugged on Zephyr's hand, his eyes flickering up to it as he wiggled his eyebrows. Zeph stared back at him blankly.
"Seriously?"
"What? It's romantic!"
"Al, if I wanna kiss you, I'll kiss you. I'm not doing it just 'cause a plant told me to."
Al pouted, "You saying you don't wanna kiss me?"
Zephyr laughed, "That is definitely not what I'm saying."
"So what are you waiting for?" he asked and dragged him completely under it, "Anyways, it's, like, good luck or something, right?"
His hands were already on him and Zephyr gave in, reaching up to pull his face closer, "Get down here."
Alonzo gladly obliged and as their lips met, he began to slowly back Zephyr up into the garden, out of sight of the others.
~ ROZ AND KEIRA ~
The moment they got offstage, Roz ran to find Keira and they were soon met with a very cheerful hug and the beautiful sound of her laughter. That alone made it hard to breath. Keira, ever the bright and peppy cheerleader (even if she still wasn't quite officially on the squad), was filled to the brim with pure joy.
"I will never get over seeing you guys play, you're amazing!"
Roz shyly ducked her head and brushed her hair from her eyes, "Thanks, that... really means a lot. Especially coming from you."
Keira returned their shy smile, swaying a little from side to side. She held out a hand, "Care to dance?"
Roz took it without another thought.
The two danced for a while, and talked for a while. Though Roz didn't want to get her hopes up too high on just the first date, things were going extremely well as far as she could tell. Keira had just the right amount of energy and Roz had just the right amount of chill to create a perfect balance between them. Keira obviously loved BFZ and watching them perform, and Roz had learned to appreciate cheerleading a lot since the competition and was rooting for Keira making the squad as soon as she possibly could.
Roz remembered something as another song ended, "I didn't get to show you the light garden last time, did I?"
"The what?"
"The zombie light garden. There's a few around town but the one here is everybody's favourite. You'll love it."
Keira, curious, let Roz lead her through the crowd until it grew thinner and they eventually ended up on the quieter side of the room. When they got near the garden, though, Keira stopped and gasped in delight, pointing at the doorway.
"Look...!" she said and Roz followed her finger, "Mistletoe!"
She dropped her arm and shot Roz a teasing smile. Letting go of their hand, she casually waltzed underneath it and turned back to face them with a shrug.
"And now I'm all alone under it with no-one to kiss!"
Roz laughed, partly because she was nervous, but partly because the way Keira was looking at her with an exaggerated pout was just so cute. They bit their lip and walked over to her. Keira acted surprised.
"Oh! Guess I'm not so alone now," she batted her eyelashes innocently, "What about the second problem...?"
"Shut up..." Roz said without the slightest hint of seriousness. They smiled, teasingly, "Kiss-ga ru, za?"
"Za!"
That was another good thing about Keira – she sincerely wanted to learn Zombie-tongue, and the ins and outs of zombie culture. Roz hand to stand on tip-toes to kiss her and they both giggled a little awkwardly, but then went back in for another kiss.
"Having fun?"
They jumped apart at the sound of a familiar voice.
"Zach...!" Roz snapped and he held his hands up.
"Hey, don't mind me, go about your business! I'm just chillin' over here waiting for my shot."
Roz snorted, "We both know that's not gonna happen, knowing your history of failures."
"They were not failures! I'm just... unlucky in love."
"That's another way of saying you failed."
"OK, fine. Y'know, I have been hanging around that mistletoe pretty much the entire night and I have seen a lot but nobody all on their own willing to give me a chance!"
"And something tells me you're not going to," Roz rolled her eyes, "So can you, uh..." she waved her hands to shoo him away but Zach wasn't leaving.
"Seriously, though. Before you guys got here, Zeph and Al were making out in the light garden. I'm the only one of us not getting any action!"
Roz stared blankly at him while Keira tried to hide her giggles.
"Why are we friends?"
~ ZED AND ADDISON ~
As the party was drawing to a close, a certain girl and a certain zombie strolled, hand-in-hand, towards the light garden.
Zed reached up and untied the ribbon holding the mistletoe in place and took it down as Addison watched with a coy smile.
"You think you got all of them?"
"Let me see..." Zed tapped the little branch against his chin and cocked his head as he pretended to think, "Chaz finally made a move on Mackenzie thanks to this. Everybody has been waiting for that to happen. It's been months. And I am taking full credit!"
Addison giggled, "Yup. It's all thanks to you! Who else?"
"Uh... Who was that cheerleader here with Roz...?"
"Keira. But she's technically not a cheerleader. She didn't make it through tryouts."
"Well, she seemed to be having a pretty good first date with Roz, so maybe that'll make up for it."
"Maybe. She was pretty bummed out about it."
Zed scoffed, "Bucky's bound to loosen up a little now. I bet he'll let her and the rest of them re-try out. Kinda feel bad for Zach, though. The guy can't even get one little mistletoe kiss, let alone an actual date. But Zephyr and Alonzo, nobody was surprised about."
"Not even the humans who didn't know them!" Addison laughed, "We all guessed there was something going on between those two way before it happened. But who was that guy with Bonzo's cousin again...?"
"What guy?" Zed frowned in confusion.
"Um... Long hair, little ponytail in the back, really good stunter."
"Zeke?" he looked almost afraid.
"Zeke, that's it!"
"Zeke and Izabelle?"
"I know, right?" she was smiling but Zed's mouth was hanging open.
"Zeke and Izabelle kissed under the mistletoe?"
"I mean, I didn't see them actually kiss, but I'm pretty sure Zeke was going for it. Izabelle totally snubbed him but she went into the light garden and he followed her, and they were both smiling when they came back out."
"Wow..." Zed breathed and furrowed his eyebrows, "Bonzo is not gonna like that."
But that was all he had to say on the matter. Now, Zed looked down at the mistletoe in his hand then grinned at Addison.
"There's still somebody who didn't get a chance," he held it above his head and winked, making Addison laugh again and roll her yes. But she wasn't going to say no.