Cori inhaled, eyes widening. She was so close to Nicky that she could feel his breath on her face, and notice every small detail of his own visage; his creamy skin, his lips plumped with sleep, his long eyelashes fluttering every so slightly.

For a stupified moment, Cori stared in disbelief at the sleeping celebrity, half-hoping it was still just a dream- but when no further awakening occurred, and the reality set in, Cori began to pull back, careful not to wake him. However, before she could fully release him, Nicky rolled over in his sleep, wrapping his arms around her too.

Cori tried not to totally lose it as Nicky pulled her close, but unable to suppress a small, surprised squeak, Nicky began to stir. Slowly his eyes blinked open, at last coming into focus on Cori's extremely near face.

Eyes expanding to their full awareness, Nicky looked into Cori's eyes. Cori held her breath and stared back, the dream's surge of nerves escaping into reality just as the embrace. With a gulp, she watched as Nicky continued to gaze, his expression transforming from the initial shock to something different- something more serious.

Long seconds passed, and Cori wondered if Nicky could feel her heart pounding against him. As Nicky stared at her, even she couldn't deny the anxiousness that was growing inside. Just centimeters away from her own, Nicky's lips twitched, sending Cori into a sheer panic. However, differing from her expectation, he only cracked a smile.

"Sorry," he whispered, at last letting go.

Cori shook her head, too flustered to speak, as a strange feeling swept over her- one that didn't quite feel like relief.

"Me too," she finally managed, but Nicky raised his brows.

"Um, Cori?" his hushed voice began.

"What?" she gulped again.

"You can let go now," he chuckled softly, nodding to her arms which were still tightly wrapped around him.

"Ah! Sorry!" Cori sprung up in a flash, fully embarrassed, but chuckling again, Nicky sat up, and with another smile, crawled out of the tent.

"What just happened?" Cori's face heated up, when a sudden rustling beside her made her jump. "Tanner!" Cori froze. In her bewilderment, she had completely forgotten anyone else was even in the tent.

"Morning," Tanner sat up, smoothing down his hair.

"Morning," Cori's breath was halted as it was now Tanner's turn to eye her. "Why's he looking at me like that?" she worried. "Did he see?"

However, after a moment, Tanner's strong gaze turned playful as a grin broke out over his face.

"What?" Cori looked at him nervously.

"Your sunburn looks brighter today," he laughed. "Unless you're blushing," he added with a smirk.

"Huh?" Cori threw a hand to her warm cheek, completely panicking.

"I'm not surprised," Tanner went on. "It's not every night a girl gets to sleep next to Tanner Lee," he smiled smugly. "Or hold his hand."

Shooting Cori one last grin, Tanner climbed out of the tent, leaving her alone with her burning face.

"Okay, Tanner didn't see what happened," Cori tried to calm herself before exiting the tent. "Ahh, but why did that happen?" she felt another tense flip of her gut. "Okay," she repeated. "It was just because of the dream. Just like when I woke up hugging Tanner's teddy bear yesterday morning." Cori sighed slightly, then frowned. "But why did I dream that?"

Fanning her still-warm cheeks, she noticed the Miracle 10 magazine which was laying near the plate of crackers.

"That's it!" Cori scrambled to pick up the booklet. "I saw that picture of Nicky hugging a teddy bear last night before bed. That's got to be why I dreamed about hugging him!" She quickly flipped open the magazine, but in her haste, passed the page she was looking for, opening instead to the shots of Nicky without his shirt. 

Cori immediately closed the book, using it to fan her face once again.

"Why am I getting so worked up over this?" she breathed. "I only hugged him because of the dream. And I only dreamed that because of the magazine," she told herself. "But that still doesn't explain why I dreamed that the other night too..."

Cori grimaced at the magazine, a lump in her throat.

"I've looked through this magazine a million times," she finally realized. "That picture of Nicky must have been in my subconscious. I bet that's the reason," Cori smiled to herself and turned the page to the muddied photo of Tanner, instantly recalling his similarly muddied appearance after tag the other night. "You know... You dreamed about him too last night" she bit her lip. "And you held helds," Cori took a staggered breath. "And it wasn't because of a dream."

Beaming beyond ecstasy, Cori tossed aside the printed Tanner and made for the tent flap, ready to find the real thing.

"The Nicky thing wasn't real. But the Tanner thing was," she smiled as she climbed out of the tent. "We're good."

"Hey, Cori!" JM was sitting by the fire pit, poking at a charred remnant of toast with one of the roasting sticks.

"Hey," Axel nodded from the log next to him.

"Where is everybody?" Cori blinked around the sunny camp.

"In the cabin looking for something to eat," explained JM.

"What we really need, is coffee," sighed Axel, standing up. "I couldn't sleep even with the air mattress."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," said JM, dropping the skewer and getting to his feet, too. "I can't even imagine trying to sleep in the other tent," he grimaced at Cori before following Axel towards the cabin.

"Honestly, I'm surprised no one's complaining," Cori heard Axel continue. "I thought for sure Tanner would be a bigger grouch than usual after sleeping on the ground."

"Yeah!" JM agreed again as they neared the cabin. "But I think I actually saw him smile when he crawled out of the tent! How weird is that?"

Axel's final sentence before disappearing into the cabin wasn't much more than a whisper, but in the calm of the morning, it still carried to Cori's ears.

"Maybe it's because of her," she heard him say, a smile now cropping up on her own face.

"We're good," she thought again as she headed for the cabin, too. "We're really, really goo-"

"WHERE IS IT?!?!?" Tanner was standing at the top of the balcony, screaming.

"What?" Kole stared up at him from the kitchen, dropping the pack of cookies he was holding.

"It's gone," Tanner continued to fume from above.

"What's gone?" Kole asked again.

"Someone took it," Tanner ignored his question. "Okay, who's been borrowing my stuff without asking?"

"Hey, don't look at us," Axel threw his hands in the air.

"Ugh," Tanner groaned. "NICKY!"

"What's going on?" Cori saw Nicky step out of the bathroom and join him on the landing.

"Have you been taking my stuff again without asking?" Tanner eyed him accusingly.

"No, but obviously you've been taking mine," Nicky laughed, tugging at the denim jacket Tanner was wearing.

"Whatever," Tanner shrugged him off and went on. "So you didn't take my necklace?"

"What necklace?" Nicky looked at him.

"The one with the silver arrow," Tanner said impatiently.

"Haven't seen it," said Nicky. "Are you sure you packed it?"

"Yes," Tanner rolled his eyes. "It was on my dresser and now it's gone. You really didn't borrow it?"

"No," Nicky promised.

"Well, somebody did," said Tanner, suddenly turning to the railing and glaring down into the kitchen.

Cori felt a lump immediately form in her stomach as all of Miracle 10 stared at her.

"I- I didn't take it!" she breathed.

"So it's just a coincidence that as soon as you show up, it goes missing?" Tanner narrowed his eyes.

"Why would I take it?" Cori frowned as everyone continued to watch her.

"Oh, I don't know. Because you like me?" said Tanner arrogantly. "And it's worth five grand."

"Tanner! I would never steal from you!" Cori looked around pleadingly. "From any of you! Besides, where would I put it? It's not like I have anything here but my clothes! What do you think, I hid it in my shorts?"

"Sounds like you've really thought this out," Tanner gritted his teeth.

"Now come on, Tanner," Nicky tried to help, but Tanner spun around and disappeared into his room, returning moments later with Cori's pair of shorts.

"It's not here," he frowned, turning out the pockets.

"That's because I didn't take it!" Cori exclaimed.

"Then where is it?" Tanner glared from the balcony.

"It's got to be in your room," cried Cori, racing up the steps and into Tanner's room. "I saw it on your dresser the other night. I'm sure it's still there somewhere."

Cori frantically fumbled through the bottles on the desk as the rest of Miracle 10 piled into the room. Playing back the moment she had last seen Tanner's necklace in her head, she feverishly scanned the area.

"I put it right here," she thought, recalling the moment she had almost tried it on. "Where is it?" Cori panicked, not seeing the pendant anywhere. "Where is it?" she desperately picked up Tanner's cologne bottles again, hoping fiercely that she had just overlooked it. However, to her greatest dismay, there was still no necklace to be found.

"I don't understand," Cori said breathlessly, glancing back at the guys. "It was right here."

For the most part, they were still gazing at her, curiously unsure, but Tanner's look was one of pure anger. He crossed his arms, completely unconvinced.

"Really!" Cori sweated and turned back to the dresser to look again, but just then, another memory came popping into her mind. "Oh, yeah!" she called with relief. "When the lights went out the other night, I accidentally bumped into some of this stuff," she blushed slightly. "It must have gotten knocked onto the floor."

"See, Tan? That's probably what happened," said Nicky. "Did you check under the dresser?"

Before Cori knew it, Nicky had kneeled onto the floor and was peering under the desk. Cori bent down to help, but after a minute of their scanning the flooring, nothing more than an earring and a dust bunny was found.

"Let me guess," Tanner leaned against the wall when they had both stood back up. "Not there?" 

Nicky piteously shook his head.

"It's got to be here somewhere," Cori frowned anxiously.

"Whatever," said Tanner. "Enjoy your souvenir. Obviously my shirt wasn't enough, but whatever," he finished, storming out of the bedroom.

Cori watched as the others, one by one, cast her stunned, disappointed looks, before following him out, making her wish she wasn't still wearing Tanner's tee. Sure, Tanner had been cruel to her before, but this was a new level of cruel even for him. Cori turned to Nicky, who had remained in the room, but to her further hopelessness, even Nicky U, the one who had always been kind to her, was frowning.

"I didn't take it," she sniffed and left the room, unable to handle anymore hurt expressions from her favorite band.

However, when she stepped into the hall, she stopped short, hearing voices speaking about her from the kitchen. Both curious and dreadful, Cori crouched down behind the railing to listen once again.

"So she's been lying all along?" Kole picked up the bag of cookies from the floor.

"Yeah, did she really come because she knew we were here?" JM frowned.

"Well, she did have that magazine," Axel pointed out.

"Great," Kole grimaced. "Who knows what else she might try to steal. Do you think she has a secret camera too?"

"She better not!" Axel looked appalled.

"Don't worry," Tanner scoffed. "The pictures are probably all of me anyways."

"Hey!" Axel shoved Tanner slightly.

"This is a really serious problem, guys," Kole went on, popping a cookie into his mouth.

"Yeah, we're stuck on an island with a crazy stalker," said Tanner.

"And Kole's obviously been hiding a stash of cookies," added Axel, yanking the bag from Kole.

"Hey, at least she's leaving tomorrow," JM patted Tanner on the shoulder.

"Tomorrow isn't soon enough," Tanner sighed.

"Well, so much for Tanner and I being really, really good," Cori thought, rushing down the stairs, past the boys, and out the door.