Keegan's POV

"We've been shopping for groceries here for almost a month and you still manage to get lost?" I reprimanded when I finally managed to locate my roommate. "I swear, Skyler, keep this up and I'm buying you one of those pet leashes that have GPS tracking on them."

"It's only been three weeks since we moved to Aberville," he protested weakly.

"It's been over three weeks but that's beside the point." I sighed. "Look, Sky, you have got to stop acting like a kid and be a bit more responsible. You are eighteen years old but the only time you are relatively serious is when you hook up and sometimes not even then. I know that you are used to having Beth around but she can't babysit you anymore."

"Yeah, but I have you now instead," he smiled at me. "And in a way it is so much better because she didn't appreciate me giving details about what I'd been doing with girls but you don't mind."

"Sky, you and I are bros," I started to explain slowly so that the blond would be able to keep up. "We can talk about girls, we can go on double dates but I sure as Hell am not going to follow you around, making sure you don't forget where our apartment building is or that you haven't lost your schedule again." He huffed and pouted, proving that no matter what I preached and how I tried to convince him to see things from where I was standing, he'd still act like a child. "Now grab one of those milk cartons behind you, put it in the basket and let's go to where the canned food is."

Sky turned around and was just about to do as I told him when we heard from behind us:

"Excuse me, can you grab me a carton of fat free milk, please?"

The voice belonged to a slim brunette in here teenage years. Skyler's pout was immediately replaced by the same boyish smile I'd seen him use whenever a cutie was around.

"Sure thing," he replied, handing her the item she'd requested. "But I really don't think you need it; you look great."

The girl giggled as blush covered her cheeks.

"Thanks," she muttered, heading for another part of the store. She kept slightly turning around, delicately sneaking glances at Sky until she was hidden from our sight.

"Sky..."

"Um?" He was distracted, looking into the direction the girl had disappeared to.

"The milk," I reminded. "You got hers, now how about you get ours?"

"Oh, yeah," he grabbed a carton off the shelf and placed it in our shopping basket. "She was cute, wasn't she?"

"Yeah, she was."

"Pretty face, nice body," he kept enlisting. "Seemed a bit on the shy side but I don't mind."

"Why didn't you ask her out then?"

"It would've seemed creepy to do it all of a sudden," he explained. "That is why we are not going to the canned foods section as we planned to; we are going thataway instead," he pointed to the direction, "then we'd turn left and 'accidently' bump into her again."

"Oh, so now you can find your way through the store?" I reprimanded, annoyed that not ten minutes ago he'd called me on my cell because he wasn't sure about his own whereabouts.

"Yep. I might get lost easily but once he senses a hot chick, he doesn't lose the trail," my roommate stated proudly, glancing down at his crotch when he mentioned 'he'. We turned left and I was surprised to realize Sky had been right: the brunette was selecting fresh vegetables from a nearby stand.

"Told you," my friend mouthed to me, sauntering casually towards his unsuspecting target. "We should really stop meeting like this," he joked when he reached her, pretending to be picking out carrots.

The girl's sweet giggle sounded again before she replied:

"We must; people will begin to talk."

"Then where should we meet next? My place or yours?"

She looked up from the vegetables. Her wide eyes told me she was not expecting such a reply.

"I-I..." The girl stammered but Sky simply bit his lip and gazed at her with a mixture of playfulness and shyness in his baby blue eyes.

"I was just joking about that," he stated, ruffling his hair.

"Oh..." The girl let out a breath and opened her mouth to talk but Sky didn't give her a chance to:

"I wouldn't mind taking you out for a coffee sometime though," he spoke, still pretending to be bashful. "Actually, I'd really enjoy that."

The girl blushed the brightest shade of red so far. I smirked and shook my head, thinking how easy of a prey she'd been. Could she really be that clueless? All it took for my friend was one compliment, an 'accidental' rendezvous and a joke followed by a blatant suggestion, disguised as another jest, and he had her hooked. In her eyes my roommate had gone from charming, to blunt and then back to sheepish as if he was just your average boy next door who didn't have experience with girls but tried to act confident around his crush. It was one of Sky's favorite tactics and it was clever to apply it to this particular girl; she was obviously shy so if he'd been too cocky, he might have scared her away.

"Her name is Miley, she'd just turned sweet sixteen and she was lucky enough to get a date with yours truly this Thursday afternoon," a grinning Skyler announced, approaching me but not before he waved goodbye to the brunette who headed for the register.

"So you really are starting with just coffee?"

"Hey, I am a gentleman," he commented, pretending to be shocked by my question. "I don't want to scare the girl. Beside, just because the two of us start with coffee, it doesn't mean we are not going to end on each other's laps or with sweet little Miley on her knees in front of me," he wiggled his eyebrows at me and his grin widened.

*****

Caden's POV

I lit the candle I'd just placed on the small table Alice and I used to dine on. My girlfriend was still out with Bethany after the later had insisted they spend 'some girl time away from the boyfriends'. Why was that necessary, I did not know, since the two of them had all of their classes together and therefore were often on their own and away from me and Asher. Nonetheless, I was grateful that Alice was out because that gave me the opportunity to surprise her by preparing dinner for us. I'd already warned Skyler and Keegan not to come over tonight and I've asked Ash to keep Beth away from this apartment; I wanted to spend some quality time with my girl and I made sure I'd get that.

The door opened and in came she came. She was holding half a dozen bulky bags and attempting not to drop them took all of her concentration.

"When Bethany Miller decides to buy you a gift, you better take her up on that offer," Alice advised, still not noticing I'd served and decorated our living room table. "I swear, the more I objected her purchasing things for me, the more enthusiastic she got about it." I went over to her, taking the bags off her hands. "Thanks, Cade, I..." She looked away from what she'd been holding and gasped.

In front of her was a dressed table with two portions of steak, prepared just the way she liked it: topped off with plenty of cheese. A small cup contained a home-made mushroom and spice sauce, the recipe for which had been passed down from generation to generation in her family; the vessel itself held special meaning for the two of us as we'd bought it plain, but we'd painted over it to make it more interesting. Alice had drawn a flower on half of the cup and I'd sketched her face on the rest. We'd used special paint so our work wouldn't disappear once we washed it.

"Oh, Caden, what's all this?" She stepped closer to the table. "You even lit a candle... Do we have some sort of anniversary that I forgot about?"

I giggled, hugging her from behind.

"Have you already forgotten when we started dating, little Alice?" I teased.

"No, of course not, but this is just... so sudden. What is the reason behind it?"

"A reason? No reason at all. Except," I moved her hair out of my way and kissed her neck. "Except that I want to spend some time alone with my girlfriend."

"We hadn't really had a chance to do so with the moving in," she agreed.

"And with our friends declaring the apartment as headquarters," I added.

"And then we were busy with starting our classes..."

"And trying to find part-time jobs."

"Still nothing?"

"Nope. Even if the interview starts off well, I get some version of 'don't call us, we'll call you' the moment I mention I have a record."

She turned around and her green eyes shone with sympathy.

"Cade..."

I hushed her, placing my index finger over her lips.

"Let's not think about that now; let's just enjoy our food."

She smiled at me and pecked me on the lips.

"So which plate is mine?"

"Whichever you chose, of course."

We sat on the couch and began our meal, talking in between bites. We concentrated our conversation on light and jolly topics such as Sky's antics and how Will and Flora were soon to tie the knot. Alice described to me yet another part of the Aberville University grounds which she thought I'd like to paint. Her school year had started about three weeks ago but in between all the classes I had had at the Academy and me looking for employment, I simply could not find the time to visit the University.

"I really want to see all the places you took pictures of," I commented, pouring some soda in the glass she'd just emptied. It wasn't the most romantic beverage, but it went well with the steaks. Besides, with Alice not being a fan of alcohol and me deciding to drink less, we didn't keep anything stronger that a beer in our apartment; more often than not, it was Keegan and Skyler who made sure that that did not go to waste.

"I'll take care of those," I added once she'd gotten up and reached for the plates.

"We could wash them together," she offered. "It will be faster that way."

We carried the cutlery to our kitchen.

"I rinse and you dry them up with the towel?" I suggested and she nodded.

Alice sat on the kitchen counter next to the sink. I washed the dishes and handed them for her to dry before she would stock them to her side. Not ten minutes later we were all done.

"So," I began, moving in front of her and placing my hands on her waist. "Are you ready for your dessert?" I kissed her lips slowly and she grinned.

"Are you my dessert, Caden?"

"You, naughty, naughty, little Alice!" I kissed her again, this time on her chin. "I meant," I placed a kiss on her neck then lightly sucked the spot for a few seconds. Her head had tilted back and she'd used her hands to pull me closer to her. "I meant that I bought us some cheesecake," I concluded, moving my head back so that I could look at her face. "But I like where your thoughts are headed."

"Caden?" Her eyes were seductively narrowed and she was biting her lip.

"Huh?"

"Can we have the cheesecake later?"

"I definitely like where your thoughts are headed," I smiled and turned my attention back to her neck.

*****

A/N: Considering what was in this chapter, maybe I should've posted it on St. Valentine's Day ;)

I'm dedicating this to musicfeelsbetter for being an awesome fan. Thanks for all the comments and votes ♥