(song: "Afterglow" - Wilkinson)

Natalie reached for the popcorn at the same moment Kaden reached for the nutella. It resulted in their hands brushing together. Natalie's instinctive response was to pull her hand away, but Kaden held onto it.

Kaden didn't take is eyes off the show they were supposedly watching. He lowered her hand gently with his and rested them on the small space of cushion between them.

She felt her heart scream and pound loud drums inside her chest. It was almost dizzying. Maybe this was why netflix and chill turned into something promiscuous. Two people attracted to each other, sitting in the same space watching a show leads from one direction to another.

"Natalie. . ." Kaden said softly.

"Yes, Kaden?" Natalie asked and immediately felt embarrassed. She sounded way more eager than she would have liked.

He squeezed her fingers. "There is something I need to tell you."

"What's going on in here?" An angry voice boomed behind them.

Natalie withdrew her hand rapidly and sprung to her feet. Gardner stood with an expression on his face that teetered between being confused and upset.

Kaden stayed exactly where he was. He delivered a large catty smile and tossed a few bits of popped corn into his mouth. "We were just watching netflix, Gar. No need to get all worked up over it."

Gardner drug Natalie over to his side and wrapped an arm over her shoulder possessively. "Natalie is with me. I don't want you getting the wrong idea, she is off limits for you."

Kaden thinned his gaze. "Really? Are you so sure about that? Why don't you tell her the truth?"

"There is nothing to tell!" Gardner shouted at him.

Natalie had never heard Gardner raise his voice before and it scared her deeply. She reached out her hands to press against Garden's chest and took the risk to lean onto him.

"Calm down, Gardner. Let's just go, okay? Take me home."

Gardner panted roughly a few times. He was a very physically fit guy. Strength wise, if the two were to fight, Gardner would win.

"Okay, okay. You're right. Let me get my keys and we can leave." He agreed.

Gardner disappeared back down the hallway into his room. It gave Kaden enough time to climb over the back of the couch and face Natalie.

"You don't want to date him, Natalie." He warned.

"Why not? Do you know how long I've waited for him to be interested in me? Four-years, Kaden! Now he finally confesses." She shook her head. "If you really cared about me, you'd be happy for me."

Kaden became tight-lipped. Gardner returned and left along with Natalie. there was no good-byes, no more words exchanged. It was simply just over.

The whole ride back to the dorms, Natalie watched the landscape whirl past her and thought about Kaden. He had completely infected her thoughts.

"Gardner, what did Kaden mean back there? He said for you to tell me the tru—"

"Natalie, would you be interested in being my girlfriend?" He blurted out.

Was this reality? Had he just asked her to be with him?

She needed a minute to process everything. This was what she'd wanted for years. Her dream was finally coming true!

But if this was what she always wanted, why did it feel so unsatisfying?

"I didn't think you were interested in me like that." Natalie shyly admitted.

Gardner kept one hand on the wheel and used the other to hold her hand. "I want you to be my girlfriend. I want everyone to know that we are a couple."

Her pulse remained even, it wasn't like when Kaden had touched her.

What was wrong with her? She wanted to force those feelings back into her body.

Gardner represented the perfect boyfriend. He'd become a doctor, he would be financial stable. She'd known him for years. He was beautiful, responsible, loyal and finally he'd be all hers. Where exactly was the downside?

Kaden was an unpredictable element that only recently had entered her life.

"I want that too." Natalie agreed.

Gardner had a smile that was equally as beautiful as the rest of him. His teeth were flawless. He lifted her hand to kiss the back of it.

When Natalie managed to make it back to her dorm room it was already nighttime. She was overwhelmed with thoughts, but none were very clear or coherent.

Virginia sat at her tiny computer desk filing her toenails and painting them a shade of soft pink. She lounged in her underwear, showing off how much more voluptuous and sensual her body was compared to Natalie's.

"Hey Nat, how'd studying go?" Virginia asked while carefully painting her pinky toe.

"Gardner asked me to be his girlfriend." Natalie said flatly.

Virginia stumbled forward and slipped causing a streak of pink paint to run across all her toes. "Wait, what? Gardner? Are you pranking me right now?"

"It's no prank. And get this, Kaden is Gardner's cousin. He was there at the house, they argued and Gardner asked me to be his girlfriend."

"That's crazy, Nat! Like really insane." Virginia then snapped her fingers. "I remembered where I heard Kaden's name. I heard it at the party Steve and I went to on your birthday. There was a girl there—drop-dead gorgeous type—and she talked about her ex-boyfriend, Kaden Bennet. Anyway, she got scouted and got a modeling contract. Kaden financially took care of her. He caught her cheating on him with a male model and they broke up."

Natalie thought back to the day Kaden asked her to help him trick his ex-girlfriend. It suddenly made sense why he wanted to trick her. He wanted her to think he'd moved on. Showing up to the party alone would have looked like he didn't want to be with anyone after the hurt she caused him.

"Wow, I thought you'd look a lot more happy about being Gardner's girlfriend though. You've moaned about it everyday since we moved in together." Virginia scrubbed at her skin with acetone and a cotton ball. It made the whole dorm room stink like a nail salon.

Natalie flopped down on her bed and let her brown waves of hair engulf her pillow. "Yeah, I thought I'd be happier about it too. . ."

Virginia nearly spilled the acetone, but managed to save that accident from happening. "Hold on. Oh. My. God. Natalie Agatha Wood, do you have a crush on Kaden?"

Natalie's face heated up and she rolled onto her side with a groan.

"You do! You completely do! How messy! It's not like you can be with one without dealing with the other, they're related." Virginia's words just made it all feel worse not better.

Natalie hid herself in a bundle of blankets.

"Gardner makes the perfect boyfriend, I have to give it a chance. Kaden is just a momentary confusion."

Virginia made an disgusted expression with her lips. "I've never liked Gardner, not because he's mean or a bad guy. I don't like him because there's something off about him, Nat."

"You are starting to sound like Kaden." Natalie sighed.

"Well if his own flesh-and-blood feels that way, that's a big warning sign to me. You don't want to let go because then you'll feel like you wasted the last four years of your life pining for a guy that just led you on."

These were times Natalie wished that they didn't live in the same room together.

"Whatever, Virginia. I'm tired. I'm going to sleep."

"Sure, I expect an apology though when I turn out to be right. Sleep tight."

Natalie pretended to sleep, but she couldn't even if she tried. The inside of her chest started to hurt. Her mind kept replaying the moment Kaden held her hand.

Her phone rumbled within her coat pocket. She kept the covers overhead and allowed the screen to glow beneath the sheets with her.

[Kaden: I'm outside. Will you come out?]

Natalie bit down hard on her lower-lip. She didn't even need to think about it.

She threw off her covers which completely startled Virginia. Without even saying anything she left the room with her phone in hand. Her legs ran down the hallways past the girls getting ready for bed. The open doors she raced past revealed students doing everything from studying, to playing video games and even yoga.

She ran until she was outside in the bitterly cold night air. She breathed hard and tried to catch her breath.

Kaden had on so many layers. His scarf was a horribly knit green, red and yellow thing his grandmother must have sewn. His thick, nerdy glasses framed his face and from the moment he caught sight of her his smile was brighter than ever.

Natalie could mentally pick apart everything wrong with him. His socks weren't matching and he looked like he borrowed his uncle's jacket. Gardner always tried to look perfect, but Kaden seemed to have perfected the art of looking like a comfortable mess and she liked it. She couldn't even help it, she really liked it.

"Kaden? What are you doing here?" Natalie asked breathlessly.

Kaden extended out his arm to offer Natalie his hand. "Well, I decided to be Peter Pan tonight and you can be Wendy. Ready to see Neverland?"

She was Gardner's girlfriend now, she definitely couldn't run off with Kaden in the middle of the night.

She knew that and yet she reached out to grab his hand anyway.

"Show me Neverland. . ."