(song: "Runnin'" - Naughty Boy ft. Beyonce )

Kaden and Natalie ran down the sidewalks and sides of the streets chasing one another. Kaden sprinted over frosted fire hydrants and grasped hold of paint-chipped street-light poles to swing himself around them a few times. When they found the window of a closed business they made silly faces at their own reflections before bursting into fits of laughter.

He turned things that seemed just like mailboxes, street signs and discarded boxes into a magical playground. Trash lids were drums, walls were for climbing and puddles were a dance floor.

Kaden lifted Natalie's arm to assist her in a twirl as they rushed between the few pedestrians who were out that night. They gathered a lot of strange looks from those who saw them, but they didn't care.

It'd been the most fun Natalie had ever experienced with a guy before.

At the end of their adventure they sat together in an old fashioned pancake house and warmed themselves over an unhealthy amount of hot cocoa with marshmallows and saucers of warmed apple pie.

Kaden laid down on his side of the booth with his phone held up to his face flipping through personality tests.

"Okay, your survey choices are, 'creature you are most like', 'high-school stereotype you fit into' or 'which disney character best suits you'." He read off.

Natalie tapped her feet together in thought with a mouthful of apple pie. "Those surveys don't mean anything you know. None of them use any scientific methods to determine your personality type."

"So, in conclusion, you are a boring slug, your high-school stereotype is the annoying know-it-all and your Disney character is Sebastian the crab." Kaden offered her a sweet smile afterwards.

She twisted her lips at him. "Ha. Funny."

"What's kind of interesting about you is that you want to be a med student, but I can't picture you as a doctor at all." he voiced.

"What do you mean? You haven't known me very long, what else could you see me doing?"

Kaden placed his spoon in his mouth to taste the whipped cream from his hot-cocoa. "Teaching. Your whole look and love for reprimanding me gives off those hot-teacher vibes."

Natalie shoveled more pie into her mouth. She did hate studying medicine. "Teaching isn't a financially rewarding career. You are underpaid and underappreciated."

"Yeah, the same can be said about me wanting to be a stage performer. I'll financially struggle and live off ramen noodles until I get a big break which may never happen. I'll work small jobs and audition for a lot of parts and cross my fingers hoping one day I'll get lucky." Kaden sat up and leaned across the table to prop his elbows on the surface.

"So why do it? If you know you will have a hard life, why not choose the easy thing?"

"Because I believe in being true to myself, no matter what the consequence is. I don't feel pressured to live up to some kind of social standard. I create my own happiness." He placed his chin on his hands and thoughtfully added. "My ex-girlfriend wanted me to chase after wealth. She knew I came from a rich family and expected that I should try and be like that too."

That was something Natalie was not very good at. She had certain ideals in her mind on what would equal a perfect or happy life. Well, she had those ideals until she met Kaden.

"The only reason I study pre-med is because your cousin is studying it," she admitted with shame. "The only reason I even applied for this university is because Gardner knew he wanted to come here since he was fifteen. He always knew everything and achieved everything he set his mind after. Being a teen is so confusing and Gardner wasn't confused at all."

Kaden stifled a laugh that made him choke on his drink. "Gardner is the most confused of them all. He doesn't know what he wants."

"Well, he made me his girlfriend officially. So he wants that. . ." Natalie watched him to gauge his reaction.

Kaden's laughter died down. "And you agreed?"

"Of course." She tried to sound more confident about it than she felt.

He tapped the table top. "Then call him and tell him you made a mistake. Break it off before he hurts you, Natalie."

"How would he hurt me? He's not going to cheat on me like your girlfriend cheated on you!" She snapped

Kaden withdrew back as far as the booth would allow. She'd gone way too far with her comment.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry!" Natalie back peddled. "I didn't mean to say that."

"Who told you that?" His voice was calm and quiet.

She grimaced. "Virginia told me that your ex revealed your relationship history at the party. I am so sorry, Kaden."

He placed both his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. "Wow. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to keep everyone's secrets when they so clearly keep none of mine."

"Kaden, I'm so—"

"I know! You're sorry," he cut her off. "You know what? Go ahead and date Gardner, but when he breaks your heart you'll only have yourself to blame."

Kaden stood up to his feet and dug into his pockets to fish out his wallet and threw money on the table.

"Are you seriously leaving?" Natalie said with alarm.

He wrapped his scarf tight around his neck until it made him look like a blonde-haired turtle. "No, I'm annoyed with you right now, but it's dark outside and it'd be a pretty dick move for me to let you walk back home alone at night. I'm going to walk you to your dorm, but I don't want to talk to you while we do that."

Natalie nodded to comply. She knew if she were to speak she'd only make things worse anyway.

The return to the dorms was the most uncomfortable silence ever. It made them both more acutely aware of exactly how cold it had been. 

They finally reached the resident housing and Kaden was the first one to finally say something. "Well, since your boyfriend hates me and is my blood-relative, I guess it goes without saying that we probably shouldn't hang out anymore. His head would explode if he knew and you seem to care a lot about what he thinks."

"Just give me time to warm him up to the idea of you," Natalie pleaded.

Kaden laugh a bit out of irony. "No thanks. I didn't mind keeping your secret, but now that I know you are doing it for Gardner I think it's best if we kept our distance. Good luck, Natalie. I hope that I'm wrong about things with him, but I know I'm not."

She was frustrated with him condemning her relationship with Gardner before it even had a chance to blossom. It was enough fuel to help Natalie feel mutually as upset with him as he was with her.

Natalie became stiff as stone and with a tight jaw she said, "Sounds good. Bye Kaden."

Kaden didn't even bother with saying goodbye, he just turned his back to her and waved a hand reluctantly in the air and that was his farewell.

The entire day had been an emotional roller-coaster for Natalie. At least now she felt more certainty in her decision. She could clear Kaden from her thoughts and focus on being a good girlfriend to Gardner. He wasn't the cheating type, he even seemed to despise cheaters, so she knew there was no fear of that. If she just kept him happy she was certain that he wouldn't break her heart.

She wouldn't let Kaden's words become a prediction of the future.

Being around Peter Pan was fun, but at some point Wendy had to leave Neverland, grow up and get married. She guessed her story with Kaden had just ended the same way. . .