"You're not wearing that, are you?" Jane asks me in disapproval, scanning my outfit once more before she purses her lips.

I shrug. "Why not?" I ask. "I'm friends with all the guys on the team. Whoever it is, I'm sure I don't need to dress to impress them."

"But what if it's Vincent?" She presses.

"What if it is?" I ask sarcastically, rolling my eyes. "I certainly don't need to impress him," I spit, although I can't help but notice the shift in my stomach after she says his name, and suddenly all I can think about is our fight in my bedroom, when I kicked him out. "Anyway, he's not going to come. I promise you that."

Jane sighs and looks at me. "Well, don't you want to dress to impress yourself?"

I give her a blank stare and ask, "What are you going on about, Jane?"

"You know," She says with a tiny smile, shimmying up to me. "Look good to feel good. It's like, my motto."

I turn so that I can see myself in our shared mirror, and see the way that my sweatshirt makes me look fifteen pounds heavier than I actually am, and how the sweatpants do absolutely nothing to accentuate my figure. After a moment, I huff in annoyance to myself, mostly because I realize that Jane had got to me.

"I'll put on some jeans," I mumble to myself, and I can see her smirk out of the corner of my eye as I turn toward my closet.

In the end, I was wearing a long sleeve white v-neck and a pair of ripped jeans with, of course, my favorite pair of Converse. Jane was much more dressed up than me in a sundress with a nice jacket that was the same length as the dress, and a pair of light gray booties.

When I catch her giving herself a look-over in the mirror, I smirk. "Getting nervous for your date?"

She catches my eye in the reflection and smiles, but it isn't her usually confident smile, the one she always wears before a date. And then I realized that maybe she was a bit nervous, and my joke became reality as I watched her shift on her feet. "A little, actually."

I stared at her in surprise for a moment. Jane was one of the most confident girls I've ever known, who had dating down to a science, and never felt nervous before seeing a boy.

"Trevor is just so..." she trails off as her gaze shifts. "Different."

"In a good way?" I wonder curiously.

Still with a faraway look in her eyes, Jane smiles a little. "Yes," She turns to me and the smile brightens a bit. "A very good way."

I smile to myself giddily, for the first time actually approving the idea of Trevor and Jane together. Previously, I wanted Jane to avoid Trevor at all costs— I knew how she was with boys, and I didn't want her to ruin Trevor. But now, with my best friend as a little bundle of nerves, I was excited. Maybe he was the one to ruin her ways.

Before I can continue to pry for information about her little crush, Jane seems to snap out of her thoughts and straighten up. She glances at the clock on her phone and looks back at me. "It's time to go," she declares.

I check the time too and see that we were supposed to be there five minutes ago. Quickly, I gather my purse and sigh, "We're late."

"That's where you're wrong," Jane says with a crooked grin. "We're fashionably late, which means we're right on time."

I roll my eyes at her logic and follow her out the door. We were meeting the boys at a cute diner on the edge of campus, which would mean another fifteen minute walk if Jane hadn't offered to drive.

"I'm not going to walk in these shoes," She had told me when she retrieved her keys from her purse.

As we got closer to the diner, I wondered who Trevor has brought along on the double date. I mostly hoped it was Andrew because I knew he wouldn't judge me while I scarfed down my meal. After not eating all day, I was in no position to be eating like a lady on this date. I was even considering getting two milkshakes instead of one.

But when we finally pulled into the parking lot of the diner, I could see Trevor waiting nervously at a booth— alone. A heavy feeling settled in the pit of my stomach as I realized that I would have to make the decision between being the third wheel or further postponing my first meal of the day.

Jane and I walk into the diner and the little bell above the door draws Trevor's attention to us. His eyes widen and the narrow in on the sight of Jane, who smiles and waves as she approaches him. He fumbles to stand up from his seat and greet her while I follow behind, shuffling my feet in annoyance.

"Hey Lily," Trevor says upon finally tearing his gaze off Jane.

"Is anyone coming?" I ask in exasperation, beginning to feel my hanger creep up on me. "Or am I about to be the third wheel?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I see slight pink tinge the tops of Jane's cheekbones, and I would've been wildly surprised had my stomach not growl viciously.

"No, he's coming," Trevor assures, checking his phone quickly. "He's on his way now."

I nod in satisfaction, so hungry that I don't even bother to ask who it is. Instead, I flag the waitress down and put in an order of french fries and a chocolate milkshake immediately, feeling much more calm once she relays my order to the kitchen.

However, it isn't until my milkshake comes out a minute later that I'm fully satisfied, and I take a long drag from the straw before I look back at Trevor. "So, who is it?"

Trevor looks slightly nervous again, but before he can answer, the bell jingles from behind me, probably signaling the arrival of my unofficial date. Jane turns around and makes a noise beside me, and I watch as her gaze follows the person as they near the table.

"Sorry I'm late," An annoyingly gruff voice apologizes. "I couldn't find my keys."

My widened eyes fall on Vincent as he slides into the booth across from me and gives me a cocky smile.

"We just got here anyway," Jane says politely, and Trevor gives him a fist bump.

However, Vincent's eyes stay on me, searching mine to find something beyond the surprise. "What's the matter, Webb?" He asks as he reaches forward and grabs my cherry from the mountain of whipped cream. As he pops it in his mouth and pulls out the stem, he asks, "Cat got your tongue?"

Instead of a reasonable reply, I narrow my eyes at him and say, "You're getting me a new cherry."

He chuckles and challenges, "Says who?"

"Says the girl whose cherry you just stole," I snap back. "That's my favorite part of the milkshake."

Something gleams in his eyes as I yell at him, and I wonder why on earth he takes so much pleasure from fighting with me. "Mine too," He admits.

As Jane and Trevor make conversation with all of us, I sit back in the booth seat and glare at the cherry stem that Vincent discarded on the table, wondering why the hell he came. Was it just to piss me off? The last time we had talked, he had stormed away from me on the football field; the time before that, I kicked him out of my dorm room for inquiring about my personal affairs. And now here he is, a volunteer to be my fake date, just so he can steal my cherry and smirk about it?

"Can I get you guys anything?" The waitress asks, and I blink and look up to realize she had approached the table.

She's a pretty girl who seemed to be our age with bright blue eyes and bleach blonde hair. She was wearing the uniform— a cute blue dress with a white collar— and her name tag said Gillian. And, of course, her pretty blue eyes were fixated on my fake date.

"I think we're ready to order," Vincent speaks for all of us and begins the chain of ordering food.

When it was my turn, I order a burger, and the waitress gives Vincent a side glance after I say it, almost to gauge his reaction. I roll my eyes at her obvious staring and hand her my menu, unable to tell if I was bothered by her because I was still hungry or because she kept looking at Vincent.

Luckily, though, Vincent orders a milkshake, and I take it as an opportunity to steal his cherry to level the playing fields. The waitress leaves, not before looking dead at Vincent and letting him know that she's just a call away if he needs anything, and conversation resumes.

"I think the waitress is into you," Trevor jokes, nudging Vincent.

"You noticed her staring, too?" Jane asks with a laugh.

I glance out the window and try to ignore the conversation. For reasons unknown to me, the topic was making me uneasy, and I didn't care for it. Unfortunately, the girl was still our waitress whether I weighed in on the conversation or not, and she returned shortly after to deliver my fries and Vincent's milkshake.

Her hand was still wrapped around the shake as she set it down when I plucked the cherry from the whipped cream and stuck it in my mouth with a big smile. The waitress looked at me in disbelief before giving Vincent a flashing smile and promising, "I'll be right back with another cherry."

He grinned at her. "Thank you."

I, however, roll my eyes. "That hardly seems fair," I mutter. "I want more cherries."

Vincent smirks at me and says, "Then maybe you should grow a pair of balls and start playing football. Then girls will give you whatever you want."

Jane snorted laughter and Trevor sighed as he shook his head. "Why are you always so crude?" I ask in disbelief. "And why do you think that every girl wants to kiss the ground you walk on just because you play football?"

"Exhibit A," Vincent says with a smug smirk as the waitress places a bowl of cherries in front of him.

If he really came to see how long it would take for me to get up and leave, I thought, he'd be pleased right now. But instead of getting up and exiting the building just to put space between Vincent Bradshaw and myself, I take a deep breath and shake my head.

And then I eat his cherries.

"Webb!" Vincent cries as I stuff all three cherries in my mouth at once.

Janes laughter echoed in my ears while Trevor claps at my move. Vincent watches me in disbelief as I pluck the stem from my mouth three times and place them neatly in the bowl.

"You had to see that one coming," Trevor tells Vincent.

"It was obvious," Jane adds.

I smile at Vincent and continue to chew the cherries. That'll teach him to stop being such an asshole. Unfortunately, it seems to do the complete opposite, and I watch in awe as Vincent takes a handful of fries and gracefully shoves them into his mouth, smugly exacting revenge for the cherry crisis.

"You got to be kidding me," I huff as Trevor and Jane both stifle laughter, Jane being the only successful one, though laughter still glowed in her eyes.

Vincent grins cheekily. "You had to see that one coming," He mocks, acting as if he owns the world.

"You know, I've always wanted to tie a cherry stem with my tongue," Trevor says almost with a faraway look in his eye, as if this issue had plagued him for years. Then his eyes narrow in on the four cherry stems sitting on the bowl. "I think I can do it."

"Let's all try," Jane suggests, picking up a stem and plopping it into her mouth.

We each grab our respective stems and try to twist it into a knot using our tongues and teeth. I'm sure from afar we all looked like a bunch of idiots, the way we were moving our mouths around silently but with very determined looks on our faces. However, my struggle lasted only a minute before I happily pulled the stem out of my mouth in a loose knot.

Vincent's eyes flashed to my lips as he watched me take the stem out, and a moment later he took his out of his mouth as well. He glanced up at me with something clouding in his eyes as he leans forward and says quietly, "You know what they say about being able to tie a cherry stem in your mouth?"

His insinuation ultimately made me heart skip a beat, but I was more bothered by the fact that it had any effect on me at all.

Instead of showing him that it bothered me, I just smirk at him. "That I'm a great kisser," I say confidently, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, and glancing down at his stem as well. "And apparently, better than you."

Vincent looks at me in disbelief for a moment, his eyes tracing the features of my face in a strangely intimate way that made my smirk falter.

"There!" Jane exclaims with a grin, pulling her stem out as well to show us all.

Unfortunately, Trevor was still sitting across from her looking more disheartened than ever as he worked hard to untie the stem. After another minute of us all laughing at his deeply determined but messed up facial expressions, he grabs the untied stem and throws it on the table with a huff.

"It doesn't mean anything, anyway," He mutters under his breath.

Unsurprisingly, it takes a few minutes for Trevor to get over his inability to tie the stem with his mouth, but he seems much more excited when the waitress returns with our food. I choose to ignore the waitress' excessive bending across Vincent to put Trevor's plate down and instead begin to devour the monstrous burger that had been laid in front of me with a smile on my face.

I fall completely silent while I eat, practically inhaling the food as quickly as possible. Where Jane ate slowly and politely, I was halfway done my burger before the waitress even came back with Vincent's dish.

"Slow down, Webb," Vincent mocks. "Nobody is going to steal your food from you."

I'm slightly bothered when the waitress giggles at his comment, but mostly narrow my eyes at the culprit of the lie. "Says the one who stole my cherry and my fries."

He looks surprised and extremely defensive as he exclaims, "You stole all my cherries! Don't you think we're even yet?"

"Let me know if you guys need anything else," The waitress says with a bright smile, casting a final glance at Vincent before she finally tends to her other tables.

I ignore Vincent's comment back and continue to put in work on my burger until it's all gone and I'm left picking at my fries and milkshake. Trevor maintains easy conversation with the table, as he always manages to do, until Jane excuses herself to go to the bathroom and basically tugs my arm to let me know I have to go with her.

As we walk away from the table, I whine, "Is this some girl thing that you just can't go to the bathroom alone? I'm scared he's going to finish my fries while I'm gone!"

Jane rolls her eyes as she stops in front of the bathroom and leans in to whisper, "Do you have a tampon? I forgot to pack an extra and I'm scared I'm going to bleed through my dress."

"I didn't bring a bag," I tell her with a sorry expression. "Can it wait?"

She sighs in annoyance. "So you don't have Advil, either?"

I look at her blankly and answer in a monotone, "No, Jane, I didn't bring Advil in my pocket today."

"Shit," She mutters. "My cramps are killing me. I don't think I can stay here much longer."

My expression turns sympathetic as I begin to understand the gravity of the situation. After all, cramps were no joke. They fucking hurt.

"We'll be done here soon," I try to reassure her, hoping that she wasn't going to suggest going home before me. "I just have to finish my shake--"

"I think I have to go home," Jane tells me as she confirms my fear. "I seriously need to lay down. Do you think Trevor would mind?"

I want to tell her that yes, he would probably be devastated considering this is their first date, but the sad look in her eyes told me that she didn't want to leave herself. So I decided to be nice and tell her the other truth, which is, "Of course not. He'll understand."

She excused herself to go to the bathroom and I walked back to the table to an eager Trevor, who practically assaulted me with questions the second I slid back into the booth.

"Is she having fun? Do you think she likes me? She looks so pretty today, do you think I dressed up enough?" Trevor rattles off his list of nervous questions with a half smile between each one, his eyes big and hopeful as he searched my face for answers. Meanwhile, Vincent sat beside him, rolling his eyes at the depth of worry coursing through Trevor.

"She's having a lot of fun, Trev," I tell him with an honest smile. "She isn't feeling too well, though."

Like the gentleman he is, a blanket of worry falls over his features, and that's when I know that he's a goner. I knew for sure that he liked Jane-- hell, everyone likes Jane. But the second I let the words escape my mouth, he looked more concerned about her wellbeing than anything else in the world.

It made my heart warm like you wouldn't believe.

Jane walks back a moment later and sadly announces, "Hey, Trevor, I'm not feeling too hot. I think I might have to cut our date short and head back."

I saw a gleam of excitement flit through Trevor's eyes when she said date, followed by him promptly standing up and pushing Vincent out of the booth. "I'll walk you back," He insists. "We can stop at the store on the way back to pick some stuff up, too."

The smile that grew on Jane's face was unlike one I'd ever seen before. She was used to dating guys, but never grew too fondly of them. It wasn't in her nature. But now, just as I realized Trevor was a goner for her, I realized that she was feeling the same way. My own secret smile grew as I watched her nod happily and a smile broke out on his face.

Trevor dug into his pocket and pulled out a few bills to hand to Vincent, probably to cover he and Jane's meals, before they were off. It was only when they were walking out that I realized that this had quickly turned from a double date to me and Vincent alone. My smile faded as I turned to Vincent, who was still standing up across from me, and realized the new predicament I found myself in.

"And then there were two," He jokes halfheartedly, and I choose to ignore it and sit back down.

For some reason, I found myself nervous as I began picking at my fries again, and my appetite was suddenly gone. I knew this wasn't the fault of the burger-- I could've eaten three of those things before getting full-- but it was the fact that we were alone. And I couldn't understand why it suddenly bothered me so much.

After all, all of our physical therapy sessions were alone. We've walked home from the frat party alone, we were alone in my bedroom when we had that weird fight, and we even studied alone before. But for some reason, this was different. Perhaps it was from the previous distinction of this as a "double date" that set me off, making me wonder if there's only two of us, does that mean it's a date?

I wanted to shake my head immediately after the thought crossed my mind, and then guffaw at my ridiculousness. A date with Vincent Bradshaw? I'd sooner let someone shave off my entire head of hair than be caught dead on a date with the school's biggest asshole.

"What are you thinking about?"

The question jarred me out of my own thoughts, and I realized that Vincent had been watching me intently, making me comprehend the fact I was probably just sitting there silently for a few minutes with my brows drawn together in contemplation.

"Why?" I ask defensively, leaning back in my seat.

He observes my actions closely and surprises me when he says, "You don't have to be so guarded around me all the time, you know. I thought we were getting past that."