Her hand rests on my waist, mine on her face and she lets me kiss her. She keeps letting me. Though, every time it happens I'm scared it'll be the last.

"Do they know what we're doing in here?" I ask. There's been a lot of giggling but not a lot of talking...

"Why, are you worried?" Natalia smiles.

"No, I just think we're obvious."

"Well, they might. Does that bother you?"

"No," I smile back.

"Am I the first girl you've liked?"

"You're the first girl I've liked this much."

"Who did you like before?" She says, a little stunned by my response.

"Alison."

"Alison?"

"Yes," I roll my eyes at the memory. "That's why I took Ethan from her, but then I actually started to like Ethan...so jokes on me."

Natalia laughs, "That's how you handle your feelings?"

"I wasn't sure what I was feeling...she was my friend, I thought I just liked her better than everyone else."

"And with me?"

"As soon as you told me your name, I wanted to write it next to mine in a heart...but platonically, I thought."

"Platonically..."

"Not so much anymore."

I lean in, and our lips brush over each other's before she pulls me into her.

It feels innocent being wrapped in her arms. There's no shame in touching an angel.

"I don't mean to pressure you," Natalia says reluctantly, "but you should know that I fall fast."

"You're going to fall in love with me?"

"You sound surprised."

"Well, you'd be the first." And, I was so lonely without you.

Natalia frowns and gazes right into my eyes. "I wish I had a fountain for every person that made you think you're not easy to love."

We continue to stare at each other. It's almost unbelievable that she's serious...

No one has looked at me before and saw someone they wanted to love.

My eyes shift away in sudden shyness.

"I haven't been the nicest."

"I'll make you as nice as can be...though, I don't mind the Audrey that's only nice to me."

"I have to apologize to your brother, don't I?"

"Don't you dare."

"But what about your family?"

"The odds are in your favor. My mom thinks Cassidy is boring," Natalia smirks. "What about your family?"

"I don't think anyone cares."

"And if they do."

"We'll find a fountain."

"Guess what?" Heather pulls me into the house.

"What?"

"I made dinner!"

"That's awesome, butterfly," I say in surprise.

"It took me hours. Come sit down," she leads me further. "My parents are here but only to eat, so don't worry."

"I'm not."

We've officially been together long enough for me to no longer be afraid of them.

"Hello," I wave as I enter the dining room.

"Leonardo," her dad nods in greeting. I take a seat at the far end of the table where a plate is sat.

"Was this your idea?" Mrs. Blakely asks.

"No."

"Heather has never cooked before."

"I know, she's excited."

"That's not going to help your stomach."

"What do you-"

"Ta-da," Heather walks in with a covered dish. After it's on the table, she removes the top and smiles at us all.

...Aw, Heather...what the hell is that?

"Wow," her dad claps and then takes a deep breath.

"Thank you," Heather grabs his plate and serves him first, her mother next, and then me.

If I know what I'm eating...it might stop me from swallowing it. I pick up something with the fork and put it into my mouth before I could hesitate.

Hm.

"How is it?" Heather asks with a big smile on her face.

"Did you follow a recipe, butterfly?"

"Well, I did for most of it. Some parts I changed because they just didn't seem like they'd taste good. Why?"

"Just curious," I shrug.

"This is delicious," Mr. Blakely wipes his mouth clean with a napkin as if he took more than a bite. "Wish I could stay to finish, but I have a meeting. Please, save me some, however."

"What? You're leaving?" Heather questions.

"Oh, the meeting, William," her mom stands up as well.

"No," Heather sighs.

"Heather, you're so beautiful, and for that I am proud," her mom kisses her cheek and then waves goodbye.

You'd think Heather's food was trying to eat them with the way that ran out of the door.

I look back at her and she frowns.

"It's not good?"

"no, no it's-" I sigh, "...There are flavors I don't understand."

She takes the fork and tries some food off of my plate. "...Oh, no."

"It's so bad," I laugh in disbelief, "but I will eat it, I swear. Just for you."

"Don't," she pushes the plate away from me. "I can't cook."

"No...but I can. Want me to make us something?"

"I owe you dinner."

"You don't owe me anything."

"Come on," she grabs my hand and leads me through the house to the elevator.

I would have been fine pretending to like the food and eating enough of it to spare her feelings.

She's being quiet because she's disappointed.

"Hey, thank you for trying to cook for me."

"Don't thank me, I ruined it."

"Stop pouting," I lift her head up, "I'll help you next time."

"I'm not doing it again."

"You are, and your parents are going to stay put and be blown away by your food."

"Turned away," she rolls her eyes and walks into the lobby.

"I'll teach you, you'll see."

"You and your vast experience as a chef."

"Yes, I've even made pizza from scratch."

"You bought all of the ingredients and everything?"

"Well-"

"What?"

"I kinda made it with Peyton, so she had all the stuff-"

"Oh, I see, this is what you do with all of your-"

"Nope, shut up," I pull her toward me, "Kiss me." Heather rolls her eyes but places her lips to mine for a brief moment. "Kiss me again." She smirks a little before leaning in once more and kissing me properly.

I grab her face and exaggerate moans while sloppily losing technique until she's laughing so much she has to pull away. I redirect my kisses to all over her face before finally licking a stripe up her neck.

"Stop," she laughs, "people can see us."

"Good," I put my arm over her shoulders.

Heather leans against me as we walk, glancing up and smiling every once in a while and putting her arm around my waist.

I will never take for granted my girl being easy to please.

And I'll never tell her that I was worried she wouldn't be when we first started dating.

Heather stops walking. "This is the place."

"How french," I say as I hold the door open for her.

"I want you to know what the food was meant to taste like."

"Good evening. Your usual table, Ms. Blakely?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Right this way, please," the waitress directs us through the expensive, French restaurant.

We've also been dating long enough for me not to feel like a fish out of water when we're in a fancy place.

"Can I take your drink orders?"

"Water is fine," I shrug.

"Two glasses of water with lemon, and we'll have the chicken Basquaise."

"Excellent choice," the waitress says politely, nodding before she left.

"Is that what you tried to make? It sounds complicated. Why would you choose something so hard?"

"I wanted to impress you."

"Your name is on buildings. You're trying to impress me?"

"Yes."

I laugh to myself. "You're cute."

"I'm serious. You deserve to be impressed."

"I am all the time. Trust me."

"Why? I'm so ordinary. You say I can do better than you as if you're not practically perfect, especially for me, but I'm the one-"

"If you say one bad thing about yourself, Heather, I swear to God."

"I don't bring anything to the table."

"You can believe that as long as you know that whenever I think about the fact that I'm dating you, I get really fucking happy." She starts to smile, so she looks away from me. I smile back at her, "Is that enough for the table?"

"Hush."

"You think I'm perfect?"

I couldn't be further from it, but still— butterflies, butterflies, butterflies.

"Hi," Alison giddily prances over to us.

I watch as she hugs Heather, and for some reason, doesn't stop there. Her arm reaches over me and I try to retreat into my shell, but it's too late. Oh my god, what the hell?

Heather notices and tries to hide her laughter behind her hand. "How long have you been here, Ali?"

"We just walked in, but I wanted to come speak to you before we sat down."

"You can sit with us if you want," I suggest.

"Tony too? I'm here with him?"

"Oh, Is it a date?"

"With Tony?" Her eyes widen. "That would be weird...no." She shakes her head at me and walks off.

"My bad?"

Heather smirks, "What are you up to?"

"You said you wanted me to hang out with your friends. Let's do it."

"Perfect."

I chuckle, "I'm not."

"Hey..." Tony awkwardly approaches and stands by the table.

"What's up?"

"I-" he sits down, "I heard what happened in the hall the other day. It was messed up what they did."

"Aren't you on the team? You don't hang with them in the morning?"

"They're too much to deal with outside of the field."

"Tony's the only one who still has his empathy intact," Alison snarks.

He glanced at me guiltily, obviously remembering how he empathetically called me a roach. "I'm sorry that I-"

"It's cool," I brush it off.

"I was putting on an act for your girlfriend, believe it or not."

"Funny how that worked out."

"Tony, you're such a snake," Alison scoffs.

"What did I do?"

"Heather was with Jace and you were still going after her?"

"I go after girls I can't have," he looks intently at Alison. "Plus, Jace was the worst."

"You were with Audrey, weren't you?" Heather asks.

"Not really. I would never be enough for Audrey."

"She wouldn't have deserved you."

I nod in agreement, "You seem like you're probably an alright guy, Audrey needs someone equally as evil if it's going to work."

"Ethan was evil," Alison says, "and they hate each other now."

Tony looks over at me, "I guess you were right. We don't like one another."

"I think we do," Heather chimed in, "which is somehow worse. I understand why you avoid my friends."

"You avoid us?"

"It's nothing personal. You're fine, and that Lisa girl is chill, but I'd rather not be around the rest of you classist fuc-" I stop when I catch a glimpse of the guests around me, "people."

"Do you think I'm classist?" Alison says sadly.

"I'm not classist," Tony shakes his head.

"You both are," Heather laughs.

"You are too." Her jaw drops in surprise. "You try not to be."

"Okay, so you're this anti-classist, anti-capitalism, anarchist?" Tony taunts.

"Do you listen to Aerosmith?" He shakes his head. "Eat the rich," I take a sip of my water.

"Okay, Rousseau," Heather teases.

Tony shakes his head. "One day the poor will have nothing left to eat, and you will not eat Heather."

"I eat her now."

"Leo!" Heather kicks me under the table while I laugh. Tony laughs too but tries to stop when he sees how the girls are looking at us. "I'm sorry, he says the most inappropriate things."

"You can't take them anywhere," Alison nods in understanding.

"What?" Tony argues, "I didn't say anything."

"You laughed."

"It was funny."

"Imagine what they say to each other when we're not around," Alison says to Heather.

"I'd rather not."

"I don't say anything," Tony scoffs.

"Sure, your conquests stay secret," Alison purses her lips.

"Exactly, because I have no conquests."

The table falls silent, all of us just looking back and forth between each other wondering if he means what we think.

"Good for you, bro."

"It's okay, you can laugh," Tony shrugs.

"Why would we laugh?" Heather asks.

"You're a virgin?" Alison furrows her eyebrows. "But you go out with Ethan and Trevor."

"Doesn't mean I become them."

Alison stares at him, free of judgment, full of something different.

I raise my eyebrows at Heather and my eyes shift between her friends and her.

Do you feel this tension, butterfly?

She smiles, "Alison, can you come to the restroom with me?"

"Sure," she stands up to follow behind Heather.

They're going to talk about him in there....

So, if we've become the couple that makes couples...

"You like her?" I ask.

"Alison?"

"Yeah, Alison." If you still have a thing for Heather, you're barking up the wrong tree. That's my tree.

"We're just friends," he says nonchalantly, and I shrug. "She's out of my league," Tony adds.

"So?"

"That's easy for you to say, you're like— cool."

Yeah...yeah, I am.

"I think she likes you back. Just a little. Wait it out and see."

"Are you sure?" He starts to smile, and I nod. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

"...is that Audrey?" I stare outside the rain-covered window.

She's under an umbrella, kissing a girl while the cars are passing.

"Oh, my god," Trevor smirks.

"I know..."

I blamed Audrey for everything that went down with us. As soon as she finally came to the conclusion that I wasn't going to be her boyfriend, she became insufferable.

She looks happy now. She never looked happy despite being 'in love' with me.

I'm beginning to think I'm the problem.

I'm insufferable

And unhappy.

"East 21st Street, " I tell the driver. "Straight there."

"I thought you wanted to go home."

"I can't." Go another day missing her.

Let's hope she hasn't moved on yet. It took her long enough to give me a shot the first time around.

"What's down here for you?" Trevor motions toward the buildings we're passing.

"You know how you felt about Alison for a while?"

"Before I realized how much of a waste it is to entangle yourself with one woman?"

"I'd rather think it was a waste in the long run than to feel like I'm wasting away without her."

"Without who?"

The car comes to a stop.

The driver grabs the umbrella from the passenger side in preparation for getting me out of the car, but I don't wait around.

"Ethan?" Trevor watches in puzzlement as I get drenched by the rain in a rush to reach the apartment building. A puddle splashes back at me and soaks my shoes and pants, but I continue on.

All of this and she might not even be home.

I knock despite that.

"Elizabeth? It's Ethan. Can we talk, please?"

"No," she yells from the other side.

"Can I talk through the door then and you just listen?"

She opens the door with an irritated expression, but the fact that she even opened it is a good sign.

"Hi..."

"I'm not going to start working for you again."

"I don't want you to. That was an excuse to keep you around."

"So, what are you doing here?"

"I miss you," I admit, "I'm sorry."

"Okay..." Elizabeth shrugs, unmoved.

"You don't have to miss me back...I understand. I don't know why I treated you so poorly, Elizabeth. It's inexcusable, I'm not going to try and defend myself."

"Thank you?"

"Forgive me if you can."

"I'll think about it."

"That's all I ask. I never intended to make life harder for you...or hurt you, if I did."

"You're confusing...one moment I'm an employee to you, the next I'm something more. You beg me to let you buy me a nicer apartment and then you fire me a week later. How does that make sense?"

"It doesn't, I was-" I sigh, "I was confusing because I was confused. The realization I came to today is that I really like you...which isn't something to take lightly. I don't normally like people, something about it never sat well with me. I could be with a woman, enjoy her company but when they left...I didn't miss them. You've been in my head every day since I last saw you. I feel sick, Elizabeth, and I thought it was your fault, but it's mine. I did this to us."

"Us? You're the one who didn't want a relationship."

"I did...I do, but I've never done it before— never wanted to, never thought I had the time or energy. That's why you were my assistant instead of my girlfriend. It was a loophole for the part of me that resisted my feelings for you."

"I don't want confusions or loopholes, Ethan. Grow up," she steps back and starts to close the door.

"Please, Liz-" I get down on my knees completely at the mercy of someone I didn't realize had power over me.

"Liz?"

"You don't like to be called Elizabeth. I won't do it anymore."

"Really?"

"Your name is Liz. You go by Liz. That's your choice, and I respect it."

"Get up, Ethan." She sighs, waiting for me to stand. "Do you respect me?"

"Yes."

"If you ever make me question that-"

"I won't. You have my word."

"Come in." I nod in relief, but she puts her hand on my chest to stop me from walking, "To talk."

"Okay...Liz."

"I like it better when you call me Elizabeth."

Harry knocks, "Mr. Trevor, your father is expecting you in the dining room, please."

"For what?"

"I was not told."

I sigh and walk out into the hall. Having to speak to either of my parents is never a good thing.

Yet, I'm guessing this may be the worst conversation to date.

I open the door, and Vivian and my father stare at me like I'm walking into an intervention of some sort.

There's no way in hell she told him...

"Hello?"

"Sit, will you," father points toward a chair.

"What's this about?"

"Vivian was here today, and your school called."

"Well, I don't know what for. Today was fine."

"Today. They've been trying to get in contact with me for months. How have you been keeping calls from me?"

"Oh? It's somehow my fault that you're never here to answer the phone? Or perhaps you're too busy when they call your office, better yet, you're in Seoul but they left a message in Beijing."

"Do you take me for a moron? They told Vivian someone answers each time and assures them I'll get the message."

"Sounds like a staffing problem."

"Okay, when they called about you fighting in school, who took that message?"

I shrug, "Beats me."

"And when you were caught with a girl in the showers? Or when you were deemed intoxicated in class? Or— how about this one since it wasn't too long ago, you dropped a heap of condoms onto the floor of a school dance?"

"How am I supposed to know who's on the other side of the line?"

"Is this a game to you? Do you think playing around with your future is amusing?"

"We both know that I do not need school."

"Because you're going to be running my company, right? You still believe that?"

I clench my jaw, "I don't need your company."

"You have a backup plan? Some start-up you're keeping under the radar until you get kicked out of school? Is that it? Wise up, Trevor. It's easy to be stupid when you have money, but it's my money you have. It will be even easier for you to lose it. Do better."

"Lose it?" I scoff, "never, because then you'd have to be here to take care of me."