AN: Welcome to my newest project (yes, another one, I am really doing this!) I feel that this will somewhat compensate for the sporadic updates for ROTLON and GL2 (at least that's the idea) as the plan is to upload a oneshot every day while simultaneously writing for whatever the focus may be at the time. And, yes, I'm aware that this is late but being a carer for my mum means I only really have time to write on a I sincerely hope you enjoy this series and I will do my absolute best to get the ROTLON chapter finished asap!

Words (excluding author's note): 1559

Jessica hated these types of stories. The ones where it seems like the couple will live happily ever after and then...bam! Something happens to tear them apart.

She rolled her eyes as she put down the book, wondering if what she had just read was applicable in real life. It was stupid to compare fiction to reality, yet a part of her was now worried.

"You're doing that thing again!" Her boyfriend's amused voice snapped her out of her train of thought. He grinned at her, adding cheerfully, "You were reading one of those trashy romance novels, weren't you?"

"They're not trashy!" she responded. Upon seeing the disbelieving look on his face, she admitted, "Okay, so they're not what I'd normally choose to read. I just didn't have the heart to tell Gina that romance novels aren't my thing."

Toby chuckled, taking a sip of his drink. He had been watching Jessica read through the final chapter of the book all through their date at Mabel's and, judging by the way her face had looked, it hadn't ended the way she had wanted it to.

"So what happened this time?" he asked. "Let me guess - he was just about to confess but then got abducted by romance-hating aliens!"

"That would have been a much better ending!" she responded before letting out a heavy sigh. "No, no, he gets murdered by his former gang member on his wedding day. He dies in his would-be wife's arms! The poor guy didn't even get to say his vows!"

Toby let out a low whistle. "Wow...that's depressing!" he said. He didn't quite understand why she was making a fuss about the ending of a romance novel but he thought it was probably for the best to go along with it for now.

"Tell me about it!" she complained. "What is it with romance authors building up this couple, making us root for them, and then tearing them apart with a brutal twist at the end?"

He raised an eyebrow. "This is really bothering you, isn't it?"

She looked at him, unimpressed. "I just really hate the twists at the end. Imagine if something like that happened to us." A rather unwelcome image of Toby cheerfully telling her he was leaving her for Madison Verne popped into her head and she shuddered. She'd rather read the ending of that novel a million times than lose her boyfriend to Madison.

Toby thought for a moment. "But not all twists are bad, surely? My mom read a romance novel once. The main character's love interest was supposed to be dying from some rare disease but, in the end, it turns out the doctors had misdiagnosed and she just had a bad case of the flu or something. The book starts off with everyone expecting them to die but, instead it ends with their wedding and then a timeskip epilogue to show their kids."

"And your point is?" Jessica asked. "I-I mean it's no more real than what happened in my book. Well, I suppose it could happen but-"

"You just don't want us to be ruined by a 'brutal twist', right?"

She nodded sadly before letting out a squeak as he leaned over to kiss her. "Stop worrying about what might happen! I love you, you love me. That's all there is to it. Sure, we still have a fair few chapters to go through but, as long as we have each other, we can get through anything life throws at us."

"Thanks, Toby." Jessica smiled genuinely at him. His words had cheered her up immensely. He was right - comparing their relationship to those in her romance novels was pointless. If she kept on worrying about what could happen, she would lose sight of what they had now.

"So does this mean that you're gonna tell Gina that you don't like romance novels? No, wait, my mistake - you don't like the endings to romance novels."

She let out a groan. "I'd feel so bad, though! Those books looked brand-new and they can't have come cheap! I guess I'd just feel like I'm being really ungrateful! They're not that bad!"

Toby dug into his pocket and pulled something out which he hid from her view. "You know what else doesn't come cheap?" he asked, watching in amusement as she nearly launched herself onto his side of the table in her attempts to prise the object out of his hand. After a while, he decided to put her out of her misery and opened his hand, showing her the contents. The resulting happy gasp from her made him smile.

"Two tickets to the latest action movie?" she asked, her eyes widening. "You remembered that action was my favourite film genre!" This touched her, finding out that he would remember such an insignificant detail. Everyone else always seemed to assume that she was the kind of girl who enjoyed the sappy romance movies but that couldn't be further from the truth. Give her adventure and bravery over unrealistic relationships any day.

"Of course. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't know what you were into? Besides your face when Gina made us watch that romance movie one time was a major giveaway!"

She stood up from her seat. "Well, let's go!" She tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for him to pay for their food before practically running out of the café.

"In a hurry, aren't we? The cinema isn't going anywhere!" Toby laughed, watching as she puffed her cheeks out, frowning at him, attempting to look angry. It utterly failed, though, as he thought she looked adorable.

Jessica let out a shriek as her feet suddenly left the ground. She managed to lift her head up and saw that Toby had picked her up, slung her over his shoulder, and was apparently carrying her to the cinema. "Toby!" she yelled, trying and failing to sound stern because she kept on laughing. The fact that he was also laughing wasn't helping, either. "Put me down!"

"Sorry!" he gasped, though his laughter made it seem like he was anything but. "I don't know if you've noticed but you are overwhelmingly cute when you're mad!"

"Shut up..." she mutters fondly, her cheeks flushed.

"No, really!" he insisted. "Even when we were about twelve, I always thought it. To me, everything you did was half-amazing and half-adorable."

She smiled at this. "And yet you probably didn't find me adorable when I beat you at the judo tournament!"

"You got me there," he agreed. "Amazing, I admit, but not adorable."

He set her down on the ground and she saw that the cinema wasn't too far away. "Hey, Toby, if you ever decide to dump me for Madison-"

"Whoa, whoa, stop right there!" Toby said, looking alarmed. "What on earth would make you think that? I'd never dump you for anybody - you know that!"

"Yeah, I know! It was just a stupid thought I had when I was reading. Be one heck of a twist, though. Childhood friends turned lovers torn apart by scheming love rival? The romance novel fans would eat it up!"

They both laughed at the truth of the statement. Toby recovered and said solemnly, "Well, you have my word that I won't ever choose Madison Verne over you, okay?"

She stood on her tiptoes. "Good," she whispered before kissing him. "Because that would be the one twist I'd hate the most."

When they broke apart, he draped his arm around her shoulders. "Let's go and see this movie, shall we?"

They walked into the cinema, paid for their tickets and snacks and sat down in one of the theatres to watch the movie.

Jessica quickly became engrossed in it. To her delight, the main character was female and she was quickly proving that she was no damsel in distress. It was movies like this that Jessica enjoyed. Girls could be heroes, too. She was living proof of that.

"No chance of any romantic twists in this," Toby whispered in her ear after Scarlet rejected the advances of her rival explorer Raymond, stating that she did not need a man to save her or complete her.

True enough, Raymond ended up being killed by the corrupt governor who had provided the finances for both his and Scarlet's expeditions.

"I am not doing this because I suddenly realized I loved him! I barely knew him. I am merely avenging his death and ridding the world of a stain of filth!"

Right after this speech, Scarlet used the governor's own rifle to shoot him dead. She then went to the cavern alone, found the treasure, and returned to America.

At the ceremony, she gave her reward money to Raymond's parents, telling them she knows no amount of money will bring their son back but she feels that they deserve the money more than she does. It was out of a sense of duty.

The couple smiled as the movie ended.

No twist?

Perfect.