Author's Note: It's been awhile since I last wrote and published a story. I do hope you guys find this good or enjoyable though. It's quite short for the time-being, but overtime the length of the chapters will begin to increase. This will be a short story as well. Thanks for reading.

Chapter 1

It was cold. Her skin felt like it was being pricked by needles as she removed her coat and sweatshirt. She took a deep breath as she allowed the cold to embrace her. The coat and sweatshirt were now left on the bed, forgotten and lacking of warmth.

The room was silent, the only sounds coming from the rain outside and walking footsteps. She allowed herself to fall onto her bed and felt the vibration from her phone, alerting her that she has received a message.

Alice: Why'd you leave! :(

Erina Nakiri was not looking forward to the lecture her cousin was about to give her on life.

Erina: I have work tomorrow. I need sleep.

Her cousin's response came right away.

Alice: Liar. You only work on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays.

Erina sighed and rubbed her temples. She had just come from Alice's party, too exhausted to keep up with the energy of the party. Too exhausted to stop herself from thinking of him. Him as he shamelessly flirted with other girls. But that's just the way he was, right?

Alice: Don't ignore me! It's Friday night, come back to the party and have fun.

The message went unread as Erina tossed her phone to the side of her. She felt guilty, yeah, but she just wasn't in the mood to party like Alice.

Alice stared at her phone screen and frowned. "Jeez..." She took a deep breath and sighed before placing her phone on the back pocket of her jeans. She crossed her arm and sat on the couch as she tapped her elbow with her index finger. Her boyfriend Ryou slowly walked up to her, hands in his jean's pockets.

"Not answering?"

"Yes! Again! Jeez, she can be frustrating!"

"I mean...can't you just tell her you want to see her more often?"

"No! It's like you don't even know me, Ryou-kun."

Ryou looked at her and flicked her forehead gently. "I know you well enough that you'd end this party right now if she doesn't come." Alice shrugged her shoulders and didn't say anything. Ryou knew he was right, seeing the way she turned red. He placed a soft kiss on her cheek.

"I'll go talk to her if you want."

Alice nodded. "Please...she won't talk to me right now, probably." Ryou ruffled her hair and gained a few remarks, but he ignored them as he grabbed his jacket, and started making his way towards Erina's place.

It wasn't like she was jealous or anything. She could care less over whether or not he flirted with others. Or not. She felt her shoulders tense up as she imagined him dating one of them. She sat up quickly and cleared her throat. 'Not like I care about Soma's love life. It's his, so why should I be thinking about this.' Who was she trying to convince though? If she was trying to convince herself, well tough luck cause Erina's heart and mind weren't buying it. Erina was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't hear the knocking on her door the first time. Or the second. Or the third. It wasn't until the fourth, where she heard her name be called.

She got up and threw on her sweatshirt before opening the door. "...Ryou? Why aren't you at Alice's party?"

"I can ask you the same thing. You left out of nowhere." Erina looked to the side.

"I'm not going back. Did Alice send you?"

"No, not really. I decided to come."

"Well, I'm sorry to break it to you, but you wasted your time coming. And tell Alice to stop bothering me about the party, the world won't end."

"...She'll bite my head off if I tell her that, you know." But the sound of nervousness or worry were nowhere in his tone. Erina looked at him and raised an eyebrow before shaking her head. "You didn't leave because of Soma did you?"

She stiffened. Jackpot. "That's ridiculous!"

Ryou was about to open his mouth before his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and squinted slightly at the brightness of his phone.

Alice: Don't come back! I'm going over there myself, the party's cancelled, it got boring.

He coughed slightly at the realization that the message was sent a couple minutes ago and that his phone was simply sending a reminder of the unread message. Alice would give him an earful for not answering sooner. He shook his head, and looked up at Erina before placing his phone back in his pocket. "Can I uh...come in? Kind of cold out here."

Erina stepped to the side as she gestured towards the couch. Ryou slowly walked in as he slipped his jacket off. "So what'd Soma do this time?"

"He didn't do anything!"

"...Don't believe you. And oh, Alice is coming over."

It took Erina a few seconds to process what she had heard. She felt her stomach tighten and her chest become heavy. "You cannot be serious. I don't believe that she'd be willing to cancel her own damn party just because I left."

"Oh, but I am!" With a slam of the door, Alice Nakiri marched towards her cousin. "How embarrassing! To cancel a well-planned party with the excuse being that I had a tummy ache!"

Erina rolled her eyes. She did not have time for this. "You can't just barge in here and start acting like you own the place, Alice. Go home. I need sleep." Alice placed her hands on her hips and pouted. Ryou could only watch as the two cousins had a stare down. Nothing new, nothing new. He tilted his head to the side as he heard knocking on the door.

"H'm?" Erina raised an eyebrow and looked past Alice, wondering who else would decide to make chaos of her small apartment.

"Now who could it be—"

"Oi, Nakiri!" No, no, no, no. No. Erina stared at the person standing at the door, too shocked. She looked over at Alice, who was slyly smiling as she took her place next to Ryou. Erina was ready to smack her cousin into next year. Alice snickered as she hugged Ryou's arm. Wanted to leave the party early? Alrighty! She'll bring the man who occupies Erina's dreams. Well, that's how it was in Alice's eyes anyways.

"..Yu...Yukihira-kun! Who invited you over?!" Erina knew the answer to that but it was an automatic reaction.

Soma looked at her curiously and pointed at Alice. "Your cousin said it was alright...or was it not..?" He tapped his foot patiently, not wanting to just barge in like Alice had a minute or two ago. He exhaled quite loudly as he rubbed his hands together, attempting to generate some warmth for himself. "Quite cold out here, Nakiri..! Wanna let me in?'

Erina was debating whether or not she should. She could always just shut the door and go on with her night, but he was already here. She looked at him a bit too long and he shot her one of his smirks. Scratch that, she should just shut the door and let him go home. "Alright. Don't make a mess of the place!"

Soma scoffed and chuckled. "Psh! Who do you think I am? The embodiment of disaster?"

"Ye—"

"Actually, don't answer that."

Erina felt her blood began to sizzle. She moved uncomfortably as Soma stepped in. "Nice place you got here!" Indeed it was. It wasn't very big but it had enough room to have up to maybe three to five people. Two rooms (one she had turned into a guest room), a bathroom that had plenty of space, three closets, a spacey living room, and a kitchen with a small area for dining. It was nice and Erina realizes that she actually had a good deal.

"Nice place you got here!" continued to ring in her head as she saw Soma, Ryou, and Alice begin to have a loud conversation.

'Hopefully it remains that way.'

Author's Note: And there is chapter 1. I hope you all were able to enjoy it. Please note once again that this story will have short chapters for the time being but they will increase bit by bit. Also, this story will also become mature (meaning it will contain smut) soon. For the time being, things will go at a slow pace (probably.) Thanks for reading again!

-marilaos