A/N: Takes place just after Austin has joined the Rock.

CHAPTER 1: Jalapenos vs. Olives

It starts on a Monday, with Austin Tucker's boy-slut ways being splashed all over the news.

Kaylie hadn't really been paying attention to the sports section of any newspaper until Lauren excitedly showed her a page from a major Colorado publication, on whose athletics-coverage column were printed the words "scandal," "sex," and "Austin Tucker," all in the same sentence. From a quick scan of the article, Kaylie understands that Austin had apparently been photographed with half a dozen models entering a hotel room in downtown Denver on Saturday night.

"Shocking," Kaylie comments dryly, attention back in her cereal that Monday morning. And she all but forgets about Austin's existence until she finds herself sitting inside her car at the Rock's parking lot that morning, picking up her gym bag from the passenger seat, then turning to exit her car and watching him park another one of his monstrous, scary-looking race cars beside hers. They step out of their cars at the same time; she examines his deep-set eyes and paler-than-usual coloring, and throws him a weary, disapproving look. He's only been in the Rock for a few days, and the waves he's made upon his arrival have just barely settled. When Kaylie forgets that he shamelessly basks in the attention most of the Rock girls have been showering him with, she thinks he's a nice enough guy that she wouldn't mind befriending.

"Admiring the Lambo?" he asks with a smirk, walking beside her as they make their way to the gym.

"Admiring your hung-over appearance, more like," she replies cheekily, not helping a small smile when she hears him chuckle. "Need some make-up to cover those hickeys?"

"This is not a hickey. I accidentally hit my neck against a doorknob," he retorts with a crooked grin that makes her smile. They're walking into the gym when he comments, "I just bought that car, you know. Cost me a year's salary. What do ya think?"

They both pause by the doorway as she takes a look back to survey the metal heap of sharp corners that seems to only rise an inch above the ground. All she can think about is how uncomfortable that car must be, but instead, she turns back to him, suddenly mindful of how close she's standing next to him, and announces solemnly, "I must say... yellow isn't really your color."

"Ouch," he murmurs, feigning affront, and with a shared laugh she turns on her heels to make her way to the locker room. A second later she realizes with a rush of giddiness (that she covers up with annoyance) that once again he's walking by her side and she has to stop in her tracks lest he walk in with her.

"I appreciate our sparkling conversations but I'd rather not have an audience when I change in the locker room."

"Don't tempt me, Cruz. And you know, I haven't named her yet."

Oh God. He's talking about that car, isn't he? She resists the urge to roll her eyes, but a much bigger part of her is far too entertained by him to walk away. She likes these back-and-forths they have, for some reason. Kaylie can't quite explain why—he's an attractive, irresponsible idiot whose charm she can't make herself immune to. "What porn star names are on your shortlist?"

"You're hurting her feelings," he accuses, giving her another one of his bright, dazzling grins that tell her he's enjoying this, too. "But I'm thinking Kaylie is a very sexy name."

"And I'm thinking you wanna die young," she deadpans, resuming her walk to the girl's locker room.

"You know you like the idea!" he calls to her, laughing, and shaking her head, Kaylie finally enters the locker room, heads to her very own metal closet, and sighs. Austin Tucker, that insufferable womanizer, has now officially stamped a smile on her face for the rest of the day.

Tuesday came along and Kaylie had to enlist Austin's help after an enormous maintenance truck made it impossible for her to park her Mercedes without side-grinding all the cars beside her designated spot.

He was cocky as he accepted the challenge. Of course. That was expected, her knowing the size of his ego and all. But once he completed the task at hand and stepped out of the car, stretching his hand out to give her the car keys, she couldn't contain her gratefulness and smiled widely. Apparently she caught him off-guard, because he froze mid-movement for a quick second and looked, for the first time since she met him, unsure of himself.

"Thanks, Tucker. You saved a damsel in distress." Taking the keys from his hands, she headed to the gym, confident he would be following her.

"That's... what I'm here for." He had recovered in a flash; the smirk was back, as was his cool detachment in the way he watched her with a mischievous, cocked eyebrow when they crossed the entrance and were standing at their usual parting point, the girl's locker room. "You know, you still haven't let me take you on a ride inside Kaylie."

"First of all, tell me you did not name that car after me," Kaylie ordered with disbelief, then, when he licked his lips coyly, she added, "and second, I'm not going to 'ride Kaylie,' you perv. That sounds disturbing in a lot of different levels."

He grinned. In her experience, that was worse than him being angry or serious. He looked like he was up to something, and that put her on edge for what he was going to say next.

"Well, I ride Kaylie everyday and let me tell you—" Oh no, he didn't just go there. Instantly, she punched his arm, hard, and watched with satisfaction as he stumbled back with shocked, albeit smiling bewilderment, the rest of his taunt apparently swallowed back in favor of an exclaimed, "goddamn you punch like a man!"

"And you," she grinned proudly, swinging the fallen straps of her gym bag back on her shoulder, "cry like a girl."

Wednesday brought the two together again during lunch, when they crossed paths at the same sandwich stand in downtown Boulder.

"Ham? I pegged you for a turkey kind of gal," he teased as they seized up each other's trays of food and waited at the checkout line.

"And I was about to say that I can't believe we picked the exact same sandwich..." Kaylie muttered in response, genuinely intrigued. "Oh, wait. Are those olives?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Olives don't go with ham, Austin."

"They go great together; what are you talking about?"

"About that trainwreck in your tray. Olives are going to ruin the ham."

"Says the girl who put jalapenos in her sandwich."

"What's wrong with jalapenos?"

"You won't even know there's ham in there with those things burning up your mouth. I ate a pizza with those things once and couldn't taste anything for two days."

"That's because your mouth is weak, and you like bland food."

"My food is plenty tasteful."

"Yes, I bet the olives really add flavor."

"They do. They're better than your jalapenos."

"Are not."

"Are too."

"Are not."

"Are too!"

At the sound of someone clearing their throat, both Kaylie and Austin turned to the bored cashier. Kaylie felt her face burn just slightly with embarrassment. "For here or to go?"

"Oh, we're not eating together," Kaylie hastily explained while Austin nodded in agreement. The mere thought of someone thinking they were having a meal together flustered her. "We were just... um... anyway, uh, to go, I guess. I think..."

"How much is the total?" Austin spoke up when he noticed her mumbling. "For the two sandwiches."

"Six fifty."

Once the food was paid for, and Kaylie had expressed her thanks, Austin fished out his sandwich from the store's bag and with a smile, they parted ways. Kaylie hadn't planned on talking to him again once lunch was over and they saw each other at the gym—bumping into him outside of the Rock was enough Austin for the day. But all these plans of avoiding him were gone once she opened her sandwich and realized Austin accidentally took hers instead of his own. And now, she had to pick out all these goddamn olives from her ham sandwich.

Lunch break ended and Kaylie tried to make her way back to the gym—and the key word is "tried" because there were a hundred thousand news vans flooding the parking lot and it took her half an hour to navigate the mess and get to her parking spot. She was bewildered, yes, but didn't try to find out what this was about, because someone was going to tell her as soon as she stepped into the gym; that's how it always worked. And sure enough, Lauren cornered her in the locker room and examined her as though trying to read her mind.

"What is it?" Kaylie inquired tiredly.

"Those news vans... heard yet why they're here?" the blonde asked, hands on her hips in a pose that told Kaylie she was enjoying gossiping about this. Kaylie shook her head with a sigh. This sort of thing rarely interested her. "Well, what else? Your BFF Austin Tucker is in another scandal, this time with a bunch of Bulgarian models and supposedly that anchor from Telemundo's evening news."

There were so many things wrong with that last sentence that Kaylie didn't even know where to start. BFF? Models? TELEMUNDO?

By then she was already dressed and heading out, and just as Lauren was getting ready to continue her story, they bumped into the devil himself.

"Your jalapenos sucked," were the first words to emerge from his mouth, and the way he was so passionate about it made Kaylie breathe out a shallow laugh. He had a unique ability to make her forget what she had been thinking about just a moment before.

"Well, I had to fish five hundred thousand olives to eat my sandwich, so don't even start whining."

Lauren cleared her throat and suddenly Kaylie remembered there was another person there beside them, and one that had quite the satisfied smirk on her face.

"Yeah, I think I'll leave you two to flirt over food."

Kaylie didn't have time to come up with a snappy response because out of nowhere, MJ, her agent, appeared by their side and interrupted them with her curious, appraising presence. A quick peek at Austin revealed that he didn't seem surprised at all that the stern agent was there.

"Hello, you two," she greeted with that same businesslike tone that was further accentuated by that intimidatingly crisp English accent. "It's perfect that I can speak to you both at the same time."

"Hey, MJ," Austin greeted tiredly, and immediately Kaylie's eyebrows shot up in alarm.

"You know my agent?" she asked.

"Your agent? MJ's been my agent for years."

Oh, joy.

"That isn't important right now," MJ cut him off abruptly, giving him a small smile to compensate for being rude, apparently, then added, "I have a proposition to make for you two. Come into the office."

A/N: Yes, I know it's not the wisest decision to start a new fic when I haven't finished my other one, but this idea has been plaguing me for months now! It seriously won't leave me alone :-/ It's a different ship than the one I've been writing about, but since it's become clear that the Kaylicky ship has unfortunately sunk, I figure I might as well try out a cannon ship for once. Hope you guys enjoy it!