A/N: Pop Quiz! There's a scene in this chapter that I once wrote about in an old story of mine. Figure it out! By the way, when do new episodes of FIO air?


No matter what era we live in, people still can't believe that a boy and a girl can have a totally nonromantic relationship. If I had a dollar for every time people mistook us as friends, well I'd probably have like nine bucks, but still. It gets pretty annoying.

I mean come on people, Robbie and I are just friends. We get along so well that he's like a best friend. Why can't anyone believe that? Why Nora Ephron? Why did you have Rob Reiner put it in people's minds that a man and a woman can't be just friends? I can assure you Robbie and I aren't going to end up like Harry and Sally because this relationship is strictly platonic.

"Hey, you want to have dinner at my house tonight? My grandparents are coming over."

"Aw yeah I love old people!" I said.

"You do?" he looked at me weird.

"Yes, is that a weird thing?" I laughed.

"Just a little bit. But they are awesome people so you're going to love them. Mamaw makes the best snickerdoodle cookies."

"Mamaw? How cute you have a nickname for your grandma," I couldn't help but giggle.

"Yeah don't you have a nickname for your grandma?" he chuckled.

"Yeah, I call her Nonna. But Mamaw is so adorable."

"Ok, ok enough with the embarrassment. Just be at my place at 7."

"Do you mind if I just hangout all day until then?"

"Parent's still fighting?" he presumed.

"No, I mean that's the good thing about my dad moving out. The distance. But lately Tori and Andre have been fighting and I just can't stand the arguments."

"That bad?"

"Yeah and I have no idea what the hell they're fighting about."

"That's romance for you, right?"

"Amen to that, brotha!" I high-fived him.


"Cat, sweetheart! So glad you can make it for dinner tonight!"

"Hi Mrs. Shapiro, thanks for having me." I love Robbie's parents. They're just so real you know? It's that 1% I told you about and they certainly have it still. Lucky bastards.

Robbie's grandparents arrived at around five. I've never met them before, but Robbie talks about them all the time. Especially his Mamaw. Hehe Mamaw. Such a cute nickname. He was so excited to talk to them about school and his past projects that I simply decided to help out his mom in the kitchen. I knew I'd be able to talk to them at dinner.

"Cat, honey. You don't need to help me. Go to Robbie," his mother told me when I sat at a kitchen stool.

"Robbie misses his Mamaw. I think he deserves some one-on-one time with them for a bit, you know, Mrs. Shapiro?"

"Well, he does love her. Alright, well help me toss the salad then," she handed me a bowl and I went to work.

"So where does Robbie's grandparents live that they can't drop by often?"

"Near Malibu."

"Is that why Robbie wants to go to school there?"

"So he told you about that?" his mom asked me.

"Yeah. He kind of sprung it on me when my dad asked about school one time."

"Yeah, well he wants to definitely go to a technical school and he's applied and gotten accepted into two others, but he might want this more than the others because of location. His grandparents are getting old and he really just wants to be near them as much as he can."

"Well, Robbie's a smart guy. I know he'll get into that school."

"I don't have any doubt about that. I just want what's best for him. He's just had a rough time growing up. No real social or real world experience."

"What's best is whatever makes him happy. And if going to a school to be near his Mamaw is what he wants, then that makes me happy too."

"You're a real angel you know that? I don't know why you decided to become friends with my son, but I'm glad you did."

I was speechless. How the hell was I supposed to answer to that?

"Doesn't Robbie have any other friends?" I asked.

His mom hesitated. She handed me plates while she picked up empty glasses and we walked to the dining room to set the table.

"He did a long time ago. But as he grew older and focused more on school, they focused on socializing and well you know how the status quo can get."

"What is up with this status quo stuff? I really don't get it. At HA, nobody cared what you were. It was all about your talent. And Robbie is one very talented guy."

"See, that's why you're an angel," she touched my shoulder before going back to the kitchen.

What the heck? What was that? Why was she so nice? And why do I feel like I want to cry? I couldn't help but smile.

Robbie and his grandparents went to the dining room and I finally got to meet them.

"Mamaw, gramps. This is my friend, Cat."

"Why hello, dear. Robbie's told us so much about you," his grandma said. I gave Robbie a confused smile.

"Well let's just hope those are good things he's been saying," I joked. But I guess she took it seriously.

"Oh honey, yes they are. He is so excited, always smiling when he mentions your name. He's like a kid in a candy store."

Now that seriously made me blush for the first time ever. Robbie's mom probably saw my tinted cheeks and helped to ease the moment.

"Alright, well go fetch your dad in his office, Robbie. We're going to eat now."

I mentally thanked his mom before sitting down. Of course when he came back, Robbie sat beside me, much to everyone's liking.

Dinner was going well so far, the grown-ups had small talk about the weather and the recent baseball games. Apparently baseball was a serious subject in their family. Robbie's family's from the east coast and his grandpa is a Yankees fan while his dad was a Red Sox fan. How much more serious with America's favorite pastime can you get? Robbie naturally agreed with his dad, but he really had no idea what they talked about half the time.

After a good fifteen minutes, they finally changed the subject. Thank God. But then again, the next topic wasn't so great that I wished they went back to the complaint about global warming and if the Sox will beat the Yankees this year. I'd talk about anything but-

"So Cat, sweetie. Tell me, how did you and Robbie meet?" his Mamaw asked. Now it may sound like a normal question, but if you were there and if you saw the way she was looking at me, you would know she meant more than that.

"Well I transferred to Sherwood for a semester because Hollywood Arts was closed because of the terrible storm we had in the winter."

"I told you it was a freak storm in December, Maury," his Mamaw said.

"Sylvia, would you let the girl speak? Go on sweetheart, finish your story."

Robbie's grandparents are so freaking adorable – even when they bicker.

"Yeah well my first class was math and I sat next to him. I didn't have a textbook yet and math's not really my best subject so Robbie lent me his book and notes. And I guess since then we became study buddies and now friends," I replied. I never really thought about how our friendship actually began. It was-

"Sweet. That's so adorable!" Mamaw gushed. "Cat, dear you are so cute and a real sweetheart to our little boy. You picked a good one, Robbie," she pinched his cheeks. I've never ever seen an actual grandparent do that so I found it quite amusing, despite the fact that his grandmother mistook us as a couple.


"Thanks for the cookies, Mrs. Shapiro."

"Call me Mamaw, darling!" she hollered from the front door.

Robbie walked me to his car. He was driving me home that night since I didn't expect to stay later than this. We got to his dad's car and buckled up; he turned the engine on and we drove off.

"Sorry about my Mamaw. She's got a huge imagination," he nervously chuckled.

"It's not a problem. I mean if I had a dollar for every time someone mistook us as a couple… well I'd have ten dollars now." I still that that was too many times.

"From my family alone I'd have enough to pay for a new car," he chuckled.

"They really think we're together?"

"Well I haven't had another friend since like the fourth grade. Imagine having a new friend… that's a girl. I expected them to go bonkers."

"You did?" I quipped an eyebrow.

"Well that's nothing to brag about. I mean come on, Cat. You're you and I'm me."

"We seriously need to work on your self-esteem issue," I chuckled. "But thanks for inviting me. I haven't had a family meal that didn't resort to fighting in so long."

"Well you're a big hit to my family so I'm sure they're expecting you to come over a lot. And I'd like that too. In the most platonic way of course," he assured me.


I probably ate at Robbie's every day that week. Man was that a great week. Robbie came over during the day so it's not like I spent most of my time there. But still, Robbie insisted that he come over to my mom's that night.

"So, Robbie," My mother asked at the dinner table. "What are your plans for college?"

"Uh well I'm trying to get to a good tech program. Maybe computer engineering or graphics. LA's got a few good ones, maybe even Santa Cruz."

"Now see, Cat. Engineering. That's a viable plan."

"Oh you are just so funny, ma," I sarcastically agreed.

"Am I missing something?" Robbie was confused.

"Mom wants Cat to rethink her future goals."

"But Cat's a great designer," he pointed.

"Thank you, Robbie," I rubbed it in my mom's face.

"But it is always nice to have a back-up plan."

"Oh, a back-up plan. Huh. That's a good one!" my mom cheered. Christ it's like she discovered infinity or something. "Cat, you need to have a back-up plan."

"Why? If I'm sure about my career, why do I need to psyche myself out for possible failure?"

"Don't think of it as failure. Just think of it as an option," Robbie tried to Reason.

"Yeah, baby, an option," mom agreed. Damn you, Robbie for being so smart.

"Fine. If I can't do costume design then I'll go into business," I declared.

"Why business?" Tori asked.

"Because I'm good at figuring out the trends in fashion before it happens. It's forecasting. That's got to be something good in the business world, right? Might as well turn my passion into a business."

"Well, I'll take it," mom agreed. Of course she'd agree.

"But don't be throwing business school pamphlets in my room any time soon, mom. I'm still determined to stay in the arts."


Dad's parents didn't know that he and mom split up - it's a long story - and they were planning on visiting for the night. Andre came over because apparently Tori and him are on good terms – this week at least. I really didn't want to bring Robbie into this mess so I excused us from that awkward family gathering and told Robbie that we should hangout just the two of us somewhere else. He agreed and when my grandparents came, I introduced them and left. I ignored the fact that they were smiling widely that I had a 'boy' friend or even a friend at all to hangout with. Robbie's not the only socially awkward person.

We never really hung out outside of our homes, school, and the park or the shores. But it was pretty late so neither the shores nor the park were an option. Robbie suggested we watch a movie since that was basically the only thing open at 9 at night. There wasn't anything great showing so we went to the bargain theater to watch a movie that was relatively new, but out of the main theaters. We watched Cars. Yep. That Pixar Disney movie. We didn't want to choose anything that would be awkward or situational, so we figured a harmless kids movie would be the safest bet. It was a cute movie. Really cute. There were times of adventure, laughter and just plain 'awe' moments. Man I miss being a kid. Robbie and I dropped by a diner right after to grab a late night snack. We were just bursting with energy.

"That Lighting McQueen, I tell you. if my engineering career gets shot to hell, I want to be a racecar driver!"

"That's your backup plan? Yeah, my mom would call that a nonviable career," I laughed.

"But you've never seen me drive before. I'm a pretty slick driver."

"Robbie, you drive slower than my Nonna. And she's 77 years old."

"Ok fine, maybe racecar driver isn't a good back-up plan. I'll just be a chauffer since I drive you around practically everywhere we go," he playfully glared at me.

"I offer to drive too but you don't like my driving," I defended.

"That's because you drive like you own the road," he reasoned.

"Well that bicyclist should keep up with the speed limit. Gosh they're so slow. If you're going to share the road you need to keep up."

"Well no one else goes 55 on a 40 mile per hour zone but you. And was near a park," he pointed out.

"Well my mom taught me to drive," I explained. If he knew my mom, he'd know she's worse than me. Jade West is the Queen of Road Rage, my dad would always say.

"So would you say you drive like Sally?" he asked.

"Sally's bad ass. She's a Porsche. Hell yeah," I replied.

"Damn Lighting McQueen got the girl and a Piston Cup title."

"Almost. He almost got one," I corrected him.

"Yeah but come on, he was the real winner. He totally changed. And he got the girl!"

"Yeah that was pretty cute," I smiled dreamily.

"So you like modest guys like Lightning?" Robbie smirked.

"Well if you must know," I dramatically joked.

"What? I'm not saying that's a bad thing," he chuckled.

"Like I said, I'm more about the personality than the looks," I reminded him.

"So all the guys you've crushed on weren't like handsome or anything?"

"Depends on how you define handsome."

"Uh… Good looking?" he said in an obvious way.

"Ok everyone is easily attracted to looks, but personality can be very attractive too. And yeah. I've had crushes on some cute guys, but they were total jerks. I found this one kid, Sinjin to be a total weirdo. But he was nice when he let himself be, and if he weren't so weird then maybe I'd have a crush on him because he is really nice compared to a lot of guys at my school. He kind of reminds me of you. But you're cooler though," I giggled.

"So you think I'm weird?" Robbie questioned. Though I know he was joking.

"The weirdest of the weird," I sarcastically said.

"I hope that's a good thing," he replied.

"It's a great thing," I over dramaticized.

"Well you're weird too," he stuck his tongue out.

"But you still hangout with me so I'm good," I returned the gesture.

"Unfortunately," he laughed.

I threw my napkin at him and laughed as well. I haven't had this much fun in so long. I haven't laughed in so long. I haven't smiled this much in so long. Damn, Robbie is definitely a good influence to be around.

We hung around the boardwalk for a little while, not really wanting to go home yet. Robbie just didn't want to be doing nothing and I didn't want to deal with the fools back home. We bought some hot chocolate, skipped along the bike path, threw pebbles in the water near the duck pond, and even rode the grand old carousel that just happened to still be operating at midnight. I guess during the summertime everything stayed open later. We sat near the pier by the end of the night and just contemplated our day under that bright night sky.

"Wasn't today so much fun?"

"With the exception of my always feuding family, yeah it was actually fun. We need to go out more often instead of staying home," I said.

"Yeah, it's a lot better and we can do so much more. Just you know not like so much, but there's a lot of other places to chill and just hangout and-"

"I get it, dude. Sometimes our homes can be boring. Let's make every Thursday like a date night or something," I suggested.

"Date night?" he was a bit startled. Oh crap. I said date, huh?

"You know what I mean, Rob. Like a Cat and Robbie night. Just the two of us."

"That's like an everyday thing though," he said.

Huh, he's right.

"Well Thursdays will be special because we'll go out instead of stay in for movies or something. It's not a date date. Just like a save the date every week thing," I tried my best to explain.

"Uhhh…"

"Ok fine, don't call it a date. Let's just hang out in town every Thursdays. There, sound better?"

"Yeah," he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well you don't have to sound so relieved about it, jeez," I feigned hurt. Well, sort of.

"No, I didn't mean it that way!" Robbie grew worried.

"God, Robbie I get it. 'Date' is just a presumptuous word. Let's not make it awkward," I laughed. But then it got awkward once I brought it up. We nervously chuckled for nothing and looked away from each other. Why the hell is it awkward now?

"Hey look, it's a full moon tonight," he tried changing the subject.

"Oh yeah, huh? Damn that's a big moon."

"You think wolves still go on the highest hill and howl at the moon whenever it's this full?" he said out of nowhere.

"The hell?" I laughed.

"I used to watch Balto as a kid. It was my favorite movie. It's why I love wolves and full moons."

"No chizz?"

"Chizz."

"I like the full moons only because of that one show Bear in the Big Blue House. I always look for that damn face but I can never see it. But I still think it's beautiful," I told him.

"It is beautiful, huh?" he said. "Like a balloon."

"Or a baseball," I smirked. He turned to me and laughed.

"Or a quarter," he added.

"Or a Frisbee."

"Or a donut."

"Donuts have holes. And I thought you were the smart one," I laughed hard.

"Some donuts have crème fillings so no holes."

"Those are sorry excuses for donuts," I said.

"Fine, like a cookie!" he said.

"Or a Marshmallow!" we both cried at the same time. We looked at each other and broke into a fit of laughter. We rolled over on our sides. Blame it on the sleep deprivation, the crazy energy we had, or the caffeine, but we just happened to find it funny that we said marshmallow at the same time.

"Ok, ok, ok. It's a marshmallow moon then," Robbie claimed.

"Has a nice ring to it," I said.

We laid in the sand the rest of the night, side by side, in complete silence admiring our moon. I don't know why I couldn't stop smiling. But I just felt so good being around Robbie.

"Hey," he turned to me. I turned to face him. Our faces were no more than four inches apart. His face in the moonlight was so delicate. I just, I couldn't explain. "Should we head home now?" he asked.

I guess I zoned out for a second because he called my name again.

"Cat, are you ok?" he chuckled. "You daydreaming at midnight? You're such a weirdo," he smirked.

And for the second time ever, I blushed in front of Robbie. Third wrong move.


A/N: Fun Fact - For those of you who normally read my stuff, I always try to squeeze in 'marshmallow moon' or anything like that. The scene you just read, that's the very first time I ever said 'marshmallow moon' and the scene played out exactly like that. We said it at the same time and laughed. It kind of just stuck with me and since then, I coined the term 'marshmallow moon' into my everyday jargon.

Did you figure out the scene? I'll tell you next chapter ;) I've shared enough about myself already.