A/N: It only took me four days to write this chapter, is this a miracle?! I considered waiting a few more days before posting it, but by then I probably would've forgotten about it, so...

So, uh, I hope everything makes sense in the chapter. If it doesn't feel free to leave a review or PM me or something! We're about to get to the bulk of the story, so just hang tight for a little longer~ In the ideas, the story ends at chapter 13, but we'll see how that goes.

Oh, and I think I forgot to mention this, but Raeger and Lillie are a bit OOC, if you haven't noticed already. I'm writing them differently because it just flows better, in my opinion, and it's more fun to write them when Raeger's not scolding you for being in his kitchen or keeping him up past his bedtime (seriously, I just want a little midnight romance, is that too much to ask?) and Lillie's not stuttering every other sentence, but at least she's adorable.

As always, thanks for reading! All three forms of feedback help me immensely, so thanks in advance!

Raeger was teasing me a lot more now, for some reason or another.

I didn't exactly mind, since I wasn't too sensitive, but it got kind of annoying sometimes. He started the day I brought his jacket back, accusing me of doing weird things, whatever that meant, and even now, just a few days from my birthday, he was still going strong.

It probably just meant that he was comfortable around me, right? If you spend a few weeks with the same person, wouldn't that happen?

Well, regardless of his reason, I started coming to the restaurant every night to chat. He would give me some recipes every now and then and show me the basics of how to prepare them, which was pretty neat. I'd burned quite a few dishes at home, but I told him it worked out fine – I don't think he knew how horrible of a cook I was.

What wasn't cool, though, was that I'd tried to call Johnny countless times throughout the week to set up a dinner or something over the weekend, but even when we were able to talk, he said he was busy and couldn't. I hadn't even really gotten to talk to him at all.

But whatever. I wasn't going to keep bugging and chasing after him; both sides had to give sometimes.

Raeger kept me company, at least. And I'd gotten the chance to hang out with Lillie after all, so sometimes we would talk girl stuff.

Still, something about seeing the two of them together made me feel a little uncomfortable. I'd seen other couples from afar sometimes, but that was out in public and besides, Johnny and I were homebodies for the most part. So they were kinda the first couple I got to observe up close.

It wasn't like I thought Johnny and I were doing things wrong, but it definitely felt like we were different. In a somewhat bad way.

But didn't that just go along with the childhood friends thing? We were already so used to each other that nothing we did really mattered anymore.

"Annie?"

Oh, yeah. I almost forgot I was talking to both of them, the happy couple. "Yeah?"

Lillie laughed. "You didn't hear me?"

"No, not really," I admitted lamely, rubbing my neck. What was going on again?

"What are you thinking about?" Raeger asked.

I turned to look at him. "Just… I just think you guys look really good together.

I expected at least Lillie to look a little embarrassed, but they looked at each other and started laughing. I didn't get it, so I was glad she caught me up.

"We've been together for a while, but even before that, it just felt like something clicked." She smiled over at Raeger, and he nodded. Man, was he whipped.

I understood what Lillie said to some extent, though. It was a long time ago, and it was probably some sort of stupid childhood fantasy, but I did feel some click with Johnny.

"Something like… you know you want to be with this person forever?" I asked, hoping I really did understand.

She nodded. "At least for a long time. I don't really know if I could handle Raeger's cooking forever."

I stifled a laugh. Was that why I never saw her eat at the restaurant? She didn't like Raeger's cooking?

"Hey," he said in an annoyed tone, "at least I can cook."

She giggled. "That's debatable."

I didn't find anything wrong with it – and in fact the vegetable sandwich he made me tasted just like the old Lakeside's chef's – but I wasn't going to say anything and ruin their fun.

"Okay!" Raeger shouted after a while. "We'll have a match to decide who's the better cook, then."

"A sparring match? Raeger, you're gonna crush her – "

"No, you idiot," he scolded me. I should've known better than to make jokes at this time. "A cooking competition. Lillie and I will each make a dish, and then we'll have you judge whose food's better."

"Wh-what? Annie's the judge?" Lillie whined. "That's not very fair at all! She eats here all the time, so she's biased!"

I guess she had a point. I thought Raeger was a great chef, so I already knew what to expect, but on the other hand, I'd be excited to try someone else's food so maybe that would add to the flavor.

"I really don't mind judging…"

"No, it's fine," Raeger told me briskly. "We can get someone else to."

"But I see everyone from town come in at least once a week. They'd be too used to your food, too."

He seemed to take my counter into consideration. "All right… So we can't have my customers but we also can't pick a tourist off the street because most of them stay at the inn…"

"And that's where I cook," Lillie finished for him.

Both of them looked like they were at a loss so I decided to chip in. "I could have Johnny do it."

Ha! He hardly had a palate, though.

Raeger nodded. "That sounds fine, but would he be able to make it here on such short notice?"

"Oh." I hadn't really thought about that.

"Yeah," Lillie said. "The city's about an hour away… and it's already four."

He groaned and put a hand to his face. "At least it's Wednesday so the restaurant's closed. We might have to postpone this until a later time, though."

"No, no, just hold on," I protested. "Can I use your phone?"

Raeger was right; it was Wednesday, and Johnny had Wednesdays off, too, the last I knew. He would be able to come for sure.

He nodded. "Sure, it's upstairs. You really think he'll do it?"

"Yeah! He can't say no to me." I smiled and looked at Lillie. "I bet you know how it is."

She laughed in response. "Yeah."

Raeger snapped his head between the two of us, trying to think of something to rebut with.

I didn't wait for him, though, and I got up off the stood and ran past them up the stairs. I hesitated because I'd never been to Raeger's actual room before, but I pushed that away in determination.

This was really fun. I'd almost forgotten how it felt to have close friends to hang out with. I didn't even really feel lonely that Johnny wasn't there because I had them.

But I had to call him, anyway.

I opened the door and flicked on the light switch.

I told myself I didn't have time to dawdle, I needed to find the phone, but Raeger's room was just so unbelievably plain and boring I couldn't help it.

His sheets were white, bed frame brown, and an unimpressive wood plank floor ran throughout the small space. There was an attached bathroom, at least, because the downstairs was obviously the restaurant, but other than that, there really wasn't anything.

No family pictures, no cool robot action figure collection, and no hanging caricatures of him and Lillie anywhere.

He might've had a quirky personality, but… Raeger was boring.

The second someone stepped foot into my house they would see dozens upon dozens of boxes, mostly filled with photos, because there was nowhere else for them to go anymore. If they went near the bed, they'd see framed pictures of little me and Johnny on the nightstand. In the living room were pictures of me on the farm all those years ago.

Basically, I liked pictures. Each and every one, even the finger over the lens ones, had a story behind it. They were collections of your life, little snippets that reminded you of how fun it was, and I knew someone like Raeger should have pictures somewhere. I could just tell.

But where?

I checked his nightstand, underneath his bed, the top drawer of his dresser, all the normal places someone would keep important stuff. I couldn't find anything.

I was about to give up, but there was one place I hadn't looked yet.

I turned the handle of the bathroom door and stepped in, and sure enough, there they were. There were two frames, one on each end of the sink.

The one on the left had, what I thought, a younger Raeger surrounded by a woman and an older man. The woman looked a lot like him, so I figured that was his mother, but I didn't know who the man was. Raeger looked nothing like him.

Then, the one closer to me on the right showed the same old man, maybe just a few years later. He was smiling, all his wrinkles showing in plain sight.

I took a look around, searching for a box or something, but had no luck. Just the shower and toilet left, nothing out of the ordinary.

Did he really not have any more photos? It was so strange –

"Annie?"

Oh, shoot. That was Raeger's voice.

I could hear his footsteps approaching quickly, and my heartbeat thumped in my chest just about as loud as them, but I couldn't hide because there was nowhere to go. Maybe in the show –

"What are you doing?"

I looked back, my hand ready to yank open the shower curtain. He looked confused; I probably would, too.

"Uh… I couldn't find the phone." I was lying through my teeth and I knew he knew it and it showed. If I'd found my way into the bathroom, I could definitely find the phone on his nightstand.

"I don't think it's in the shower."

He sounded pretty calm, actually, for having just caught a stalker. "Now what are you really doing?" he asked more seriously.

I sighed and took my hand away from the curtain. "I was looking for pictures."

He didn't seem too impressed. "Why?"

I shrugged. "I was… curious. I wanted to know if you were like me."

That much was true; I just didn't know that until I said it. I wanted to know if the vibe he gave off, especially now after seeing his room, was from that or something else.

I just found myself wanting to know more about him. He really was kind of interesting.

Raeger walked in and grabbed one of the frames, the left one. "You saw these, didn't you?"

I nodded stupidly.

"Can you guess who these people are?"

I shook my head. "I know the little one's you, and I thought the woman there was your mother, but I don't know the old guy."

He chuckled. "You're right on the first two. The old guy is my grandfather. I inherited the restaurant from him."

"Oh." Wait, inherited? "So, you mean – "

"He passed away when I was small."

Suddenly, I was on the other side, and I finally understood how helpless someone felt when they had to say the pitiful words. I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

The air was tense and awkward and I was just about ready to apologize again, tell him to forget the whole thing, but then he spoke up.

"I'm not sure if it's my place to say this, but… all three of us are the same."

Three? "What do you mean?"

"You, me, and Lillie. I think the reason we all get along so well is because we've all lost people who were important to us."

"Wait," I stopped him, "Lillie's the same?"

Just who did she lose? She acted like one of those people who had everything: the hot boyfriend (yes, I could finally admit that), the good-paying job, the looks, the fit body, the small town inn where she could talk to all kinds of people.

Sometimes, though, the most unfortunate people were the best actors, I'd learned. I guessed that was also true in her case, then.

"She lost her mother at a young age, just a few years after Melanie was born." He chuckled. "I was only about eleven years old at the time, but I remember watching Lillie and Angela try to push their parents together."

That did sound kind of endearing – two girls setting up their parents in traps so they would fall in love. I remembered doing that the summer my parents separated.

"So… do you think it's in our subconscious to find the same people we are?" I asked.

I didn't think he understood my question, judging by his face. "I mean… the middle child of the family usually attracts another, that sort of thing. It's almost like our hearts know what we're looking for even if our minds don't."

Raeger snickered. "That's real corny coming from you."

"Hey!" I punched him lightly on the arm. I was trying to be serious! He just laughed again.

"I guess you're right, though. Misery loves company, after all."

I nodded. "That's true." Was that why he wasn't mad that I was rifling through his stuff? Well, maybe he didn't know I went through his whole room…

After a few more moments he cleared his throat.

"So… phone's on the nightstand."

"Right."

I wasted no time. I practically sprinted past him to get out of the bathroom and to the nightstand, where I picked up the phone.

I already knew Johnny's number, so I dialed it.

Ring… ring… ring…

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's me."

There was a short pause. Did he have a lot of people call him and announce themselves the same way or something?

"Annie?"

I nodded, then remembered he couldn't see me. "Yeah."

"Where are you?"

"What?"

"I don't recognize this number."

It clicked now. Seriously? I had something to ask him. "Sorry. I'm at Raeger's."

Another short pause. "You're at his house?"

"Um… yes?"

He sighed. "Really?"

"What's the prob – "

"Annie."

I stopped mid-question and looked at Raeger.

"Give me the phone." He made that "come here" hand motion, and didn't really look all that happy. I hesitated briefly.

"Johnny, I'm gonna put Raeger on, all right?"

He might've tried to protest but I handed the phone to Raeger and that was the end of it.

"Hey, this is Raeger. Yes, the chef. Yeah, she's at my house, yeah, in my room using my phone. My girlfriend Lillie's downstairs, though, so you don't have to get so jealous."

I stifled a laugh. I didn't think Johnny was the jealous type because he'd never done this before – but it was funny seeing how frustrated Raeger got trying to talk to him. Now he knew my pain.

"So, I have a favor to ask."

He explained the contest, which I'd almost forgotten about again, and talked idly about some more stuff.

"Yeah, I understand. All right, thanks anyway. See you soon maybe? …No, for the double date. Didn't Annie tell you?"

Whoops. That must've slipped my mind after I couldn't reach him on the seventh call.

It sounded like Johnny's voice was rising in volume, and then Raeger sighed.

"Well, we're aiming for her birthday… What do you mean when's that?"

Even though Raeger got mad at me when I followed him into the kitchen and raided his fridge sometimes, I'd never heard him get legitimately upset like this before. It was almost scary.

"R-Raeger, it's okay – "

"Her birthday's this weekend, on Sunday. I've barely known her a couple weeks and I'm taking the day off to hang out with her and Lillie. We wanted you to come, too, but it sounds like you already made plans over your girlfriend."

"Hey, c'mon, that's enough…"

Why was he getting so mad? Was it for me? Because it honestly didn't matter that much to me… I'd spent enough birthdays with Johnny already that it was fine for him to miss one.

It wasn't that I didn't appreciate him getting upset on my behalf, but I didn't really like his tone. Though, right now, if I had to choose between siding with either guy, it'd probably be him.

I wasn't afraid to let people, especially Johnny, know how I felt, but I wasn't any good at defending or sticking up for myself. I was kind of all talk.

"Well, if you don't have plans, then show up to town on Sunday. I'm sure Annie would want that more than anything."

He had a point there. I wasn't going to interrupt him anymore, though. Maybe this was how guys bonded…?

"I'm not insinuating anything. Just that you should pay more attention to your girlfriend, and remember why she hates motorcycles."

"Raeger!" So much for not interrupting, but that was too far and too low. "That's enough."

I yanked the phone from him but he leaned over me to yell back into it.

"Don't bother showing up on Sunday. I'll take her somewhere without you."

"Quit!" I yelled at him. I took my hand off the speaker. "You both are acting like five-year-olds."

I sighed while Johnny started insisting he didn't do anything. Like I said, five-year-olds. "I don't care. But I think Raeger's right – I don't want you here for my birthday this year. Have fun with your bike."

I hung up then. My heart felt like it was about to beat right out of my chest, and my hands were shaking like crazy. I'd never stood up for myself so assertively before, especially to him.

It felt kind of exhilarating.

"Thanks for backing me – "

"Don't expect me to go to a double date with that guy any time soon."

Oh.

I gulped. So that wasn't a bonding thing? That was a serious thing?

…which also meant I'd just told Johnny off in a very rude way. My adrenaline left me and suddenly all I was left with was guilt.

"Sorry," I said. "Um… if-if you want, I can still be the judge. I promise I'll be fair."

He shook his head. "It's fine. I'll probably just go for a walk. Can you keep Lillie company?"

"Yeah," I said quickly. "No problem." There was one thing I had to ask him before he left, though. "Why did you say all that stuff?"

He chuckled darkly. "Haven't you ever had to stick up for a friend before? Someone who felt too powerless to do anything?"

So that was what it was? He thought I was pretty weak, too, then, huh…

But he was standing up for me? I was really a friend? "Thanks."

I smiled despite the atmosphere and my mood, but he wasn't having any of it.

"You might want to start reevaluating your relationship with that guy."

It wasn't any of his business what I did with Johnny, but I had to admit, he was right. In all the years I'd known him, he'd never acted up so severely like that.

But… did he really change? Or was it me? Was I growing so accustomed to country life that the attitude of a city person got to me now?

I gulped and nodded.

Raeger turned around and left the room pretty quickly, but I followed him down the stairs. It was quiet and awkward again, and it only got worse when I saw Lillie seated in her stool.

At least she had her phone to keep her busy, though.

She looked up, her expression dropping from content to concerned, when Raeger headed out the door.

"What's going on?" She looked at me then the door. "Where's Raeger?"

…

It took a few days, sadly, for all the tension to die down, but it was finally my birthday, and that meant it was time to have some fun.

Of course, first off, I had to get myself ready.

I hadn't been to the restaurant in a while, but earlier in the day I headed over with Raeger (he actually showed up at my door) and we chatted for a bit, apologized to each other for the other day, and started preparations for later when Lillie would get home. It almost felt like it was a party for her rather than for me, but it was fun anyway.

Though, because he came to get me so early, I didn't really have the time to make myself pretty. I was glad Raeger didn't seem to mind, but I minded, so I told him I'd come back home and fix myself up a bit before we met up with Lillie.

So there I was, at home, trying to do my half-baked beauty attempt.

I tried to do my hair up the same way I had it for my and Johnny's date, but that only made me think of him so I took it out. I didn't want to completely forget about him today, but I admitted that the thought of him brought me down.

So I settled for a light curl and called it good. It looked pretty windy out, so it probably wouldn't stay pretty for long, anyway.

We never ended up doing the cooking challenge thing, obviously, but it sounded fun so I was thinking about bringing it up later. If they refused, I'd give them the "it's my birthday" excuse.

Maybe we could guilt Dr. Marian into judging, because as far as I knew he didn't go to the restaurant that often, and besides, he still owed me for the stairs incidents, anyway. Or maybe I could just quit being a klutz.

Well, regardless, after I was ready I started walking outside. It felt kinda weird meeting up at eight at night, but we didn't have another choice since that was when Lillie got off work. And if we were talking about weird, it should've been that I'd actually spent all day at the restaurant with Raeger. While we were talking, though, it really didn't feel like three hours.

And he looked like a clean freak, but there was some weird refrigerator fluff we found when we moved it away from the wall. Nevertheless, we cleaned it, on my birthday, and I didn't even get rewarded for it.

Since Lillie got the promotion, she was working weekends now, meaning if I wanted to see her, I'd probably have to start heading over there around this time. That stunk. She was head meteorologist now, whatever that meant. I was happy for her, but I shared some sadness with Raeger because we couldn't see her as often.

I left the house and took in the sunset before moving, amazed that even though it was the middle of fall, it was still light out.

Nobody was outside as I walked down the paths to town. It wasn't very surprising, considering most people around here had late dinners, though. In any case, I was actually relieved that I hadn't gotten stopped by people who figured out it was my birthday. That was probably the last thing I needed today.

I got to the trade depot after a few minutes, thankfully not tripping on the death stairs, and I met up with Raeger again.

"Hey," I said. He turned to me. "Lillie's still not here yet?" When I left it was already five after eight.

He shook his head. "Before she left she said she might be a little late."

Well that was too bad. Meanwhile Raeger closed the restaurant early for my sake.

But I understood; she only just got promoted so it wasn't like she could request a day off already, and that was fine. Besides, I never asked anyone to take time off just for me.

I sighed and sank down next to him on the bench. "Looks like we'll be here a while."

"Yeah."

"Do you think she'd mind if we went back without her?"

He chuckled. "You just got here. We can wait for a bit."

I nodded. He was right – I didn't want to walk back alone anyway. "How long have you been waiting here?"

He shrugged. "Just a few minutes before you got here."

Well, that explained why the bench wasn't too warm even though he'd been all sprawled out before I came.

"So… can I ask you something?"

Raeger glanced over at me. "I guess."

He wasn't very talkative all of a sudden, huh?

"Um… how can I make a guy happy?"

"Whoa!"

Sure, I didn't know where the question came from, either, but why'd he get all defensive? Did he think I was asking…?

"I-I didn't mean it that way," I told him immediately. Really, was that the only thing he could think of?

He laughed awkwardly. "All right, so what do you mean?"

I sighed. "Well, just, how can I make sure I won't make Johnny leave?" I remembered our conversation a while back and how I just yelled at him. I'd never done that before. "Do you think we're still okay?"

He nodded. "I'm sure you two are fine."

His simple response wasn't very reassuring, but I supposed I couldn't blame him, because they got pretty snotty with each other the other day. I shouldn't have expected a helpful answer, especially when he told me to take another look at my relationship with Johnny.

I bit my lip. Still…

"How do I prevent it from happening again?"

I'd quickly learned that Raeger was really smart when it came to relationships. I didn't know if he'd just had a ton of girlfriends before or something, but I took his advice seriously – except the part where he basically told me to break up with Johnny. Now, what would he say this time?

He sighed. "Just be yourself."

I stared at him, confused. "What?"

"Be yourself," he said again, louder this time. "Most girls think they have to change one thing or another about themselves to make guys like them. But when we see you not being yourselves, trying to act like someone else, it makes us put up a facade, too."

He looked at me. "Get it?"

I nodded slowly. "I think so… but we've been together since we were only like eight, so I don't know how I can act any more like myself than I have been already."

"It should just be natural," he said. "If you're forcing it, that's not who you really are."

Everything he said made sense and all, but for some reason, I just didn't understand.

I found myself always overthinking and worrying about the little things when it came to Johnny. Even though he made me happy thinking about fun times together, when we were actually together, I was usually ticked off by something he did or said.

And then there was the other day when it was almost completely natural when I yelled at him.

Was that the real me? Was I really just a girl who was mad all the time?

"Am I that shallow?"

My question surprised me, especially when it was loud enough for Raeger to hear it, too. Did he?

"I don't know what's gotten you so worried all of a sudden, but quit it. It's your birthday."

Before I knew it, he had me in a headlock. I yelled at him while he just kept laughing, but it was kinda fun. And he was definitely right. It was my birthday and I had to have a good time, with or without Johnny.

I heard a loud sigh come from behind us and I pushed Raeger away with a ton of force. It sounded like Lillie.

I turned around and sure enough, it was.

"If you two are going to flirt behind my back, at least make sure it's really behind it."

She didn't seem upset or anything, just a little tired, but I could only imagine what it looked like.

Raeger was messing up my hair and laughing like a madman while I hurled insults at him. Lillie was right. I guess we were kind of flirting.

"Sorry," I muttered lamely. It had to have bothered her, right? I knew it would bother me to see Johnny messing around with some other girl.

I felt more pressure on my head and gave Raeger a good slug on the arm. This was no time to be playing around!

"Jeez, don't act so glum," he told me. "Lillie knows you're not even like a girl to me."

Ouch. That stung a bit.

Even though we weren't talking right now, I had Johnny and he obviously treated me like a girl, so it shouldn't have mattered what Raeger said or thought, but…

Why would someone who "wasn't even a girl" kiss another guy? And he saw it!

"Wh-what am I then?" I asked timidly. I felt bad that Lillie had to watch us bicker, but if it bothered her she could've stopped us. I wouldn't have minded.

Raeger mockingly put a finger to his chin as if he was thinking about it. I rolled my eyes but waited anyway.

"A friend," he replied, grinning nonchalantly.

I sighed. "A genderless friend?" If I wasn't a girl, then…

He didn't nod his head or anything so I just started walking back towards the restaurant. "Lillie, sometimes I honestly have no idea how you put up with him," I told her with a halfhearted laugh.

She just laughed in response, and when I looked back from a distance they were together, Lillie clinging to his arm, and I was reminded again that Johnny and I weren't a normal couple like them.

…

It was decided, after all, that I would be the judge for their cooking competition. They both insisted that they had the better cake for me to try. Of course, it was my birthday, so I couldn't exactly refuse.

Besides, cake was good any time.

I couldn't help but feel like they were trying to make up for having me call Johnny the other day. After I explained to Lillie everything that happened, she started feeling really bad, and I knew deep down Raeger was probably feeling guilty for blowing up at him like that.

Lillie took a bit longer to prepare hers, but after about an hour I had two slices of strawberry lemon cake in front of me. I actually didn't know which one was whose, so that made it more interesting.

"All right, I'll try this one first…" I brought the one on the left closer.

Neither one made any sort of expression, keeping their poker faces.

I took my fork out and cut a piece, and then the lemon custard filling oozed out. I played around with it a bit until Raeger scolded me, so I put it to my mouth and let the two flavors mingle.

It was almost the perfect mixture of sweet and tangy, the strawberry cake and the lemon inside. It tasted like summer.

I smiled. "It's really good. I like it a lot."

Before I got curious and looked up at their faces, I slid the other plate in front of me. I needed a different fork so as not to mix the two different cakes, so I pulled one out of the drawer (Raeger let me into the kitchen just this once, apparently) and dug in.

This one tasted a little harsher, but at the same time like there was more passion in it. There was less of the strawberry taste and more lemon.

Normally, I loved sour things, so I would've picked the second one in a heartbeat, and the first one tasted a little bland in comparison now, but the first one was still very good on its own.

"This is really hard," I admitted. "I'm not a cook of a professional judge or anything, so don't get mad."

Lillie laughed. "It's for your birthday, so you pick your favorite."

My favorite…? It was definitely tough to decide.

"I guess… my favorite would have to be the second one."

Lillie jumped up in joy while Raeger stared at me in horror. Obviously I picked hers then, right?

"Raeger told me you didn't really like sweet things," she began, "so I thought I'd make it more sour. But then the filling wouldn't bake all the way through… That's why it took forever."

I nodded. They were both right – I didn't care much for sweets. I liked bitter and sour and salty, but not sweet. But…

"How did you know that?" I asked Raeger. And why didn't he remember that, and why did Lillie win? Did he let her win?

He shrugged. "The only drink you ever order is iced tea with lemon and I never see you add sugar to it. When you order food you usually put extra salt on it, no matter what it is."

Did he… stalk me? No, that didn't sound like him. I'd seen all sorts of sides to Raeger now, but stalking didn't suit him.

Then again, I didn't think he could get angry like that, either…

"So, basically, you watch me eat?"

"Raeger! That's rude!" Lillie scolded playfully.

He just rubbed his neck and smiled sheepishly. "I try to remember what my customers like. Then I can make something they really like next time."

Well, that confirmed it. He already dug himself a hole, as far as I was concerned. He'd let her win. Just how whipped was he?

"And yet you still don't know my palate."

"You just have bad taste," he retorted to Lillie.

She pouted. "But Annie likes my cake better. Right, Annie?"

Uh oh. Was I caught in the middle of a spat? "Well… yeah."

Raeger sighed. "Why? Her cooking stinks."

Then why did he let her win? I smiled.

Lillie frowned. "My customers never complain."

"Because they can't set foot in that inn again," he told her slowly. He laughed when she yelled at him.

"Well," he started, "let's clean up. You too, Annie." He ruffled my hair.

"Hey!" I desperately tried to fix it. "There's only a few dishes, though."

He nodded. "I know. I meant your hair."

He proceeded to mock and insult my hair, even after I told him it only looked bad because he'd messed with it so much.

"Mine is messy, too, don't worry," Lillie told me jokingly. And her hair was a little wind-blown.

Raeger laughed but I didn't see him look at her. "Yeah, but at least yours still looks good. Annie's just looks bad."

"What?! You're still saying that?" I glared at him.

"Hey, Annie," Lillie said, sort of interrupting us. "Since you chose my cake, how about I take you to the mall sometime?"

I felt my eyes gleam, and once Raeger gave me one more good hair ruffle, I looked over at her. Was she really asking that? It was really, finally going to happen?

"Th-that sounds awesome!" I grinned. "When would we go?"

She seemed to think for a minute. "Mondays are normally pretty slow, so maybe I could sneak away early tomorrow."

"Even with your promotion?"

She nodded. "The only thing about it that's different is that now I'm working weekends."

"All right," I said. Well, that finalized it. "So… tomorrow then?"

"Yeah!" She smiled. "And Raeger can't come. It'll just be us."

I grinned over at Raeger, but he didn't seem bothered at all. He caught me staring.

"What? You really think I'd want to go to the mall?"

Lillie sighed. "And this is why I don't get presents."

I laughed. "You're cheap, Raeger."

He just shrugged in response, and soon afterwards the excitement of everything died down. We said our goodbyes and Lillie told me to come by the trade depot around three, and then told Raeger to keep his ears open for the phone. If she needed to cancel she'd have to call him because it'd take me too long to get back to my house, and the restaurant was pretty close to the depot anyway.

I really hoped she didn't cancel, though. I didn't need another person I couldn't trust anymore.

~CGA