"Is American's most eligible TV bachelor officially off the market?" Cat reads the magazine headline out loud in a goofy voice, her head dangling upside down off the edge of the couch "Beck Oliver of Channel 8's 'Manhattan Med' was spotted leaving the Ranger's game last month with a mystery brunette woman who introduced herself as 'Jade'. Our social media analysts have discovered her to be Jade West, an undergraduate student at NYU. The young couple donned matching Vancouver jerseys as they- hey! I was reading that!"

"You're twenty-two years old." Jade scoffs, looking at the magazine she had snatched away from her roommate "What the hell are you doing with a copy of Teen Bop?"

"Your face was on the cover!" Cat tells her as she sits upright "Duh!"

"This is stupid, it's all pictures and shitty articles to send the hormones of teenage girls skyrocketing out of control." Jade insists as she tosses the magazine down on the coffee table "S'all just gossip."

"I dunno, most of what I read about you two seemed true. At least what I was able to read before my magazine was ripped out of my hands!"

"Relax, Cat."

Other than ruining Beck and Jade's mood when they were taken, not a whole lot came from the paparazzi pictures. Anyone who was already following or started following Beck on social media could easily tell that he has a girlfriend. He's posted multiple pictures with Jade and features her on his story quite often, and her own profiles feature him the same amount. They tag each other so there's not a whole lot of mystery, either. They were featured on a few accounts of various magazines, and had a small blurb in People magazine, but most of the pictures used there were of them on the video screen at the game. The paparazzi pictures weren't anything scandalous or exciting, just a young couple leaving a hockey game.

"Y'know, my one dispute about this article..." Cat says as she takes the magazine back "I'm not so sure he's TV's most eligible bachelor..."

"Of course he's not." Jade agrees "He's not a bachelor at all, he's dating me."

"No, I mean that TV's most eligible bachelor is supposed to be the bachelor, isn't it?" Cat reminds her "From the TV show? Where all of the girls try to date him at the same time?"

"You're enjoying this a little too much."

"Sorry." Cat laughs "In all seriousness, Jadey. Are you okay? I mean, your private life kinda just became...pretty public."

"It didn't just become public." Jade reminds her "S'been that way since the show premiered, really."

"You know what I meant."

"I'm okay..." Jade nods as she sits beside her roommate on the couch "It's been...an adjustment for sure. But I love him, so it's worth it."

She herself rarely gets recognized in public when she's not with Beck, so that aspect of her life hasn't really been interrupted. That will change eventually, she realizes, especially once she starting working in and on her own projects one day, but that will be the result of her own choices and decisions.

"Would you tell me if you weren't okay?" Cat asks

In all fairness, her roommate has been known to be a little stubborn. Three years of living together and four years of friendship has taught Cat Valentine that much.

"No." Jade laughs "But I think that you'd be able to tell if I wasn't, you wouldn't have to ask."

"Fair enough." Cat shrugs "You seem like you're okay."

"S'cause I am okay."

"You seem like you're happier with Beck than you ever were with Marcus." Cat admits "I know there were guys before him, but I didn't know you then, so that's all I have to compare anything to."

"Don't tell me you saw red flags in my relationship for two years and didn't say anything, Cat."

"I didn't!" Cat insists "Well, in the end I did. When you guys were fighting all the time and he was making you cry...but I said something then! No, I think it's just seeing you with someone else who is so much better than you makes me look back and think. You guys were so different, and it might've seemed like an 'opposites attract' kind of thing but now...I dunno. S'almost like you guys thought you had something so you were trying to force the puzzle pieces to fit together, and obviously that didn't work out well for you. But you and Beck...you just fit so naturally. There's no forcing whatsoever."

"Are you done psychoanalyzing my relationship?" Jade raises an eyebrow

"Yes."

"Okay." Jade chuckles "Well, thank you for saying all of that. Clearly I realize Marcus and I weren't a good fit, but I like knowing that you like Beck. Because I really love him...and it scares me to think of anything going wrong."

She's either going to spend forever with him or break up with him. Both possibilities terrify her for different reasons.

"You can't dwell on the 'what if's of relationships." Cat reminds her "You'll drive yourself insane."

"So I've been told." Jade sighs, standing up "Not that I'm not enjoying this conversation, but I need to get going."

"Where are you going?" Cat asks as she watches Jade grab her backpack "It's after five! You've been done with class for hours and the bookstore is closed."

"I know." Jade nods "But Beck is filming late tonight and I need to get some work done on my script. I'm going to head to the library for a change of scenery."

"What am I supposed to do by myself then?"

"Uh, work on your own homework?" Jade laughs "I'm not planning on being there later than nine, I can't keep my study room for longer than that."

"So I'm supposed to have dinner by myself too?"

"We eat separately all the time, Cat."

"I know, but..." Cat sighs "Jadey, we both have boyfriends now. And in the grand scheme of things, we don't have that much longer to be college roommates. We have to take advantage of the time to make memories while we can!"

"I know, I know..." Jade nods "I'll tell you what? Beck has a late shoot on Friday that they expect will go past midnight. What if we had a girl's night? We can order takeout, watch movies, and have a sleepover in the living room."

"I like that idea."

"Yeah, me too." Jade agrees "I've gotta get going or they're going to give my study room away. I'll see you when I get home."

"Okay, see you."

Beck had planned on surprising Jade with dinner that evening, telling her that he had to work late when he in fact didn't. He knew that the stretch between her midterms and the end of the semester would be rough, with final projects being piled on and the holidays messing up schedules all while she's trying to complete her one-act play for her senior showcase. When she's not with him, Jade is almost always hard at work on some assignment. Sometimes when she is with him she's even hard at work on some assignment, their lazy days and evenings have come to involve her schoolwork more and more frequently.

Beck doesn't mind, he knows that she's hard at work to earn her degree. Although he hadn't chosen the same route to start his career, he respects his girlfriend's dedication to her own path. He's extremely proud of her for working so hard, and he wants to do whatever he can to be helpful to her or reduce her stress. Tonight, that something will hopefully be offering her a study break to eat dinner with him.

Or at least that's what he had hoped for. He called Cat to let him into the dorm building, since he can't get in on his own, hoping to add one more element of surprise, but Cat informed him that Jade had gone to the library to study instead. That's the risk someone runs when they try to surprise someone else, Beck supposes.

The library is about a ten minute walk from Cat and Jade's dorm, and as he begins his journey Beck is thankful that he had chosen to pick up sandwiches instead of a warm meal that would without a doubt grow cold by the time he reaches his girlfriend. It's November now, nearing Thanksgiving, and the weather in New York City has turned much colder. Most days reach a high somewhere between thirty-five and forty degrees Fahrenheit, and at night those temperatures can fall into the twenties or lower. Now, the temperature is sitting somewhere around thirty, give or take a few degrees, and Beck can see his breath. He supposes he should be used to the cold, after living in Canada for the first part of his life, but he had been spoiled by the warm weather in Los Angeles for close to a decade. He'll just have to re-adjust now just as he had back then.

As he walks, Beck passes other people his age, mostly NYU students. He's wearing a beanie, so he's a bit more difficult to identify but not impossible. A few people stop and stare at him as he walks by, like they're trying to figure out if it's really him or not. He hears one girl say 'wait, isn't that...?' before he had moved out of earshot. This is his new reality now, the price he pays for getting to do what he loves. He's adjusting to it, and so far...it hasn't been that bad. Other than the paparazzi encounter of course.

Beck enters the library feeling pretty clueless. Cat had mentioned that Jade had reserved a public study room, but the building has twelve floors and the directory offers him no help. A group of students in the corner of the lobby is staring at him, no doubt trying to place his face. He offers them a small wave before moving towards the security desk in the back of the room.

"Excuse me." He clears his throat to get the attention of the man sitting behind the desk "I was wondering if you could help me find the private study rooms?"

"Lower Level 2, south side." The man tells him without even looking up from the computer "It's a quiet floor, so keep the volume low."

"Thanks, will do." Beck nods as he walks away

"Excuse me!" One of the girls grabs Beck's attention as he passes them again "Are you Beck Oliver?"

"I am."

"Oh my god, I knew it was you!" The girl squeals, causing the man at the security desk to shush her "Greg, I told you it was him! What are you doing here? Do you go here?"

"Uh, no." Beck shakes his head "I don't, my girlfriend does though. I'm just bringing her some dinner."

"Oh my god, that's so sweet."

"I should be getting to her..."

"Wait!" She stops him "Can we get a picture first? We're all huge fans! We watch the show every week!"

"Well, thanks for doing that." Beck tells her "Uh, yeah...sure. Really quick."

The group of students gathers around him and the girl who had been doing most of the talking for them snaps the picture. Beck thanks them all again before disappearing into one of the elevators alone. Normally he would opt to take the stairs for going up just one level, but he wants to make sure that no one is following him. Nothing on the elevators indicated that anyone would be able to tell which floor he got off on, so he figures it was his safest bet.

There are signs on the second floor that direct him to the private study rooms. There's about twenty of them, ten on each side of a long hallway tucked in the back. Each room has a glass window to see inside, and Beck supposes that's to keep students from using them to have sex. He walks down the hallway peeking into each room until he finally spots the one that Jade is occupying.

She doesn't see him right away, so he stands and watches her for a moment. She has her headphones in and is tapping her finger gently on the side of her computer along with the beat of the music. She looks so focused on and so dedicated to whatever she's working on, and Beck thinks it makes her look even hotter. After about a minute, he reaches up and knocks gently on the glass. The noise startles Jade, but a huge smile spreads across her face when she sees him.

"What are you doing here?" She asks as he opens the door and enters the room "I thought you said you were filming late?"

"I lied." He admits, closing the door tightly behind him "I wanted to come surprise you with dinner since I knew you've had a lot on your plate with your classwork. Cat told me you were here though. So here I am."

"Oh, sorry about that." Jade apologizes "If I had known I-"

"If you had known it wouldn't have been a surprise." Beck reminds her, leaning down to greet her with a kiss "Hi."

"Hi." She smiles "Thank you for bringing me food."

"You're welcome." He tells her "Wanna eat?"

"I'd love to."

There's only one chair in the study room, as the whole point of them being 'private' is that they're meant for one person. Beck and Jade each sit on the floor with their sandwiches on their lap, swapping stories about how their days had been. Beck's had been significantly more exciting than Jade's, having started filming a new episode that morning. All Jade had done was gone to class, worked a three hour shift at the book store, and then come to the library to study.

"That's exciting in its own respect." Beck tells her "You're getting closer to graduating college! It might feel a bit mundane, but the outcome will be pretty cool."

"I guess so." Jade shrugs, reaching for the bag of chips Beck had brought along with the sandwiches "I just wish it wasn't all so stressful."

"Well, the semester break is coming up soon, right?" Beck reminds her "That's a solid month off."

"True." She agrees "Hey, uh...I've been meaning to ask you...are you going back to LA for Thanksgiving?"

The holiday is quickly approaching, and she's yet to hear anything about his plans. If he's going to leave her for a week, she wants to know about it.

"Why would I go back to LA for Thanksgiving?" He asks her

"To see your family?"

"Why?"

"Because it's Thanksgiving?"

"We're Canadian." Beck laughs "We don't celebrate Thanksgiving."

"Oh, right. Duh." Jade shakes her head "My bad, I'm sorry."

"S'alright." Beck chuckles "I had thought about it, but they both get the week off so they decided to go on vacation. I'm going to stay here."

"You should come to my dad's with me, then." Jade tells him "You can meet my grandparents, and you wouldn't have to spend the day alone."

"Sure." Beck smiles "I'd like that."

"We'll have to go the night before though and stay over." Jade sighs "The parade makes getting through the city impossible."

"The parade?"

"Macy's?" Jade clarifies "The entire Times Square area will be a fucking z- what the fuck? Get out of here!"

"Huh?"

Beck's back had been to the glass window that allows people on the outside to see into the rooms, and when he turns he sees the same group of students he had encountered downstairs looking in at them. Obviously startled by realizing Jade had seen them, the group rushes away out of sight.

"What the hell?" Beck sighs "I already took a picture with them, I thought they would leave me alone..."

"Did they follow you up here?"

"I didn't think so." Beck admits "Maybe, I dunno. I told them I was bringing you dinner. If they were searching every floor it wouldn't have taken them long to get to the second one."

"People are so fucking annoying." Jade rolls her eyes "You're just a person! I don't get what the big deal is."

"I'm not a real person though, at least not to them." Beck shakes his head "I'm the guy from TV."

"Well, they already got a picture with you, right?"

"Right, but they probably wanted to get a look at you too." He tells her "You're a real person like them who has a connection to a celebrity. That's even more rare."

"Well, if they want to see what I look like all they have to do is look at any of your social medias."

"You would think." Beck runs a hand through his hair "I'm sorry our mini date was ruined."

"S'okay..." Jade assures him with a smile "It was sweet of you to even think of doing it."

"Anything for you." Beck smirks "You're sure you don't mind the interruptions?"

"Of course I mind..." Jade shrugs "But...you're worth it. I love you. It's going to take a lot more than a few nosy fans and some annoying guys with cameras to change that."

"Aw, okay." Beck smiles as he leans in to kiss her "Thank you, Jade. I love you too."

"I know." She nods "You tell me and you show me every day."

"I'll let you get back to work." He tells her "I can't be the reason you fail senior year."

"Alright, thanks." Jade chuckles "I'll talk to you tonight?"

"Sounds good." Beck agrees "I'll be anxiously awaiting your text."

They both stand up and share a kiss, murmuring quick 'i love you's to each other before Beck collects their trash to throw away on his way out. He looks back over his shoulder through the glass window as Jade settles herself back in the chair and wakes her computer up so she can get back to work. His only thought in that moment has nothing to do with his TV show or the obnoxious invasions of privacy...but how lucky he is to have found Jade West.