12:37pm, April 12

Someone was watching her. She knew who it was. It was always Cam. But Luce resisted the urge to look up from her fries. At least she was not alone. Aubrey and Daniel were joining her for lunch today at their college's food court. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him sitting a few tables away. He had finished his meal, but he was in no hurry to leave. It seemed like he was playing a game on his phone, but sometimes he would glance at her. Luce liked it when he looked at her, though she wished he wouldn't.

She also wished she would stop dreaming about him. That romantic, scandalous dream of them agreeing to have an affair came to her every night for a whole week now. Was it just because she saw him kissing that girl? Or maybe it was because she had been reading a lot of historical romances lately. Why couldn't she dream of Daniel, instead? She never had any very interesting dreams about Daniel, and none of them recurring. Letting out a deep breath, Luce forced herself to stop thinking about the dream and focus on Daniel and Aubrey's conversation. Unlike her, they had eaten all their food and were chatting away while drinking the rest of their sodas.

The fries were too salty so she gave up on them after eating a few more pieces and picked up her cup of Pepsi. They were talking about how Aubrey's art teacher looked a lot like Jack Black and laughing about how some of her classmates wanted selfies with him. Daniel had taken his class before, too. Both of them were art majors. Sometimes she thought she should join them, since she also had an interest in art and liked to draw. But Luce also loved reading and felt like she might like to major in English more. So, for now she was an undecided major.

They were introverts, while Luce was an extrovert. They got along very well. If Aubrey wasn't her best friend and an aromantic asexual, she would worry about how close they were. Aubrey would joke about wanting to date a hot guy sometimes, but Luce knew there was a close to zero chance of that happening. Actually, it was refreshing that Aubrey was immune to Daniel's devastatingly good looks and did not blush or have trouble forming sentences when talking to him, like most girls did. Maybe that's why Daniel liked her. She never made him feel like he was a cute guy from a boy band who was talking to a fangirl who was infatuated with him.

During a pause in the conversation, Aubrey took out her compact mirror from her backpack and started reapplying her black eyeliner. The dark lines drew attention to her large, warm chestnut eyes. Her hair on the other hand, was a darker shade of chestnut. Luce was envious of her simple short bob haircut that she herself could never pull off. But it suited Aubrey's subtle beauty and oval face.

"So, when are you guys going to do it?" Aubrey casually asked.

Daniel and Luce immediately blushed and looked at each other, then quickly elsewhere.

"Aubrey!" Luce gasped.

"What? I meant when are you planning to have a birthday party for your eighteenth birthday," she replied. "It's coming up soon."

"Oh..." Daniel breathed a sigh of relief and Luce laughed nervously.

Aubrey looked up from her mirror and noticed how embarrassed they were. "Did you think...you thought I was asking when you two would have sex? Geez. You sexuals...such dirty minds. I could care less." She tucked her short hair back behind one ear and wagged a finger at them.

Luce ignored her comment and changed the subject back to her birthday. "Ask Daniel, he insisted on planning everything since I had no idea what to do." He loved planning things out ahead of time, while she liked to be more spontaneous. He was pessimistic, while she was an optimist. Luce guessed it was true, opposites did attract. But Daniel could be quite bossy, and that took some time to get used to.

"Well, you know how I feel about parties..." Daniel and Aubrey both cringed. "But it's Luce's 18th birthday and she deserves a big party." He grinned at Luce and squeezed her knee gently. "I was able to get my parents to agree to let me use their beach house. We'll do it on Saturday so a lot of people can come, though I know your birthday is this Friday."

"Cool," Aubrey said.

"Oh, Daniel! That sounds amazing! Thank you!" Luce kissed him on the cheek and he smiled at her.

"So, you girls start inviting all your friends and I'll do the same. Aubrey, since you work on that taco food truck, I was wondering if you could ask your boss and the other gourmet food truck people who do catering about their prices. See if you could get any good deals for us."

"No problem. I know which food trucks she likes best."

"I can't wait to celebrate with you guys! Thank you, thank you!" Luce hugged Daniel hard and then reached across the table to give Aubrey an equally hard squeeze. She was so touched that they were doing all this for her. Though she would have been happy with anything he came up with, but a big party at a fancy beach house with gourmet food truck food sounded awesome.

"Too bad it's still too chilly at the beach to go swimming, though. I still haven't seen you in a bikini," Daniel winked and gave Luce a sexy smile.

Luce blushed right on cue. Aubrey rolled her eyes.

Daniel leaned close to Luce and whispered in her ear. "I want to celebrate with you, just the two of us, on your actual birthday. I'm not going to tell you what we're going to do, though. You'll just have to wait and see."

"Okay..." Luce nodded. What was he up to? Whatever he had planned, she knew she would love it. This was the first time she got to celebrate her birthday with Daniel. It would be unforgettable no matter what they did.

She gave him a quick, soft kiss on the lips. Daniel looked at her intently, his grey eyes drifting down to her lips as he ran his fingers through the soft, black waves of her hair.

Aubrey cleared her throat. "Excuse me, I'm still here."

"Sorry." The two of them said it at the same time and laughed. Aubrey rolled her eyes again.

"Luce, do you mind if Nick comes?" Aubrey asked.

"Which Nick?" she nervously said.

"My step brother Nick. I know things were kind of awkward between you two last year but..." Aubrey glanced at Daniel's puzzled face and Luce's worried face and knew she shouldn't say too much. "Well, he asked how you were doing and I mentioned your birthday is coming up. Nick wants to come to your birthday party. He said to ask you if it's okay if he brings his boyfriend, too."

"Of course I don't mind if he comes," she managed to say cheerfully. "And yeah, he can bring whoever he wants." He has a boyfriend. Of course he does. He's too good-looking and irresistable to stay single for long.

"So...why were things awkward between you two?" Daniel asked.

Aubrey said nothing. After a long pause, Luce finally opened her mouth. "It was nothing. I had a crush on him despite knowing that he's gay. I finally told him I liked him last year. And he rejected me, just like I knew he would. That was it."

"I see..." Daniel quietly said, patting her back. "Sorry, I was just curious..."

"It's fine," Luce said. "Umm...Aubrey, why don't you tell Daniel about him. He's got a pretty cool job."

1:07pm, April 12

Aubrey started to explain how Nick used to be a model but eventually opened up a karate school for kids because he was so passionate about martial arts since he was a teenager. Luce nodded and pretended to listen, but she was staring out the window, thinking about the first guy she ever fell in love with. At least she thought it was love. She failed to tell Daniel just how long she had a crush on him. She liked him for four long years, ever since she was thirteen years old. He never loved her back. At least not in the way she wanted him to.

Since she was eight years old, Aubrey and Luce were friends and neighbors. They both lived in the same neighborhood in Connecticut, went to the same elementary school, liked the same cartoon, and loved chocolate chip ice cream. That was all they needed to have in common to be best friends back then. Their ethnicities were different, though. Luce's mom was Italian and her father was American. Aubrey's father was Japanese and her mother was Spanish. She looked more Asian than Spanish, but did have a slightly tanned skin color. Her last name was Takeda and Nick's was Baquero. He was her step-brother and he was five years older than her. Nick was born in Spain but only lived there a few years before his mother and father got a divorce and she moved to the United States.

Being an only child, Luce thought of Nick as a big brother at first. He was such a cool guy. Nick spoiled Aubrey and Luce, often giving them piggyback rides and cookies from his secret stash. Luce went over to Aubrey's house almost everyday to hang out after school and they would all watch cartoons or play video games together. But he was still a boy after all, and did pull pranks on them or was mean and ignored them sometimes. Still, he was their hero. Nick protected them from monsters under the bed, bugs, bullies, and more. He even took the fall for them sometimes, saying it was he that broke their mom's favorite mug or he who spilled grape juice on the rug.

These naive girls adored him and wanted to marry him when they grew up. Of course, they were too young then, to know what being married meant. By the time they were thirteen and he was eighteen, only Luce still wanted to marry Nick. She knew a lot more about marriage and what husbands and wives did. And she knew about sex. While Aubrey and Luce entered that awkward phase of puberty where they were neither children nor women, Nick became a handsome young man. He got taller and the karate classes he took made him more muscular. Actually, he had always been in good shape because he started taking karate since he was thirteen. But Luce did not start noticing his body until she hit puberty. Despite being more busy with school, modeling, and training for martial arts tournaments, Nick still made sure he made time to hang out with Aubrey and Luce, just like old times. He was way too nice and sweet to them. Luce couldn't help but fall for him.

It wasn't until Luce was sixteen that Nick came out. He had won several martial arts world titles and was starting to appear in various clothing ads in fashion magazines. His sexy shirtless picture was on all the Abercrombie & Fitch bags. Nick's career was probably at its peak, but he said he could not be truly happy if he kept pretending to be someone he wasn't. Nick was gay. Luce was devastated. But she couldn't get over him. If Daniel was the most handsome guy she ever met and Cam was in second place, then...it would be be a tie between Cam and Nick. But he wasn't just a pretty face, he was the sweetest, most caring guy, yet also extremely manly and sexy. Last summer, she finally confessed to him. It was a big mistake.

The last time she saw him was when he helped Aubrey and her move in to their dorm, August of last year. She forced herself to not call or text him or stalk his Facebook page and Instagram account. He never called or texted her either. It has been nine months and she has definitely gotten over him. But she knew it would be hard to see him again, especially with a boyfriend. Her pride prevented her from telling Aubrey that she didn't want him to come to the party. She couldn't let Aubrey, Nick, or most importantly, Daniel, think that she still liked him. No matter how awkward it might be, Luce refused to let this get her down. This was her birthday week and she was finally turning eighteen. Oddly, she had an inexplicable feeling that she and Daniel have been waiting for this day for a very long time.

Kate's Notes:

Sorry for the delay! :/ At least I got 2 scenes written, kinda. It was a bit boring because I had to squeeze in a lot of facts about them and backstory for Nick and Luce, but...hopefully I didn't bore you guys to death with all these details. But they are necessary info, so...couldn't be helped.

Camp NaNo (July) is starting soon and I'm already in full camp mode! I even bought some Camp NaNo stuff. Haha. My cabin mates (same genre, all fanfiction writers) seem nice and just chatty enough. :)

Oh, this time I want to kinda reply to your reviews for the last chapter here. Lol.

HeartthrobbingFanticyLover: Is it a dream or is it a memory? Hmm. You probably already know. Acia Granger: Thank you! I love writing this fic though it can be frustrating and a major time sucker but it's also very satisfying to be able to see my ideas come to life on the page and know there are people out there who enjoy reading it. I'm trying hard to make Cam, well, Cam-like and cool and sarcastic and conflicted and all. Katherine - Child of Dreams: I know. Lol. I did apologize in advance! But I'm sure you're just gonna hate me more as the story goes on. I'll try to be fair to Daniel and give him more scenes so that it's more balanced, though. Hmm.

-Before i forget, it was so fun writing the text conversation between cam and roland last time! LOL. i love how roland gives it to him straight, just very straightforward and gets to the point. he'll totally kick his ass if cam does something wrong.

-LUCE'S FINALLY TURNING 18 SOON! omg. i knew this would be an important part of the story. i hope you all will like what i can come up with... :) i already know most of the stuff that i want to happen... it will certainly be unforgettable...

-I had to change certain details about Luce's past in order to create my new Nick character, so now my fic has officially become non-canon. argh. but it kinda had to be done. at least i didn't stray into non-canon territory until now. sigh...

-the main reason i added this Nick character is because i have a huge crush on Nick Bateman right now. LOL. i knew about him cuz he will be in a movie adaptation of the book Ugly Love. he's just really hot, so i imagined up this character for him. lollll. but it's also cuz i don't want everyone to be white in this fic. but the more i thought about it, the more i things i think i can do with this character. hopefully you guys will like him. (Search for his pics or check out his instagram, you'll see why he's super popular on instagram. haha.) btw, most of Nick's career stuff that i talked about is totally true and based on his real life! he was on the abercrombie bag, won martial arts tournament awards, had a karate school for kids. xD

-i was thinking about making aubrey bi, but then i decided on asexual. i wanted more diversity in my fic. :) and since there will be a lot of sexual tension between certain characters and a lot of mushy, romantic stuff, it's nice to have one character who isn't into that stuff at all. lol.

-i imagine aubrey looking kinda like kiko mizuhara, btw. but more tan and less pouty. haha. she just has this very cool, everything-bores-me kind of look. lol.

-i am now imagining daniel to look like drew van acker because he's just so handsome. xD and Matthew Daddario (will be in the Shadowhunters tv show next year) as Cam, because he's cute and just so...Cam! he sometimes looks like a younger joey from Friends, though. haha. I think luce will still look like Kaya S., but sometimes i think of her as Kat McNamara (also in Shadowhunters).

-I liked the mortal instruments movie from 2013. didn't read the books, though. recently found out the book is being adapted into a tv series! called Shadowhunters. i'm so excited about it! =) the cast looks quite good, too. and they've been posting lots of BTS pics and stuff. it's awesome to see so many updates, unlike with the Fallen movie. not even an official poster or teaser yet. ugh. they better have an amazing trailer to show us after making us wait for so long! somehow, i feel i'll be disappointed, though.

Until next Wednesday, then! ^_^ (Or whenever I finish the next scene. Might be a little more busy than usual soon. Hmm...)