A/N: Loved your responses to chapter 4 you guys :) We're more than halfway through (this is 8 chapters). Think of this as a short story compared to my other ones, ya know? So I apologize if things are rushed. That being said... Brace yourselves.

And to think that after figuring out how Robbie felt about me that these butterflies in my stomach would go away. Well they didn't. They only escalated. Only now it's not just when he kissed me. It's when he smiles or even touches me I get a shiver going down my spine. It's ridiculous. I liked the feeling though.

For the entire weekend we hung out; just the two of us. We went to the boardwalk, watched a movie (Yes, I actually watched. No, I didn't make out with him. I wasn't going to pay $11 to kiss Robbie in a room full of strangers. I could very much kiss him anywhere else at no cost and without people staring thank you very much), hung out at the diner, and relaxed at my dad's. He wasn't that surprised that Robbie and I were dating. He saw it coming. Everyone did. Tori was the mushy one, squealing and hugging us, telling Andre the good news and all of that stuff. But mom, oh man. Mom's first reaction to Robbie and me dating. That one I'll never forget.

"Robbie, what a nice surprise. And you look nice," mom said when he knocked on our door the following Thursday.

"Thanks, Mrs. Oliver," Robbie nodded.

"I wasn't expecting you. Does Cat know you're here?"

"Yup. I'm a little early but I just wanted to make sure we weren't late for our reservations."

"Reservations?" she wondered.

"Yeah, we're going to see this play at the Hollywood Bowl but I got us dinner reservations to Maestro's before hand. I figured, if we're going to go all out on our first date then you might as well reserve the best of the best."

"Wait, a date? With who?"

"Robbie!" I yelled from the stairs. The second I saw him, his face light up. I'm guessing it's because I was wearing this polka dotted red and black dress with a sweetheart neckline and it went just pass my knees. He didn't look too shabby himself what with the nice black and white suit and the skinny black tie. God I'm a sucker for a man in a suit.

Once I reached the bottom I gave him a hug and held on to his side as he did mine.

"You ready?" he asked.

"Yup," I said so cheerily. I let go of Robbie for a second to go up to my mom. Until now, she was standing off to the side in complete shock. I wondered why?

"Bye mom, don't wait up too late. I'm probably just going to stay at dad's since we'll be closer to his place," I said as I kissed her cheek.

"Baby, is that makeup?" my mom noticed the minimal application of foundation, eye shadow and lip stain I applied.

"Yeah, Tori let me borrow it for out date tonight."

I intertwined mine and Robbie's hands and we skipped out the door.

"Have a good night, Mrs. Oliver!" Robbie hollered before opening my door, climbing into the driver's side and driving off. The entire time, mom was still standing there like a deer in headlights wondering exactly what happened.

Once we were out of site, she closed the door and went straight to her home office. She found her cell phone and dialed a number.

Ring. Ring.

Ring. Ring.

"Hello?"

"Did you know that your daughter is out with a boy right now?!" she yelled.

"No, Tori's in the living room. Andre went to Santa Barbara for the weekend with his parents," he coolly replied.

"I'm talking about your youngest daughter," she snapped.

"Oh, Cat? Yeah, she's out with Robbie. They're just going to be down the street."

"Why the hell are you so calm about this, Beckett?! Your daughter is on a date with a boy! Her first date! Who gave her permission to do that?!"

"Jade, when we were younger, you and I used to go out later than this. And we'd stay out late."

"Well that's when violence was significantly lower and there weren't any sex offenders around every corner."

"Yeah, but nowadays kids have cell phones and we can reach them. And don't say Cat won't answer because you know she will."

"Whether or not she answers, she's still going to be out there… with a boy!"

"Jade, they're going to watch a play. They're not going to a club or getting tattoos. They're not us."

"I sure hope they're not us! If my mother ever knew I got a tattoo with you, we went to parties in Northridge, had se- OH MY GOD I WANT MY BABY TO COME HOME THIS INSTANT! BECK GO GET YOUR DAUGHTER OR SO HELP ME GOD I WILL!"

"Whoa, Jade, chill. It's Robbie she's going out with. Remember him? He's harmless."

"I know that! But- wait… I like Robbie. Why am I yelling?" she finally calmed down.

"I don't know Jade, why are you yelling? And why are you worried so much? Tori's dating Andre."

"Yeah but… Cat's my youngest baby. She's not supposed to be growing up so fast," she slumped down on her chair.

"Ohhh I get it now," he nodded to no one in particular. "Listen, honey. We can't keep our daughters five years old for the rest of their lives. They're growing up, growing older and we just need to support whatever they do. And need I remind you this is Robbie. We've met him. We like him. He's a good kid."

"He is, right? I just want to make sure he is good for our baby."

"Well Cat's a diamond in the rough. She's special. But she's smart. And Robbie just seems to be the guy for her."

"Yeah?" she wanted reassurance.

"Like I said, she's a smart girl… She gets it from you, you know," he almost whispered.

"You always knew how to sweet talk a girl, huh Beck?" she faintly smiled into the phone.

"I only say it if I mean it," he genuinely replied.

After a comfortable realization of silence, Jade came to her senses.

"Well, I guess we all wish we could live in the puppy love stage forever. But life goes on," she finally spoke up.

"Always the realist, aren't you?" he chuckled. Slight disappointment was evident in his tone.

"Someone's got to stay in-tune with real life," she replied.

He knew this wouldn't get anywhere and he also didn't want to ruin a civil moment they've had in a long time.

"Look, just don't stress about it, Jade. Goodnight."

*click*

To say the least, Robbie and I had a picturesque courtship. And I say courtship because looking back, I don't really know if we established anything or threw out any labels in the beginning. I didn't give him nicknames and neither did he. We never confirmed out status on anything and when people saw us together, apparently they saw it coming so they would simply smile and not say a thing. We didn't talk to each other about it either, not to ignore the fact, but because it wasn't important. We were Cat and Robbie and that's all the labels we needed.

Back to our summer. We pretty much hung out like we did all year. Only this time we'd be sitting closer, holding hands and occasionally kiss. That's the thing, we didn't kiss often. Only like once or twice after our first kiss. And I liked it that way. It savored the meaning when we did it. Robbie was a complete gentleman. He'd always offer me his jacket at night, the time we'd usually hang out, we'd share our drinks, and we'd watch like 10 romantic comedies a week. Yes, I still watched and not kiss. If we were renting, I'd make use of my $2. There was a cliff side that we found near the beach. It was so beautiful. We'd always go there to watch the sunset. We had this thing between us about sunrises and sunsets. Which was better? Usually I'd have an answer but I never knew which one to choose and neither did he. But for that summer we saw each other at sunrise and sunset no matter how late we stayed out or how early we met up. It was our thing. We had many of these Kodak moments to last a lifetime. Holding hands on the beach, whispering sweet nothings to one another while we laid on the sand watching our moon and the stars, snuggling up at bonfires in our backyard with Tori and Andre, riding our bikes, feeding the ducks, taking in every second we'd spend together at our cliff – we had those moments that Billy Joel or the Beatles would sing about. It was too good to be true. But it was true. And it happened. It happened to me. And I got to share those moments with him.

But sadly, as fast as our magic summer started, all good things come to an end.

One particular Friday I was over at Robbie's house. Then again, how was that a surprise? We spent the whole summer together. It was August and our summer was drawing its end, but there was still plenty of time. At least I thought. Anyways, when I came over, his mom told me he was still in bed. That was odd. I mean, we did stay out until the sun came up at 6, but even when we'd stay out 'til 7 Robbie would be awake by noon. It was 2 PM. Strange.

She let me go up to his room to wake him up and when I got there, he was already awake. He was still in bed, but the TV was on and his blinds were closed.

"Hey, are you like allergic to the sun or something?" I joked sitting next to his right arm.

"Hi," he simply replied.

"That's all I get? A hi? What's the matter, are you sick?" I felt his head. Normal.

"No, I'm fine. Just sleepy I guess."

"Yeah, sorry for keeping you out all night," I scratched the back of my head.

"No, I wanted to stay out, it's not your fault," he wrapped his arm around my waist for assurance.

"Oh I'm not saying it's my fault," I smirked at him. He scooted over so I could snuggle up to him under his covers.

"Let's stay in today then. I don't mind laying in bed and watching movies all day," I suggested.

He simply kissed my forehead and hugged me tighter.

"That sounds awesome," he agreed.

We didn't actually stay in bed all day. By 6 o' clock, he suggested we go out. It was my turn to be sluggish, having been lying in bed for 4 hours. "Ok but nothing too crazy. I think I caught your lazy," I said.

"How about the cliffs?" he suggested.

"Oh, well I always have energy for that."

Once he got dressed we headed to our cliffs. The sunset was gorgeous as usual, but I felt weird. Robbie and I never really thought there was the need to talk a lot or acknowledge any awkward silences because sometimes things were just better with no words. Except this silence was ear piercing quiet. There was something in the air and I know he had something to say.

"Hey," I got his attention and he looked at me. He could tell that I was studying him, but he didn't hold back any emotions he was trying to hide. "What's wrong?"

"What are you talking about?" he furrowed his eyebrows.

"Robbie you never lie to me," I looked him dead in the eyes.

"I know," he said.

"So tell me what's up."

I waited for a very long time. But I knew that he just needed time to gather whatever courage he needed to tell me. It was about 5 minutes later when he decided to speak.

"I got in."

"Huh?" I quipped an eyebrow. Then I realized what he meant. "Oh, Robbie! That's great!" I hugged him tightly. But he didn't seem so enthusiastic about it. "Hey, didn't you hear me? That's great."

"I…"

"What?"

"Uh…"

"Robbie, I'm going to kick your face if you keep stalling."

"What if I don't go? You know like stay at Sherwood?"

"What?!"

"Sherwood's a progressive school already. Maybe I should just stay."

"No, why would you think that?"

"Because. Malibu's so far away."

"It's only an hour away, Rob."

"Yeah but that's one hour too far from you."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back it up. You're not seriously having second thoughts because of me are you?"

"And what's the matter with that?"

"Because, this is your future, Robbie! I'm not supposed to be a road block to it and I'm not going to let myself be one."

"But Cat-"

"But no. And plus, your Mamaw needs you. You're going."

"It's like you want me to just go. Are you trying to get rid of me or something?" For a second I thought he was joking, but when he didn't smile, I knew he was serious.

"Of course not. But you can't make this mistake."

"Look, I know this all went so fast, but I know what I want and I want to be with you, as close as I can. We're going to busy with school and eventually we'll just not have enough time for an every day thing and only see each other probably over the weekends. I'd be wasting hours traveling to you."

"Robbie, I appreciate all those kind things you said but I just don't want you waking up one morning and regretting this. You can't just lay it on me like this. Not now."

Robbie stayed quiet. He was thinking about what I said. So was I. He would actually choose me over his dream school? Wow.

"You're right," he stated.

"I'm.. huh?"

"I don't know if I'll regret it soon, but I do know that I'll always wonder if I made the right choice with my future."

"Ok?" I was kind of confused.

"If you're really supportive then… I'm going to Malibu."

At that moment, I wish he hadn't spoken at all. I was beginning to miss the silence. At least it didn't kill me.

Somewhere along the silence, it was like Robbie and I reversed roles. Now it was he that wanted to go and I didn't want him to. All his talking about us being together was all that I thought about. I didn't want him to go. And I know sounded silly. We're talking a one-hour distance between us. It's not exactly long distance, is it? But he was right, once I start at HA again and he at his magnet school, we'll probably have minimal leisure time for anything. I didn't want him to leave.

"Wait… Now I'm unsure. Are you sure you want to go to the magnet school?"

"I think so," he slowly nodded.

"But what about us?"

"Cat, I just thought that you said I should think about my future?"

"But don't you think we'll have a future?"

"What?! I'm so confused. I thought you were on my side?"

"And I thought you were on my side, Robbie."

"I am on your side."

"Then why are you leaving me?"

"Because, it's my future. I've got to think about that first."

I'll spare you the rest of the conversation. It went on for a little while longer and we went in circles. Needless to say, we ended up not agreeing on anything, and left the night with a bitter taste in both our mouths.

Robbie dropped me off at my mom's house at the end of the night.

"Cat," he said when he killed the engine. "Cat, come on. I don't want you to go when you're mad at me."

"I'm not mad at you."

"Are you lying?"

"Maybe."

"Cat, please."

"What difference does it make? If I leave right now I can still see you tomorrow. But if you leave, who knows when the hell we will see each other again."

I know I was being a bit harsh, but can you blame me? This was my first relationship, if you can even call it that. I was scared of losing the first person (outside of family) that I really cared about. So I think, as a 16-year old girl, I had the right to be overly dramatic.

I unbuckled my seatbelt and opened my door.

"Goodnight, Robbie."