Richelle Mead owns the VA and Bloodlines series.

This idea came to me this afternoon and I just had to write it down. Hope you like it. I'm on the fence about the ending, but I think it's cute.

"Sydney," Julia said, pushing passed me and into my room. Kristin shrugged sheepishly, but walked in behind her. "I need your help."

I sighed and closed the door. "With what?" I asked, resigned.

Zoe turned around at her desk, momentarily forgetting about the homework she'd been doing a minute ago. She politely said hello to our guests, but Julia was too busy wrenching open my closet door to notice.

"You know that guy I've been seeing? Jason?" She pulled a cream cardigan off a hanger and flung it over her shoulder onto my bed.

"The Jason you met two weeks ago at Pilates? I think I remember you mentioning him once or twice." I said with a small smirk. She'd talked about him almost non-stop for the past two weeks. Kristen giggled a little but quickly stifled it when Julia swung her head around with a wicked glare in her direction.

"He invited me to his parents house for dinner tonight. Dinner! With his parents! And I have nothing appropriate to wear!"

"Ah," I said, putting it all together. "So you're borrowing my clothes in order to make a good impression."

She paused her ransacking of my closet for a moment to smile at me. "Hope you don't mind," she said, then dove back into my clothes for a moment before surfacing with an, "Aha!"

She held up a tweed sleeveless dress that would have been extremely appropriate for a business meeting. I was about to point out that she might be overdoing it a little, but thought better of it. This was Julia we were talking about. She overdid just about everything while still managing to look casual doing it.

"This will look perfect with those strappy heels I was showing you, Kristen," she said and was about to close the closet door when something caught her eye. "What's this?" she asked, handing me the dress and reaching back in to grab whatever it was she saw.

My breath caught and all of the blood in my body rushed into my cheeks at the sight of the coat she pulled out. A long men's wool dress coat. Adrian's coat. The coat he'd insisted I keep after Sonya's wedding.

Zoe got up out of her chair to get a better look at the coat and Kristen was already by Julia's side, inspecting the material.

"This is a men's coat," she said with a glance in my direction. My expression must have said it all because Julia suddenly turned triumphant.

"Does this belong to the guy you were sneaking out to go see?" she asked. She'd been trying to get information out of me about what I'd done the night I snuck out of her dorm room window. She'd asked who I'd gone to see, what we'd done. I'd shaken my head with a small smile, hoping she'd drop the interrogation. And she had for a while, but now, with this new evidence brought to life, I knew the questions were only just beginning. And not only from Julia it turned out.

"You snuck out to see a guy?" Zoe asked incredulously. But, to my relief, she didn't seem upset by the news, more curious and awed then anything else. It relaxed me a little and I decided I'd play along with the interrogation. It would only make her more suspicious if I avoided answering.

"Yeah, I snuck out. But only once," I added quickly. "And it was important."

"What could be more important than a little late night make out session?" Julia smirked.

"Is he cute?" Zoe asked suddenly. I turned to look at her and noticed how red her cheeks had gone. I guess she hadn't meant to blurt that out like that.

I laughed a little, picturing Adrian. "Extremely."

Zoe smiled at me, still looking a little embarrassed and more than a little intrigued. I realized suddenly that she'd probably never had a boyfriend, or even any real friends her own age, spending most of her free time with our dad and the other Alchemists. I felt strangely sorry for her, even though I'd experienced the same thing at her age. She was only fifteen. She should be the one trying to sneak off for secret make out sessions with boys. Or, well, maybe not, but she should at least be more worried about dating and kissing and stuff. She deserved that opportunity.

"Well, he's got good taste," Julia said, breaking me out of my thoughts and handing Adrian's coat to Kristin.

"And he doesn't have any money problems, that's for sure," Kristin added, examining the label. "This coat is expensive."

"So he's hot, rich and has excellent taste in clothes and women. So why aren't you seeing him anymore? And if you're really done with him can you introduce me?"

I laughed. "Who said I wasn't seeing him anymore?"

Zoe's jaw hit the floor. "You're dating someone? But I... I mean, you haven't been out..."

I shrugged nonchalantly and picked up all of the clothing Julia had flung onto my bed. "We decided to take things slow," I said and then grimaced as I noticed my cashmere sweater crumpled in a ball on the floor by my headboard. "I have a lot going on right now and don't have time to be distracted. But I'm not done with him. I still like him. A lot."

I hung all of the clothes back in their proper places and finally turned to look at Zoe. She nodded solemnly, clearly understanding and accepting my lie. Or was it the truth? It seemed like a little of both. Adrian and I were taking things slow ever since Zoe showed up. I did have a lot going on right now and so did he, but we weren't going to break up because of it.

"That's lame," Julia put in as she grabbed my tweed dress and headed into the corridor. "Being busy is no excuse for putting your love life on hold." Then she smiled and waved the dress at me. "Thanks for the dress," she said happily and walked out the door.

Kristen laughed and followed her out. "Bye, Sydney. Zoe."

Once the door closed, Zoe turned to face me, an uncertain expression on her face.

"What is it?" I asked gently, not wanting to rush her.

"It's just..." She shook her head. "I didn't know that you were, you know, dating."

"I really haven't been, not since you arrived," I lied—a little bit, anyway. "I didn't think it was relevant."

"But it is!" she exclaimed. "I mean, I know you have some school friends." She gestured toward the door Kristen and Julia just exited. "But I didn't know we could... I mean..." She trailed off, the pink rushing to her cheeks again.

I sat down on her bed and gestured for her to sit next to me. "We're allowed to have personal lives," I said gently. "Alchemists can date. We just can't let it interfere with our jobs."

She nodded, biting her lip. "So it would be okay if I..." She laughed at her own nervousness. "It would be okay if I went out with this guy Jake in my Math class? He asked me out yesterday and I sort of wanted to go, but..."

I grinned at her. "Of course it would be okay. In fact," I put an arm around her shoulder, giving her a playful squeeze. "Since there are two of us here, maybe we could cover for each other while we're... off duty?"

I was taking a real chance with this, but I saw an opportunity and I was going to take it. If confiding in Zoe would get her off my back a bit and free up some time for me to see Adrian, I was willing to risk her knowing a little too much. It wasn't like she knew I was dating Adrian, after all. She would never even expect something like that. And this arrangement would benefit her as well.

Zoe threw her arms around me, pulling me into a hug. "Oh, thank you, Sydney! That would be great! That way our personal lives will never interfere with our duties. It's perfect!"

I laughed at her enthusiasm, feeling my own rising up inside my chest. I was going to get to see Adrian. In person! And I'd made my sister happy in the process. "It will be perfect," I said. "I'm glad we talked about this."

"Me, too," she smiled. "I'm gonna go find Jake and tell him I can go out with him after all!"

She rushed out of the dorm before I could say another word. Once she was gone I stood, walking over to my desk and picking up my cellphone. I dialed the number and held the phone to my ear. He picked up on the first ring.

"Hey, Pumpkin Pie," Adrian greeted.

I wrinkled my nose in distaste. "Pumpkin Pie?" I said. "Since when is pumpkin pie romantic?"

"All pie is romantic," he said as if that argument made any sort of sense. Besides, it's healthier than Cream-puff," he went on, sounding undisturbed by my rejection of yet another of his pet names. "What did you need?" he asked. "I mean, besides me."

I laughed at that. He'd meant it as a joke, but he didn't know how dead on he was. All I needed was him. And, for the first time in weeks, I was finally going to get a chance to be with him in person.

"I have some good news," I began, grinning into the phone.