A Break with No Determined Limit

[Tiff]

Chase left his dorm room shortly after Jack, to the observer it would look as if they were headed in the same direction, to a cafe or unspecified hangout spot, but by the time they got to the end of the street, they parted ways, Chase wasn't entirely sure if Bekah would even be home, and it was no one's fault but his own. He'd neglected to spend any time with her or to even memorize her schedule. He made a mental note to be more attentive in the future and before long he was mounting the stairs to the girl's dorms. He made his way to Bekah's assigned room and knocked on the door.

He rocked back and forth on his heels trying to think up of the best way to ask her the questions he'd been cooking up when he zoned out on Jack in the living room of their dorm. He felt bad for letting himself become so shy and demure with the girl he'd driven miles and miles to find and get back.

[Dani]

Bekah glanced up from her boring algebra textbook and headed towards the door, thankful for the distraction. She had been going out of her mind with boredom. Studying was not something that came naturally to her; cramming right before the test was more her speed. In fact, she hadn't even planned on studying today. She simply wound up doing so because she had nothing better to do. It didn't exactly relieve her boredom, but it was a way to keep her mind occupied for the rest of the day, even though the material wasn't sticking.

As soon as she opened the door and saw Chase standing there, her face lit up with surprise. She knew she hadn't exactly been the best girlfriend in the world, but she figured that he was studying and needed his space. She wouldn't have been to live with herself if he wound up failing because of her selfish need for attention. "Hey there," she said with a smile as she threw her arms around him. "I missed you."

[Tiff]

A smile spread over his features like wild fire takes to dry water starved land, having spent so much time away from her he'd forgotten the smallest details about her that he'd always loved and said he'd never forget. "I've missed you too." He glanced down at his empty hands and realized this was one of the rare moments in their relationship where he didn't arrive at her door with any token of his love and appreciation for her in the form of floral arrangements or delicacies from the kitchen. Ashamed he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her gently. "I was sitting in my room staring at the pages of my text books and notes and..." He nodded toward her algebra text book, noticing that she must have been studying. "And well I needed a break so..." He felt like he was rambling a bit and a smile formed on his lips before sliding off sideways. "I was going to lie and say I was thinking of you, but it wasn't until my roomate walked in on me watching some dumb show and started sharing the news of his engagement that I actually remembered I have a girlfriend and a life outside the four walls if my dorm room and I'm sorry."

He stepped back a little, took a shallow breath and began to ramble on some more about his rudeness and complete inadequacy at being a proper boyfriend. "You must think I'm the worst guy on the planet. I haven't called, texted, emailed, or even sent smoke signals your way in weeks if not months and when I do show up, I'm not even polite enough to bring you a plucked flower from the planter out front or at least tell you I've been thinking of you." He laughed at himself and hugged her again, with one last apology for being so explosive upon arrival.

[Dani]

"Awww you're so honest," Bekah said, pecking him gently on the lips. It didn't really matter to her what had triggered his visit; she was just glad that he was here. She frowned a bit at his comments about not being a good boyfriend. Did he really think that she'd carry whether or not he'd bought her flowers? Had she really come across as that shallow? She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his once more. "Chase, I could never think that. I love you. I figured you were studying and I didn't want to bother you. If you had kept calling me, I would have never left you alone and you probably would have wound up failing or something."

She ran her fingers through his hair and continued. "And don't worry about the flowers. All I need is you. I can't cuddle with a bouquet of flowers. Well I probably could, but it would be incredibly one-sided." She chuckled at the image and shook her head. "So now that you're here, what do you want to do?" She didn't really care what activity he chose; they could sit down and stare into space for all she cared. The important thing was that they would be doing it together.

[Tiff]

Chase kissed her back and laughed when she spoke about cuddling with a bouquet of flowers. "I know you don't need flowers or treats, but I like bringing them to you." He shrugged a shoulder and released her. "I wasn't just talking about the last two weeks or so, this entire semester I haven't been attentive to anyone but myself and school, I could have taken a short break from everything to call you." He shrugged again and looked into her dorm room. "Were you studying?" He would help her study if she wanted, but they both could probably use a break from the books. "I want to talk to you about something a little later."

[Dani]

Bekah sighed a little and nodded her head. She couldn't really argue with him there. He had been pretty busy all semester. She had thought that they would be much closer now that they were living in the same place, but sadly it was just the opposite. They had spent more time together when she was staying at Kylie's house than after she had moved into the dorms. Wanting to take full advantage of their time together, she stepped back and motioned for him to come in. "Yeah, I was studying a bit, but mostly out of boredom. I'm much more interested in what you have to say."

[Tiff]

Chase made a face and shook his head. "How about a movie first?" He asked, hopefully. "I promise I'll get to what I wanted to talk to you about later, promise. I said it twice for emphasis." He grinned and then pouted, begging. He couldn't believe he'd resorted to begging and pouting to get his way. "Or if you're hungry I could whip something up with whatever you have in your fridge. Tell me about how school is going and what you plan to do this summer."

[Dani]

"Oh alright," Bekah said, wrapping her arms around him and pressing her lips to his a second time. After pulling away a few seconds later, she laughed and headed into her living quarters. "You're adorable when you pout, you know that, right?" She couldn't really get on him too much about being secretive, especially considering that she had kept a secret from him for months. Luckily, that was all over now. "School's fine," she said, cleaning up her mess of algebra homework off of the couch. "I'm actually going to be staying here all summer to get more hours in the salon. I lost a few this semester because I tried to take algebra as well, which turned out to be more work than I thought it would be." She headed over towards the fridge, not entirely sure what she'd find there. "Okay, we have bread, eggs, and milk. Not much, unless you want scrambled eggs and toast for dinner."

[Tiff]

Chase joined her at the fridge, put his hands around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. "You have any sugar?" He asked. "Those are the basic ingredients for french toast." Although he wouldn't mind scrambled eggs and toast either. "I was planning on staying at the dorm this summer too. I mean the house isn't far from here so I could stay or go and it wouldn't make much of a difference, but at least when I'm here I don't have my parents rules or watching eyes on me." He laughed, his parents were pretty lax on the rules and watching.

[Dani]

Bekah relaxed in his arms and thought for a minute. "I think I have a few packets that I got down at the dining hall. How many do you need? Ten? Twenty?" She chuckled and shook her head. "I know exactly what you mean about staying here. Kylie wanted me to stay with them, but I couldn't. Her siblings are coming to town for the whole summer, so it's going to be really crowded around there. I didn't see any point of sleeping on the couch or in a sleeping when I have my own room and everything here. I did have to promise her that I'd come by and see her on the weekends though." She reluctantly pulled herself out of his arms and went in search of the sugar packets.

[Tiff]

Chase grinned when she mentioned the packets of sugar from the dining hall. "Yeah that would work, I guess, or I could just go get some sugar from my dorm or the store." He followed her and pulled her back into his arms, not yet prepared to let her go. "How about we just skip French toast and have scrambled eggs and toast like you suggested." He'd made things unintentionally difficult. He chuckled to hide this. "I'm going to fill your fridge tomorrow with more than bread, eggs, and milk." He would too, how else would he fix her a lovely dinner or mid day breakfast after a sweet night together? He kissed her cheek from behind. "Do you want to fix the toast or the eggs?"

[Dani]

"Awwww you're going to take me grocery shopping tomorrow?" Bekah was completely touched by the sentiment. Sure, she knew that Chase loved food and that the supermarket was probably one of his favorite places in the world, but he didn't have to go out of his way to buy her groceries. That meant a lot to her. "I think I should make the toast," she said, resting her head on his shoulder. "I actually know how to do that. If you tasted my eggs, you'd probably break up with me." She burst out laughing at the idea. Their relationship had now become so comfortable that the idea of them breaking up seemed completely far-fetched. Sure, it could still happen, but it was so unlikely at this point.

[Tiff]

"Sure if you wanna go with me, I'd like your company, then I might buy stuff that you actually like and will try without me around." He winked and pulled out the carton of eggs and milk. "Is there anything else in here you don't know about?" He looked around smiled as he came out with a few slices of cheese. "This'll be a good addition." He found a skillet and a bowl to start the process. "I wouldn't break up with you over scrambled eggs."

[Dani]

Bekah turned bright red as she saw him take the cheese out of the fridge. "I guess I don't use it as much as I should," she said sheepishly. "Taylor and I usually eat out all the time. Neither of us really knows how to cook." She chuckled nervously and placed the bread in the toaster. At least I know how to do that correctly..... She smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "I love you. I love that you won't dump me because of my poor cooking skills and I'd love to go shopping with you tomorrow." As soon as she said the word 'tomorrow', a thought suddenly occurred to her. "Did you want to stay here tonight?"

[Tiff]

Chase shrugged. "It's alright not everyone can cook, I can't do hair and make up to save my life, so you've got that over me." He smiled warmly at her and shrugged again. "If anyone would break up with you over poor cooking skills or because you couldn't do something as well as them, then they wouldn't be worth the time you put into them." He cracked a few eggs into a bowl and added the milk and began to whisk them together, when he got the right consistency he let them sit while the pan heated up. "Would that be a problem?" He asked. "I wouldn't want your room mate to feel uncomfortable."