Jennica wouldn't stop talking about Cameron for days after Halloween. This is how Keeley found herself listening to her roommate ramble while making marshmallow brownies Saturday morning.

“I’ve never met a guy like him before. He knows how to dance while skating, has a dog, is family-oriented, and is super down-to-earth, even though he’s rich. He seemed completely normal; I never would have guessed! What’s the catch?”

“I don’t know, Jen. Why don’t you text him and find out?” Keeley asked wearily, stirring the dry ingredients.

Her roommate had been agonizing because Cameron had given her his number, but she didn’t want to seem clingy and hadn’t texted him yet. Since she hadn’t given him her number, he couldn’t contact her first, adding to her anxiety.

Neither Valentina nor Keeley knew what to tell her. Everything they tried seemed to go in one ear and out the other.

Jennica had never been like this over a guy during their time living together. She went on first dates but usually wasn’t impressed enough for a second. Cameron seemed nice, but why had she developed such a crush so quickly?

A sudden shriek startled Keeley, causing her to drop her batter-covered spoon. “Geez, what’s wrong with you?”

“He added me on Facebook!”

“Don’t scare me like that! Now I need a new spoon,” Keeley huffed.

Searching for another spoon in the communal kitchen drawer, Keeley only half-paid attention to what Jennica was reading from Cameron’s “About Me” page until she heard the words “Hale Investments.” She straightened so quickly she bonked her head on a cabinet.

“Did you just say Hale Investments?” she asked, wincing and rubbing the sore spot.

“Yeah, he’s a financial analyst there. And he has an MBA from Harvard…my mom would be thrilled.”

Cameron probably earned as much as, if not more than, a dentist annually, not counting his multiple World Champion of Poker prizes. Keeley was right; her mother would be ecstatic. However, why Jennica’s mother valued financial stability over other, more important factors was a mystery.

Keeley’s mother wouldn’t have been like that. She supported her children’s dreams and wanted them to be happy. She would have dissuaded Keeley from being with Aaron, despite his wealth, knowing they weren’t a good match.

Based on what little she’d seen of him, Cameron seemed normal. His wealth was an afterthought, not his defining characteristic.

“Give me your phone,” Keeley sighed.

To be a supportive friend, she needed more information. Social media was a heavily filtered version of reality, but a decent place to start.

Most of his pictures included his dog, but there were also many taken in places like Las Vegas and Paris. He seemed to travel a lot. Was it for work? Hale Investments was American-based, but had several overseas branches.

Aaron had spent a lot of time working on the international expansion plan after Keeley lost the baby…

After checking his pictures, Keeley examined his posts. They were pretty generic, but included some funny memes reposted from other pages. Nothing screamed “red flag.”

One odd thing she noticed was that almost all his posts were liked by an Aiden Quinn. Clicking on the name confirmed it was the Aiden she suspected; they were Facebook friends.

“He’s friends with Aiden,” Keeley commented. “I wonder how he knows him.” They were about ten years apart; where would they have met?

Jennica looked at her strangely. “Probably at work. Don’t you know Aiden is in Hale Investments’ IT department?”

Why did everyone she knew suddenly work at Hale Investments?!

“I didn’t,” Keeley said coolly, regaining her composure.

She poured the brownie batter into the greased pan, spread it evenly, and put it in the oven, setting a timer on her phone.

“He mentioned it to me a while back. What’s so surprising about it? Their main branch has thousands of employees,” Jennica said, grabbing her phone from the table.

It shouldn’t have been surprising. It mostly threw Keeley off because it reminded her of Aaron’s pervasive influence in New York City.

If she really wanted to escape him, she would have to move. But where would she go? This was her home. Her family, friends, and life were here. Moving away would be letting him win.

“Hey, now that Cameron has added you on Facebook, you know he’s at least somewhat interested. You should text him,” Keeley said, remembering their original topic.

Jennica’s expression fell. “I don’t know what I would say.”

“Text him like you’d text me. He already likes what he’s seen, or he wouldn’t have gone out for drinks with us. Be yourself!”

Jennica composed the message three times before showing the final product to Keeley: ‘Hey, it’s Jennica. I got your friend request, so I figured you should have my number’ with a winking emoticon.

“It looks fine. Send it!”

Ultimately, Jennica was too nervous, so Keeley sent the text for her. Oh brother. Had she ever been this obnoxious when she liked Aaron? She really hoped not.

The phone dinged a minute later, and Jennica grabbed it.

“What does it say?” Keeley asked, knowing she would share it anyway.

“He says it’s good to hear from me and that he thought I lost his number. I knew I waited too long!”

She kind of did. Normally, when people exchange numbers, the other person texts immediately.

“You could always lie and say Molly ran off with it for a while until I found it under my bed,” Keeley offered. “I’d back you up if necessary.”

Jennica buried her face in her hands. “This is ridiculous. I’m never this shy.”

“No, you’re not, so get a hold of yourself! Jennica Stevens is no pansy.”

Jennica slapped herself and shook her head rapidly. “I think I’m okay now. I’m not sure why I panicked so much.”

Keeley smiled knowingly. Because she really liked him, duh! People did stupid things when they liked someone. Goodness knows Keeley was the poster child for that.

“Have fun texting him. I’m going to do some homework while I wait for the brownie timer to go off.”

She stood up and went back to her bedroom, but couldn’t concentrate. Of course she couldn’t; she was going to Aaron’s place in a couple of hours to drop off the brownies.

Hopefully, after this, she wouldn’t have to see him in person for a few months, or preferably ever, but she wasn’t naive enough to believe that was plausible.

Like it or not, she was stuck with him to some degree. She had certainly never had the power to change his mind about anything.

Keeley was certain he’d give up someday—after all, his parents would marry him off to a socialite sooner or later. She could handle him for now.

When the timer went off, she added the marshmallow layer and put the brownies back in the oven for three minutes. Then they needed to cool for ten minutes before frosting to prevent melting.

She’d baked them in a disposable foil pan so Aaron couldn’t use returning the dish as an excuse to see her. She let the pan cool while she got dressed. She refused to look nice for him.

Leggings, fuzzy boots with pompoms, and an oversized sweater seemed like a good choice. It was the sort of thing she normally wore on weekends.

Jennica was still texting Cameron with a smile when Keeley came out of her room. Keeley was vaguely curious about her happiness, but didn’t want to delay dropping off the brownies.

The final two paragraphs, advertising NovelFire.net, have been removed as they are irrelevant to the story.