I watched as shock registered on Xavier's face before Caspian even told him the news. He probably wasn't sure he and I were in contact. I got his number on Queen's birthday and finally contacted him after I got a new phone. We previously talked lightly about business prospects but as we remained in contact we began taking initiative.

"You guys have news?" Xavier asked in disbelief. "Wait, you guys talk?!"

I gave him a shrug and turned to Queen who looked just as confused. I didn't understand the big deal, I thought I was supposed to try to get along with the people Xavier was seeing. I didn't want to admit it, but Caspian and Cleo weren't terrible.

"Yes," Caspian said slowly as he glanced at me.

Xavier laughed softly and leaned back in his seat. "How did you manage to befriend him so quickly? It took me a damn year," he directed towards Caspian.

"We're not friends," I corrected.

"We're friends," Caspian answered. "He just won't admit it."

"Acquaintances," I pressed.

Caspian sighed, "I'll take that for now."

"Anyways, Caspian and I have been talking and we're looking to expand our businesses on Earth. We figured we could merge our clubs and solidify our stances over there."

"Yeah," Caspian agreed. "We need to travel there in person to do so though."

"What are you guys saying?" Queen asked.

"Let's take a trip to Earth," Caspian said with a smile as he shrugged.

Queen squealed under my arm and I looked at her in bewilderment. "I've always wanted to go," she admitted excitedly.

"Well you'll go now," I said. She snuggled up against me and I could hear her heart beating frantically still. I suppose she really wanted to go. Being the person she'd get to do this with gave me a surreal rush I couldn't describe.

Caspian remained with his eyes on Xavier. "Cleo and I were going to go and we were wondering if you'd want to come as well?"

Xavier glanced at him and I could tell he was trying not to smile for some reason. "Where on Earth?"

"New York and if you want to go anywhere else..."

"I'll think about it," Xavier replied simply.

"He's going," I spoke up.

Xavier rolled his eyes at me but I ignored it. If I was going he was going. Since he was so enthusiastic about going to Jeradua with me at the beginning of all this, he'd come to earth as well.

"So it's settled," Caspian clapped. "We leave on the 15th of March, so we have two weeks to get ready."

The waitress came back to us and placed our drinks in front of us. "Are you ready to order food?"

"I'll have the crazy fries with extra bacon and chicken," Xavier said cheerfully.

"Seriously?" Caspian asked with a disgusted look on his face.

"What?" He shrugged. "I've been craving it all day plus it's delicious."

Caspian shook his head softly and looked up at the woman. "I'll have the same thing."

"Two crazy fries with extra chicken and bacon," she repeated as she wrote it. When she finished she looked toward Queen and me and I looked down at Queen for her to go first.

Queen glanced around the table with a sheepish smile and then turned to the woman. "I'll have the garlic Parmesan wings with ranch on the side."

She smiled at me as she noticed the annoyed look on my face and I rolled my eyes. She spent the past twenty minutes deciding on what to order when I told her from the beginning she'd end up getting wings. Caspian and Xavier laughed at the situation, but I shook my head at them all.

"Got it. And you sir?"

"Umm." I furrowed my brows and looked down at the menu. I spent the whole time focusing on Queen that I hadn't even thought about what I'd want.

"He'll have the famous dipper burger with no pickles or tomato. Sauce...mustard instead of spread with grilled onions." Queen shot off.

We all looked at her as she looked at her nails and when she noticed the silence she looked up at us nervously. "What?"

Shit, how did she know that?

"Okay I'll be back soon," the woman said as she walked off.

"Can you guys stop staring at me?!" Queen asked dramatically as she held her hands up to her face.

"How did you know that?" Xavier asked with a small laugh.

"It's his go-to order. I just memorized it I guess," she muttered in embarrassment.

"Adorable," Caspian teased as he reached out to pinch her cheek.

She slapped his hand away and glared at him. "No."

I was still stunned into silence at what happened. It was strange to me but a part of me felt pleased that she would remember something that stupid about me.

Under the table, I took her hand into mine and she smiled shyly at me.

"Oh, before I forget," Xavier spoke up. "Julius is having a masquerade ball at the palace this upcoming week."

"Why?" I asked.

"I have no idea," he said with a shrug. He took a long sip of his drink gleefully and a few moments later he sat back in his seat and groaned. "Fuckkkkk."

"What's wrong?" A now concerned Caspian asked him.

"Brain freeze," he groaned.

Caspian gently laid his head onto his forehead as Xavier leaned his head onto the back of the seat. "You'll be fine."

A phone rang at the table and we watched Queen sift through her bag and pull out her device. She looked down at her phone and then back at us as she held it to her chest.

"Excuse me. I need to take this." She said softly.

"Who is it?" I asked as I stood up to let her out.

"You seriously want to know?" She asked nervously as she got up from her seat.

"Yes."

"Sebastian," she answered. She scurried outside of the restaurant and I ran my hand through my hair.

"So..." Xavier said awkwardly. "The ball. You and Cleo are more than welcome to come."

I sat back down in my seat and tried to focus on anything else besides what Queen and Sebastian could've been talking about. She didn't like when people left to answer calls because she thought it was sneaky, yet here she was. Maybe it was because I could hear every detail if I chose while she couldn't. I just had to come up with any excuse besides her doing things behind my back.

"Syn?" Xavier called.

I shook my head and looked at him. "Yes?"

"You zoned out man," Caspian said.

"My bad," I muttered.

"You're thinking about Queen and the guy she's talking to, huh?" Caspian asked. How the hell did he know? Was I being that transparent? I shrugged and stayed quiet. "Queen doesn't seem like the cheating type, Syn. Don't mess things up by being insecure," he said. I nodded at his words as I took them in. "Just be cool."

"Alright, I'm cool," I said confidently as I took a deep breath.

"You give good advice yet Cleo seems to hate you," Xavier said with a small laugh.

"Oh please, Cleo has hated me since the moment we met."

"How did you two meet?" Xavier asked.

"I caught her sleeping with my ex-boyfriend," he admitted.

"Are you serious?" Xavier asked as his eyes widened.

"To be fair, she didn't know he wasn't single. We were enemies for a while after."

"How did you end up dating?"

"That...is a story for another day," Caspian replied as he laughed and shook his head.

Queen walked back to the table and I let her back into her spot as we all fell into a comfortable silence. I wanted to hold her like I was earlier but thoughts of her call with Sebastian were plaguing me. The only thing keeping me sane was Caspian's advice.

Just be cool.

And cool I was. Cool as an ice cube...in a freezer.

Deep breath.

A freezer in an abandoned house...with no power...on a boiling summer day. Now I was completely melted.

And hot.

"So what happened?" I asked.

I ignored the way Caspian coughed on his drink across me as I put Queen on the spot.

She glanced at me. "We just talked."

"About what?"

"Nothing serious," she shrugged. "He just asked me to meet with him."

My phone buzzing tore my focus away from my interrogation and I picked it up.

Caspian: BE COOL DAMNIT!!!!!

I took a deep breath and returned to my mantra.

The summer turned into winter...a family moved into the abandoned house. They paid for the power and plugged the fridge into the outlet. My now melted state is frozen once again.

I'm cool.

"Nice. Have fun," I said as I glanced at her.

She looked at me for a few moments and frowned. "Thanks?"

I was fuming on the inside but I remained unexpressive on the outside. I'm her boyfriend, shouldn't she at least talk to me before agreeing to go see her ex? I'd talk to her. It was annoying as fuck because I knew for a fact if the situations were reversed she'd go on about how we needed to communicate about these things.

Xavier wiggled his brows at me as he shifted his eyes between Queen and me. "So Syn, who's your date to the ball?"

"I don't know," I answered dryly.

The tension at the table became thick as Queen looked at me with a puzzled expression. "You don't want to go with me?"

I looked at her for a long moment and couldn't stand to see the hurt look on her face no matter how wounded I felt. "Of course I do."

She nodded slowly, still not completely assured by my response and I pulled her into my arm and kissed her forehead. I knew I'd need to talk to her about how I felt but was it really for the best? We'd argue for sure. But if we didn't talk about it we'd have a built-up argument later that I wasn't sure I could handle.

With that in mind, I made my decision.

We spent the next hour eating and making small talk. When we were done, Xavier and Cas left to go do whatever they planned and Queen and I were alone. The diner was now practically empty and the staff plus her and I were the only ones here.

Since it was just us, there was no better time to talk. "Queen?"

"Hm?" She looked up at me.

"I'm not comfortable with you and Sebastian's friendship," I admitted calmly.

"I know," she answered softly.

I was taken aback by her answer and I felt my anger fester once again. If she knew then why the hell would she agree to go with him? It just made things worse.

"If you know then why would you agree to go see him?" I asked in a serious tone.

"I didn't agree to go with him. I said no."

"I thought you said you were going?"

"No Syn, I just said he asked me to. You assumed that I said yes. You should know I wouldn't do that to you," she said in a quiet voice as she looked down at her fingers.

A weight immediately lifted itself off of my shoulders and I let out a deep breath. "Sorry I assumed, I guess."

"Yeah sure, you're only forgiven because your communication was on point," she teased. "It was very sexy."

"Oh?" I asked lowly as I brought my lips close to hers and put my arms at her sides.

She giggled and moved her face away from mine. "Syn no, I just ate garlic," she whined.

"I don't care. That's a myth, Queen."

"Huh?" She stared at me in confusion. "Wait no! I just mean my breath is really...powerful right now," she whispered.

"Don't you think I'm aware?" I teased. "You've been whispering but your breath has been screaming, Princess."

Tears appeared in her eyes as she burst out into a hearty laugh. "You didn't have to do that to me!"

I moved my face away from her direction and let out a breath as if I was holding it in. "And you didn't have to do THAT to me."

She shoved me as she awarded me with another one of her laughs that I adored. "I hate you," she said with a smile as her laughter died down.

I brought my lips to hers and kissed her as if I hadn't in years. She moaned into the kiss as she laid her hand on my chest. After a few moments I pulled away from her and looked down at her.

"Your breath will never change my feelings for you."

"Can we go home please?" She laughed again. "I wanna brush my teeth and make out because this...," she gestured between us. "Isn't working."

I stood up from the booth and held my hand out to help her up. "I'm looking forward to it."

She smiled seductively at me and wiggled her brows. "Me too."

"You're looking forward to brushing your teeth?" I teased and she shook her head with an embarrassed smile.

"Wow! You suck."