Run, Girl (If You Can)

Cameron wasn't surprised when Jennica told him Ryan would be at Keeley's informal cookie decorating party; they were pretty good friends after all. The biggest problem was that it seemed almost like a double date with just the four of them. If Aaron knew about this, he would blow a gasket.

They had been enjoying a peaceful chat on his couch where his girlfriend was lying down with her head in his lap as he fiddled with her hair when she got the invitation.

He would have gone anyway to spend more time with Jennica but finding out Ryan would be there didn't hurt. Maybe he would be able to get information about him out of her like he had been ordered to without arousing suspicion.

Cameron was in luck; she had spent the night at his place and on the way back to her apartment she gossiped about Ryan without even needing prompting.

"He's been friends with Keeley about as long as Valentina has so for a while I felt like the odd one out in their little group. He works at this medicinal lab called PharmaGen—he and Keeley are both hardcore science nerds. Apparently they became friends by studying together because they had a lot of the same classes during their undergrads."

Jennica's smile grew conspiratorial.

"I think he likes her. I've never heard him talk about another girl and he claims he's always free when she asks to hang out because he has no social life but I've got his number. He gets tagged in Instagram photos all the time; he has a completely separate friend group he hangs out with most of the time but drops everything when Keeley invites him!"

This was bad news for Aaron and by default, Cameron and Aiden, who would have to deal with his wrath. He had to tell Aiden about this latest development as soon as he got home.

He kept a close eye on their interactions as everyone decorated cookies but he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Was Jennica wrong? She was normally skilled at picking up those sorts of things.

Ryan and Keeley teased each other like any pair of normal friends would. At the very least it was a relief that he didn't see any infatuation from Keeley's side—that would spell disaster for all of Aaron's employees.

"Your Santa Claus cookie isn't half bad," she praised. "I might actually be able to give that one away in a cookie plate."

"Such high praise," he replied dryly. "How many people are you giving cookies to anyway?"

"Not many. You, a couple of my neighbors, my faculty mentor, a coworker at the lab. The rest are for my family. Unless you want a plate, Cameron?"

Surprised at being addressed when he was spying on them, he recovered quickly and shook his head with a smile. "Nah, we're heading down to my mom's tomorrow and she's going to stuff us with too many sweets as is. Thanks though."

Ryan raised an eyebrow. "We?"

"My mom wanted to meet Jennica since I talk about her all the time."

"That'll be fun. You guys driving or flying?"

"Driving. It's really not that far," Cameron explained. He had made the two hour drive countless times since moving to New York.

Jennica grinned as she frosted a star-shaped cookie. "It's the perfect amount of time to listen to a whole musical and practice all the songs."

She always sang along to the radio when they were in the car and she had the voice of an angel. Cameron wouldn't mind listening to two hours of his girlfriend singing one bit. It would make being in the car much more enjoyable.

"Hey, isn't that movie you were an extra in coming out on Christmas Day?" Keeley asked curiously.

"Yeah, it is! I'm not sure if you'll even be able to see me at all though; I was part of a lot of big crowds and wearing a lot of stage makeup."

"I'll be able to find you," Cameron said confidently. He knew every inch of her; he could recognize her anywhere.

She smirked at him. "Ten bucks says you can't."

"You don't have ten bucks to spare."

She mock punched him on the shoulder. "Rude!"

"Hey, it's the truth. What if I give you ten bucks if I can't find you but if I can, you have to…" he whispered the last part into her ear because other people were present.

Jennica turned red but challenge glinted in her eyes. "You're on! We're officially going to see it the day after Christmas."

"We're such third wheels right now," Keeley said under her breath, elbowing Ryan in the side.

"But there are two of us so we can't be third wheels…we're more like unnecessary training wheels on a motorcycle," he whispered back.

"Definitely a better metaphor!"

Cameron and his girlfriend exchanged a glance. "You realize we can hear you."

"And we could hear you earlier so I think that makes us even," Keeley said smugly, waving her frosting covered butter knife in the air.

The back and forth banter between the group continued in a similar vein until all the cookies were frosted. Keeley thanked everyone for helping before shooing the men out of the house with the excuse that Jennica needed to pack and Cameron would be with her 24/7 for the next few days so there was no need for him to stay.

She rolled her eyes at her roommate's behavior, apologized, and gave him a big kiss on his way out the door. Even after so many times doing it his heart still raced uncontrollably. Jennica was that good of a kisser.

While he was still here, he decided to pay his old pal a visit and update him. He knocked on the door and Aiden answered it still wearing his gaming headset.

"Cam! What are you doing here?"

"I was across the hall at Keeley's cookie decorating party and have some interesting news. Are you busy?"

"Give me five minutes to finish my round and then we'll talk. Come on in and sit down."