Valentine's Day

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Sorry for the boring title but I couldn't think of anything else.

Hope you enjoy.

Caitlyn let a drop of red food colouring fall into the bowl of icing before picking up her wooden spoon and beating the red into the white of the icing. Several trays of heart shaped biscuits laid before her awaiting the icing so that in turn they could be taken to the Valentine's Day party that her best friend Mitchie was throwing.

She picked up the first biscuit and turned it in her fingers scowling at it. It wasn't so much the biscuit that she had baked that had her temper up but instead the fact that she had been forced to use a heart shaped cutter.

Valentine's Day had always upset her. At first when she was in school she had rarely been asked out and even during the few times that she had had a boyfriend they had never lasted long enough to make it round to the 14th February.

And now as a young woman she was asked out more frequently but never for anything serious to mean that Valentine's Day was special. It couldn't really when she was hopelessly in love with her best friend. And it was mainly this reason that she hated Valentine's Day with a passion. For Nate Gray would never love her back.

She continued to spread the icing across the biscuits barely concentrating on her task as she was plagued with thoughts of her miserable future of loneliness and loving someone else's man. She had only told Mitchie of her love, or rather Mitchie had dragged it out of her, and she guessed that Shane knew too, there was little those two did not tell each other.

Her phone rang and she dropped her knife down onto the work surface to answer it without looking at the caller ID to see who it was. "Hello?"

"Hey Caity." Caitlyn scowled at the nickname but knew that protesting would make Nate use it more.

"What do you want Nate?" She sighed leaning the phone and her ear against her shoulder so she could continue her icing.

"Well you could at least sound happy to hear from me." She could practically hear Nate rolling his eyes at her.

"Well I'm trying to ice these biscuits for the stupid party Mitchie's throwing." Caitlyn defended herself scooping her knife through the icing to spread across the biscuit.

"You don't like Valentine's Day much do you." There was a silence from the other end of the phone which Nate took as confirmation as her dislike for the day although to be truthful he had always know. The constant scowls and snappish tones had been a giveaway. "Anyway I was just calling to tell you that I've got you a date for tonight."

Caitlyn bit back a groan; she had asked Nate to find her a date deciding that it would be too painful to go to that party single and watching Nate dance with the woman he had brought. "Thanks." She forced herself to sound happy about the news.

"No problem." Nate tried to sound as happy as she had but to his own ears at least he sounded miserable. It was wrong he knew to deny Caitlyn her happiness when all he wanted to do was to have her to himself; not just as his best friend but as his girlfriend, as the woman he loved.

He paused and then at her irritated cough he continued to tell her about Luke and outline the details of where they would meet.

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"You want to dance?" Luke held out his hand to Caitlyn as she set her drink aside. They had been making small talk on the edge of the party while they had a drink but now there was no escaping the dancing with him. The minute Caitlyn had met him she hadn't liked him and not just because he wasn't Nate. She wasn't even sure why Nate was friends with him.

She glanced around the room and was surprised to see so many people eating her biscuits. She had argued furiously with Mitchie when she had been asked to bake them stating that they were not the appropriate food for a party of this nature. But Mitchie had been adamant that they were what she wanted and besides Caitlyn knew how much Nate loved them.

As her thoughts floated once again to Nate she glanced around the room and saw him standing on the other side a biscuit in his hand with a glass of wine in the other and looking bored as he talked to his own date, Dana.

"Sure." She sighed taking Luke's hand as he led her out onto the dance floor. She saw Shane spin Mitchie who gave her an apologetic look. Caitlyn had managed to corner her a few minutes earlier when Luke was getting drinks and express her dislike for him; Mitchie had agreed with her opinions having met him before and then expressing her confusion for she was sure that Nate had never liked him.

"You look nice." Luke commented as he spun her and she muttered her thanks and turned her head so he couldn't see her roll his eyes at his remark. She knew he had only said it because he felt he should and he felt no attraction towards her at all instead staring openly at many other women in the room.

Not that she minded. She knew her scarlet dress showed off her body and the blood red heels she had paired it with showing off her legs. Besides she hadn't failed to notice the admiring looks she was getting from other men and perhaps she had imagined it but she was sure that Nate had given her an admiring glance.

"Can I cut in?" A familiar voice to her right made Luke release her immediately and she smiled at her best friend.

"Sure." Luke looked relieved to see him and gave Caitlyn a fake smile one last time before disappearing off to find a woman more to his taste.

"You having fun?" Nate asked wrapping his arms around her waist and drawing her close to his chest.

"Well I would be if you hadn't set me up with him." Caitlyn spat the last word in disgust. "What the hell where you thinking? You don't even like him."

"I do." Nate protested weakly.

"Then why did Mitchie tell me you told her that you hated him and why do you look at him as though you'd like to strangle him with your own hands?" Caitlyn raised her eyebrows at him.

"Fine I don't like him." Nate huffed. "I don't know why I set him up with you."

Caitlyn gave him a searching look and clearly didn't believe him but let the matter drop. "Where's Dana?"

"She took off with some other guy." Nate shrugged.

Caitlyn tried to squash the butterflies in her stomach at the news of their mutual non-attraction and at the way Nate was holding her so close. But she had to show Nate that she wasn't hopelessly in love with him and that meant acting like the sympathetic best friend. "I'm sorry Nate."

"Don't be." Nate waved her sympathy aside. "She wasn't the girl for me anyway."

As cliché as it was Caitlyn felt her heart skip a beat as the thought that Nate hadn't found anyone yet entered her head but as quickly as it came it was shoved aside by the following thought that maybe he had but he just hadn't found the courage to ask her yet.

"Have you found the girl for you yet?" Caitlyn lowered her voice unintentionally as she tried to keep the jealously out of her voice.

Nate looked stunned for a moment and then nodded. "Yes; I have."

The sound of all her hopes being dashed made Caitlyn stop dancing for a moment causing Nate to halt as well and Jason have to swing Tess out of their way quickly before there was a crash of people. "Are you all right?" Nate asked ducking his head down to look into her eyes.

She immediately averted her eyes from his knowing that if he got a proper look at them her feelings would be betrayed; Nate was an expert at reading people and as his best friend she was one of the few people he could read exactly and quickly. "I've got to go." She muttered not even bothering to invent some type of excuse before tearing herself out of his eye and sprinting from the room ignoring his worried shout after her.

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Taking the stairs up to her apartment two at her time she tried to stop the tears from coming. Jamming the key into the lock and swallowed heavily. What was wrong with her? She rarely cried and never over a boy especially not her best friend.

But Nate had sounded so sure of his feelings for this woman and she knew then that her feeling would not be returned. She was sure Nate would be wondering what had happened to her and would probably send Mitchie after her. He had never been good at dealing with people who had tattered emotions and had only ever offered Caitlyn comfort once when she had had a fight with Mitchie who was the person who usually came after her. But his insecurity with comfort and showing emotions was just one of the things she loved about him.

Barely pausing to sling her handbag onto the table Caitlyn threw herself onto her sofa curling her legs up under her and grabbing a pillow to hug as the tears fell. After a few minutes of uncontrollable crying she tried to calm herself by taking deep breaths not that it helped as she buried her face into the cushion.

A knock on her door made her look up and she sighed not sure how she felt about Mitchie coming after her. On one hand she desperately sought her best friend's comfort but on the other she wanted to be alone with her misery and adding to that she already felt guilty for running out on Mitchie's party something which would be made worse if she had made Mitchie miss her own party.

But she was there now and so Caitlyn stood up and scrubbed her eyes to try and stop the tears before stumbling over to open the door. "You didn't have too…" She trailed off as she looked up to see not Mitchie but Nate standing in front of her.

"What's wrong?" His voice was soft and concerned which only made Caitlyn cry harder.

"Nothing." She tried to pass it off but knew he wouldn't buy it; only idiot would believe nothing was wrong when the woman before them stood with red eyes, tears streaming down her face, her makeup smudged and her breaths coming in short sharp gasps.

"I'm not stupid Caity." He chided stepping into her apartment and shutting the door behind him before drawing her into his arms. "Now what's wrong? It's not like you to miss the opportunity to dance to cry."

She shook her head stubbornly and looked away from him. Nate sighed heavily; he should have guessed that Caitlyn would refuse to tell him what was wrong and besides he wasn't particularly good with people in tears.

He drew her over to the sofa and sat them both down keeping his arm around her. "Mitchie said you were unhappy with me."

Caitlyn groaned; she was going to kill that girl .While she thought Nate would have worked it out it probably would have taken a lot longer for him to guess. "Maybe." She muttered.

"And that you didn't like being single." Nate added leaning his head on Caitlyn's as she dropped hers onto his shoulder. "And that you were in love with someone."

She fought back a groan knowing it wouldn't be long before he realised her feelings and their friendship would be over. He ran his hand down her cheek and then tipped her head up so that she was looking at him. "Do you have feelings for me?"

She froze for a moment and thought about denying it but knew that that momentarily pause had given the whole game away. He was more perceptive than she had given him credit for. And she forced her head out of his grip to look away from him embarrassed by the conversation.

"I have feelings for you too." Nate whispered and she whipped her head back to look at him in shock.

"What?"

Nate rolled his eyes impatiently. "I love you, you idiot."

She stared at him taking in his features as a smile spread across her face. "I love you too." He grinned and caught her chin again tilting her head up before kissing her gently. She smiled into the kiss deepening it and running her hand through his hair.

They looked at each other shyly as they broke apart unsure of the step they had taken in their relationship although both knew that it was the right one to have taken. Caitlyn was the first one to break the tension as she smirked at Nate. "And I'll get you later for calling me an idiot."

Nate opened his mouth to retort before deciding against it and kissing her again. "Happy Valentine's Day." He whispered his breath hot against her ear as she shivered.

"You too." She returned and then laughed. "How cliché is the beginning of this relationship."

"There's nothing wrong with clichés." Nate protested. "Besides if it's cliché then it must mean that it's right; that so many people before us have had the same starts and that they made a success in their lives and love and so will we."

"You've thought about this seriously haven't you?" Caitlyn rolled her eyes.

"Well you go on about your dislike for clichés and for once I wanted to win our arguments."

"Well maybe you did this once." Caitlyn smiled at him kissing him again before snuggling against him and leaning her head against his chest and relaxing into the embrace.

For the first time in her life Caitlyn really appreciated Valentine's Day and with Nate by her side she guessed that she would always appreciate Valentine's Day.

Don't know where this came from but the words just appeared on the page. Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Thank you for reading; please leave your thoughts.

Tacxxx