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The sixth rule of having roommates: Remember the Romance.

When Jade wakes up, she can hear the faint beeping of her phone' alarm going off. "Beck," she murmurs into the pillow. "Beck, turn it off." She received no response from her boyfriend, so she lazily reaches her arm under the sheets to stop the source of the noise. Feeling her phone, she pulls it up to hit snooze and simultaneously sees the time on the screen. "Shit!"

Less than a minute later, after tearing the sheets off of her and noticing that Beck had already gotten up, she's turning on the shower in her bathroom. It isn't until she's turning the knob, though, that she realizes that something's wrong. The showerhead will only produce cold water—and at a terribly low pressure. Pissed off, she rushes into Beck's bathroom and sees that he's already in the shower.

"Hello?" He says from behind his curtain.

"It's just me," Jade mutters, stripping off her clothes.

"Oh, do you need someth—" Before he can finish his word, she's jumped into the shower with him. "Oh. Hi." He grins and leans in for a kiss, which she uses to push herself around him and take his spot under the shower head. Beck eyes her naked body up and down, because he really can't help it. "Are we...having shower sex?"

Jade rolls her eyes and continues washing her hair. "Does it look like I have time for that?" He doesn't answer. "No, Beck. We're not. I have class in twenty minutes and my shower is broken because of this piece of shit apartment that we live in."

"I actually think our apartment is kinda nice. Four bedrooms and four bathrooms in New York City—pretty rare you find a good one for that."

Jade ignores him. "Move," she instructs, sliding past him again to wash her body off.

"Gee, babe, you're so romantic," he jokes.

She finishes just a minute later, and pecks his lips before quickly getting out. "See ya," she says, grabbing the towel she'd brought in and using it to cover herself as she runs back to their bedroom. She dresses in record time and—by some miracle—is only five minutes late to class.

Beck, meanwhile, leisurely finishes his shower and heads to class wishing that he'd gotten to spend some quality time with his girlfriend this morning. He's bored out of his mind in his History of Theater class, so he actually doesn't mind when the guy he'd become sort of friends with elbows him to get his attention.

"Hey," he whispers, turning his phone towards Beck. "Check out this chick on Tinder."

"Aw, man," mutters, feeling sorry for nearly laughing at the girl on Logan's screen. "How many cats are in that picture with her?"

"Too many," Logan chuckles, swiping the poor girl's photo to the left to show his disinterest in her.

"What is that?" Beck asks, intrigued by the app.

"Dude, it's Tinder. You don't have it yet?" Beck shakes his head. "It's an app that lets you scroll through girls—and they can see guys, too—and you can like or dislike people. If two people like each other, they get a notification and can start a chat."

"Woah, that's cool."

"How have you not heard of this? Have you been living in a hole the past three months?"

"More like I've had the same girlfriend for six years," Beck laughs.

"Six?"

"Yep."

"Holy shit, man. Aren't you bored?"

"I've never really wanted any other girlfriend besides her," he admits honestly.

"Yeah," Logan reasons, "but, doesn't it get old? I feel like after six years you'd barely even have any romance left."

Beck thinks back to his shower this morning and his stomach churns. Are he and Jade losing the romance in their relationship? She took a shower with him this morning and barely looked at him. Is she even still attracted to him? Maybe living together officially has turned them into an old, boring couple. "Um," Beck stutters, trying to act natural. "Yeah. Yeah, the romance is great." But despite the words that come out of his mouth, he can't help but feel like he's lying.

On his way home from class, Beck drops by a lingerie shop on 18th street and picks out a piece of black, lacy underwear. He can see Jade in it, and it certainly looks like her taste. Maybe this, he thinks, will bring some spice back into their love life. The second he gets back to the apartment, he finds Jade studying at the kitchen table.

"Hi, beautiful girlfriend of mine," he says, smiling at her as he makes his way over to her. He places a gentle hand on her cheek to turn it towards his face so he can kiss her, and she entertains him for a few seconds before finally pulling away. "How was your day?"

"Boring," she answers, continuing to work on her paper. "You still have that study thing tonight, right?"

"Yeah, but I'll probably be home by ten." When she doesn't say anything, Beck moves around to stand behind her and begins to massage her shoulders. She keeps working as if he wasn't there, so he leans down to kiss her neck. "You smell good," he whispers.

"Babe," she warns, "I have to study."

Determined to bring back the romance, though, Beck remains persistent. "I can't help it," he explains, kissing further down her shoulder.

"Beck, seriously." She turns to face him so that he loses his access. "I can't do this right now."

Somehow, he doesn't lose hope. "I bought you something." Beck walks over to the counter and grabs the little black bag he'd come home with. Jade, despite her annoyance, dips her hand into the tissue paper and pulls out the panties. "I thought they'd look sexy on you." Jade shrugs her shoulders and drops them back into the bag. Beck's face falls. "You don't like them?"

"I do, but I don't know why you'd choose now to give them to me. I have to study for this exam."

He sighs and takes the bag into their bedroom, where he flops onto the mattress. Today has simply not gone as planned, but he's not out of ideas yet. If there's one thing he knows will get Jade to show some affection, it's the idea of him spending time with another girl. He hadn't initially planned on informing Jade that three fourths of study group tonight bailed, leaving only him and another girl, but now he's desperate.

He packs up his backpack and warms up a microwave dinner for himself before turning back to look at Jade, who's still at work on her paper. "I'm headed out to study with Lucy," he says, as nonchalantly as possible.

"Who's that?" She asks, without even looking up from her Word document.

"This girl in my class."

"Okay," Jade says. She finally looks up at him and Beck is stunned at her response. "Text me when you're on your way home."

He's almost too shocked to speak; how had that not made her at least a little bit jealous? But he nods his head and swings his bag over his shoulder before leaving the apartment.

As he makes his way to the elevator, his mind starts to reel. She hates him. She has to. She probably doesn't want to be with him anymore. He panics the entire way to Starbucks, where he and Lucy have planned to meet.

Meanwhile, about two hours after her boyfriend has left, Jade is taking a much needed study break to do some therapeutic baking. She has the apartment to herself, as Tori and Andre had planned an all-nighter at the library tonight, and she can't help but start to wonder what made Beck so weird today. She thinks back to earlier, to the look of disappointment on his face when she used his shower and practically completely ignored him. The more she thinks, the more she realizes she had kind of tossed him to the side today.

"That wuss," she says, laughing to herself. She knows Beck better than anyone in the world, and she's sure she's never met another human who appreciates romance and affection more than he does. She rolls her eyes and sticks her chocolate chip cookies into the oven, saving the rest of the cookie dough in the fridge for Beck.

By the time her boyfriend gets home, he's still feeling down. It's only ten pm, so when he doesn't see Jade in the living room or kitchen he hopes she hasn't already gone to sleep. One thing he knows for sure, though, is that the whole room smells like chocolate chip cookies. As soon as he drops his backpack by the door, he makes his way to the counter to see his suspicion proven correct.

Beck,

These are for you. See you in our bedroom.

- Jade

The note is attached to a plate of warm cookies, and Beck can't help the smile that spreads across his face as he eats one. He walks down the hall to the bedroom he shares with Jade, and pushes open the door to find a whole different smell.

Vanilla candles are lit in various places around the otherwise dark room, providing just enough light for him to see his girlfriend from where she's lying on the bed. She's wearing the underwear he'd bought her, along with his favorite black bra and a silky kimono. Beck stares at her wordlessly for probably too long.

"Hi," he gulps, finishing the last of his cookie.

"Hey. Come here," she says, and pats the spot next to her. Jade props herself up on her elbow and Beck instantly moves to lie next to her. "I'm sorry if it seems like lately we've been a bit boring."

He doesn't say anything, because he's too busy juggling the thoughts of, for one, how beautiful she looks, and then also how she managed to read his mind.

"But, babe," she says softly, pushing his hair behind his ear, "we're not boring just because you like it when I do your laundry or I like it when you take out the trash. We're just getting older, and that's okay."

Beck still looks like he's been holding his breath. "So...you're still into me? Into us?"

Jade leans in to kiss him, and she can feel him immediately relax. "Make no mistake, Oliver. I still think you're sexy as hell, and more importantly—you are mine." She says it with so much conviction that Beck wonders why he was ever worried for a second, and then he's kissing her again.

Sometime between her pulling his shirt off and him rolling to hover over her, Jade remembers to silently celebrate this relationship victory. In high school, a miscommunication like they'd been having lately would have undoubtedly resulted in another petty breakup.

She's glad that this one is ending in hot sex.

Thoughts? Things you'd like to see? Should I do more?