atum awoke with a start. She was sweating and the body heat behind her wasn’t helping either, nor was the heavy blanket that covered her and the man right by her back. She groaned and reached for her phone, praying that there was some charge left. She was bad enough at charging her phone in her own home, let alone in somebody’s home.

She was somehow blessed, and her phone screen lit up, making her squint to look at the numbers.

08:37 AM.

The girl wriggled around, hoping to get away from the man’s grip, but that only made him grip tighter. Tatum had to get up and leave to go home, back to the apartment she shared with her brother. She pushed the blanket off herself and swatted at the offending hand on her hip.

Mumbled words escaped the man’s lips, but nothing she could understand. She’d been with the man for a bit more than a month, she knew how he could be like in the mornings. Not to say that he wasn’t a morning person, he needed to be woken up or else he’d sleep the day away.

“Ruston, please. I need to go.”

His hand and arm took more hits before one eye opened, a singular hazel eye staring right at her. “You don’t have to go, do you?”

“I do, actually. My brother’s waiting for me at home,” she replied with another pat to his arm.

“Isn’t he like, 7 years your senior? Why do you have to baby him when you can baby me instead?” Ruston snuggled in closer to Tatum, enjoying her body heat.

Tatum sighed; never would she have guessed that Ruston was a cuddler. When she first met him during orientation week, she was intimidated. But she wasn’t about to back down just because the older male was a whole head taller than her.

“And you’re 4 years older than me, I don’t think I should be treating you like a baby either,” she responds.

She could feel Ruston shrugging against her back, his breath against her shoulder as he mumbles, “You haven’t cooked for me before. When are you going to cook for me?” She felt cold air hitting her when he leaned back slightly. “Do you want me to make your breakfast instead?”

Tatum shuddered instantly. Ruston was more of a, wait for somebody to cook for him and eat and order delivery food kind of guy. The last time he stood in the kitchen to cook as a show of romantic gesture, it did not end well. Tatum spent 15 minutes fighting against her gag reflex.

“Alright, fine. I’ll make something for you, and maybe Drew if he’s up,” Tatum replied on an eye roll. She grabbed her phone and started to send her brother, Cyrus, a text. Informing him that she wasn’t going to make it back home.

Without waiting for a reply, Tatum gathered her strength and pulled away from Ruston’s hold, succeeding this time. She had spent 30 minutes loafing around in bed and she was starting to get hungry.

She walked out of the room to the kitchen and looked inside the fridge. The fridge was fairly stocked, courtesy of Andrew. She knew Ruston didn't cook, at all, and bless Andrew's soul. Tatum has had the pleasure of eating Andrew's shepherd's pie and lasagna, both family recipes that Andrew has been unwilling to share with Tatum, unfortunately.

Grabbing eggs, bacon and potatoes she found in the kitchen, she got started on making a hearty breakfast. She loved making homemade hash browns, so that was a staple whenever she made breakfast for herself or anyone for that matter. 

Even though she’s the youngest in her family, she’s the head cook. Her dad doesn’t touch the kitchen at all unless it’s to get a beer; her brother, let’s not get started with him and her mom is a pilot who travels far too often to be home to cook. So, when she was younger, she had to learn to survive. She made lunches for her family and grew to enjoy the calmness of the kitchen.

She adored making her family meals and loves it, even more, when she gets attention and praise from it. She’s no MasterChef but she’s a damn good cook and she’s proud of it.

Tatum was halfway done with breakfast when she heard the fridge door open. She let out a small yelp and turned to look over to her side, her heart pounding.

Andrew leaned in to grab a can of Red Bull and turned to look at her, his eyes drooping.

“Good morning, rough sleep?” she asked, scrambling the eggs in her pan, careful not to bother the hash browns she made from scratch at the side.

The younger took a long pull of his drink. “Hah, long night. I haven’t slept yet.”

“You haven’t slept? Why the hell not?”

Andrew sat on the bar stool by the breakfast counter and rested his head on the cool marble. “It’s only the fourth week of the semester and I’m already drowning in assignments. Professor Haynes is an .”

Tatum eyed him cautiously and served up the food for Andrew, sliding the plate over to him. “Doesn’t sound pleasant.”

He looked up at the plate of food and at Tatum, a small grin appearing on his tired face. “You know how to cook?”

“Sure do, those hash browns are homemade. You guys have a lot of potatoes here,” she said, her hand pointing at the hash before grabbing a stray piece.

This was rewarded with a slap on the wrist coming from Andrew. “My hash browns, hands off!”

Tatum looked offended and scoffed, “Excuse you, I made them. You’re welcome.”

Andrew stuck his tongue out and started to dig in, mumbling a soft ‘thank you’.

She rolled her eyes with a smile, dishing out a second plate for Ruston who was walking towards them, right on time. “Here you go, breakfast a la Tatum.”

Ruston accepted the plate of food, leaning forwards to give Tatum a kiss on the forehead. He ignored Andrew’s gagging noises and sat down next to him.

By the time Tatum sat down with her plate of food, Andrew was already finished and in the process of washing down his food with his Red Bull.

She eyed him, taking a mouthful of eggs. “You know, you should cut down on the Red Bull.”

Andrew wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and gestured towards Ruston. “Then your boyfriend, wait, I’m sorry, you guys aren’t labelling this anything.” He rose from his seat. “Ruston should stop buying me Red Bull then.”

“Well, I’m sorry for being a good upperclassman,” Ruston retorted.

Andrew waved him off and dumped the dirty dish into the sink, obviously expecting someone other than himself to wash it. “I’m heading to bed. Have a great day, kids.”

“Sleep good, Drew. Catch you tomorrow.” Tatum waved at Andrew’s back. “And I’ll take that as my cue to leave too.”

Ruston frowned, visibly unhappy. “You can’t stay?”

“I really do have to go home and help Cy. He’s leaving for a long haul flight and I won’t see him for a week.” Like their mom, Cyrus followed in her footsteps and became a pilot, mostly flying international flights, trying to log more hours.

“Are you sure I can’t tempt you to do some horizontal exercise with me?” Ruston said, tagging Tatum by the waist before she went too far from him.

Tatum chuckled, "Tempting but I'll have to decline. I'll see you tomorrow after I drop him off at the airport."

a/n: ( past ) oml, third teaser. we really do hope that you all are enjoying the teasers and it's giving you more of an insight of how their dynamics work as well as their personalities. – adam & loo