Jax told Chloe that she was thoroughly spoiling him with all of the cooking she had been doing for him lately, so for the third night that week, Chloe was making dinner for them again. But first, she had to run to the grocery store to pick up a few things, so Jax accompanied her.

"I haven't been to a grocery store in a long time," Jax said.

"That's because you order take-out and room service too much."

Jax laughed. "Yes, I'm the Port Charles Hotel's favorite customer."

"I won't argue with you on that."

Chloe got a shopping cart and they headed to the fruits and vegetables section. Chloe dug her list out of her pocket. "Okay, let's get the ingredients for the salad. First, we need some lettuce."

Jax picked that out. "One head of lettuce." He put it in the cart.

"Okay, we need two tomatoes."

Chloe went back to her list as Jax put two tomatoes in a plastic bag.

"Whoa, what are you doing?" Chloe asked.

"I uh, I'm getting two tomatoes. What?"

"Without checking them first?"

"What do you mean?"

Chloe took the bag from Jax and took the tomatoes out. "See, Jax, you don't just pick any old tomato and put it in the bag. First, you have to check it. You want to find one that is firm and ripe." Chloe held up one of the tomatoes. "See, this one is no good; it's too mushy." She held up the other one. "Now this one is okay. It's real firm." Chloe put the bad tomato back and picked out a better one.

Jax picked up the bad tomato and then another one from the pile. He held them up, trying to see what the difference was between them.

"Now, the next thing on the list is…oh no!"

"What's wrong?"

"Oh no! Jax, hide me! Hide me!" Chloe suddenly hid behind Jax and looked over his shoulder.

"Wh-what? What's going on?"

"That guy over there!" Chloe pointed over by the grapes.

"What about him?"

"It's Pomeranian Guy!"

"Who's Pom--oh! The blind date guy? The one who wouldn't shut up about his dog?"

"Yeah, that's him! I'm surprised he's here alone and not with his mother. Jax, don't let him see me!"

"Chloe, you're being silly. Why don't you just go over there and say hello?" Jax teased.

"Are you crazy? He's the most annoying man I have ever had the displeasure of meeting!"

"Well maybe you didn't give him a fair chance. After all, you only went out with him once."

"Jax, have you forgotten that this man called me repeatedly for two weeks afterwards begging me for another date?"

"Well at least you know he likes you. Come on, Chloe, go talk to him." Jax tried to push Chloe forward. "It's been a long time since you've had sex."

Chloe snatched herself from Jax's hold and hid behind him again. "Jasper Jacks," she said in an angry and hushed tone. "I am *not* going over there to say hello and I am *certainly* not going to have sex with him!"

Jax grinned at her. "Oh come on, Chloe, you know you want to. When was the last time you had a good ole roll in the sack…" Jax laughed hysterically.

"Jax!"

Jax attempted to push her forward again. "Go talk to him," Jax continued to tease her.

"No!" Chloe complained.

"Come on!"

"No! Quit it, Jax! Quit it!" Chloe whined.

Jax laughed. He loved teasing Chloe. She just looked so cute when she was all pissed off. "Alright, alright, I'm just teasing you!"

"You are mean," Chloe said as she took the cart and walked away from him.

Jax caught back up with her. "Chloe, you know I'm just teasing you! Oh, come on, you're not really mad at me, are you? You know you're my best girl, right?"

Chloe looked at Jax and smiled. "I knew you were just teasing me. Just please, please, don't let that guy see me!"

Jax smiled back at her. "Don't worry, he won't."

Jax and Chloe went down several more aisles to get ingredients for dinner. When they came upon the chip aisle, Jax was quick to pick up a bag of cheez doodles.

"Oh yeah, that's nutritious," Chloe said.

"Yeah, it is." Jax shook his head. "Look, Chloe," Jax pointed to the bag. "Cheese flavored corn snacks. Not only is it made from real cheddar cheese, but it's also made from corn, and that's a vegetable. Mmm-hmm."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Okay, you can have it. Throw it in the cart."

"Thanks, Mom," Jax laughed.

"Ha ha," Chloe said.

The next aisle they went down was the candy and cake aisle.

"Look at this," Chloe said in disbelief. "It is the middle of January and they are already putting out the Valentine's candy. That's like a month away."

"Ooo, these look good," Jax said, referring to some heart shaped Little Debbie Snack Cakes. He threw them in the cart.

"I mean, by the time it is February, all of these chocolates and things will be stale," Chloe continued.

"Well that's the idea," Jax explained. "They want you to have buy more, and they put it out early so you'll be tempted."

Chloe strolled past the Valentine's Day display. "Well, I really don't know why I'm making such a big deal out of this anyway. I hate Valentine's Day after all."

"Why do you hate it?"

"Because, Jax, unless you're involved in some serious romantic relationship, what's there to like about it?"

Jax shrugged his shoulders. "You used to love Valentine's Day when we were kids."

"Well that was different. It was fun in elementary school because we got to exchange cards with our classmates, and no one was left out. And in junior high and high school, it was fun because we got to exchange carnations with all of our friends. When you're an adult, all of the fun stuff about Valentine's Day is gone. And then it all just comes down to who's single and who's not."

"Hey, Chloe, what if this year, Valentine's Day wasn't so awful--"

"Oh, no! Jax, it's that guy again, and he's coming down this aisle!"

Jax looked behind him, and sure enough, Chloe's blind date from hell was marching toward them, and they had no time for escape because he was walking pretty fast.

Jax, thinking quickly, leaned forward and kissed Chloe on the lips. He continued the kiss until the guy had passed them.

"Whoa, what was that for?" Chloe asked, surprised.

"Okay, he's gone now," Jax said. "It was a diversion."

"Wow, that was some pretty quick thinking. Thanks," Chloe said, her lips still tingling.

"No problem," Jax laughed. He thought about what he was going to ask her before, but then decided against it since the moment was over.

Chloe wished it could have been much more than just a "diversion."

After they had had dinner and cleared away the dishes, Chloe caught Jax eating some heart shaped candy.

"Hey, where did you get those?" Chloe asked.

Jax looked up innocently. "Uh, nowhere."

"Jaaaax?"

"I snuck them into the cart," Jax admitted.

"You know, Jax, we went to the store to get just a *few* things, and we ended up with more snack foods for you that weren't even on the list!"

"I'm sorry, I'll pay for it."

Chloe laughed and sat down beside him on the couch. "I'm totally not mad, I'm only kidding."

Jax smiled. "I know. Candy?"

"Sure," Chloe said and held out her hand. Jax poured a couple of sweethearts into her palm. "It's the only thing I still love about Valentine's Day," Chloe laughed.

And they were back on that subject again. Jax decided that if he didn't just go ahead and ask her, he would be kicking himself later. "Hey, Chloe, I was thinking about something."

"What?"

"Well, I was thinking about what you said earlier, about how you hate Valentine's Day and all."

"Oh?"

"Well, look, I think the day obviously means something to you if you have such strong feelings about it. So I was thinking that, well, since I'm doing nothing, and you're doing nothing, maybe we could just, you know, do nothing together."

"You mean, like, like a date or something?"

"Sure, whatever you want. I mean, friends can spend Valentine's Day together, right? So what do you say?" Jax held up an orange heart with the words "Be Mine" on it in red letters. "Will you be my Valentine?"

Chloe laughed softly. "I would love too."

Jax smiled back. "Great." He breathed a sigh of relief. That wasn't as hard as he thought it would be.

To be continued…