As she lay in bed praying for a dreamless sleep to come quickly, Cassie reminisced on the short period of time she and Christian were not together. Those two months were hard for Cassie, but she got through them with the help of Jade and a few other close friends. They encouraged her to go out and meet new people. 

It was a couple months after their break-up when Cassie saw him in one of the many clubs she frequented with Jade. Clad in a pair jeans, a white shirt and a leather jacket, Christian was sitting at the counter with a glass of, what Cassie assumed to be, scotch. Several women surrounded him and he was flirting with each of them. Cassie saw one of the ladies (although Cassie thought they were more skank-like than lady-like) take Christian by the hand and pull him onto the dance floor. She felt almost sick to her stomach as she watched the woman grind with Christian, the man Cassie was not quite over and still in love with.

“Do we have to stay?” Cassie asked Jade as she turned around to leave.

“Yes we do. It’s been two months since you broke up with him. Besides, there are plenty of men here who would die to take you out on the dance floor. Why don’t you give them a chance, and give Christian a taste of his own medicine.” Jade suggested.

“I’m really not sure about this Jade.”

“Here, have a drink.” Jade thrust a shot of tequila in Cassie’s hand.

It took two shots and a martini before Cassie was comfortable enough to go out on the dance floor. But once she did, there was no stopping her. Cassie wasn’t sure how many men she danced with that night, but she was sure she felt Christian’s eyes on her the entire night. And to be honest, at the time, she did not care. All she wanted was to feel better; drinking and dancing with different men gave her that.

Before the night ended, Jade made sure her friend was sufficiently drunk. The next morning Cassie woke up with a headache and an aversion to light. She rolled over and looked at her clock and then to the empty space on the other side of her bed. At least I didn’t sleep with a complete stranger, Cassie thought. She closed her eyes again as she started to remember images from the night before. The picture of Christian surrounded by women crept into her head and Cassie groaned. She did not want to think about Christian. She especially did not want to think about Christian moving on.

A few days later, Christian called Cassie. Seeing her in the club with other men put things into perspective for him. So, Christian asked if Cassie would meet him for coffee. 

Cassie waited at the Starbucks down the street from the studio. She was nervous. Cassie agreed to meeting Christian because she missed him, and she wanted to work things out. But she also knew there were a number of tissues that the two of them needed to address before moving forward. 

As she sat at the bar facing the street, Cassie sipped her mocha and watched the sidewalk for Christian’s form.

“Hi,” he said as he sat down at the table.

Cassie smiled. “Hi to you. How have you been?”

“I’ve been okay.” He looked down at the table a few seconds before he spoke again. “I missed you Cass.”

“You were the one who ended it Christian.”

“I know but that doesn’t mean I didn’t miss you.”

“It didn’t look like you missed me a few nights ago,” Cassie said.

“Cassie...”

“What are we doing here?” Cassie interrupted.

“Let’s try this again Cassie. We can make this work.”

“I... I’m not willing to try if you’re not willing to accept some changes.”

“What do you mean?”

“You were right. About your job being dangerous. I don’t want to be involved with that. I don’t want you to be involved with that either.” Cassie explained.

“Cassie, this is my life...”

“And these are my stipulations. If we are going to do this again, we are doing it my way. You have to give it up Christian, all of it. The money, the jobs and the secret meetings, you have to be willing to give it up.”

“Cassie, what you’re asking...”

“What I’m asking is no more than what I would do. Christian I can promise you, in a heartbeat, I’d trade everything I have just for this to work; for us to be together again...”

“Cassie...”

“Let me finish Christian. I would quite my job; I would stop writing songs for artists. God Christian, I’d even stop singing along to songs on the radio. I’d  get some standard boring nine to five job as an accountant or something if it meant that you would not leave me. ‘Cause if you did, I don’t think my heart could take it again. I don’t think... no I know I could never love anyone the way I love you Christian.”

Cassie wiped the tears from her face that had begun to fall. She was not able to spend more than two months apart from him then. How could she possibly spend an entire lifetime without Christian now.