In the weeks following the dinner party at Elves, things were starting to get better for Cassie. Unlike when she first returned from her travels, she had something to do, something that helped keep her mind off of the songs she was not writing. Working with Sean, Jade and Dani meant she had a purpose. As things progressed, she found herself becoming more involved with the foundation. Her previous hesitations had faded.

However despite how well things were going, Cassie was still bored. Throwing herself into the foundation was one thing, but becoming completely consumed by it was another. She needed to spend time thinking about other things. Cassie needed entertainment. The lack of fun she was allowing herself to have was beginning to disturb her.

In the back of her mind, Cassie thought about calling Luke and setting up another get together. But the fear of letting her guard down was still somewhat greater than the need for excitement.

Three weeks had passed since her last night out, dinner at Elve’s. To top it all off it was one o’clock on a Wednesday. Cassie had already finished the work she needed to do for the foundation. She now sat cross-legged on her sofa, bored out of her mind. She looked over to the corner where the piano lived and shook her head playing was not an option. The kitchen seemed to call her as well. Her last online shopping spree had resulted in new kitchen appliances. But Cassie was not in the mood for baking.

Cassie’s boredom was slowly getting the best of her and winning the battle against her fear. She stared at her cell phone and Luke’s business card, both of which were on the coffee table in front of her. Jade would tell her to call him, she would insist. And he had told Cassie she could call him any time. But he probably did not mean in the middle of the workday. He was probably working; and interrupting his work because she was bored did not sit well with Cassie. She decided to wait until later in the evening to give him a call. But that still did not solve her current predicament of being bored.

Time moved slowly for Luke. The few weeks that had passed felt like an eternity to the lawyer. Depending on fate meant that Luke rarely handed out his phone number. And while he waited for Cassie to call, it seemed like he spent every waking moment close to the phone waiting for it to ring. He was sure she would call. The nights Luke spent working late at the office, which lately had become most nights, he checked the voicemail of his home phone every thirty minutes.

By four thirty, Luke knew it was going to be another late night. He did not have anything or anyone waiting at home, so he decided to get a head start on the next morning’s work.  He was about to pull files for another case when his cell phone lit up with an unknown number.

“This is Luke Carrington,” he said into the phone.

The person on the other side said nothing.

“Hello?” Luke asked. “Look if this is a prank call, I don’t have time for this. How did you even get this number in the first place?”

There was still no reply from the caller.

Frustrated, Luke closed his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair. “This is not funny, goodbye.” He took the phone away from his ear but before he could end the call, a voice finally piped up on the other end.

“Wait, don’t hang up.”

Hearing the woman’s voice, Luke put the phone back up to his ear.

“Luke it’s…”

“Cassie, yeah.” Luke finished for her.

“How did you know it was me?”

“I know your voice. I’m surprised you called.”

Luke could hear her take a deep breath from his end of the conversation.

“Me too,” she said.

“So…”

“So…” she repeated his words.

“You called.” Luke said.

“I did.”

“In the middle of the week.”

“At least I didn’t call in the middle of the day too.” Cassie defended.

“What?” Luke asked confused.

“I was bored. I am bored. And you said I could call you any time for any thing. So, I’m calling you.”

“That was three weeks ago Cassie.” Luke was happy she called, but it had taken three weeks for her to do so. Who waits three weeks, he asked himself.

“Was there a time frame?” Cassie asked accusingly. “Because you really should have explained…”

“No, no.” Luke interrupted. “I’m just surprised that’s all.”

“You said that already.”

“I know, I did. But that’s not the point. What do you need?” He asked.

“I’m bored Luke.”

Luke leaned back in his chair and smiled. “Yeah, you said that already.”

There was a pause in the flow of the conversation. Luke wondered what she was doing, what she was thinking.

“I didn’t have to call,” Cassie said.

“But you did.”

“But I didn’t have to,” she repeated.

“But. You. Did.” Luke said emphasizing each word.

“Are we going to continue talking like this?” Cassie asked. Luke could almost see her rolling her eyes at the way the conversation was going.

“I don’t know,” he laughed, “are you going to tell me why you called?”

“What are you doing tonight?” Cassie blurted out.

“Cassandra Mitchell are you asking me out on a date?” Luke joked, knowing it would annoy her.

“No, I’m not asking you out on a date! I was going to invite Dani as well, but it seemed like it would be too late of a notice. She has a husband and kid to think of, so I didn’t call her. Therefore, I’m asking you if you want to do something. As friends, do something as friends.” She paused for a second, but not long enough for Luke to respond. “I was thinking a movie. Movies are safe. There is this new action movie that came out this past weekend that I wanted to see. Movies are good. I can’t really go to the movies with Jade. It’d be weird. People would stare at her and come up and ask me to take pictures for them. They’d ask for autographs. People are just rude.” The words began to tumble out of Cassie’s mouth. Because she was talking so fast, only parts of what she was saying made sense to Luke.

“Wait a minute there Cassie, slow down. I get it. Not a date, but two friends going to the movies.”

Cassie took a deep breath. “Yes, two friends going to the movie. What do you say?”

“I’m still at the office now but I can meet you in a couple of hours. How’s that sound?”

“Great. I’ll look up times and call you back with the information.”

“Alright Cassie. I’ll see you then.”

“See you then.”

Luke hung up the phone and smiled to himself. This would be fun.