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Cassie left the deli in a hurry, but she refused to cry. She did not want to go home; so she called Jade.
“Hello?”
“Hey Jade. It’s me,” Cassie said.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“What are you doing right now?” Cassie asked.
“What am I doing right now?”
“Yeah.”
“Not a thing.” Jade replied.
“Good. I’m coming over.” Cassie said. She ended the phone call and stuck her hand in the air to hail a cab.
By the time Cassie arrived at Jade’s door 30 min later, she was less upset about Christian’s death and more annoyed by Luke. Cassie used her key to let herself into Jade’s apartment
“Who’s barging in on who now?” Jade called as she heard the door shut. Jade walked into the living room where Cassie had thrown her purse on the couch and she was laying face-up on the floor. Her hair was fanned out around her head.
“I think you’re a little confused sweetie. The purse goes on the floor and you go on the couch.” Jade commented as she sat on the couch.
Cassie groaned as she pulled herself into a seated position. She rested her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands.
“What’s wrong Cassie?” Jade asked concerned.
“Nothing, I’m done crying over it. Now I’m just pissed.”
“Christian.” Jade said.
“Yes and no.” Cassie said looking up
“What do you mean yes and no?”
“It’s Luke.”
“Who’s Luke?” Jade asked, “and when did you start having problems with him?”
“The guy I told you about.”
Jade gave Cassie a confused look.
“The one on the plane. I went to college with him.”
“Oh now I remember. The one you said you’d never see again. What about him?”
Cassie glared at Jade. Her own words were coming back to haunt her. “I saw him again.”
“Ooh, really! Where, when? Wait why is Christian the problem then?” Jade asked.
“I saw him at the deli. He was getting lunch and he sat down at the table with me.”
“Wait you saw Christian, like a ghost?”
“No! I saw Luke at the deli.”
“Okay, sounds pretty normal to me...”
“That man. I don’t know... He was pushing me, trying to get answers about what’s going on with me. He doesn’t need to know.” The level of Cassie’s voice began to elevate, “he has no right to make me confront things I don’t want to. He doesn’t even know me!” Cassie yelled as she stood up and began to pace.
“Okay, Cassie. Calm down and explain to me exactly what happened.”
Cassie stopped walking across the room, looked at Jade and returned to her original position on the floor.
“I was in the restaurant going through the classifieds. He sat down and we talked about an incident that occurred in college and then he asked me what I was doing.”
“And how exactly did that lead to you calling me and then showing up in my apartment?” Jade said not connecting the dots. Granted Cassie was not doing a very good job of presenting the facts.
“I told him I was looking for a new apartment and he then proceeded to mock my want to gain a new perspective on life.”
“That’s fair,” Jade said.
“How is that fair?!”
“Because Cassie, that has been your mantra for the past year. Every time I talk to you, you’re ‘gaining a new perspective on life.’ It’s fine if that’s what you’re actually doing. But I know you, and you’re using it as a defense mechanism to just ignore what happened and how you feel about it.”
“How is that a problem? Is there something wrong with me not wanting to even think about Christian and our past together?”
“Yes there is. If you don’t acknowledge you’re still affected by it you won’t move on and you won’t let anyone get close to you. But don’t try to change the subject. I still don’t understand how his mocking you made you come here.”
“I kind of blew-up on him. I told him about Christian, and then I got upset. But I refused to cry, so I left called you and came here.”
“So, let me get this straight. You were originally upset about Christian?” Jade asked.
“Yes.”
“But now, you’re just pissed off at Luke because he pushed your buttons and got a reaction out of you.”
“Exactly!”
“It sounds to me, Cassie, that this Luke guy has gotten under your skin.” Jade smirked.
“Jade,” Cassie whined.
“I don’t think this is a bad thing. In fact I think it is a very, very good thing.”
“I hate you right now, you know that right?” Cassie said.
“You’ll always love me,” Jade smiled. “Now stop behaving like a child I have some things I want to talk to you about. Let’s go in the dining room. I set up my laptop there when you told me you were coming over.”
“If this has anything to do with music then I’m leaving now.” Cassie said getting off the floor and reaching for her bag.
“It only has a little bit to do with music. So just shut-up and sit down.” Jade instructed.
Cassie did as she was told and sat at the table. “So, what’s this about?”
“I want to start a foundation. Well really, I’m starting a foundation.” Jade said.
“So what do you want to talk about then?”
“I was thinking, you need a job for now and I need help getting this off the ground.”
“So, you want to hire me?” Cassie asked.
“Yes. Right now I’m in the planning stages. I already have Dani on board and she is very excited about this. Sean Adams has committed to working with me as well. It will kind of be our co-foundation to start out. I’ve sat down with Dani and Sean separately but the three of us...”
“Hold on. You are going way to fast here. Who is Dani?”
“Dani Wilson, right now she works with the Gates’ foundation.”
“And she is willing to give up that nice salary to come work for an unorganized and technically non-existent foundation?” Cassie asked skeptically.
Jade smiled, “I’m very convincing when I want to be.”
“Unless, she’s a lesbian I don’t see how you convinced her.The Gates’ foundation pays pretty well.”
“What?” Jade asked confused. “No, she’s married with a son. No, that’s how I convinced Sean, but that’s for later...”
“Hold on. The last time we talked you told me that you and Sean were just recording a song together. You never said anything about possible relationshippiness.” Cassie said waving her hand in the air.
“That’s not a word.” Jade pointed out.
“And that’s not the point. So you and Sean?” Cassie smiled, folded her arms and leaned back in the chair.
“It’s not really official or anything, and hanging out with him is how I came up with the idea in the first place.”
“Of course it’s not official. If it was, I would have seen it all over the tabloids at the airport. You guys must have it beyond below the radar. There haven’t even been any hints about him even being friends with females. And you know they’d be all over it. You my dear, are famous and he is a superstar.”
“Okay, I get it. Can we please stop analyzing my relationship with Sean and get back to the foundation?” Jade asked bending her head down in embarrassment.
“Fine. Foundation, go.”
“As I was saying, Dani, Sean and I have yet to meet together as a group. I was holding off on that. I really want you to be apart of this Cassie. You’re my best friend, and you need a job anyway.” Jade explained. “I have a ton of ideas about what I want the foundation to be, but I can’t decide how that’s all going to play out in the end.”
“It sounds like a good thing you’re trying to do Jade. I just don’t know what I would do?”
“You liked PR once, well at least enough to major in it in college. Dani is a PR specialist so the two of you could work together. She can help reacquaint you with everything, and you can still use your creative outside-the-box thinking.”
“I’ll have to think about it Jade. But I still want to know how you got Dani to leave the Gates’ Foundation.”
“She likes working with the Gates’ foundation, but she wants to do more. Right now, Dani doesn’t have the power to do anything more than what they ask of her. Working with us, she’ll have a say in how the money can be best spent. She’s very excited about that. But basically, Dani thinks she’d be able to work for a cause she believes in more directly because she has a say in what direction our foundation is going in.”
“That makes sense. Did you come up with that logic yourself?”
“Most of it, yeah. So are you in?” Jade asked.
“I told you, I’ll have to think about it. I’m going to go now.” Cassie said getting up.
Jade walked Cassie to the door, “you do realize you’ll eventually just say yes right?” Jade asked as Cassie got on the elevator.
Cassie just smiled and waved as the doors closed in front of her.
After Cassie left, Jade called Dani and Sean to set up a meeting for the following week. She was sure her best friend would agree to work with the foundation.