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Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


A little over a week passed, and Cassie was bored. Jade was once again out of town, and Cassie did not feel right contacting some of her old acquaintances. She had not spoken to many of them in over a year, and she contacted only a select few to let them know she was back in town.

For the most part, Cassie sat in her apartment practicing songs on the piano she learned long ago, and spending hours watching television shows on Netflix. When she was not doing either of those activities, Cassie was working on plans for the fundraising roll out of the foundation. The group decided throwing a halloween masquerade gala would raise the most money and be the most entertaining. Jade and Sean were working on getting a few of their industry friends to commit to donating some of their time to perform at the event.

Cassie had already spent more time than she cared to think about working on the gala. Since she was the only one of the group without a job, she was tasked with getting many of the details in place. Earlier, Cassie was negotiating with a hotel for getting a room for the launch. Cassie was tired of her day-to-day routine; she needed to shake it up.

On a whim, Cassie went to her coat closet and dug through the pocket of the jacket she wore to Dani and Alex’s dinner party. She found what she was looking for in the form of a folded up business card. Going back to the overstuffed arm chair she was sitting in before, Cassie sat down on one leg and let the other dangle. She reached for her phone and dialed the number on the card. 

 

It was the middle of the day when Luke’s phone rang. And surprisingly, he was not busy working. Luke tried to reserve his Sundays for doing absolutely nothing. Rarely was he successful in his attempts. He answered his phone after the first ring.

“This is Luke.” 

There was silence on the other end. “Hello?” Luke asked.

“Hi Luke, it’s Cassie.”

“Wow, this is a surprise.” Luke laughed. “How are you doing?”

“I’m good. I’m fine. Actually, I’m bored.” Cassie said.

“Really? You’re bored.” 

“Yes.”

“So you called me, because you’re bored?” Luke asked.

“Do you have a problem with that?” Cassie asked. However, she gave him no time to respond. “Because I can hang up if you do.”

“No, no. I just… never mind. So you’re bored.”

“That point has been well established by now, Luke.” Cassie said.

“What do you want me to do about your boredom Cassie?” Luke asked. He was curious to find the real reasoning behind Cassie’s call.

“You gave me your number.” Cassie said.

“Yes, I did. Am I supposed to be able to cure boredom though?” 

“You gave me your number and said I could call when I wanted to set something up.”

“And…” Luke said. He now understood why Cassie was calling, but he wanted her to say it. 

“And I want to set something up.”

“I see.”

“Are you free this evening?” Cassie asked.

“You want to set something up tonight?”

“I know it’s kind of short notice, but I’m really bored.” Cassie started.

“That fact we’ve clearly established.” Luke noted.

“Yes and it’s a Sunday night, and I don’t know too many people who have plans on Sunday night. I was hoping you didn’t have any already, plans that is.” Cassie explained. 

From Luke’s perspective, it sounded like the words were falling out of Cassie’s mouth. He could hear through her voice that she was slightly apprehensive and nervous about asking this of him. 

“You’re right. I don’t have any plans for the evening. Did you have anything particular in mind you wanted to do?”

“Well,” Cassie said. “We could go to see a movie. Movies are safe.”

Luke laughed, “What do you mean by ‘movies are safe.’ We live in New York City, but it’s not as dangerous as people think it is.”

“That’s not what I meant. I just think seeing a movie is a nice platonic thing to do. God knows if either Jade or Dani find out about this, they’ll start trying to plan our wedding.” Cassie said.

“Oh, so you plan on marrying me now then?” Luke joked.

“That’s not…God, Luke just…don’t.” Cassie said frustrated.

“I’m sorry. You walked right into that one. But I do know what you mean. Dani can meddle all by herself. Give her someone to conspire with and game over, you’ve been suckered into doing something you didn’t think you would.”

“Sounds like you know from experience.” Cassie said.

“Dani has set me up on one too many blind dates for me to not have experience. They hardly ever go well. Nothing seems to stick.” Luke explained. “Is Jade the same way?”

“Only since I’ve been back. She couldn’t really set me up for a year and before that I was in a relationship for the better part of eight years.” Cassie said. She was going along with the conversation. It was not until after she said it, that she realized what she had admitted to Luke. She started to contemplate the fact that she easily revealed an important part of her recent past.

“I see.” Luke said. He waited for Cassie to say something else. “Cassie.” Luke prodded. He did not want to push her. The silence spoke volumes. He recognized that her intent was not to have a deep conversation with him over the phone; she was just trying to plan an evening out with a friend. “Cassie are you okay?”

Cassie came out of her daze, “Yeah, no I’m fine.” She said. “So you’re up for seeing a movie tonight then?” 

“That works for me. Is there a specific theater you want to go to?” Luke asked.

“I’ll text you an address and time. I’ll see you in a few hours.” Cassie said.

“Okay. Bye Cassie.” Luke said. He heard the call end. 

Luke put his phone down. He had not expected a call from Cassie. Even more, he had not expected that she would mention her past. When the two ran into each other before, Luke tried to get her to open up. But Cassie refused. He did not mean to push her then, and definitely was not going to push her now. He could understand if she needed her space, and he would give it to her. Luke wanted to be a friend to Cassie, and he did not want to frighten her away.


Luke was rushing to get out of the door. He fell asleep on his couch shortly after his phone call with Cassie. How he managed to do that, he would never know. The piece of furniture was built for style and not for comfort. He grabbed his wallet, phone and keys and headed out the door. 

Standing in front of the elevator, Luke bounced. He anxiously awaited the car’s arrival. When the elevator did not come in a  suitable time frame, Luke went for the stairs. He sprinted down, skipping a step every now and then. He burst through the door into the lobby on the bottom floor of his apartment. The bellman waved, but Luke did not notice. He stopped briefly on the side walk and contemplated whether he should hail a cab or take the subway. The nearest stop was just down the block, and, with New York traffic, would probably be quicker. Deciding on the subway, Luke sprinted down the sidewalk narrowly avoiding a dad taking his kid out for a stroll. Luke only stopped when he got to the platform. The train had yet to arrive. Luke used that time to catch his breath and look at his phone for the time. If the train came in the next few minutes, he was sure he could make it to meet Cassie on time. 

It was not long before the train did arrive and Luke stepped on. He stood toward the middle and tapped his foot on the ground. Knowing there was nothing to do to make them move faster, Luke rested his head on his hand that was holding the stabilization pole. The twenty minute ride felt like eternity.  When the train finally stopped, Luke was moving again. He made his way through the underground stop and up the stairs out into the open. He then preceded to sprint to his final destination. Luke, however, was caught by a light. 

Luke looked across the street and he saw Cassie. She was standing alone in front of the theater waiting. Luke watched as she pulled out her phone and looked down at it. She seemed to be getting nervous. Cassie lifted her hand to push her hair, back in its natural curly state, out of her face. The wind was blowing quite a bit for the cool spring day. When the light changed, Luke speed-walked down the sidewalk. Cassie was looking in the other direction as he came up behind her.

“Hey.” Luke said.

Cassie spun around to take in the man before her. She gave Luke a quick once-over; since meeting on the plane, Cassie had never seen him dressed this way. Usually he was wearing a suite and tie, but on this particular evening he was wearing a pair of jeans and a button-up shirt. The look surprised Cassie, though it should not have considering it was a Sunday and he already admitted when they were on the phone that he was not working on Sunday.

“Hi.” Cassie said. “You’re…”

“I’m not late.” Luke interrupted. “I’m on time, well almost on time. If I made that light over there,” Luke pointed to where he stood and watched Cassie from across the street, “I’d be on time.”

Cassie smirked. “Of course.”

“How long have you been standing here?” Luke asked.

“Not too long ten minutes max.” 

“Ten minutes! And you said that’s not too long?”

Cassie turned toward the ticket window and got in line. Luke followed. “That’s not too bad for me. I hate being late. I think it’s rude. So, I usually get to places fifteen minutes early.” Cassie explained.

“Really?” Luke asked.

Cassie nodded her head. “Once, in undergrad, I was working on a group project. Most of the group informed me they weren’t going to make it, but I was still supposed to meet with one of the other people on my team. I got to the student union about fifteen minutes early. I ended up waiting for the person to show up which is no surprise. However, about thirty minutes after our scheduled meet time, I was getting ready to leave. My missing group member shows up as I’m ready to walk out the door. So as I said, ten minutes is not a big deal for me.”

“I see.” Luke said. 

The pair bought their tickets separately before going inside the theater complex. They had a good fifteen minutes before the movie was scheduled to start, however, the film they chose to see was a fairly popular one. Luke looked around and saw a number of people heading to the theater their movie would play in.

“Why don’t I go to the concession counter and get us some refreshments…” Before he could finish his suggestion, Cassie interrupted.

“I can buy my own food.” Cassie said indignantly. While Luke had agreed this was not a date earlier, Cassie wanted to make sure he did not change his mind and make it more than what it was. If Jade were there to analyze Cassie’s thought process, which she often was in Cassie’s head, she would say that Cassie was jumping to conclusions because she did want it to be a date. But Cassie would insist that Jade was wrong. 

“I didn’t say you couldn’t. I was going to say there looks like a lot of people showed up for the movie and I was going to suggest you go get us good seats, while I got the food.” Luke reasoned.

“Oh, okay. Right.” Cassie turned and headed toward the movie.

“Cassie.” She stopped and turned around. “Do you want anything?” Luke asked.

Realizing she forgot to inform Luke of what she wanted from the concession counter, Cassie walked back to Luke. “Yeah a small popcorn and a Pepsi.”

“Is Coke okay?” Luke asked. “That is if they don’t have Pepsi.” 

“No, just get me a Dr. Pepper instead.” Cassie opened her purse and took out her wallet. “Here, this is for my stuff.” She said handing him a ten dollar bill.

“Right. Because this isn’t a date.” Luke smirked.

“Exactly.” Cassie turned around and headed toward the theater. 

After the two-hour movie ended, Cassie and Luke discarded their unwanted trash. They walked out of the theater and into the cool evening air. Cassie pulled her leather jacket closer around her arms. She began searching for somewhere to eat. She was hungry.

Luke was looking at his phone quickly going through some of his work emails. He looked up at Cassie. “What are you doing?” He asked.

“I’m looking for somewhere to eat.” Cassie said.

“You’re hungry? You ate most of the tub of popcorn.” Luke said.

“Don’t judge.” Cassie said. “Besides popcorn is not real food. I need sustenance.”

Luke tilted his head slightly and looked at Cassie. She was being unnecessarily dramatic and he found it kind of cute. He liked this Cassie a lot more than the closed off version he seemed to always run up against. This was a new side he had not seen before. 

“Okay then. Since you picked this theater, is there anywhere in particular you would like to eat?” Luke asked. He had a suggestion in mind, but he did not want to step on Cassie’s toes if she had her heart set on something else. 

“No, not really. I would like a decent hot dog though,” Cassie said. “And a milkshake.” She added as an after thought.

Luke laughed. “Popcorn is not real food, but hot dogs and milkshakes are?” 

“Don’t judge!” Cassie said again. She was pointing a finger at him and trying not to laugh.

“I’m not,” Luke said. He put up his arms in a surrendering motion. “I just can’t believe you consider those two things food. I know a place that does a really good milkshake and they also serve hot-dogs. It’s not that far from here.”

“Lead the way.” Cassie said.

“As you wish.” Luke began walking down the street and Cassie walked beside him. The two joked and bantered the entire way to the restaurant.

When they arrived at their destination, they stopped.

“Here we are.” Luke said opening the door and holding it for Cassie as she entered.

An older waitress came up to them and seated Luke and Cassie in a booth. 

“This place is interesting.” Cassie said as she looked around. It was small restaurant with a diner feel. There was a jukebox in the back and an eclectic mix of souvenirs decorated the walls.

“It’s a good place. Carmen introduced me to it. I was surprised by the quality of the food. You know a lot of times with these small hole-in-the-wall New York restaurants it’s a hit or a miss.”

“And this was a hit?” Cassie asked.

“Definitely.”

The waitress came back and took their order. While they waited Luke started up a new conversation. 

“Earlier, on the phone, you mentioned that Jade wasn’t really able to set you up for a year. Why is that?” Luke asked.

Cassie was quiet for a moment. She had been having such a good time before Luke decided to ask her that particular question. “I was unavailable. I spent the entirety of last year out of the country.” Cassie said.

“That sounds exciting.”

Cassie smiled. “It was. I got to see and do so many different things.”

“So you went around the world.”

“I did. I left to take some time away from some things.” Cassie said.

“I see.” Luke said.

Neither said anything for a moment. 

“Did you quit your job to do this?” Luke asked. He felt like that was a safer question to ask than the one he really wanted an answer to.

“Yeah I guess you could say that.”

“Care to expand?” Luke asked.

“I was somewhat self-employed.”

“How can you be ‘somewhat’ self-employed?”

“I used to write songs; I was a songwriter.” Cassie said.

“That’s…that’s incredible.”

“I guess.” Cassie shrugged.

“I’m assuming you’ve had a hit or two.” Luke said. “You know, because you were able to take the year off.”

“Yeah, I have. And the royalties did help with the whole not working thing.”

“Wait a second, did you write any of Jade’s songs?” 

“Of course I did. She’s my best friend. Her first single was one I wrote. I’ve written a lot of songs for Jade. It’s easy when you’re close to a person to write a song for them.” Cassie explained.

“That makes a lot of sense. Have you written for any other artists?” Luke asked.

“Yeah there are a lot.”

“So, songwriting is something you like to do?” Luke asked.

“Yeah, I used to at least. I used to love it. It was one of my dreams as a kid. I would come up with these songs, they usually didn’t make any sense, and I would perform them for my family. I’m pretty sure they got tired of me at some point.” Cassie laughed.

“Did you stop because of your boyfriend?” Luke asked. He was not trying to be insensitive; he just wanted to get an idea of where Cassie was coming from so he could be a better friend. 

“Pretty much. I just didn’t feel like writing anything after he died.” Cassie said. Mostly because it would mean dealing with feelings I’m not ready to face, Cassie added to herself.

“I get that, I guess.”

“Thanks.” Cassie said.

“Why are you thanking me?”

“Because you’re not being too pushy about the whole thing.” Cassie said. “Jade’s a bit pushy, but I know it’s because she could see from the beginning that things weren’t going to end well. She’s like my sister in that she only wants the best for me, and I only want the best for her.”

 

Luke did not say anything. There was nothing to say. Instead, he waited quietly for their food to arrive. The rest of the evening Luke and Cassie did not say much. Their conversation had Cassie thinking of the past and her regrets. While for Luke, the conversation made a number of things about Cassie more clear. 






Chapter End Notes:

I decided I'd post a few chapters today (instead of just one). Your thoughts are appreciated (it will help me finally take the time and finish the story as I only have three or four chapters left to write. The next ten chapters are sitting on my computer right now). As always, thanks for reading. 







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Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.