"In your face!" Cassandra and Brian screamed to Kevin and Nicole at the same time. "We won! Ha ha! Yes!" Brian and Cassandra did a dance around the room, and then sat down.
"Now that this is over, what do we do?" Kevin asked very maturely, changing the subject.
"Oh no!" Brian said. "You're not going to weasel your way out of a good taunting."
"Yeah!" Cassandra agreed. "Uh huh!"
"Psycho," Nick said under his breath. "I married a complete psycho."
Nick headed toward the girl's house, laughing to himself as he left the chaos of the victory party. As he entered the house and headed for the kitchen he stopped when he heard someone whimpering. "Cassandra," was his first reaction. But he followed the sobs into the living room and was surprised to see that it wasn't Cassandra, but Linden. "Linden? Are you okay? What's wrong?" He sat down on the couch next to her as she tried to wipe her tears away. "Hey..."
"Yeah I'll be okay," Linden said abruptly. "I was just thinking about how much I miss Anthony. God do I miss him."
"Yes I know the feeling."
"Well at least you can see Cassandra whenever you want!" Linden countered. "For a lack of a better phrase, you have access to her all of the time! I don't even know what he named our son. I think that we had agreed on Taylor, but I'm not sure. That day when I died, all I could do was watch and I didn't even see Anthony there. All I saw was...was-"
"Was?" Nick asked. "Who? What?"
"I-I'm sorry."
"No it's okay. Tell me about it. About that day."
"There's not really much to tell. That day I went up to see Trevor. I wanted to tell him off, but of course, me and my bad timing, my water broke. So Trevor rushed me to the hospital. They got me into, I guess, one of the rooms and I started having severe pains. I knew by the looks on the doctors faces that something was wrong and that these pains were abnormal. I felt really lightheaded. The next thing I knew, I was standing behind the doctors watching them, watching me. They were all rushing around, shouting, machines were out of control-"
"It's okay. Go on."
"I just...I just kept screaming at them to tell me what was wrong, what was happening. But they wouldn't answer me. And then I heard them. They said, 'Doctor, she's gone.' But my baby survived. T-There's nothing else."
"That's okay, that's good. Do you feel better?"
"Yeah. A little," Linden said.
"Good." He gave her a hug. "Feel better."
She smiled. "Thanks. Now I see what Cassie sees in you, or saw in you."
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"
She laughed. "Oh nothing!" she said and got up.
"No, hey-"
Linden ran laughing.
"Linden-"
"Nick, stop whining!"
"Why does everyone keep saying that?"
That evening after Brian and Cassandra had calmed down and Coreene, Emalia and Jonathan had returned from the mall, Jonathan hid his presents upstairs in Coreene's room and took Nicole back to his house. Emalia and Kevin went right to bed at the guys' house and Mercedes and Brian stayed up watching television in the guys' living room, leaving the entire girls' house to Cassandra and Coreene.
Brian had insisted that he and Mercedes stayed with them. "But won't you guys be lonely?" Brian asked them.
"Brian, please. We're going to bed anyway," Cassandra responded.
"But don't you think that it'll be safer with somebody else in the house?"
"Brian, chill out," Coreene said, laughing. "We're fine!"
Besides, Cassandra thought to herself, I've got Nick, don't I?
"Okay then," Brian said, interrupting Cassandra's thoughts. "I just wanted to make sure that Cassandra was all right. We're leaving. But we're right next door!"
They sighed loudly at Brian.
"Fine. See ya football buddy!" Brian said to Cassandra and slapped her a high five.
"Bye, Brian," Cassandra said. "Now leave. We'll see you tomorrow."
"Bye, guys," Mercedes said pushing Brian out of the door.
"Now that he's gone..." Coreene said, letting her sentence trail.
"I'm going to bed. Good night, sis," Cassandra said, heading for the stairs.
"Yeah, I'm gonna watch T.V. for a while. Goodnight."
Later the next afternoon, Mercedes was sitting in the guys' living room reading. Nobody else was up yet and it was quiet. Nick walked into the house and sat down next to Mercedes on the couch and watched her read. After about five minutes, he wanted to do something else. "Mercedes, you're boring," he said.
She couldn't hear him, though.
"I wish you could hear me," Nick said. "You're boring! You're boring! You're boring! You're boring!"
Mercedes shifted on the couch.
Nick gathered more emotion. "You're boring! You're boring! You're-"
"Shut up, Nick!" Mercedes screamed, closing her book.
"Whoa! Did she just hear me?" Nick said. He stood up and paced in front of the couch as Mercedes put her book down.
"Whoa, what was that?" Mercedes asked herself.
Just then, Brian walked into the room. "Honey, I've been calling you for a while!" Brian said to Mercedes. "Did you just tell me to shut up?"
"Maybe-"
"And did you just call me Nick?"
"Uh, well, um, no-"
"Okay, Honey! Hey, let's go out for breakfast," Brian suggested.
"Okay," Mercedes agreed.
"Mercedes, wait!" Nick pleaded. "It was me-" but they walked out of the house and drove off. "Damn." He tried to think, his mind was racing. Cassandra, he thought. I'll try it on Cassandra. Nick walked over to the girls' house, up the stairs, and went into Cassandra's room. "Green Grass Of Wyoming," he said. "You haven't finished that yet?"
"No," Cassandra said shaking her head.
"You heard me?"
She didn't say anything.
"I guess not," Nick said. He sat down next to her and looked at her over her book. "Cassie? Cassie? Cassie! Stop reading! Cassie! Woo hoo! Cassie!"
"Nick, shut up!" Cassandra yelled. She put her book down and looked around her room. "What's wrong with me?"
"What's wrong with you?" Nick asked. "Why does everyone keep yelling at me?"
Cassandra shook her head and stood up. "What's wrong with me?" she repeated. "Why did I just yell at Nick? Cass, he's dead, let him go!" She walked out of her room in search of a glass of water.
"Dead," Nick said. "But not gone."
Cassandra walked down the stairs and ran into Nicole.
"Cass," Nicole said. "Didn't you hear me calling you? Why did you tell me to shut up?"
"W-What?" Cassandra asked. "I didn't yell at you, I yelled at..." Her voice trailed off.
"What did you say?"
"Um, nothing. What did you want?"
"There's nothing to eat!"
"So? What do you want me to do about it?"
"Go to the store."
"No, I hate the store."
"Come on!" Nicole pushed. "I can't drive!"
"Why don't you get your permit then?"
"I haven't had time-"
"Fine. Fine, I'll go. Make a list of what you want, quickly."
"Cool!" Nicole said and ran off into the kitchen in search of a piece of paper.
"Can I come, too?" Nick asked.
Nicole ran in with her list and handed it to Cassandra.
Cassandra grabbed her keys and as she was heading out the door she added, "Sure Nick. You can come."
Cassandra walked into the grocery store, with Nick walking right next to her. She walked down the aisles, looking for the things that Nicole had on her list. "This is so frustrating," Cassandra said aloud. "I can barely even read her handwriting!" She squinted down at one of the words. "What does this say?"
"It says potato chips, Honey, Nick said.
"Oh, it says potato chips," Cassandra said and walked down an aisle.
Nick only smiled to himself.
"What about this one?" Cassandra asked and held the piece of paper up close to her face.
"That, my dear," Nick said triumphantly, "says pizza rolls."
"Ah, pizza rolls," Cassandra said. "All this girl lives on is junk food!"
Cassandra reached home later on that afternoon, after taking her time at the store, and brought everything in to the kitchen in three trips. The phone rang and Nicole ran in from the living room to get it. "Hello?" she said.
"Hey Nicole."
"Oh, hey, Jonathan. What's up?"
"I wanted to know if you could convince Cassandra to go out with us tonight for pizza?"
"So we're going out tonight?"
"Well, yeah I guess-"
"Why Cassie?"
"Oh yeah, because I'm inviting one of my best friends, Jason."
"Jonathan, I don't think this is a good idea."
"Why not?" Jonathan asked defensively. "Cassandra needs to get out of the house already and she needs some male interaction. Besides me and Brian and Kevin and-"
"I don't think she's gonna agree with this."
"Just try it."
"Okay, hold on." Nicole turned around to Cassandra. "Hey Cass, Jonathan's on the phone and he wants to know if you want to join us for pizza tonight?"
"Um, well-"
"Come on. You need to get out of the house! We'll party..." Her voice trailed off.
"Okay, sure!" Cassandra agreed, smiling.
"Great." Nicole went back to Jonathan. "Jonathan?...She said yes...Cool...Okay...See ya then...I love you, too." Nicole had a grin on her face.
"What?" Cassandra said.
"Oh nothing. He's gonna pick us up in twenty minutes."
Cassandra looked at her clock. "Okay, so six o'clock?"
"Uh, yeah," Nicole said and walked out of the kitchen.
"What a strange girl," Cassandra mumbled.
Six o'clock rolled around and the doorbell rang. Nicole ran to answer it. "Hey Jonathan," she said and he gave her a quick kiss.
"Where's Cassie?" he asked.
"She's still up in her room."
"I'll go get her," Jonathan offered. "Oh, and Nicole this is Jason. Jason this is Nicole." They shook hands as Jonathan ran up to Cassandra's room. He knocked on her door.
"Come in," Cassandra said.
Jonathan walked into her room. "Whoa, Cass," he said.
"What?" she asked.
"No offence, I've just never seen you dressed so casual to go out of the house before."
"What's wrong with wearing jeans and a t-shirt? You are!"
"Well, I guess that everytime we've gone anywhere with you, you're always wearing a skirt or some fancy, tight shirt."
"Are you implying something?" Cassandra defended.
"No, I'm just, uh-"
"No, it's okay. I understand. I guess, I always dressed nicer because I was around Nick. I always wanted to look good for him."
"Cassie, you know that he would have loved you no matter what you wore. I'm sure that he's watching you right now and thinking how beautiful you look."
Cassandra smiled. "Thanks, Jonathan. Let's go."
Jonathan smiled back and they walked down the stairs.
"You are so right, Jonathan," Nick said as he followed the two of them down the stairs. "Who's that?" he asked but of course no one could hear him.
"Oh Cassie," Jonathan said. "This is one of my best friends."
"I've never heard of him," Nick said.
Cassandra reached over and shook his hand.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Jason Azriel."
Cassandra smiled shyly. "I'm Cassandra-" She cleared her throat. "Cassandra Malvern."
All eyes were now on Cassandra. Especially Nick's. "C-Cassie?" Nick said. "Cassandra!" he screamed.
"Shall we?" Jonathan said. The four of them smiled and started for the door.
"It's a set up, Cassandra," Nick said.
"Let's go!" Nicole said.
"I'm going, too," Nick said with anger in his voice.
Half an hour later found Cassandra, Nicole, Jonathan, and Jason talking, waiting for their pizza. Nicole and Jonathan sat next to each other on on side and Jason sat next to Cassandra on the other side. Unknown, on the other side of Cassandra, was Nick with his arms folded and still pouting. Cassandra put her hands up on the table and Nicole glanced over at her. When she did, she almost choked on the sip of her drink that she was taking. She coughed a little.
"Nikki, are you okay?" Jonathan asked her.
"Yes, I'm fine," Nicole coughed. "Cassandra, I think we need to go to the bathroom."
"What?" Cassandra asked.
"Now," Nicole said getting up. Cassandra shrugged and got up and followed her to the bathroom. Nick stayed behind this time, next to Jason.
"What is wrong with you?" Nicole asked Cassandra in the bathroom.
"What are you talking about?"
"First of all, Cassandra Malvern?"
"Yeah, that's my name, isn't it?"
"Don't play stupid with me!" Nicole yelled. "You know that stopped being your name the day that you married Nick!"
Cassandra only looked down at the ground.
Nicole grabbed her left hand. "And this!" Nicole yelled. "Where the hell are your rings?"
"I took a shower before we came here and I always take them of so they don't get ruined and I guess that I forgot to put them back on."
"What an excuse-"
"Listen to me! He's out of my life. I don't know if I want to keep on living because it hurts like a knife were being cut into me, slowly and painfully. It's out of my hands now."
Nicole shook her head. "I can't believe you."
"So, what's wrong with your girlfriend?" Jason asked Jonathan.
"I dunno," Jonathan replied. "You know, that whole girl-group-bathroom-trips thing."
"Yeah. Hey, I really like that friend of yours. Cassandra."
Nick was infuriated. "You better not," he said.
"Yeah, she's cool," Jonathan said. "She's always been a good friend of mine."
"I'd like to get to know her better."
"Oh that can be arranged."
"Good," Jason smiled.
"No," Nick said. "No! Jonathan, you were my friend! How can you do this to me?"
"Easily," a voice said behind him. Nick didn't move. He only thought that it was someone talking to another person. "Yes Nick, I am talking to you."
Nick turned around. "Linden?"
"The one and only."
"Linden, I can't believe this. I mean, look at this! This Jason person is trying to move in on my wife!"
"Nick, technically she isn't your wife."
"Oh not you too!"
"I'm serious. The only way that she remains your wife, is if she chooses to be. Other than that, she's a widow at eighteen."
"Oh, man!" he shouted and threw his head back, hitting the back of the booth.
"And she may decide to move on."
Nick gave her a look.
Just then, the girls came back and Nick moved out of the way in time before Cassandra sat on him. Jonathan, Nicole, Cassandra and Jason got their food shortly after and just talked while Nick continued to complain as Linden pretended that she was actually listen to his persistent whining.
Half and hour later, the four of them got up to leave.
"Hey," Linden said to Nick with a grin on her face. "You wanna have a little fun on your hated enemy?"
"Sure!"
"Okay, now just follow me. Since nothing we do can be done physically, we have to do this all emotionally. You up for it?"
"Of course."
"Okay, let's wait until they start walking home, and we'll start off slow by tripping him. I'm sure you'll catch on quickly."
Nick smiled and he and Linden followed the four of them outside. As they were walking, Nick tapped Linden. "Look," he growled. He pointed to Jason who was reaching for Cassandra's hand as she talked to Nicole.
"Okay," Linden said. "Follow my lead."
"So Jason," Cassandra said. "Tell me something about yourself."
"Well," Jason started. "I-" He stopped when he tripped, hitting his knees on the side walk.
"Jason," Jonathan said, "are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Jason said getting up. Jonathan, Cassandra, Nicole and Jason burst out laughing, but they weren't the only ones laughing.