Chapter IV
When Cassie and George finally arrived, almost a whole hour
or two had passed. Both parties were starving, their bellies rumbling and
groaning like there was no tomorrow. George had the hardest time of the two,
since he was the person who Cassie had decided to place in the care of the
pizza box while she was driving the car. George was, after all, a man. And a
hungry one at that. It took all he had not to reach into that pizza box for
those agonizing two hours that they spent in heavy New York traffic and eat a
piece of his pizza. However, he knew that Cassie would be upset that she
couldn’t do the same, so he decided not to do it. If Cassie would have been
okay with him eating the piece of pizza, that would have been another story.
But judging by the way that Cassie was so eager to fight the heavy traffic
while she was driving, she was just as starving as he was. George didn’t blame
her for that. Sure enough, when Cassie and George got inside her apartment,
Cassie took a loud deep breath of what sounded like relief. “Oh my gosh, I’m soooo glad that were back,”
she exhaled with her eyes wide and both eyebrows lifted. “This pizza is going
to taste delicious! It’s about time that we got to eat lunch, isn’t it?” George
nodded in reply. Cassie went to one of her oak drawers on the wall of her tiny
kitchen and opened one of them up.
Inside the oak drawer was a bunch of plastic plates and cups for drinking
in. She had four cups and four plates, George observed. She must not have very many visitors. Cassie handed one of the plates and cups to
George. “Here you go,” she said as she did so. “What kind of drink do you
want?”
“What kinds of drinks do you have?” replied George.
“Well,” Cassie responded instantly, “we have water, and we
also have some milk and some Coca Cola ©. That’s it, though, I’m afraid. Any of
those okay with you?” George nodded.
“More than okay with me,” he said, smiling at her. “I think
I’ll just have some water.” Cassie showed him to her ice and water machine that
was built into her refrigerator. He proceeded to use it, then placed one slice
of his pizza onto the plate that Cassie had handed him. “Where do I sit?” he
asked.
“One second,” Cassie answered, “I’m gonna get my plate and
drink all set up. I’ll show you after that.” Just as soon as she had told him
that, she was heading towards a small wooden table in her nearby tiny living
room that she always used for eating at. She motioned for George to come closer
and to join her. He did so gladly, or at least he appeared to be glad to come
closer to Cassie. The funny thing was, George was more than extra happy
to be able to sit down closer. He was glad that Cassie felt comfortable. He
wouldn’t blame her for not being comfortable. Many women that he had known had
been hurt by other men and had a huge mistrust in them. This, he could admit to
himself, was not something that he liked, but it happened. He was, of course,
highly aware. He himself would never stoop to treat women that low. He wished
that guys didn’t have such a bad reputation. The thing was, those men got so
many more women. They didn’t even have to even try, it seemed, either…they just
got them like it was a natural thing. It disgusted George to no end. He wasn’t
exactly bad-looking, per se, but there were definitely better-looking men than
him who were out there. They attempted abominable acts towards other women all
of the time and some even got away from the consequences of their actions.
Unfairness was what it was, pure and simple, in George’s mind. He couldn’t
comprehend why these men would risk being caught and apprehended. Numerous
times he had wondered whether or not a portion of these men were strung out on
narcotics. It was entirely possible in George’s mind. Once he was seated, and both he and Cassie had
begun eating their pizzas, he spoke up.
“So, you said you live here alone?” he questioned her. It
was an honest question, but it was also a question to just make conversation
between them. George never had been one for small talk, but he knew that when
meeting someone else for the first time, you had to let that go a little. After
all, neither of you knew anything about
the other person.
“Yeah, I do,” replied Cassie. “I don’t have any roomies or
anything. I’m kind of glad about that. I used to share the rent and apartment
with one of my friends, but that turned out badly.”
“What happened, if I may ask?”
“Oh, nothing big. We just didn’t live well together. She had
such totally different living habits than I had. I still care about her, and
she’s still my friend—I just know that I personally couldn’t stand to actually live in the same building. At first, I
thought I could. It turns out though that she was so messy that living with it
was a nightmare.” George chuckled at her reply. “What?” Cassie said, smiling.
“Nothing,” George replied. “Sounds like a problem for the
both of you.” Cassie snorted a laugh.
“A huge problem,” she corrected him, still laughing. “But at
least helped her find someone who she was able to live with; one who was just
as messy as she was.”
“Was she that
messy?”
“I’m afraid she was,” replied Cassie. “But it doesn’t
matter.” She flashed a whole smile at George over the table, which George
returned.
“That’s good.”
“Mhmm. What about you? Do you live by yourself? I thought
you said you did, but I can’t remember. I know you have an apartment.” George
nodded.
“Yep, I sure do,” he said. “I have a roommate, though.”
“Oh? Mind if I ask who it is?”
“Nah, it’s fine. I like my roommate a lot. His name’s Ben.
We’ve been friends ever since high school.”
“Wow, impressive.”
“Yeah, we’ve been friends forever it seems like. Ben is a
really loyal guy.” George smiled. “Always helps me out when I need it.” George
had finished up that single slice of his pizza after he said this. He noticed
that Cassie had too. “Want me to get you another piece of your pizza?” he
offered with a smile on his face. “I’m gonna go get another piece of my pizza.”
Cassie nodded yes.
“Sure,” she said. “I won’t want any more than two for right
now, though.” George nodded at this.
“Okay.” He replied. He took both his plate and hers and put
another slice of both of their pizzas onto them. “It’s a big pizza,” he
said. Cassie giggled. God, that’s not even funny, Cassie, shut up!
Her brain said.
“Yeah, it is.” she said, giving George a smile. Uggh, I
sound like a complete dumbass who doesn’t eat at all, Cassie lamented. This is
not going the way that I was hoping it would go. Ah well, I can only move on
from here and try not to embarrass myself even more than I already have. George
came back to the wooden table and set the plate of food down beside her.
“Here ya go,” he said as he did. Cassie smiled a thanks,
then verbalized it to him. Then she started to talk again.
“What do you want to do after we eat? Or do you need to get
back home?” she asked him. George considered the question with what appeared to
be deep thought.
“I dunno,” he replied. “What about you?”
“I have only work,” Cassie admitted. “I don’t have a time
limit that you are able to stay here or anything.”
“Okay, then,” replied George. “My schedule is extremely
flexible as well, except for work. Would it be okay if I….um….took you
to…an…um…movie….tonighh..tt??”he started to blush again. As he was asking this,
he was rubbing both of his shoes on the floor. He wasn’t even looking at
Cassie. Dang it, I sounded so stupid! Oh
well, hopefully she doesn’t think so. I got everything out in the open. He
looked up to see what sort of reaction to what he had said, if any, he was
going to receive from Cassie. Words failed Cassie at the moment. She was
flabbergasted. Did he just ask me out on
a date? she thought in alarm. Wow!
“Um…I guess so, sure,” came out of her mouth. “I don’t see
why not.” That answer appeared to completely make George’s day.
“Great!” he said. “I hoped so. What sort of movies do you
like to watch?” Cassie considered the question for a second, then opened her
mouth to answer.
“I like most any movies except for westerns,” she said. “For
some reason, they’ve just never appealed to me.” George nodded to show he was
listening.
“Yeah, I’m not one that enjoys western movies either,” he
admitted. “Never knew why myself.” He smiled at Cassie after he said this.
Cassie smiled back.
“Well, do you know what’s on in theaters?” Cassie inquired
after a few minutes of silence in the apartment had passed.
“No, but we can find out.”
“Sounds good to me. You’re thinking about looking on the
internet for the shows that are on and the times, right?”
“You got it.” George smiled. Cassie nodded.
“I’ll go over and look after I’m done eating. How is that?”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Cool.” The two ate
their pizza slices and drank up their drinks in no time at all. Cassie found a
really good monster movie that was showing in theaters called The Curse. Even the title sounded
spooky, at least to Cassie. George wasn’t as impressed, however. He grumbled
that it sounded amateur. Cassie endeavored to change his opinion, despite heavy
opposition. Nothing worked. Oh well, at
least I think it’s going to be a good scary movie, she thought. What’s
more, she had persuaded him to choose that particular movie for their first
date. No harm, no foul. The only thing that worried Cassie was that George was
going to possibly laugh at inappropriate moments during the movie. After
sharing this concern with him, Cassie was relieved of it.
“I promise I won’t,” he had told her with a heavy sigh. “But
it’s all for you.” This put Cassie’s mind to rest.
~
Both parties didn’t know what to expect from the movie, so
when the movie turned out fantastic, it was a welcome surprise. The one who was
the most surprised was George, however. He claimed that all horror movies were
produced amateurly. Being an actor himself didn’t help his biased opinion of
these flicks. Cassie learned that George had acted in various roles in horror
movies in the past. She herself never had been inclined to audition for any
horror films. That immunity must come
from auditioning and being in horror film roles, Cassie figured. It would make perfect sense. Cassie
proposed to George that they both hang out sometime later, since it was
beginning to turn into nighttime all around them. Truthfully, she wanted George
to stay for the night at her apartment. Thing was, Cassie had other plans
tomorrow that she had not disclosed to George. The reason was a good one as far
as she was concerned, too. George needn’t know about all of her private affairs
instantly, after all. Besides, Cassie had a hunch that George knew that she was
doing something else. He seemed to be smart enough, that was for sure.
Popularity just seemed to drip from his pores. What if he has some sort of sexual disease? she had worried, even
before she had taken him into her apartment. I don’t want that. The thought crossed Cassie’s mind yet again and
made her decide firmly to wait and get to know the guy better than she did. She
was in no race to date or to have another man in her life. Men had constantly
let her down, and she felt in her bones that this man would only prove untrue
as well. He’ll just take what he wants
from me and then leave me with nothing, she thought bitterly. I HAVE to remember that about men. Luckily,
George wasn’t aware of anything that was currently going on in Cassie’s head,
or that anything at all was amiss. He agreed to make plans with her later on
when it was not nighttime again. They
exchanged cell phone numbers. George insisted upon strolling the streets of New
York by himself in order to get back to where his car was parked for work while
Cassie went ahead and drove back home to her own apartment. At first, Cassie
fought this, but eventually, she relented. George was a man, and when men made
their mind up, they never relented. The argument could have lasted all day. She
was just as stubborn as the next man, and she knew it. So she hopped into her
small red car and got into it, and turned the engine on again. She peered out
of one of her car’s windows and spotted George. She waved goodbye to him with a
smile on her face, and proceeded to back her car out of the movie theater and
into the heavy New York traffic. It never ceased to annoy her, how congested it
was. She sighed and mentally prepared herself for the long drive home.
~
Early the next morning, Cassie was woken by the ring of the
telephone. “Ugggh,” she moaned. Turning over on her backside, she slowly
extended her left arm to the left side of her bed, where a small dresser made
of oak was placed. It had a white solar powered alarm clock on top of it that
Cassie used often. There was also a red, old fashioned land line telephone on
it that she was currently picking up. “Hello?” she moaned into the telephone.
Cassie was barely awake. “Hello,” replied a voice on the other end of the telephone
line. “Are you up yet?“Now I am. Who is this and what do you want?” “You don’t
remember me? Wyatt? You said you’d be over at 10 today to do some business with
me? I wanted to check and make sure that you were still up for it.” Cassie
wracked her brain for a second, then she recognized who was calling her and for
what purpose. It was Wyatt, a guy who she had recently met who told her that he
could help her out in some way with her little brother. Her little brother,
David, had been out in the streets for quite some time. Cassie had never known
her brother too well, since most of his days were spent away from the family
farm and with his other friends when Cassie was growing up. She knew her sister
better than she did him. Neither Cassie or her sister back then had a vehicle
or a license to drive it, so they were stuck assisting their parents with the
farm. David apparently had done his share of assisting their parents in
handling the farm when he was younger. He had grown older, though, and was able
to go and do different things that required a vehicle. Obviously, with the
countryside not being the closest place to a town or another city, this was a
big thing. It gave David a whole lot of freedom. For the first time in his
life, he wasn’t as responsible for the farming chores as he had once been. This
seemed to suit David fine, and he never complained about it. No one really
expected him to, though. The downside to all this (and there was a huge
downside) was that David began to hang out with people who were from the nearby
city. Naturally, this helped him to form habits not previously present. Boredom
and idleness, Cassie’s mom had always said, always did terrible things to the
mind. David was living proof of that. She and her sister had watched on
helplessly as David got away with coming home drunk and stoned at night. David
already smoked before he got his license, so it was easy for him to hide all
the drugs he was starting to take at first glance. However, knowing better than
their parents how the drugs smelled (their parents had never been anything but
smokers and drinkers), they were forced by David not to squeal. “They can’t
know about it,” he had insisted to them in a voice that clearly implied panic.
“I’ll get my driver’s license taken away from me, and that’ll be the end of
that! No, I’m fine. I swear, if either of you two say anything at all to them,
you’re dead meat.” Being as young as they were, both Cassie and her sister had
been intensely intimidated by this statement from their brother. David was ten
times stronger than they were. Neither stood a chance. Both of them knew that. Later
on, David moved into his own place before either of his parents could find out
what he was doing. He wanted to go to college, he told them, and he was going
to pay his own way through. Since Cassie’s family didn’t have a lot of money,
and certainly not nearly enough to be able to help David with his college
expenses, they were more than fine with this. After all, it wasn’t their money
that they were going to be spending. Besides, David was hardly ever home
anyways. They wouldn’t miss him much if he was gone all of the time. So he
moved to a small apartment as well, one that was worse than the one that Cassie
currently occupied. Unfortunately, David lost the apartment because he wasn’t
able to pay the bills that were required in order to stay there. People on
drugs had an extremely difficult time getting a job, and David was no exception
to the rule. Things went downhill quickly for him without the care of his
parents. However, David was much too proud to take his parent’s help. This was
a big mistake. David was living in government housing because of it. Carrie had
tried a few times to get David to go back and live with his parents, but it
didn’t work out. David’s mind was already made up when she decided to ask him.
She couldn’t understand it. Why would he want to live that way when he could
simply go home and have a better living situation altogether?
Then it had hit her. David didn’t want them getting on him
for taking drugs. She had to admit, David loved his drugs. He had been a user
for many years now. Of course, there were people who made a decision to stop
using drugs, smoking, or drinking and were able to do it. Then again, those
people had to be serious about it. Want it for themselves. Nobody else could do
it for them. This man on the phone, Wyatt, was someone who had approached
Cassie recently and told her that he was in charge of the jail. David was
currently in jail. Amazingly, neither of Cassie’s parents knew this. Well, this
was only the case because her brother had just gotten into jail under the
charge of possession of narcotics and physically assaulting an officer. David
resisted the police officer’s efforts to handcuff him and take him to jail. Not
surprisingly, the cops had won that battle. They usually did. Police officers
were especially trained for those types of situations for safety precautions in
New York. The reason that Cassie knew this was because her cousin Randall was a
police officer himself, and had told her. She had been extremely close to her
cousin Randall, and still was. That would never change, as far as Cassie was
concerned. Randall had always been at their home when she was younger. “Oh
yeah,” Cassie replied. “Yes, we’re still on, sir.”
“Great,” the husky low voice said. “I’ll see you then. Sorry
about waking you up.”
“It’s alright, I can go back to sleep,” lied Cassie, trying
not to make a big deal out of the situation. She really had trouble getting
back to sleep once she was woken up, but what could she do? She was already
awake. Nothing could change that now. She might as well make the best of it. At
least she wasn’t going to be late like she was yesterday for her job. Granted,
she had her alarm clock all ready for when she actually needed to wake up.
“Alright, I won’t trouble you anymore. See you later.” The
phone went dead, and Cassie hung it up on it’s hook. I probably should get ready, thought Cassie to herself, as she
stretched out her arms. What time is it
anyway? She glanced at her white alarm clock. It told her that it was
exactly 7:15 a.m. Cassie groaned out loud.
That’s too early, she thought. I don’t normally get up this early on a
Saturday. Saturdays, as far as Cassie was concerned, were for sleeping in
until noon if at all possible. Of course, there were times when she was not
able to do that, but she was that wasn’t the norm. As far as Cassie was
concerned, that wasn’t a bad thing in the least. Usually, time was on her side
in that respect. The same could not be said about today. It was upsetting, but
there was nothing that Cassie could really do about it. She had to get help for
her brother today. David needed someone to help bail him out of jail. None of
his other “friends” had the money or the means to be able to get him released,
but Cassie tried to remain optimistic about the situation. Perhaps things would
work out for David. She had vocalized her worries about it to a friend that
just happened to be training to be a full-fledged police officer. Cassie could
have asked Randall, but he was family. Their parents would have more of a
chance of hearing about what had happened to David, which was not what Cassie
wanted at all. She wished that she had another choice, but at the moment the
choices were slim. Cassie got up out of her small bed and walked over slowly
towards the kitchen. She had an old, black, and slightly beat-up looking red
coffeepot she used often in the mornings when she woke up. Cassie loved having
her coffee in the morning. It woke her up—made her more alert. Without coffee,
Cassie didn’t know what she would do. The hot sticky liquid was a savior to all
mankind as far as she was concerned. Always had been, always would be.
Coffee was expensive, though. That was a fact that couldn’t
be denied. No matter how badly the temptation was to ignore that fact, nothing
changed. Ignoring the fact put people in debt. Debt was never a good thing. It
created stress. Cassie was not a stranger to the stress that debt could cause
to a person. It depleted health and well-being in general if a person allowed
it to. Starbucks had therefore never been her prime place to get coffee.
She turned on the coffeepot. Soon, it was filled with
coffee. Cassie got one of her mugs and filled the inside up completely. She
reached into the far right small wooden cabinet that was on top of the kitchen
walls, and retrieved a couple of packets of Splenda®. Splenda® made her coffee
much sweeter, and Cassie had never really enjoyed drinking coffee that tasted
bitter. Of course, coffee by nature was a drink that tasted bitter, so sugar
became her best friend when it came to drinking it. After using the packets of
sugar, she turned around to throw the packet remains into a trashcan located
right beside her in a small wooden drawer close to the floor. It was a small
place where she kept all of the daily trash from the kitchen. Since Cassie
lived by herself, it didn’t take a huge amount of trash space up. She shuffled
slowly to her small wooden table and chairs in her apartment in order to set
down her now full mug of coffee on a safe surface that she could relax on. Cassie
suddenly noticed that her cell phone had been left on the table. What is that doing there? she wondered
to herself. I can’t remember putting that
on the table….hmm, oh right! I put it on the table before I went to go to bed
last night. I took the cell phone out of my pocket for a while after I saw
George and watched television for a bit. Remembering this made Cassie feel
a lot calmer than she had been feeling before. The cell phone was a small, jet
black flip phone. She had no other phone at her apartment. Paying the phone
bill for her flip phone each month was difficult enough. The expense would be
uncalled for. Cassie hardly used the phone to talk. She had unlimited texting,
and some minutes on her phone to spare just in case, but that was all she
really needed. Apparently, Mark had decided to get in touch with her by text
again on her cell. I miss you…please come
back. I know I hurt you, but please give me a second chance. Cassie texted
back, Please stop texting me, okay? I am
not happy at all with you. I don’t want to give you another chance to hurt me
again. Sry. How sad it was that he was crawling back to her after what he
had done. It made her upset, but also sent a tidal wave of fury into her heart.
Pride was damaged, and could never be repaired that Mark had taken away from
her. Cassie pursed her lips in anger and disgust. She almost threw the phone
across the room, but she decided at the last moment to not do that. Money was
the hugest reason. There was none of it to spare if the phone actually broke on
impact. It wasn’t worth all of the trouble. Finding a new phone that had all of
the same features and did all of the same things for the cheapest price was too
difficult.
Cassie rolled her eyes. Hurt her? He had scarred her for the
rest of her existence, as far as she was concerned! The whole relationship had
been toxic. They always ended up fighting with each other and someone got hurt.
Naturally, that person was usually Cassie. After Mark had injured her so many
times, she got to the point where she couldn’t take the relationship abuse any
more. Sure, Cassie loved Mark. But there were just some things that she wasn’t
going to put up with when it came to her relationship with her significant
other. Abuse was one of them. Too many times, Mark had said that he was sorry.
Cassie had always come back and gave him another chance. She knew that she had
to start being strong, or she was just going to keep getting beaten up by Mark.
That wasn’t something Cassie wanted at all. What she wanted was a man who
appreciated her for who she really was. Men who attempted to lay a hand on her
did not make her feel good. Period. “I don’t believe you,” Cassie said aloud to
no one, proceeding to type the message out to Mark on her phone. Her face was
livid with anger.
Why did he text me anyways?
Cassie fumed inside her head. I said
I didn’t want to talk to him again. She decided to add that to the text,
and to just ignore any of the rest of the texts or calls from her phone that
she may receive from Mark in the future. He
doesn’t deserve an explanation.
~
“Oh, my gosh,” groaned George, with a huge bag of groceries
cradled in his hands, “I’m finally home..”
The bag was dropped onto the white kitchen counter with a careless plop! Luckily, there were not any items
that were delicate in the huge bag of groceries. The bag proudly proclaimed in
huge red letters, “Grocery Mart.” The big red letters were placed inside a red
circle. Grocery Mart was one of the cheapest grocery stores available in New
York City. A lot of people used the grocery to shop for food items and meals.
The prices were so cheap, and the food wasn’t that bad. All in all, a great
find. Despite being a such great find, Grocery Mart remained a grocery store
that no one but locals really knew anything about. A gem, if you will. Other
grocery stores in New York were crazily high priced, and the quality of the
food was questionable at best. That’s why 99% of New York locals ended up
shopping at Grocery Mart for their groceries.
It turns out that Cassie was not the only person who was
having problems with his love life. Of course, Cassie wouldn’t have known all
this. There was no way. Pacing around the room, David was mumbling incoherently
to himself in frustration. Luckily, there was nobody else at the apartment that
could have heard him. That would have been embarrassing. David didn’t really
feel like having to explain what he was doing to anyone at the moment either. The
floor shook with each step, not that it made a difference. No one came up and
said anything. Yes, he was in the clear. No one was going to try to
interrogate. This put a smile on David’s face just thinking about it. Then
anger seeped in. Why was it that apartments had to be made so badly? You could
hear everything through the walls that were installed! It was annoying, to say
the least. Many sleepless nights had occurred because those walls were so paper
thin, and would probably occur again. Not that this was something that anyone
in the apartment wanted to happen. The landlord had been asked to fix the
problem if at all possible, but, true to the status quo, the greedy landlord
had never even looked into it or thought about it for even a moment.
David was sitting all alone in his own apartment at the
moment. I really liked Cassie, he thought to himself. I hope she liked me as
much as I liked her. Any guy who got Cassie would be an incredibly lucky dude,
as far as I have seen. He sighed to himself. He really wanted to go and see
her. Perhaps I could go over to where she lives and..no. That’d just be creepy.
I don’t want to be creepy. I’ll just practice these lines for the movie by
myself. I’ll concentrate better that way anyways. He picked up the play and
started to read through his lines and memorize his better. Unfortunately, David
could not, try as he might, concentrate well enough to really memorize his
lines. It made him quite frustrated. All of his thoughts seemed to drift right
back to Cassie and the night before that they had shared. David could not ever
remember a girl having this huge of an effect on him emotionally before. He
wasn’t sure what to make of it. Should he be upset? Questioning himself got him
into an even bigger state of confusion. Ultimately, this caused David to become
more and more on edge than he already had been before. He wondered if he should
just give up. The task before him seemed to be one of impossibility.
Get yourself together, man! David scolded himself. It’s just
a girl. Does Cassie really have that much power over you already?? Stop being
so pathetic! He sighed and shifted all of his focus again onto memorizing the
lines that he needed to know for the upcoming movie. David ended up, upon his
own decision, to start drawing. Drawing always seemed to be the activity that
would relax him, no matter what was going on in his daily existence. David’s
expectations turned out to be futile, however. On the pad of paper in his hand,
David had managed somehow to draw a picture of Cassie. A groan echoed through
the halls of the apartment. It’s not like I could do anything about seeing
Cassie again anyways, he complained inwardly to himself. I don’t even have her
cell phone number yet. I forgot to ask.
Mumbling to himself in annoyance, David picked up the
control for his gaming console while plopping down onto an old brown coach that
was in the middle of the tiny living room that he shared. Turning the
television on, David went into another world yet again, one much less
frustrating than the current one he found himself in at the moment.
