Preview of Chapter 4 of Cassie!!

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.

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 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.

~

            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.