Come Around

Cassie woke up early the next morning, her legs tangled with Alex's. His hair had fallen over his eyes, but she could see that he was sleeping peacefully so she moved carefully, trying not to wake him. She slowly rolled off the bed, grabbing the first shirt she found on the floor and wandered into the bathroom.

In the mirror, she saw a dark purple mark on her stomach, courtesy of the boy in her bed. Her hair was everywhere and she looked tired, but she felt more rested than she had in weeks. After combing her hair and pulling it back into a ponytail, she pulled the shirt over her head and walked out of the bathroom and to her closet.

"You look cute in my shirt," Alex said sleepily.

She turned around and smiled at him. His hair was no longer covering his eyes, which were only half open. Without saying anything, she turned back to her closet and grabbed some clothes.

"Where are you going?" he asked

"Out for a run," she said, as she walked past the bed.

Alex reached out and caught her arm and pulled her down so she was on top of him, "Mmm, stay here and sleep with me," he mumbled into her ear, pulling the elastic band out of her hair.

"How about you sleep, and I'll go run. I'll be back before you wake up again," she said.

"Wasn't last night enough of a workout for you?" he asked, a grin spreading across his face.

Cassie hit his chest playfully and his grin widened as his arms tightened around her waist. He rolled over, pressing her into the mattress, the thin fabric of his shirt being the only thing between them. He pressed his lips to hers and her hand found its way to the back of his neck, her fingers tangling in his hair as she returned the kiss.

He pulled back and stared into her eyes, "Please go back to sleep with me," he said, almost begging.

"But, my run," she whined.

Alex sighed and rolled off her, finally giving up and allowing her to get up. She disappeared into the bathroom, dressing quickly and pulling her hair back into a ponytail for the second time as she reentered her room and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Don't be upset," she said, pulling her shoelaces tight.

"I'm not," he lied, trying to hide his disappointment.

She turned and looked at him, "I'll be back before you know it. Just a short run today. I promise."

He nodded and watched her walk out of the room, pulling the door shut behind her. Another sigh escaped as his eyes fell shut.

When Cassie got to the bottom of the stairs, she collided with Rian, who was on his way up.

"Do you ever leave?" she asked, smiling.

Rian laughed, "Angie and I were up really late, talking. She said I looked too tired to drive and that I should just stay here. So I-"

"Slept in the guest room," Cassie finished for him, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're such a gentleman," she said, rolling her eyes.

Rian pushed her gently toward the door, "Get out of here. Go run," he said, heading up the stairs.

"Gladly," she said, waving over her shoulder.

She stepped out onto the porch and stretched for a few minutes before taking off down the street. Her body ached in places she wasn't used to but it didn't stop her. After about a mile and a half, she rounded a corner, making her way around the block and heading back toward her house.

When she got back to her porch, she stretched again before going inside. Cassie heard the TV and wandered into the living room. Rian was on the couch watching the History channel. Without saying anything, she walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and went back into the living room.

"This is a good one," she said after watching the TV for a few minutes.

Rian nodded, turning to look at her, "Angie's still sleeping."

"It's her lazy day," Cassie said, "She'll drag her ass out of bed around noon, spend the whole day in pajamas, and most likely have a movie marathon. Sometimes I join her, sometimes I don't. But she probably doesn't want you seeing her like that."

He laughed, "Well, in that case, you wanna go grab some breakfast?" he asked.

"I need a shower. If you don't mind waiting, then yeah, breakfast sounds great."

Rian nodded and waved her off. She ran up the stairs and went straight for her closet once she was in her room.

"What are you doing?" Alex asked, "Come lay down with me."

"I'm sweaty and smelly. I need a shower," Cassie replied, not turning around to look at him, "Then I'm going to breakfast with Rian."

She heard Alex shift, "I was hoping we could hang out today," he said.

"Maybe later we can," she said, deciding on an outfit and turning around to see Alex sitting up.

"Are you going to tell Rian?"

"Am I going to tell Rian what?"

"That we slept together," he said.

"I wasn't planning on it. I don't really think it's any of his business," she said as she closed the bathroom door and locked it.

After taking a short shower, Cassie towel dried her hair and scrunched it, deciding against wearing the little makeup she usually did. She unlocked and opened the bathroom door, letting all the steam escape into the her room.

She was slipping her feet into a pair of DC shoes when Alex spoke.

"So, it's just going to be a big secret then?"

Cassie spun around to face Alex, obviously irritated, "What do you want me to do? Scream from the roof that I had sex with you?"

"No, Cassandra, I just want to know when you're going to tell Rian about us."

"Us?" she said, "There isn't an us. We aren't together, Alex."

Her words cut him deep, and it took everything in him to not wince as she said them. That wasn't exactly the response he was looking for.

"Yet," he said, trying to play it off.

She sighed, "I can't talk about this right now. I have to get going. Call me later or something, I guess," she said and left the room without waiting for a response.

After breakfast, Rian dropped her off at home and left, not wanting to intrude on Angie's lazy day. Cassie immediately went to her room, finding that Alex had left at some point. She fell on her bed and laid there for a few minutes before noticing the piece of paper on her pillow. She reached over, picked it up and stared at the scrawled writing.

I hate the way you make things complicated.

Cassie crumpled the note and threw it on the night stand, sighing to herself. As irritated by him as she was, she couldn't blame him for being frustrated with her. After all, she was the one who couldn't figure out what she wanted.

She slept for a few hours and woke up feeling somewhat groggy. The sun shining through her window blinded her. Groaning, she rolled out of bed and made her way downstairs.

Angie was doing exactly what Cassie had told Rian she would be doing. When she heard her friend enter the room, she turned to look at her and her eyebrows raised.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked.

"Nothing," Cassie replied.

"Liar," Angie said, turning her attention back to the movie she was watching.

Cassie sighed, "I think Alex is mad at me. Again," she said.

"Why?"

"Because I'm an asshole to him," Cassie said.

"I would think he would be used to that by now," Angie said turning to look at Cassie, "What happened?" she asked when she saw the look on her friend's face.

Cassie sighed, "I kind of, um, slept with Alex last night," she said.

"Shut up," Angie said, her eyes growing wide, "You didn't."

"Oh, I did. And then I was mean to him this morning," she said, going on to explain what had happened.

"Did you tell Rian?" Angie asked.

"No. Are you crazy?" Cassie said, "You better not tell him either."

Angie laughed, "Relax, Cass. I wasn't going to tell him. It's not my place."

Cassie nodded and went into the kitchen, sitting at the table and staring at the wood. She replayed the previous night's events in her head, trying to figure out how to fix what she'd done. After a few minutes, she realized she may have an even bigger problem.

"Shit, I'm so stupid," she mumbled to herself, "Oh, fuck me!" she yelled, dropping her head onto the table with a loud thud.

Angie ran into the kitchen and stared at her friend, "What's wrong now?" she asked.

"We didn't use protection."