Come Around

The sun shining through the bedroom window woke Cassie. The bed next to her was empty but she thought nothing of it as she wandered into the bathroom and brushed her teeth. She grabbed her glasses on the way out of her room and slid them on her face, making her way downstairs with the sleepy look still in her eyes.

She had no idea what time it was, but she didn't care. A smile crept across her face when she saw the boy on her couch and she fell onto his lap, pressing her lips to his.

"Mmm," he said, "What's that for?"

Worry came over her face, "Please tell me you remember last night," she said.

Alex grinned, "I remember. I may have engaged in some trickery and led you to believe that I drank a little more than I actually did. Don't be mad."

She smiled and hit him playfully, "That's mean."

His grin widened, "You taste minty. I like," he said and kissed her.

Cassie's arms found their way around his neck and her eyes closed. Alex played with the hem of her shirt before letting his fingers gently glide up her bare skin underneath. She shivered under his touch and felt him grin into her lips. The next thing she knew, her back was against the couch cushions and he was hovering above her, the grin she felt now visible to her.

"You're such a jerk," she laughed.

Alex continued grinning at her, lowering himself so his face was only inches from hers. She lifted the top half of her body to kiss him again but as she moved, so did he.

"Alex," she whined, propping herself up on her elbows.

He laughed softly, "You're cute when you don't get what you want," he said.

Whether he meant it as one or not, Cassie took his statement as a challenge and swiftly lifted herself up further, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her lips against his, letting herself fall back onto the couch and bringing him with her. She took him by such surprise that he barely caught himself on the way down.

She gently bit his lip before letting him go and as he pulled back slowly, someone cleared their throat loudly. They both looked to see who it was.

"Another person lives here, in case you forgot. And that's not the first thing I want to see when I wake up," she said, falling into the reclining chair, "But goddamn, it's about fucking time."

Alex laughed and sat up, "I agree, Angie," he said. Cassie hit his arm and he stood, "Can I use your shower?" he asked.

"I don't know," Cassie said, "Can you?"

"Fuck you," he said, laughing.

"Been there, done that."

Alex rolled his eyes, "May I use your shower?" he asked.

Cassie nodded, "Yes, you may. There's clean towels on the rack in the bathroom."

"Thank you," he said, leaning down and kissing the tip of Cassie's nose.

She pouted for a brief moment before grabbing him by the shirt, pulling him toward her and pressing a kiss to his lips. When she let go, he smiled and kissed the tip of her nose again before standing up straight and heading up the stairs.

She watched him walk away and Angie laughed. Cassie snapped her head in her friend's direction and raised her eyebrow.

"What are you laughing at?" she asked.

"You," Angie said, "You fought so hard against the idea of being with him for so long and now you can't keep your hands, or lips, off of him."

Cassie sighed, "As much as I know I'm going to regret this the second it comes out of my mouth, you were right," she said.

Angie jumped out of the chair and did a victory dance, "I told you so, I told you so," she sang.

Cassie threw a pillow at her friend, hitting her right in the stomach. Angie made a noise and fell to the floor giggling. It took a few minutes but she finally composed herself.

"I hate you a little right now," Cassie said.

"No, you don't."

"No, I don't. But anyway, as I was saying, between you beating into my head that I need to give him a chance, and the conversations he and I had yesterday, it all started to make sense last night," Cassie shrugged, "It's much less complicated than I was making it. But I wouldn't be me if I made anything simple."

"You have a point," Angie said, "How are you going to tell Rian?" she asked.

Cassie shrugged, "Just straight up, I guess. He doesn't have a say in the matter. You heard me tell him that last night. So, he can be upset if he wants, but he'll have to get over it."

"He's just worried about you, you know?"

"I know," Cassie said, "But he's the only one saying that I should stay away from Alex. Everyone else was telling me to go for it."

Angie nodded, "This is true," she said.

"So, did anything exciting happen last night after I left the party?" Cassie asked, changing the subject.

"Mmm," Angie said, "James danced on a table."

Cassie laughed loudly, "James? No way. You're kidding."

"I wouldn't make something like that up. It's too unbelievable. You can ask Rian," she said.

"That's insane," Cassie said, getting quiet for a minute, "Anything else?"

Angie nodded, "Ryno fought some douche who poured beer all over me, and then legit threw him out of the house," she said.

Cassie's jaw dropped, "Why did the guy pour beer on you in the first place?"

"I don't know. Rian had gone to play some drinking game with Jack, so I was talking to Ryno and Jon and out of nowhere some random bro decides to dump his beer all over my head. I almost threw up from the smell."

"So Ryno beat his ass."

"Exactly," Angie said.

"Awesome. I'm kind of bummed I missed that," Cassie said.

"Missed what?" Alex asked, walking into the room, freshly showered. Angie retold the story and Alex nodded, "Good man," he said then turned to Cassie, "As much as I would love to spend the whole day with you, I have some things I have to take care of. Do you think you could drive me home?"

Cassie nodded and went to her room to change quickly. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail on her way down the stairs and grabbed her keys. Alex followed her to her car and got in the passenger side.

"Angie's okay with us?" he asked as Cassie drove, her eyes focused on the road.

"Believe it or not, Angie has been on your side pretty much from the beginning," Cassie said, "Not the very beginning when were being an asshole, though."

Alex laughed, "That's cool. It's kind of weird that this is the one thing that Rian and Angie don't agree on, don't you think?"

"A little," Cassie said, "But I see where both of them were coming from."

The car was quiet and before they knew it, they pulled up in front of the house. Alex unbuckled his seat belt and leaned over, giving Cassie a kiss.

"Just to make sure we're on the same page," he said before getting out of the car, "I can do that whenever I want to now, right? We're not hiding from anyone?"

"Let me tell Rian. And then you can," she said.

"Do you want me to tell him?"

Cassie shook her head, "I think he'll take it better coming from me. He might hurt you."

He nodded and reached for the door. Before he could open it, Cassie pulled him back for another kiss.

Alex grinned, "I'll call you later," he said, kissing her one last time before he got out of the car.

Once he was at the door, he heard her pull away from from the curb and drive off. Inside, he kicked off his shoes and went straight to the kitchen.

"Where did you disappear to last night?"

"Oh, this really cute girl asked me to go home with her. I couldn't refuse," Alex said.

Rian could feel his face getting hot, "Dude, you're fucked up. Cassie really likes you. You were at the party with her and then you just left with a girl. It's no wonder she left without saying goodbye."

Alex sighed, "It's not even like that, bro."

"I told you not to fuck with her, Alex," Rian said.

"I'm not fucking with her. She knew what was going on," he said.

"What does that mean?"

Alex sighed again, "It's complicated. Talk to her, okay?"

"I will," Rian said, "And if she tells me that what you just said isn't true, you're dead."