Come Around

Angie and Cassie got to the studio on the first day of recording before the guys did and quickly realized that they couldn't set anything up until they knew how things would go. They decided that the first day would be used for observing, to see how the guys worked, and go from there.

When they finally showed, they had a fifth boy in tow. Neither of the girls recognized him but shrugged it off, figuring the guys had a reason for bringing him along.

While they were setting up, he noticed the girls, "Damn," he said to Zack, "Who's the fly redhead over there with the cute brunette? he asked.

"They work for the magazine that's doing some big thing on us," he replied, shrugging.

"I should probably go introduce myself," he said and sauntered over the girls, stopping a few feet in front of Cassie, "Hey there," he said.

"Hi," Cassie said and Angie gave a small wave.

"James Matthew Flyzik," he said, holding his hand out, "Everyone calls me Matt."

Cassie smiled and shook his hand, "Cassandra Diann Black," she said, "And this is Angelina Rose Santiago. Or Cassie and Angie."

"Nice to meet both of you lovely ladies," he said and looked at Cassie, "Does anyone ever call you Sandra D?" he asked.

"Are you hitting on me?" she asked, her eyebrow raising involuntarily.

"That depends," he said.

It took everything in her not to roll her eyes and she asked, "On what?"

"Whether you like it or not," he said.

"I'm taken, actually," she said, "So, I'm not interested."

"Are you at least flattered?" he asked.

Cassie rolled her eyes, not caring if he saw, "I'm immune to flattery. Ask your boy Alex over there. He'll tell you," she said before walking away.

Matt retreated back over to the guys and sighed, "She's quite the ice queen," he said.

"Who?" Jack asked.

"The redhead."

"Cassie?" Jack asked, laughing, "What did you say to her?"

While Matt recounted the story to Jack, Alex watched Cassie contently, a small smile tugging at his lips. She talked quietly with Angie across the room and he wondered what they were saying. Every moment he watched her, it became harder for him to not go over and put his arm around her, hug her, kiss her, anything.

He watched her make her way to the door and slip out into the hallway. After a few minutes, he looked around quickly before doing the same thing. She was coming back inside, her eyes glued to her phone's screen and her thumbs flying across the keyboard.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when Alex wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off the ground, pressing a kiss to her lips. She responded eagerly, her arms finding their way around his neck. Her back hit the wall and he slowly lowered her to the ground, their bodies remaining pressed together.

"Someone's been smoking," he said when they broke for air, "What's wrong?"

"Your friend hit on me," she said.

"Who?"

"Matt. Even when I told him I wasn't interested, he had to get in one last attempt," she explained.

"That's my boy," he said, laughing.

Cassie hit his arm, "You're supposed to be upset!"

"Why?" he asked, "He's harmless. And it's not like you fall for that kind of thing anyway. I should know. And on top of that, if he knew you were mine, he probably wouldn't have," he paused, "Scratch that, he definitely would have, just to see if I would get mad."

"Well, I don't want him to," she said.

Alex kissed her softly and smiled, "He won't do it again. He's not as persistent as I am."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded and kissed her again, grinning when they parted, "Do you have any idea how much harder it is for me because I know I can't do that in there? he said and she just smiled, "Come on, one of these rooms has to be available so we can have a quickie."

His arms dropped from her waist, "As tempting as that idea is," she said, rolling her eyes, "I can't. Sorry."

"Sure you can. It'll be exciting," he said, taking her hand and pulling her down the hall.

"Somehow, I doubt that. But either way, I really can't, Alex," she insisted, pulling her hand away.

He turned and looked at her, confused, "Why not?"

"Remember how I told you last night that I'm not pregnant? I didn't take a test. Mother Nature confirmed it for me, if you get what I'm saying."

His face lit up in understanding, "I see. I guess you're right then."

"I guess so," she said, laughing softly, "Go back in there. I'll be there in a minute."

Alex nodded and kissed Cassie one last time before going back into the studio just in time to see Angie drop and pin Matt to the floor in one swift, apparently effortless, move. He stared in shock for a minute before pulling the small girl off his friend.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I didn't like the way he was talking to me," she said. Alex raised his eyebrow, "First he hit on Cassie, then he was hitting on me."

Alex let out a chuckle as he reached down to help Matt up, "Dude, don't mess with these girls. They're both taken and Angie apparently has superhuman strength that was unknown to everyone," he said.

Matt nodded, "My sincere apologies, Angie. I hope you won't hold it against me."

"We're good," Angie said, knowing he'd learned his lesson.

The rest of the day ran rather smoothly. Angie and Cassie sat back as the boys did their thing, discussing how they could do their jobs without interfering with the recording process. It didn't take long to get a basic plan set, but they knew there would be bugs to work out along the way.

When they finally called it quits for the day, they went their separate ways. The second they were in the car, Alex attacked Cassie with a kiss and it wasn't long before he was pulling her over the center console. His hands slipped under her shirt and she quickly grabbed them, not letting go once she had removed them from her body.

"You're really only making it harder on yourself," she said when they pulled apart and he pouted. She climbed back into the driver's seat and situated herself.

"Why now?" he whined.

Cassie laughed softly, "Would you have preferred the alternative?" she asked.

"If it involved you and me being naked, then yes," he said.

"It would've involved a baby in about nine months. And what makes you think you're going to get sex any time you want it anyway?"

"Because you can't resist me," he said.

She laughed, "You're cute," she said, "Wrong, but cute nonetheless."

Alex didn't even bother trying to respond to that and changed the subject instead, "Did Angie tell you what she did to Flyzik?" he asked and Cassie shook her head, "Okay, well I guess after he hit on you, he hit on her,"

"Uh oh," Cassie said, having a good idea of where the story was going.

"Yeah," Alex said, "I wasn't there for that part, but I guess she wasn't very thrilled."

"I'm sure she wasn't."

"I don't know how she did it, but she straight dropped him. Like it was nothing," he said.

Cassie laughed, "Angie has a black belt in Judo. If Matt didn't figure it out already, I would suggest someone advise him not to mess with her. She will kick his ass."

"I'm pretty sure he got it. He even apologized," he said before falling quiet for rest of the drive to the girls' house.

She glanced over at him occasionally and he seemed to be deep in thought. She kept quiet as well, not wanting to disrupt whatever was going on in his head. Finally, she pulled into the driveway and reached for the door handle, pushing the door open.

"Are you happy that you're not pregnant?" he asked and spun around to face him, letting her door shut behind her.

"W-what?" she asked, his question catching her off guard.

"Are you happy that you're not pregnant?" he repeated.

Cassie sighed softly, "Yes and no," she said, "I do want to have kids. But now is not the right time, for a lot of reasons."

As they got out of the car, his phone started vibrating. He pulled it from his pocket and read the message he'd just received.

"Rian wants to come get me for a party when he drops Angie off," he said.

"Okay," Cassie said.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yeah, of course" she said, turning to look at him, "Go, have fun. Angie and I could use some girl time anyway."