Come Around

"Where's Cassandra?" Alex asked Monday morning when the boys got to the studio.

Angie looked up from the laptop she was focused on, "She's at the office and probably won't be here today or tomorrow. She's having a meeting with Justin and trying to solve the problem of everyone's excess work ending up on her desk," she said.

"That's going to take two days?" Jack asked, "She's supposed to interview Alex and Rian today."

"Those are going to have to wait until Wednesday when she comes back. On Friday, she had the idea of you guys doing video diaries, similar to The Real World confessionals. Do you know what I'm talking about?" she asked and they all nodded. "Are you guys open to that?"

"Have you met our band?" Jack asked, "We're always open to talking shit," he said.

"Alright, good," she said, reaching into her pocket for her vibrating phone, "Hang on guys, it's Cassie," she said, answering her phone, "Hello?"

"Hey Ang, are the guys there?" she asked.

"Yup," Angie replied.

"Good. Did you talk to them about the video diaries?"

"Yes, maam, I did. Jack said they're very open to talking shit," Angie said.

Cassie laughed, "Fantastic. Can you put the phone on speaker so I can talk to everyone, please?"

Without a word, Angie pulled the phone from her ear and switched to speaker mode, "Okay, go ahead Cass," she said.

"Hey guys," Cassie greeted the boys, who responded with hellos and good mornings, "I just wanted to let you know that for the next two days I'll be at the office training everyone who works at the magazine so that everything on this end will run more efficiently. Angie is working on getting those video diaries all set up for you guys. We're trying really hard not to disrupt your recording, so the idea is that you can do these when you have a few spare minutes or whatever. Obviously we want you to be yourselves, but please keep in mind that kids of all ages may be watching, so please, try not to be too vulgar."

"But Cassie," Jack whined.

"Don't make me come down there and beat your ass, Jack," Cassie said.

"I'm not afraid of you."

"Fine," she said, "Angie will do it for me. Please keep in mind what she did to your boy Matt the first day she met him."

Jack fell silent and Alex piped up, "What if something just kind of, you know, slips out and we don't really realize it?"

Cassie sighed, "You boys are ridiculous. Just do your best to not be too obscene, please. I know it's harder for some of you than it is for others. Got it?"

"Yes, Cassie," the boys responded in unison.

"Good. I just wanted us all to be on the same page. So as soon as Angie gets that finished, you boys can start on those. Have fun with it."

"Hey wait," Matt interjected, "I really don't get to see the wonderful Sandra D for another two days?" he asked.

"James Matthew Flyzik, if you hit on me one more time, you are going to be terribly sorry," Cassie said, frustration clearly evident in her tone.

Matt opened his mouth to say something but Rian cut him off, "Dude, she used your full name. From experience, I can tell you that she's not playing around."

Cassie didn't hear what was said next because Angie took her off speaker and pressed the phone to her ear, walking out of the studio and into the hallway.

"Those boys are such douches sometimes," Cassie said to her friend.

"I know. Why don't you just tell Matt?" she asked.

"Alex said he's going to," Cassie replied.

"Well whatever. I hope he does because Matt doesn't seem to get it."

Cassie shrugged, even though Angie couldn't see her, "I'm not worried about it. But hey, I have to go and get this show on the road. Wish me luck."

"Good luck," Angie said and ended the call, walking back into the studio.

She sat down in front of the laptop she had been hard at work at earlier and refocused her attention on it while the boys got to work on their own stuff. About twenty minutes later she stood and took the computer into one of the small rooms.

"Who isn't busy?" she asked, standing in the doorway.

"I'm not," Zack said, looking up from his bass that he had been tuning.

"Come here," she said and he stood and walked over to the small girl who led him into the room. "Okay, I just need to see if this works properly, so could you go ahead and click on your profile, record a short message and upload it?" she said.

Zack did as she instructed him and as soon as he finished, she pulled up the website, finding that it had worked perfectly.

"Perfect. Thank you, Zack. Now if you could just send the rest of them as they each get a minute, I would really appreciate it. I have to make sure theirs work too."

The morning passed quickly. Alex spent most of it hunched over a table scribbling in a notebook. It was a little after one in the afternoon when Matt walked up next to Alex, looking over his shoulder and chewing in his ear. Slowly, Alex turned to look at him.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Just seeing what you're writing," Matt said, "When do I get to meet this mystery girlfriend of yours? Or at least know a little more about her."

"Yeah, Alex," Cassie said, "When?"

Alex looked up with a surprised smile, not knowing she'd come, as she walked over and stood across the table from him.

"Oh, shut up," he said as he stood, leaning across the table and pressing his lips to hers, feeling her smile as she returned the kiss.

When they pulled apart, Matt was staring at them in shock and neither of them could help but laugh. Before he could gather his thoughts, Alex spoke.

"Flyzik, this is my girlfriend, Cassandra."

"How did I not know about this before?" Matt asked, "Dude, I was hitting on your girl right in front of you."

Alex laughed, "I know. And I'm not going to lie, I actually found it pretty amusing."

Cassie rolled her eyes and left the boys to talk, walking over to Angie and taking a seat next to her. The two talked about the morning, Angie explaining that the video diaries pretty much left the boys to do their own thing, and Cassie venting about their coworkers.

Just as Cassie was about to get up to leave, Alex walked over and squeezed her shoulders. As she tensed, Alex frowned, massaging her shoulders as he placed a kiss on the top of her head.

"Why so tense?" he asked.

"I'm just stressed," she said, shrugging him off and standing. "I have to get back to the office."

"I'll walk you out," he said, following her as she walked to the door. Once they were outside, he rubbed her back gently to get her attention, "So, is that why you were smoking?" he asked.

"What?" she asked, giving him a confused looked.

"I could taste it when I kissed you," he said, "Are things at the office really that bad?"

Cassie sighed, "You have no idea. Some of these people have been there for over two years and were never properly trained. You would think at some point they would try to figure it out for themselves. But not. They just dump it on Cassie's desk because they know she'll take care of it," she vented.

"But you're fixing that now," he said.

"Yeah, but I don't know if I can do it all in two days."

"It's going to take time," Alex said and she nodded, "Let's go to dinner."

"Tonight?" she asked wearily, her forehead scrunching as she fished around her purse for her keys. When she found them, she looked up and saw the look Alex was giving her and her face softened immediately, "Whatever I don't finish at the office can wait until tomorrow," she said, "A date tonight sounds great."

Alex smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her body close to his, "That would be the correct answer," he said, her arms snaking around his neck.

"I'm trying," she said and kissed him hard.