Nothing Goes As Orchestrated

After hanging out all weekend, Monday morning finally came and Cassie drove Matt back to Huntington Beach to the Runner Runner house. He and Alex had taken some time on Sunday to talk things out and they were okay. But Cassie refused to be anywhere near Alex, not that anyone blamed her.

Before getting out of the car, Cassie turned to Matt, "When are you going back home?" she asked.

"I fly out Thursday evening," he said and paused for a moment, "You should come with me. It would be good for you to get away from here for a little while."

What he really meant by that was, getting away from Alex and all the drama would do you good. And she heard him loud and clear. But still, she hesitated.

"I don't know," she said.

"Oh, come on. You can see your parents and hang out with Barakat and me. And we'll introduce you to some cool people."

"I'll think about it," Cassie said, pushing her door open.

The two walked up to the house and Matt pushed open the front door without knocking. Out of the corner of her eye, Cassie saw a figure approaching and before she could get a good look, someone jumped on Matt and both of them fell to the ground. After a few minutes of wrestling, the boys stood and hugged.

"Shit DJ!" Cassie yelled, hitting Jon's arm, "Give me a heart attack, why don't you."

Jon laughed, "I would've tackled you if that's what I was trying to do," he said.

As Cassie opened her mouth to reply, Matt interjected, "Can someone please explain why she calls you DJ?" he said.

Cassie and Jon both laughed, "Do you want to, or should I?" she asked.

"I'll let you have the honor," Jon said.

"I met Jon way back when he was in Rufio," she began, "He and Angie and I took a picture together and when we showed it to him, he commented on his resemblance to a dildo. And from then on, Ang and I called him Dildo Jon, which was eventually shortened to DJ," she explained.

"Seriously?" Matt asked. Jon and Cassie nodded and Matt burst out laughing, "That's the fucking funniest shit," he said.

Cassie laughed as well, "I hate to cut this short, but I really do need to go to work today," she said, "So I should get going. Tell the boys I'm sorry I couldn't stay and hang again."

Jon nodded and hugged her, "Will do," he said.

He let go and Matt pulled her into a hug, "Think about coming home, seriously," he said and Cassie nodded, hugging him tightly.

When she got to her car, she pulled her phone out and set it in the cup holder. After she got on the freeway, she dialed a number and put her phone on speaker as she turned the music off.

"Hello?"

"Hi Mama," she said.

"Hi sweetie," her mom said, "What are you up to?"

"I just dropped a friend off in Huntington Beach and now I'm headed back to LA to go to work. But I wanted to call and see how you and Daddy are doing. I haven't talked to you in almost a week," she said.

"Oh, we're doing great. Your dad got a promotion at work, so he's been pretty busy lately."

Cassie smiled to herself, "That's great though!" she exclaimed, "Why didn't you call and tell me?"

"Well, we didn't want to bother you," she said.

"Don't be ridiculous. You and Daddy are never bothering me when you call," she said, "And you must get bored with him being so busy now."

"Well, not really yet. Susie started teaching me how to knit the day your dad got that promotion, so that's keeping me busy for now."

Cassie laughed, "Does that mean I get a sweater for Christmas?" she asked.

Tina laughed as well, "We'll see," she said, "We really miss you lately, sweetie. You should come visit soon, if you can find some time."

"How about I come home this weekend and stay for about a week?" she asked.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, it depends if I can get the time off work on such short notice, but Nessa will probably be fine with it. And my last class for the semester is Wednesday, so I don't have to worry about that," Cassie said.

"That would be great!" Tina said excitedly, "Then we can celebrate your father's promotion."

"I'll see what I can do and let you know," she said.

"Alright. I'll let you go and pay attention to the road now. I love you baby," she said.

"Love you, too, Mommy," Cassie said and ended the call.

When she finally got to the office, she headed straight for Vanessa's office. It looked very different from when it had been Justin's. It was more personal and more welcoming. It didn't feel like you'd been sent to the principal's office when you walked in.

Though she'd liked Justin well enough, Cassie hadn't been sad to see him go. The last couple months he worked there, he had been irritable and withdrawn from everyone. It was almost as though a weight had been lifted when he announced his resignation. And Cassie was beyond relieved when Vanessa took over the position.

"Nessa," she sang as she walked into the office, "I need Friday and all next week off," she said.

"Okay," Vanessa agreed without questioning her, "Have a seat though," she said, motioning to the chair across the desk from her.

Cassie did as instructed, "You're not firing me, are you?" she asked.

"Oh please," Vanessa said, "I wanted to run something by you."

"What's up?" Cassie asked, her interest piqued.

Vanessa pushed everything in front of her to the side and looked at Cassie, "I've been toying with the idea of starting a sister magazine," she said.

Cassie's eyebrow raised, "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, this magazine focuses so much on the bands that are more well known in the scene, and that's great, but there are tons of magazines that focus on the same bands. So I was thinking we should branch out and start focusing on some of the smaller, more unknown bands out there," she said, "It won't be it's own entity completely, at least not at the beginning. It would start out as a small magazine and go out with the current one and kind of test the waters. If it does well, then we could see about making it a bigger thing, possibly having it be on it's own completely."

"I think it's a great idea," Cassie said, "There's tons of bands out there that so many people don't know about and they deserve the recognition."

"I was hoping you'd feel that way," Vanessa said, "Because I want you and your partner in crime to be in charge of it. The layout, the bands, everything."

Disbelief took over Cassie's face, "Nessa, are you serious right now?" she asked.

"As a heart attack," she said, "I haven't even run it by Angie yet, so I don't need an answer right away. I'll talk to her in a little bit. You two can discuss it. Take your week off to think about it and get back to me when you come back to work."