Nothing Goes As Orchestrated

Alex rolled out of his bed slowly, leaving his naked girlfriend alone to sleep as he slid on a pair of pants. It was mid afternoon and he knew she had to go to work in about an hour, but still, he let her sleep.

He wandered downstairs and sat in the kitchen, grabbing a bag of chips from the middle of the table. His phone was in front of him, challenging him to a staring contest. Obviously the phone would win. After awhile, he sighed as he lifted it from the table and dialed the ever familiar number, finding himself no longer surprised that it went straight to her voicemail. Instead of leaving a message, he pressed the end button and dropped his head down on the table.

He missed her. And he had begun hating himself for the things he'd said and done to her. The feeling that gnawed at his insides told him that no matter what he did or how much he apologized, Cassie would never forgive him. And he didn't deserve it. He had never deserved her in the first place. But she gave him a chance and just like everything else, he screwed it up.

More and more lately, he had been realizing that seemed to be the only thing he was good at. Any good thing that came into his life, he could, and would, find a way to mess it up. With the exception of his band, of course. But lately he had been thinking that maybe the band was more of a curse than a blessing.

It allowed him to run away from things. It made it so he didn't have to grow up and take responsibility for himself or his actions. All he had to do was show up and sing. He could be with a different girl every night. He could say things he didn't mean and never have to face the consequences because once he was in a new city, the words and the people he said them to were forgotten. It didn't matter who he hurt as long as he was having a good time.

But now he wasn't having a good time. He was hurt. Things were different. And nothing, not even the girl who was sleeping in his bed, seemed to be able to make him forget that. She was merely a distraction. And not even a good one recently.

After sitting there for nearly half an hour, he deleted the number from his phone's history and trudged back up the stairs. Chelley was still sleeping, his sheets pulled around her body. He stared at her and sat down at his desk. She had been cute enough to catch his attention after he'd spilled her coffee all over her, and her boobs, though on the smaller side, were just nice enough to keep his attention. She was quiet and well mannered, a little shy in the bedroom at times, though part of him like that.

But the last few days, Alex couldn't stop thinking that she could never compare to the beauty that simply radiated off Cassie. And her manners had nothing on Cassie's attitude and the way she carried herself. It was Cassie's confidence that had initially intimidated, and eventually intrigued, him to the point of feeling like he just had to know everything about her.

He heard movement on his bed and snapped out of his thoughts, "Alex?" her sleepy voice mumbled.

"Yeah?" he asked, watching her as she sat up, keeping the sheet around her body.

"Why did you get out of bed?" she asked.

"I wanted to let you sleep, Baby," he replied, forcing a small smile.

In turn, she smiled as well and swung her legs over the side of the bed, still holding the sheet tightly to her naked form. He hated when she did that. It bothered him to absolutely no end. And it made him think about how Cassie never had any problem walking around the bedroom completely naked. Or the way Cassie would put on one of his shirts, something that actually turned him on more than her being naked. But Chelley never did either of those things.

As she made her way over to him, her smile faded into a frown, "You put pants on," she said, pointing out the obvious, "I wanted you one more time before I had to leave."

A grin crept across Alex's face as Chelley straddled his lap. He'd noticed in the last few days she had been offering sex more often. Though he wasn't sure why, he never found a reason to turn her down.

"Pants can be removed rather easily," he said.

"I don't think there's time," she said with a pout.

"There's always time for a quickie," he replied, catching her mouth in a lusty kiss. His hands tangled in her already messy hair and he pulled on it gently, easily able to pretend once his eyes were closed that the hair was dark red instead of light brown and that beyond the set of closed lids were bright green eyes, and not brown ones.

"Damn, Baby," Chelley said breathlessly, "You've never kissed me like before," she said.

Alex had her in the palm of his hand and he knew it, "You know, if we play our cards right, we don't even have to move from this chair," he said, reaching into the desk drawer and pulling out a condom.

Dazed from the kiss and all inhibitions thrown aside, she took the condom from him as he pulled the sheet away from her body and threw it on the floor. His hands explored her bare skin as she quickly undid his jeans.

Minutes later she slid off him and picked the sheet up, wrapping it around her body once again and gathered her clothes from the floor. Alex watched her walk into the bathroom and shut the door. He sighed, knowing the only reason either of them enjoyed it as much as the did was that he had pretended the entire time that she was Cassie.

When she came out of the bathroom, her hair was combed and pulled back into a ponytail, showing no signs of what they had just done. Alex was dressed as well, his forever messy hair sticking out all over the place. Without a word, Chelley pulled the blankets from his bed and fixed the sheet that covered the mattress and proceeded to make his bed.

"You don't have to do that," he said.

"I don't mind," she replied, fixing the pillows and spreading the blankets back over the bed.

"Thank you," Alex said when she finished.

She turned to him with a wide smile, "No problem," she said, "I should get going though. I need to run home and shower before work."

Alex nodded, "Are you coming back over later?" he asked.

Chelley shrugged, "I'm not sure. I'll call you on my break and let you know, okay?" she said, walking toward the bedroom door.

Alex followed her down the stairs and to the front door. He pulled the door open for her, and leaned down, pressing a kiss to her lips before she could step outside.

"Have a good night at work, Baby," he said and she smiled.

He watched as she walked to her car and then drove away. Sighing, he shut the door and wandered to the living room. As he flipped through the channels, his mind wandered to Cassie again. He wanted another chance, though he knew he didn't deserve one.

He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed her number again only to get her voicemail. With a heavy sigh, he ended the call and closed his eyes, trying to recall a phone number he had dialed only a few times. It finally came to him and his fingers flew over the number pad and pressed talk.

"Hello?" the voice on the other end said, picking up after two rings.

"Oh, hi Mrs. Black. It's Alex," he said nervously.

"Alex, hi! Wow, I didn't expect to hear from you. How have you been?" she asked.

"I've definitely seen better days. But I'm sure your daughter has told you everything," he said.

"Mmm, indeed she has," Tina said, "But I told her and I'm going to tell you, everyone makes mistakes. You can't hold a person's imperfections against them because you yourself are not perfect."

"Yes Ma'am," Alex said, "I'm far from perfect."

"We all are, Dear," she said, "But anyway, what can I do for you?" she asked.

"I was wondering if it would be possible to speak with Cassandra," Alex said, "I'm sure I'm the last person she wants to talk to right now, but I just," he trailed off, sighing quietly into the phone.

"She's actually out. She went to that haunted pub walk with Matthew," she said, "Such a handsome young man."

"Matt's a very good looking guy," Alex agreed, "Are they-"

Tina cut him off before he could finish, "They're just friends. You don't have anything to worry about," she said.

"I'm not so sure about that," Alex said, "But I don't want to keep bothering you. It was nice talking to you again Mrs. Black."

"It was good to hear from you, Alex. Did you want me to let Cassandra know you called?" Tina asked.

"Oh, no, that's okay. It would probably just ruin her mood," Alex said, "I probably shouldn't have called in the first place."

Tina sighed, "You kids really need to stop being so damned stubborn," she said.