Nothing Goes As Orchestrated

Cassie woke up, showered and got dressed Saturday morning without disturbing Alex's slumber, just as she'd hoped she could. Her goal was to get out of the hotel room before he woke up so she wouldn't have to deal with him asking her all kinds of questions. But just as she was running down her mental checklist of everything she needed for her interview, she heard him shifting in his bed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him stretch and look around the room for her.

"Leaving so early?" he asked and she nodded, "Where ya going?"

"Just downstairs, actually. They're meeting me here. Apparently they were concerned for my safety and didn't want me wandering around Oakland by myself. It's kind of cute," she said, "A bunch of boys who don't know me," she trailed off.

Alex nodded, "Can I come down a little later?" he asked.

"No."

He sighed, "Why do always say no so quickly? You never take any time to think about it. Just no," he said.

"Because this is my job," she said for the umpteenth time since she'd known him, "I don't need or want any distractions while I'm trying to conduct an interview."

"I haven't seen them in so long," he whined.

Cassie rolled her eyes, "You're being a baby. I'm leaving now. See you later," she said.

"Cassandra," he said as she reached for the door. Sighing, she turned back to him, "Are you mad at me?" he asked.

"Of course not," she said, "Just slightly annoyed. I'll see you later."

Without waiting for a response, she left the room and walked down the hall, opting to take the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator. When she reached the bottom, she easily found the small conference room and got everything set up. It wasn't long before four boys walked into the room.

"Cassie?" one of them asked.

"That's me," she said, standing and extending her hand, "It's nice to meet you guys."

"Nice to meet you too. I'm Jon," he said, shaking her hand, "This is Shawn, Matt and Dylan. And we heard you like coffee, um, good coffee, excuse me, so we brought you some," he said and Shawn held a cup out to her.

"Thank you so much," she said, a huge smile spreading across her face, "That's so sweet of you. You really didn't have to."

"Truth be told," Shawn said as they all sat down, "We've read quite a few of your articles and we're big fans of the way you seem to write everything so honestly. So we were actually really honored that you wanted to do this interview with us."

Cassie's smile widened even more, "Well, I've been a huge fan of your band for, geez, probably about six years now, so this is really exciting for me," she said, "Not to get all geeky on you guys or anything. Shall we get this thing started?"

"Yes ma'am," Dylan said.

"Alright, before we do, though, I like to tell everyone I interview this. I'm not out to get anyone. So if you say something that you don't want included in my final article, just say 'off the record' and you have nothing to worry about."

The boys all nodded and Cassie pressed a button on her audio recorder. They began to discuss what each of them had been doing recently in regards to other projects and where things were headed.

"When is this article going to be published?" Shawn asked.

"Next issue, most likely," Cassie replied, "So it will be out at the beginning of next month."

The boys looked at each other, "Well, here's the thing," Shawn said, "We only just decided that maybe this break was a good idea. And we haven't announced it quite yet. Is there any way that this can wait until after we do that?" he asked.

Cassie smiled, "For you guys, sure. I totally understand where you're coming from and I definitely don't want to be the one who gets the rumor mill going. Issue after next."

After that promise, the guys talked freely about their decision and what each of them had been up to in regards to other projects. Shawn even showed her pictures of some of his art that he'd been working on and Jon played her some of his new songs. Everything was going smoothly until her phone vibrated loudly in her pocket against the chair she was sitting in. All eyes fell on her.

"You can check it and answer it if you want," Jon said, "We don't mind at all."

"It's fine," Cassie said, shaking her head, "It's probably just my friend upstairs in the hotel room wanting to know how long I'm going to be and whine about being bored. He wanted to come even though he knew I was working. He'll just have to deal."

"Boyfriend?" Shawn asked curiously, "Not to pry into your business."

"Ex, actually," she replied, "It's a long complicated story that I don't really want to get into right now. He has a girlfriend and I'm not sleeping with him. And let's leave it at that, shall we?"

They resumed the conversation where they'd left off and continued talking for over an hour. Just as they were starting to wrap things up, Cassie phone vibrated again. She tried to ignore it, but once it finished, it started again. She sighed and pulled it from her pocket.

"I'm really sorry, guys," she said pressing a button and putting the phone to her ear, "What do you want, Alex? I'm busy."

"I just wanted to know when you're going to be done."

"Soon, if you stop bothering me."

Alex sighed, "Can I come down in a couple minutes? I just want to say hi. But I don't want to be a distraction," he said.

"What do you think you're being right now?" she asked, clearly annoyed.

"Could you stop being so damn bitchy, please."

Cassie sighed loudly, "Whatever Alex. Come down whenever," she said and hung up on him.

"I'm really sorry," she apologized again, "I think we're just about done though. I just wanted to ask one more thing real quick," she said.

"Shoot," Shawn said.

"What's Justin been up to? I know he left the band to, what was it you guys said, pursue other lives and loves? I was curious what exactly that meant," she said.

"You know," Shawn began, "When I told Justin that you were interviewing us, he said he would actually be happy to sit down and chat with you for a little while, if you wanted. He just couldn't make it this morning. He's free all day tomorrow," he said, reaching across the table and scribbling down a number in her notebook. "Just give him a call."

"Really?" she asked and the boys all nodded, "Great. Well thank you guys so much for taking time out of your morning to sit and talk with me. It was an honor to finally get to do this."

"No, thank you, Cassie."

She smiled and as they all stood up, Alex pushed open the door to the conference room. Everyone turned to see who had come in.

"No way," Jon said.

"Fuckin' yes, bitches," Alex said, walking into the room and hugging Jon, Shawn and even Matt. "I don't think we've met," he said to Dylan.

"Dylan," he said.

"I'm Alex," he said, reaching out to shake his hand, "Good to meet you."

"Yeah, same," Dylan said.

Cassie stared at Alex for a minute before beginning to collect all her things. She put everything away and when she looked back up, Alex had pulled Shawn to the side and was talking quietly with him and she couldn't help but wonder what they were talking about. She shrugged it off and slung her bag over her shoulder.

When they rejoined the group only a few moments later, Alex was clearly trying to hide a grin. Cassie found herself curious once again, but managed to quickly convince herself that it was probably nothing.

"So, what are you guys up to today?" Alex asked, "Because I'm pretty sure Cassandra and I have nothing planned and are up for just about anything."