Nothing Goes As Orchestrated

"Girl, I thought I heard you," Nick said, coming into the back yard and wrapping his arm around Cassie in a side hug.

She turned in her seat and gave him a full hug, "How's it going Nicko?" she asked.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mickey Mouse pajama pants. When Nick let go of her and moved to sit down, the boy wearing them was revealed to her.

"Matty Fly!" she exclaimed, jumping out of her seat and throwing her arms around him.

Cassie hadn't seen him since before she and Alex had broken up and had very limited contact with him otherwise, the very occasional text message being the only time either would hear from the other. But it had been long enough. Everything had long since blown over and she was excited to see her friend once again.

"Hey Cassie," he said quietly, returning the embrace, "It's good to see you."

"I can't believe you're here and didn't tell me. I would've come to see you. Shit, it seems like it's been forever," she said, letting go and moving back to her chair.

"It has been quite awhile," he said, sitting in the chair next to her.

Zack joined the group in the back yard, walking over to Cassie and giving her a hug, "Good to see you again," he said, "You come over so rarely and always when I'm not here."

She laughed, "Well I'm a busy woman. But I'm playing hooky today," she said, "No work, no class. I think I deserve a day off."

"That's right," Peter said, winking at her.

The topic of conversation had changed long before the other boys came outside. After listening to everything Peter had to say, Cassie needed to talk about something else. And since the subject changed, they had stayed far away from anything involving Alex.

"Any big plans for today?" Cassie asked.

They boys all shrugged and looked at each other, "Probably just going to the beach," Nick said when no one else spoke up.

"You guys do that every day," she said with a laugh, "Mind if I tag along though?"

"We would be bummed if you didn't," Nick replied.

When the boys went inside to get changed, Cassie went to her car. During the warmer months, she always kept at least one swim suit and beach outfit in her trunk because she never knew where she might end up. She made her way back into the house and quickly changed in the bathroom and pulled her hair back into a ponytail.

A couple of the boys were ready and waiting when she wandered back to the living room. The rest eventually joined them and as they left the house, Cassie gently bumped Matt's arm, motioning for him to come with her. The rest of the boys piled into another car and took off and Cassie followed behind them.

"Are we okay?" Matt asked after being silent for awhile.

Cassie took her eyes off the road for a second and glanced at Matt, "Do you really think I would've let you in my car if we weren't?" she asked.

A small smile broke across his face, "Sure, if you were planning on killing me and dumping my body," he said.

With her eyes back on the road in front of her, Cassie laughed quietly, "I'm not planning on killing you," she said, "Everything that happened in the past is in the past. I was never really that mad at you to begin with. I don't know why. Angie said I was an idiot for not telling Alex everything. But things happen, you know? Maybe you were trying to look out for me, or maybe you did it for your own selfish reasons. I don't know for sure. But I did know, and still do know, that I'm not worth ruining a friendship over."

"I think it was a little of both," Matt said, "I think it was because of my own selfish reasons that I was looking out for you. Alex isn't a bad guy, but he's terrible at being faithful. And I didn't want to see a great girl like you get crushed by his stupidity."

"I'm not all that great," Cassie mumbled.

Matt looked at her, "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Nothing, nevermind," she said, shaking her head, "I don't want to let anything that happened in the past stop us from being friends. Nobody's perfect so I'm not about to hold any imperfections against you."

When they got to the beach, Cassie spread out a towel and quickly shed her tank top and board shorts and began to apply sunscreen. When she finished the skin she could reach, she turned to the boys.

"Can someone get my back for me?" she asked.

They all looked at each other and finally Matt shrugged, "I'll do it. Lay down," he instructed.

She did as she was told and felt Matt's hands gently rubbing the thick lotion on her back within seconds.

"I'm not going to break if you apply a little pressure," she said, but breathed in sharply when he got to her shoulder blades.

"Are you okay?" he asked, removing his hands from her back.

She nodded, "Fine," she said, "Go ahead and finish."

He finished and Cassie spent close to an hour laying on her towel and enjoying the feel of the warm sun on her skin. She finally got up and took one look at Matt before forcing him to let her put sunscreen on his face. After a great deal of argument and resistance, he gave in. The rest of the afternoon was spent in the water and watching the boys.

When they were ready to leave, they all piled back into the cars and drove back to the Runner Runner house.

"You should come stay with Angie and me for a couple days," Cassie said to Matt as she turned off the car, "It'll be fun. We have a spare bedroom and you can hang out with Alex and Rian as well. I don't have work or class on the weekend," she said.

"Sure," Matt said without hesitation, "Let me go grab some stuff."

They went in the house and Matt disappeared upstairs immediately. Cassie walked into the living room where the boys had already congregated, beers in hand.

"I'm stealing Matty from you guys for the weekend," she announced.

"Just bring him back in one piece," Peter said.

Cassie smiled and fished through her purse for her phone. Upon finding it, she slid the keyboard open and began typing a text message.

Can't come over tonight. I have an unexpected guest for the weekend.

Not long after sending it, she received a reply.

Come over anyway and bring your guest. Rian and Angie want to have a movie night. Chelley will be here too.

Just as she dropped her phone back into her purse, Matt came down the stairs with a small duffel bag slung across his body.

"Ready whenever you are," he said.

They said goodbye to the Runner Runner boys and began the journey back to Los Angeles. On the way Cassie told Matt about the movie night. The look he gave her forced her to give a vague explanation of the situation. She told him that she and Alex were trying to be friends but left out the part about sleeping with him.

Instead of going to the girls' house, Cassie headed straight for Rian and Alex's house. She pulled up in front of the house and saw Rian's and Alex's cars along with one she didn't recognize. Process of elimination told her who the car belonged to. They knocked on the front door and it swung open seconds later, revealing a messy haired Alex.

"Flyzik?" he said, "Did I know you were here?"

Matt laughed, "I'm pretty sure I told you. But it was awhile ago and I know how forgetful you can be. I should've reminded you," he said as he stepped inside the house, Cassie following behind him.

"You two look very beachy," Angie said as they entered the living room, "I guess that explains why someone didn't show up to work today."

"I decided that I deserved a day off. As you can see, I'm not in class right now, either," Cassie replied.

After hugging Angie and Rian, Matt's eyes fell on the small girl who sat quietly on the couch, "Hello," he said to her, "I don't believe we've met."

"Right," Alex said, "This is my girlfriend, Chelley," he said, "Chelley, this is Matt Flyzik."

"Nice to meet you, Matt," she said, looking back and forth between him and Cassie, "If you don't mind me asking, are you two dating?" she said.

Cassie opened her mouth to respond but Matt beat her to it, "Yeah, actually, we are," he said, snaking his arm around her waist.

"You're really cute together," Chelley said.

All other eyes fell on the two of them. Cassie looked back at each one of them but couldn't say anything. It wasn't true, but she knew why Matt had said it. And because of that, she didn't resist when he sat in the chair and pulled her down with him, wrapping his arms around her.

No one said anything as Alex started the first movie. It took a good half hour, but Cassie finally found a comfortable position in the chair with Matt. As the movie went on, she began to pay less and less attention to it and more attention to the boy she was sitting with.

Matt's arms stayed around her waist comfortably. His face was a little pink from the sun and he smelled like sunscreen and salt water. He looked at her when, near the end of the movie, she let out a soft sigh.

"You okay?" he asked her quietly.

She nodded, "I'm fine," she replied.

"Do you want to make him jealous?" he asked.

"No. But I do kind of want you to kiss me," she answered honestly.

Without question or hesitation, Matt leaned in closer to her and her eyes fell shut as he pressed his lips softly to hers.