Glide With The Breeze

Cassie groaned quietly at Alex's attempt to wake her but kept her eyes closed, thinking that maybe if she ignored him, he would let her sleep a little longer, to no avail. He brushed her hair away from her face and kissed her forehead. Still not wanting to get up, she shook her head slowly back and forth and kept her eyes shut tightly.

"Come on, Cassandra," he said softly. "I have to leave soon. And you have to get up and go to work today, remember?"

Cassie sighed and opened her eyes. Alex was leaning over her with a smile on his face. She reached her arms up and slid them around his neck, pulling him to her. "No," she whined against his neck. "We said you were going to stay in bed and cuddle with me all day. I distinctly remember agreeing on that last night," she said sleepily.

"Incredibly tempting as that sounds," Alex breathed in her ear and then kissed the side of her head, "That is absolutely not the conversation we had," he said.

Though the grin on his face was apparent in his tone, Cassie was anything but amused. When she loosened her hold on him, he lifted himself up a little so he could look at her. But she refused to look at him and focused her eyes on the bed. The simple action grabbed his insides and twisted them into knots and he could hear loud and clear exactly what she wasn't saying. He wanted to tell her that he felt the same way but couldn't figure out how to form the words.

Suddenly her eyes snapped to his and she pulled him back down until their lips met. Her heart raced and goosebumps covered her body. He shifted himself so one arm was on either side of her and both his legs were between hers. His hand slid down the side of her body to her hip, pulling it up toward his and she wrapped her legs around his waist.

She was reaching for his shirt when his phone rang. "Ignore it," she said, finding the hem and pulling his shirt up and then over his head. He did as she said but it started ringing again moments after it stopped. "Ignore it," she repeated. But whoever was calling wouldn't stop. Once again, moments after the call went to voicemail it rang again. He sighed and reluctantly pulled himself away from Cassie and reached for his phone.

"Who is it?" she asked when he had it in his hand. He turned the phone around so she could see the caller ID.

She breathed in deeply and took the phone from Alex. "Matthew," she said, answering the call, "You can't have Alex. He's mine. I'm holding him hostage."

Matt laughed, "Sandra D, you know you can't do that," he said.

"I don't care what you say I can or can't do. He spends more time with you than he does with me and that's not very fair. So he's just going to have to miss the rest of this tour. You'll have to find someone to fill in for him," she said.

Another laugh came through the phone. "If he were a drummer or a bassist or anything other than the singer, I could arrange that for you, even on such short notice. And you know I would do that for you. But he is the singer and they need him," he said.

"Why?" she asked. "What's so special about being a singer? Come on, Matty. You sing, so why don't you just finish up the tour for him. It's not that long," she said. Matt remained quiet on his end of the line. After thirty seconds she sighed and gave in. "Fine. Just give me fifteen more minutes with him, okay?"

"Ten," Matt said and hung up quickly so there would be no more argument.

Cassie pouted as she handed the phone back to Alex. He laughed quietly but stopped almost immediately when he really took in the look on her face. Her eyes looked sad in a way that couldn't be faked. His heart dropped and he set his phone on the night table next to the bed and laid down next to Cassie.

"Are you okay?" he asked with not even the slightest hint of jesting in his tone. In fact, concern clung to each syllable. Cassie nodded but the sigh and then silence that followed suggested otherwise. "Tell me what's going on," he pressed.

She didn't say anything at first. And then with a big sigh, she said, "I don't know. It just feels different this time." She avoided eye contact once again. Her fingers twisted and played with the sheet.

"What feels different?"

"This does. Us. Everything," she paused. "More specifically, you leaving," she said softly.

Instead of saying anything, he pulled her to him. She allowed this without the slightest bit of resistance and rested her head against his bare chest. Her fingers gently glided over his soft skin in different shapes and she closed her eyes for a moment, breathing in his freshly showered scent. Her worries subsided almost instantly at the familiarity. But she knew, as soon as he had to get out of her bed, that feeling would return.

Alex ran his fingers through her long red hair and kissed the top of her head. "I love you," he said. "More than I've ever loved anyone. You know that, right?" he asked. She nodded and tried to hold back the tears that had sprung to her eyes. They didn't fall, but somehow, even with her head down, he seemed to know. She squeezed her eyes shut and a tear escaped. It slid down her cheek and hit his skin. Her arms found their way around his torso and she held him tightly, begging the tears behind her eyes to stay where they were.

Alex drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "I'll stay if you really want me to," he said quietly, planting another kiss on the top of Cassie's head.

"I know," she said with a nod. She spoke just as quietly as he had. "And that's why I have to let you go."

He kissed the top of her head yet again but neither made any move to get up or even let the other go. They laid together in silence until Alex's phone started ringing again. He reached for it with a heavy sigh. "I guess I'm being summoned," he said and pressed the button to answer the call.

Matt didn't even let Alex say hello before he started ranting. "Dude, what the fuck? I'm not fucking around here. We have places to be and shit to do. Let's go," he said aggressively.

"Yeah, I'll be down in a minute," Alex replied and hung up. He looked at Cassie who was looking up at him. "Time to go," he said.

Matt was pounding on the front door when they got downstairs. Cassie pulled it open and the boy on the other side immediately grabbed Alex's arm and started to pull him outside but Cassie kept a death grip on his hand and pulled him back.

"Don't ever hang up on me again," she said. Matt released his hold on Alex and raised an eyebrow at her. "What?" she asked. "It's just plain rude. Is it really that difficult to say 'goodbye' before ending a call? No, I didn't think so. And second," she said, "Take good care of him for me, okay?" Matt nodded but the annoyance that had disappeared seconds before was starting to return to his demeanor. "Okay. Now just give me thirty seconds to say goodbye and he's all yours for the next two weeks."

Cassie waved off Matt and his attitude and turned to her boyfriend. He looked at her and smiled. Her eyes still looked sad but not as much as before. She looked certain that she wanted him to go more than she needed him to stay.

"I love you," he said.

She smiled and for a moment the sadness vanished from her eyes. "I know. I love you too," she said. Alex smiled and pressed his lips to hers for a moment. She squeezed his hand before letting go as he turned to leave. "Be safe, please," she pleaded.

When he turned back to look at her, a crooked smile graced his lips and it said so much more than words ever could. She smiled as he gave a little wave and then watched as they drove away.

After a quick shower, she was as ready as ever to face her day. There was a sticky note on her computer monitor when she got into the office. She plucked it off the screen as she set her things down and made her way to Vanessa's office, as the note instructed. Once inside, she closed the door, mostly out of habit, and sat down.

"Did you have fun ignoring us?" Vanessa asked without looking up from what she was doing.

Cassie sighed quietly. "Cut me some slack, Nessa. I had barely two whole days with Alex," she said. "And besides, I asked for the days off and you said yes, and therefore, I should have the right to ignore everyone and everything related to work if I so choose."

"You have a point," she said. "And I assume that now you're ready to get back to work with no distractions, as per usual?"

"Um," she began, "Not exactly. I have a small problem," she said. Vanessa raised her eyebrows and waited for her to continue. "My doctor says I can't fly for at least three weeks."

"Can't fly?" Vanessa asked. "Why can't you fly?"

She let out a quiet sigh. "I'm not really comfortable discussing it," she said, not being completely honest. "Here's the note from my doctor." She slid the piece of paper across the desk. "That's your copy."

"Okay," Vanessa said with a nod though she was obviously confused. "I will see what I can do about rescheduling your interviews, or maybe I can go do them for you. I kind of miss getting out there sometimes. You know?"

For the next hour, they discussed what the girls had planned for the magazine. Once it appeared that Vanessa was on board with their ideas, Cassie returned to her desk. She had only just sat down when Angie started in on her. With a sigh, Cassie turned her chair to face her friend's desk behind her.

"Rian said Alex was late for bus call this morning," she said.

Cassie rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah?" she asked and her friend nodded. "What is the purpose, exactly, in Rian feeding you such pointless information? I mean, really, why do you need to know if my boyfriend is early or late or ends up not showing at all?" Cassie asked. Angie raised an eyebrow at her friend's defensive response. Regardless of her current situation, Cassie was growing tired of the on-again, off-again scrutiny her relationship seemed to be under. And at any given time she never seemed to know which one it was. "We just lost track of time this morning. It happens sometimes." Cassie turned her chair back around as if to say that she was done with the conversation.

"But you are the world's most punctual person," Angie said. "What's going on with you two? Are you breaking up again?"

"What?" Cassie asked as she spun back around to face her friend. "No. I just didn't even look at the clock this morning. I was too tired from last night, if you get what I'm saying," she lied.

"Say no more," Angie said. "Please."

With that, she was able to go about her day as usual. The afternoon flew by and before she knew it, Angie was pestering her to clean up her desk so they could go home and have their girls night. It had become tradition, since they spent so much time with their boyfriends because they were rarely home, that the first night the boys were gone, they would sit at home and watch movies and eat junk food. Though she had a few things she wanted to get finished up before she called it a night, she listened to her friend and put her work away for the night.

She arrived home before Angie, who had stopped to get food for them, and grabbed the mail on her way inside. As she sorted through it, she found a loose piece of paper amongst the envelopes. Curious, she set the rest of the mail on the table and unfolded the paper and couldn't help the smile that drew across her face as she read the scrawled message.

Dear Cassandra, By the time you find this, I will probably have texted you at least fifteen times but I want you to know that I miss you already. I am sitting here watching you sleep, not even gone yet, and I miss you because I know that this is the last time for two weeks that I will be with you. And though I know we will talk on the phone and video chat and send each other stupid messages, there is absolutely nothing like falling asleep with you in my arms. This relationship has its difficulties at times, I admit, but every second I get to spend with you makes the days we are apart completely worth it. I love you dearly. Alex

She read his note twice before taking her phone from her pocket and dialing his number. To her surprise, he answered almost right away, as if he had been expecting her call.

"You found my note, I assume?"

She sniffled and until that moment, she hadn't even realized she'd started crying. "I love you so much," she said.