Glide With The Breeze

Cassie could hear paper being crumpled behind her. Being at work, she didn't think much of it because paper was constantly being crumpled before being thrown in a garbage can. So it came as a bit of surprise when the balled up paper hit her in the back of the head before falling to the floor.

Slowly, she turned around and faced her friend. "Do you have a problem?" she asked

Angie shrugged. "No more than usual," she said.

"So, yeah then?" Cassie asked.

Angie giggled quietly. "Shut up," she said. "What are you and Alex doing tonight?"

"Alex is spending the day with his other girlfriend. You know, the one who can drink with him," she replied.

"What are he and Jack doing?" she asked.

Cassie picked the balled up paper up off the floor and tossed it into the garbage can next to Angie's desk. "He said something about catching an early flight up to San Francisco and something, something all day and then flying back home tonight," she said. "I don't know. He was annoying me so I stopped listening."

"I usually stop listening when he talks, too," Angie said with a nod. Cassie opened her mouth to say something but Angie continued, "But anyway, I was going to see if you guys wanted to come to dinner with Rian and me, but since he's not here, do you want to come? Rian's paying, even though he doesn't know it yet," she said.

"If Rian's paying then I'm there. You didn't even need to ask," Cassie said. Behind her, her phone vibrated on top of her desk. She looked at her watch and reached for her phone. "I have to get going. I've got a lunch interview," she said, turning the alert on her phone off. "Or, did you want to come? It seems like we haven't done an interview together in forever."

Angie looked down at her planner in front of her. "An interview? For us? I don't have you down for anything today," she said.

Cassie shook her head. "It's for big sister," she said. "Do you want to come?" she asked again.

"I don't have anything terribly pressing that needs to be done now," Angie said as she quickly scanned over the papers on her desk. "Sure, why not," she shrugged.

When they finished with the interview, the girls went their separate ways, Angie back to the office to finish a few things before meeting up with Rian while Cassie headed home. The rest of her afternoon was spent cleaning the house, something she'd been thinking about doing but never seemed to be able to make the time. With Alex and Angie both out, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. It hardly seemed like any time had passed when the alert she set on her phone went off and she needed to get ready for dinner but she was happy with the progress she had made.

Rian and Angie were already seated when Cassie got to the restaurant. She slid into the booth across the table from them and picked up the menu. "You guys are gross," she said plainly.

Neither was phased by her statement and they didn't even bother to ask what her reasoning was. "What'd you do all afternoon," Angie asked instead.

Cassie closed her menu and set it on the table in front of her. "Cleaned the house a little," she said. "Nothing exciting."

"The house didn't need to be cleaned," Angie said, shaking her head.

"I know," Cassie said and took a drink of water from the glass the waiter set down down in front of her. Once they were finished ordering, she continued. "It was mostly my room," she said. "And I cleaned out that room downstairs that neither of us have been in for a year or so."

Angie's eyes widened. "The one by the stairs?" she asked and Cassie nodded. "Holy shit," she said.

"I thought that was a closet," Rian chimed in. "I didn't even know there was a room downstairs."

"Exactly," Cassie said with a laugh. "You wouldn't believe some of the stuff I found in there. It's ridiculous. Did you know that we have an entire patio set in there?" she and and her friend raised her eyebrows. "Angie, a patio set."

"The old one?" she asked. Cassie nodded and took another drink of water. "What else was in there?"

Cassie shrugged. "A high chair, a car seat, a crib. You know, old baby stuff I never used," she said, looking down at the table. Her hand instinctively rested on her stomach.

"Cass," Rian said quietly.

After a moment, she looked up at her friends. "I'm fine, Rian," she said. "It's fine. I'm going to have Alex take it all to the dump tomorrow. I've been meaning to get rid of it for a long time. But you know, it's just one of those things."

Neither Rian nor Angie knew how to respond to her. Having both been her friend for as long as each one had, they knew it was something she would never fully get over. And who could expect her to?

Silence fell over the table while Cassie played with the straw in her glass of water. Finally, she turned her focus from her water glass to her friends. They didn't seem to notice her watching them and she didn't mind. For as much as she would jokingly give them a hard time, she loved that they were so happy together.

"Angie, you're practically on top of him," she said.

Angie nodded. "I know," she said, reaching up and pinching Rian's cheek playfully. Rian squeezed his eyes shut and gave a goofy grin. "He's pretty cute, you know?"

Cassie rolled her eyes. "You guys are gross," she said again.

When their food came, Rian suddenly became a little more serious. Cassie noticed that it didn't appear to bother Angie, which meant there was a specific reason they had invited her to dinner. She waited for one of them to start talking but neither did. By the time she was halfway through her food, she couldn't take it anymore.

"So," she said, "What's up, you guys?"

Rian looked up from his food, feigning confusion. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Cassie shook her head. "Don't play dumb, Rian. You're no good at it, for one," she said. "I can tell that you guys wanted to talk to me about something. So let's talk. What is it?" she asked.

"Well," Rian said and glanced quickly at Angie. She nodded at him to continue. "I actually had hoped Alex would be here. But since he's not," he paused and cleared his throat, a nervous habit that very rarely surfaced, "I, uh, wanted to talk to Alex about selling the house," he said.

"You can't sell your house," she said matter of factly.

"Why not?" he asked, clearly confused.

Cassie put her fork down. "Because you haven't owned it long enough. You owe more than it's worth right now," she said. "Look, I get it. You two want to buy a house together, right?" she asked and they both nodded. "Well, that's perfect," she said.

"It is?" Angie asked.

"Yeah, because I've been thinking about something a lot and I wanted to talk to you about it." she said.

Angie looked confused. "Talk to me about what?" she asked.

"I'm going to ask Alex to move in. It just makes sense, you know? We're having a baby and he's always there when he's not on tour," she said. "And for that matter, you're always at their house," she said and let her thought trail off.

Rian nodded as he put his fork down and looked at Angie. "Why don't you just move in then?" he said but Angie gave him a look that said it wasn't exactly what she wanted. "We can take some time and figure things out, you know, work it out with Alex, maybe he and I can rent the house out and then we can buy our own place," he said.

"Fine, I guess," she said with a heavy sigh.

Rian sighed as well. "I know it's not what you want. But think about it. It gives us time to find something we really want," he said.

"Yeah," she said, picking her fork up and poking at the food on her plate. "You're right. It makes sense."

After dinner and a few errands, Cassie went home and continued the cleaning she had started earlier. It didn't take long for fatigue to hit her and she retired to the couch and turned the TV on.

It was late when Alex got home. He walked in the living room and found Cassie fast asleep on the couch. He kicked his shoes off and carefully climbed over her and laid down between her and the back of the couch.

She had fallen asleep watching the History channel. It was something he had almost come to expect when he came home late at night. Usually she would be awake, in her pajamas and wearing her glasses, completely engrossed in whatever historical subject was on that night. And it was nice. But laying with her was nice too.

The show ended and another started only to come to an end as well. About halfway through the next show was when Cassie finally shifted and realized there was another person on the couch with her. She breathed in deeply before opening her eyes and turning her head a little to receive a kiss on her cheek.

"Hey there, Sleeping Beauty," Alex said quietly.

"How did you get between me and the back of the couch?" she asked groggily.

Alex grinned even though she wasn't paying attention. "I'm a man of many talents," he said, sliding one arm underneath her and the other over her and hugged her tightly. "I missed you today," he said as he rested his head against hers.

"No you didn't," she mumbled. "You spent the day with Jack looking at cute California girls in San Francisco."

He laughed softly. "Now why would I need to do that when I have my very own cute California girl at home?" he asked.

"Because I'm not a California girl," she reminded him, "I'm a Maryland girl."

"Even better. California girls are not all Katy Perry made them out to be," he said. "You want to go upstairs and go to bed?" he asked.

She nodded and sat up slowly before standing and taking hold of Alex's hand, pulling him off the couch and toward the stairs. She led the way, almost as if he didn't know where he was going. Once in her room, they both fell into bed still fully clothed.

Something about the room felt different but Alex couldn't put his finger on it. He let his eyes wander around the room until finally he figured it out.

"You got a new dresser?" he asked and Cassie shook her head. "Then what's that?" he asked, pointing at the new chest of drawers that stood next to her old one.

"I got that for you," she said.

Confusion drew across Alex's face. "Then shouldn't it be at my house?" he asked. "Wait, I already have a dresser at my house. That you picked out. So you can't even tell me that you don't like the one I already have," he said.

She nodded. "I know. I got it so you could have one here," she said.

"I thought we were sharing space quite nicely," he commented.

"I also cleaned out one of the closets for you," she said, motioning to the closet that was on his side of the bed. He just stared blankly at her. "We have been sharing space just fine. I just thought you might want more space when you move in," she said.

Alex raised his eyebrows at her. "I'm moving in?" he asked. She nodded at him. "And when is that happening?" he inquired.

Cassie shrugged. "I guess whenever Angie throws all your shit into the street. Because she's moving in with Rian," she said, moving closer to Alex and resting her head against his chest. His arms immediately wrapped around her and he kissed the top of her head.

"Do you think it would be okay if I got it out of there before she did that?" he asked.

Cassie smiled to herself and closed her eyes, reaching across Alex to turn off the light on night table next to him. "I think that would be okay," she said.