Admiring From Afar

Ever since that day in the park Cassandra and Zack haven’t been acting like themselves. They both have been acting slightly depressed and Cassandra seemed angry at herself.
I’m so stupid. Why couldn’t I have told him that I liked him and that I was more than thrilled to be engaged to him? Cassandra thought angrily to herself. Because you didn’t realize it until he left she reminded herself. Cassandra hadn’t really talked to Zack since that day. She was too scared that she’d break down and tell Zack that she was wrong and that she liked him that way as well, but most of all, she was scared that he would reject her and tell her that he didn’t feel that way about her anymore.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Ana asked her friend.

“Yeah, totally,” Cassandra told her with a fake smile plastered on her face.

“Whatever you say Cass,” Ana told her friend while shaking her head disapprovingly.

“Y’know you can’t stay mad at yourself forever,” her friend reminded her.

“I know,” she told Ana. Ana walked away and started to talk to Alex and Jack. Everybody was at Cassandra’s house because it was her birthday. She was born on August 19, 1988 at 1:08 AM. It was her seventeenth birthday and everybody was making a huge deal out of it.

“C’mon Cass! It’s your birthday! Have fun!” Jack told her while picking her up and swinging her in a circle.

“I am having fun Jack,” she lied to her friend.

“No you’re not. I know you Cass, I dated you for 7 months… Give me some credit,” he joked with her.

“Sorry,” Cassandra told him with a sympathetic smile.

“It’s okay,” Jack told her.

“I’m going to stop being a Debbie Downer and enjoy my birthday with my friends,” Cassandra told him while smiling.

“Now that’s the birthday spirit!” Jack encouraged her.

“So, where is everyone?” Cassandra asked her ex-boyfriend.

“They’re all downstairs in the basement,” he told her.

“Oh, well then let’s go down there,” Cassandra told him.

The both walked down the stairs into the basement.

“Cassandra!” everyone yelled enthusiastically.

“Hey guys,” she said with a smile.

“Are you feeling better?” Alex asked.

“Yeah, thanks for asking,” she told Alex with a smile.

“Let’s get this party started!” Jack exclaimed.

After a few ‘fuck yeas’ were heard around the room everything got extremely quiet.

“Awkward turtle,” Jordan Marie said while doing the hand motion.

“Let’s play ‘I’ve never’,” Alex suggested.

“Sure. Let me go get the drinks,” Cassandra told her friends.

“You have alcohol?” Jack asked her with a surprised face.

“No, my parents don’t allow alcohol in the house because of Kelsey, but I know we have a bottle or two of champagne,” Cassandra said.

“Well, that’s better than nothing,” Alex said while shrugging his shoulders.

Cassandra left the room in search of the champagne. She walked into her parents’ room and found the champagne in a box in their closet. She grabbed it and then walked into her room to see if she wanted to bring anything else down. She was about to leave but something caught her eye. Her computer screen was flashing. She walked over to it to see what was wrong with it to find a video chat request from Jenn. She smiled widely as she clicked on ‘Accept’. A few seconds later Jenn’s face popped up on her laptop’s screen.

“Cass!!! It’s been way to long! How are you? I missed you. Happy birthday!,” Jenn told her friend.

“I missed you too and thanks,” Cass told he with a big smile.

“So, what are you doing?” Jenn asked her friend.

“Well, everyone’s downstairs and we’re about to play ‘I’ve never’,” Cass informed her.

“Really? Sounds awesome,” Jenn told her friend.

“Do you wanna play with us?” Cass asked.

“I’d like to but how would that work?” Jenn asked her friend with a confused expression.

“Well, we’ve got champagne to drink. Do you have anything?” Cassandra asked her.

“I think I’ve got champagne as well. Let me just go and get it,” Jenn told her friend and then left the screen.

Cassandra walked downstairs with her laptop and the champagne bottles.

“Why do you have your laptop?” Ana asked.

“Well, Jenn wanted to video chat and I thought it would be fun for her to play with us,” Cassandra told everyone while shrugging her shoulders.

“Awesome!” Alex said with a grin.

“Let me get the cups and then we’ll get this party started!” Cassandra told everyone while placing her laptop down next to Jack.

A few minutes later she came back with a bunch of red cups and started to fill the cups with the champagne. Once everyone had a filled glass they all sat in a circle and waited for everyone to settle down.

“I’ve never kissed someone in my family on the lips,” Jenn said while smirking through the computer screen.

Alex and Cassandra were the only ones who took a drink.

“What?! You guys kissed a relative?” Jack asked with his eyes wide open.

“It’s not my fault! She totally came onto me,” Alex held up his hands in defense, “plus I was pretty buzzed when it happened…”

“What about you Cass?” Jordan Marie asked her friend.

“Well, it was also at a wedding and there was this really hot guy there and I started to talk to him and I realized that he was the sweetest and the cutest guy on the planet so I kissed him. Only to find out that he was my second cousin from my Aunt Lindsay,” Cassandra told everyone while blushing.

“Ooo, you gotta give me this guy’s number!” Jordan Marie joked while winking at Cass.

“Heyy!!!!” Alex whined while pouting.

“Aww, baby I’m so sorry. I was just joking, you’re the cutest and most adorable guy out there,” Jordan Marie told her boyfriend while pecking his lips.

“Okay, okay, we get it…you guys are adorable,” Ana said while rolling her eyes.

“Well, I’ve never had a threesome,” Jack said.

Zack and Jordan Marie took a drink of their champagne.

“WHAT?!” Alex exclaimed while looking at his girlfriend with his eyes wide open.

“Yeah…” she trailed off.

“With who?!” Alex asked.

“This guy named Jason and another guy named Luke,” she told everyone with a small blush covering her features.

“Are you up for it again?” Alex asked while smirking.

“No! That was a one time thing and I was pretty drunk when it happened,” Jordan Marie told them.

“Awww, there goes my fun,” Alex said while frowning.

“Anyway, this game is getting really boring…” Zack said.

“Yeah, I agree,” Cass said.

“Let’s eat cake!” Rian suggested.

“YES!!! I FUCKING LOVE CAKE!” Jack exclaimed with a big smile. They all walked into Cassandra’s kitchen and sat down at the table ready to devour the chocolate cake.