Admiring From Afar

Ding! Dong!

Cassandra ran to the door. As she opened it she was surprised to see the one and only Alexander Gaskarth.

“Hey Alex. What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Can’t I see my two best friends in the world?” he replied. She looked into his eyes and even though there was a smile on his face there was hurt clearly in his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Cassandra wanted to know what was plaguing her friends mind.

“Jenn said we should have a break and get to know new people…” he said with a heartbroken smile.

“Awwww. Are you alright? Want to come and have dinner with us?” Cassandra asked trying to comfort Alex.

“If it’s not too much to ask then yes,” he said.

“Not too much at all. Come in. You can turn the TV on if you like,” she offered.
“Ok,” he replied meekly.

Alex went into the living room and turned on the Disney Channel. How did he make through high school? He still watches little kid shows… Cassandra thought to herself when she saw Alex watch Hannah Montana.

She walked back into the kitchen and continued to cook the pasta and heat up the tomato sauce in the microwave. She heard Jack bound down the stairs. A few seconds later she saw Jack walk into the room with a smile on his face.

“Why is Alex here?” he asked.

“Jenn broke up with him,” she explained.

“Oh,” he said shocked.

“Yeah, so he’s going to stay for dinner ok?” she told him.

“Yeah that’s fine,” he said while smiling. Jack walked out of the room and joined Alex in watching Hannah Montana.

Once the pasta was done cooking she put it in the sink to let all of the water out. She took the sauce out of the microwave and put in a bowl with a ladle. The pasta was put in a bowl and she set out 6 plates. For Jack, Kelsey, Alex, her parents, and herself. Hopefully her parents would come home before the food got too cold.

“Dinner!” she told the guys and Kelsey came down the stairs and sat at her spot at the table. Jack sat next to her and Cassandra sat next to her as well. Alex sat across from Jack and grabbed some pasta with a spoonful of tomato sauce. Everybody was half way done eating when the doorbell rang. Cassandra got up to get the door and was surprised to see her parents at the door.

“Hi Mom, Dad,” she said with a smile on her face.

“Hi honey, are your friends over tonight?” her father asked.

“Yeah, Alex and Jack are here,” she said.

“Umm, this might sound rude but could you tell them to please leave?” her mother asked.
“Sure,” Cassandra said curious about what was going to happen. She walked into the dining room.

“Jack, Alex my parents want you to leave for some reason,” Cassandra said with a frown on her face.

“Oh ok,” Alex sad as he got up and put his plate into the sink.

“Call me when it’s over?” Alex asked as he walked out the door.

“Of course,” Cassandra said with a smile on her face.

“I’ll see you tomorrow baby,” Jack said with a kiss on her check.

“See you tomorrow, Jack,” Cassandra said.

“Bye Kelsey,” Jack said to her younger sister.

“See you later Jackie!” Kelsey said with a smile. Jack walked out the door and Mr. and Mrs. Knowles walked through the door.

“Cassandra you might want to sit down,” her father told her.

Cassandra sat down and said, “Now tell me what this is all about.”

“Cassandra before my company became successful I had to borrow some money from a friend of mine. I couldn’t afford to pay him back but he told me that he wouldn’t ask for the money if his son wed to my oldest daughter. Which would be you. I’m sorry honey but you’re engaged to Zachary Merrick,” her father told her.
“Why don’t you come inside. Alex is in my room so we’ll talk down here ok?” Cassandra told Jack.

“Sure,” he said. He sat down on the couch in the living room and asked her, “now, what did you have to tell me?”

“Promise you won’t get mad?” she asked with a sad look in her eyes.

“Promise, unless you’re cheating on me,” Jack said.

Jack’s POV

I hope she’s not cheating on me. I mean I know I haven’t told her this yet, but I loved her. I think I should tell her that. Should I? No, I won’t. What if she doesn’t feel the same way? But, what if she does! Ugh! All of this thinking is making my head hurt! This is exactly why I don’t like to think! Jack thought to himself.

“Jack, I think you might want to sit down,” she said to him.

“I’m already sitting down, silly,” Jack said to her hoping to lighten the mood.

“Oh, right,” Cassandra said nervously. She started to play with her fingers.

Cass only does that when she’s really nervous. And Cass doesn’t get nervous easily so this must be big! She did cheat on me! Once I know who this dude is I’m going to kill him!

Cassandra’s POV

How do I tell him this? she asked herself.

“Ummm, Jack. I don’t know how to tell you this but-"

“Wait! Before you say anything Cassie, I just wanted to tell you that I love you. I love you with all my heart Cassandra Lynn Knowles. I just wanted to let you know that. Now, what did you want to say?” Jack asked her with a wide smile.

Why did he have to say that? He just made my job a ten times harder…

“Jack. Ummm… I’m kinda engaged,” Cassandra said softly mumbling the last word under her breath.

“You’re what?” Jack asked since he didn’t hear her the first time.

“I’m kinda engaged,” Cassandra said again. This time Jack wasn’t so lucky not to hear it again.

“You’re WHAT?!?!?!?! ENGAGED?! YOU’RE ENGAGED AND YOU DIDN’T EVEN THINK IT WAS NICE TO TELL ME?! Why Cassandra? Why? What did I do to deserve this?” Jack asked. His eyes were filled with tears that were threatening to spill over.

“I’m sorry! I just found out last night! It was an arranged marriage! I have no say in it. I’m so sorry,”Cassandra said with tears trailing down her cheeks. Jack got up and starting pacing around, trying to think of what to do.

“I can’t deal with this right now,” he finally said. He walked to the door and opened it. He looked back at Cassandra and whispered a soft ‘sorry’ before closing the door.

Cassandra walked up to her room. She just wanted to lay on her bed and cry herself to sleep. She opened her door to find Alex lying on her bed asleep. Great. I still have to deal with him. she thought. Alex stirred in the bed and opened his eyes slowly.

“Hi,” he whispered.

“Hi,” she answered.

“What was with all of the yelling downstairs?” he asked her. Cassandra started to cry. Alex walked over to her and hugged her.

“Jack broke up with me,” she said softly.

“What? Why? I know for a fact that that boy loves you,” Alex said.

“I know. He told me that he loves me and I had to tell him something that broke his heart,” she told him.

“What was that?” Alex asked.

“I’m engaged to some guy,” she said with a frown on her face.

“WHAT?! How could you be engaged to someone while you were with Jack? What the hell is wrong with you? How could you break his heart like that? I thought you guys were meant for each other!” Alex exploded.

“Wait! You don’t know the story! It’s an arranged marriage! I didn’t know about it until a few hours ago!” Cassandra said while crying.

“Oh. I’m going to go over to Jack’s and see how he’s doing ok?” Alex said.

“Sure. Tell him that I love him ok?” she said.

“Really? Ok,” Alex said with a smile.

I can’t believe my parents made me do this…