Coffee Shop Soundtrack

Giving one last wave to Ryan, Cassie got into her car and twisted her key into the ignition and began to pull out of her usual parking spot. Her place was at the edge of Seymour about a mile from the border between the two towns where the coffee shop was located. It was a small little building with four apartments, well, three since the super lived in the apartment number one with his family. Her place was tiny with only one bedroom and an open space as the living room and kitchen. It wasn't much, but it was really all Cassie needed since she had been 20. That was five years ago and she had grown a little too used to being alone, it was just easier that way sometimes.

Unlocking her door, she immediately kicked off her high heeled cowboys boots, the one pair of many that she owned, and sighed in relief as her bare feet sunk into the soft carpet. Padding through her apartment, she unzipped the back of the floral pattern dress she was wearing and changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top. Even if the weather was getting colder and colder as the days went by, she still found herself most comfortable in that.

As she left her bedroom, heading to the kitchen to make something to eat as her stomach growled in protest, she stopped as a picture caught her eye. A little boy and girl sitting on a hill with their backs facing the camera as they watched the sun setting in front of them making them silhouettes against the bright light. The girl was only eight in the picture, with curly blonde hair done up in pigtails while the boy was only six with brown hair in a messy array after spending the whole day playing.

"Austie," the younger Cassie asked as she faced the six year old who just so happened to be her best friend since they were basically born.

The little boy with chocolate brown eyes turned to face the eight year old Cassie with a missing toothed smile after the tootsie roll incident days before. "Yeah?"

"Do you have to go?"

The little boys face instantly dropped when she asked that. Ever since they had found out that he was moving the same day the tootsie roll incident happened, they hadn't brought it up. Both thinking that if they didn't say anything about it, that it wouldn't really happen. That maybe if they didn't mention it, that it was really just a dream and they would still be able to be together and that nothing would be able to separate them. But now that she brought it up, she wished that she hadn't. The face Austin was giving her was enough to make her feel horrible. He had always been the more sensitive one of the two. Crying at the simplest things and always easily getting hurt and tripping over nothing. While Cassie on the other hand was the complete opposite. She was daring and adventurous and always dragging Austin along with her to fulfill her newest big idea that she got. And because he was a sweetheart, he could never say no to his best friend. But that usually always lead to trouble, but they always got into and and out of it together, smiling and thinking they were the bravest kids ever. They balanced each other out perfectly, Austin always being the cautious one, trying, and succeeding a few times in convincing Cassie to not do something. And Cassie breaking the younger boy out of his shell one day at a time. They were so close that their mothers, life long friends like their kids were, often teased that they were going to get married one day.

Tears were building in the little boys eyes and Cassie leaned forward and pulled him in for a hug. He instantly wrapped his arms around her too, sniffling, and burying his face in the crook of her neck.

"I-I don't wa-nt to le-leave," he hiccuped as he began to cry more and she just pulled him closer still.

She tried to keep her own tears at bay, trying to keep the roll of the strong protector she tried to hold when she was around him. "C'mon squirt, it shouldn't be that bad. You're not moving that far away, it will be ok."

It was wrong for her to promise that even when she didn't even know herself. He could be moving to another country for all she knew. But she had to try and keep his hopes up so she didn't have to spend their last days together with as minimal tears as possible. Though that might not be the reality of it. They both were hurting because of it and neither of them really wanted it to happen, even though they knew it would. They just wanted to pretend that everything was still ok, at least until he really did leave.

"Austin?" Cassie finally asked in a small voice, tears falling freely from her eyes after giving up on trying to stop them finally.

The boy pulled away from the tight embrace they still had making Cassie frown. That had been the only way to know that he was still with her and comfort her and she didn't want it to end. The younger's eyes had finally dried and now Cassie was the one crying.

"Yeah?"

She sniffled slightly, "we'll always be friends, right?"

"Of course!" Austin replied immediately.

"B-but how will I know you won't forget about me?"

Austin thought for a moment before he suddenly leaned in and pressed his lips to hers in a quick kiss making her freeze. "That's how. That was my first kiss, and that was yours too. So you'll always remember who the first boy you kissed was. Now you can't ever forget about me."

Cassie tore her eyes away from the picture, not being able to look at it anymore. Austin had moved away three days after their first kiss and never contacted her ever again. The only memories were of the kiss and his favorite teddy bear he had given to her the day he left. She had never given it away and even still had it even seventeen years later.

Sometimes when she passed by one of the many pictures she had of the two of them in her small apartment, she made up stories of who he was now and what he was doing. Even why he moved away. But she knew that she probably would never know the truth. That he was really gone and would never understand why he left so suddenly and why he never tried to see her again.

But that was all in the past. She tired to move on, to forget about him and all the memories of when she was younger. She really couldn't remember a lot of them, but all the ones she could remember always had Austin in them also. He had truly been her best friend, and really still was. Even though she hadn't seen him for so long, she still considered him her best friend. And she truly wished him the best and hoped that life treated him well.

As she walked through her apartment to the kitchen, she couldn't help but think up the fantasy that maybe he would one day walk into the coffee shop. That he would look exactly like he did when he was a kid, dark brown hair, sensitive chocolate brown eyes, and the adorable smile she could never forget. And she would just happen to glance up as the door opened, and their eyes would meet. They would stare at each other for a few seconds, both instantly recognizing each other and then suddenly it would sink in and she would drop the cup she was holding and it would shatter to the ground. But she wouldn't care, she would just rush around the counter and throw herself into his arms and the hug would feel exactly like it would when they were kids, like she was home and nothing could hurt her.

But deep down, she knew that would never happen. Austin probably already forgot about her and had a life of his own. The necklace that she had given him the day he left long forgotten in a box or even thrown away after not remembering where he had gotten it from in the first place. But that was life and she needed to let the past go and continue on, even though she knew she never would. He was the boy who had taken her first kiss after all...