Just Another Love Story

Casey spent the next couple of days in her room, staying out of everybody’s way and resting. She hadn’t spoken to Ryan since she hung up on him, except for sending him a text apologising, which he never replied to. Bam had assured her that Ryan was just busy looking after his mum, who was slowly getting better, but that didn’t stop her from missing him.

She was drifting off to sleep, when someone knocked on the door, waiting for a few minutes before trying again.

“Casey, I know you’re awake,” Ryan said causing Casey to smile.

“Come in,” Casey mumbled sitting up a little as Ryan slipped into her room, closing the door behind him, and sitting on the edge of the bed carefully.

“How are you doing?”

“Still in pain, but it’s getting easier to deal with… hate feeling tired all the time though,” Casey added, “How’s your mum doing?”

“She’s fine, a lot better than she was, so she told me to get back here and look after you. I have to admit though, I was kind of nervous after our last conversation.”

“I’m sorry,” Casey whispered dropping her gaze to her hands.

“Why are you sorry?” Ryan asked frowning.

“I didn’t mean to snap at you, and hang up the way I did, it was just that I phoned you because I didn’t have anyone else to talk to, and it felt like you didn’t care… it was like you pushed my feelings aside.”

“You know I care about you more than anything, I was just trying to tell you how much Bam was struggling that’s all.”

“I know, I was just really freaked out.”

Ryan nodded, taking her hand and kissing her gently on the lips, not wanting to hurt her.

“Come on, you’ve been hiding up here for the last couple of days, the guys miss you, and want to see you,” Ryan said standing up but Casey didn’t move, “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t go out there, not with my head like this,” Casey mumbled pointing to where the doctors had to operate.

“Babe, do you really think they care about that?”

“I don’t know, it looks horrible, I can’t even look in the mirror, and I don’t want anyone to judge me because of it.”

“Casey, you’re gorgeous inside and out… nothing will change that. You will always be the extremely smart, funny, beautiful girl that you’ve always been to us… trust me babe.”

“I do trust you, I’m scared about how they’ll react.”

“You’ll be fine, I won’t leave your side I promise,” Ryan said as Casey put on her sunglasses to stop the light hurting her eyes.

Ryan held out his hand and with a deep breath Casey took it, allowing Ryan to lead her outside, where Bam, Jess and the others were hanging out. Casey couldn’t help but be nervous, she hadn’t really been around them since the accident, and she had her reasons.

“Sparks,” Bam shouted as they reached the group.

“Hey,” Casey mumbled sitting next to Jess who gave her a reassuring nod.

“How are you feeling?” Jess asked.

“A little tired, but I wanted to get out of my room,” Casey replied as Ryan sat behind her.

“We’re glad you’re here Sparks, we missed having you around,” Raab said grinning at her.

Everyone turned as a car pulled into the drive, and Casey smiled when Johnny got out holding a teddy. Ryan pushed her shoulder gently when she didn’t move, trying to encourage her to go, and slowly she did.

Johnny smiled when he spotted Casey, handing her the teddy and hugging her gently. He took a deep breath as Casey hugged him back, causing Casey to look up at him, and she saw the relief clear in his eyes.

“I missed you,” Casey mumbled into his chest.

“I missed you too, Sparks.”

“We have beer and monster over at the ramps,” Casey added as Johnny put his arm around Casey’s shoulders, and they rejoined the group.

“Hey guys,” Johnny said as Bam chucked him a beer and Casey sat back down with Ryan who put his arms around her, “Have the police found anything yet?”

“No, they’ve told us not to get our hopes up, because there’s a good chance they’ll never find the person who did it,” Bam replied.

“That’s so messed up man, but I guess the most important thing is that Casey is okay, and getting better. I can’t believe that it’s Thanksgiving tomorrow.”

“Are you coming here tomorrow, or do you have Madison?” Casey asked.

“I’m going to be here, Madison is spending Thanksgiving with her grandparents and mum in New York, since I had her last year.”

“It’s going to be the best Thanksgiving we’ve ever had,” Bam stated although Casey couldn’t believe that.

An hour later, the guys were filming some stuff for Viva la Bam, which gave Casey the chance she needed to head into town, and collect the special Thanksgiving surprise she had gotten for the boys.

“Hey Johnny,” Casey said standing next to him, “Will you do me a favour?”

“Depends what it is?” Johnny replied.

“Can you drive me into town?”

“Sure, let's go,” Johnny said leading her over to his car.

They got in the car, and Johnny drove them into town, Casey had stuff she needed to pick up, but the truth was, she was terrified. Johnny parked the car up, and they got out standing on the pavement looking around.

“You okay?” Johnny asked.

“Yeah, just a little freaked out… I’ll be okay.”

“Where do you need to go?” Johnny added.

“The jewellery shop, and the gift shop to grab some bits,” Casey replied her voice shaking a bit.

“Okay,” Johnny stated with a smile, as he took her hand and entwined their fingers.

They headed to the jewellery shop, with Casey’s heart racing, and her grip tight on Johnny’s hand. She looked around cautiously, staying away from the road, and sticking close to Johnny.

“Hello Miss Margera,” The clerk said smiling at her as they walked into the jewellery shop.

“Hi, I made some purchases over the phone, and I was told they would be ready for me today.”

“They arrived this morning, if your friend would like to wait here, I’ll take you through to the back, and you can make sure that everything is satisfactory.”

“Okay, Johnny I’ll be right back,” Casey added to Johnny who nodded.

Casey followed the clerk into a small back room, where he produced ten rectangular boxes, he opened them one by one, and showed Casey who smiled.

“They’re perfect, and the engravings look fantastic, thank you.”

“Lets get these packed for you, and you can get on your way,” The clerk suggested as they walked back into the main store, where Johnny was looking in the displays.

When he spotted them return, he moved back to Casey’s side, and they waited for the clerk to bag her items. She paid using her card, and they left, heading a few stores down to grab some gift bags.

“Do you want to grab some food to take back?” Johnny asked as they approached the diner.

“Yeah we better feed the others as well I suppose,” Casey joked as Johnny put his arm around her and chuckled.

They collected everyone's food, and then headed back to ‘Castle Bam’, where Casey headed straight up to her room, and hid the bags under her bed, before rejoining the others downstairs.

“Hey, where did you disappear off to?” Ryan asked as Casey sat next to him with her food.

“I went into town with Johnny, I needed to get some things for tomorrow,” Casey replied.

“I’m proud of you,” Ryan added with a smile.

“Thanks…,” Casey replied kissing his cheek, “but the truth is, I wouldn’t have done it if you didn’t talk some sense into me.”

“You would have done it anyway, I know how strong you are Casey, and you’d never let anything get in your way, or stop you from doing things.”

“I don’t feel very strong,” Casey mumbled.

“You’ll get there,” Ryan stated confidently.

Casey looked over at Ryan who had turned his attention to Bam, it wasn’t long before night had fallen, and everyone was asleep apart from Casey and Johnny.