Just Another Love Story

The night went by without any disruptions, Bam and Ryan shut them in a bed store about eleven o’clock, before disappearing. Of course Don Vito moaned, but Casey ignored him, dropping on a bed next to Glomb, and falling asleep almost immediately. She only woke up when Bam arrived the next morning, with a large group of sugar hyped kids.

Casey laughed as she got up, grabbing her back pack, and joining Ryan who was stood well out-of-the-way. He smiled when he spotted her, as Bam let the kids charge into the bed shop, screaming and shouting.

“Morning,” Ryan said laughing, as Don Vito started shouting and cursing.

“Morning,” Casey replied chuckling.

“Are you skating today?”

“Not today, I think it’s just Mike V, Novak and Bam skating, it’s a demo so they don’t normally let outsiders take part,” Casey stated a little disappointed.

She had always wanted to do a demo with her brother, but she knew she wasn’t good enough. The demo was important, and the last thing she wanted to do was screw it up.

“You want to go grab some coffee?” Ryan asked.

“Coffee sounds good,” Casey replied smiling.

They walked to Starbucks and sat at a table in the corner. The place was empty, after all, the mall had only just opened, and so after ordering coffee, they sat and talked for a while.

“How are you feeling today?” Ryan inquired, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Truthfully, I don’t know… there’s times when I think I’m over it and I feel great, then it all rushes back into my head and all I want to do is cry,”

“It’ll get easier trust me, come on let’s go get some candy and shit, for while we’re watching the demo.”

Ryan stood up, holding out his hand and Casey took it. Something surged through her, as he entwined their fingers, but she pushed it to the back of her mind, and smiled up at him. They headed to a few stores, grabbing drinks and food for everyone. Casey spent the entire time laughing at Ryan, who was acting like an idiot, but she knew that he was only trying to take her mind off of things. Which was sweet.

“Do you think we have enough for everybody?” Ryan asked staring down at the bags in his hand.

“I don’t know. We may need more,” Casey replied laughing.

Ryan chuckled, taking her hand, as they headed back to where the guys were all gathered. Casey handed them a drink and food, then sat on a bench to watch the demo. Although still disappointed about not being out on the ramps, she wouldn’t deny that she was proud. She was proud of how far her brother had come, but most of all she was proud to be his sister.

The demo lasted three hours, and then they spent an hour signing autographs, and taking pictures with fans. She was standing with Bam, when she spotted Josh standing with a group of his friends.

“Bam, I’m going to go sit outside for a bit,” Casey said looking at Ryan, who was watching her.

“Okay, stay close though because the bus will be here in a bit,” Bam replied as he scribbled his signature across a poster.

“I will do.”

Casey broke away from the crowd, knowing that no one would follow her, and headed straight out to where she had sat with Ryan the day before. It wasn’t long before she felt someone sit next to her, and she looked up to find Josh sitting next to her.

“You’ve been ignoring my calls and texts,” he said.

“No shit captain obvious... but still you didn’t get the hint, did you?” Casey snapped.

“Come on Casey, we can work through this,”

“Work through it? How are we going to work through this? Nothing will change what you did to me; I don’t want anything to do with you,” Casey said angrily.

“You don’t mean that, you’re just angry,” Josh replied calmly, although his fists were clenched.

“Damn right I’m angry! You slept with my best friend Josh, and you expect me to be fine with it and move on… it’s not happening.”

Casey went to get up, only to be pulled back down forcefully by Josh. Casey tried to pull out of his grasp, but every time she struggled he tightened his grip, and so Casey gave up.

“Our relationship was good right?” Josh asked, making her jump slightly, since he had been silent for so long.

“At the beginning it was, but then something about you changed, and you turned into a monster. It was like being in a relationship with Jekyll and Hyde, one minute you was the sweetest guy, and the next you was horrible,” Casey mumbled trying to keep things calm.

“It wasn’t that bad,” Josh snapped.

“Yes it was. The hatred that I saw in your eyes, when you were in one of your rages scared me, and I will never forget a minute of it… I just can’t forgive and forget… too much was said and done.”

“I told you I loved you, I told you, you were beautiful… what about all the nice things I’ve said to you?”

“I know you told me you loved me, and I said it back, but at some point I stopped believing you. They were just words, and you was telling me what you thought I wanted to hear, and not what you felt.”

“Why did you stay then?” Josh asked.

“You were my first, the first guy I kissed, and the first guy I thought I loved… I guess deep down, I was hoping that you would change.”

“I can change if that’s what it’ll take to get you back?” Josh added.

“It’s too late, I don’t feel anything except hate towards you, and that will never change,” Casey replied getting up as Josh’s grip loosened on her arm.

Before he could react, Casey headed back into the mall, to find the others. It didn’t take her long to find them huddled by the ramps, talking and laughing among themselves. Soon enough everyone was climbing back onto the mini bus; Casey already had her headphones in, as she took her seat at the back on her own. Truth was right now, she just wanted to get home.

Ryan glanced over at her every now and again, concern clear in his eyes, but he hadn’t said anything, which Casey was grateful about. She hadn’t realized just how much pent-up anger she had inside, towards Josh, but that didn’t stop her from hoping bad things would happen. Nothing major, it wasn’t like she wished him dead, but she hoped for things like, the next girl he got with giving him syphilis, or him simply getting rejected.

Childish? Perhaps, but he had hurt her that bad, that thoughts like that made her feel a little better. Casey spent the duration of the trip home in her own little world; she didn’t even notice night come and go. They arrived home at four the following afternoon, and Casey headed straight up to her room, jumping on the bed and just laying there thinking.