Coming Home

Cassadee held her breath as she saw the new, freshly printed copy of the paper. It was an important day for her, because it was the day her article got front-page attention. She watched as everyone walked forth to receive their individual copy, flipping to the front pages to read the article.

They wanted a sensational news piece? They would have it.

She sat up, her head poking over her private cubicle, looking around her. Any moment now, the front door of her boss’ office would burst open, and she would get it- like open fire, blazing on her skin.

“Wow Cass, looks like my little boy fell ill at the right time. You didn’t need me at all,” said Jeff, leaning over her cubicle wall, drinking from his mug.

“Huh?”

“Are you kidding? It’s a great article,” he said, drinking from his cup, looking up from his papers.

“You don’t think it’s… a little, impasse?” She asked. She had tried to subtly weave in as many of Derrick’s Ps into his Ls. There was no point in a political article if she wasn’t being honest.

“Impasse? Shit Cass, it’s honest, that’s what so great about it,” Jeff marvelled, scanning her article again.

“Wow Cass, that sentence at the end- brilliant,” smiled another one of her co-workers as he walked past her. Cassadee blinked again, knowing that she was doomed. The most dangerous OB marker was to be honest, and journalist-brilliance was always never good.

She flipped through her own copy and glanced at the last sentence.

“It is perhaps, the white elephant in the room that has prevented us from noticing the glass window in this cosy brick house. If so, then I think we should all thank Mr Fieldson for reminding us that politics, should and always be, for the servitude of people- above or below the stupid window I keep banging my head into.”

“Oh god, why did I write that,” she muttered, covering her face with her hands. She heard peals of laughter and the flipping of the musty newspaper, just like everyday.

Suddenly her phone buzzed, twice.

Jared: Babe we gotta get coffee, your mind + politics = deep shit
Caleb: Sry, talking to the boss about NY move. Great article by the way, boss keeps getting interrupted by telephone calls.

“Oh my god, I am so fucked,” muttered Cassadee.

~

“What the hell is this?” Came an angry voice, before Derrick noticed a heavy hand slamming the morning’s paper on his table.

“Today’s newspaper?”

“Clearly, since your big face is all over the front damn page- ratting shit about us!” Derrick looked up and saw Vincent, an angry scowl plastered over his face. Vincent hated Derrick, it wasn’t a surprise because Derrick’s arrival diminished his role as political advisor to Sampson.

“Is it a good article then?” Derrick mused, a smile creeping up his face. He had hoped she would do something like this.

“Your stupid friend, your stupid, lousy, girlfriend- she did this!” He yelled, snatching the papers.

“Vincent, if I didn’t recall wrongly, you were the one who arranged this,” snapped Derrick. They had asked for this, and he knew not to overstep someone like Cassadee- even if she was different, she could still put up a fight.

“She’s not my girlfriend, but thanks for reaffirming your motives,” he said again, before taking the paper from Vincent- who didn’t have a very attractive face when he was scowling.

“Your father will not be happy about this,” he snapped and with a slam of Derrick’s office door, left. Sighing audibly and opening the papers, Derrick tried his best to calm down. Opening to the first page, he was greeted with his own face- plastered all over the whole length of the paper. Cringing, he started reading.

He scanned every line, then he read it again and again. Before removing the page, cutting up the parts that did not include his own words and folded them into his daily planner. If he wanted to build memories with her again, this would have to do.

~

“You’re getting promoted.”

“What?”

“I’m kidding,” laughed Jung-Lee, a large Korean man who ran the newspaper. Cassadee rolled her eyes, as much as she liked her boss, that joke wasn’t very funny.

“Quite an article Cassadee,” he spoke again, scanning the paper, even though Cassadee could see the slight folds of his brows.

“Come on Lee, am I in trouble or not?” She asked, her stomach bursting with uncomfortable butterflies.

“See, the people love it. It has everything- star-crossed lovers-“

“Please don’t go there.”

“Okay, okay. The idea of rekindled love, Derrick’s honest, wholesome and mildly intellectual replies-“

“He did go to university.”

“Stop standing up for him!”

“Sorry.”

“And then there’s you. You, with your tragic personal story, now like a phoenix rising from the fire- rebirth. So smart, so spunky, so indignant.”

“Lee,” Cassadee dead-panned, looking her boss in the eye, pain evident from her stare.

“Fine. The public loves it, the politicians hate it.”

“Which one should I be more scared of?”

Lee leaned forward, looking Cassadee right into her eye, his stare unwavering.

“Look, I like you Cassadee, you have a pretty face and you don’t let anyone push you around.”

“Your point?”

Lee’s eyes clouded over with a sort of dismal and apprehensive sheen.

“Have you ever heard of a blanket party Cassadee?”

Cassadee gulped, she had heard of one. It was a teenager thing, where boys (or girls) would throw a blanket over someone they really hated and beat that person up in the dark. It was cruel, and it was juvenile. Apparently it was also still very much possible in the real world.

Lee shot her a warning look before sighing.

“Look, it’s a great article. I’ll frame it up, put it on the wall of fame. But let’s just hope your pretty face saves you from everything else.”

~

Cassadee walks Jared into her house where he collapse onto her couch.

Cassadee: Dude come on, at least take off your shoes.
Jared: Fine.

Jared yanks his shoes off his feet and threw them roughly at the door, making a soft thudding sound. Cassadee glares at him before grabbing a packet of chips and two beers from her fridge.

Jared: Beer? You? Beer?
Cassadee: Sorry, you want a coffee instead?
Jared: Nah, beer’s fine. You just didn’t seem like the kind.

Cassadee keeps silent for a while, before cracking open her beer and taking a quite a big mouthful, cringing at the bitter aftertaste it left as it slides down her throat.

Jared: Alright, alright. Don’t kill yourself.
Cassadee: It’s nice to talk to a proper friend again.
Jared: Everyone’s missed you, especially me, since you know. I can honestly tell you I missed you like god, a lot.
Cassadee: Yeah well, its period of time I don’t really like talking about.
Jared: It was hard for everyone Cass.
Cassadee: Can we move on?

Jared sighs, setting his beer down as Cassadee crosses her feet under her.

Jared: That guy at the reunion.
Cassadee: Jack?

Cassadee gives a laugh, and notices Jared staring at her warily before stopping.

Jared: Did he really stick his finger up your vagina?
Cassadee: Um… Yes?
Jared: Did you really give him a ‘slimy handjob’.
Cassadee: It wasn’t that slimy.
Jared: Okay ew.
Cassadee: You know if you weren’t gay, we wouldn’t be talking about this.
Jared: Just like how you’re never going to talk to Derrick about this?

Cassadee shoots him a dirty look, which demands him to shut up but Jared continues anyway.

Jared: Look, I don’t care if you’re a virgin or not- it’s just-
Cassadee: This isn’t about the article I wrote isn’t it?
Jared: Oh god please don’t tell me you guys fucked like those weird straight pornos where the interviewer always ends up have sex with the-
Cassadee: Oh my god Jared, shut up.

Jared gives a wry smile.

Jared: I knew there was still some of that prude living inside you.
Cassadee: Get to the point.
Jared: Hey, watch your tone. I’m a neutral party.
Cassadee: You weren’t neutral when he stopped talking to me 5 years ago.

Jared stops mid-sentence, noticing a sudden wave of vulnerability crossing her face that he had never noticed before in this new girl.

Jared: No one ever forgave him.
Cassadee: Not even you?
Jared: I kind of did. I mean he did get pretty drunk after that reunion night after we went drinking after he left your house. Then you know. Word vomit, followed by actual vomit.

Cassadee puts down her drink and aggressively stuffs her face with a mouthful of chips.

Jared: You still like him.
Cassadee: Fuck.
Jared: Admit it.
Cassadee: Off.

Jared looks at Cassadee, half amused and also worried- because the girl sitting in front of her seemed nothing but a shell of her former self. Cassadee downs the rest of her beer, and leans backwards, breathing heavily through her mouth. She was trying hard not to cry, because she had built up a wall so thick, but so fragile- that if you crossed it, she would break down sobbing.

Jared: Don’t cry Cass.
Cassadee: I can’t help it if you fucking use my past against me.

Cassadee starts breathing heavily, taking in methodically deep breaths to calm herself.

Cassadee: I thought I had gotten over it you know?

The truth was, Cassadee knew that she would never get over it, or get over what he had done. Even though she knew it was her fault and her decision to change- there was damage that couldn’t be fixed. And the thought that it might haunt her every single waking day of her life scared her.

Jared wordlessly patted the heaving girl, before switching on the television where they had a silent hour-long Adventure Time marathon.