Chapter 8
Liam
Liam could feel Cassie shifting in her sleep. The smell of her strawberry shampoo was in his sheets. The sun had risen a few hours ago. He kept waking up and falling back to sleep. He knew though, that he’d have to get up soon. He knew that he’d have to wake Cassie up, so that she could leave, before Lucy caught wind of what was going on.
The sound of his phone ringing forced his eyes open. Cassie was sleeping on the outer side of the bed, so he leant over her to reach for it. Crap, he thought to himself. It was Lucy. Cassie was starting to shift from his movements. He pulled the covers away and managed to climb over her without fully waking her up and quickly walked over to the door.
“What’s up?” he answered his phone, when he was sure that his door was closed behind him. The dorm hallway was quiet. Everyone was either still in bed or out enjoying the nice day.
“Hey baby,” Lucy purred. “I missed you at my party last night.”
“Oh, yeah,” Liam’s thoughts took him back to Cassie and what they had done the night before. “I’m sorry about that, I got busy.”
“Oh, it’s okay,” Lucy sounded far too bright and cheerful. “I thought since you went out with the guys that you might be feeling rough this morning, so I’m coming around with some feel-better supplies.”
“What?” Liam asked trying to keep up with her. “You’re coming over?”
“Yeah, I’m about to leave my room now,” Lucy said, oblivious to the clear panic in Liam’s voice. “I’ll see you soon baby,” she added cheerfully, before the phone line went dead.
Liam looked at his phone and then back to the door. If Lucy was walking over, then he had maybe five minutes, before she’d be at his door. He walked back into his room. Cassie was still sleeping. Her peach hair spread over the pillow behind her head. “Cassie,” he gently shook her shoulder. “I’m really sorry about this,” he said, when she opened her eyes slowly. “But, you have to go.”
“I have to go?” Cassie asked in sleepy surprise. “Why, what’s happened?” she asked, when she saw the panic on Liam’s face.
Liam shifted uncomfortably. He had to tell her the truth. He couldn’t risk her telling Lucy by accident. “My girlfriend is coming over,” he told her, avoiding her eyes.
“Oh,” Cassie said not knowing what else to say. She shifted from the sheets and started to grab her clothes, which were scattered around the bed. “Who is she?” she asked out of interest.
Liam sighed. “It’s Lucy.”
*********
Chapter 9
Cassie
Cassie didn’t know how Liam had got her number, but she wasn’t going to answer his calls. She didn’t care how many times he killed her battery. What was he even calling to say? What could he possibly say to make anything that he’d done better? There was nothing. What he’d done was unforgiveable. He’d cheated on his girlfriend. He’d taken Cassie’s virginity. Cassie had to live with Lucy for god’s sake. What had he been thinking?
She slid her phone under her pillow, when it started ringing for what must have been the tenth time in a row. It had been three days since he’d got her number. It had been three weeks since they’d slept together. Three uncomfortable weeks, cooped up with Lucy. What made it worse was that Cassie had to listen to Lucy talking about him. She had to listen to her brag about how perfect their relationship was, all the while knowing what she’d done behind her back.
The door to her room opened with force and slammed against the back wall. Cassie looked up from her pillow. She was starting to get used to Lucy’s dramatic entrances, so she wasn’t expecting to see the level of upset on Lucy’s face as there was to find. “Are you okay?” Cassie asked against her better instincts.
Lucy looked as though she was holding back tears. “It’s, it’s Liam,” she said weakly. “He dumped me.”
“Oh,” Cassie wasn’t sure what else to say. “Why did he do that?”
Lucy’s cheeks burned bright red. “He cheated on me. He spent the night with some girl from the bar down the road. He won’t tell me who it was, but apparently she’s better than me,” she said bitterly. She looked pissed. She looked like she wasn’t going to settle until someone had been held accountable.
“Is that what he said?” Cassie asked her with surprise.
“Is what, what he said?” Lucy frowned at her.
“He left you for that girl?”
Lucy’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you even care?” she asked quickly. “It’s not like this has anything to do with you.”
Cassie couldn’t be sure whether her last words were a statement or a question. She could feel Lucy starting to grow suspicious over Cassie’s sudden interest. “You’re right,” Cassie said quickly in an effort to downplay her interest in the subject. “It’s got nothing to do with me.” She glanced at her pillow, which had started to vibrate. A muffled buzzing filled the air. It was Cassie’s cell phone.
“Are you going to get that?” Lucy asked her.
“It isn’t important,” Cassie shook her head.
“How do you know?” Lucy asked her with her eyebrows arching. “You haven’t even looked at the screen.”
Cassie could feel the room getting smaller around her. The air quality seemed to drop too, so she was taking deep, exaggerated breaths. “Because, it’s my cell,” she pushed back at Lucy’s sudden inquisition. “Look, I’m sorry to hear about you and Liam, but I have stuff to do,” she walked forward to the door, but Lucy stood in her way.
“You know,” Lucy said thoughtfully. “I’m friends with a lot of people and I asked around the bar to see whether there were any new faces that had been in.” She stopped. Cassie was standing too close to her. Lucy could see every flicker of guilt on her face that her words were bringing to the surface. “It’s funny, because the only new face they’ve seen belonged to a girl with peach colored hair.”
“I don’t know what to tell you,” Cassie tried to brush of the accusation. “I went in for a few beers the night you kicked me out of my room. What are you going to do, sue me?”
Lucy shook her head. “Don’t lie to me,” she said curtly.
“Okay, well what do you want me to say?” Cassie matched Lucy’s curtness. If Lucy was going to do something to her, then she might as well just do it. They both knew that it was Cassie that Liam had slept with, even if she hadn’t admitted it.
It came with a deafening crack. Cassie felt her head swing to the side, as the force of Lucy’s blow shocked the hell out of her. Lucy’s hand pulled away, but the pain didn’t stop. The whole left side of Cassie’s face felt like it was burning. She looked at Lucy. She had fire in her eyes. “Look, I’m sorry,” Cassie started, but Lucy cut her off.
“You’re sorry?” Lucy spat at her. “You’re a dirty little whore. You walk into the school, you take my room, and my boyfriend. I’m going to make your life a living hell. I’m going to make you wish that you never came here,” she threatened with her voice trembling under the weight of her anger.
“I don’t’ know what to say,” Cassie managed to steady herself. “I’m sorry,” she pushed past Lucy and got out of the room. She didn’t stop walking until she was out of the building and half way across the campus.
“Cassie,” she could hear Liam calling her. “Cassie, wait,” he called again, when she showed no sign of hearing him. She could hear him running up behind her. She glanced back, scanning the garden for Lucy.
“What do you want?” she snapped when Liam got close to her.
“Didn’t you hear?” he looked curiously at her.
“What, that you and Lucy broke up?” Cassie snapped at him. “Yeah I heard,” she nodded. “It’s how I got this,” she turned her face, so he could see the hand mark that was still burning red across her cheek.
“Did Lucy do that to you?” Liam asked with concern. “You know; you could get her kicked out of school for that.”
“Oh, sure,” Cassie shook her head. “I fuck her boyfriend, I take over her room and then ruin her future too? Sure sounds like I’m the good guy in all of that.”
“Cassie,” Liam said hesitantly. “You didn’t know that I was with her. That was my fault. I should have told you. I should have waited. I shouldn’t have put you into the position where you got hurt.”
“That’s great,” Cassie said sarcastically. “Here’s the thing though- you did put me in that position and, you put Lucy into it too.” She held his eyes firmly. She wanted him to face up to what he’d done. She wanted him to feel bad about it, because it was only right that he did.
He shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. “I’m sorry,” he told her honestly. “I don’t know what happened. I just lost control with you. You’re…you’re just so different from the girls around here. I didn’t want to lose my chance to get to know you, before you turned into one of Lucy’s clones.”
Cassie shook her head softly. “That was never going to happen.”
“Maybe not,” Liam said hesitantly. “Look, I know I fucked up. I know I hurt Lucy and more importantly I know I hurt you. I’m sorry. I never meant for that to happen. You’re just like this shooting star that’s suddenly brought light to the darkness. I don’t want to lose that.”
“What are you saying?”
“I know that I didn’t go about this the right way, but do you want to maybe, spend some time together? You know, get to know each other?”
Cassie didn’t know what to say. Liam had fucked up. He’d hurt her. He’d betrayed her and made her look like heartless bitch, but he knew that and was sorry. She could tell that his apology was genuine. Her eyes caught his and he refused to let them go. “Fine,” she sighed. “I’ll go on one date with you.”
“One date?” he asked with disappointment.
“Sure,” Cassie nodded. “If you made it a good one then maybe they’ll be more, but I’m not going to rush this. Not after everything that’s happened.”
“Okay then,” Liam smiled. “I guess I better make sure that it’s a really great date.”
“I guess so.”
*****
THE END