"What's you're idea?" asked Nicole.
"Well Cassandra, Andrew always said that if anything happened to him, he would want you to take care of his beach house?" said Mercedes.
"And?" said Coreene.
"I think that that's a great idea! We'll go this weekend!" Isabella
"Wait! What? Where are we going? What? Huh?" said all of the guys.
"Oh sorry," said Mercedes. "Well, Andrew has a beach house about an hour from here, and he had always said that he would want Cassandra to take care of it for him, if anything should-" She stopped and looked down at the ground.
"Well, today's Thursday. Why don't we head out tomorrow and make it a long weekend?" said Isabella.
"I think that's a good plan," said A.J. "We'll go home tonight instead, and start packing."
They all agreed, and the guys left to go pack for a weekend getaway. Before they all went inside, Cassandra , Nicole and Mercedes stood outside for a second in the glow of the street lights.
"I'm so pissed off right now," said Cassandra, "but then again-" She touched her lips, and smiled to herself.
"I know. Don't worry about it. Bobby's such a jerk and he's trying to get to you. Don't give him the benefit of the doubt and give in to him," said Mercedes.
"Mercedes is right," said Nicole.
"You guys are right," said Cassandra. "Now let's go inside." Cassandra and Mercedes turned and walked into the house. Before Nicole could get into the house, she heard someone calling her. She turned to the voice.
"Burke! What the hell are you doing here?" she said.
"I couldn't help but overhear your conversations."
"You were eavsdropping?"
"Yes, no, anyway, before you go on a weekend retreat with loverboy, I need to talk to you again."
"What? Fine," she said and let him lead her over and around the house. "What?"
"No, just hear me out. We agreed that it was over, and now the lines have all been drawn. The vows we made, began to vanish, but now they're gone. I put your pictures in a shoebox, and my ring in a drawer. You say you can't imagine what I'm waiting for since you've obviously gone on. Now I'm talking to you right now. It's killing me tonight, that I agreed when you believed it wasn't right. I shouldn't care, or wonder where you are and how you are, but I do. I can't hide this hurt inside my broken heart. I'm fighting back emotions that I've never fought before, because I'm not supposed to love you anymore. But I do, I do. Please give me another chance. Please, Nicole, no matter how hard I try, I still love you." They said nothing for a minute.
"I don't know what to say to you right now," she said to him.
"Then don't say anything at all." He took his hands and held her face.
"Burke-"
"Shh," he said.
The next morning Nick, A.J., Brian, Howie, Kevin, Jonathan, and Devon walked into the girls house with all of their stuff at seven thirty. Mercedes was the first one down when she heard all the noise.
"What are you doing here?" she said and went over and laid her head on Brian. Before he could answer, she was fast asleep. He shook her gently and she woke up.
"Well, we thought that you guys would be ready to leave by now," said A.J. Just then Isabella, Nicole, and Coreene walked down.
"What the hell are you guys doing here?" was the first thing that Nicole said to all of them. She looked around and said, "Well, Nick and Kevin, aren't you the lucky ones? You get to wake up Cassandra and Emalia!" Nick and Kevin looked at each other then headed upstairs.
"I'll wait for you out here," said Nick as Kevin went into Emalia's room. He went over to her bed and shook her.
"Ah!" she screamed. He jumped back and stared. "What are you doing here?"
"Um, we thought that you guys would be ready by now, so we came over, and kinda let ourselves in."
"Oh, well is everyone else downstairs?" He nodded and she got up. When she saw Nick alone outside the door, she said to him, "Ha ha! You get to wake up Cassandra!" He shrugged his shoulders and went into her room.
"Cassandra?" he said softly. She rolled over slowly, looked at her clock, looked at him, and opened her eyes wide.
"What are you doing here?"
"Good morning to you too," he said and sat on her bed next to her.
"Oh I'm sorry. Good morning. What are you doing here?"
He laughed then said, "Well we thought that you guys would be ready to go by now, so we let ourselves in."
"Oh. Could you help me up please?" she said. He stood up and leaned over so she could put her arms around his neck. When he stood up it lifted her out of her bed. He took her hand and led her downstairs.
"It's about time!" said Nicole.
"Oh, shut up," said Cassandra. "Nice to see you all so early in the morning, now how about we go back upstairs, get dressed, get our stuff and then we'll get going." The girls agreed and went upstairs.
When they came back down, they agreed to let Cassandra lead in her car with Nick, Brian, Mercedes, and Howie since she was the only one that knew the way. A.J. would follow in his car with Isabella, Coreene, and Devon. Then Kevin, Emalia, Jonathan, and Nicole would follow in Kevin's car. The conversations were very limited to which radio station should be on, and how much longer it would take to get there.
They arrived at the beach house at nine thirty.
"Let's go swimming!" said A.J. "Come on! Come on! Let's go!"
"Hold on A.J. We have to atleast get our stuff inside the house!" said Nicole.
"Have you ever been here before?" Brian said to Mercedes.
"I've only been here once, but Cassandra's been her a couple of times, you know, just to get away."
"Oh, do you think that Cassandra will be alright?" he whispered to her.
"I don't know."
"Well come on! Let's get inside so we can go swimming!" said A.J.
"All right, all right!" said Cassandra. She put her stuff down infront of the door, and put the key in the door. She turned it slowly, opened the door, picked up her stuff, and walked into the house. They walked into the family room. A solid oak finish, with two off white couches, a love seat, a light green rug, and small television.
"Wow, this place is beautiful!" said Emalia.
"You mean you've never been up here before?" asked Devon.
"No, only Mercedes and Cassandra have been up here before," said Emalia.
"Oh," said Kevin. Nick put his arm around Cassandra.
"Are you okay?" he asked her.
"Yeah, I'll be fine," she said wiping a tear from her eye.
"Are you sure?"
"Hey, what's this?" Isabella said.
"Um, I don't know. Let me see it," said Cassandra and went over to Isabella and took the note that was in her hand.
"Oh man. It's a note from Andrew, and it's not from Bobby. This time I'm sure of it."
"Well, what does it say?" asked Isabella.
"It says:
Dear Cassandra,
I figured that you might come up to this house, so I cleaned it up before I left. I didn't know when you would be coming up here, so I didn't leave any food in the fridge. If there is any food in the fridge, I wouldn't take any chances on it being any good. Anyways, the combination for the boat lock is 5, 43, 62, 15. I have a boat you may ask? Yes I do!
There should be plenty of room for you and your "friends" in the house. If you sleep two in a bed and there still isn't enough room, the love seat in the family room, not the living room, is a fold out couch, and there's an air mattress in the basement. The keys to the boat are on top of the fridge, and the gas for the boat is downstairs in the basement near the door. You can build fires in the circle of ashes outside, but only after seven o'clock. Anyway, have a great time in my house, I won't be needing it anymore. Take care of it for me, and the boat.
Love Always,
~Andrew"
"Oh," Mercedes whimpered. Brian put his arm around her, and everyone was waiting for Cassandra's response. She wiped a tear from her eye and said,
"Well what are we waiting for? You heard him, let's have fun! How should we divide the rooms?"
"How many are there?" asked Nick.
"Well, if I remember correct, there should be four bedrooms. A kinda master bedroom, and then three others that are just about the same size." They all walked upstairs taking their things, and stopped at the top of the stairs.
"Why don't you and Nick take the kinda master bedroom," said Isabella to Cassandra. "A.J. and I will take the one down the hall on the left of that, Brian and Mercedes, why don't you guys take the one right behind us to the left, and Coreene and Devon can take the one behind us and to the right."
"I guess I'll take the fold out couch," said Howie.
"Okay then, what about us?" said Emalia.
"I guess that you guys get the floor," said Isabella.
"Yeah, there's an air mattress downstairs that we can blow up later," said Cassandra.
"Can we please go swimming now?" said A.J.
"And how about we take the boat out for a spin?" Nick asked Cassandra. She only smiled and said to him,
"I'd love to. I didn't know that you knew how to drive a boat?"
"Well I guess there's a lot that you don't know about me, but you can find out."
"I would love to find out everything there is to know about you."
It took A.J. about two minutes to get his bathing suit on and out the door.
"Wait for me!" said Isabella.
"You snooze you lose, cause it's gonna be funky!" yelled A.J. Cassandra came downstairs wearing jean cut offs and a bikini top, and grabbed the keys to the boat on top of the fridge. Isabella and A.J. were already romping outside in the waves. Coreene, Devon, Emalia, Kevin, Mercedes, and Brian got on their bathing suits, went outside and jumped into the water joining A.J. and Isabella. Nicole, Jonathan, and Howie laid out towels and sunbathed, while on the dock, Cassandra unlocked the boat and Nick started it. She untethered the boat, and dropped the rope on the dock.
"Permission to come aboard, Captain?" she said to him. He smiled, went over to the edge of the boat, and held his arm out.
"Permission granted, my lady." She took his hand, and he pulled her on board.
"Now you two have fun!" yelled Brian. Cassandra only waved to them.
"We'll be back by lunch! Have it ready for us when we get back!" Nick yelled to them.
"Yeah right!" yelled Emalia.
Cassandra took a position on the bow of the speedboat and watched Nick as he took control of the steering wheel. The sun was shining brightly down upon the open, blue waters as she watched him manuver the boat away from the dock, and the wind start to pick up through his hair. How gorgeous he looked with the wind tossing his blond hair, his dashing blue eyes seeming to challenge the waters in a test of which was bluer.
"Where are we going?" she finally asked him.
"Anywhere you want," he said.
"How about the middle of nowhere."
"Is here okay?" She nodded. He stopped the boat, turned off the engine, and slowly walked over to her. She watched every step that he took, every detail of movement that he made, every blink of his eyes. He drew near to her and held out both of his hands. She lightly took them, and he gently helped her up. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and they started to dance.
Swaying side to side, he whispered in her ear, "Can you hear the music? Can you feel it?"
"I can," she said softly and laid her head down on his chest. They were really alone now, in the middle of nowhere, alone, and together. To her, the beat of his heart, was the beat of the soundless music that they were both dancing to. He just wanted to hold her, to be with her.
"There is so much that I want to say to you," he said to her.
"What haven't you already told me already?" she asked. He let go of his grip on her waist a little and gazed into her eyes. He reached back, took her hands from behind his neck, and held them in front of him.
"Before, I wrote words to you on paper that meant so much back then. They still have meaning, but there is so much more that I want to say to you that have no words. Feelings that can't be described."
"I feel the same way. It's a hunger, a craving, a desire for you and only you. Being here just with you, I realise how much I really do love you. Ever since I met you, you've undergone everything with me. Now that I think about it, you've helped me through things that I don't think that I could have done by myself." He took her hands, lifted them up and placed them around his neck. She put her head back down on his chest, and he put his arms back around her waist. They both closed their eyes, and continued to dance to their soundless music that only they shared.
"And I would endure it again, if it meant saving you from all of that." She took her right hand and drew tiny circles on his neck. She lightly pulled down the top of his shirt with her finger, and delicately kissed his collar bone, as they continued to dance.
"Hey Jonathan, can we talk for a second?" Nicole asked him.
"Yeah, sure. What about?" Jonathan asked.
"Seriously. Come with me," she said and got up and started to walk away. He ran up to catch her.
"Hey, what's up? You seem really serious, which isn't like you."
"Thanks. Anyway, I really gotta tell you something. Really."
"Well, just tell me," he said an touched her shoulder. She shook him off.
"That may have been your last touch, because something happened the other day."
"What?"
"Hey you guys!" yelled Isabella. Nicole sighed loudly and yelled back.
"What do you want?"
"We're going to start making lunch now, before the two royals get back! You coming?"
"In a second! Anyway, Jonathan. Burke came and talked to me yesterday. He said so much stuff to me, about how he's not supposed to love me anymore, but that he does love me. And I guess, well, we, kissed."
"What kind of a kiss?"
"Oh, just a peck. It was nothing! Really."
"Tell me the truth, did you like it?"
"Truthfully, no. I love you, I really do, and I want to go on with you. I want to leave Burke in my very, very most past." Jonathan turned around and started to walk towards the house. "Aren't you going to say anything?" she called after him.
"If it's any consolation, I love you too," and he walked back towards the house.
"Do you think that we should head back?" Nick asked Cassandra.
"Must we?"
"Five minutes?"
"Okay," she agreed and they kept dancing.
"Do you think that we should head back now?"
"Five minutes?"
"You said that fifteen minutes ago."
"Well, what time is it?"
"It's about twelve thirty."
"Oh, maybe we should head back." He took her hands from behind his neck, brought them in front of him, and kissed them.
"I shall take you back now," he said and waited until she sat down before taking the wheel, turning the boat around, and heading back for the house.
"Where are they?" said Emalia.
"Emalia, you've checked your watch for about the millionth time!" said Isabella.
"Well, they told us to have lunch ready for them when they got back around lunch time!" said Emalia.
"Well look, there they are now."
Nick got out of the boat and tethered it to the dock, then helped Cassandra out.
"Aww how cute!" said Coreene.
The thirteen of them moved lunch out onto the beach.
"I'm not hungry," said Cassandra.
"I thought that you said for us to have lunch ready for you guys when you got back?" said Emalia. Cassandra shrugged, and leaned on Nick.
"So what did you guys do?" Mercedes asked Cassandra.
"Oh, we just took the boat around."
"Well, you were gone for pretty long for just taking the boat around!" said Coreene. Cassandra only gave her a look.
"Here let me have the keys and I'll put them back," Cassandra said to Nick. He handed her the keys, she went inside and put them back on the fridge. She decided that she didn't want to go back outside, so she sat down on the couch and started to watch television. She turned off the television and looked around the room. She thought to herself.
"The last time that I was here, was with Andrew. When he was still alive." Fighting back tears, she drew her knees up close to her, and looked at the other couch. "We had so many memories, so many good times together." She wiped a tear from her eye, but one followed after that, and then another.
About five minutes later, Nick, Brian, and Mercedes walked in the door. Nick walked fast over towards her.
"Hey, what's wrong?" he said collapsing beside her. "Hey," he said again, and wrapped his arms around her.
"No it's okay. Their happy tears. It's just that Andrew and I had so many good memories up here."
"Yeah, it's good to remember the good things about him and this place," said Mercedes as her and Brian sat down on the other couch. They sat there, silent for about five minutes until the others walked in and joined them.
"What'd we miss?" asked Coreene.
"Oh, nothing. We just decided that we weren't going to do anything for a while," said Mercedes as she turned back on the television.
They had sat there just talking and watching television for a good part of the day, until Coreene commented that it was getting dark out and that they should start thinking about what they were going to do about dinner.
"I don't know. I don't feel like cooking tonight," said Mercedes.
"Me neither," said Cassandra, "in fact I'm kinda tired."
"Well, why don't you ladies go upstairs for awhile, and we'll make dinner," said A.J.
"But there's no food in the house," said Cassandra.
"Just leave that all to us," said Brian.
"Now you guys go upstairs, and don't come back down for two hours," said Nick. "Do you think that you can handle that?"
"I don't know. Two hours away from you," said Cassandra. He leaned over and whispered in her ear.
"Don't worry. I'll show you my favorite thing to do on a night, and a place like this, later."
"Ooh, then I think that I can handle two hours!"
"All right then," said Mercedes. "Let's go upstairs and find something to do."