The next morning, when Cassandra woke up, she found that she was the only one in her house, except Isabella.
"Where is everyone?" Cassandra asked Isabella.
"Mercedes is over visiting Brian at his house, and the rest of them all went over to Jonathan's to swim. We decided not to wake you up. I just came over to get extra towels."
"Oh."
"I'm gonna run upstairs and get them." Cassandra nodded. Just then, the phone rang.
"I'll get it!" said Cassandra. She picked up the phone, but almost dropped it. "No.....I think you have the wrong number.....I don't-.....You have the wrong person-..... When?.....Now?.....but, are you sure?.....Alright, alright. I'll be there as soon as I can." She slowly hung up the phone and stunned, she blinked back tears. She sat down at the kitchen table and pulled out a pen and a piece of paper, and started to write a letter. As she wrote, her hand shook so much that she had to stop many times to wipe away her tears.
When she had finally finished her letter, she let her head fall on the table and cried. In the back of her mind, knew she had to do this, but she did not want to. Not at all. She put the letter in an envelope, wrote 'Nick' on the top of it, and ran upstairs.
"Hey sis! What's wrong?" said Isabella to Cassandra.
"Bella! You scared me!"
"What's wrong? Are you okay?"
"I-I have to go away for a while."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I need to leave, now."
"What? Why? Where?"
"I can't explain. Not now," Cassandra said as she pulled out a suitcase and started packing. "Maybe someday I can. Just give this to Nick." She handed Isabella the letter, her tears staining the envelope.
"What's this?" Cassandra finished packing.
"It's a letter. Please, just make sure that he gets it. I love you sis. Good-bye."
"Cass wait-" Isabella started, but she was already down the stairs and out the door. Isabella heard her car drive off, and she looked down at the letter in her hands, wondering what was going on. She ran down the stairs, and to the phone, and dialed Jonathan's number.
"Hello?" said Jonathan answering the phone.
"Jonathan, where's A.J.?"
"Isabella? Why?"
"Because I really need him! Send him over here, right away!" With that, she hung up the phone. Jonathan shrugged and called A.J. out of the pool, and he and A.J. went over to Isabella's house.
**Back over at Jonathan's house**
"Where are they?" Nick asked impatiently.
"I don't know. Why don't you go see?" said Kevin.
"All right. I want to see Cassie anyway." Nick went inside the house, put on his clothes, and walked over to Cassandra's house.
Nick started whistling. Everything had been going right for him. He and his girlfriend had made a real connection yesterday. It was real this time, and he knew it. This time it was really love, really passion. He could feel it in his soul. This time it wasn't about seeing how far they could get before they got caught, it was about them, as one.
"We were meant to be," he whispered, smiling to himself. When he walked into the girls' house, right away, he knew something was wrong. He saw that Isabella had been crying, A.J.'s eyes were red, and Jonathan was leaning against the counter with a glazed look on his face.
"What's wrong? Is everyone okay? Where's Cass?"
"Oh Nick," Isabella whispered.
"No Cass is fine. But she's gone," said A.J.
"Then I'll wait for her," Nick said going into the living room and sitting down on the couch. Isabella bit her lip, and went and sat down on the couch next to him.
"You don't understand. She's gone, physically gone."
"What are you talking about?"
Isabella took a deep breath, and started. "She packed a bag, and ran out the door, and-" She handed him the note. "She told me to give you this." He looked at the note, blinking in disbelief. Then he read it again, this time blinking back tears.
Dear Nick,
I don't know who this going to be harder on, you or me, but I know that I had to write something to you. This is just the way things have to be because I don't want you to have to wait for me. That would not be fair to you, because I don't know how long I'll be gone for. I really don't want to leave, and I wish that you could come with me, oh I so wish that! But I must go alone, and NOT because of you! Never because of you! I can't tell you exactly why I'm leaving, not now. Don't worry about me, I can handle myself. I can't say exactly when I'm coming back. I am hoping soon, but I can't promise you that. I can promise you that I love you with all my heart and soul, and that I will always love you, and that I have to leave for personal reasons. I wish it were otherwise and I didn't have to leave, but it's not, and I can't change what I've discovered. I will explain someday. Please remember everything good that we did together, and everything that we have shared together, not this one point. Know that I will think of you every night and that I will long for the day when I get back. I love you so much.
Love always, ~Cassandra
"I don't understand this!" He threw down the note and stood up fast. He laughed. "Oh come on you guys. This is such a bad joke! Okay Cassandra, come on out! You've had you're fun."
"This really isn't a joke she-" started Jonathan.
"She's gone? Why? How could you let her go?" Nick yelled at Isabella. "Where did she go?"
"I tried to stop her but I-" started Isabella.
"Save it!" Nick screamed. "She said that she loved me! Everyday she said that she loved me! She was mine!" He slumped back on the couch. Isabella sat back down next to him, and tried not to cry for his sake. Putting his head in his hands he said, "She's gone! She's gone! What am I going to do without her?" Isabella put her hand on his back to try and calm him down, but he stood up and ran upstairs to Cassandra and Mercedes' room. Isabella tried to go after him, but A.J. stopped her.
"Oh A.J.-"
"I know. Let him be."
Nick stopped and slowly closed the door when he walked into her room. He stared at Cassandra's bed, tears forming in his eyes. He walked over to it and sat down. He drew his fingers over the bedspread. The bed that he would always have to carry her up to because she was asleep, and just yesterday he had kissed her in here. Scenes began to flash through his mind. Memories of that very day yesterday, to their very first kiss when she said that she would be his girlfriend, and that night on the beach, and day on the boat. It was too much for him. He fell over and buried his head in her pillows, and for the first time that he could ever remember, he cried. He really cried. Taking in the sweet smell of her pillows, knowing that she wouldn't be sleeping here tonight, that they wouldn't be together tonight. He talked to himself in between sobs.
"The p-p-perfect couple, I t-thought we w-were. Our hearts w-w-were one, and feel like my entire h-heart has been ripped out. I n-never thought that I w-w-would lose her. W-what did I do wrong? Why did sh-she leave me? Where did she go? W-when will she be b-b-back? She said that she would explain. She must have had a g-good reason. But-" He stopped. He cried harder every time Cassandra crossed his mind. The way she touched him, the way her hair smelled, the way her lips tasted. He wondered if he would ever need any of his senses ever again, now that the real reason that he had senses, was gone.
**Two months later**
It was Brian and Mercedes' wedding day. They had stressed for a month and a half trying to figure out wedding parties. Brian decided that Nick was his best man, Nick's younger brother, Aaron, would be the ring bearer and twin Angel, would be a flower girl. The ushers were Howie, A.J., Kevin, Brian's brother, and Mercedes' brothers, Peter and Jim. Mercedes had decided that her brides maids would be Isabella, Linden, and her best friend as a child, Julie. Emalia had refused to participate in the wedding because she claimed that she didn't know any of them and that Nathan had convinced her not to. Mercedes maid of honor would be Coreene, since Cassandra wasn't there, and her other childhood friend, Bethany, would be a reader.
"Come on Nick, pull yourself together. It's Brian and Mercedes' wedding day, and you're the best man!" said Isabella.
"This should be mine and Cassandra's wedding," said Nick pouting as Isabella fixed his tie. She shook his shoulders.
"Look at me! At least knock it off for today! Okay? You know, maybe it's just time to let go."
"I don't know-"
"Come on Nick. You're about to be a best man at your absolute best friend's wedding, and Cassandra left two months ago!"
"I know but-" He stopped when he heard a knock at the door, and Mercedes walked in the door. "You look great."
"Thanks Nick. You look pretty good too!" she said.
"I'm getting so nervous!" said Mercedes shaking.
"Don't get cold feet on me now!" said Isabella.
"My feet are fine. I said I'm nervous."
"Stupid, I'm not even going to try."
"How does my dress look?"
"Great, I love the long train," said Isabella.
"Ah, okay, thanks. Yours looks great to."
"It's almost time," a guy asked walking in.
"You ready Mercedes?" asked Isabella.
"Yup, you ready Nick?" asked Mercedes. He took a deep breath.
"About as ready as I'll ever be."
"Oh thanks!" said Mercedes.
"Sorry," said Nick. "Let's marry you!" Mercedes got up and put her vail on the top of her hair, that was put up in a tight, french twist. She stood in the doorway until she heard her que.
"Here goes!" she thought, taking a deep breath. She started to walk down the aisle. Everyone stood as she approached the aisle, and she could hear them gasp and say how beautiful she looked. She looked down to the end of the aisle, and saw all of her brides maids in pink, silk dresses, and all of the ushers in their black tuxedos. "I wish Cassandra were here," she whispered to herself. Then she saw Brian. When he smiled, she loved how his cheeks had dimples. All of a sudden, she got an overwhelming sensation. She loved him so much that she couldn't believe it.
When she reached the end of the aisle and took Brian's hand, she looked deep into his eyes and saw a side of him that she never knew. She thought back about what Cassandra had told her about eyes, and how you have to look into their eyes and if there is no depth to their eyes, there is nothing in them. She loved how his eyes twinkled when she looked at him. "I love you," she said to him.
"I love you too," he said back.
The ceremony started, and thirty minutes later, it was almost over, and Mercedes couldn't believe it.
"If there is anyone here, that can give good reason as to why these two shall not wed, speak now or forever hold your peace," said the priest. Just then, Eric came bursting through the doors of the chapel. Mercedes whipped around and gasped in surprise.
"Oh my-" she caught her tongue, remembering that she was in a church. Nick and A.J. quickly walked over to Eric to drag him away.
"Mercedes! I love you more than he ever will!" Eric yelled. Mercedes did not even care. She knew that she loved Brian and that she always would.
"May I go on?" asked the priest.
"Please do," said Mercedes. The priest turned to Brian.
"Do you take this woman, to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold, for richer or for poorer, in sickness or in health, all the days of your life until death do you part?"
"I do," Brian said smiling. Then the priest turned to Mercedes.
"And do you, take this man, to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, all the days of your life, until death do you part?"
"I do."
"I know pronounce you, husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."