The next morning over at Jonathan's house, Jonathan and Jason were getting ready to join everyone over at the girls' house to swim. "Hey Jonathan?" Jason asked. "Do you have any extra swim pants?"
Jonathan walked into the living room. "Actually I don't. Go over to the guys' house and ask someone over there."
"Okay." Jason ran out of the house, across the street and walked into the guys' house. "Hello?" he called.
No answer.
Just then the phone rang. Thinking that no one was home, he ran and answered the phone in the kitchen. "Hello?" he said.
"Yes, hello. Is Mrs. Carter there?"
"She's not here."
"Oh, do you know when she'll be home?"
"I'm sorry, I mean that no one by that name lives here."
"Oh I'm sorry. I must have the wrong number. Goodbye."
"Bye."
Just then, Cassandra came down the stairs in one of Nick's long, green t-shirts, towel drying her hair. "Oh, Jason, hi," she said surprised. "Did I hear the phone ring?"
"Uh, yeah. But it was a wrong number."
"Oh," Cassandra said looking down at the ground.
"Yeah, someone calling for a Mrs. Carter."
Cassandra's head snapped up.
"But I told them that no one by that name lives here," Jason continued. "Because, well, nobody does, I don't think."
"Actually, s-somebody does."
"Who?"
Cassandra took a deep breath. "Me," she said.
"But I thought you-"
"I know what you thought. Malvern is my maiden name. Carter is my married name."
"Oh no."
"What?"
"You're...Cassandra Carter?" he asked shocked.
"Yeah, when you put the two names together-"
"I'm being serious for once. I'm so sorry about your husband."
"Oh so Jonathan told you?"
"No. He didn't."
"Then how did you-"
"Cassandra. Listen to me. I'm the one who saved you."
Cassandra stared at him blankly then gave him a confused look. "Saved me from what?"
"From the fire."
Cassandra shook her head. It just couldn't sink in. She laughed for a second, then smiled. "I'm going to get dressed. I'll be right over to the other house." Saying nothing more, Cassandra ran upstairs and back into Nick's room. She shook her head again and laughed. "Right," she said to herself.
Nick sat on his bed and watched Cassandra go through his drawers in search of a pair of his jeans. "My clothes look so good on you," he said to her, but he knew that she wouldn't acknowledge him. "I know. Does this mean that you're still my wife? Are you?" She was wearing her wedding rings, her diamond heart necklace and his wedding ring on a chain around her neck, but he still wasn't convinced. "Maybe Linden was right..."
Still wearing Nick's shirt, Cassandra threw on a pair of jeans and looked at herself in his mirror. She laughed outloud. "Yikes!" she said at her appearance. "I don't know how he wore this stuff." Shaking her head, she ran out of the room, down the stairs and over to the girls' house. Running through the front door and into the kitchen, she ran into Jason. "Oh, sorry," she said.
"Cassandra, you need to listen to me. You need to know what happened that night."
"Come on, let's go outside and-"
"No," Jason said and grabbed her shoulders.
"You better not hurt her," Nick said standing behind Cassandra.
Jason led Cassandra into the living room and they sat down on the couch, with Nick also sitting on the couch. "You gotta listen to me."
"Oh come on Jason-"
"Just shut up and listen to me!"
Cassandra gave him a shocked look. "Okay. Talk."
"I'll give you the short version. I saw the house on fire and I tried to find a door to get in. The only one that I could find was around the back and I'm guessing that I went to the basement. Anyway, I busted through the door and was overwhelmed by the incredible amount of smoke and fire. I thought I saw something or someone, so I, uh, walked in and over to, well, you two. Both of you were collapsed on the floor and your husband had his body over you and his arms around you, covering you, protecting you. You were closer so I grabbed your hands and dragged you out of the door and onto the back lawn. When I turned back around to go back in and get your husband, there was a huge explosion and there was no way that I could have gotten back in. No one could have."
Cassandra sat there staring at Jason. She felt tears welling up in her eyes and so did Nick. Here was Jason, sitting here in front of them, forcing them to relive their horrible experience. Cassandra and Nick could hear the cracking of the fire and felt the pain and sickness all over again that they did not too long ago.
"I can't believe it," Nick said.
"I can't believe it," Cassandra said to Jason. "I-I just can't believe it."
"Believe it," Jason said. "I'm sure that your husband does, wherever he is."
"You'd be surprised," Nick said.
"You," Cassandra said, "saved, me?"
"Yes," Jason nodded.
"And not my husband?"
"But I-"
"And not my husband?"
Jason took a deep breath. "Yes."
Cassandra shook her head and stood up. "I wish you hadn't," Cassandra growled at him.
"What are you-"
"I wish you had let me die! I can't believe this!"
"It's true-"
"No! I should be dead! I could be with my husband right now!"
"But-"
"Save it." Cassandra grabbed her jeans so they wouldn't fall down and ran upstairs to her room in tears.
Cassandra flung herself down onto her bed. "Oh God," she said.
"I know," Nick said, sitting on the end of her bed.
"Hey," Nick heard someone say.
He turned around to see Linden. "Oh hi," he said to her.
"I heard," Linden said. "It was hard not to."
"Can you believe it?" he asked her.
"Maybe. How are you?"
"I'll be okay, I guess, but it's Cassie I'm worried about."
"Why?"
"Well, she always seems to take things really hard and now I'm not there for her."
Cassandra sat up in her bed. "Honey, did you hear all of that? Can you believe it?"
"No," Nick answered her even though she couldn't hear him.
Cassandra sighed. "I should be with you right now."
"No, I should be with you," Nick said.
Linden put her hand on his shoulder. "She can't hear you."
"I know," Nick said. "I know."
"I'll leave you two alone for a while."
"Hey, do you know if A.J. and Isabella know?"
"I don't think that they do."
"Would you tell them?" Nick asked.
"Sure," Linden said and smiled.
"Thanks," he said as Linden walked out of the room, leaving Cassandra and Nick.
"Nick," Cassandra said, "how could we have not found that door?"
"I-I don't know," Nick replied.
"Well we couldn't see a thing. It was impossible to see if there was a door or not."
"I know."
Nick and Cassandra sat there in silence.
That night, Cassandra sat there in her bed staring up at the ceiling while Nick paced around the room. "Nick, Sweetie, do something," Cassandra said.
"What do you want me to do?" Nick replied.
"You guys still trying to figure this all out?" Linden said walking into the room.
"I guess so," Nick said. "I just wish she could hear me! Damn it, if we could only have a conversation-" He was interrupted when Jason walked in the room. Cassandra rolled over in her bed, turning away from Jason. "You know Linden," Nick said, "I've never liked that guy and I never knew why. Now I do. He's the reason that my wife and I aren't together. That man took my wife away from me."
"You may be partially right," Linden said, "but what is to blame is whatever set that house on fire."
"You know, Cassandra said the exact same thing."
"Cassandra?" Jason said.
She said nothing.
"Come on," he said. "Talk to me. We need to talk."
Cassandra rolled back over and sat up. "What do we need to talk about?"
"Look, Cass, I'm sorry that I saved your life. If I had known that you wanted to die, I never-"
"Jason, stop," she interrupted. "It's okay."
"It is?" Nick said. "What are you talking about?"
"Nick," Linden said. "Shut up."
"It is?" Jason asked.
"Yes," Cassandra replied. "I'm sorry that I yelled at you. I just wish that none of this had happened."
"I know but you just have to deal with it. I'm sure that Nick would want you to move on."
"What? I don't-"
"Yeah, move on. Do you think he would want to see you like this?"
Cassandra shook her head after a moment. "I guess not."
"Well, come on then. You should go outside with everyone else. I've gotta get going anyway."
"Okay." Saying nothing more, the two of them ran downstairs and outside.
"That went well," Nick said to Linden.
Brian stood on the diving board with Mercedes held over his head.
"Brian! Put me down!" Mercedes screamed.
"Never!" Brian laughed.
"Throw her in!" Coreene said as she held Charity.
"Coreene!" Mercedes screamed and Brian smiled.
"Whoops-" Brian said and threw Mercedes in the pool. When she emerged to the surface, she saw Brian laughing.
"Oh you!" Mercedes said. "Cassandra, tell Brian that I'm not talking to him."
"Brian," Cassandra said. "She's not talking to you!"
"I know," Brian said. "I heard."
They all laughed. Cassandra looked at Brian and watched him laugh. His laugh was so light and so delicate. And she had never noticed how truly handsome he was before.
"Hey," Coreene said. "What time is it?"
"Oh, it's almost five o'clock," Nicole said.
"Why don't we all go out to eat tonight? We haven't done that in a while."
"Yes we have," said Cassandra.
"Well maybe you have, Cass."
"Okay," everyone agreed.
"Coreene," Cassandra said, "why don't you invite Devon?"
"Yeah," Brian agreed. "We haven't seen him lately."
"Um, well you guys, Devon and I kinda broke up, again."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Cassandra said.
"No it's okay. It was for the best."
"If you don't mind me asking," Brian said, "why did you guys break up again? Was he really gay?"
"Brian!" Mercedes said.
Brian shrugged.
"Well that's kinda what I wanted to talk to you guys about," Coreene said.
"I knew it! He is gay!" Brian yelled.
"No Brian," Coreene said. "He's not gay. But the reason that we broke up was because I fell in love with somebody else."
"So do you have a new boyfriend?" Nicole asked.
"Yeah, and I wanted to know if I could bring him along to dinner tonight."
"I don't see why not," Cassandra said. "Any objections? Good. Anybody want anything to drink?" They all shook their heads.
"Actually, I'll go with you," Coreene said. Coreene handed Charity to Nicole and went inside with her sister. They walked into the kitchen and Coreene pulled down two glasses.
"Okay girl," Cassandra said. "Tell me about him!"
Nick stood behind Cassandra and mocked her. "Ooh, tell me!" he screeched in a high pitched voice. "Tell me, too! Oh my God, no way!""
"What do you want to know?" Coreene asked.
"What color hair?" Cassandra asked.
"Dirty blonde, and I took your advice and looked for eyes."
"Oh my God, no way!" Nick said in a high pitched voice.
"And?" Cassandra asked.
"And they are very deep!"
"Cool!" Cassandra smiled. "Oh yeah, what's his name?"
"Brandon Keene."
"Cool. Can't wait to meet him." The two of them walked back outside.
"Oh no," Nick said. "No, not Brandon Keene!" Nick ran outside after Cassandra and Coreene. "Coreene, Coreene! Oh God, you've go to listen to me!" But she just continued to talk about him to everyone.
"Nick, what's wrong?" Isabella said as she as A.J. walked up behind him.
"Oh, Isabella, A.J.! I'm glad you're here. I need your help!"
"Yeah, we heard about Jason," Isabella said, "and how Cassandra is alive."
"No! It's not that! It's something worse."
"Hey man," A.J. said. "Just calm down. What's wrong?"
"Okay," Nick started. "Coreene's new boyfriend is Brandon Keene!"
"Oh my God!" A.J. said. "So?"
"Oh yeah, you don't know him."
"And you do?"
"Yeah, we go way back. Guys, we can't let him meet Cassandra."
"But-"
"Hey guys," Coreene said. "I'm gonna go pick up Brandon and I'll meet you guys at the restaurant, okay?"
"Okay," Cassandra said. "I'm going to go get dressed anyway." The sisters walked through the house and to the front door. "See you in a while. Can't wait to meet him!"
"All right," Coreene said. "See ya." Coreene walked out to her car and Cassandra closed the door and ran up to her room.
"Oh God, Cassandra," Nick said. He ran upstairs after her with Isabella and A.J. close behind.
Cassandra walked into her closet and tried to find something semi-formal to wear.
"There's no locks!" Nick said, looking around the room. "Is there any way that I can lock her inside her room or even this house?"
"Man," said A.J., "you're paranoid."
"No, I'm not-" He stopped when Cassandra came out of her closet. She was wearing his favorite black dress. "Damn it, Cassandra! Couldn't you find anything else that was semi-formal?" Cassandra sat down in front of her vanity and began brushing her hair.
Isabella sat Nick down on Cassandra's bed. "Okay, Nick," Isabella said. "Explain."
"I'll give you the short version," Nick said. "Back in high school, Brandon had his eye on this one girl. He would have done anything to get her and told everyone to back off. He was your average jock. He was the captain of the football team and he took steroids and had a huge ego. He got so pissed when she became my girlfriend. We were happy and whatnot until she told me that she wanted to be with him. I said fine and backed off."
"Nick, that's terrible!" Isabella interrupted.
"Yeah, anyway, a month later she tells him that she wants to go back to me, but I said forget it. They hadn't broken up yet and somehow he thought that she was cheating on him with me, and we had a huge confrontation. He went out and got drunk that night and almost killed her. He also warned me that if I were to ever marry, he would track her down and torture her. Make up complete lies about me and push her away and then he'd take her and rape her and beat her-"
"You don't really believe that, do you?" A.J. asked.
"Oh just shut up!" Nick yelled. "And I guess he's always had it in for me."
"Nick, I think you're just overreacting-"
"Cass, come on!" Jonathan yelled from downstairs.
"All right!" Cassandra yelled back. She grabbed her purse and headed down the stairs.
"You guys," Nick said panicked. "You're better at this than me. I can't do this alone."
"But," A.J. said, "you don't even know-"
"Sure," Isabella interrupted, giving A.J. a look. "We'll get Brandon and you stick to Cassie."
"Thank you so much you guys!"
"Anytime, now go. We'll catch up with you soon."
"Hey Jonathan, is this better?" Cassandra said referring to her clothes.
"Ah, the real Cassandra emerges!" Jonathan said.
"Funny."
Brian stared at Cassandra. It had been a long time since he had seen her dressed up and now she was wearing her short, black dress with her hair feathering down around her shoulders. He couldn't take his eyes off of her. When she looked up to his eyes, he could only smile.
"Okay," Mercedes said. "We left Charity with the babysitter. Let's go."
"Who's cars should we take?" Brian asked, shaking his head to try to clear it. "And where's Howie and Kevin?"
"Okay we'll take our car," Mercedes said, "and Cassandra's. And Howie is up with Angel and Kevin and Emalia are at Linden's with them."
"Jon and Nicole," Cassandra said, "you go with me and we'll meet you guys there and Coreene and Brandon." They all agreed. Mercedes and Brian jumped in their car and waited until Jonathan and Nicole climbed in the back of Cassandra's car and Nick sat on the passanger's side next to Cassandra.
"Hey," Jonathan said, "we forgot to invite Jason."
"Oops," Nick said sarcastically.
"You want to call him?" Cassandra asked. "I've got my phone with me."
Nicole thought of Nick's words. Keep him away from Cassandra. "No I don't think that's a good idea," Nicole said. "I mean, talk about short notice. I know I wouldn't like that."
"Maybe you're right," Cassandra said. "Oh well."
Good, Nick thought. "Thank you Nicole. As if I didn't already have enough problems." They pulled up at the restaurant and got out of the car. Walking to the entrance of the building, they all met.
"Guys," Coreene said, "I'd like you to meet Brandon."
Brandon smiled and shook everyone's hands.
"Hi, I'm Mercedes Littrell, and this is my husband, Brian."
"I'm Jonathan."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Nicole Reed."
"Hi, I'm Cassandra Carter."
Brandon stopped and looked down at the rings on her left hand. "I'm sorry, but by any chance are you married to my buddy, Nick?"
"Oh you know him?" Cassandra asked.
"Oh yes," Brandon replied. "Nick and I go way back! Where is that old bastard anyway?" He laughed.
"Oh, h-he's, um-"
"He's away for awhile," Brian said.
"Oh well," Brandon said. "Shall we go inside?" He smiled and took Coreene's hand and they all followed them inside to their reserved table.
"Thank you, Brian," Cassandra whispered.
He smiled and winked at her.
They all sat down at their table. Nicole sat at one end of the table, Jonathan sat at the other end; Cassandra sat next to Jonathan with Brian on her right and Mercedes on his right; Brandon sat across from Cassandra and Coreene sat next to him across from Brian. The waitress came over and took their drink orders and they all started talking.
"So Coreene," Brian said. "How did you and Brandon meet?"
"Well," she started, "Devon actually introduced us. And I guess that, well, I fell for him."
"Hey Coreene," said Nicole, "falling for the best friend, huh?"
"Oh be quiet."
"So Cassandra," Brandon said, changing the subject, "how is old Nicky boy anyway?"
"Uh," Cassandra started, "he's, well, I guess he's fine."
"Is he going to be back soon? I'd love to see him."
Cassandra didn't reply.
"So is he?"
Cassandra looked down. "I wish," she whispered.
"What?"
"I'm sorry. Excuse me," Cassandra said and got up and walked away.
"Uh oh," Brandon said. "I'll be right back." He got up and walked after Cassandra. He followed her all the way outside.
"What are you doing out here?" she asked him.
"I came to see if you were all right," Brandon replied, truthfully.
"I'm fine."
"No you're not. You know you can't lie to me like that."
Cassandra spun around and looked at him.
He stepped closer and turned her face with his fingertips. He paused. "It's been so long since I've really touched you."
Cassandra looked into his eyes and noticed that they didn't look the same from when they had first met, but she just couldn't put her finger on it. She broke away from him but he grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. "We should go back," she said.
"No."
"But we-"
"Shh-" he said and put a finger to her lips. "Please, my Cassia-"
Cassandra could feel her mouth dropping open and her blood beginning to race.
"Believe it," he said.
"We should go," she said and pulled away again and headed for the doors inside.
"Please, my queen. I beg you."
Cassandra stopped and turned around.
"It's me," he said.
Cassandra shook her head.
"Go ahead," he said. "Ask me anything. Things that only I, Nick, would know."
"Okay, you want to play a game? Fine. Do I-I...have any pets?"
"Come on, Honey, that's an easy one." He sighed. "You have a fish that you named Nickolas Brent that I bought for you because you hate pet stores and Brian and Mercedes adopted it when they moved into the beach house."
Cassandra stared blankly at him. She wanted so much to believe it but it was all so unreal.
"Okay," he said, "the dreams. The weird dreams you've been having. They are us, it is me, they aren't just dreams. And just today, you practically ransacked my room looking for a pair of my jeans to go with my green t-shirt." He laughed. "Boy were you surprised when you could barely keep the jeans from falling down!"
Cassandra still couldn't say anything.
He got serious. "Remember that night?" he asked. "You forgave me anything and everything. Well I'm begging you now to forgive me for all of this."
"Nick?" she whispered.
"Yeah. Baby it's me," he smiled hopefully.
"But how-"
"Shh, Sweetie. Don't look at my physical appearance. Feel it. Just close your eyes and see with your heart."
She closed her eyes and he walked up to her and grabbed her around her waist.
He breathed out on her neck. "The nights are so lonely without you holding me. I need you."
"I need you, too."
"Is your head okay? I know that you had that huge gash on your head."
"I'm fine now," she said, her voice shaking. "How are your...eyes?"
"Oh, they're much better now. Thank you for protecting me when I got the sparks in my eyes."
Cassandra gasped and silently wiped a tear that fell from her eye. It was so hard to believe but no one could have known about what they said to each other during the fire.
"Isabella and A.J. are with me, too, you know," he continued. He backed away a little and looked into her eyes. "You know, my love is still as strong for you now than it ever was." His face gradually got closer, and closer to her face. He was ready to kiss his wife. It had been so long since he had actually touched her and it felt so weird, so foreign. He leaned in closer and gazed at her. "I have just one word for you to think about when I kiss you," he said.
"What's that?" Cassandra barely managed to get out.
"Intensity."
Coreene burst through the front doors. "Hey guys!" she said and Brandon jumped back. "You all right?" she asked Cassandra. Cassandra nodded and turned to Brandon.
"H-How did I get outside?" Brandon asked. "What's going on?"
"Yeah, we were just getting back inside," Cassandra said.
Coreene took his hand and they walked inside.
What was that? Cassandra asked herself.