I knock on the door and ring the doorbell. I imagine seeing her face, my eyes zeroing in on her beautiful, pillowy lips. Knowing what they already feel like, makes it feel like I'm on the hunt for more, for seconds.
Forever.
It creates a kind of magnetism where I can almost feel her aura close to me.
It's not her who opens the door though. It's John, her father.
"Oh, hey Tony. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Before I can get a word out in response he continues. “I heard Cassandra went to the hospital because your son took a nasty fall. Is he okay? Did it happen on her watch?"
Crap. The kiss flashes through my mind. "Nah, it happened right as she arrived. She had nothing to do with it. I need to thank you for recommending her actually. Never got around to that.” I pause as this suddenly chatty guy goes quiet. “How’s everything?"
I kissed the daughter of the man standing right in front of me, and he has no clue. He's an innocent hard-working man and I kissed his daughter behind his back. "You know what, don't even answer that right now I have to go."
"Um. Okay?" he says.
This is a sign that Cassandra and I have to be done. Finished. I can't keep going back to this girl. Seeing John makes me feel like a complete douche, not a real man. What I did was wrong.
Cassandra and I? We’re done.
5
Cassandra
It's a Saturday morning and my phone isn't turning on. The thing seems like it's broken. I'm trying to charge it and nothing's happening, which means the champagne probably fried it.
I should have put it in rice to dry it out after that incident about half a year ago, but hindsight is twenty-twenty. Without enough money to buy a new one and too much pride to ask my dad for money to buy a new one I’m S.O.L. Dad’s already dropped a pretty penny for college. I’m not going to be that daughter that asks him for more.
But there is a different man, about my dad’s same age, who’d given me a job before…a job that would have paid so much money. I would have been able to get two phones if things would have just worked out. The craziest part about everything is that I don't care about the kiss. He cares more about it than I do. It's hard to acknowledge it, but I enjoyed it. I enjoyed his masculine lips having their way with me. It went back to that feeling that I had in the car. The protective lion kissed me and I wanted more. But something in my gut tells me that there won't be anymore. He realized what he’d done and moved on.
So here I am with a broken phone in my room, no money, and just my college to show for my life. I can't help but stare at the ceiling and feel a little empty at where things are going. As crazy as the situation was with Tony, it was exciting. A fearful excitement is how I would describe it. But it was exciting nonetheless.
My stomach growls, my hunger taking precedence over any and all other problems, which will now have to wait until I get something to eat. One of the most special things about Saturday mornings is being able to have the time to have breakfast the way that you want to have it. Bacon, pancakes, eggs…whatever your heart desires. That's what Saturday mornings are for. Maybe I can also make this morning a means to forget about Tony altogether. A fresh start. Let's end the week by starting the weekend.
I get out of bed, use the bathroom, and run a brush through my hair before brushing my teeth, finally splashing some water on my face.
Downstairs, I already smell the bacon dad’s cooking. My stomach starts to gurgle in the best of ways.
"Good morning, Dad. How's everything?" Moving toward our Keurig I drop in a K-Cup. I measure eight ounces of water into a cup and pour that into the Keurig as well.
"Everything’s good. Did you ever call Tony back?"
Call Tony back. I'm still not completely awake so I have to kind of run through a catalog of thoughts in my head to see if I'm missing something. But nothing pops up. "What do you mean?"
Putting his spatula down, my father brings his hand to his forehead. "Damn, I forgot to tell you that Tony stopped by yesterday looking for you. He had his son with him."
Butterflies throw a party in my chest. My breath also grows short. "He showed up for me? What did he want?"
"I don't know. He seemed hesitant about the whole thing. The encounter was quite weird and ended as quickly as it started."
Now my leg begins to shake. I need to let go. I need to move on from Tony. It's all bad, not good. Nothing good comes from being around Tony. I know that in my heart. Okay, maybe that's a lie because the kiss was pretty good. Sometimes I see a chink in his armor that seems enticing, like a way in to get to know the real man. I'm justifying things. I'm doing that toxic trait that I always make fun of my friends for having. I don't want to be one of those girls who fall for a troubled man.
"Dad, I think I'm going to skip breakfast this morning."
A puzzled look fills my dad's face. I don't blame him because he knows how much I love breakfast. Our weekend breakfast sessions are almost traditional. "Are you feeling ill?"
I laugh. "Mentally maybe, physically no. I just have something to do this morning, girl stuff."
The puzzled look shifts into an uncomfortable one. He and I are pretty much best friends but sometimes he seems to forget the glaringly obvious fact that I’m a girl with different needs than if he would have had a son. It's the type of father-and-daughter relationship that most people dream of. Which is why I stand here feeling like a fool in the way that I'm fawning over some dangerous mafioso.