by J. S. Brent
“She gave me many chances to fix it, but uncontrollable circumstances made her doubt it all. I was ready to make that move many times. Even my plans for that date couldn’t have fixed it. She would’ve turned me down flatter than her pancakes.” Had Tristan been planning to propose? His explanation of why he was so chill now that the break up had happened (Adrian was sure he hadn’t been so chill in the moment) made it seem that way.
“Were you going to p-r-o-p-o-s-e, Tristan?” Luke’s question received a nod from Tristan. “Dude, you’re whack.” Luke chuckled as Tristan sighed.
He knew it! But they had to have been together for a long time if…
“How long were they together?” Adrian looked over at Cassie after directing his question to Luke before he got an answer.
“We were together for a year and a half. It really went downhill six months ago.” Tristan’s response impressed Adrian. A year and a half. No wonder he wanted to propose...
“Let’s see if I can mend that heart a little, then, shall we?” Adrian looked down at his knitting. It was already three inches long.
How he had managed to do that all without really looking at his knitting surpassed his knowledge of the craft, but he had reasons to believe that sitting there watching his grandmother knit was why he could do it so well now. If that was why, then maybe he should’ve signed up for the lace course.
Adrian chuckled to himself at the thought of him knitting lace. What purpose would a prince have to knit his own lace?
Then again, he didn’t wear lace nor have a need or want to at that moment, so the lace course was irrelevant to his situation. Besides, his grandmother had never knitted lace and that was a territory he wished to leave for another time.
“Ready to bind off, Adrian?” Cassie’s voice startled him, but he nodded. “It’s simple, really. Knit two stitches as if you were doing another row, but you’ll only have one or two stitches on the right hand needle.” Adrian did as she instructed. “Lift the first one with the left hand needle-tip, and off of both needles. That’s the key to getting it off your needles- that stitch can’t remain on either needle.”
“And continue to the last stitch?” Adrian repeated it with the next stitch.
She nodded slowly, her surprise evident.
“When you get to the last stitch, cut a tail and pull it through the last stitch. Sew up the sides, and Bob’s your uncle!” With those words, she left him a pair of scissors, a small plastic needle, and then left to aid Delilah.
***
“Don’t forget to sign up for next week’s tutorial in the purl stitch and yarn-overs. Keep knitting!” Cassie inhaled deeply. Her first knitting course was over. As she turned to go help other customers, someone tapped her shoulder. “Yes?” She turned around and saw Adrian.
“I was wondering if you’d like to go to lunch on Saturday. At noon?” He looked down sheepishly, as if he had been talked into this by Luke or Tristan.
Cassie almost instantly glared at Tristan before catching herself and then turning back to Adrian to answer his question.
“Are you asking me out?” As Cassie got ready to lock up the classroom and picked up her bag, she looked up at Adrian.
He looked serious now, as if her looking away had given him time to also recompose.
“That’s one way to look at it. So, what do you say?” He smiled at her, making her belly fill with butterflies.
“I can’t. We’ve got a football game and I have to be there.” Cassie half felt bad about telling him that, but the compensation was that she wasn’t lying. There was indeed a game on Saturday, and she wouldn’t miss it for the world.
“Oh. If it gets cancelled, feel free to reconsider.” This time his phrasing came across as particularly formal, as if he were hiding something under his appearance that could be picked up by his tone and diction.
He handed her a slip of paper and left. Luke and Tristan followed him.
Delilah giggled once the whole scene was over and the men were out of the room. What was so funny about that?
“He’s totally crushing, Cassie! Why does it have to be the end of spring break?” Delilah laughed as Cassie shook her head.
“Delilah, you’re such a mug...Tristan totally set me up for that. He just wants me back.” She laughed and went back out to the aisles to see if she could help other customers.
“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow at school, Cassie.” Delilah waved as she disappeared through the front door of the store.
“How’d your first course go, Cassie?” Brooklyn’s voice startled Cassie slightly just after she had begun to turn around to lock the classroom door. “Sorry to startle you. I’ve seen the girl and two of the guys. Who was Prince Mystery?”
“Adrian Gold. Asked me out but schedule conflicts occurred. I had to turn him down. The football team for Sea Crest high has a game and the time was smack-dab in the middle of half time.” Cassie pocketed the paper as she spoke. She’d look at it on her lunch break.
Brooklyn nodded and left her to her business. She took this time to lock the classroom door then go to a random aisle and begin to restock were someone had begun in a fashion that caused the aisle to be almost inaccessible.
Cassie went through the rest of her shift with a bit of curiosity. Why had Mr. Gold asked her out? Was Tristan only trying to ploy her back into getting with him, or was Adrian doing it out of his own intentions…?
There were too many unknowns in the situation for her. If Adrian was doing this of his own free will, why had Luke and Tristan stuck around to watch? If Tristan had coerced Adrian into asking her out to set her up with him again, why would he do that to begin with?
The second question made another prevalent point. Adrian would be an amazing friend to take the risk involved in setting her up with Tristan again.
Her lunch break finally came, and she gratefully pulled her purse onto her shoulder. Cassie was just ready for a little alone time.
“Hey, Cassie, would you like some homemade jammie dodgers?” Adrian had caught her on her way out, just leaving the shop for a nearby fast food place.
His voice shocked Cassie and she almost dropped her purse.
And there went her alone time.
Begrudgingly, she picked up her purse and began to walk beside him, as only she could since he was closer to the street and refused to leave her alone.
“Are you trying to make a move on me, Adrian?” The curiosity of earlier was digging into her. Could she figure out why he had asked her out?
“Rumor is that you broke up with Tristan.” He sounded as if he was a private investigator and she had committed a crime. If it hadn’t been incredibly intriguing, she would’ve stopped right there and insist he leave her alone.
“What did you do, grill him about me?” Cassie suddenly felt defensive for some reason. Other than having a sort of invasion of her privacy, she felt rather alright with having him ask her this kind of question.
“I was curious. Luke, Tristan, and I are all best friends, but I never met his last girl. It’s usually triple dates between the three of us.” Adrian’s response seemed…curiously unusual. It was a welcome change from Tristan’s usual excuses. Not only welcome, but oddly enough, this response was wildly full of truth.
Tristan would sometimes lie to her to get off the hook, only to land in the fire later on.
“So you’re already cashing that rain check, huh?” She tried to make it a laughing matter, but something in her head said that this was a one in a million chance, something she shouldn’t laugh at…something she had to take advantage of.
“You could say that. Where are you headed?” Adrian continued to walk beside her as she headed for lunch.
Her plans for alone time would just have to wait.
“Down the street for some fast food. Before you ask, feel free to join me.” Cassie hoped her sarcastic tone was apparent to Adrian. Either it was and he was ignoring it or he had totally missed it as he proceeded to ask her if he could join her.
She nodded
slowly. Alone time would have to happen at home today.
“Cool. Jammie dodger?” He smiled widely as he pulled a jammie dodger out of the bag, then Adrian held it out to her.
The smell taunted her nose. Her mouth watered.
“After lunch?” Cassie smiled shyly as Adrian put the bag in her purse. “Don’t you want any?” She looked at the bag. It was almost chockfull of the homemade biscuits, and it made her kind of curious.
“I’ve got more where those came from. A batch of these does almost five dozen.” Adrian chuckled at what Cassie could only guess was her expression. That was a lot.
“Dang. That’s a lot of dough, Adrian.” She started towards the fast food place a little faster.
Adrian followed her eagerly, like a puppy following its owner to the food dish.
“Lunch is on me?” It was more like a question. Adrian fidgeted in his pocket, and then proceeded to pull out a twenty. “And some ice cream?” He waited for a response from Cassie.
“Why not? Shall we?” Cassie held her hand out. Adrian took it gently, kissing it. “As I said on Friday, Adrian, it’s nice to see such kindness.” He smiled and motioned her to continue walking.
What was it about him that made her curious about his personality all of a sudden instead of his intents?
“We shall. I’ve only got twenty dollars in my wallet at the moment, but it should be enough to get lunch and dessert.” He again smiled as he spoke, letting his voice take him away.
“Should be. I usually order from the value menu.” For some reason, she felt bad saying that, but it was the truth. Why should she be ashamed of telling him the truth?
“A lady who saves.” Adrian’s voice gave away that he was more surprised about that than anything else she’d already told him.
“Actually, money’s tight in my family. I don’t go out often. I had a little money from Friday and thought about getting lunch.” Adrian seemed to ponder this as they entered the fast food place.
“Well, now you can get lunch tomorrow.” He smiled again as he stopped pondering her answer.
“Spring break ends tomorrow. Today’s the last day. I’m going to be working weekends. They all know the football schedule. I’m a Sea Crest high cheerleader.” Cassie felt her cheeks become hot as she confided this to him.
“Ah. How long?” Adrian’s interest shifted from her financial status to her status as the cheer captain, though she had not told him this yet.
“All four years. I’m captain this year, and I need to be at all the games. There aren’t many left.” He opened the door as she spoke, and held it open for her.
“How many games are left?” Adrian picked a seat and pulled the seat out for her as he asked this particular question.
“Three that I know of, all home games. Even the one on Saturday.” As she sat down, she tried to think of the away games. How many were left? “I don’t know about the away games, though.”
“Now I see why you turned me down. Luke goes to all the games, actually. Does Tristan-” With that, she interrupted him abruptly as she got up to follow him to the cash register since the line had now died down.
“I thought he looked familiar. Supporting his star center forward brother, no doubt.” She turned to the cashier after interrupting Adrian, though it had been an unintentional interruption. “One burger, a large fry, and a large soda.”
“Same for me, just downsize the fries to a medium, please.” Adrian pulled his twenty out and paid before turning to Cassie again. “Alright, I will admit that I never knew about the center forward bit. Luke and Tristan gave me the football schedule. I’ve been to a couple of the games. Are you the one that’s always riling the crowd?” Now Cassie couldn’t believe that she’d never seen him in the crowds before. Then again, she could never really discern a face from the field.
“Yup. Every goal. I actually started that my freshman year.” She smiled a little and thought back to when she had first started that cheer.
“So you’re a senior then? Graduating this June?” As the cashier handed them the food, he asked this question. If she’s old enough to work, isn’t she automatically old enough to be at least a senior, or was she just making up something?
“Yea, Tristan too. I actually met him freshman year. He made the team. All four years, like me. I’ve cheered him on for four years. Only during spring break our sophomore year did he begin to show an interest.” She now realized that if he hung out more with Luke, he may not know that Tristan had a history with her.
“I see. Keep talking, please. I don’t mind if there’s more you need to get out.” The readiness to hear Cassie’s problems that came out of Adrian’s mouth startled her as she picked up the tray of food.
“I met you on Friday. Delilah’s been my back-” This time it was Adrian that interrupted her.
“I feel there’s more than what you’ve told her, Cassie.” He gently patted her shoulder as he sat down, as if to tell her that he was someone she could trust.
“And will you stop using my name like that?” The unusual addition of her name to almost every sentence he said made her a bit…uncomfortable.
“I’ll try. I’ve been told it’s my…quirk.” He smiled softly, as if he were revealing something about himself through that statement.
“Alright. For spring break last year, I went to Spain. He promised to call. We left the last day of school before it started. He called that night. I didn’t hear from him again until the day we left.” She bit her lip a little, trying not to let him know that she may still have feelings for Tristan.
“That was almost six months ago, and from what they told me, you broke it off on Thursday. Why the delay?” He picked up his burger and began to put some mustard on it.
“He took me to a really nice restaurant the following weekend. I completely forgave him – at the time. Three great months passed. Then my birthday came around. This would’ve been in May. That’s when our relationship really went downhill. He started cancelling our dates. The cheer squad practices helped with that, I’ll admit that.” She picked up a fry and ate it as she waited for his answer.
“Then what?” Adrian stuck a fry into his mouth as he waited for her to reply, just as she had a moment ago.
He was almost patient beyond belief and Cassie didn’t know what to think about that right off the bat.
“I thought nothing of it until I saw him talking with Delilah.” She took a deep breath as he swallowed his fry.
“Did he like her too?” As an answer formulated in Cassie’s head, she checked the time, only to find her watch had stopped. Great. Another thing I can’t replace until I earn some money.
“They had dated shortly before we got together. She never told me why it ended between them. After that, she couldn’t be with him alone.” Adrian pondered this a moment, his burger in his hand and in mid-bite. Once he was done, he spoke again. Meanwhile, Cassie began to take a bite of her burger.
Then he opened his mouth as she bit into her burger.
“I see. Any idea why he was talking to her?” She set her burger down on the wrapper and held up her finger to indicate that she would answer as soon as she swallowed.
Adrian seemed to understand and simply nodded, taking another bite of his own burger while she swallowed.
“No. His birthday was a month ago to the day, and I had wanted to surprise him. I know it was his birthday, but I couldn’t help but feel…but feel like I had been lied to.” As this came out of her mouth, she realized that she hadn’t even realized that was how she felt about it.
She didn’t have much time to ponder on why she felt like this before Adrian swallowed and began to speak again.
“Weren’t you aware of his very strong feelings for you?” His question conveyed a sense of confusion, and to some degree, a sense of surprise.
“How couldn’t I be? I gave him another month, but it continued. Only one date ended without an argument.” This almost seemed to surprise Adrian as much as her financial information t
hat she’d given him earlier. She could understand why that’s surprising, but what surprised her in return was his response.
She had just stuck a fry in her mouth as he opened his to add on to her explanation.
“Cassie, he confessed to Luke and me during the knitting class that he had been planning to propose.” Cassie almost choked on her fries in shock. Swallowing, she managed to recall her response that she had given to Delilah when she got home after breaking up with Tristan.
“I’m only eighteen. I would’ve turned him down flatter than a soda left open all night, then proceeded to break up with him.” This response seemed to leave Adrian in a bit of a gob smacked position, but he managed to find the words he wanted to say.
“He said that same thing, only he used your pancakes instead of soda.” With a smile, he took a fry, dipped it into the mustard cup he had, and then stuck it in his mouth and began to chew. Having just noticed this, Cassie wondered why he used mustard instead of ketchup.
“Then he shouldn’t have been planning to propose. Why do you dip your fries in mustard, out of curiosity?” Again, she looked at her watch. It hadn’t been her imagination. The hands were stopped on twelve twenty. Great. How do I know what time I’m supposed to leave?
“My dad says that was the only way I would eat potatoes, in any form, as a younger child. It’s just kind of…stuck, I guess. I don’t even realize I’m doing it.” With that, he turned to her again, burger done and last fry in hand. “What desert do you want?”
The topic change was swift, but she had gotten the answer she wanted.
Cassie now looked to the desert menu. Adrian had caught her off guard with the question. She’d not been planning to get dessert, and she’d forgotten that he’d offered to pay for dessert when he said he’d pay for lunch.
“A simple cone will do. Thanks, Adrian.” She smiled as he got up, popping the last fry into his mouth and swallowing it quickly.
“No problem, Cassie. Eat it on the way back to the yarn store?” Adrian’s question worried her. What time was it?
“What the-! It’s already twelve thirty! I’ve got five minutes.” A clock in the restaurant had caught her attention.
