Cassandra

Many thanks to Jester-Jami, chroma7, Saige, rhea\'s kochanie, and ikkichi! I don\'t know why you guys find it so interesting already... XD There\'s nothing really happening! :p



Anyway, I\'m still glad you guys like it.



Enjoy! ^_^



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My first week of work went by pretty quick. I\'d started on Sunday and worked every day until Friday afternoon. When Dave had gotten home at three -- he was a lawyer so he practically made up his own schedules when to meet with his clients -- he pulled out a hundred-dollar bill for my weekly pay. "Thanks for what you\'ve done so far, Taylor," he\'d said as I stared at the shiny paper between my fingertips in awe. "Cassie\'s upstairs?"



I nodded. Cassie-- Er, Cassandra had spent a lot of time to herself while I\'d been there. Two days she hadn\'t come out of her office at all, I don\'t think, and the other days she only made brief appearances, giving me those gentle smiles with her soft dimples and reminding me that I could take a break every now and then. The woman was certainly a mystery. I had no idea what consumed her up there in that office, and I wasn\'t going to risk finding out. After the look she gave me for calling her by the wrong nickname that Dave used every time, I didn\'t want to interact very much with Cassandra at all out of worry that I\'d irritate her again.



When I got home Friday afternoon with my hand jammed in my pocket to keep Mr. Franklin from scrambling out somehow, I ran up to the door and whipped out the paper. "Dad, look!" I exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. I even called my mom at her work to tell her. We were all really happy for my first earnings.



And, because it was my first, my parents didn\'t take any of it from me, even after I offered them a dozen times. They said they could take care of the bills this time. I frowned at their words, wondering to myself if they were being truthful, but I didn\'t argue. I would just try to save some of my money in case it was needed.



I had the weekend off, and that\'s when I went shopping and spent a majority of my money. I bought groceries and clothes selfishly, using nearly 70 dollars of the 100 I was given. So much for saving. Twenty of it would have to go for gasoline, too. At least I would be back to work on Monday and getting paid again on Friday.



Monday rolled around quickly. I drove to the mansion and parked in my regular spot, wiping sweat from my forehead as the sweltering heat invaded my pores. I was greeted by Dave when I jogged up to the entrance. He made a groaning noise as he shut the door. "Humid, hm?"



Nodding, I wiped above my eyebrows again, grimacing at the slickness upon my fingertips.



He grabbed the jacket matching his trousers and swung it over his arm that held a briefcase with lawyer-y stuff in it, I was sure. "I\'ll be home later this afternoon. I\'d appreciate it if you could work on the parlor today," he said.



When he left, I immediately scampered to the kitchen, which was almost as clean as I\'d left it on Friday, to grab a soda from the refrigerator to quench my thirst. Chugging the bubbly fluid down, I almost didn\'t hear the soft laughter behind me. I turned around quickly, brown dribbling out from the line between my lips as I looked at Cassandra in surprise.



"Oh, don\'t mind me," she murmured, moving around me to reach into the same cool machine to grab herself a bottle of water. Her arm brushed mine and I gasped, moving backward hastily, blushing crimson. She gasped, too, but it didn\'t sound like it was out of shock. More like a hiss when you get a papercut. Concerned and fearful, I glanced down at her arm, seeing that she was wearing long sleeves. Even with the air conditioning on, it was still a bit steamy inside the house. Odd choice for an outfit...



I meekly apologized as soon as her eyes met mine. My throat was suddenly so dry that it hurt to swallow.



She bit her lip. "Don\'t worry about it," she replied, releasing the hold to half-smile. "I\'ll be down in a little while to fix you some lunch. I don\'t think you\'ve been eating properly since you\'ve started work here."



I blushed some more. Often did I hear my stomach roar at the mansion during the middle of each day, but I never wanted to intrude on their stash of edibles. Only the drinks I thought I was allowed. Lunch did sound nice, though, whatever it was. I was just a bit anxious over eating it with Cassandra.



Anyway, she\'d taken herself and her bottle of water back upstairs to her sanctuary, while I worked on the parlor, filing books onto the shelves and vacuuming the flooring. There were many framed-materials leaning against the walls. Some were black-and-white photographs with straight-faced people staring through me; they reminded me of Dave. I wondered if it was ancient family photos. Not a single picture nor painting had been hung up in that room, so I decided I would ask Cassandra about it during lunch if I was permitted to put them up.



Around noon, Cassandra called for me from the kitchen. I put down the duster and jogged out of the parlor into the dining room to see the part-owner of the mansion setting out two bowls of fresh green salad. I couldn\'t stop the smile that sprung to my lips.



"Oh, there\'s more!" Cassandra continued, smiling back. "Only if you\'re not a vegetarian, though."



I laughed softly. "No, I\'m definitely a meat-eater."



Those dimples flashed in my direction before she placed two small plates of seasoned chicken breasts on our specific place mats. "Bon Appétit!" she exclaimed, pushing her black bangs behind her ear as she took her seat across from me.



"This is delicious," I told her, halfway through my chicken and nearly finished with my salad. "Thank you so much."



She, who ate much slower and steadier than me, smirked and graciously bowed her head. "And thank you for tidying up our house! We were so worried when our old maid left us," she replied. "I\'m glad we have you to take over."



My eyebrows came together. "You had a maid before, too?" I asked.



Cassandra tucked a lettuce-leaf between her lips before saying, "Yes, Melinda. She was a dear soul, but... there were complications. She left us abruptly."



I nodded though I still felt I was missing something, but I said nothing further about it.



"Have you already spent your money?" Cassandra asked.



Blushing, I gave her a slow, embarrassed nod. "Most of it, anyway," I mumbled, nibbling on my chicken.



She laughed her contagious laugh. "Oh, that\'s nothing to be ashamed of. When you finally get some money of your own, you want to spend it on things you can\'t normally get, right? You have to please yourself a little bit."



I sniffed humorously. "I guess so, yeah."



We continued to eat, peacefully discussing my education, the weather, the housework. Eventually I had finished my lunch but I waited for her to complete hers before I went back to work, and I don\'t think Cassandra minded. In fact, I believe she wanted me to stick around at the table as she finished to keep her company. She wasn\'t impersonal in the slightest. She was very nice, honestly, and understanding and caring and pretty.



...pretty?



She stood up and took her dishes with her to the sink to rinse them out. I followed her and repeated the same motion with my own bowl and plate, and then set them into the dishwasher along with Cassandra\'s dinnerware. "I\'m going upstairs again," she reminded me, wiping her hands off with a towel. "You\'ll be in the parlor again, I assume?"



"Yes," I murmured, taking the rag from her to dry my own hands. "Oh, I was wondering about the paintings and pictures in there. Am I supposed to hang those up or keep them against the wall?"



Cassandra looked down at me, pondering over this herself. I thought it would have been a direct yes-or-no answer, but obviously not. A moment or two later, the woman replied, "Yes, put them up," and then bit her lip as she turned to leave.



Hm. That was definitely a bit peculiar, but orders were orders, and I did as I was told.



Dave came home at two that day and found me in the parlor, putting up another art-piece made with charcoal and oil pastels from the textures of it. I hadn\'t heard him come in until I heard the sound of a throat being cleared, and I knew right away that it wasn\'t Cassandra\'s throat. "Hello, Dave," I acknowledged, falling down to the heels of my feet. "I worked on the parlor today like you asked."



His eyes roamed the walls of the parlor, slowly moving from one portrait to one work of art to one nostalgic, black-and-white family and so on and so forth. His face was stone besides the gradual movement of his eyeballs, and I felt a shiver run down my spine. For some reason, I was expecting him to explode. A volcano building up the eruption.



Instead, his eyes steadily fell on mine. "Thank you, Taylor. I\'ll see you tomorrow."



Warily, I slipped back into my shoes and maneuvered around him to leave the parlor and finally the building entirely. When I got to my car and cranked the air conditioning, I gave a shaken sigh and peered over at the door of the mansion. Something wasn\'t right in the way that Dave had looked about that room. Something wasn\'t right at all.