Cassandra

Thank you, again, to my wonderful reviewers! Saige, ikkichi, rhea\'s kochraine, Jester-Jami, nivell, and Miss Harlequin, thank you guys. ^_^



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I\'d never gone through one of those nights where one tosses and turns in bed, unable to sleep for whatever reason, and has to rely on an old remedy like counting imaginary, leaping sheep. I\'d never had to second-guess myself on anything before; my instincts were always right, I\'d been taught. I\'d never felt the overwhelming swell in my chest like a balloon was going to pop from all the pressure building up.



Well, I\'d never felt those things until now.



Just minutes after one in the morning, I rolled over in my small bed for the quadrillionth time and sighed heavily into the cushioning of my pillow. Ever since lunch, my heart had been racing for different reasons. Actually, they weren\'t necessarily different because they all relayed back to Cassandra in some way. I just couldn\'t grasp the rush of feelings that washed over me that afternoon. I\'d never felt something so surreal.



When Dave had gotten home, I shivered in fear. Not only had I not finished working on the office he\'d asked me to fix up for the day, but I also had the pounding heart of a lovestruck teenager, and that pounding heart was for his wife. I must have played it off well, however, because he gave me another tight smile, told me that tomorrow would be alright for the office and to have a nice night. I hyperventilated in my car for a month or so before I went home.



There was no way I was going to go to sleep with Cassandra on my mind. I knew I\'d seen something there on her lip, and I was almost 100 percent certain that it was some sort of injury. More chills ran down my spine as I recalled Dave\'s scarily blank expression when he\'d witnessed the remodeling of the parlor, which was now un-remodeled. Dave wouldn\'t have... hurt Cassandra, would he? For permitting me to put up photographs and paintings? No man should ever lay his hand on a woman in any harmful way, certainly not, and to do it for a reason such as that?



Great. More things to ponder and worry over, preventing more slumber.



Somehow I was able to get to bed -- two hours after considering Dave\'s possibly-destructive ways -- and wiped my weary eyes when my alarm woke me up a few hours later than my bedtime. I\'d managed to shower, get dressed, and eat half of a banana before trudging to my car and cranking the ignition and radio to wake myself up.



Dave met me at the door again, repeating that he\'d like the office to be completed today and whatever else I could finish up. I gave him a drowsy smile and waved good-bye as he took his briefcase and slung-over-his-arm jacket with. All I really wanted to do was lie down. Too bad I couldn\'t.



I started working on the office like Dave had asked, moving things around and throwing things away. Within an hour, I didn\'t feel too well. I was feeling dizzy. I sat down on the scarlet-colored armchair and rested for a moment to keep my head from spinning. Then I started... to drift...



"Taylor..."



Groan. Was someone saying my name?



"Taylor... Wake up..."



What?



"Taylor."



I gasped and sat up straight, looking in all directions. Cassandra stood in the doorway, hair pulled back again, though not as messy as yesterday, and she wore the faintest frown. "Are you okay?" she asked gently, keeping one hand on the doorframe.



Nodding vigorously, I stood up and felt the world fall beneath me. Or maybe it was my legs. Cassandra gasped and ran to my side. "I\'m sorry," I murmured, rubbing the side of my forehead with my palm. "I... barely slept last night. It\'s starting to get the best of me."



"Do you need to go home, Taylor?"



I turned to look at her. Her eyes were no longer irritated with red, and instead were decorated with eye make-up that made the white stand out. And her lip, too, was better. I couldn\'t see the wound anymore that I thought I saw yesterday. "Your mouth is better..." I whispered, suddenly tempted to reach out and caress the healed corner. I somehow held my hand back.



That special corner lifted marginally before falling back down. "Come into the dining room with me. I\'ll make you some tea," she said, rising.



As she left the office, I realized that there was that erratic beat in my chest again. This was going to be impossible. Drowsiness was not a good thing to have around a beautiful woman; that led to very big mistakes. But how could I turn down quality tea-time with Cassandra?



I stumbled my way to the dining area and slumped down into a chair, moaning as the ache in my head worsened. "Would you like some aspirin, too, Taylor?" Cassandra asked from a few feet away.



"Please," I whimpered, pushing my palms into my temples.



A minute later, I felt the presence of a body hovering over me. Chancing a look up, I removed my hands and glimpsed at her. "Your tea," she motioned with the mug in her left hand, "and your aspirin," which was in the other.



She let the two pills fall into my hand and I threw them back into my throat. Graciously, I took the tea from her and swallowed some of it down, my insides warming immediately. I sighed, "Thank you."



Cassandra nodded and walked back to the counter -- I couldn\'t stop myself from looking at her bum -- and came back with her own tea to take a seat beside me. "If you don\'t mind my curiosity," she started, setting her cup on the table and crossing one of her legs over the other, "why did you barely sleep last night?"



I swallowed and blushed, making her question a thousand-times worse. "You know... hormones..." I mumbled, the red on my face increasing with each spoken syllable.



She leaned into her chair and smirked. "You stayed up to watch porn all night?" Her voice was way too nonchalant.



Choking on my tea, I let my eyes bulge out of their sockets and, after swallowing too fast, I cried, "No! No, no, that\'s not it!" God, my face was so hot. At least I was awake now.



Cassandra sniffed a laugh. "Taylor, I was kidding," she teased softly, biting her bottom lip. Her dimples were there as she did that. I suppressed a whimper. "What did you mean by \'hormones\'?"



I inhaled and exhaled to calm down. Too bad the heat on my face wasn\'t going away fast enough. Opening my mouth, I was preparing myself to say something along the lines of the truth, but how do you come out and say something like, "I like you." I wasn\'t one of those people who could do that. I would rather hide my feelings and let them slip away, if that was possible, than let them come out and be exposed.



So I just asked a stupid question. "Have you ever been in love?"



She looked at me in confusion. See? Stupid question. She was married, duh. Of course she fell in love. "Yes," she said, but it wasn\'t in that degrading way like she could have used. It was a sincere answer.



I nodded, taking another sip of my tea.



"Do you think you\'re in love?" she asked me, copying my movement by bringing her own mug to her soft lips.



It was my turn to laugh. "I don\'t know," I mumbled, shrugging. "I\'ve never--"



"You know," she interrupted, moving her index finger over the opening of her cup. "You know when it happens. Your heart races and grows well beyond normal capacity, and you either stop thinking completely or you can\'t stop thinking about them. You\'re up all night"-- her eyes flickered up at me, hinting at something --"tossing and turning, and you can\'t stop."



I lost my breath somewhere. My eyes had fallen from hers and trailed down to her lips and the length of her neck. "That sounds familiar..." I murmured, locking eyes with her again.



She brought her cup up to her mouth again and took a drink. "Are you afraid to let that person know?" she asked.



"Terrified."



She shook her head. "Don\'t be. Life\'s too short for you to not let that other person know."



Biting my lips, I averted my attention to my tea. Was she encouraging me to come out with it? Did she know that I was talking about her? What was I supposed to reply with?



Cassandra broke the silence by sighing and standing from her seat. "I\'ll be up in my office again. If you need anything, just knock."



As she walked away, I felt this tingle in my chest. "Cassandra, wait!" I exclaimed, standing from my seat. She stood at the bottom of the stairwell, looking at me with those beautiful eyes of hers. "Um..." my voice quivered. "How many times h-have you been in love?"



Her dimples appeared as she smiled back at me. "A few times," she murmured. When she giggled, my heart floated up into my throat. "Actually, I have the tendency to fall in love a lot," she added, looking down at her bare feet. "But it\'s usually with sweet people. People that are loving and passionate. People that melt my heart."



"Oh," I breathed, tucking some hair behind my ear. "I\'ll, um... get back to work now." I slowly walked towards her and then walked even slower by her and past her, waiting for her to make some kind of move. Wait, god, why would I--



"Wait, Taylor," Cassandra said just as I walked a few inches away from her. There was just enough room for her to... lean in...



Please, just kiss me.



"Thank you," she murmured, staring into my eyes with affection, "for bringing me that cookie yesterday." She smiled, dimples and all, and added softly, "It was very sweet of you."



I swallowed. "No problem," I whispered, managing a slight smile in return.



She walked up the staircase back to her office and I turned around to go back to my job, feeling my feet, knees and, eventually, my entire body, turn to sludge.