Voodoo [H.S.]

Fourteen

this is a double update. make sure you've read chapter thirteen before this one.

July 1st, 2022

"For Harry? Your table is ready."

I follow the hostess at The Coffee Pot with Zayn trailing behind me to our table. It's a weird feeling, being the one at Cassie's place of work instead of the other way around. I've never been here before, despite living in Seattle as long as I have. I've heard a lot of talk about this place and it makes sense seeing as we had a thirty minute wait for our table. The inside is huge, with a classic coffee shop vibe to it, complete with wood floors and log walls, fairy lights, and cushiony chairs. While we waited up at the front I'd seen glimpses of Cassie and even Gianna busting their asses from table to table.

It's been an eventful couple of days since I'd last seen Cassie. I didn't spend the night with her, I ended up dozing off on the couch and woke up to find Cassie asleep in her bed so I quietly slipped out and sent her a text that I was okay, just had to get home. She never texted me back and I tried not to overthink it, but I ultimately caved and called her late last night, under the guise of "waiting for my ring" and to tell her she was annoying.

I mostly wanted to check to see if she was okay. I never wanted this for her, to be in these kinds of situations. Before we fell asleep, we spent majority of the night in silence, with nothing but her speaker playing music softly in the background. I leaned back on the couch, focusing on the feeling of the music and lyrics spoken, not realizing I'd slowly been falling in and out of sleep, until I felt the couch dip beside me and I shot up to see Cassie standing over me.

"I'm okay," she'd told me. "Really. You can sleep here or go home. I'm really okay."

I didn't quite believe her but instead of pressing her I just nodded and leaned back into my spot on her couch, waiting until she laid down on her bed. I must have dozed off again because when I opened my eyes next, I could hear soft snores coming from across the room.

It felt wrong to leave her there alone, but the urge to crawl into bed next to her was becoming so strong I could hardly ignore it anymore. I'm not ready to face those kind of feelings yet so I left quietly, making my way home alone with nothing but the thought of broken blue eyes looking at me.

I've finally decided to accept that I maybe, possibly, perhaps, sort of havealittlecrushonher.

I haven't had a real "crush" on someone since I lived in Holmes Chapel. I'm terrified. So my plan is to, well, pretend like it isn't happening. We're definitely aware that we have some sort of sexual chemistry between us, but that's nothing new for me. These are... feelings. Like real feelings. Like, think about her all the time, miss her voice, fantasize about going to farmers markets on Saturday mornings, feelings.

God, who am I?

I did however have a hard time hiding the big surprise last night, which leads me to now, sitting at this table while Zayn opens his straw and shoots the paper at me from across the booth waiting for our requested server to come take our order. Looking at the menu, this place is a day drinkers heaven.