It must've been the wind...

Chapter Five: An Invitation

The next day while working in the flower shop, I hear the bell jingle above the door. "How can I help y-." I stop dead in my tracks as I see someone I haven't seen in a very long time. "Benjamin?" I said in shock. "In the flesh and blood." he said. Benjamin was an old friend of me and Derrik's in grade school, but he moved away in the 4th grade. Derrik, Ben, and I were really close, probably one of the best friend groups in school but once Ben left it wasn't the same. "Holy cow how've you been man?" I ask as we shake hands. "I've been good, just bought a place out in the country." he said. "No way, you finally moved back?" I said in surprise. Just as I finish my sentence Derrik walks in. "What's up J!" He exclaims. "Hey, Derrik, look who it is!" I exclaim as I put my arm on Ben's shoulder. "Ben!" Derrik says with excitement. So, the three of us sat down in the shop and talked for a while catching up on each other's whereabouts. Of course, though Derrik just had to mention my crush on Cassidy.

"So, the ladies' man has a crush on a taken girl. Why am I not surprised?" Ben says with a smirk. I feel my face get warm. "Dude look, every time he thinks of her or if she's mentioned he gets all red in the face." Derrik said pointing it out to Ben. "Dang, you've got it bad." Ben said to me. "Look, it's not just that I have a crush on her, but I worry she's in a bad situation." I mention as I feel my face get less red. Ben looks at me confused, so I take the time to explain the whole situation and Ben starts thinking. "Who is the guy she's with anyway?" Ben asks. I explain who Andrew is and why I believe he's hurting Cassidy. Ben goes silent, not sure what to say. I work on closing up the shop and we start to leave the shop. We go over to my truck and talk some more. "Ya know, I'm having a housewarming party next Friday night, you guys should come." Ben said. Derrik looks over at me and said, "Dude, you should bring Cassidy." I think it's a good idea, but I'm not really sure how she'd even get there without Andrew knowing. There's no way he'd let her go by herself, right? "I love the idea Derrik, but if she comes Andrew will be there too." I reply.

Ben looks over at me, "That may be true, but it would be worth a shot man. I mean who knows, maybe you can catch Andrew being a jerk to her or something." He said. I stop and think for a second, what if they both show up? Would this be an opportunity for me to catch Andrew in the act? No, there's no way, he wouldn't act like a total fool with a bunch of people around. I also thought however, what do I have to lose, I mean, there is that one in a million chance I do catch him doing something. Better yet, what if the one in a million chance Cassidy shows up alone? Maybe I can finally hang out with her and get to know her better. "Okay, I'll invite her." I tell Ben. "Cool, I'll see you all Friday night." Ben gets in his truck and drives off while Derrik and I leave the flower shop and head back to my apartment.

We pull up to the apartment building and start to head inside. As soon as we walk in, we see Cassidy talking to Mr. Hammond. "Evening gentleman." Mr. Hammond said as we walked in. "Hey Mr. Hammond, what's up Cassidy?" I try saying in a smooth voice. "Hey, not much, just telling Mr. Hammond that Andrew and I may need a new bedroom door." Cassidy states. The phone rings on the front desk. "Excuse me a moment." Mr. Hammond says politely so he can answer the phone. I go ahead and mention the party to Cassidy. "Hey, Cassidy, listen so Derrik and I ran into, and old friend and he invited us to a party Friday night. I was wondering if you want to join us." I say nervously. "Are you asking me out?" Cassidy asks. "He is." Derrik states. Quickly I enter back in "No I'm not, just inviting you to get out of the apartments for a while you know?" I get anxious not sure what Cassidy may say. "What time Friday?" she asks. "8pm." I said with possibly a little too much excitement. "Okay, I'll meet you in your truck about 7:30." Cassidy says. I just freeze in place, because I wasn't expecting that. "Okay cool, see you then." I said as Derrik, and I walk off. "Dude, she was totally into you!" Derrik says as he notices the smirk on my face. "Shut up man, last thing I need is you teasing me now." I said as I laugh. Friday night is going to be fun.