When We Write the Stars

Chapter 7: Cassie

"I'm a damsel. I'm in distress. I can handle it.Have a nice day." -Hercules 

     Tonight hadn't gone to plan whatsoever. I'd known Lyra was going on a date and told her I'd be in the area if she needed anything, plus we all shared our locations with one another, but when she'd called me I knew something had to be seriously wrong. She'd only ever called me a handful of times before, and it was usually when she'd gotten locked out of the apartment.

      She'd called tonight from the bathroom at a bar telling me about how creepy her date was being, and how he kept saying how much he loved Japanese girls. Lyra wasn't even Japanese, and even if she was it was still such a gross thing to say. She'd sounded incredibly freaked out, so I told her I'd come get her, then left Hayden's place in a frenzy.

     When I'd gotten to the bar, I'd gone up and asked Lyra if she wanted to leave, and the guy she was with better have been drunk, but even that wouldn't have excused the racist and sexist bullshit that came out of his mouth. So I did the only rational thing I could, and punched him. Hard.

     Kickboxing came in handy, and even though it was weird to do without boxing gloves on, I just went for it, then grabbed Lyra's hand and rushed out the door without any hesitation. I'd never punched someone before outside of class, and the adrenaline rushing through my body was insane.

      Then we ran into fucking Hayden West. I'd told him that I was fine, and he'd followed me. He fucking followed me. First off, I'd told him I could take care of myself, what part of that did he not understand. Secondly, I hadn't even told him where I was going meaning he would've had to follow me here like some sort of stalker. He was without a doubt the most infuriating person I'd ever met.

     It was annoying, and why did he even do it. It's not like he liked me, it wasn't like we were even close to friends. We'd barely spoken except to argue during the movie. I was still fuming about it after we'd dropped him off at his apartment because Lyra had insisted on giving the asshole a ride.

    "So, Hayden West wanted to make sure you were okay," Lyra said grinning at me like an idiot.

     "No he didn't, he just wanted to annoy me and look good in the process," I responded crossing my arms and glaring at her from the passenger seat.

    "So you think he looks good," she replied wiggling her eyebrows, the same stupid grin on her face.

     "I'm going to turn the music up really loud now. Unless you want to talk about your date," I ask somewhat menacingly.

     "Not at all," she replies, "I swear to god that is the last time I use a dating app, I'm deleting all of them the second we get back. And with that, she turns the volume up all the way and we scream and sing along to Miley Cyrus the whole drive back.

     We don't even have our shoes off when both Alyssa and Adri start pressing us for details about what happened tonight, apparently while Hayden and I had been bickering Lyra texted them about what happened. I'd be annoyed if it weren't for the fact that she'd had the most awful date tonight.

     "Wait, so you went to his apartment, and watched a movie together? Alone," Alyssa asks.

     "Yeah, but we weren't really alone, his roommates were all there, and we were sitting on opposite ends of the couch.

     "What's his place like," Adri asks, "Is it like the ultimate bro hockey pad?"

     "No it was actually a lot nicer than I expected, I mean it's decorated like a bunch of hockey bros live there, but it was clean and smelled decent."

     "I'm seeing nothing but green flags," Alyssa calls out, "it was so sweet of him to make sure you were okay like that."

     "No, it wasn't. I told him I didn't need him, so he shouldn't have come. What does he think because I'm a woman I can't take care of myself? Like I need some big strong muscular man to take care of me?"