When We Write the Stars

Chapter 25: Cassie

"It was a million tiny little things that, when you added them all up, they meant we were supposed to be together, and I knew it. I knew it the first time I touched her. It was like coming home..." – Sleepless in Seattle

     "What time is he picking you up again," Alyssa asks as I take a seat across from her at our kitchen island. I wasn't sure what exactly she was cooking, but it smelled really good.

     "7:00, but it's Hayden so that could mean anywhere from 6:30-7:05," I respond shifting in my seat on the chair.

     "You nervous," Adri asks walking in and grabbing something from the fridge.

     "No, I mean it's Hayden, we've hung out a thousand times."

     "But this is different, you've never actually been on a date with him."

     "Okay, true," I respond, "but we've done pretty much everything else so I think we'll be good."

     "But what if," Alyssa calls out menacingly.

     I flip her off in response. "It's going to be fine, and just because you think it's stupid for us to date when we already know how it's going to end doesn't mean it is."

     "I for the record love it, it's kind of romantic," Lyra says from the living room where she's been sitting on the couch all afternoon.

     "I just don't want to see you get hurt again, and this is just guaranteeing pain," Alyssa says giving me a look that makes me feel guilty for being annoyed with her. I knew not everyone would be on board last week when I told them Hayden and I had decided to be together, officially. Lyra had been overjoyed, and Adri had been chill, but Alyssa thought it was a big mistake. I knew what she was saying came from a place of love, but seriously a little bit of support would've been nice.

     Tonight, Hayden and I were going on our first actual date, which sounded insane since we'd been hooking up or whatever for months now. We'd just always hung out and watched a movie and then... We'd never actually gone out somewhere together. So tonight, for what would hopefully be the first of many times, we were grabbing dinner together, a proper date.

     Despite what I said, I was a little bit nervous, which was ridiculous. I knew Hayden so well, and we got along well. I think it was just the pressure of calling it a date, and it'd be the first time we'd seen each other alone since making things official last week. He'd had hockey, and then classes had started and we didn't share any this quarter, I was only taking astrophysics classes, and he was only in business classes. So now nearly a week later, we were going out. I was excited, we were going to this Sushi place that Steven had never wanted to go to and I'd been dying to try for a while.

     At exactly 7:00, there was a knock on the door, which shouldn't have surprised me. Hayden said he wanted it to be the perfect first date, which knowing him would probably be taking cues from all the rom-coms we watched, but I still had no idea how he'd gotten into the building without someone letting him in. I answered the door, and there he was dressed a lot nicer than usual. Which was really just saying he had a button-up shirt and pants on instead of his usual hockey sweatshirt and athletic shorts. And he was holding a bouquet.

     "For me," I asked as he held them out. The flowers were absolutely beautiful, I did not know shit about flowers, that wasn't my field of science but there was a wide array of pink and blue ones, with little white ones mixed in and they smelled amazing.

     "I'll get a vase," Adri said, grabbing them from me, "Go, have fun. But not too much fun."

     I rolled my eyes and gave her a look as I grabbed my coat and walked out with Hayden, "The flowers were so sweet, thank you."