They Don't Know About Us (Casey Moreta)

Prologue

April 27th, 2014

"I call the big room!" Casey yelled, running up the stairs as soon as we'd gotten inside.

I let him take it, opting instead for the other bedroom, which wasn't much smaller than the first. I set my first set of bags down, looking around the room slowly.

Casey had first brought up the idea of us moving into an apartment when we were around fifteen. It was a fleeting idea, and neither of us had taken it seriously at first. Occasionally, a simple, "when we live on our own" would pop up here and there in conversation, and here we were. Eighteen years old and living on our own.

Casey had joined his band around a year ago, and things were going extremely well. He did really want to live on his own, but at this rate, they were sure to be touring soon, and he didn't want to buy a place just to be in and out all of the time. 

Which was exactly where I came in. Living with his best friend was fun while he'd be home, and I would still be living in the apartment even when he wasn't here. 

We'd spent that first day mostly unpacking, until it got dark and I cooked a box of mac and cheese for dinner, which was then accompanied by music playing from Casey's record player that he'd brought down from his new bedroom. 

"We actually did it," he said at one point, when we'd been sitting on the couch, just looking around. 

"We did it, Case," I said, looking over at him. "This is our place now. Three years in the making."

"Hey Val?" he asked nervously, playing with his hair, a nervous habit he'd always seemed to have.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Uhm, well I... never mind." he said quickly.

"No, come on, tell me." I pleaded with him.

"No, it's awkward. We just started living together and if I tell you that I have feelings for you then it's just going to ruin things." he blurted, eyes widening as the last sentence came out.

"Feelings?" I asked, a small blush creeping up onto my cheeks.

"Yep. I've ruined it," he said, shaking his head and going to stand up, but I pulled him back down.

"What if I've got feelings for you, too?" I asked him.

"Now you're just making fun of me," he said, but I shook my head.

"No, I'm not," I said honestly. "Casey you've been my best friend since we were seven when you tripped me at school and I dumped my ice cream cone onto your head. When we were fourteen and we went to freshman homecoming together due to the fact that we didn't have dates, I noticed that you looked really good in a tux. And from there it kinda just... spiraled."

"This isn't real," he said, an awestruck smile crossing his face. "There's no way, this can't be real." he said then, one of his hands coming up and moving a stray piece of hair out of my face.

"Oh, it's real," I said, giggling.

"Valerie Evans, you're one of the most amazing people I've ever met. Do you know that?" he asked while leaning in closer.

"So I've been told." I said with a smile, closing my eyes as his lips met mine.