For Forever and A Day

8.

Since the accident:
5 months 18 days
May 25th, 2010

The day had been long and when it was finally over Cassandra Williams let out a sigh of relief as she packed up her things and headed down the stairs of the office building.

The strawberry blonde could go home, read a good book and relax until Monday morning when the week started all over again.

She let out a sigh. The walk down the stairs to the bottom floor of the building was long but comforting. It allowed her to begin to gather her thoughts for the walk home.

When she opened the door to the stairwell and into the lobby she stopped dead in her tracks and almost went back upstairs to work the rest of the weekend.

Ryan Blake was standing in the lobby. He looked completely different then he had when he walked her to work this very morning.

He had changed from his Officer uniform and was in casual clothing as he waited for her. He wore a black polo shirt in which he occasionally fidgeted with the collar. When he was not fixing his collar he had his hands in the pockets of his blue jeans, a black belt holding them up. To finish it off he wore a black pair of sneakers.

Cassandra moved towards the stairwell to head back up to her office when Ryan turned to look around and saw her deer in a headlights gaze. He smiled as he took a few steps towards her.

"Hey Cassandra!" She just looked at him confused. She had been spotted so there was no use in her trying to escape now.

"Hi Ryan. What are you doing here?" The strawberry blonde asked as she fiddled the strap of her purse on her shoulder.

"I thought I'd come pick you up from work. We could grab something to eat and chill for a bit."

"Isn't that unprofessional?" She asked as she walked towards him. In the mornings she always assumed it was part of his job or at least he was on the way to his job. Right now it was after work on a Friday night when people usually go out with friends or dates. This seemed too personal, too close, and that left Cassandra feeling a little bit on edge.

"I'm not on duty so I think we're fine." Ryan Blake chuckled as he turned to face the front doorway. "Come on, where do you want to go?" He asked as he stepped forward and held open the door for Ms.Williams.

They stepped outside as the girl asked
"Are you sure this is alright? I mean, I feel like we're breaking some unspoken rule." Cassandra replied as they stopped to stand outside of her office building.

"Only if I'm on duty." Mr.Blake told her with a wink. "Let's go to this pizza joint I know and we'll get some pizza and hang out for a bit."

The woman let out a sigh knowing that he wouldn't give up anytime soon. She shook her head and looked up at him.

"Fine, I can go for a pizza."

"Awesome. It's not that far from here so we'll be there in no time. Plus, the owner knows me and if I'm there with a pretty girl we might just get free food." She rolled her eyes but a small laugh left her rosy pink lips.

"Let's hope so for your sake. You'll need all your money for a haircut."

"Wow, shots fired." Ryan said to the girl as he looked down at her. He felt his heart warm at how she was opening up to him, slowly but surely as he spent more time with her. More like the time that he is supervising her or trying to get her to open up.