They Don't Know About Us (Casey Moreta)

Chapter 4

"Excuse me, ma'am," a voice said as I sat on the couch reading, and I looked up to see Casey leaving the bedroom, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "I was wondering if you could help me find my girlfriend. You see, it's our third anniversary and I really just wanna give her snuggles and stuff."

"Really?" I asked, setting my book down and patting the spot next to me on the couch opposite from where Halen sat on my left. "Because I've been looking everywhere for my boyfriend to wish him a happy third anniversary, but he's been sleeping this whole time."

He shrugged, sitting down and laying his head on my shoulder with a yawn, shutting his eyes. I wrapped my arms around him, absentmindedly playing with his hair while Halen leaned forward and licked the side of his face. Casey scrunched up his face with a smile before opening his eyes back up.

"Happy anniversary, baby," he said, kissing me on the cheek.

"Happy anniversary," I said with a smile. "and happy two years since Halen joined our family."

"So we continue the anniversary tradition we started last year?" he asked, reaching over to pet Halen. "And we go take the birthday boy out on a walk?"

"We'll do that and go grab some ice cream," he said with a smile, though I could see in his eyes that he seemed upset.

"You're still thinking about last night, aren't you?" I asked, brushing a stray hair out of his face, and all he did was nod, opening up his arms and gesturing for me to lay against him.

As of last night, Miranda had called the five of them together for a meeting. Casey had left the apartment thinking she just wanted to discuss last minute tour details, but instead she broke the news that she was no longer going to continue being in the band. While everyone understood and was happy for her that she knew to make the right decision for herself, he'd been extremely upset when he got home, and wouldn't talk to me for a portion of the evening. 

When he finally did, he told me about how sad he'd be not being able to see one of his best friends like he usually did every day, and what it'd mean for the future of the band. He worried that any change might disrupt the way that their fans saw them, and he didn't want to let any of them down. Eventually he calmed down enough that he was able to get to sleep, and I let him sleep in when I woke up this morning.

"I can't stop thinking about it," he said, staring at the wall ahead of him. "I mean, I knew one day one of us was bound to go our separate ways. But Miranda's been with us for years, I didn't think she'd have left just like that."

"I'm really proud of her," I told him. "I am. She realized her heart wasn't in it, and didn't want to keep up something that didn't make her happy."

"I guess you're right," he said, looking around the room.

"What are you thinking about now?" I asked him. 

"Just how much things have changed these past three years." he said. "We moved in three years ago today. I was a dumbass and blurted out how much I liked you on this very couch."

"Our lives began three years ago today," I added. "all those years that we talked about moving out as soon as you turned eighteen and could get a place to live. Here we are," 

"Here we are," he said, leaning forward and kissing me softly. "c'mon. Let's go get dressed and go get that ice cream."

"Don't have to tell me twice," I said with a smile, getting up off the couch and pulling him up into a standing position.

I headed into the second bedroom of the apartment, which was only ever in use when we had guests. Since nobody knew the two of us were together, it didn't make sense to have everything in our bedroom, so all of my stuff went in the room across the hall.

Well, nobody knew except Rena, anyways.

I hadn't seen her since a few nights back, when she found Casey and I out on the balcony. Though she understood and promised to keep our secret, I couldn't help but wonder how she actually felt that Casey and I had kept this giant secret for three years.

Quickly getting dressed and grabbing Halen's leash and a frisbee, I pulled my hair up into a ponytail and went back into the living room, where Casey was already sitting down playing with Halen. I crouched down next to them, putting on Halen's leash, and then followed them out the door.

"Man I'm excited for ice cream," I said as we reached the parlor nearby the apartment.

I waited with Halen outside while Casey went inside to order. He came back a couple minutes later with two cones, handing me the one with cookie dough and keeping the strawberry for himself. We kept walking down towards the park, stopping every few seconds for Halen to smell everything he passed along the way.

"And here we are," Casey said as we reached the park area nearby the river, and I unleashed Halen as Casey grabbed the frisbee, throwing it and watching as Halen bounded after it. "I'm going to do it, you know."

"Do what?" I asked as Halen came running back towards Casey, frisbee in his mouth and panting happily.

"Hey, good boy!" Casey exclaimed, kneeling down and taking the frisbee from Halen before throwing it again. "I've got an appointment with Modest on Friday. Or, I should say, we have an appointment with Modest on Friday."

"W-we do?" I asked nervously.

"Yeah," Casey said. "because we're about to go public. I told you I'd do whatever it took to be able to show you off. And that's exactly what I'm going to do."