Enchanted ➜ Avani Gregg

022

◡̈ ◡̈ ◡̈

Avani's POV

i never want this to end.

but then our phones start going off.

i pick mine up, and see what the girls are texting.

"shit!" i say. tonight is supposed to be our girls night.

"you still have time to get ready and go over there," cassandra says.

"you too," i say.

"i didn't know i was invited," she replies.

"of course you are. i should've told you sooner but i forgot," i say. i hop out of the trunk and take one of the towels. i wrap it around myself.

"i still have to work," cassandra says.

we pause. "you're soaking wet. i doubt your mom would want you in there."

she considers. "true. i'll call her."

she picks up her phone and stays where she is.

i hear parts of their conversation. when they hang up, i get all the details.

"my mom said it's alright if i go tonight and if i'm late to work tomorrow, i'll just have to put in a lot of extra work," cassandra says. "she also wants to meet you at some point."

i choke on nothing.

"really?" i say.

"yeah. we're friends. she knows we text and hang out. she wants to know who you are."

i sigh in relief. "oh ok."

i see cassandra look a little hurt. she must think i didn't want to meet her mom because i didn't want her mom to think we're dating. but we're not dating, so it shouldn't be a problem.

cassandra gets up, wraps herself with a towel and goes to the passenger side.

i close the trunk and move to the drivers seat.

i'm not dripping wet anymore, but i'm definitely not dry, so i take a moment to try and lay the towel over the back of the seat so the back and where i'm sitting are covered. cassandra does the same thing.

"we'll just go to my house. you can borrow some of my clothes."

"sounds good," she answers.

"i'm sorry if i offended you," i say.

she turns her head very quickly at me.

"you didn't! i'm sorry you thought that. i'm just really tired all of a sudden," she says and laughs a little.

i nod a bit. "ok. and you would tell me if i did right?"

"yes. i'm not one to hold back," she says and shrugs her shoulders.

the rest of the ride is a comfortable silence. i can tell cassandra is actually tired, because usually she would be talking a lot.

as we're about to open the door i realize something. "you're about to meet my family."

now cassandra looks nervous.

"i took the car so they couldn't go anywhere."

"ok. do they know anything about me?"

"not really. they've obviously seen that one picture of us, but that's it."

we walk inside.

i hear a "hey baby!" and then see my sisters realize who is next to me.

"you're that girl from the picture," shanti says.

cassandra laughs. "yeah. hi! i'm cassandra."

my whole family is in the room.

"nice to meet you!"

"so we're just gonna go upstairs and change, and then head over to charli's and dixie's house," i say and start slowly walking away and pulling cassandra with me. i give two thumbs up while i'm at it.

they can tell i'm trying to avoid further conversation.

"do you want anything to eat?!" my mom calls after us.

"we're good!" i yell back. and then we're in my room.

"they all seem nice," cass says. i smile.

"ok so i'll just get you some sweatpants, a tee shirt and a hoodie. i'll be wearing basically the same thing, so don't worry about being underdressed or something. my hair brush is over there," i say and walk into my closet.

when i get back, her hair is brushed.

"ok, this is yours," i say; and hand her a green hoodie/sweatpants set with a white tee shirt.

she smiles. "you remembered."

i smile this time. "yup!"

she goes into my bathroom to get changed, and then we're on our way to the d'amelio's house.

"i shouldn't be nervous, right?" she says. i can see her playing with the hem of the hoodie.

"no. they love you," i say.

i was wrong.

◡̈ ◡̈ ◡̈

e.j.'s notes:
we love a good cliffhanger.