Everything Changes (12 page)

Cassie

   “So I was thinking of doing pole dancing classes” I say while I’m on the phone to Tyler after I get back from work and changed into a pair of shorts and a top.

  I
t got hot at work I was counting down the hours until I could come home and get in my shorts and top.

   “You what?” he chokes on whatever he was eating.

   “Have you gone deaf in the last 8 hours since I saw you last? I said I want to do pole dancing classes. Apparently it tones your stomach and thighs up” I look down at my thighs and see some wobbly bits on the inside.

   “But there isn’t anything wro
ng with your stomach and thighs” I roll my eyes.  Of course he would say that.

   “Well there isn’t anything major wrong with them, I jus
t want to tone them up a little”

  Tyler has gone quiet on the other end of the phone.

   “You ok Tyler?”

   “Hmm! yeah j
ust picturing you pole dancing”, his voice is raspy.

   “I didn’t tell you for you to get hor
ny. I just told you my thoughts”

   “I get horny all the time with you Ca
ss, you should know that by now” I walk in the kitchen and get out stuff for a quick dinner.

  Tuna, pasta and swee
t corn with mayonnaise mixed in it is.

   “I know that now, he
was up last night when I went to sleep” I chuckle and rest the phone between my head and my shoulder.

   “Of course he was. There was a beauti
ful lady pressed up against him” I smile.

   “Flattery wil
l get you nowhere with me, love and why do we refer your dick as a he like it’s a real person?” he chuckles down the phone.

   “You love it, babe a
nd it has his own opinion so it should be classed as a’ he’. It can’t be a girl could it”

   “You
never know. It could be a girl”

  He laughs.

   “No way babe he’s a man!” I shake my head slightly and carry on making my dinner.

   “You were hummi
ng last night” I say randomly.

   “I know
I was there”

   “
Sarcastic bastard, why were you humming
Charles & Eddie – Would I Lie To You
?”

   “If you listen to the lyrics properly you’ll understan
d. It says would I lie to you, and that you’ll never see another girl in this heart of mine, and there is no other girl but you” I sigh. Big tough man, like Tyler and he was humming a song to me about that.

   “You’re too sweet
for your own good, Tyler” I walk back to my room and grab my iPod. I go on Spotify and pull up the song.

  I walk back in the kitchen with an earphone in and start listening to it.

   “I know think of it as of a way of saying how I feel”

  
“Sounds like a book I’ve read before. He sent her songs to say how he felt” I smile. “That reminds me, what did you do with my kindle all day?”

   “Sounds nice and I read. You have a lot of books on ther
e. I noticed there was a lot on there to do with D H Sidebottom. Do you have a little crush on that author or something?” I grin.

   “Of course, her books are awesome sauce!
”

   “Awesome sauce? What the fuck? Do you just make words up now?”

   “Of course, because I’m awesome sauce too” I smile.

   “
Ok stop saying awesome sauce now”

   “Aweee
esooooommmmmeee sssaaauuuccceee”

   “Did you really need to drag it out that much?” he laughs.

   “Ok, ok. So what time have you got to go to work tonight? And what time do you finish?”

   “I start at 8 and finish at 1.
I’ll come and see you after, I sleep so much better when you’re either on me or beside me”

   “If that’s what you want. I li
ke using you as a pillow anyway”

   “
Ok, chicken. See you later then”

   “
Bye, general” he chuckles and I hang up.

  I finish making my dinner and leave some on the side under tin foil for my brothers and walk in my bedroom.

  What to do tonight? Looks like I’ll be reading on my phone tonight.

  After I finish my dinner I put the bowl on the side and pick up my phone to start reading. Seems Tyler takes a lot of my reading time away.

  I hear someone knock on my door a little while later. I see it’s just gone half 12. Well shit I’ve been reading for a while.

  Tyler must have finished early.

  I heard my brother’s come in a little while ago, have some food and walk into their bedrooms.

  I get off my bed and walk to the front door.

  We really should have a peep hole. What if it’s a serial killer on the other side of the door?

  Who am I kidding... a
serial killer wouldn’t knock on the door.

  I
smile.

  
“You finished early” I say cheerily. But my smile drops when I see who is at my door.

“Happy to see me, babe” Tate slurs. Oh Christ sake!

  
“What are you doing here, Tate? I haven’t seen you nearly two weeks. Not even a text or phone call” I cross my arms over my chest.

   “I ca
me to see my favourite girl” He holds himself up with the door frame.

   “Funny, you
haven’t for the last two weeks”

   “I know, I know I’m a shitty best friend b
ut I can make it better”, he says. I can just about understand him.

   “
How the hell did you get here anyway?”

   “I drove, silly
”, he says playfully. I take a deep breath. Remember don’t kill him!

   “
Come in, I’ll make you some coffee so you can sober up”

 
“I’ve got a nice buzz going on I don’t need to sober up” I roll my eyes and pull in the front door.

  I push him towards the sofa and push him down. He grabs my arm as he goes and I fall on top of him.

   “What the fuck are you doing, Tate!” I whisper shout at him.

  I wriggle to get up and he moans. I freeze.

   “Seriously Tate cut that shit out right now!”

   “I can’t help it, I’ve always wa
nted you Cass, but you want him”

   “Oh for fuck sake
” I go to move again but he holds me down. I wouldn’t say I’m weak, but this is a really weird position and if I get off wrong I’ll end up hurting myself.

   “
Why don’t you want me, Cassie?” he says.

  Why don’t I want him?
It’s simple I just don’t see him like that.

   “I just do
n’t see you in that way, you are my best friend. I love you as a best friend but that’s about it” he looks down and nods.

  He lets me go and I get up.

   “I’ll go and get that coffee” he nods but doesn’t look up. I don’t know if I’ve hurt his feelings. That wasn’t my intention but I’m blunt, I’m not going to beat around the bush and give him false hope. It will hurt us both more in the long run.

  Once I’ve done the coffee for both of us. I place his on the coffee table in front of him.

   “I made your coffee” he smiles sadly and picks it up and nearly drops it.

  I grab it from him and put his hands on it properly.

  When he’s drank most of it. I go in the kitchen and make him a sandwich to see if it will soak up the alcohol.

  I hand it to him and he eats it slowly.

  Then I hear a car pull up on the drive.

  Shit!

  Tyler knocks on the door. I walk over and open it. He smiles when he sees me but then frowns.

   “What’s happened, babe?” I
t’s weird how he knows something is wrong.

  I open the
door wider so he can come in. He spots Tate on the sofa.

   “What’s going on?” I can see his fists clenched.

   “He turned up here, pissed as a fart so I gave him some coffee and a sandwich hoping to sober him up” he nods.

  Tate turns his head and see’s Tyler, he glares and tries to get up.

   “You! You ruined my chances of ever getting with Cassie!” he stumbles over to us near the door.

  Tyler looks at me then Tate.

   “I didn’t do nothing, mate. You were friends before me”

  Tate comes closer. Apparently that coffee and sandwich didn’t help.

   “She doesn’t talk to me now. It’s your fault!” My eyes widen. I don’t talk to him anymore? He doesn’t talk to me!

  “It’s not my fault. I have
n’t seen you around here either” he clenches his fists and walks a bit closer.

  Tyler grabs my arm and pulls me behind him. Its sweet but isn’t necessary. It’s like protecting me from a weak kitten.

  “What’s going on?” Jack says standing at the end of the hall wearing just a pair of track suit bottoms.

   “Tate is pissed and I think is try
ing to start a fight with Tyler” I say, moving so I’m standing beside Tyler.

  He rubs his eyes and looks at me.

   “Alright, I’ll drive him home. How did he get here in the first place?”

   “He drove” h
e shakes his head and sighs.

   “
Ok, let me get dressed” He turns around and stares at Tate. “Sit your drunken arse back on that sofa” Tate nods and sits back down.

  I frown. What the fuck?

   “You ok?” Tyler looks down at me.

   “I’m fine. You didn’t need to put me behind
you. He wasn’t really a threat” I sigh.

   “
Well I wasn’t risking it” I nod. Tate has gone oddly quiet on the sofa.

Jack comes back out a couple of minutes later dressed.

  He gets Tate from the sofa and helps him stand up and gets his keys.

  Once they leave Tyler and I walk in to my bedroom.

   “Georgina was at my place waiting outside when I
got home this morning”, he says when we have settled in bed under the covers this time.

  Tyler changed into a pair of jogging bottoms and left his top off and I stay in what I was we
aring before. They are like pyjamas anyway.

   “What did she have to say?” I ask.

   “She tried moaning to me about how you ‘beat her up in the toilets’” I snort. So un -lady- like.

   “
And”

   “
She told me that we’re getting married on the 15
th
of July at 11.30. She tried to tell me that she doesn’t want me to see you anymore. But I just told her, I don’t give a shit what she has to say”

   “
Oh” I mumble. What else is there for me to say? I can’t say ‘oh, no don’t marry her.’ I know he can’t get out of this.

   “Is that all you’ve got to say is ‘oh’?” I nod and stay quiet.

  It seems like our easy going friendship is getting harder and harder to maintain.

   “Don’t you think we should stop doing this if you
’re going to be getting married in a month? I know I don’t want to, but it’s going to hurt us more if we carry on the way we are” I say to him after we’ve been quiet for a while.

   “It probably would be easier but
like I said before I can’t not have you in my life now, it will probably hurt but I just can’t seem to let you go”

  I sigh.

   “Are your parents or any of your family going to your wedding?”

   “No, I
don’t want them there to see it and they don’t want to go anyway. When I had to announce that I’m engaged, my mum freaked out. She didn’t like Georgina as it was. But now my mum has a deep hatred for her”

  I don’t blame her.

   “I’ll come to your wedding, for support but other than that, I can’t see you after that, I’m sorry”, he sighs.

   “I never expected you to watch me marry her, it feels good that you’re going to be there, and I understand with
the not seeing each other after; It’s going to hurt like a bitch but I’ll have to get used to it”

  We both go silent after. It’s like we have our deeper conversations while we’re in bed.

   “Can I ask you something?” Tyler says in a low voice.

   “Sure
”

   “Did you ever have any feelings
for Tate? Or was it just him because the way he was saying it tonight, is that he had a chance with you”

   “I’ve never had any feelings other than love for a best friend towards him. I’ve never strung him along, so wh
atever feelings he has for me they are just his own” I feel him nod his head.