Chasing Euphoria

Chapter Forty Seven

Cassie

Okay. It'll be fine. As Landon said, they're just people.

I still had about an hour to kill before we had to leave to go to the restaurant, still, I was already pacing around his apartment. He watched from the sofa as I relayed every possible scenario in my head, then voiced them out to him.

"Coco, will you relax? It's one night. Just be you and everything will go fine." He turned his head to face me with amusement in his eyes.

Wandering over to him, I placed my hands on either side of his shoulder and rambled. "Isn't that what everyone says? To be yourself? I bet they're someone's last words."

Before he could come back with a response, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

Landon grabbed it from my hand and answered, putting it on speakerphone. "Hey, Elle. Could you tell Cass that she's overreacting to this whole meeting my parents thing? She's going to collapse if she walks back and forth anymore."

"Cassie you'll be fine." She said on the other side, hesitating. "Though I can't make it. I'm really sorry because I know how much you wanted me to be there."

"What? Why?" The nerves that were about to calm were set off once again.

Landon pulled my hands into his and kissed each of my knuckles. He no doubt regretted saying that Elle would be there without clearing it with her first.

"I had to head home. My mom has to cover shifts at work and she couldn't get anyone to look after Riley. You know I would if I could. Landon's family is nice enough. Hailee will love you, trust me. With the mess of the divorce, anything that makes Landon happy will make them happy." She said unapologetically, knowing Landon could hear every word.

He frowned at the comment, then relaxed, proving that she wasn't wrong.

Elle didn't mention her sister much, sometimes I forgot that Riley existed, despite living in a room with pictures of her in for months.

"Don't worry about it. Have fun. If you need anything give me a call." I said.

She finally had a key to my apartment and I made it known that she was welcome to stay over whenever she needed to. Her roommate Jodi had moved in and was nice the few times I'd seen her. However, she was quiet, Elle said she sometimes felt that she couldn't hold a conversation and would purposely be out all day so she didn't run into her too often.

Occasionally, she would stay in my spare room. No matter how much I told her that she didn't need to ask, she always called in advance. The key was hers for a reason.

Minutes later, I was laid on top of Landon, hugging him like a bear. He scratched up and down my back, making me want to stay even more.

"We have to leave soon." He sighed, still not moving from his position under me. Despite me clinging to him, he could easily shift me if he really wanted to.

"How long?" I grumbled, knowing that I would have to fix myself up very soon.

"Half an hour." I raised my head to look at the smile on his face. Landon knew how nervous I was for this and he was loving it. "We can cancel if you want to. It's no big deal."

Contemplating it for a second, I shook my head. "If you asked me that this morning, I would say yes. Cancelling now would mean I was stressing out all day for nothing. I'm going to have to meet your family one day and it's better to do it sooner or later."

I finally pulled myself from him and raked a brush through my hair, his fingers were twirling at the back of it so there was no doubt about the knots.

Landon was lucky. He didn't care because they were his family. There wasn't anyone for him to impress really. When it came down to it, they wouldn't change their opinion of him based on how this one night went. It terrified me that it could be like that for me.