For A Brief Moment

Chapter 21: New Day, New Beginnings

Cassie woke up early, untangling herself from Elijah's embrace and making her way to the kitchen for a coffee. Wayne had gotten back from his night shift and was still awake when Cassie woke up. They sat around the kitchen table for a while, talking about all sorts of things, Wayne trying desperately hard not to bring up the cuts and bruises.

"He must really like you," he spoke, receiving a confused look from Cassie. "The way I see it, he's brought many girls back here, but he has never introduced me to any of them, nor talked about them once they left. Recently, though, one constant thing that has been on his mind, and in conversation is a young girl who volunteered to tutor him. Now I'm not saying he wants to be your boyfriend, because that's not my place," he paused, allowing Cassie to take in all the information, "but it's quite clear there is more to you two than just friends. Even a blind man could see it." The last line caused Cassie to chuckle a little while she processed the information. She knew there was more to the two of them than friendship, I mean look at what happened at the party, that was a lot; what almost happened at least. At that, the attention was taken away from the kitchen table to a loud grown as a tall figure walked through the hallway.

"It's way too early for this," they groaned, walking into the kitchen, and evaluating the two faces that looked over at him. "What?"

"Morning to you too, Li," Wayne almost argued in a joking way.

"What were you two talking about," Elijah questioned, grabbing a cup from the cupboard, ready to pour his coffee.

"Nothing," Cassie almost immediately responded.

"Oh yeah, really," he teased, walking over to her, almost studying every line and freckle on her face. "If that's the case, why are you blushing so much."

With that, Cassie looked over to Wayne who looked back at her with an amused smile. She hadn't realised that she was blushing at what he had just told her, indicating that maybe she wanted to be more also. She shyly brought her head to her hands, resting them against the table, receiving laughter from both men.

"Leave the poor girl alone Elijah, you did exactly the same last night," Wayne patted Cassie on the back as he got up, taking his cup to the sink.

"I did nothing of the sort."

"Yes, you most certainly did," Cassie's voice was muffled in the crook of her arm but was still audible to the room, once again receiving a few chuckles. The room fell quiet for a few moments, allowing Cassie to raise her head, her face back to its pale porcelain complexion before Wayne continued.

"So, I dropped some clothes into your room this morning Eds," the pair sitting at the table froze as Wayne's grin widened, "How'd you sleep last night kiddos?"

The two dropped their heads to the table, while Wayne stood and laughed at them both.

"I'm buying a lock today, I swear," Elijah muffled.

"Why? Do you plan on this happening more often?" Wayne commented, shooting a look at Cassie, who had turned bright red, her smile plastering her face. She giggled before allowing her head to fall back into her hands.

"Don't you have anything better to do with your life?" Elijah argued whilst embarrassment laced his tongue.

"And miss this, never," he teased his nephew who glared at him, his face also a bright red, nearly matching Cassie's. With that, Wayne began to walk out of the kitchen, "I hope you both sort this out soon, whatever this is." He expressed, putting a lot of emphasise on 'this', in reference to what they had spoken about this morning and last night. "Goodbye Cassie, I hope to see you again soon."