My Lolita, Cassandra [RFK/Bobby Kennedy] (Alternate Universe)

Part Sixteen

"Light of His Life"

After you watch Robert dozing off—inarguably like a creep—you make your way to the kitchen and take some eggs out of the fridge. "Gosh, I'm starving..." you mumble as you wait for the pan to heat up.

Cooking without music is like saying Die Hard isn't a Christmas movie; it doesn't make sense. So you turn on the radio and listen to the last two minutes of Spooky by Dusty Springfield. It's groovy, but your mind strays as you think of Diane, and if she's even alive, at this point.

A door to an apartment is hastily unlocked, and a boy walks in with four plastic bags in his two hands. "Morning, babe!" He greets his girlfriend who's sipping coffee at the dining table.

"What did you get?" She bluntly asks—hunger takes a toll.

The boy lays the plastic bags on the table, taking the food containers out. "I know you hate pancakes, so I got waffles."

Diane furrows her eyebrows, "Jared, they're basically the same thing."

"How?" He questions, using his bare germy hand to bring the waffle to his mouth and taking a bite out of it. Diane suppresses the urge to start an argument first thing in the morning. Instead, she proceeds to stack everything on a plate she's prepared.

"I think it was good that we got rid of our phones..." says pondering Jared.

"Let bygones be bygones." His partner was dismissive—she couldn't even look at him without feeling icky. "You sure your dad won't find out?"

He narrows his eyes. "About the money?" He talks with a full mouth—another one of Diane's peeves.

"Yeah, what else?" She drizzles an unhealthy amount of table syrup on her waffles.

"It's just fifty grand; pocket change to him." He shrugs and goes in for another bite.

"Yeah, I get that. But still..."

"Di, it's cash. Untraceable." He gives a reassuring smile she just can't ignore. "And now we're in LA. Free to do what we want..." he continues to work on her; the sudden change of heart isn't surprising as they have no direction on what to do just yet.

Just as Diane's about to pick up the fork, she feels a quiet vibration against her thigh—the secret pager. "I gotta use the toilet." She excuses herself from the table and locks herself in the bathroom.

She's told you to only use the pager if there's an emergency, so she's only slightly panicking as she reads your text: "SOS"—you were smart not to call her private cellphone.

You pace back and forth in the kitchen with a phone in your hand, hoping Diane's read your text. Once in a while, you'd peek at the living room to see if Robert's awake—he's knocked out for good. When the phone finally rings, your quick finger answers it before it gets any louder.

"Diane! Thank God..." you heave a sigh of relief before immediately going into a nervous ramble, "uh, your dad's at my house, looking for you. And I lied, said you went to Philly. I'm scared that when he goes, and he will go, he'll know I'm lying." Diane knows too well to interrupt; she remains silent until it's her turn to talk.

"Wow. Thanks, Cass. I expected you to snitch on me by now," she, perhaps sarcastically, says.

"Give me some credit, Di!" You sharply remark.

"Look—you can just tell him I ran and not coming back."

She just made this whole thing a hell of a lot harder on you—what kind of love spell did Jared use on her?