When We Write the Stars

Chapter 11: Cassie

"I'm scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I'm with you." – Dirty Dancing

     I woke up in Hayden West's arms. The last thing I remembered was being halfway through Crazy Rich Asians, trying so hard not to think about the guy sitting a foot away from me, and now he was carrying me.

     I'd opened my eyes just enough to see that he was carrying me back to my room, and then I closed them again, I was too tired to argue with him right now, and honestly, it was kind of nice. He also smelled good, just like a generic men's cologne, but I kind of liked the smell of cologne, and he used just enough to smell good without it being overpowering. I'd noticed that earlier too, when we'd be dancing. I still couldn't believe we'd danced.

     He set me down on my bed, then walked back out in the hallway. As soon as he was gone, I turned on my back and stared up at the ceiling. So much had happened tonight. Luckily my roommates had barged in before anything had happened, but I kept wondering what would've happened if they hadn't. Would we have kissed?

     I wanted to slap myself for even thinking about kissing him, he and I did not like each other. We didn't get along, we argued constantly. So what if he'd ballroom danced with me, and made sure I was okay when I was drunk? He was still him, I was still me, and he'd be in Toronto next year. Who knows where I'd be? Now, I just needed to stop thinking about him, what it felt like to be in his arms, and what went through me when he was pinning me against the couch.

     I still couldn't get over the fact that he knew how to ballroom dance. This big tall hockey player, with his long dark hair and almost as dark eyes could do a waltz. I didn't know very many hockey players, but I doubt many of them could dance like that.

     This was so bad. I could not be getting butterflies and thinking about Hayden West like this. He wasn't even a friend, he was more of a rival. A verbal sparring partner if anything. Thank god I wouldn't see him again till class on Tuesday, that gave me a few days to figure out what to say and how to act around him after tonight.

     Monday morning, I still hadn't figured out, or fully processed the weekend's events, but that was okay because on Monday morning I had kickboxing, and punching things always helped. I wasn't entirely sure what was up with Alyssa, but she seemed to really need to punch something too.

     Midway through the class, Mel came over to us and said, "You're not mad at each other, right?"

     We both looked at each other and laughed, "No, just really needed to punch something today," I replied.

     "Same here," Alyssa says, "plus I'm gonna look so badass with all these bruises Cassie's giving me."

     "Girl," I respond, "You're the one giving me bruises today, it's no wonder Mel thinks we're fighting."

     "Well keep it up," Mel says then right before walking away, they add, "and remember to keep your arms up at all times, you're gonna lose any fight where you don't protect your face."

     We both nod then get back to the set we're doing. Usually, Alyssa and I are both pretty chatty during kickboxing, but today other than the occasional 'nice' and us repeating the numbers for each kick and punch, we've been silent.

     "For real though, everything okay," I ask Alyssa as we take a quick break to get water.

     "Yeah I'm just stressed about grad school, and thinking about how different everything's gonna be next year."

     "Alyssa," I say, pausing until she looks directly at me, "No matter what happens and where we end up, we'll still all be friends. Plus change can be a good thing, meeting new people next year will be good for us."