BODYS ; M. MUNROE

CHAPTER FOUR

★彡

THE WIND of the night blew Cassandra's hair messily into her face, she hadn't strayed far from the lodge, just a few feet; she wanted to walk off entirely, but the irony of doing so on the anniversary of Beth and Hannah's disappearance was not lost on her.

"Stupid..." The girl shuddered out a sigh, wiping her eyes with her sleeves.

How did he have that power over her? The ability to make her mad, to make her miss him? She supposed that's why she fell for him in the first place, his ability to make her want him, to make her feel like she needed him.

"Cassandra?"

The girl scoffed, turning to look at a concerned Mike, his brows were furrowed. Cassandra turned away, arms folded. "God, Mike, why is it always you?" Despite her bitter words, her soft tone gave away that she wasn't mad, more baffled.

"What? What are you talking about?" Cautiously, he stepped forward. 

Her arms fell to her sides. "It's always you. You were the one who caught me having a Niagara Falls of a nose bleed, you were the one who had to help me stop choking when I ate those peanuts, you were the one to find me when I found out Will was cheating-" She paused, catching her breath, her eyes looking to the ground. "You were the one that found me when I got the call about Olivia..." She wiped her eyes again, angrily sighing.

It was true, for whatever reason, Mike had managed to see Cassandra, mentally or physically, at her worst. He'd been the first one to see her cry. Mike opened his mouth to speak, but closed it, he took another step forward.

"You wanna go for a walk?"

~

WALKING WITH Mike in a way such as this, was something Cassandra couldn't have ever seen coming; the two never spent a lot of time alone, they'd hang out if there was a party, but even then, Mike would usually be with whomever his girlfriend at the time was, and Cassandra would be glued to Will's side. Will and Mike, for whatever reason, never really clicked. There was always an underlining tension whenever the two were near each-other, she never understood why, but she always found it strange considering how similar she sometimes thought they were.

Her earliest memory of Mike being alone with her, was when she'd gotten the call from her mother about Olivia, he'd caught the scene by accident: Cassandra, slumped on the ground, leaning against a brick wall, her phone at her feet, and her face hidden by her hands; it was during this that they had first hugged. Cassandra practically fell into Mike's open arms, tears stained his shirt as she sobbed against his chest. He wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, but his arms didn't leave her shaking frame until she was ready.

"Okay, I just gotta ask," Mike finally said, the silence apparently eating away at him. "what the hell did you see in him?"

Cassandra stopped walking and looked up at Mike, she frowned, half annoyed half embarrassed. "That... That's none of your business." She said back, wanting her voice to sound a lot sterner than it was.

Under his breath, Mike muttered a sorry, geez. The two continued to walk.

Cassandra sighed, keeping her eyes on the ground. "When we first started dating..." She finally said, from the corner of her eye, she saw Mike look at her. "He was nice, and sweet... Completely different to how he is now." She raised her arms to hug herself. "Maybe it was because he was my first boyfriend... I'd never felt appreciated before like that, I thought that— god this is so humiliating-"

"Hey," Mike quickly said, voice soft. "you can tell me whatever you feel comfortable with, 'kay?" He tore his gaze from Cassandra's, then raised his brows seeing one of the many maps scattered across the mountain come into view.

Cassandra nodded, she'd rarely seen this side of Mike, caring, considerate; she wondered how often anyone saw it. "I thought that if I left him, I'd never find someone that would want to be with me." She blurted, keeping her eyes on the map, it grew bigger the closer they got.

"What?" Mike said, astonished, he scoffed and shook his head. "You're kidding me, right?"

Cassandra furrowed her brows, looking at him confused.

"Cassandra you're-" He paused, mulling over his words, he chuckled sheepishly then looked at the map. "you really don't have to worry about someone not wanting to be with you."

He planted his finger on the you are here dot and ran it across the varying lines leading to different places, the map was older than the ones leading to the lodge, so old it didn't have the lodge on the map, Mike tilted his head, how had the Washington's missed this? The two hadn't strayed that far. His finger slid down to a marker for an abandoned mine, not far from where they were stood.

"You're just saying that because you're my friend." The girl argued, turning around to look at where they'd come from, no wonder the twins got lost, Cassandra frowned, and turned to look at Mike, who was still 'playing' with the map. "I'm not athletic like Sam, smart like Emily, dorky in a cute way like Ashley-" She scoffed. "don't get me started on Jess."

"What about 'er?"

"She's the complete opposite of me, she's beautiful and tall and blonde and-" Cassandra pressed a hand to her forehead and groaned. "Listen to me! Sorry, Mike, this is a rant reserved for a girls night. Not you..."

Mike turned to her and grinned, he raised his hand onto the edge of the map's boarder, leaning against it. "What's wrong with me? I can be a girl, sleepovers and everything." His smile widened listening to Cassandra laugh.

Playfully, she nudged his shoulder with her head. "You're right." She sighed softly, linking her hands together. "Thank you for listening though, really... I know you didn't exactly have a choice- at all."

"Think you'll recall I went out to find you, meaning I signed up for whatever you wanted to rattle on about." He chuckled as a sharp gust of wind hit the two, causing Cassandra's hair to once more cover her face; gently, Mike moved the strands from her eyes, his fingers deftly running along her cheek, tucking the hair behind her ear. "Where'd your hat go?" He asked, curiously, his voice had gotten lower, as if only for her ears.

For some reason, Cassandra felt her cheeks heat up, only barely able to process what Mike had said. Why did his gaze feel so... Different?

"Um... Will... He-he pulled it off." She blinked rapidly, forcing herself to step back from him.

Clearing his throat, Mike turned to face the way they'd come. "You wanna start heading back? If we don't go now I think we'll get l-"

A petrified scream cut off Mike's words.

Honest: Increased
Romantic: Increased

Relationship with Mike: Increased