This is Me Trying ⭑ Rafe Cameron

fifty nine

CHAPTER FIFTY NINE
[59]
song: no place for lovers by astronaut

The girls woke up on the floor of Cassie's bedroom. It was one of those nights where anyone could've said anything and they all would've burst into a fit of sleep-deprived, delirious laughter.

With the lights off, they had pulled Cassie's duvet onto the rug and lay there, talking until they were too tired to keep it up.

They all had a feeling, though no one said it out loud, that this would be the last moment like this for a while.

They all went through their own respective notes-app lists of potential baby names for Sarah, most of which were shot down. Kiara asked if, when people asked Sarah who John B was, she said her husband or her boyfriend. It was then that Sarah decided that it was time to make their 'marriage' official.

Kiara and Cassie thought she was joking until they saw her the next morning wearing a white dress. When they asked, Sarah told them her and John B were going to the courthouse.

Despite everything, Sarah and John B still seemed as happy as ever with each other, and Cassie envied it. It was refreshing. Sarah undoubtedly had gone through worse in her life, and still, she seemed as light as a feather.

Cassie, however, still had a pit in her stomach. Pulling the tea-bag from her empty cup, she looked out the kitchen window to JJ and Kiara who were loading up the van. The cops were still after him after what happened at the hearing, so he more than anyone needed to get away. But besides that, Kiara was already starting to pack up essentials.

Things she felt necessary to keep from the house, from Poguelandia. There were boxes already set out by the docks full of junk they never sold, ready to be moved, or pitched. It was all really sinking in.

The backdoor swung open, and Cassie turned, expecting it to be Sarah or John B. But Groff walked in, and seemed just as surprised to see her standing there as she was with him.

"Oh, my apologies I thought you were outside with the others." He nodded, a hand to his head like her presence had startled him.

Cassie rinsed the cup under the faucet, before moving to put it in the dishwasher. "That's okay." She responded, in a tone similar to one she would put on when talking to a customer.

He inhaled sharply, clearly feeling awkward. Clasping his hands together, he spoke. "I understand you have feelings of contempt for me. And I understand, I do."

"No, you don't. But— it's fine." Cassie dried her hands off quickly with a towel before tossing it onto the counter, and turning around to face him. For a moment, she questioned if it was even worth her energy. But her hesitation only lasted a second . "I just don't know how someone like you could ever give up their child, and then not show up again until they're nineteen. Do you realize the effect that can have on someone? I mean, the whole life that he knew is a lie—"

"No," Groff shakes his head contently. "I think he's just beginning to understand his whole life. And I mean that— I don't mean that as a fault to you or your father, but I think things are starting to click for him now that I've explained—"

"Things? What things?" Cassie shakes her head, truly wanting to understand.

Groff takes a breath, thinking for a moment. He glances outside to the van, to his watch, then back to Cassie. "Why don't you join us today? To visit his family's plot?"