Broken Promises

Chapter 9

"Wow," was the only word I could get out.

"Wow, indeed." Auntie Marissa chuckled as Savannah and Vanda stared in awe.

We just finished decorating for Christmas. The red and gold tinsel was hanging everywhere and there were huge baubles dangling from the ceiling. In the hallway, stood a giant, emerald tree, covered almost completely with more shiny baubles and tinsel. Its lights flickered in the dimmed lighting of the hallway. It was all so beautiful. We walked outside to see if Spencer and Jake had finished putting all the lights up.

"Omg, it's so pretty!" Marissa exclaimed, happily.

"Good job guys," Vanda said.

"So what do you think?" Spencer asked me while the others were too busy talking.

"It's beautiful," I said adoring the beauty of the lights.

From the corner of my eye, I saw him staring at me. "Just like you." I heard him mutter.

In shock, I turned to look at him. "What?" Did he really say what I think he said?

He looked away guiltily, "Nothing."

I decided that it would be better to ignore it and pretend I didn't hear him so I just said, "Oh." I started feeling very awkward and uncomfortable. Quickly, I started looking for an excuse to walk away. "Um... I'll go make some hot chocolate for all of us."

"Want some help?" He offered.

"No!" I replied almost too quickly. "I mean, Savannah's already coming to help me." He nodded. I could see a flash of disappointment on his face but he quickly concealed it. "Savannah. Come with me." I said, through gritted teeth.

"What's wrong?" She worried as we entered the Christmasy kitchen.

"What?! Um...nothing." I lied. "I just wanted you to help me make hot chocolate for everyone," I said trying not to sound too nervous. The thing that Spencer said freaked me out. I love Blake. He's the only guy for me. I didn't want to hurt Spencer by rejecting him so I guess I should just avoid being alone with him. I knew he was a good guy and over the past few days, I started liking him more and more. But not in that way. Is it even possible that he's developing feelings for me? He barely knows me. I should've stayed away from him right from the start. I should've got the hint when he was so eager to show me the city. Luckily, Savannah, Vanda and Jake went on the tour too so it wasn't just me and him. And I must admit it was actually quite fun. The places they showed me were beautiful.

A crash broke my chain of thoughts as the mug slipped from my hand onto the tiled floor. I was a bit grateful for that because I was obviously overthinking the whole situation. Maybe I misheard him. Or he just got caught up in the romantic atmosphere of the Christmas lighting.

"Cassie!" Savannah raised her voice causing me to jump.

I turned to look at her. "I'm sorry." I apologised, covering my face with my hands, taking a deep breath.

"What's wrong with you?" She sighed. "And don't lie!" She kneeled down to clean up the broken pieces of the mug.

"It's just that while we were outside, Spencer said something," I said almost in a whisper.

She turned to look at me with anticipation.

"There's a chance that I misheard him." A very small chance. "But I think he called me beautiful." I sat down on the cool floor making sure to be far enough from the pieces of the mug. For an unknown reason, my eyes filled with tears. Well, maybe the reason wasn't so "unknown". It's just that the only person ever to call me beautiful was Blake.