Worlds Collide

Chapter Four

After the concert, Maureen's life went on, as boring as it ever was. She went to class as always, studied as always and hung out with Summer as always. Nothing had changed, except for the way Summer looked at her with amusement and what Maureen thought was jealousy. She hadn't asked any more questions about Casey, and Maureen was grateful for that, because she had no clue how she might answer them.

It was hard not to count down the days, even the hours and minutes, since she had walked out of the coffee shop and parted ways with Casey. She had considered looking up his tour schedule, just to see where he was, but that felt a little too pathetic even for such a hopeless crush as her own. Yet, she reminded herself that it might not be entirely useless; after all, he had asked for her phone number, even though he had yet to call.

The following weekend found Maureen alone in her room, trying to distract herself with mindless television shows. Summer was rifling through her closet, trying to find just the right outfit for a "back to school" party she was planning to be fashionably late for.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with me?" Summer asked from within her closet. "It could be fun..."

Maureen sighed. "I'm really not in the mood."

Summer spun around and peeked her head out. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked. You probably don't want to be around any of those kind of guys right now, do you? Forget I asked. In fact, do you want me to stay here? We can pop some popcorn and watch movies..."

Maureen shook her head. "No, go on. You know I'll be happier staying in, and you'll be happier going out."

"Yeah, I know," Summer said, walking over and offering Maureen a quick hug. "Call me if you need me to come back, alright?"

With Maureen's assurance that she would, Summer finished choosing an outfit and left. As much as she loved her roommate, Maureen was perfectly content to spend time alone. The only problem was that her every thought, especially when alone, seemed to be taken up by Casey. It didn't help that nothing on television seemed to hold her attention at all. She groaned as she continued to flip through the channels, finding nothing interesting enough to remove Casey's face from her mind.

From its perch on her bedpost, her phone began to ring. She had to blink a few times before she believed that she was really seeing his name on the screen. Once she was certain that she was, she picked the phone up with a shaky hand and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hey, is this Maureen?" Casey asked.

She had to roll her eyes at how obviously polite he was being. She knew he was only trying to make up for their first meeting. "Of course it is. I don't usually make a habit of leaving my phone where just anyone can answer it..."

"Well, you never know. Some people lose their phones all the time, and you've set a bit of a precedent there."

Maureen laughed. "I don't usually follow strange men onto tour buses either, but I suppose you're going to claim I have a habit of doing that, too."

"I absolutely would not," Casey replied. "Who said I was strange, anyway?"

"You're the first rockstar I've ever met, so I think you qualify as strange. And I know nothing about you. You could secretly be a serial killer or a... a... I don't know!"

Casey chuckled. "I may have a few skeletons in my closet, but I assure you they are only metaphorical. I am not a serial killer. I'll concede that I am a little strange, though."

"I'm sure I seem strange to you, too," Maureen said, surprised by how candid she felt she could be with this man she neither knew nor trusted.

"I am a rockstar, as you said, so I suppose any... normal person... does seem a little strange to me. But you seem like just that–a normal college girl. Nothing wrong with that."