The Girl Next Door | Baby Daddy

8.4 | Cassie Perrin

"I cannot believe you just swiped the keys from him like that!" Riley raved, an adrenaline rush still stirring in her system as she opened the door to the apartment that seemed to be the central hub of this family, aside from the Bar on B.

"Hey, guys." I greeted, looking up from my cellphone. Ben and Emma had been gone for almost an hour and I had taken to checking emails on my phone while I sat at the kitchen table, the tall white candles dripping away as they slowly burned.

"Cassie?!" Bonnie exclaimed when she spotted the me. "What are you doing here?"

"Ben invited me over to test new drink recipes for the bar." I explained, motioning towards the counter, which was covered in assorted bottles and ingredients, as well as a few glasses with only a couple sips taken out of them.

They both seemed wildly taken aback, like they knew something I didn't. I looked at them, confused by their shocked expressions. "What's up with you guys? You look like you've seen a ghost. Or, like, a whole haunted house worth of them." I commented.

"You're the girl?!" Bonnie realized and I furrowed my eyebrows.

"What are you talking about?" I questioned as she stepped forward, crossing her arms over her chests. Both her and Riley had entered the apartment with arms full of shopping bag handles, but she had since abandoned them by the door, allowing her to tap her finger against her arm the other was crossed over.

"Oh, I think you know exactly what I'm talking about." Bonnie interrogated. "Drinks. Candles. Dinner." She observed, glancing around the kitchen. She lunged forward, smacking her band onto the back of my chair as she got threateningly close to me face. "Spill, Perrin!"

"Riley?" I questioned, glancing past Bonnie at my older sister, who watched the entire scene unfolding.

"She just spent the last three hours with a mall security guard that watches too much CSI." Riley explained.

"Ah." I said, nodding in understanding. "Well, if you'll excuse me..." I tried to slide out from Bonnie, but she stopped me.

"Where do you think you're going, Red?" Bonnie demanded.

"My apartment." I answered, as if it was obvious as I finally wriggled out from under her grip on the chair and started heading towards the door. "It looks like Ben ditched me, so I'm going home." I told her as I grabbed my jacket from the back of the couch.

"Hold up, missy!" Bonnie called after me and I rolled my head back in annoyance as I reluctantly turned to face Bonnie.

"Yes, Mrs. Wheeler?" I replied with a certain sarcasm in my voice.

"Is there a reason you and Ben didn't tell me?" She tested, tapping her toe on the wooden floor and crossing her arms yet again.

"Yes. We didn't tell you we were making and sampling drinks because we figured you didn't care..." I said, again, as if it should have been very obvious.

"I can't believe this." Bonnie said, this time to Riley. "My own son didn't tell me he's been sneaking around dating Cassie."

"Wait, what?!" I called, more confused than I had been all night. "Dating? What are you talking about?!"

"I thought we were closer than this, Cassie." Bonnie commented, pretending to be extremely hurt and I looked at her like she was insane. "But here you are. On a date with my son and neither of you even told me."

"Mrs. Wheeler, you've got this all wrong." I assured her. "Ben and I are not dating! He invited me over so I could be a guinea pig for his new drinks he's making for work." I insisted.