Ronnie

2

Cassie helped the drunken Kirk into their designated motel room. She gave him a slight shove onto the bed and made her way to the tiny bathroom.
She took off her makeup and glared at her puffed face in the mirror.
Kirk was passed out on the bed which wasn't a shock considering he was practically asleep on the way to the room.
She shuffled over to him, gently took his shoes off, then crawled over his limp body and snuggled in the covers.

A bang at the door wakened Cassie. Kirk was unfazed, still sound asleep.
She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and searched the room for a clock.
9:30
"Shit."
Kirk and Cassie had thirty minutes to get out of the room and into the bus. Thirty minutes would be plenty of time if Kirk wasn't drunk. Getting him up and moving was what scared Cassie, considering the amount of time it could take.
She started by pushing him, "Hey, Kirk. You gotta wake up. We have to leave."
He didn't budge.
"Kirk." She shoved him.
A sharp snore came out of his mouth but nothing else.
She jumped off the bed and grabbed his shoulders. "Kirk, wake the hell up!"
His eyes shot open and he jumped back.
"What the fuck Cassie?"
"I've been telling you to wake up and you've done nothing. So get up.
Now."
"Give me a second."
She gave him an eye roll and walked to the bathroom to splash some cool water on her face.
Kirk knew there was something going on with Cassie. She was usually nice and calm when she woke him up. Now all of a sudden she was a bitch. He wasn't sure if he did something to upset her or what.
She put her shoes on and grabbed her purse that was sitting on a small table.
"I'm going to the bus."
"Can you wait a second?" He was just now swinging his legs off the side of the bed.
"Hurry."
He pulled his Nike sneakers onto his feet and followed Cassie out of the door.
"What's wrong?" He rubbed the small of her back to try to comfort her.
"Nothing Kirk," she walked faster to get away from him. "Just leave me alone."
A zip of shock shot through his body.
"Wait, Cas," he ran up to the girl and pulled at her arm. She yanked it back with a dramatic amount of force; which didn't need to be used because Kirk wasn't grasping her too tight.
"Just leave me alone Kirk. It's not that hard to understand," she blurted out in a short tone.
The angered girl stepped into the bus and plopped down into a seat. She put on her headphones and listened to the song playing on her Walkman.
Kirk sat in the window seat next to the row of seats where Cassie was. He slid on his sunglasses and leaned his head onto the window as he waited for slumber to take over.
Something felt wrong to James. He obviously noticed something was wrong because the two love birds weren't sitting together, but even if they were, James knew something would still be off.
He made his way from the back of the bus to the front to talk to the girl.
"Good morning beautiful," he said with a joking smirk.
She pulled off her earphones, only sort of understanding what he was saying. "Good morning to you too."
"You need something?"
Cassie and James were friends, but definitely not that close. Every once in a while they would get into a deep conversation or two. That's the whole reason they knew anything about one another. It was strange to her that they had known each other so long but could barely hold a conversation with one another.
"Oh, uh, I just wanted to make sure you were okay." He pointed his head towards Kirk as a reason for his concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"What happened between you two? I know y'all fight a lot but usually not this early."
Great, he thought they fought a lot too. Cassie wondered if she was the only one this oblivious to their problems.
"It really doesn't matter James."
He nodded his head, "Okay, I won't pry. But I'm here if you need me."
She nodded her head in agreement.
Secretly, she wished that it had been Cliff to come see about her. Then again he was always the first to get premium details about her problems, she understood that he already knew what was happening, and he probably didn't care to come and console her further.
A part of Cliff did want to sit with her and see if there was anything he could do. The other part knew that he couldn't always spoon-feed her the answers to life. She needed to learn to make decisions herself. She was on her own with this one.