Chapter 1 - Lavaliering
The door bell rang and Rusty went to open it. Another familiar face looked back at him and reached out to hug him. The house was starting to fill with familiar faces.
"Hi Ash" Rusty said returning the hug "Thanks for coming". Boy he was saying that a lot today.
Rusty stepped back and let Ash come inside. She looked around and saw the same familiar faces that Rusty did, many ZBZ sisters, Kappa Tau brothers and even the odd Omega Chi brother were there.
"How are they?" Ash asked. Rusty looked up towards the stair case in the foyer, he hadn't seen them today. "They are in their room, I'll have to go up soon and get them I think we are about to start" he replied. Ash squeezed his arm and walked off to join her sorority sisters.
She sat on the bed next to him, cuddled into his side. He smiled, how many times had they done this he thought. He bent down and kissed the top of her golden haired head gently breathing in the smell he associated with her. She looked up and smiled their eyes locking for that instance.
"What are you doing up here?" Casey asked him snuggling in that little bit closer "Everyone else is downstairs."
"You're not downstairs, you're up here with me" Cappie answered with a lighthearted laugh. She just looked at him and smiled. He hated how well she knew him. "I was just remembering good times Case". He paused as he stared off through the window, she just laid there waiting for him to talk again.
"Remember when…" Cappie started, Casey just smiled at him, her eyes alight, god he loved that smile.
Cappie turned the lavalier over in his fingers. To lavalier or not to lavalier that was the question. Could he or should he give Casey his Kappa Tau letters? He had changed his mind over a dozen times.
He knew Casey would accept his letters if he offered them to her. He was not afraid of that type of rejection but still he was holding back.
Cappie knew that Casey had bared her soul to him at the End of World Party; he knew that she believed she wanted to be with him and despite his own reservations he wanted to be with her. He had always wanted to be with her no matter how much he tried to deny it or hide it. He had told her that he wasn't the right man for her and had turned her advances down. It was the right thing to do he had kept telling himself but being noble hadn't stopped the longing and the aching he felt for her. He wasn't sure there was anything or anyone in the world that could stop that feeling.
As he sat there with his lavalier, he could still feel each cut that Casey had inflicted on his heart during the two years they had been apart. First with her siding with and tending to Evan's injuries at the Greek ball in their freshman year, second with the way she dumped him and so quickly started to date Evan his former friend and room mate, third the way she had used him to get even with Evan for cheating on her during Rush, fourth by the way she had rejected his advances and accepted Evan's lavalier, and the million other times she had used him and had called upon him to assist her knowing that he would never refuse her. Her constant rejection had scarred his heart and confidence. If he was honest with himself part of the reason he had rejected her at the party was his own fear that she would end it again and not choose him.
However despite his reservations he knew that his heart had always belonged to Casey and following some gentle persuasion he had broken his resolve and on that Thanksgiving told her that he wanted to be with her. From that moment on he had not looked back and here they were in March still together and happy.
That's why he was sitting here with his letters in his hand. To give anyone your letters was a big deal but to give them to Casey, well that was monumental to him. These were the same letters he had bought during his freshman year while Casey and he were still together. At the time he purchased them he had no firm plan or time frame to give them to Casey or any other girl for that matter. But he always knew deep down he would give them to Casey someday. The lavalier had lived in his sock drawer since then and had never seen the light of day until just recently.
The problem was Casey had been lavaliered, she had worn other guy's letters and had committed to a long term future with these guys but shortly there after the relationship had ended. Perhaps Casey and lavaliering were jinxed. Cappie laughed at himself for thinking that.
No, if he was honest the reason he hadn't decided whether or not to lavalier Casey was because he wasn't sure Casey would see it as the grand gesture he believed it to be. He wanted to show Casey that he had grown up and did have plans for his future and that those plans included her.
A knock on the door startled him and he dropped the lavalier that bounced on the floor and slid under the bed, he scooted around to retrieve it. The door to his room slowly opened and their stood Casey. She looked at him curiously there he was lying on his stomach, flat on the floor trying to reach under his bed and get the lavalier that he definitely did not want her to see. He froze.
"What are you doing?" Casey asked smiling at the site in front of her. Cappie took one look at her beautiful smiling face and knew that he would risk everything and do everything in his power to keep that smile on her face. He looked up at her, his blue eyes filled with the adoration he felt as his fingers found the lavalier. He took a deep breath as he slid his arm out from under his bed and stood up, the lavalier clasped in his fist.
"I dropped this" he said slowly opening his palm to reveal his Kappa Tau letters. She looked down at the letters lying in his palm and he saw her take a sharp breath in as her green eyes met his again. No sound had escaped her lips.
Sirens sounded in his brain 'mistake, mistake, mistake'. "You idiot" he thought "why did you have to go and ruin everything" he turned away from her and walked towards his drawers to put the lavalier back. He then felt her hand lightly grab his arm "Aren't you going to say something or have I misunderstood?" she asked with a slightly wounded tone in her voice.
He turned back to her and saw that hurt and confusion had replaced the laughter in her eyes from only a few minutes ago. "You want me to lavalier you?" he questioned, surprised at her reaction. "I thought you were" she replied quietly "I'm sorry I read too much into it, I shouldn't presume".
Stunned that she was reacting in this way he struggled to find the words, a first for him. "No… you are not wrong" he stammered "I have been thinking about us and our future a lot lately. We both have no idea what we are going to be doing or where we will be going at the end of next year but all I know is whenever I look to the future the only thing I see is you, my plans, my dreams, my hopes all contain you Case". Her face began to light up as her smile returned and looking at her his confidence returned. "You are my 10 year plan Case" he finished, crossing the small distance between them taking her face in his hands the lavalier pushed against her cheek and he lent down and kissed her.
There was no sweeter feeling than when she kissed him back her body melting into his. As they broke she whispered "I would be honored to wear your letters Cap, I know what they mean to you".
And that was that, he lavaliered Casey in his room at the KT house, not exactly as he had planned but memorable none the less.
Ashley and Rusty had helped them to arrange the presentation on the ZBZ lawn only a couple days latter. At the time he fastened the chain around Casey's neck he had never been happier.
However following their kiss and in front of the brothers and sisters Casey to his surprise produced her own letters and gave them to him to wear as a sign of her commitment to him.
The exchange of lavaliers was now complete.
"I remember Cap, it only feels like yesterday" Casey remarked. He looked down at her slender frame, there on her neck were his silver letters, "You know I'd never take them off, they work with every outfit and they are my little part of you I take everywhere" she laughed.
He reached inside his shirt and pulled out the lavalier she had given him. "Me too" he replied.