Soul Mates
We just were meant to be.
Dear, sweet Cassie, growing up into such a woman. The best friend of my cousin, and I had teased her in the earlier years. A tickle war here, some verbal teasing there. My brother had ignored us and played with his friends, the way brothers usually do when they think they're too cool. Rachel and Cassie would pretend to attack me, and Marco would come in and laugh his butt off.
I had fallen for her before I even knew I had.
I see it in her eyes, the way she talks, the way she comforts you when she touches you. She's beautiful, inside and out. All of these years have made her approachable, grown-up, graceful. The girl you want to bring home to mom. Sometimes have. She is Rachel's friend.
She's always had this ability to make you feel better. She knew what you were feeling, what you were thinking, and sometimes it's an absolute relief that you don't have to talk to make yourself explained. Sometimes it was a real pain if I just didn't want to talk. But the thing was, she always knew when I didn't want to talk. Uncanny.
But I thought Cassie was just a kid. Cute, but just a kid.
And now, as my brothers friends, some family, and I sit around the table and he opens his well-deserved presents, a birthday cake half-devoured, she talks to me as if she knows exactly what I'm going through. Her voice is quiet, calm, and I talk to her easily without slipping anything Yeerk related. Simply happy.
My mom looks our way and smiles a small smile, seeing me hoot out a real laugh for the first time in ages. Not that Cassie said anything that funny. It's just relief. And being with her gets you that way.
My brother and I enjoy freedom, from fighting, from Yeerks, from everything that the stars put on us. No longer fighting a civil war, a leader against a high ranking Yeerk. No more brother against brother thing. Peace.
It's a beautiful thing.
My brother and I shared a lot of horror stories when help came, and the Yeerks were defeated. He became my hero. I'm his. We're on equal ground, Midget or not.
She makes me feel safe, knowing the next day whether I had another nightmare or not. Whether the battles still haunted my thoughts and nearly killing my brother.
I let her know she's appreciated. Listen to her when she needs to talk.
Match made in heaven?
Guess not.
Cassie pats my hand and gets up to give her present to my brother. Jake's face lights up even more.
And me? I feel a pang of jealousy.
The last time I fell in love with a girl, I got a Yeerk in my head. If I decide to go for Cassie, my brother will hate me.
As I said, peace is a beautiful thing.