After lunch Casey went back upstairs to her room to finish packing. She pulled a few things out of her desk but the book lying on the bed was taunting her. She wanted to continue reading but she knew she had to get the packing done. But after quickly throwing the rest of the things in her desk in the box she went and sat on the bed again and grabbed her journal. She was up to her first real date with Cappie and she remembers it like it was yesterday.
"How many outfits are you going to try on before you settle on one?" asked Ashleigh as she sat on Casey's bed watching her get ready.
"I just don't know what kind of date this is," said Casey as she rummaged through her closet. "Should I be fancy and wear my tight black skirt or casual and wear my jean skirt?"
"How about a compromise and wear your black jean skirt," said Ashleigh with a smile.
Casey turned around and glared at her. "If I had one then I would be wearing it," she stated.
After another five minutes Casey finally decided to wear a pair of her dark blue jeans and red top. She couldn't picture Cappie in anything other than jeans so she figured she would be safe with that.
She was just finishing putting some lip gloss on when there was a knock at the door.
"I'll get it," said Ashleigh as she hopped off the bed and went over to the door. "Cappie, it's nice to see you again."
"Nice to see you too," said Cappie with a smile. "Is Casey ready?"
"Yeah, come on in," said Ashleigh as she stepped out of the way and let him in.
Casey turned around and smiled as she saw Cappie for the first time. She was right; he had on a pair of dark blue jeans and a plaid button down shirt. His hair fell neatly just above his eyes which were still as piercing as ever.
"This is for you," he said as he handed her a single red rose.
"Thanks," said Casey as she took it and set it down on her desk. "You look very nice tonight."
"And so do you," he replied as he extended his arm out to her. "Shall we get going?"
"Sure," said Casey as she took his hand and the two of them headed towards the door.
"You kids have fun tonight," said Ashleigh as they walked into the hallway. "Casey, I'll be in my room later tonight if you need me."
But Casey didn't respond. All she could think about at the moment was how good his hand felt clasped together with hers. It was like they were made to fit together perfectly.
"Did you hear me?" she heard Cappie ask as they got outside.
"I'm sorry," said Casey shaking her thoughts about holding Cappie's hand. "What did you say?"
"I said that this is my car right over here," said Cappie as he pointed to the huge Bronco parked on the side of the street.
"That is your car?" Casey asked as she slightly panicked about the topless car messing up her perfectly straightened hair.
"Yeah, it's a bit of a beater," said Cappie as he opened the door for her. "But I've had some really great times with Broncosauras."
He helped Casey up into the car and quickly got into the driver's side and started it up.
"Where are we going?" Casey asked.
"Just downtown," said Cappie as he began to drive. "I heard there's a really good Italian restaurant that I thought we would try."
"Okay," said Casey as they drove the rest of the way in silence.
Cappie parked the car and Casey hopped out taking a short look at her hair in the mirror to make sure it wasn't too messed up. They made their way towards the restaurant and as soon as Cappie was next to her again he took her hand into his and she got that same feeling she had the last time. Even though his hand was a little sweaty this time she didn't care, she loved the tingling it sent up and down her arm.
The two of them mostly talked about their sorority and fraternity houses over dinner. Cappie couldn't stop talking about his brothers and how he couldn't wait to get his Kappa Tau name.
"Did you guys save any room for dessert?" asked their waitress as she took their dinner plates away.
"I'm pretty stuffed," said Casey as she set her napkin on the table.
"Oh come on," whined Cappie. "You couldn't at least split something with me?"
"Well what did you have in mind?" Casey asked as she leaned closer to him and scanned the dessert menu he was looking at.
"How about a piece of cherry pie?" Cappie asked.
"Mmmm, I have a weakness for pie," said Casey with a smile.
"Then it's settled," said Cappie as he handed the menu back to the waitress. "One piece of cherry pie please."
"I'll be right back with it," she replied as she left the table.
"I don't think anyone can like pie as much as I do," said Casey as she leaned back in her chair. "I remember when my grandma had me try it for the first time. I was like seven years old and could have eaten the entire pie if she didn't take it away from me."
"Well you may have met your match," said Cappie as he smiled at her. "Any kind of pie is just about the only type of dessert I'll eat."
Just then the waitress came back with the piece of pie and set it down with two forks. The two of them began to eat, glancing looks at each other every so often.
"Hey, you're eating all of the cherries," whined Casey as she watched Cappie take a large bite of the filling inside.
"I'm sorry," he said as he pierced one of the last cherries with his fork and held it out to her. "This one is for you."
The two of them didn't move their gaze from each other as Casey put her mouth around the cherry and took it off of Cappie's fork.
"Good?" he asked as he set his fork down.
All Casey could do was nod her head yes as she continued to get lost in his eyes. Cappie was the one who broke the gaze as the waitress came over and set the bill down on the table. He pulled out his wallet and put enough cash to cover the bill and tip down on top of it.
"Ready to go?" he asked as he put his wallet back in his pocket.
"Sure," said Casey as she stood up and followed Cappie out of the restaurant.
He immediately took her hand into his as soon as they exited the restaurant and walked to his car.
"The night is still young," said Cappie as he helped Casey into the car. "Wanna head over to my dorm room for a bit?"
"I don't know," Casey hesitated as he got into the driver's seat.
"Evan will be there," said Cappie. "So it's not like it will be just the two of us alone."
"Oh, okay then," said Casey as she watched him start the car and drive back to campus.
Cappie unlocked the door to his room to find Evan lying on his bed flipping through television stations.
"Hey guys," he said sitting up a little in the bed. "How was dinner?"
"Very good," said Cappie as he sat down on his own bed.
"Yeah, I'll definitely have to go back there sometime," said Casey as she sat in one of the desk chairs and avoiding sitting next to Cappie on his bed.
"Wanna beer?" Cappie asked as he took one out of the refrigerator.
"No thanks," said Casey.
"Ev?" Cappie asked.
"Sure, why not," Evan replied as Cappie tossed a beer towards him.
"How do you guys even have beer?" Casey asked. "Don't tell me one of you has a fake ID?"
"No, we'll hopefully get those next semester," said Cappie with a laugh. "That's what Joe said at least."
"I had our RA buy them for us," said Evan as he took a sip of his beer. "He'll do just about anything for some extra cash."
"Wow, my RA would probably kick us out of school if we even had beer in our room," said Casey with a small laugh.
"Bummer," said Cappie as he smiled back at her.
"So Evan," said Casey turning her attention to him. "Do you like rushing Kappa Tau as much as Cappie does?"
"Oh yeah, never a dull moment in that house," Evan replied. "The other day they were talking about having us pledges skateboard off the roof. I really hope they were joking."
"Yeah, I hope so too," said Casey with a laugh. "For both of your sakes."
The three of them spent the next several hours sitting around and talking. Casey couldn't believe how well the three of them were getting along but she did feel a little uncomfortable at times. She caught Evan looking at her a couple of times in a way that she couldn't really describe but it was certainly something more than just being friendly. But she shrugged it off as she was there with Cappie and having a great time.
The conversation was suddenly cut off when both Evan and Cappie's phones went off.
"Uh oh," said Cappie as he read the text. "We've got to get to the house."
"What's wrong?" Casey asked.
"The brothers want to play some pledge bowling so we're needed," Evan replied as he got up and grabbed some things off of his desk.
"At one in the morning?" Casey asked.
"Yeah, I'm sorry," said Cappie standing up and walking over to her. "But we have to go."
Casey rolled out her bottom lip and gave Cappie a pouty look.
"I'll make it up to you, I promise," he said.
"Come on Cap, we can't be late," said Evan as he opened the door.
"I'll catch you around," said Cappie as he kissed her on the cheek and quickly ran out of the room with Evan.
Casey stood there for a second wondering what to do. She glanced around the room and saw one of Cappie's notebooks sitting on the table next to his bed with something on it that caught her eye. She stepped towards it and saw in the corner was her name with a heart drawn around it. Seeing that made her smile as she left the room and made her way back towards her dorm.
Casey looked at the page she was reading and saw all of the hearts drawn on the page with Cappie's name in the middle of them. She followed them onto the next page and continued to reminisce of the good times with Cappie.
"So are you and Cappie like officially boyfriend and girlfriend yet?" Ashleigh asked as the two girls made their way over to the Kappa Tau house.
"I'm not sure," Casey replied. "We've met for coffee a couple of times over the past week and finally exchanged phone numbers but we've never said anything about whether we are just dating or exclusive or anything like that."
"Don't you think you should find out?" Ashleigh asked.
"How do you even ask something like that?" Casey replied. "I wouldn't even know where to start."
"Well maybe at the party tonight you two can have some time to talk or something," said Ashleigh. "It is all about hell-raisers and heart-breakers you know."
"I know," said Casey with a sigh. "I just don't want to be the one with the heart broken."
"Girl there is no way Cappie would turn you down looking as sexy as you do tonight," said Ashleigh.
"Thanks Ash," said Casey with a smile as they opened the door to the Kappa Tau house and went inside.
"Well hello ladies," said Evan as he put his arms around both of them. "So nice of you to join us tonight."
"We wouldn't miss a bad ass Kappa Tau party for the world," said Casey.
"Glad to hear," said Evan. "Let's go get you two some drinks."
Evan led the two girls to the backyard where there was a small wading pool full of blue liquid. Evan dunked two cups in the liquid and handed them to Casey and Ashleigh.
"What is this?" Ashleigh asked.
"I'm not really sure," said Evan with a smile. "I just know if makes you drunk pretty quickly so make sure you pace yourselves."
Casey took a sip and could taste the alcohol right away. "Whew," she said. "That is strong."
"Warned ya," said Evan as he left to go talk with a few of his pledge brothers.
"Where's Cappie?" Ashleigh asked as she looked around.
"I don't know," said Casey also looking around. "I haven't seen him yet."
The two girls walked back inside with their drinks and were surprised as they saw Cappie sliding down the banister next to the stairs.
"Wooooo!" he said all the way down until his butt slid off the end and right onto the floor.
"Are you okay?" Casey asked as she rushed over to him.
"Yeah, I'm good," said Cappie standing up and rubbing his butt. "Good thing I have a little padding back there to break the fall."
"Aw do you want me to kiss it and make it feel all better?" Casey joked.
"Don't tempt me," said Cappie as he put his arm around her and the two of them headed back out to the backyard.
"Ow, ow! Nice score Cappie," said one of his brothers as Casey and he walked by.
"What exactly does he mean by that?" Casey asked him.
"He's just in agreement with me in how smokin' hot you look tonight," said Cappie as he stepped back and observed Casey in her short black skirt and pink fitted tank top.
Casey just blushed as the two of them made their way over to where some people were dancing.
They spent the next several hours drinking and dancing and talking amongst the party guests. Casey couldn't help but notice that Cappie barely took his hands off of her that night. He always had his hand on her hip or shoulder when they were talking to people and their closeness on the dance floor was unlike anyone else's. He looked down at her with a passion in his eyes that drove Casey crazier by the second.
It was towards the end of the night and the party was starting to wind down. Cappie offered to walk Casey home to make sure she was safe.
"All of that dancing kind of made me hungry," said Casey as the two of them stepped over a couple of passed out brothers on their way back into the house.
"Come with me," was all Cappie said as he took her hand and pulled her towards the other side of the house and into the kitchen.
Oddly enough there was no one in the kitchen; it was just the two of them.
"It's so quiet in here compared to out there," said Casey.
"That's because we don't keep the alcohol in here," said Cappie with a smile as he surprised Casey by lifting her up so she sat on the counter and eye level with him. They locked eyes for a second before Cappie turned around and opened the refrigerator. "Officer Huck comes in every so often to inspect the kitchen for alcohol so we have other hiding places to keep us from getting in trouble."
Casey watched as Cappie pulled a pink box out of the refrigerator and set it on the counter next to her.
"Is that a pie I see?" Casey asked with a giggle.
"It is. I hope you like lemon meringue," he said as he opened the lid.
Casey watched as Cappie pulled a fork out of one of the drawers and took a forkful right out of the middle of the pie.
"My lady," he said as he held the fork up to her mouth.
Casey took the bite and savored both the deliciousness of the bite but also the sweetness of the moment.
"Hey Cappie," she said as she watched him take a bite of his own.
"Hm?" he asked as he turned to look at her.
"You said 'my lady' and I guess that I'm just kind of confused as to if we have some sort of label on our relationship or if we are just kind of hanging out and having a good time," said Casey as her heart started to race.
She became even more nervous when Cappie didn't respond. She wished at that point that she hadn't even asked. He was all about having fun in college; he didn't want some sort of serious relationship with her.
She watched as he took another forkful out of the pie and put it in front of her. She was about to take the bite when he quickly brought it back towards him causing her to lean forward to try and get it again. But instead he moved the fork out of the way and crashed his lips into hers. She felt her breath hitch in her throat as his lips touched hers. She heard the fork fall to the counter as she felt both of his hands grab her waist and pull her closer to him. It was their first real kiss and it was all the fireworks that she had dreamed of.
It was Casey who pulled away first. And it was not because she wanted to, it was more for a need to take a breath and calm herself down. She may have pulled away but he still stood there with his hands tightly around her waist and his face no more than a couple of inches from hers.
"So does that answer your question?" he asked softly as he brought his gaze from her lips up to her eyes.
"Yeah," Casey nodded her head as she brought her lips back to his for another kiss.
"Casey! Casey! Earth to Casey!"
Casey shook her head and came crashing back into reality as she looked up to see her mom standing next to her.
"Hey mom," she said as she closed the journal and set it in her lap.
"I've been saying your name for at least a minute," Mrs. Cartwright said. "What has you so engrossed in this book?"
"Nothing," said Casey as she pulled it away as her mom tried to reach for it.
Her mom just gave her a strange but knowing look. "This is about Cappie isn't it?"
"It's fine mom," said Casey as she stood up and put the journal in the box to take home with her.
"How many times has he broke your heart?" Mrs. Cartwright asked.
"Probably as many times as I've broken his," said Casey in a frustrated tone.
"You need to let it go hun," said Mrs. Cartwright. "It's been a year since the two of you have seen each other and even longer since you've had any kind of conversation with him."
"I really should get going," said Casey as she picked up the box and walked towards the door.
"Case, you know I'm just trying to help," said Mrs. Cartwright.
"I'll be fine mom," said Casey as she made her way into the hallway. "I'll see you at the party tomorrow."
And with that she made her way outside and wrestled to get the box in the backseat of her car. As she closed the door she couldn't help but see the journal lying right on top and wonder how things went so wrong when they were so good.
A/N: So boo for not many Greek fanfiction readers out there anymore but I figured I would continue with the story for the few who are, espeically bettakappa...your comment made me lol and I know you get just as excited for Cappie/Casey interaction as I do :0) Hope everyone liked this chapter. Next one will probably be up next week sometime.
