Third chapter up…I obviously don't learn from my mistakes. I spent so long on writing the last chapter yesterday that I completely forgot to revise Geography therefore have completely failed, but it's all good…I think I'll take the Cappie approach and just let it all go over my head!! Thank you so much for the reviews and please continue! Hollowmeadow, I agree that Casey isn't an angel…not by a long shot, but I also feel that she does try to do the right thing, but everyone is only human. Boodlez94, I do like Casey/Evan but since I prefer Casey/Cappie I like to have a little Casey/Evan friendship and Rebecca is just so fun to write for! Please R+R!!
Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own Greek or any of its characters…one day who knows??
Casey didn't know what to say. Instead she just stared blankly at her boyfriend as he came towards her. He gave her a gentle kiss and seeing her face, laughed.
"I know it's unexpected, but I wanted to surprise you!"
Casey said faintly,
"Yeah, I am surprised. But you sent me a text this morning…you never said that you were back in Ohio…Max, what about the project?"
He shrugged.
"They'll be just fine without me…they probably won't even miss me at all, but I missed you so I decided to come back early."
Casey was too dazed to say anything. She was too scared that Max would guess that she hadn't been the house the previous night and if he guessed that, then there would be questions and questions would lead to her having to face an uncomfortable situation. Something she was not ready to do, not so soon after…Casey tried to conjure up a smile, but found that she had no difficulty doing it if she thought about the events of the previous night. She said more brightly,
"Well then, welcome back, Max. I've missed you. We have to catch up since talking on the phone and texting isn't quite the same, but I'm afraid that I agreed to meet up with Rusty this morning so I'm afraid I can't really blow him off. He has some sort of crisis going on with Jordan or something. I'm sorry, but I love you."
She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before running off. He didn't even have a chance to stop her. He sighed and looked at Rebecca who was still in the living room.
"Has something been going on that I don't know about? Is she alright?"
Rebecca shrugged, not wanting to get in the middle of the storm when he found out which she knew would happen. This was CRU after all, nothing stayed a secret for long.
x-x-x
Casey ran back to the Kappa Tau house, hoping that Cappie would still be there. Ignoring the cheers of the KT brothers she went up the stairs to Cappie's room quickly. Without knocking she went in, slightly out of breath. Cappie had dressed by now and was just about to come downstairs, but the sight of the windswept girl who had left his room just a couple of hours ago stopped him.
"What's the matter, Case?"
The expression on the blonde's face worried him. It combined dread with happiness, but also shock.
"Max is back…this morning he just came back."
Cappie felt his heart stop in his chest. This was it. The moment of truth. This was when she was going to tell him who she was really choosing. When he replied nothing, Casey looked up into his eyes and said in a small voice,
"I don't know what to do, Cap. I really don't. I want you both, but I can't have you both and so I don't know what to do."
Cappie felt his heart sink. He knew from experience that if she was indecisive then it was likely that in the end she would not choose him. He didn't blame her. Indecision meant that she had to think with her head and thinking with her head meant that he always appeared in a worse light. After all he was irresponsible, she had had a bad experience with him the first time around and he didn't have plans for the future, well none but being with her. His shoulders sank and he sighed, running a hand through his already messy hair.
"I don't know whether I can do this much longer, Case. You keep raising my hopes, making me believe that you could actually want to be with me…but in the end you always choose the other guy."
Casey cried,
"I tried to stop last night. You wouldn't listen, Cap. And in any case, I do want to be with you, but Max has given up so much for this relationship. He lavaliered me and I accepted, Cappie! I accepted! You know how the Greek system works; you of all people should understand why this is such a difficult decision for me!"
Cappie sat down on his bed, all the fight leaving him so that only his vulnerability showed.
"Casey, I love you and I'll always be here for you. But I don't know if my heart can take much more. I love you so much and it hurts so much every time I see you walk away with another guy. I don't think you understand just how it feels when you do it."
Casey began to cry quietly.
"Max doesn't know yet. So can you just wait for me to tell him? I promise I will, but I think that I need some time to steel myself to."
Cappie nodded, knowing that even if she did choose him she would never be happy unless she told him personally in the least possible manner, not that there was a way that he wouldn't be hurt.
What neither of them knew though was that Max had an idea that something was up. When he left the ZBZ house, he almost crashed into Rusty. He asked the sophomore, surprised,
"Hey, I thought that you were meeting up with your sister? What are you doing here?"
Rusty said almost automatically,
"No. I haven't seen her since last night when she was…ah studying with Cappie."
Max nodded, trying to act as if he knew about that.
"Oh right, sorry, must have made a mistake."
He was just about to walk away when Rusty suddenly turned to him.
"Wait, Max, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in England?"
Max nodded and explained how he had missed Casey so much that he had just decided to return to CRU early. If Rusty noticed that his voice was very carefully modulated and he was having a hard time hiding his emotions, the sophomore did not comment on it. He had a feeling that he knew exactly why Max had that furious look on his face, but the last thing he needed right now was a blowout with Max right before his History of Art midterm.
x-x-x
Casey took a deep breath as she came out of her Women's Studies midterm. She didn't think she had done well…who was she kidding? There was no way in hell that she would get anything above a D. she had just been so distracted with thoughts of Cappie and Max and everything in their little love triangle. Suddenly Max's face appeared in front of her. She thought she detected more than a little anger in his face, but she had no idea why. He couldn't have found out about Cappie after all, could he?
"So I bumped into Rusty this morning."
Casey froze, knowing that the penny must have dropped. She looked down, not daring to see what was in Max's face. She knew that she had hurt him and that he would never have done that to her.
"Max, I don't know what to say."
He said angrily,
"How about the truth? Tell me what happened. Tell me why you have been acting so strange."
Casey said quietly,
"Can we not do this here please, Max? Can we do this somewhere private? Please?"
The stony silence that met her let her know exactly what he thought of this idea.
"I'm not going to go anywhere with you until I've found out exactly what happened, Casey."
She sighed and replied,
"Fine, then, but don't make a scene. Look, Max, I never meant to hurt you and I really do love you. I don't want you to doubt that for a second. I love you. Last night Cappie and I were studying with some friends and then it turned out that Cappie had slept with both of them in the same night so unfortunately we had to leave. So we went to the library, but then we were kicked out and so we went back to the Kappa Tau house…not to his room. But then we had this argument about how he still loved me and…well…one thing led to another and I'm so sorry…I'm not this person…I'm not someone who cheats on a really great guy and I'm so sorry!"
Casey couldn't think how to mitigate the shock she knew Max would feel. She winced, expecting him to start shouting at her, but when she looked at him, he looked…rueful? She asked, confused,
"Ok, why aren't you yelling or upset or anything like that? I just told you that I cheated on you with a guy you hate…and you look like that?"
Max said, apologizingly,
"I'm sorry, Casey. It's just that I was prepared to be angry with you, but then I remembered what I had done in England. I had been so afraid to tell you about it…hell I wasn't even sure if I would. It was the reason I came back early…not really because I was done with the project or anything…well the missing you part was true…but I just felt so guilty…"
Casey felt her world rock. This had a feeling of déjà vu except that this time she hadn't waited to find out about her boyfriend cheating on her. She knew that she couldn't get angry; she had no right since she did the same thing.
"Oh…" she didn't know what else to say. Max looked at her anxiously and, knowing her as she did, understood that she was trying to be reasonable and not get angry or hurt since she had just done the same thing to him, but he also understood that it was easier said than done. "So where do we go from here?"
That question truly stumped him.
"Well, I came back for you so I'm willing to wait for you for whatever…but I guess the question I really need answered is: Do you love him?"
This time it was Casey's turn to be stumped.
"I do, but I also love you…and I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I want both of you…I love both of you…in different ways…it's almost as if there are two versions of me and one Casey is perfect with you whereas the other Casey is perfect with Cappie…and I'm just so torn. I'm been trying to figure out what to do all morning long and I've still come up with no answer."
Max took a deep breath.
"Well…you can think about it and if you decide that you want me more than I'll be right here waiting for you, but you decide that you would prefer to be with your ex-boyfriend then I'll let you go. But if you do come back to me, then you have to come with your whole heart…no more…of this…no more intense looks between the two of you. I understand that you'll always have a place in your heart for him and you'll always have a special bond with him because he was your first love and all, but if you come back to me…then your future has got to be tied up with me and only me."
Casey cupped his face in her hand for a moment before saying sadly,
"Thank you, Max. I didn't expect you to be so understanding so thank you. And if I choose you…then I promise I'll come to you with all of my heart."
