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*Cassandra's POV*
Kaitlyn and I got out of the car after she parked it in the parking lot of one of our favorite places to go to. It was a Saturday afternoon and a cloudy one. It has been rainning on and off all week, but when it did rain, there were countless areas getting flooded because of the excessive rain that poured down. Today wasn't any different with the rain being on and off. Looking ahead, I see a familiar figure walking towards the entrance and I knew who it was.
Wearing a black shirt with jeans and what looked like black sneakers, Roman walked by himself as he occasionally walked around with an umbrella in his hand. Finding myself wanting to walk a little faster, thunder began to fill the skies. Kaitlyn hooked her arm through mine as we picked up speed to get inside as a breeze began to kick in.
When we got inside, we went to the shortest line there, only to see that Roman was right in front of us. His long, raven black hair, was in a bun and though it was neat, there was still a strand of hair that stood out. Seeing him hook that strand of hair behind his ear, I gently poked him on the shoulder. He turned around and smiled, giving me butterflies. How is it that a simple smile from this man could make me feel like this?
"Hey Cassandra." Roman says as he share a hug.
"Hi." I say as his scent fills my nostrils when I breath it in. "This is my friend, Kaitlyn. This is Roman. The new coach I've told you about."
They greeted each other before the line moved up and it was time for him to give his order. Kaitlyn and I gave ours a few moments later and paid the girl before stepping aside to where he was to wait for our food.
"How long have the two of you been friends?" Roman asked.
"For a few years. We met when we were both still in Florida." Kaitlyn said. "And then we came back here to Texas."
"You're from here, too?" He asks.
She nods. "From Houston. That's one of the first things Cassandra and I bonded over."
Roman takes his food when the girl calls his number while Kaitlyn and I are given our food a few moments later. Getting a few napkins and straws, we find a table that was near Roman's and we take our seat.
"You okay, Cass?" Kaitlyn asks me when we do.
"Yeah, why?" I ask.
"You look a little flushed." She replies with a smile.
I feel my cheeks warm up a bit, knowing why it probably was. "No, I'm not. It's just a bit warm in here."
"You like Roman, don't you?" She asks as she takes a bite out of her fries.
"No, we're just friends." I tell her.
"Yes, but he's all you talk about." She says as she takes another bite. "The only guy you seem to talk about these days, is Roman. But I like him. He seems like a good guy, so far."
I begin eating my food as I look over at him and see that he's eating and looking around before looking through his phone. I look back down before I feel a pair of eyes on me and when I look to see, it was Roman who's eyes lingered on me when they met with mine. Hooking my hair behind my ears, I feel myself growing warm again before seeing him walk towards us with the corner of my eye.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but is it okay if I sit here?" Asked Roman, referring to a seat that was next to me.
"Yeah, sure. You can sit." Said Kaitlyn as I just agreed and gave him a smile. Just as he did and took another bite of his food, her phone rang and she excused herself to answer it.
"So you talk about me to your friends?" Roman asks me.
I look over at him and feel my face warm up as he gives me that little smile of his, but I played it cool even though that smile caused my heart to skip a beat. "I was just telling her that we had a new coach for the football team, is all. That you're a good coach and a good person."
"Don't worry, I'm not going to make you feel embarrased or anything like that. I'm not that kind of a person." He tells me softly so that only I can ehar him. "I find myself talking about you, too. But sometimes I can't stop myself once I get on a roll."
"All good, I hope. What you say about me." I tell him.
Roman nods. "How can it be anything bad? You make me nervous, remember?"
"How do I make you nervous?" I ask him.
"I can show you better than I can tell you." He says, making my stomach become swarmed with butterflies and sent my heart pounding into my throat when he added that wicked smile.
"And how will you do that?" I ask. But before he could say anything else, Kaitlyn came back and took her seat to finish her food.
She looked at the two of us as we began eating again, realizing that we really hadn't eaten much in the time frame that she was gone. My best friend gave me a knowing look and I knew that she would want to hear what all happened later when he wasn't around. I felt like I used to years ago when I would get extremely nervous and it felt like I would be talking to a crowd full of people when it was only a small amount of people around you. As if my first instinct was to hide and be by myself instead of being around people.
As soon as we were all done and about to leave, we walk outside to see that it was beginning to rain. I heard Roman say my name and looked at him to see that look, as if he wanted to say something.
"I just wanted to know if you wanted to uh...hang out with tomorrow. With me." He said as we walked.
"I'd like that." I say with a smile, and seeing him relax a bit. "What are we going to do?"
He thought for a moment as we got to his car. I stayed behind a bit, letting Kaitlyn walk ahead as Roman and I both stood under our umbrellas.
"I was thinking about maybe we could go to the movies. I know that probably doesn't sound like the most interesting thing to do, but it's been a long time since I've done that. And I thought it could give us an opportunity to spend time together without having to worry about being somewhere at a certain time and having a bit of privacy." Roman says to me. "Don't get me wrong, I don't mind Dean being there or Kaitlyn because she seems like a really good person and I can totally see why the two of you get along so well. I just wanted it to be the two of us for a bit."
"I actually like going to the movies, so I'd be fine with that." I say with a smile as I looked into his eyes and saw how how the color grey dominated them today.
Roman gives me that smile of relief. "Cool. Just text me your address and I'll let you know what time I'll pick you up."
"I'll do that." I tell him before touching his arm and feeling the electricity that is sent through my arm and down my spine. I slowly pull away before looking down and biting my lip. "I'll see you tomorrow then."
"See you tomorrow." He says as I walk away. I look back to see him smile before he gets to his car.
I reach Kaitlyn who was patiently waiting for me a few feet away and a smile grew on her face. "So you and the coach, huh?"
"That totally sounded like something my students would say." I say, laughing softly as the rain begins to pick up strength. "But, he just asked me to hang out with him tomorrow. We're going to go to the movies. I just have to give him my address."
"Is this a date?" She asks, with that little smile on her face.
I let out a playful sigh as we get in the car. "No, it's just two friends hanging out. That's all."
"Whatever you say." Kaitlyn says with that look on her face.
'Yup, that's exactly what it is." I say. If only I can tell that to my heart so that it can stop beating so fast, nearly making it's way up my throat because of him.
*Roman's POV*
I was on my way to pick up Cassandra from her place and I found myself looking forward to seeing her. I had on a white, button up shirt with jeans and white sneakers. My hair was slicked back into a neat bun and I put on my best cologne. It wasn't a date, but I still wanted to look nice for her.
Getting to her apartment complex, I parked next to her car and walked up the stairs to her apartment that was on the second floor. It wasn't too far away from the large pool that was in the middle of the entire complex. After knocking, the door opened and my breath caught in my throat. Cassandra stood in front of me with a light pink shirt and light blue jeans with boots with sneakers as her long hair cascading down her back in soft waves. Her green eyes with a strong hint of blue in them tonight as her pink lips shined.
"Hi." She says with a smile as she steps aside to let me in.
"Hey." I manage to let out as we share a hug when I walk in. I couldn't help but notice the way she easily fit in my arms as they wrap around her waist. Taking in her scent, I close my eyes as I smell jasmine with a hint of vanilla as well as coconut from her hair.
Pulling away, I see a hint of pink on her cheeks and I smile before closing the door. Looking around her apartment, it was definitely a little bigger than the one bedroom apartment that I had just moved into and a bit more cozy with more furniture and pictures of friends and family.
"How are you?" I asked as we stood in her living room.
"I'm good and you?" She asks.
I nod as my eyes linger on her. She just looked beautiful tonight as she always did. "I'm doing pretty good."
Cassandra smiled as she played with her fingers and looked down. "I'll just get my purse and we could go."
"Okay." I say as I watch her walk to her room and come back out a few moments later with her purse hanging from her shoulder. "Ready to go?"
"Yeah, let's go." She replies before I let her take the lead.
Once we get downstairs, we walk side by side to my car and when we did, I open the door for her and helped her get in before getting to the drivers side and turning the car on when I got in. A few minutes later we had left her place and had gotten on the road. It wasn't long until we get to the movie theaters and make our way inside to see onf oe of the new movies that had come out recently. After getting out tickets, we make our way upstairs to where the concession stands are and a few games.
"I wanna try that racing game with the motorcyle." Cassandra says in an excited voice as she looks in the direction of the games. "Let's go try it."
I chuckle when she goes without me saying anything, yet I find myself walking behind her, trying to catch up to her. Seeing that we needed coins to play it, she turns around and goes to where we could change dollar bills for the coins. Cassandra puts in a dollar and I put in another and the sound of coins fill the air a few moments later.
Watching her get on one motorcycle, I get on the second one and we both reach to put in the coins and choose a two player option. Picking what we wanted, it was time to start the race and Cassandra was as adorable as could be, with the look on her face. The race started and she was already ahead of me by two spots. As much as I tried to speed up, she always found a way to speed up even more and get ahead. It wasn't long before we both crossed the finish line with her in 1st place.
"You've played this game before haven't you?" I ask, causing her to laugh softly.
"A few times. But my dad also likes motorcyles and I've seen him driving it a lot when I was growing up. It wasn't until the year that I turned 18 that he let me ride with him for the first time." She says.
"Nice." I say as we started walking around again. "I've never rode on a motorcyle before. Does he still let you ride with him?"
"Sometimes." She tells me. "I love those moments with my dad. It's just me and him and our little drives whether it be on his bike or in his truck or my car. More so in his truck. We just drive around and around, not really having any specific place that we want to go."
We then got on line and ordered nachos and popcorn with two drinks when it was our turn to order. As we were waiting, we looked at each other and smiled before looking away.
"Are you still nervous around me?" She asks me softly.
"Maybe." I saw with a soft smile. "Should I be?"
Cassandra's lips form a beautiful smile on her face. "Maybe. Should I be worried?"
"No, there's no need to worry at all." I say to her, seeing the smile threatning to show on her lips. I placed my hand on the side of her face and stroked her cheek with my thumb as our gaze locked and we forgot where we were. Just then, the guy that took our order gave us our food with our sodas, making me clear my throat a bit as we grabbed our things after I drop my hand from her face. "Thank you."
Three hours later...
"Thank you for tonight. I had a good time." Says Cassandra when I walk her to her apartment.
"Anytime. I had a good time, too." I tell her as I shove my hands into my pockets. "I should head home. It's getting late."
We both look at the time to see that it was almost 11:30 at night and we both had work in the morning.
"Oh, yeah. We...work. Tomorrow." Cassandra says with what sounded like some dissapointment in her voice as she turned to her open her door. "I'll see you tomorrow, then. Thank you again for tonight."
"Cassandra?" I ask right as she walks in. When she turns around, I can't get the courage to say anything else. "Goodnight."
She gives me a small smile as something flashes across her eyes, though I wasn't sure what it was. "Goodnight."
Seeing the door close, I let out a sigh and lean against the wall that was nearby. I groan as I put my head in my hands before going down the stairs and getting in my car. I make my way home, where I end up not being able to sleep because of all the thoughts running through my mind.
The next day, after school, I go pick up Dean from work and it was a day without seeing Cassandra. For some reason, I was aching for her. I wanted to see her and hear her voice. I wanted to smell the jasmine on her that she leaves behind when she walks by or when she's close enough for you to catch her scent. To see the beautiful green eyes that I find a level of comfort in.
"So, you never told me how yesterday went on your date with Cassandra." Dean says as I begin to drive after he gets in and puts on his seat belt.
"It wasn't a date. And nothing happened. We just went to the movies, played a game and grabbed a bite to eat after the movie." I tell him. "We had a good time though. We talked about anything and everything all at the same time. I took her home and it kind of ended on an I don't know kind of thing."
Though I kept my eyes on the road, I could tell that Dean's eyes were on me. "What does that mean?"
"It means, I didn't make a move for anything more." I say. "We both admitted that we had a great time that night. We enjoyed it. But I suddenly said that I had to go because it was getting late."
"Are you serious?" He asks. "You can't be serious, Roman."
I let out a long sigh. "I wish I wasn't."
"Have you talked to her since?" He asks.
"No. I texted her but she didn't reply and she always does." I say with disappointment. "I have to try anyways. I want to talk to her. I need to."
I park the car when we get to his apartment complex and I just look out the window when I turn my car off.
"Hey, I'm sure Cassandra will talk to you soon." Dean says. "It may not be right now, but she'll talk to you. I'm sure of it."
"What's your opinion on her?" I ask as we get out of the car and go to his apartment.
"When it comes to what?" He asks.
I let him go inside first as he opens his door and I close it behind me before he takes me to his kitchen. "Relationships. Emotions. Stuff like that. I know, it probably sounds weird, but yeah."
"Cassandra knows what she wants. That's fact, but it's a good quality in her." Dean says, taking out two beers and handing me one. "She seems to be on the private side and keeps her heart protected. She's a sweetheart though. I've been through enough in my life to know for a fact that Cassandra's the type of woman who will care for whomever she's in a relationship with. Look at how she is with her friends, so imagine in a relationship. Cassandra's happy with the way that she is and so someone who likes how she is and how she is as well as someone who's very accepting of it, great. Besides, you like her."
"Dean, I told you, we're just friends." I say to him.
He drinks some of his beer. "I know and I'm not denying that the two of you are friends. I'm glad that you're friends with each other. I'm just saying."
I give him a look before I take another drink of my beer. We continued to talk for a while longer before I decided to go back to my apartment.
A/N: Do you think that Roman and Cassandra hanging was really a date or something that was just between two friends? Why did Roman end the night with Cassandra the way that he did? Is she trying to avoid him by not replying to his messages? Will Roman try to make things right?