"I can't lie you're on my mind, stuck inside my head. I wanna feel your heart beat for me instead." –Maroon 5 (I Can't Lie)
Nearly two days later, Cassie was organizing a new book display at Flourish and Blotts, in a zombie like state for that matter, when the bell above the door jingled. Instinctively, she looked up and did a double take. A redheaded person was entering the shop. Her heart stopped, but restarted when she realized it wasn't Fred, but George. She watched as he scanned the room. He was looking for her. She wished she could hide somewhere, but before she could leave, he caught her eye and made a beeline for her.
"Cassie," he said, his voice sounding breathless.
"What?" she asked. She couldn't possibly say anything else.
George rubbed the back of his neck. "I was wondering if there was any way you would talk to Fred again and maybe, I don't know, go on a date with him?"
Cassie's mouth dropped open. "Go on a date with him? Are you mental? Did he tell you what happened the other day?"
George nodded. "He did, but he hasn't been the same since. I wanted to surprise him and get you to go on a date with him."
"I'm guessing he doesn't know you're here, then," Cassie replied.
"No," George answered, shaking his head. "I came on my own."
"George, I can't," Cassie sighed. "I still have a boyfriend and if I went on a date with Fred..." she trailed off and inhaled through her nose. "Plus, Fred hates me now. He thinks I'm an idiot."
"He doesn't!" George exclaimed, "and why don't you just break up with Josh?"
Cassie just shook her head.
"Are you blind?" George asked. "Or do you want to be in that kind of relationship?"
"George, lower your voice," she whispered. She was getting into an argument with Fred's twin brother now. Maybe it was better before she had ever talked to either of them. She couldn't take getting into arguments with everyone. Josh was already enough.
"No," George answered roughly. He paused and crossed his arms. "I warned Fred that this would happen."
"That what would happen?"
"That you would just lead him on and hurt him."
"I didn't mean to hurt him and I had-have-no intention of leading him on! We both agreed together that we wouldn't see each other again and don't you think I'm hurt by this too?"
"You've been nothing but stress," George answered. "Fred was doing everything he could to see you again but you keep dancing away as if this is just a game."
"It's not," she whispered. "Please believe me."
George just looked at her before shaking his head "I don't know. All I know is my twin brother is upset and it's all because of you." With that, he turned and left the shop while Cassie stood there, dumbfounded and hurt.
Cassie sat at her desk staring out the window. She had been working on her book and had been on a roll. Now, she was taking a little break, but it still wasn't exactly a break as she was still thinking.
She was thinking about Fred and her whole fate theory as well as fate in general. The day with Fred at Flourish and Blott's had been a year ago and she hadn't stopped thinking about Fred and fate since. It nearly killed her to think about him since he most likely hated her, but she wanted to know more than ever if fate was real and what different people described fate as. And of course, when she thought of fate, she thought of Fred. She was also writing her book on fate, so he almost never left her mind. If she was being honest, he would still be on her mind even if she didn't think of him whenever she thought of the word 'fate'.
On a more positive note, the book had been coming along incredibly. She had scrapped everything she had written before, topic, notes, every last remnant, and started anew the day after she had said goodbye to Fred at Flourish and Blott's. Ever since, she had been researching, working, writing and tweaking like mad. It was taking a long time, but she wanted it to be just perfect.
She was still living in the same house she had been in and Josh was still living with her. He had been a lot happier once Fred had gone out of the picture for good, but he was still working way too hard and way too much. After Fred left Flourish and Blott's that day, everything had gone back to the way it had been between her and Josh and Cassie couldn't decide if that was good or bad.
They hadn't been on a date in a year and he had come home late on his birthday. His birthday dinner had been sitting on the table, nearly cold, and Cassie had been sitting alone in a new dress she had bought just for the occasion.
And yet, she was still with him. Why? She asked herself that question all the time. She questioned herself for not breaking up with him or standing up to him. She questioned herself for putting up with his messes and his lateness and his carelessness, but most of all she questioned herself for letting Fred walk away that awful day one year ago.
She could have gone after him. She knew where he lived and where he worked, but she really couldn't go find him. What would she say? She had to get rid of Josh first, which she wasn't sure how to do yet. He would most certainly get angry. Very angry.
She hadn't seen, heard from, or mentioned Fred in a year and she wasn't sure if she wanted to change that just yet. It could possibly enrage Josh even more than last time and she didn't want that.
She shook her head to clear her mind and went back to her writing. Today was Friday. Josh wasn't going to be home until late. He was spending the night with his friends; the one night a week he actually got the opportunity to. Of course, he couldn't make time for her though. He never had time for her anymore.
Around dinnertime, Cassie decided to go pick up some food. She wasn't really in the mood for cooking. She wasn't in the mood for The Leaky Cauldron either, so she decided to Apparate to the Three Broomsticks.
She Apparated to a spot just down the street from her destination and walked down the sidewalk. It was a beautiful night and she found herself feeling relaxed and happy. She took a deep breath, breathing in the warm summer air. As she reached the pub's windows, she happened to glance inside and gasped.
Fred was sitting at a booth on the far side of the room from the windows. Despite the distance from where she was standing, Cassie could still see him clearly. She hadn't seen him in a year, and while that was shock enough, it wasn't the most shocking. It wasn't what made her heart drop and her stomach clench.
Fred was sitting across from George and Katie. That was fine. It was normal. The horrible part was that next to Fred was a girl. A pretty, sparkly-eyed girl who was laughing at something he had just said.
Cassie watched as Fred rested his arm across the back of the booth and the girl snuggled into his side, still laughing. Fred was laughing now too and George and Katie were smiling.
She wanted to look away, but her eyes currently weren't listening to her brain. She couldn't make them move. She didn't know why seeing Fred with another girl made her so upset. From the looks of it, he was in a relationship. He had found someone else and he had moved on while she was still stuck. Stuck with Josh, stuck thinking about Fred, and stuck still obsessing over fate. Well, if fate was in fact real, it was slapping her in the face right now.
She finally turned on her heel and marched away in the other direction, Apparating away at the end of the street. The Leaky Cauldron was suddenly looking like the perfect place to be right now.
Fred sat in the booth at the Three Broomsticks, next to a girl named Sierra. She was pretty enough and really nice too, but Fred wasn't getting as into the date as he had hoped. He hadn't expected himself to, though. George and Katie were trying to find him someone. They had been trying since last year, setting him up with a blind date every month. Then, they would go on double dates together.
Twelve. That was the number of girls Fred had met and gone on blind dates with in the past year. He didn't know what was wrong with him. A good number of them had been girls he would have gone for, but when he was on the dates, he just wasn't feeling it. He had a good time, but he was never in the mood to see the girl again.
George and Katie, bless them, hadn't given up or gotten upset or discouraged. They only tried harder to help Fred move on from Cassie, but it was apparently taking longer and much more effort than they had all anticipated.
Fred leaned back into the booth and rested his arm over the back. He immediately realized the consequence of what he had done and felt his stomach clench for a second as Sierra leaned into him and rested her head against his shoulder. She really was a nice girl. He probably would have liked her if his head wasn't so occupied with Cassie.
Darn Cassie. He had heard through the grapevine that she was still with Josh so she obviously hadn't split up with him in the past year. That must mean she really was happy with him. Either that or scared. Fred thought about it. Cassie wasn't pathetic, but Josh could be a scary person, especially, it seemed, when he was mad or stressed. Cassie was probably just being too nice and giving him the benefit of the doubt.
He shook his head. He couldn't afford to be thinking of Cassie. It wasn't going to help him. He was on a date with Sierra now. Cassie was old news; she was in the past. Gone. Done. Over. Unfortunately.
As Fred laughed at something George had said, he was overcome with an odd fear that he was going to be stuck forever pining after one girl he was never going to be with.
Flinching slightly, Cassie gingerly applied ice to the bruise on her arm. It was Monday night and Josh had come home from work more stressed than usual. Cassie had been working on her book and she had lost track of time. Naturally, Josh had been hungry, cranky and stressed, and when he had come home to no dinner on the table, well, he had apparently just lost it.
He had overreacted in Cassie's opinion. It had been an accident. She hadn't meant to forget about dinner. She had been hungry too but she hadn't even noticed due to her focus on her book, which she had thrown herself into to numb the pain of seeing Fred with another girl. Nonetheless, Josh had yelled and aimed a kick at the cabinet, where her arm just so happened to be conveniently in the way as she reached for a bowl. It had hurt something terrible. She was actually lucky it wasn't broken.
Josh had apologized like mad, but Cassie wasn't as easy to forgive him this time. It had turned into a shouting match. Josh claimed that he had put in a long day at work and asked if it was too much to expect a meal on the table. Cassie claimed she had lost track of time while she worked on something that was hopefully going to be how she made her living. She also told him that she cooked every night without fail and that he was the one who always showed up late.
In short, the night had ended terribly and now Cassie was sitting on the edge of the tub, the bathroom door locked and ice on her arm. She was still seeing images of Fred with that other girl and they wouldn't go away. She lifted the ice and stared at the blue-purple mark as her brain whirred. She knew why she was upset about seeing Fred on a date. She didn't want to admit it to herself, but deep down she knew it was true. There had to be some way to fix this. She couldn't stay stuck in a dead end forever.
A/N: I hope everyone likes the chapter! Don't forget to review!