A/N - Than you so much for reading, and especially to those who review. I love hearing from you guys!
Jake was up and ready to go with the sun the next morning. He had slept great the night before and woke up feeling more refreshed than he had in a long time. Now he was anxious to get back on the road, and more importantly, to see Cassandra again.
He shouldn't have missed her as much as he did. They had only spent a few hours apart, and she was only a few feet away in the next room. But still, the two of them had spent almost every moment with each other since the trip started. Without Cassandra there with him, Jake felt like a piece of him was missing.
Jake was snapped from his thoughts to the sound of his phone buzzing. He rolled his eyes when he realized it was Jones calling again, but he was in too good of a mood to get truly upset.
"Isn't it a little early for you to be up, Jones?" Jake asked immediately after answering. It was early enough as it was, but Portland was an hour behind Wyoming and Stone knew that Jones was not a morning person.
"Baird got me up," Ezekiel whined from his end. "Some magical voodoo shit. I don't know, I wasn't really paying attention."
"Wait, we have a case?" Jake asked, suddenly concerned. "Do you need Cassandra and I? Just have Jenkins set up the door, we'll come help."
"No, everything's fine, mate," Ezekiel insisted. "Flynn's still here and it's nothing we can't handle."
"Well if you don't need us, why are you calling me?" Jake grumbled. His mood may have been better that morning, but it didn't mean he wanted to put up with Jones' usual teasing.
"I just wanted to let you know that I enjoyed looking at those pictures," Jake could hear the smugness radiating from Ezekiel's voice.
"Pictures?" He asked. "What pictures?"
"The pictures Cassandra posted of you two on Facebook."
"Oh," Jake relaxed a little. "I'm not on Facebook."
"I'm not surprised. You're more into the tin can and string method of communication, right?"
"Wha-" Jake wasn't sure what Jones was trying to say, but he had a feeling he had just been insulted. Before he could stammer out a complaint, he was cut off.
"You guys looked awfully comfortable together," Jones added, obviously smirking on his end.
"Well, we're friends," Jake said defensively.
"That was a pretty tight grip you had around her waist in the one shot."
"What are ya gettin' at, Jones?"
"You know, for a bloke with a 190 IQ you're very dense," Jones said matter of factly. "Anyways, I gotta run. Baird just got back and she's giving me that death stare again." Ezekiel hung up before Jake could even start to stammer this time.
Jake sighed, but he didn't have time to feel confused by Jones' phone call this time because as soon as he slipped his phone into his back pocket there was a soft knock at the door. He felt his whole body relax and he immediately went over to open it.
"Mornin'," Jake greeted her with a smile that she instantly returned.
"Good morning," Cassandra responded. Her outfit was all new today, a grey and black plaid skirt worn over black tights, and a light blue sweater with a black collared blouse underneath. She wore the same high tops she had been wearing, so Jake assumed they must have been the only shoes she brought. She held a paper bag in her hand, and when Jake looked at it questioningly she held it up higher. "You bought bagels yesterday, I wanted to return the favour. There's a bakery across the street, I got us some cinnamon rolls. I hope that's alright."
"Alright? Of course it's alright," Jake stepped aside, holding the door open so Cassandra could come into the room. She walked in, and after Jake closed the door the pair of them lingered in the doorway for a moment.
"Uh, you wanna sit down?" Jake asked, gesturing into the small motel room.
"Sure," Cassandra replied. She walked in a little further and hesitantly took a seat on the side of one of the beds. Jake followed, sitting across from her on the other bed. Once they were both seated Cassandra held the bag out to Stone, offering him a cinnamon roll. He took one, smiling politely as he fished it out of the bag.
"So, you uh...you sleep alright?" he asked, picking off a piece of his pastry and popping it into his mouth.
"Not too bad," Cassandra answered as she grabbed herself a roll out of the bag. "I had a bit of trouble falling asleep, but once I finally did I was fine."
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Jake agreed. "I had trouble falling asleep myself. Couldn't seem to quiet my brain."
Cassandra nodded, chewing on a piece of cinnamon roll and swallowing before she responded. "That was my problem, too."
"Yeah?" Jake asked, a little worried about just what she may have been thinking about.
"Oh well, you know. There's been a lot to think about lately," she hesitated to say, not really wanting to give too much away.
"Yeah," Jake said again, this time a bit more definitively. He wondered if she had been thinking about the previous night as well. Or did she simply mean that there had been a lot to think about in general? The case, losing those people, Jake had taken it the hardest, having become so close to Mabel, but it had affected the entire team. Maybe Cassandra had simply been thinking about all of that?
His head was bowed down, focused on the food in his hands, but he allowed his eyes to creep up and sneak a peek at Cassandra, hoping that her facial expression would give away more than her words did.
She was just finishing up the last bite of her cinnamon roll, her face also downcast which made her harder for Jake to read. He watched her closely as she subconsciously brought her finger to her mouth, sucking off the remains of the icing that had coated the pastry. Jake's eyes went wide, and he knew that he should look away, but he found himself unable to do so. Only a few seconds passed, though time had slowed down in Jake's mind. His mouth was agape, his pupils dilated, when Cassandra finally looked up and met his gaze.
Jake's eyes quickly darted around the room, looking everywhere except at the redhead in front of him. Cassandra pulled her finger from her mouth, wiping her now wet finger off on her skirt.
"I uh...it's...everything's sticky," Cassandra squeaked, standing up a bit too quickly and heading to the small washroom. Jake heard her mumble something about washing her hands, but he was too busy mentally chastising himself to really hear her.
He had finished his own cinnamon roll by the time she came out of the washroom. He stood up when he saw her, brushing his fingers off on his jeans and reaching for his suitcase.
"You uh, you ready to go?" he asked, still not able to look directly at her. He ran his fingers through his hair nervously and wondered how he had managed to be so stupid as to screw up yet another day of this trip before it had even started.
"Yeah," Cassandra replied, her voice quiet and slightly strained.
She headed out the door first, Jake following shortly behind. The night before he had been so sure of his plan to wait until the end of the trip to talk to Cassandra. It seemed like a pretty solid plan at the time. But he hadn't taken in account just how difficult it might be to spend those eleven or so hours with her. Sure, he had figured talking to her early on could make things more awkward, but it hadn't occurred to him just how awkward things would be if he didn't talk to her.
He hadn't factored one thing into his plan. It had seemed easy at the time, when Cassandra was tucked a safe distance away in her own room. But now that she was here in front of him, now that he could see her, he was once again losing all sense of himself. It was taking all of his willpower not to just reach out and grab her, to pull her in close to him, and to lean down and finally see what kissing Cassandra would feel like. Jake had kissed a lot of girls in his past, but he had a feeling kissing Cassandra would be different, would be better, than all of those.
So what if it made things awkward? Things were already awkward thanks to his vivid imagination and a bag of sticky cinnamon rolls. Jake suspected things were only going to get more awkward anyways. If he didn't kiss her now he knew he was only going to spend the day dreaming of kissing her, and surely Cassandra would notice something was up. At least if he actually kissed her she would have some kind of understanding.
She was walking ahead of him, but she was close enough that he could grab her arm if he reached out. That was all he had to do. Grab her arm, pull her towards him, maybe brush back some of her soft, red hair, all the while staring into her bright, blue eyes. By then she would likely have some idea of what he was trying to do, She could pull away if she wanted to, though he hoped she wouldn't. It was that easy.
He had made up his mind. Screw the plan, screw waiting. Jacob Stone was going to kiss the girl. He drew in a deep breathe, reached out, and pulled.
The truck door opened easily and reality came crashing back to him. Jake had spent the entire walk across the parking lot thinking about kissing Cassandra that he hadn't even realized that he had reached his truck. Cassandra was already inside, sitting in the passenger seat and watching him curiously. He silently cursed himself and then climbed in, once again finding himself unable to look directly at her.
"You okay?" Cassandra asked. The awkwardness from inside the motel seemed to have been forgotten, and her voice sounded concerned. Jake nodded, and forced himself to look over at her.
"Yeah," he said with a strained smile. "Just two days on the road is finally starting to take its toll on me."
Cassandra nodded in agreement but didn't say anything more. Jake was grateful for the silence as he pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street. It meant he only had to distract himself from her closeness and from the way she smelled of oranges and vanilla. He didn't have to worry about distracting himself from her angelic voice as well.
Instead, he focused on the road, on getting onto the I-70 and heading towards Colorado. They had four states to drive through that day, including the one that they were still in, and the drive would only feel longer if he spent the entire time thinking about Cassandra.
