Chapter Five: Cassie's Date
Several days after the impromptu meeting at Lita's apartment, Cassandra was in the Crown Arcade after school. She was sitting alone at the very last table of the snack bar section surrounded by books and paper. She was busy punching something into her graphing calculator when a cold drink suddenly appeared at her elbow. She looked up startled. "Andrew!"
"Hey Cass, what are you up to?" the blonde arcade guy smiled down at her. The two had become close friends upon their first meeting, due no doubt to both of them loving to tease Darien into stuttering distraction.
Cassie put down the calculator and stretched. "Calculus homework."
"Ooh, I'm sorry!"
She laughed. "It was my choice to take the blasted class. I hate math!" She started rubbing her sore neck; math always made her so tense.
"Here, let me." Andrew began massaging her neck and shoulders.
"Mmmm. That feels wonderful." Cassie began to relax under the rhythmic kneading of the boy's hands. She didn't know why she felt so at ease around Andrew, but at times like these, there was no way she was going to question what was clearly a gift from a benevolent God.
After a time, she leaned her head back to look at the blonde standing behind her. "What can I do to repay you, kind sir?" Andrew took it as a signal to stop and pulled out a chair, turned it around backwards and straddled it.
"Well, you can start by going to dinner and a movie with me tonight."
Cassie blinked, surprised, but then the little demon that sat on her shoulder whispered in her ear. Her eyes sparkled as she looked coyly away from Andrew. "I'd love too…except…"
"Except what?"
"Weeeeell, what about that girlfriend of yours? The one in Africa? The one Lita and Mina told me all about. Rita isn't it?" she flashed innocent eyes at him.
"Well, umm, you see…" Andrew turned red and began rubbing the back of his head. "We, well, I." Cassie listened to the unfortunate boy sputter embarrassedly for as long as she could before breaking into helpless giggles.
Andrew just stared at her aghast. After a few minutes, she was able to gain control, though it was difficult when she looked back at Andrew's stricken face.
"What's so funny?" he asked after gathering up the tattered ends of his dignity.
Cassie wiped her streaming eyes. "I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist." Andrew waited with exaggerated patience. "I know that you and Rita broke up months ago. And that you aren't telling people as a defense against Lita and Mina."
Andrew gaped. "How did you know? Did Darien tell you?"
"Oh no, Darien wouldn't betray a confidence. Mina found out somehow that the two of you broke up. She thinks that you're not telling everyone because you're, how did she put it, 'mourning your lost love.'"
"Rita and I both decided that our relationship wasn't working!"
Cassie nodded. "I figured as much. I thought that it was much more likely a method of keeping those two love-sick girls at bay."
"They're nice girls," Andrew protested, "but…"
"They can be a bit much." Cassie smiled at him in perfect understanding.
Andrew grinned back, "Well if you're done trying to make me look absolutely foolish, will you answer my question?"
"Like I said, I would love to go out," Cassie blushed, averting her eyes for a second due to real shyness this time.
"Great," Andrew grinned even wider, "I'll pick you up at 7, okay?"
"Perfect. Do you know where I live?"
"Yes!" Andrew blushed as she cut her eyes back at him. Cassie shook her head with a smile.
"Had this all planned did you?"
"For you, my lady, I'd plan anything!" he kissed her hand gallantly before going back to his arcade guy duties.
"Fresh." Cassandra whispered under her breath before returning to her Calculus with a light heart.
**********
Later that afternoon at the Hino's shrine
The Scout meeting was in full swing when Cassie arrived. She glanced around Raye's sitting room and noticed one glaring absence.
"Where is Serena?" she called as she stepped through the sliding door.
"Her mom grounded her for failing that last Local History test." Amy said quietly, while never even looking up from her books.
"Yeah, that Meatball Head is in big trouble this time. Maybe it'll teach her to study once in a while." Raye griped. The five girls and three cats exchanged glances. "Nyaah!"
"Well," Cassie drawled, "Is there anything important to discuss that can't possibly wait?"
Mina, Raye, and Lita's heads all snapped up when a strange note in her voice registered with them.
"No," Luna said confusedly, "Nothing has happened since the meeting yester..."
"Who is he?" Lita interrupted abruptly.
"What do you mean?" Cassie asked trying and failing to look innocent.
"Who. Is. The. Guy?" Lita repeated.
"Yeah and where are you going with him?" Raye added.
"Spill it girl!" Mina commanded.
Cassie looked back and forth between the three girls and sighed at their implacable faces. "Andrew and I are going to dinner and to a movie tonight," she said reluctantly.
"Andrew? You mean arcade guy, cute enough to drool over, Andrew?!" Lita squeaked.
"Yes," Cassie said even more reluctantly. She had a Bad Feeling about this.
"I knew it! I knew that he liked you!" Mina crowed.
"Details! We need details!" Raye yelled.
"I think that I told you enough. I've got to go, he's picking me up at 7. Bye now!" Cassie scooped up Perseus and fled before the startled cat could say a word.
"Poor girl," Luna said softly to Amy. Amy nodded.
"Could you look at this Luna, Artemis? I think that I've isolated the differences between these new youma and the old ones." The girl and the two cats crowded in around Raye's PC.
Meanwhile, the other three girls huddled together.
"You know, it would be a shame if Cassie and Andrew's date got messed up due to a youma attack." Mina said with an evil gleam in her eye.
"Yeah that would be horrible." Lita agreed.
"Maybe someone should try to make sure that they aren't disturbed." Raye added thoughtfully.
"She is one of our fellow Scouts! We have to stick together!" Mina grinned widely at her two cohorts. "We should tag along, just to keep them safe, of course."
"Of course!" Raye and Lita chorused.
************
Andrew opened the door to the car and handed Cassandra out. He then offered her his arm, which she accepted with a bit of false hauteur, before giggling. "I love that giggle of yours!" Andrew smiled down at his date; extremely pleased with the way the evening had gone. She smiled back up at the tall boy. Her head came just to the top of his shoulder.
They then strolled slowly up the walk to her house, talking and laughing with each other. They looked and acted like being together was the most natural and perfect thing in the world. The same couldn't be said about the three in a nearby clump of bushes.
***********
"Move over Raye! I can't see!"
"Stop shoving Lita!"
"Then move over!"
"I can't! I'm caught on this holly bush! Besides, I can't see either!"
"Will you two be quiet! I'm trying to hear!"
"What are they doing Mina?"
"They've stopped on the porch and are talking. Hey! Do you think they'll kiss?!"
"What?! Lita get me loose from this bush! I've got to see! Litaaaa!"
*************
Cassie stopped in mid-sentence to watch the wildly shaking bushes in the corner of her front yard. She sighed and shook her head.
"Is something wrong?" her escort asked.
"No, I just saw something. It might have been my cat Percy." 'It's not, but I can't tell him about our little spies. I'll just have to kill them later, very slowly and very, very painfully.' She smiled up at the tall boy and firmly put the incident out of her mind.
He smiled back down into her eyes. Something about his expression made her heart skip a beat. His brown eyes drew her into their depths and she felt something deep inside her respond and reach out to him. The power of Athena stirred in response and she fought to break free from Andrew's gaze before she lost control. As if he could sense her internal struggle, Andrew reached out and cupped his hand around the side of her face and jaw. That light, loving touch shattered Cassie's control and she felt a stab of pure terror as the power within her broke loose. That was before she felt the answering surge of power from Andrew. The two powers mingled and clashed invisibly around the pair, sounding like the cacophony of an orchestra warming up, with each instrument playing a wildly different melody. Then, with the suddenness of a snapping bowstring, the cacophony turned into perfect harmony; a harmony with so many over and undertones that it would take several lifetimes to pinpoint each crystalline note.
The two stood mesmerized for what seemed like an eternity, but in truth was no more than a few seconds. Then Andrew pulled Cassandra into his arms and held tightly to the girl who had inexplicably become more precious to him that his own life. For her part, Cassie clung to him, elated and confused, as she tried to come to grips with what had just happened to her, to the both of them.
*************
Over in the clump of holly bushes, Mina and Raye froze when they sensed the surge of power from the pair on the porch. Lita looked back and forth between them in confusion.
"What's going on?" she hissed in frustration. Neither girl answered. Lita, never very patient, reached out and yanked both motionless girls to her. "What Is Going On?!!" she demanded, enunciating each word very precisely.
Mina blinked. "I, I don't know. Do you Raye?"
Raye jerked convulsively. "No, I don't, but those two just started radiating massive amounts of energy. It's almost like…" she trailed off.
"It's almost like what?!" Lita was practically jumping up and down.
"It's like when Serena and Darien rediscovered each other," Mina said faintly, her eyes locked out of focus.
"That means they're…" Raye whispered.
The three girls' eyes met in disbelief. "Soulmates!!!" they chorused loudly. The resultant scramble for good vantagepoints should have shook the poor bushes into pieces.
****************
Andrew finally pulled away from Cassie enough to look down at her face. The disbelieving wonder on his face was enough to cause Cassie to begin to giggle.
"And what's so funny?" he demanded, trying to keep an answering laugh out of his voice.
"You, Andy!" the nickname slipped out without a thought. "You look like a little boy who just won a trip to Disney World!"
"Really?"
"Really." Andrew caught one of her hands with one of his, while he kept the other arm wrapped firmly around her waist. He brought the captured hand up to his lips and kissed the back of it. Cassie's eyes went wide with surprise. They got even wider when he looked back into her eyes. She sensed a sudden seriousness under the lingering echoes of power.
"Cass, will you marry me?" Cassie blinked in shock and tried to pull away from him, but he held onto her.
"You've got to be kidding! We've known each other for barely a month! This is our first date, for Harmony's sake!" she protested.
"It doesn't matter how long I've known you. You are the one for me, and I am the one for you. You felt whatever just happened to us! It was, was magic! I love you Cassie and I'm IN love with you." The calm voice in which Andrew spoke made the underlying passion that much more powerful. Cassie just stared at him as her heart sang anthems of joy and her intellect tried to drown her heart out by shouting 'What the hell are you thinking?! You can't marry him! Remember your duty! You're a Sailor Scout, first, foremost and always!'
Andrew grinned down at her and then with her hand still firmly clasped in his, got down on one knee. "Cassandra Whitmore, will you do me the honor of marrying me?"
"Andy, I can't. I've got duties, obligations, not to mention that my parents would have a cow! This is just too soon, too sudden." The distress in her voice was very real and Andrew sensed it.
"All right," he climbed back up on his feet, still clutching her hand, "but I'm not going to take no for an answer. I'm sure that I can convince you to see things my way." He gave her a smug, cocky grin.
"Convince me?!" Cassie indignantly tried to yank her hand free. Andrew just yanked her back, right into his arms.
"Yes, convince you," he whispered before bending down to kiss her. Cassie struggled for a second, but then her free arm snaked up around to pull down on the back of his neck. Andrew then let go of her hand and wrapped both arms around her body and pulled her closer. The fiery, passionate kiss ended only when the need for oxygen became acute.
Andrew leaned his forehead against Cassie's and said softly, "I can be very persuasive when I want to be. You can't resist me forever, my lady." He released her and stepped back. "Good night Cassandra."
Cassie said nothing before turning and fleeing into the house. Andrew shoved his hands into his pockets and whistled cheerfully as he walked back to his car.
***************
A short time after he drove away, three scratched up, shaken girls climbed out of a patch of holly bushes and made their slow way home.
Next Time on Sailor Moon: Serenity's Court
Cassie rediscovers an old friendship, a 25,000 year old one in Best Friends Forever.
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