(A/N I hope you don't mind my switching to third omniscient. I'm trying it for this chapter. I feel like first person is going to be a little too weird for me to write in later on- but if it's too weird for you guys, I'll switch back.)

(A/N- Please allow me to offer my sincerest apologies for the wait. I throw myself upon your mercy. I made this chapter long to compensate. Now, without further adieu…)

No Turning Back

Cassie, hold still!"

"Okay," Cassie replied, her annoyance obvious in her tone. "Rachel, how much longer is this going to take?"

"Be patient. Beauty takes time," Rachel replied over the pins in her mouth.

"I don't see what the big deal is, anyway. It's only hair."

Rachel stopped lifting Cassie's curls up for a moment. "I'm gonna pretend I didn't just hear you say that. I am in the middle of giving you the most gorgeous up-do you've ever seen-well, next to mine, of course."

Cassie frowned. Up-do? "Rachel, I'd rather just leave it hanging. Besides, we don't have a whole lot of time before the guys get here to pick us up."

"Oh, yeah. Well, okay, it'll look just as great down," Rachel remarked as she pulled the pins out of Cassie's hair, letting soft curls fall down around her face. "Besides, we need to make time for makeup."

"Makeup?" Cassie exclaimed as she stood and smoothed out the front of her long skirt. "Rachel, no."

"Cassie, all you need is a little mascara, some eyeliner, shadow, and a little lipstick."

"Oh, is that all?" Cassie replied sarcastically. "Rachel, you know that's not my thing."

"Cassie, please? You're going to look even more gorgeous," Rachel pressed. She could see Cassie's resistance fading, so she kept going. This would be easy. She pulled her trump card. "Do you want to make Jake drool or not?"

Cassie blushed. Had she been that obvious? But for some reason, she continued with the façade. "Rachel, Jake and I are just going as friends. He made that clear. I don't really care about what he thinks of my outfit," she lied unconvincingly.

"You've never been a good liar," Rachel told her.

Half an hour later, the doorbell rang. Cassie jumped about a foot into the air. Rachel tucked her tongue in her cheek. She couldn't quite stop the grin.

"For someone who doesn't care what Jake thinks, you're awfully jumpy tonight," she remarked mildly.

"Oh, be quiet," Cassie muttered, blushing furiously, and went to the door.

***********************

"Geez, I wish they'd come to the door already; or we'll be late picking up Shelby," Marco grumbled to Phillip. "Knock again!" he called out from the car.

"Hold on!" Jake called. "And stop complaining." He lowered his voice. "Hey-Tobias, what do you think's taking them so long to come to the door?"

"I don't know- they're girls, right? So they have to take, like, hours to get ready."

Jake tugged at his tie. "Well I hope-" He stopped mid-sentence as Cassie appeared in the doorway. He tried to say hello, but he didn't really trust himself to form a coherent sound at that moment. So he simply stared. She was wearing this pale blue strapless thing that had a long straight skirt, and two pieces. The top stopped maybe an inch above the skirt, with a tiny hint of midriff showing between. Her hair was down, just the way he liked it, and her eyes, her eyes seemed impossibly large and dark. She looked back at him, and a lovely flush of color spread into her cheeks.

"Hi."

Jake cleared his throat. It seemed like his tie was getting smaller and smaller. "Uh, hi."

Tobias was wearing a very similar expression on his face as he got a look at Rachel. She smiled, a very satisfied little smile, grabbed her sweater, and handed it to Tobias. He quickly helped her into it as she gestured to Jake. "Come on Jake, stop drooling and let's get a move on. We have dinner reservations, remember?"

Jake would have been content to stand there and watch Cassie. Forget the dance. But he held out a hand to Cassie. "Um, shall we?"

"Mm-hm." Cassie placed her hand in his and tried not to think how big, strong, and safe it felt around hers. Just friends, she repeated over and over in her head like a mantra. We're only friends.

Later, at the dance, Marco, Jake, Tobias, and Ax stood around the food table.

"Why do females of your species feel the need to go to rest areas in groups? Oopss?" Ax wondered. "On my planet both males and females are able to perform bodily functions unaccompanied."

Marco snorted. "Ax-man - I mean, Phil-man- That's a question us guys have been trying to figure out since the beginning of time. All I know is, it is really annoying. I was on the verge of convincing Shelby to take little walk outside with me, if you know what I'm saying. And then all of a sudden, off she goes, with her little girl pack off to no-man's land to do…whatever it is they do."

Ax piped up. "Marco, if I am not mistaken, Shelby told you to continue dreaming when you asked her to take a walk with her. I think she left because she was angry with you."

"Oh, busted by the Ax-man, Tobias cracked. "There she is, dude. You better go apologize, or you'll be leaving this thing by yourself."

"Thanks a bunch, Phillip," Marco muttered as he hurried towards Shelby.

And there she was. Jake found himself transfixed again as he watched Cassie return from the bathroom with Rachel. Tobias went up to Rachel and they went off to dance. Cassie just looked over at him. They'd been at the dance for over an hour, and had yet to dance together. But just then, she averted her gaze to the left. Jake followed it, and focused on Brian Randall. His eyes narrowed into a scowl. What was this guy doing, he wondered as he noticed Cassie smiling at Brian. Time to make a move. He moved to Cassie quickly.

"Do you want to dance?"

Cassie looked up. "Not right now, Jake. I have a promise to keep."

"With whom?"

"With Brian, why?"

"What are you dancing with him for?" Jake realized how jealous he sounded, but he didn't care.

"Because I promised him I would." Because I need to be away from you, Cassie pleaded silently. Because I can't face what I feel for you. In defense, she tried to make her voice cold. "Why do care, Jake?" she asked him. "We're only here as friends, remember?" And she walked off towards Brian.

Jake stared after her, watched her walk away from him and into Brian's arms. The jerk, Jake thought viciously. "Who the hell does he think he is?" he said under his breath.

"What'd you say, man?" Marco asked from behind him.

"Nothing," Jake replied gruffly. "I'm going to go sit down."

Cassie swayed gently with Brian. They were both pretty much silent, until Brian broke the silence. "So," he said. "Would it be too forward or inappropriate for me to tell you that you look really beautiful?"

Cassie smiled faintly. "No," she replied, "and thanks."

"No, thank you," he said, grinning as Cassie blushed. "So, do you want to talk about it?"

"Talk about what?"

"Why you're so preoccupied. I mean, the last thing I want to talk about is the guy you passed me up for, but, since he's obviously making you sad, we'll talk about it anyway. What'd he do?"

"It's more a question of what he didn't do," Cassie replied.

"What do you mean?"

"You probably don't wanna hear this," Cassie said.

"Come on, it'll make you feel better if you talk about it. I suppose if I can't convince you to forget about him and run away with me, I have to settle for being your friend. So, what, is he being an idiot?"

"I guess you could definitely say that. I mean, he knows how I feel. He has to. And - I really think he feels the same way. But he won't do anything about it."

"Want me to go kick his butt for you?" Brian joked. "Because it would be really satisfying for me."

Cassie giggled. As the song ended, she pulled back from Brian. "As tempted as I am to take you up on that, I think I'm just gonna talk to him.

"Hey, just say the word," Brian said as she walked off. He shook his head, watching her.

"Man."

*****************

Cassie scanned the throng of kids on the dance floor. No sign of Jake.

*All right, party people…* the deejay announced. *Time for the famous last dance. So guys grab your girl, cause this your last chance for a little dance floor lovin'.*

Just then, Cassie felt Rachel tugging her arm-with Jake on her other arm. Her heart pounded frantically inside her chest. Oh, god.

"Alright, that's it," Rachel said matter-of-factly. You two have been dancing around each other all night, and now it's time to dance with each other. Now." She walked off with Tobias.

"Well, can't argue with that, can you?" Jake said to Cassie, stepping toward her. He was more than ready for this.

"I guess not," Cassie replied. She looked up at Jake, not really sure what to do. Jake just stepped forward and pulled her into his arms.

His first thought was to marvel at the way she fit. She just fit so well in his arms. She felt small, but strong; soft and feminine; and she smelled incredible. He leaned down, turned his face into her hair, and breathed in.

Cassie closed her eyes and sighed. She couldn't help it. The way his arms closed around her, the way his hands felt so big and firm at her waist. It was getting impossible to do this "friend" thing. She shivered as she felt his warm breath at her ear. "You look incredible tonight," he whispered softly. God, what was he doing to her? She was feeling things she was sure she shouldn't be feeling; that she was sure Jake would freak if he knew about them. Still, she couldn't stop herself from lifting a hand from the back of his neck to lightly play with the ends of his hair. She felt his arms come more tightly around her.

Jake wasn't sure how long the song lasted. He wasn't even sure what the song even was, nor did he care. All he did know was that when it was over, he didn't want to let her go. So his hands remained at her waist as they pulled apart. They looked into each other's eyes for a long time as the people, the nameless, faceless people, filed out of the room around them.

***********************

As they all rode home form the dance, no one really said much. Rachel broke the ice.

"So, are we going to the after-party?"

"Definitely," Marco said. He'd wanted to get his mind off Shelby; she'd gotten a ride home with friends. He'd really blown it.

"Sounds good," Tobias piped up. He wanted to be anywhere Rachel was.

"Actually, I'm not really in the mood for a party," Cassie said. "You can just drop me off here, Tobias. I'll walk home." It would give her some fresh air, and a chance to think.

"Okay, but Jake, if Cassie's walking home alone, you should walk with her," Rachel put in.

"Oh no that's-" Cassie's cop-out was cut off by Rachel's elbow in her side.

So Jake and Cassie were walking down the sidewalk together toward her house. But Jake foolishly didn't say anything until they were almost to her door.

"So."

"So, here we are," Cassie said. Now please just leave before I do want I want to do, she begged him in her head.

"Yeah, I guess I better go." He turned to leave. You idiot! he thought. How can you just walk away, when her lips look so damn kissable?

He decided that he couldn't.

As Cassie fumbled with the doorknob, trying to get inside-and why couldn't she fit this key in the lock- she felt a strong hand on her arm, turning her briskly around. She had a split second to register Jake's intense eyes on her face before his lips touched hers.

It was just a light touch of lips, just a sort of testing, really, but she felt this…explosion inside her chest that she could only characterize as the bursting of her heart. When he broke contact, he laid his brow against hers for a moment before leaning in and kissing her again.

Jake couldn't stop himself. He kissed her longer this time, savoring the way her lips felt, the way they tasted. He kept his hands light on her upper arms as he deepened the kiss slightly. And when he pulled away, he ran his hands down her arms to link with hers.

Cassie watched Jake walk away without another word, but not before her heart did a slow turn in her chest and landed soundly at his feet.

And there was clearly no turning back.

(A/N- I don't know if you guys have heard this song, but it is one of the most romantic songs I have ever heard. It's Lifehouse's Everything, and it is exactly the song I play in my head when I think about Jake and Cassie together. So, JC fans, if you haven't heard it, I beg you, download it ( I got mine at KaZaA), and it might bring you to tears.

Also, you might have heard it on Smallville if you watch that.