The sound made me want to puke. That laugh never meant anything good. I finally moved after a minute, realizing I was frozen. With shaky legs, I made my way through the house after closing the front door quietly.
Blinded by a mix of emotions, I stormed into the kitchen to find Dean playing with my little sister, Emma, at the dinner table. My heart sank, and all I wanted to do was get her away from him. My teeth clenched and my hands balled into fists.
My mom noticed me standing in the doorway first.
"Honey, look who's here!" She beamed.
I pasted on a painfully fake smile, "Hey Dean," I grumbled.
"Hi Cassie." Hearing him say my name that way made me shudder as he smirked. Even my name was being used as a weapon, as his green eyes sliced into me.
"Is there something wrong?" My mother asked worriedly.
"No. No, nothing's wrong." I replied stiffly, my eyes never leaving Dean.
"I've convinced him to stay for dinner! Doesn't that sound nice?" My mom sounded excited, but she had no idea how scared of Dean I really was.
I wrapped my arms around myself trying to feign tiredness.
"Now's not a good time. I just got home from work."
"Oh? Where do you work?" Dean asked with an eyebrow raised.
"She works at that little diner down the street! Luke's, I think!" My mom answered eagerly.
No. That was my safe space. My hideaway from him that I knew for sure he was unaware of. And now it's gone. Not gone per se, but I'll never feel 100% safe there again. Not with a lurking feeling that he could be there. Waiting.
"Really, I ate at the diner. I'm not that hungry." Lies. I was starving, but I was not about to have dinner with my abusive ex-boyfriend.
"Cassandra, Dean came all of this way to see you! You must at least sit at the table."
"Fine, since you asked so nicely." I retorted, and I took the seat directly across from Dean. We made eye contact and the ominous grin he made frightened me.
What was his plan? Why was he here? When would he leave?
My mom was at the head of the table with me to her right, and he was on her left. Emma was next to Dean on his left.
Beef empanadas, arroz con gandules, and mixed greens were laid out on the table. My favorite, although through my fear I couldn't taste them as I swallowed my first couple bites.
Dinner started off in this awkward silence until my mom started asking Dean questions.
"So how have you been, sweetie? We've really missed you up here."
"I'm doing great now that I'm here. It's good to see you guys. Especially you, Cassie."
"You two are too cute!" My mom gushed.
That's it.
"I'm gonna go to the bathroom." I stood from the table abruptly, the chair scraping the floor as I did so, and I disappeared before anyone could protest.
I closed the door quickly and locked myself in. This would only buy me a few minutes, so I had to think fast. I slid down against the door and sat with my head resting on my knees and my arms wrapped around myself.
Think, think, think.
My heart was racing, and my head was spinning.
Stop. Take a deep breath. Relax. Release.
Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. I got out my phone swiftly and put my plan into motion.
I slipped my phone back into my pocket and took the time to flush the toilet and wash my hands to keep my cover.
I glanced at myself in the mirror, fixed my hair, and smoothed out my clothes. I tried to look as unaffected by Dean's presence as possible to work it to my advantage.
I exited the bathroom and managed a less pained smile than before as I returned to my chair.
"I almost forgot, Mom! I invited a new friend over for dinner."
I felt Dean glance over at me, curious.
"That's great! I was beginning to think you had none!" She laughed almost evilly, and I joined her with an uncomfortable chuckle. Was she being serious?
After a few more agonizing minutes of small talk, the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it." I said and rushed to the door when I was out of sight, knowing full well who it would be.
It took a few tries, but I managed to unlock the door despite my shaking hands. Once the door opened a crack, Jess pushed it the rest of the way open and let himself in.
"Thank you," I whispered to him as I shut the door.
"You don't need to thank me. Are you alright?" He whispered hurriedly, placing his hands on my shoulders and looking me up and down for injuries.
His eyes were frantic and worried but calmed down a little when he found me unharmed.
"I'm fine." I spoke softly, looking in his eyes.
"Where is he?"
"Kitchen."
Jess wasted no time. He sauntered into the kitchen with me close behind. I could barely keep up with his fast strides, but by the time we reached the kitchen we were side by side.
When Jess made eye contact with Dean it actually looked like he was trying to rip his head off with his mind. I tried to break the tension that was building by introducing him.
"So, Mom, this is Jess. He works at the diner with me." I said awkwardly. It almost felt like I was showing him off as I gestured to him.
"O-Oh, it's nice to meet you, Jess." My mother spoke, probably surprised that I found the one person on Earth that actually enjoys my personality.
"Likewise, Ms. Garcia. You have a lovely home." Jess was doing surprisingly well to mask his rage, but I could still discern the discrete signs.
His tone was the most noticeable. It had a little bit of a bite to the end of it, like it was filled with poison.
We took a seat, Jess to my right, after we exchanged a few more pleasantries. Soon enough after my mother filled Jess's plate, she started to barrage him with questions.
I was barely listening to their conversation because I could feel Dean's eyes boring into me. When I finally gathered up the courage to glance at him, I regretted it. He looked just as angry as Jess did, if not more.
His eyes connected with mine, and my heart jumped out of my chest as I hastily looked away. I did the only thing I could think of to do and grabbed Jess's hand tightly. He squeezed back just as hard as if to tell me he got the message and intervened.
"So, Dean, is it?" Jess switched his attention to Dean, not letting go of my hand as his thumb drew little circles in my palm. It made me feel safer somehow and alleviated some of my anxiety. I was grateful for that and for him.
"That's my name." He replied tautly, the fury in his gaze not letting up.
"Cass has told me a lot about you."
"Oh, has she now? All good things I hope." Dean glanced at me then, and Jess replied swiftly.
"I wouldn't say that." He paused for a second and what Jess said next caught everyone completely off guard, "How did you get here? I mean the bus obviously wasn't an option since you could see all 50 states and parts of Canada from up there. It'd be like trying to fit an elephant into a refrigerator. Useless and nonsensical."
I had to stifle my laugh, and Emma let out a faint giggle in response. I softly kicked Jess under the table but couldn't hide my smirk from him.
Dean sent him an angry glare from across the table, and just then my mom spoke up.
"Ok, um, Jess sweetie, have you always lived in Stars Hollow?"
"No, I moved here from New York a couple years ago."
"Did you like it there? I've always wanted to go!"
"Meh, it was ok."
Despite my mother's efforts to break the tension, Jess and Dean still looked like they wanted to kill each other.
My baby sis found this so funny she spilled her food all over Dean's face and shirt. Emma broke out in a fit of laughter, and it took all I had not to laugh hysterically, but Jess let out a little chuckle regardless.
"You got a little something right there." Jess said and gestured to Dean's whole face.
"Gee thanks." He replied, annoyed.
"Oh dear, what a mess! Cassandra, would you help Dean get cleaned up? You know where the towels are."
"Sure." I gave a reassuring look and a subtle nod to Jess, signaling that I'd be ok. There was nothing he could do when my family was around.
Right?
Jess and I let go of each other's hands, and I reluctantly made my way out of my chair and towards the bathroom. "Come on. Follow me."
With Dean behind me, we entered the bathroom. I made a beeline for the linen closet to get a washcloth. I did not want to be alone with him any longer than I had to be. I turned around pretty quickly when I heard the door close and the click of the lock.
My heart rate picked up, "What do you think you're doing? Open the fucking door. Now."
He wiped the baby food off of his face with his sleeve as he walked closer to me, "I just want to talk."
"You can talk with the door open, dick."
I don't like this.
"Look, Cassie, I just wanted to apologize for last night. I didn't mean to hurt you. That goes for what happened back in Jersey, too. You just got in the way. You shouldn't have done that." He talked with his hands as he spoke but stayed on his side of the room.
"Do you hear yourself? You sound crazy! Your temper is out of control!"
"You don't seem to mind Jess's temper! I saw him get into at least two fights in the last week!"
"Jess has his reasons, plus he's not the one who hurts me. Or did you forget? So, I'm going to tell you to leave or else I'll kick you out myself, no matter what my family thinks."
"It's not my fault! You never spent any time with me, and you were always flirting with other guys!"
"What other guys? I live in a house with all women, all of my friends were girls, and even my boss in Jersey was a woman." It's times like these I wish I was gay.
"Why do you keep defending Jess and blaming everything on me? Are you guys together or something?" The look in Dean's eyes and the sight of him starting to saunter over was enough to strike more fear in me than I've ever fucking experienced.
Just then someone knocked on the door and tried the handle, "Cass, are you ok? Open the door! I swear if you hurt her you–" That sentence was followed by a number of obscenities that even I choose not to recall.
The door was locked. No one could save me but me. Dean was getting way too fucking close for comfort, and I think my fight-or-flight kicked in because as soon as he was in range, I kneed him in the dick.
Dean doubled over in pain and as if my life depended on it, which it might have, I had dived for the door and unlocked it. Jess barreled through it, almost knocking me over, looking ready to do some serious damage.
Once he processed seeing Dean on the ground, he turned to me, "Are you ok, Cassie?"
I didn't stop to think before I buried my head into his chest and wrapped my arms around him, "Yeah."
"You sure?" He asked, his voice muffled as he hid his face in my hair and wrapped his arms right back around me.
"Not really."
He just hummed in response, and we released each other. Jess looked toward Dean, his expression hardening, "You're coming with me."
He hauled Dean off the floor, propped him up, and dragged him back to the kitchen.
"Dean suddenly doesn't feel so good. I think it's time for him to leave." Jess replied to my mother's concerned look as she caught sight of us.
"Dean, honey, are you ok?" Dean grunted vaguely in response.
"He's just peachy," I said.
"Alright, well say 'hi' to your mom for me!"
"Oh, he will!" Jess responded while throwing him out the door.
"Do us all a favor Dean and don't come back." I said firmly, and Jess slammed the door in his face.
Once the door closed completely a rogue tear slid down my cheek. It didn't take long for Jess to notice, and he smudged it away with his thumb. He found my eyes and dazzled me with another one of those breathtaking smiles. I couldn't help but reciprocate. We didn't need to talk. I think he already knew what I was thinking. He just took my hand in his and led me back into the kitchen.
Author's Note: Hi everyone! I wanted to leave you all on a high note this weekend after the cliffhangers I've been leaving off on. I plan to get chapter 9 written and published by next weekend, but I'm traveling to DR on Wednesday for Thanksgiving break, and I don't know how great the Wi-Fi will be there. If I don't post on Saturday, I'll make sure to have out the next chapter by the following Monday (11/28). Have a great weekend!
-taylor's version 2.0