Cassandra and Stephanie shared a night off two days later. It took some talk, but Stephanie convinced her to come along to a new tea parlor that had just opened a mile from Gotham U's campus.
"Come on, it'll be fun," Stephanie said. "You've been stuck in bed. We haven't gotten to go anywhere out of costume for ages, it feels like."
"It's far," Cassandra said. "To get me and then go back. You have to take me home again."
"That's fine. I seriously don't mind. I just want to hang out for a bit."
The café was called "The Sun Room," and a quick glance at the outside quickly gave away its university student focus. A few upperclassmen stumbled out as Stephanie held the door, and even if the smell was faint, there was definitely marijuana on them. Stephanie sighed as Cassandra passed her and considered it might not have been the best place to talk. But they were already there, it wouldn't help the situation to move around too much.
The café had a lower level the cashier said was popular with studying college students, it seemed that would be the best place to talk without distraction. With a pitcher of hot water, a few tea bags and some treats from behind the counter balanced on a tray, the two descended into the basement. A pair of students, a bigger woman with green hair and a more petite one with glasses sat in the corner opposite the staircase and neither looked up as Stephanie and Cassandra sat down at the nearest table. The walls of the basement were covered in mildly tacky stick-ons of Asian characters (neither of the two could tell from what country) and a few decals of anime faces with wide eyes and smiles.
Cassandra didn't say anything as she tore open one of the tea bags, set it in the bottom of her cup and poured the hot water over it.
Stephanie watched carefully as she nibbled on a tiny bite of strawberry pastry. "How do you know when it's ready?"
Cassandra shrugged. "When the color is right."
"But how do you know when it's right?"
Cassandra sighed. "I just do." As she gently stirred the cup, the water within slowly turned to a shade of light and then murky green as tea seeped out from the bag.
"I was never any good at this stuff." Stephanie tried to free the tea bag with her fingers, but after the plastic fought her, she brought the packaging to her mouth and tore it with her teeth. "I'm not patient enough."
"When why come here?" There was a tinge of annoyance in Cassandra's voice.
"Because, as I keep saying, I just want to hang out with you." Stephanie poured hot water over the tea leaves, stared for a second and then compared it with the coloration in Cassandra's glass. "We used to hang out all the time."
As she took a slow sip, Cassandra looked between the two women who studied in the corner, Stephanie and the stairway back upstairs. "What if… they think I'm with you?"
"Come on, is that what you're weirded out by?" Stephanie stirred her tea mug. "Girlfriends go and do stuff together like this."
"You are not my—"
"Not like girlfriend girlfriends. Come on, I think you know what I'm trying to say here." Stephanie spooned in a little sugar from the tray and mixed. "Cassie, what's wrong?"
Cassandra looked away. "What you said."
"Then what else is wrong?" Stephanie frowned and caught Cassandra look over just enough to know she caught it. "Because you've barely wanted to talk about anything since you hurt you got hurt."
Cassandra turned her attention to the tea mug and took another sip. "Never talk much."
"I know, but it is a lot less than usual," Stephanie said. "Or you at least find other ways to talk to us when you can't. You like being able to communicate, or at least you always have."
If she'd have looked up straight, Cassandra would have flashed Stephanie the glaring look in her eyes and scowl. But she was unwilling to escalate their conflict. "Nothing to say."
Stephanie sighed and sipped from her mug. "I'm sorry if I'm being too forward. I'm sorry if you feel like I dragged you out here. I'm just worried about you. I think we all are, a little bit."
Cassandra still looked away. "I am fine."
Stephanie set down the cup, took a heavy breath and spoke as hushed as she could manage. "That stuff the other night didn't seem 'fine' to me."
Cassandra finally looked up again to reveal her glare. "I did my job."
"Yeah, and you did it a little too well," Stephanie said. "You got carried away. That isn't like you."
Cassandra swiped one of the treats from the center of the tray. "That's my choice." And looked away again.
The two sat in silence for a few seconds, each did little but sip their tea. At one point, Stephanie did raise a hand to rub at her forehead.
Cassandra asked, "How much longer?"
Stephanie responded as if she hadn't heard her. "This is about Sadie, isn't it."
A shook ran through Cassandra's body and a drop of hot tea spilled over the side of her mug. Cassandra winced a moment, set the cup down and spoke slow and stern. "What?"
"I was trying not to talk about it while you were stuck in bed. I thought maybe you'd work it out on your own… I know what happened."
Cassandra leaned backward and narrowed her eyes into a glare. "How?"
Stephanie set an elbow against the table so she could hold her forehead and breathed a long sigh. "What do you mean 'how?' She told me. I still talk to her sometimes. She's a good friend."
One of Cassandra's arms slipped over the other until they were crossed. "Then you know she wasn't."
"Cassie, listen, I agree one hundred percent that what she did to you was crappy. I feel awful about it—"
"I did the right thing." Cassandra struggled to keep her voice stable. "Her fault."
"Try to keep your voice down," Stephanie said.
"Why? You already know. Doesn't matter who else does."
"Cassie, would you please work with me here for just a second? There's something I need to know." When Cassandra didn't say anything, Stephanie inhaled deeply and continued. "Did you tell her no?"
"Yes, I—"
"Before the time she said you did it so quietly she couldn't hear you, and you told her about it after the fact?"
Cassandra bit her lip and considered lying for a moment before, with reluctance, she said, "No."
"Look, you obviously weren't ready for what happened. I know that," Stephanie said. "But Sadie doesn't know anything about how you grew up, what you understand and what you don't. It's not like Tim and me."
It took a moment for the information to process, but when it did, Cassandra flinched. "You what?"
"Huh?"
"Not like you and Tim… what?"
Stephanie raised her mug just in front of her face as it started to red. "I mean… You know. You're not really going to make me say it, are you?"
Cassandra's hand clenched into a fist. "Tim's Catholic."
The implications of the situation came to Stephanie slowly, and as they did she put a hand to her head. "Yes. I know that."
"Then why—"
"Because we wanted to," Stephanie said. "I don't know what else you're expecting me to say, but that's it."
Cassandra leaned forward, fingers pressed to her forehead, breath heavy. "He shouldn't have. And you shouldn't have—"
"Get ahold of yourself." Stephanie spoke normally until she caught a look from the two women on the room's opposite side and hushed. "Cassie, I love you like family, but this seriously isn't up to you."
"You knew."
"Yeah, and so did he," Stephanie said. "If God has a problem with it, we're going to have to deal with that. But that doesn't mean you get to be mad at me over this."
An open palm smashed against the table. Stephanie flinched, the two women across the basement watched with greater interest. Cassandra looked to be fighting something internal, though Stephanie couldn't tell if it was anger or sadness.
"You need forgiveness."
"You're not the judge of that," Stephanie slumped backwards. "Not everyone gets the same things out of life that you do. And if you start demanding that from them, you're going to be very disappointed."
Cassandra pushed her mug away. "I'll call Dad. Going home."
Despite some internal protests, Stephanie said nothing as Cassandra rose from the table and made for the staircase. Her heart was still pounding, her breaths were still heavy. She glanced down at the few treats that remained in the center of the tray and picked one. She didn't really want it, she just wanted to give Cassandra more time so they wouldn't bump into one another outside.
From the edge of her periphery, Stephanie saw the bigger woman with green hair rise from her seat, the smaller one looked to protest in hushed whispers, but it didn't stop her. The woman with green hair crossed the basement and leaned over Cassandra's chair.
"Hey there," she said. "Don't mean to be weird, that just looked kind of rough."
Stephanie took a deep breath and blew it at her own face. "It was."
"Trouble in paradise?"
"Not in the way you're thinking." Stephanie had a finger over the rim of her tea mug when she backtracked. "I mean, not to be presumptive. Just, probably not… I don't know. I don't know what you're thinking."
The woman laughed. "It's okay. I don't know what you and that friend of yours are going through, but it's pretty clear she's got some walls up. I don't know what's going on, but judging by all that, I'll bet she's hurt pretty bad."
Stephane slumped forward and rested her chin on her arms. "Yeah."
"Was it something you did?"
"No. I mean, I pissed her off I guess. But I wasn't the reason when we came in."
The green-haired woman nodded. "You seem like a good friend for trying to communicate."
Stephanie mustered half a smile. "Thanks."
"If she doesn't want to talk, if you know of anything that she's dealing with right now, maybe you just need some more perspective," she said. "Perspective's a good thing in a relationship. Romantic or otherwise."
Stephanie pushed up from her chair. "Yeah? I'll see if I can do anything with that, thank you."
"Good luck to the both of you, whatever you're dealing with."
As Stephanie walked back up the stairs toward her car, her mind began to move again. She would have probably come to the woman's advice anyway, but talking had sped up the process. As she turned on the car, she moved the radio dial to channel 107.7.
For attacking her friend when she was vulnerable and screwing around with her head, Cameron Gram had earned Stephanie's animosity. She had a new enemy, it was time to study him.
