Chapter Two

"We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they're called memories. Some take us forward, they're called dreams."

Jeremy Irons

There were two things Cappie immediately noticed when he woke up. One was, of course, Rebecca's arm across his chest. He never thought she was the type to cuddle. The second thing he noticed was that his phone was vibrating underneath his back. What time was it? It couldn't be before nine. He grabbed the phone and looked at the screen. SPITTER it read in big bright letters. Pledges always seemed to know exactly when Cappie was in the middle of something like sleeping or sleeping with someone. They seemed to know this and call anyway. Didn't they understand that it just wasn't normal to call someone this early?

Cappie glanced over at the large clock on his desk and squinted to read the letters through the haze of his hangover and crusty morning eyes. 2:14 it read. 2:14...p.m? Shit. Shit. Shit. Spitter was leaving at two and Cappie hadn't even said goodbye. No wonder he was calling. He really needed to tell Casey bye too, just to clear the air before break. Okay, he was actually MOSTLY thinking about Casey and how Spitter could facilitate that. Spitter always seemed down to play matchmaker for them since their connection was just as obvious to him as it was to the rest of Cyprus Rhodes. Cappie slid Rebecca's hand off of his back and crawled slowly, carefully out of the bed as he had a million one night stands before. He quickly grabbed a Tshirt from his floor and threw it over his head. Grabbing some jeans, he walked out of his room and ran down the stairs.

"You might wanna put those on first"

Cappie whipped around to see Spitter standing in the breezeway, cool as a cucumber.

"You know Cappie, certain societies believe that the best way to sleep is in hour increments spread throughout the day. They say you experience the whole range of life that way" Spitter always had a way of throwing out little bites of information that was so fitting, but so terribly nerdy. It reminded Cappie a lot of himself.

"That's why they invented college classes Spitter. They're like bedtime stories. Very expensive bedtime stories"

They both laughed as Cappie grabbed a bag and helped him lug his stuff outside to meet Casey. As he opened the door he saw Casey's bright red car and all the things he had planned to say to her, all the thought out tidbits to make everything okay were gone. He just stood there, awkward and still. As Casey glanced over at him, he managed an awkward wave, his lips pursed tightly into a smile that felt like someone else's. He stayed there awhile after the car was gone, staring at the place where it had been.

His thoughts drifted to the day he had helped Casey pick out the little red car. He had bought a cherry pie that day to match it and given her a 20 cherry car fresheners so that she'd r always remember their pie dates. Their relationship had already been in trouble and he had hoped they would help remind her of him. She broke up with him two weeks later. He wondered now if she still had one dangling from the mirror. He cursed himself for not checking. Staring at the spot a moment longer, he knew it would get under his skin if he didn't find out, so he pulled out his phone and quickly texted Spitter.

Spitter.Dont mention2 casey. is ther a cherry air freshner n her car?

Cappie waited for a moment, kicking an old cup between his feet. When he started to feel the sweat dripping down his back, he slowly turned and walked back inside. It had only been about thirty minutes since he'd woken up, but it'd felt like forever in the heat. He quickly grabbed a bagel and a gallon of juice from the fridge, carrying both upstairs to his room.

As he opened the door, he saw Rebecca sitting in his bed lazily flipping through the copy of Jailbird from his desk. She was only wearing one of his oversized button ups as far as he could tell and her hair was down and in her face as it rarely was. She looked great. Cool and fun and chill. Cappie smiled and secretly cursed himself for not grabbing two bagels. The smile faded a bit when he got closer to her face. He realized she had already put on all her makeup. She was wearing tons of eyeliner and different lipstick than the night before. Cappie always loved Casey because she would wear nothing on her face and look amazing. Still take his breath away. Maybe he was being too hard on her.

"What took so long? Did you shower?" asked Rebecca slowly, not looking up from the book.

"Just thought I'd grab us some breakfast"

Rebecca laughed, making hair fall in her face. "That's a bagel" she squinched her nose. "Not much prep time. "

She decided to drop the subject.

"What are we gonna do with one bagel?"

"Well, I figured one half for me" Cappie smiled and stuffed half of it in his mouth, biting through.

"Zchfe ufferrr haffff fooo yuhooo" he tried to speak through the huge bite in his mouth.

"The other half for me?" she asked sweetly. She took it from him gingerly and twirled it in her hands for a moment, trying to decide what to do. Finally she took one end and stuck it into her mouth, towards the back of her throat suggestively. Her eyes look right into his.

"That's just vulgar missy" he laughed, taking off his shirt and pouncing onto the bed next to her.

He leaned towards her face and bit off the part of the bagel that was still sticking out of her mouth. She swallowed the rest and gave a fake pout.

"You said half and half" she said tickling him.

"I'll...I'll make it up to you...", he said, unbuttoning her shirt slowly. As he reached the last button, his phone began to buzz on his desk. Those pledges. They always knew. Worst time to call. Worst time to text.

"You gonna get that?" Rebecca asked, following his anxious eyes to the phone

"No, I'm fine" he said. He started to take off her shirt but he was no longer smiling and his eyes weren't really focusing on her.

"Just check it. Really. It's fine" Anger crept into Rebecca's voice as she pulled the shirt back around her. She was obviously used to undivided attention at such times.

Cappie reached for the phone and opened Spitter's text as quickly as he could.

"Why are you smiling? What's up?" Rebecca asked, reaching for a boy who no longer seemed to even be in the room.

"I just got some really good news from Spitter" was all he could think to tell her.

Okay, so that's chapter 2. Kind of short, but I updated pretty quick so... oh, and leave some comments if you like this plzzz. I'm thinkin' of scrappin' it.