Kurt came home around 3pm and was a little startled, when he saw that Rachel was still in bed and Cassandra sat on their couch, reading something.
"Hey." So as not to wake Rachel, Kurt tiptoed to Cassandra.
"Oh, hello." Cassandra looked up, just for a brief moment and continued her book.
"So, what's up with her?" He pointed over his shoulder to Rachel. "You two talked it out?"
"Yes."
"And why's she still in bed?"
"I would just guess, but I think she's sleeping."
"I can see that, but I mean it is too late for her to sleep, she doesn't sleep in so long."
"First time for everything." Kurt wasn't satisfied with her answer and planned to ask Rachel, when she would wake up eventually.
"Did you sleep in too?"
"No, why?" This time she looked at him, Kurt just raised a brow.
"Never mind." He turned around and walked towards the kitchen. "Do you want some coffee too?"
"No thanks, I already made some."
"Is there some left?"
"No, I didn't know when you would come and that you would want coffee."
"It's okay." Kurt couldn't help, but feel a little hurt, Rachel always had coffee prepared when he came home. "Shouldn't we wake her?"
"I don't know."
"How long did you talk last night?"
"Actually, not at all, she was already asleep. We talked this morning."
"And she's still asleep?" Kurt was shocked, Cassandra didn't need to look up to him to realize that, his tone made it clear. If she had looked up though, she would have seen, that Kurt was walking to Rachel.
"Rachel?... Rachel come on, you gotta get up." Cassandra couldn't hide her smirk and if she was honestly, she had no intention to do so, she was rather curious about Rachel's reaction. She knew why Rachel was so exhausted.
Cassandra heard Rachel stretch and turned around on the couch, to get a better look at the situation in front of her. Kurt sat next to Rachel with his back to Cassandra and his hand was on Rachel's shoulder. Rachel was stretching a little more, but her eyes were still closed.
They heard her mumbling something, but they couldn't make out what she was saying.
"Rachel!"
"...no..." Rachel was awake now, she just didn't want to get up. A few more seconds passed and she slowly opened her eyes, just enough to see something, but to avoid the lights. "Kurt?!" Rachel sat up immediately, obviously shocked, which startled Kurt a bit. It looked quite funny and Cassandra couldn't stop herself from laughing, which now made both, Kurt and Rachel, jump.
Kurt grabbed his chest, right where his heart is and looked like he almost had a heart attack. Rachel's expression however changed quickly from shocked to confused. She'd never heard Cassandra laugh like that.
It sounded so honest and, that's what made Rachel even more confused, genuine. One word came to Rachel's mind at that sight, she thought Cassandra looked cute. There were a lot of words to describe Cassandra, but cute didn't come up in Rachel's mind. Not until now.
"You guys..." Cassandra slowly calmed down and caught her breath. "Well, you guys are quite...amusing." She started to laugh again.
"I'm glad my nearly heart attack makes you laugh." Kurt was still confused and turned back to Rachel.
"Anyway, do you want coffee?"
"Sure, thanks." Kurt walked into the kitchen and started to make coffee and Cassandra followed him and sat down on the same chair she was sitting a few hours ago. Neither of them paid much attention to Rachel, there were talking, but Rachel was also not paying attention to them. She had a problem of her own and wasn't sure if she could solve it in time.
"Are you coming or what?" Kurt sat on the table now too, they both had a cup of coffee and a third cup was on the table, waiting for Rachel.
"I- uh... I can't."
"What do you mean you can't? Does your foot hurt again?"
"Uh...no..." Rachel flushed a little in embarrassment. Cassandra liked the look on Rachel's face, it was quite adorable.
"Seriously? Adorable?" The other two turned towards her, but continued. Cassandra couldn't help, but feel perplexed that she answered her inner monologue out loud. But waved her hands to show them to go on.
"Then what is it?" Kurt decided to ignore Cassandra's statement, because she herself looked confused about it and he wanted to talk to Rachel.
"I kinda can't tell..."
"Kinda?" He didn´t know what was the matter and his patients was running out.
"I'm missing something."
"Get up and get it."
"No!" Rachel panicked, because Kurt grabbed her blanket and was about to pull it.
"Gosh girl..."
"She can't get up and get what she's missing." Cassandra interrupted.
"And why's that?" Kurt obviously was annoyed, he didn't bother to look up when he talked to Cassandra, instead his coffee got all his attention.
"She's missing her underwear."
"Cassandra!" Rachel was staring in shock at Cassandra, flushing in a deep shade of red and trying to cover herself more with her blanket. At the same time Kurt squeaked and stared at her. "What?" It was a funny moment, at least for Cassandra, obviously not for the other two. "I said-"
"I think he heard you."
"Oh, oh yea, I did."
"Good." Cassandra stood up.
"Where are you going?"
"I figured, you won't get up and get yourself pants and I doubt he's going to get you some." She pointed back at Kurt, who flushed a little, which neither of them saw, because they weren't looking at him.
"Oh." Rachel watched Cassandra walking over to her drawer.
"How do you know where-?"
"You sleep very long and I got bored."
"So you went through my stuff again?"
"Well, I can't look through his stuff, right?" Rachel nodded, because it sounded reasonable, but a moment later shook her head fiercely.
"What? No! I mean yes, you can't go through his stuff, but-"
"Whatever. Here." She tossed some pants right in Rachel's face and sat on her bed. Cassandra leaned over to Rachel, while Rachel was trying to put her pants on under the blanket, and put a hand on her cheek. Rachel looked confused for a second, but quickly recovered and moved a bit to Cassandra and gave her a kiss. It was all too clear, that Cassandra wanted more, but Rachel was still struggling with her pants.
"I gotta go home." Cassandra stood up again and walked around and gathered the rest of her clothes. "Can I take a shower?" She didn't saw the hint of disappointment in Rachel's face and she didn't hear it in her voice, because Kurt saw it and answered for Rachel.
"Yes. Towels are under the sink."
"Okay." When Cassandra disappeared in the bathroom and the water was turned on Kurt quickly walked over and sat on Rachel's bed.
"What's up?"
"Nothing."
"Of course." The sarcasm in his voice made Rachel look even more guilty than before, but she kept quiet.
"Okay, maybe you'll tell Cassandra, when I tell her that something is up with you." Rachel grabbed his wrist when he intended to leave her side.
"Don't."
"Rachel. Just tell me."
"I... I don't know." That was the truth, she didn't know why she felt disappointed.
"Seriously?" Kurt looked a little amused, which confused Rachel even more than only the state of her confusing emotions.
"Well, you're sad since she said she'll leave, either you don't want her to go or, because she didn't ask you to go with her." She thought about that and let go off Kurt's wrist and he walked back to his coffee.
"Maybe, you're right." Her voice was quiet, she was still processing what he said.
"I'm pretty sure I am." Rachel opened her mouth to answer, but closed it again when they heard Cassandra opening the door.
"God! Cassandra, could you please put on some clothes?" Rachel hadn't turned around, she didn't want to see Cassandra, but when she did after Kurt's outburst, she laughed slightly.
"Calm down, I am wearing clothes, it's not like I would walk around naked." For some reason she emphasized the 'I'.
"As you can see, I'm dressed!" Cassandra ignored Kurt, instead she smirked at Rachel, which Rachel tried to ignore. "Anyway, I should go, I'll call you later okay?" This time Rachel looked up, no expression on her face, she didn't want Cassandra to see her disappointment.
"Okay." Cassandra gave Rachel a quick kiss and grabbed her stuff.
"Bye Kurt."
"Bye." With that, she left and Kurt, once again, walked over to Rachel. "Why didn't you say something to her?"
"What could I've said? I mean, I don't... I know..." Rachel was stumbling for words. "God!" She raised her hands in the air and let them fall down again, before she stood up and it herself coffee.
"You can just call me Kurt."
"Ha. Ha. Very funny." Rachel tried to look annoyed, but Kurt saw the little smirk.
"Okay, so, Cassandra is...well, older than me..." She started it and she couldn't stop anymore. "She has experience..." Kurt wasn't quite sure where this was going, but he kept listening. "With women...and..." Rachel quickly looked away, before she said the rest, but she didn't have to Kurt knew already. "We had sex."
"Make up sex?"
"No!" Rachel gave Kurt an outraged look to which he just shrugged.
"We talked before that."
"Okay." Kurt waited for her to continue, but nothing came.
"So, you're so...weird, because you had sex? Was it any good?"
"Kurt!"
"Oh come on Rachel." He rolled her eyes at her indignant reaction.
"I won't answer that."
"So it wasn't then."
"I can assure you it was!"
"Hah!" Kurt pointed at her and a huge grin appeared on his face. Rachel realized he tricked her to tell him.
"You're awful."
"Okay, so, you guys had sex, thumbs up by the way, and it was good, so what's the matter?"
"She left!" Rachel almost yelled and Kurt was sure she was pushing back tears, but he was still confused.
"You don't get it, do you? We had sex and she left. Just like that, we didn't talk about it or do anything. It was great, at least I thought so, but when I got up, you were here and, well, you know the rest." Rachel was pacing around, but by the time she finished she stopped and faced Kurt.
"You're afraid that it wasn't good for her and that she's having second thoughts." His voice was very low, but Rachel understood him perfectly and it got harder to hold back her tears. "Rachel..." He tried to approach her, but she stepped back and shook her head. Rachel didn't want his pity.
"It's silly I know, at least I think it is, but I can't help myself."
"Call her." Rachel gave him a disapproving look, so Kurt continued. "Either you call her or I do." This caught Rachel's attention.
"She said she'll call."
"Doesn't mean you can't call her."
"Okay, but not now. I'll give her some time, okay?"
"An hour." That was obviously the end of their discussion, because Kurt got up and walked into the kitchen to clean their mugs. To kill some time and to distract herself from Kurt's looks she went into the bathroom and took a shower.
Almost half an hour later, when she was finished in the bathroom, she heard that Kurt had turned on some music; so she sat on the couch and just listened. Kurt was busy with something. He was constantly walking around, it was a bit annoying, but when Rachel closed her eyes, she could block it out.
A while later Kurt sat next to her and when she opened her eyes and looked at him, he held her phone out for her. "It´s more than an hour now."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Okay, okay. I'll call her." Kurt wouldn't stop to push on the subject, that was clear, so Rachel took her phone from him. As soon as she had grabbed it, it rang. Kurt was just as startled as Rachel. He started laughing though, when Rachel let it fall down. "Kurt!"
"What?"
"It's not funny." Before she bends down to pick it up, Rachel gave him a look.
"Yes, it is." With that and still chuckling, he walked to his room. Without looking and before the call stopped, Rachel quickly answered the phone.
"Hello?"
"Rachel?"
"Yeah?" The voice sounded familiar, but Rachel couldn't put it together yet.
"Hey, it's Ajax."
"Wh-, oh, hi. Where did you get my number?"
"Oh, I... Um." His stumbling confused Rachel.
"Okay but, you can't tell Cassandra. I borrowed her phone at the exhibition and looked it up."
"That's...odd...and a little creepy. You could've asked me for my number." And he should have lied about how he got her number.
"Yah, but we didn't have a good start and Cassandra can be, you know, difficult."
"No, I don't know, but I don't think you called so we could talk about Cassandra." Of course she knew what he meant, but she sure as hell was not going to team up with her girlfriends brother against her girlfriend.
"Yes, of course not. Actually I called to ask you out to dinner."
"I...really don't think that is appropriate." The word 'appropriate' caught Kurt's attention and he was quickly to Rachel's side. Rachel put Ajax on speaker, so Kurt wouldn't need to put his ear to the phone.
"No, no, no. I didn't mean us two, I meant with Cassandra."
"Um, I don't know, what did Cassandra say?"
"Well, I haven't asked her yet." He emphasized the word 'yet'. "I wanted to ask you first." Kurt raised his eyebrow in disbelief and that was exactly how Rachel felt too.
"You shouldn't have."
"Why not?"
"It just doesn't feel right."
"Okay, I will ask Cassandra, but maybe you can try to make her receptive."
"And why would I do that? And why would you ask me and I don't think you can ask such a thing from me. You should talk to your sister not to me. Maybe, if you wouldn't go behind her back, you wouldn't have to ask me to convince her to meet you." Rachel was angry and, even though she often felt that she missed something by being an only child, situations like that made her grateful for being one.
"I'm sorry-"
"Me too, it was nice talking to you but I have to go. Good bye." Without waiting for his respond she hung up.
"What the hell was that?"
"Don't ask me." She wanted reassurance. "Seriously, that was inappropriate right?"
"Definitely, but now you can call Cassandra and you have an excuse."
"Oh, yeah... I'm not sure I should tell her, though."
"Maybe you're right." He turned around and walked back into his room, so Rachel dialed Cassandra's number. While waiting for Cassandra to pick up her phone Kurt peeked around the wall. "But maybe you're wrong, I bet there's a reason he asked you to persuade her." Kurt's words made her think, but there wasn't enough time to make a reasonable decision, because Cassandra picked up.
"Hey, what's up?"
"I, um, nothing."
"Then why did you call?"
"Oh, I, uh, just to ask what you're doing. Maybe we can meet later."
"Seriously, I can even tell that you're lying over the phone. That's sad Rachel. You have to work on your skills, but yes, I got time, you have something in mind?"
"Not yet, but I can think of something while I come over to your place?"
"Okay, I'll send Henry over."
"I can take a cab."
"Yes, you could, but I'd like it better if you would just accept the fact that I prefer Henry. You don't know what crazy person is going to jump into your cab or the driver turns out to be the crazy freak. Besides, you shouldn't spend all your money just to meet me." Cassandra left no room for arguing, Rachel tried to come up with something anyway, but a moment later it was obvious that Cassandra won the argument. "He'll call you when he's downstairs. See you soon."
"Okay. Bye."
"Bye."
"Cassandra?" Before she hung up Rachel had the feeling she had to tell Cassandra something.
"Yah?"
"I love you."
"I love you too." Rachel hung up with a big smile on her face, not sure when Henry would arrive she decided to get ready right away, instead of let him wait. It didn't take her too long though and when her phone rang a few minutes later she was glad, because she really didn't want to wait any longer.
"Hello?"
"Miss Berry?"
"Please don't-"
"I'm sorry, I forgot. I'm waiting outside, so whenever you're ready we can leave."
"Okay, I'll be down soon."
"Do you need help with your luggage?"
"I, um, no. Thanks."
"You're quite welcome." With that they hung up and few seconds passed by while Rachel thought whether to pack a few things. Better be prepared than not, with that thought in mind she grabbed a small bag and stuffed some clothes into it, she just needed something to change for one or two days. About five minutes later she had three outfits packed and wondered how she had managed to get it all in the small bag.
"So you guys made up?"
"Oh!" Rachel turned around to face Kurt and put a hand on her heart.
"Are you trying to give me a heart attack? I'm not sure there was something to make up or if it was just..."
"You?"
"Yes and thank you for pointing it out so nicely."
"Welcome. What are friends for, huh?" He smirked and Rachel couldn't stop herself from doing the same.
"Yea, yea, yea. I think I'll stay at her place for a few days,-"
"Again." She ignored Kurt's amused comment.
"-but I'm not sure. I'll let you know."
"Okay, have fun."
"Thanks. What are you up to tonight?"
"I don't know yet, but I'll find myself something to do. Don't worry."
"Okay. Bye then." She gave him a kiss on the cheek, grabbed her bag, keys and phone and left the apartment. While ran down she didn't think about her ankle, but when she reached the end of the stairs she remembered.
This wasn't really what Scott recommended for her foot and she felt a little pain. "Urgh..."
"Miss-Rachel, is everything all right?" She knew it was Henry and she had to smile about the fact that he had such a hard time calling her by her first name.
"Yes, everything's fine. Thanks for asking though." He smiled at her and offered to take her bag, which she didn't deny. The first name thing was obviously hard enough for him. She got in the car and they drove off, just a few minutes later they were at Cassandra's apartment. Before Rachel could, Henry had opened the door for her and had her bag in his hand. "I really appreciate your help, but I won't let you help me out of the car." She smiled nicely at him, to show that she wasn't mad or something, but she really didn't want so much help from him. It's not like she couldn't open the door herself.
"I thought as much." He handed her, her bag.
"Thank you, have a nice day."
"You too."
"Thanks." With that she walked into Cassandra's building and was two minutes later in front of Cassandra's apartment. Rachel still had the spare keys, but she thought it would be weird to use them since Cassandra was home, so she knocked on the door. Nobody opened the door, so she knocked again. About five minutes had passed and Rachel had knocked on the door at least five times, each time with a little bit more force, she got frustrated and just used the keys. Cassandra had a huge grin on her face, she was pretty sure what was about to happen next. The door opened and Rachel walked inside.
"Are you kidding me?" Rachel's facial expression change quickly from confused to annoyed.
"No, why?"
"Why didn't you open the door?"
"Why should I, you have keys."
"You didn't know it was me and its rude."
"I knew it was you and what exactly was rude? Not to open the door for someone who can use keys?"
"Yes!"
"Okay." Cassandra, who was sitting on the couch the whole time got up and walked over to Rachel, who still stood in the door. Rachel's expression changed again to confused when Cassandra pushed her outside.
"What-?"
"We'll try that again." With that she closed the door and walked back to the couch and as soon as she sat down Rachel opened the door again.
"What the hell was that?"
"See, you learned. You can open the door all by yourself and you did so because you know I won't open it for you."
"I don't get it." Rachel sounded more than annoyed and Cassandra couldn't help herself but smile.
"First, it's rude to leave the door open-" Rachel glared at her, but closed the door. "And secondly, when you go home you usually open the door all by yourself." The annoyance on Rachel's face disappeared, actually every expression disappeared.
"I... I don't... I don't know what to say."
"Me neither, but I didn't expect you to say anything, actually I didn't expect this to be a big deal. I just figured you'd use the key without second thought."
"I thought it'd be rude to just walk in."
"But assuming to stay here for at least one night isn't?" Cassandra pointed to the bag Rachel was holding.
"I wasn't assuming anything, I just wanted to be prepared in case I would stay."
"Okay, I'll let that one slide. Only because I assumed you'd stay anyway." Rachel raised both her eyebrows and put the bag on the floor, then she kicked off her shoes and hung her jacket away, before she slowly made her way to Cassandra. "What's with your foot?"
"What do you mean?" Rachel sat next to her and because Cassandra was half laying, she leaned over her and gave her a small kiss, which distracted Cassandra for the moment. But just for the moment.
"You were limping."
"I was?"
"Does it hurt?"
"Not really, it feels a little sore, but that's just because I haven't used it a few days."
"Are you wearing your bandages?"
"Yes ma'am."
"I bet you're good at role-plays." Rachel was trying to tease Cassandra, by calling her ma'am, but Cassandra surely knew how to backfire.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Cassandra furrowed her brows quickly and kissed Rachel.
"Yep, I'd love to know, but there's something I've to ask you." Cassandra sounded serious and when she sat up straight, Rachel started to worry. Cassandra must've seen it. "Don't worry, it's nothing bad. It's just Ajax called...and he asked me if we would like to have dinner with him."
"And I thought something's happened."
"Well, he asked me before and I said it wasn't a good time, I can do that again, but he'll just keep asking."
"Then lets just do it."
"Wait till you know everything. Daria called, thank god, apparently dinner wouldn't be just with Ajax, because he invited my parents and Daria too and I'm sure Bacchus is coming as well."
"Oh."
"We don't have to go, I mean, I'd totally understand if its too much, I'm not sure I would-"
"No. No, it's okay, I mean I know your father, Daria and Ajax already, so I won't feel totally self-concsious. I might be able to actually say something."
"So my whole family intimidates you?"
"I don't know, I haven't met them all."
"Well played. So you want to eat dinner with them?"
"Unless you don't want to. I don't know them that well, so I don't know if its a good idea or not."
"You'll meet them anyway and it's probably better when they have each other to talk to too instead of just interrogating you."
"Yea."
"Okay, I'll call Ajax and tell him."
"Great." Cassandra grabbed her phone and called Ajax. "Ajax? Yah, it's me...yes I did...yes, we'll come...okay...where?... Moms choice?...tonight?...okay, see you then. Bye." When she hung up, Cassandra looked at Rachel and tried to figure out what she saw on Rachel's face. She didn´t have time, because Rachel jumped up.
"I've to get ready!"