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Chapter 12
I wake up on Saturday morning to a loud banging on my open door. Without looking to see who it is, I chuck a throw pillow towards it. "Go away Paul," I mumble in annoyance. It's way too early to be up.
I hear laughter, but am – for some reason – surprised when it's my mother's voice. "Well, I didn't think this spray tan worked that well, but I'll take it."
Looking out from my massive pile of blankets, I send her an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Mom. I just couldn't think of anyone else who'd wake me up at this ungodly hour on a Saturday. But the tan looks great."
"Thank you. So, you must've forgotten that we're leaving for Seattle in half an hour?"
I groan, immediately shoving my blankets off me and rushing out of bed. "Oh my god. Yes, well, kind of." Paul and I had stayed up rather late last night watching Netflix. He had wanted to finish the third season of Once. I warned him it was a bad idea because season finales were always cliff-hangers, so I assumed he'd be waking me up early to watch more. Nonetheless, I did forgot my mother and I were going to Seattle to pick up her dress, my dress, and her bridesmaids dresses. "I'll be ready in like ten minutes, Mom. I swear."
She laughs, nodding. "Alright, honey. Just let me know when you're ready." She shuts my door before heading downstairs.
Quickly, I scramble through my drawers to find an outfit to wear. We're picking up her bridesmaids on the way, so I know she wants to leave on time. We're picking one of her current coworkers, Susan, up at her house. I guess she helped my mom get the job at Forks Hospital before we moved here, and they've become close since then. Her other bridesmaid, who we're picking up in Port Angeles, is Margaret. She was my mom's maid of honour at my parents' wedding; they've been friends since they were in high school.
Then we'll be heading to Seattle to try on the dresses one last time and bring them home. I've been looking forward to this day for a long time, so I feel really guilty about letting it slip my mind.
After getting ready, I head towards the staircase. I sneak a peek through Paul's open door. He's snoring away, which causes a smile to bloom across my face. He's so adorable. Besides, I should've known he wouldn't be able to drag himself out of bed this early to wake me up.
We leave as soon as I'm downstairs, since it won't be too hard to grab a coffee and a breakfast sandwich on our stop in Port Angeles. I take a seat in the passenger side of my mom's SUV. Unfortunately, I know I'll have to sit in the back for the majority of the drive.
I'm surprised at how short the drive is to Susan's house, which is probably silly. After all, like Peter said, nothing is a very far drive in La Push. Mom glances at the time on her phone after she puts the vehicle in park.
"We may as well go in for a few minutes. I'm sure she's still finishing getting ready," she informs me, unbuckling her seatbelt.
I follow suit. I guess the drive was quicker than Mom was anticipating too.
We knock on the front door, and I'm even more surprised at who answers the door.
"Seth?" I exclaim in confusion.
"Hi, Cassie," he replies with a huge smile. He doesn't seem remotely surprised to see me. Then again, I'm sure whereas my mother refers to his mother – presumably – as 'Susan', his mother likely refers to my mother as 'Marie, Paul's step-mother'. Since, after all, everybody knows everybody around here.
My mom is also surprised, evidently curious of how I know Seth. "You two know each other?" she asks, as Seth ushers us into the house and towards the kitchen.
"Yeah, Seth is friends with Paul," I clarify. I'm sure 'works with' would be more accurate since Seth is a couple years younger than us, but Paul and his coworkers all seem really close anyway.
"Hi Marie," Susan greets as we enter the kitchen. She shoots me a friendly smile. "Hi Cassie. It's great to finally meet you. I'm Sue."
I shoot her back a smile. "You too."
Sue is just putting a few things in her purse, but besides that she seems to be ready. Behind her, I notice Leah sitting at the kitchen table, eating some cereal.
"Hey Leah," I greet enthusiastically.
She rolls her eyes, like usual. "It's too early to be so chipper, Cassie," she groans, finishing off the rest of her cereal.
"Leah!" Sue scolds. "Don't be so rude."
Leah smirks. "Oh don't worry, Mom. Seth is Paul's friend, but I'm Cassie's friend." She shoots me a wink, causing me to roll my eyes as I let out a laugh. I'm slightly confused as to how she heard me say that about Seth all the way at the door, but I'm honestly just flattered that she considers me her friend. Even though, I guess in her mind that means she's allowed to be 'rude'?
I notice my mom smiling; she's mentioned a couple of times how I haven't had any friends over since I started school. Luckily, me hanging out with Paul's friends had shut her up, but I can tell she's happy to know that I actually have some friends here.
"So what are you guys doing today?" I ask Seth and Leah as Sue zips up her purse.
"Just about to go to work," Seth informs me, still smiling. I swear this kid is always happy.
Leah shrugs. "Nothing."
"Oh you should come with us!" I offer.
Sue seems even more surprised than Leah is at my suggestion. I know Leah doesn't get along too well with most of their gang, but I'm sure she must get along with some other people.
"You want me to go with you guys to watch you try on dresses?" she asks dubiously.
"Oh come on, that will take like ten minutes. I'm sure we'll go shopping or something afterwards. We'll probably stop for food," I add, knowing how important eating is to Paul and all of his friends.
She bites back a smile, but doesn't look convinced.
"You should come Leah. You rarely get out of La Push anymore, and you don't work today," Sue says, looking hopeful.
My mom ends up being the one who convinces Leah to come: "I'm sure Cassie doesn't want to be stuck with a bunch of old ladies all day by herself."
This causes Leah to laugh, and she finally concedes. "Give me five minutes."
True to her word, five minutes later, we are all piled into the SUV and on our way towards the highway. Leah and I amuse ourselves by sharing funny stories – many of which include embarrassing stories about Paul – while our moms chat away in the front seats. We pick up Margaret at her house, and Leah and I slip from the middle seats to the back so that they can all chat freely together.
As promised, my mom stops at Starbucks so that I can grab a coffee and a breakfast. Everyone else grabs a drink as well. Don't get me wrong, I'm really liking living in La Push. But I'm missing being near a Starbucks – and a McDonald's. Especially considering Ricki and I made daily trips to the former and weekly trips to the latter….
It's shortly after lunch time when we arrive at the bridal shop in Seattle. My estimated time in the shop was a little too optimistic, but we were barely there for half an hour. Thankfully, all of the dresses were altered correctly, and they fit perfectly.
Since the store is located in one of the better malls in Seattle, we don't have to travel anywhere to go shopping. After looking at the stores in the mall, my mom, Margaret, and Sue decide there's not anything they really want or need to buy, but they'd like to go see this new romance movie that's out in the movie theater on the top floor of the mall.
There are multiple reasons I don't want to go see the movie. But the main reasons are that it's an independent movie and likely is going to be very cheesy and not very well done, my mom always teases me about how much nicer that theater is than the privately-owned one I worked at in Port Angeles, and the Barnes & Nobel and Victoria's Secret in this mall are calling my name.
"That movie looks terrible," I admit bluntly. "But I'd be more than happy to shop for a couple hours while you guys go to the movie."
"I second that," Leah adds.
They all roll their eyes at us, but nonetheless, they agree that it's a good plan. Once they head towards the escalators to go to the movies, I ask Leah, "Is there any store in particular you wanna go to?"
She shrugs. "Most of the stores here are out of my price range." She gestures to the mall directory: Barney's, Tiffany & Co., Michael Kors, etc.
Laughing, I nod. "Same." Although, since Paul and I didn't go back to my dad's place after breakfast that morning, I did still have his "emergency" credit card. I haven't used it, but he also hasn't said anything, so I'm not sure if he's even realized it's gone. Or he doesn't care. But wasting hundreds of dollars on a sweater probably isn't the best way to find out.
"I wouldn't mind going to Teavana and Barnes & Nobel," Leah decides.
I grin. "Awesome, I wanted to go to Victoria's Secret and Barnes & Nobel. Come on," I say, pulling her in the direction of the bookstore. "It's this way."
Although I've been sure for a bit that Leah and I would become good friends, realizing that she would willingly hang out in a bookstore for an hour just looking through books and talking about ones we've liked and disliked definitely solidified that fact.
When we're finally heading towards the cash, I notice Leah smirking at one of the books in my hand. "What?" I ask, holding the books to my chest defensively.
Snorting, she replies, "Dream a Little Dream?"
Shrugging, I walk up to the open cash register. "I really like the author, okay?" I can't see the cover of the book in her hand, but I'm pretty sure she grabbed it from the romance section. So she's in no place to judge.
After the bookstore, we go up to Teavana for Leah's tea. I'm not much of a tea drinker, so I know it would be a waste of money to buy some. However, the teas that Leah buys do smell really good.
On the way to Victoria's Secret, I begin to worry that it will be awkward shopping there with Leah. Especially since she was friends with Paul first. But I just keep telling myself that she doesn't even know Paul and I are a thing. Plus, it's not like we've actually done anything with clothes off anyway….
To my surprise, Leah roams the store while I buy a few things. She doesn't rejoin me until I've already paid and have my stuff in bags. It's almost like she's purposely avoiding seeing what I pick out.
Then again, I'm probably just being paranoid. We haven't known each other for long and we're not that close, so she might just be uncomfortable. Or maybe she was just genuinely shopping for herself and couldn't find anything.
My phone rings as we leave the shop. "Hey, Mom," I answer.
"Hey, sweetie," she replies. "Are you guys having fun? We just got out of the movie."
"Yeah! How was it?"
She hesitates, before saying half-heartedly, "It was good."
I can't help but snort; Leah and I were right. "We actually just finished shopping. We're on the floor below you. We'll meet you at the escalators?"
"Okay, see you soon!"
We head to meet our moms and Margaret. When I notice them, I'm not pleased to see the conspired look on my mother's face. "Why do I feel like you guys have been talking about me?" I ask nervously, joining them.
My mom's look turns slightly guilty. "Nothing bad! Margaret and Sue were just talking about their plus ones to the wedding, Arthur and Charlie, and I realized that you haven't told me if you're bringing anyone!" I find that suspicious to begin with. Arthur is Margaret's husband and I made the invitations; I know he was included and not as a "plus one".
Instantly, however, my heart begins hammering in my chest. "Who would I bring?" I ask, feigning ignorance.
"Well, what about that Liam boy you said you might bring?"
I swear I notice Leah stifle a laugh. I can't imagine Paul told anybody about our run-in with Liam at the theater the other week, but who knows.
"Mom," I complain. "I'm not bringing Liam. I haven't even talked to him since we moved." It's not really a lie. I mean, sure, I saw him at the movies. And at New Year's. But that one doesn't count because I hadn't moved down at that point.
"Oh calm down, Cassie," she chastises. "I'm just saying. Peter and I were talking the other day about how you haven't brought home any boys since you moved down."
Apparently in addition to talking about how I don't bring friends over, they also discuss how I don't bring boys home. Great.
I send her my best "you're embarrassing me", but I'm sure she doesn't see it that way. After all, I've known Margaret all my life and Sue seems pretty chill. "Mom, I've literally been living here for a few weeks. It's not like I used to bring guys home every day. Besides, Paul never brings anybody home, and I'm sure he's not bringing anybody to the wedding. Why don't you go give him a hard time about it?" I'm practically hyperventilating in awkwardness as I blurt out my spiel.
My mom looks slightly confused, but mostly amused, by my outburst. At least she and Peter actually think I don't have a love life at the moment….
When she doesn't say anything, I continue babbling, "I need to go to the bathroom before we drive back. Leah? Do you have to go to the bathroom?" She looks like she's about to say no, but she just shrugs and follows me as I walk ahead of the others. "We'll meet you at the car."
My humiliation and awkwardness slowly fades as we walk to the bathroom. I'm washing my hands and almost completely calmed down when Leah joins me.
She shoots me an amused smirk as she washes her hands at the sink beside me. "You know, pointing out that Paul also is seeing fewer than normal girls probably isn't the best way to keep the secret," she points out laughing.
"Keep what secret?" I demand, trying to look keep my voice level. But I don't succeed. My heart is right back to hammering in my chest, and my voice is embarrassingly high-pitched as I try to remain calm.
Leah freezes, her face visibly draining as she realizes what she just blurted out. "Uh," she stammers out nervously.
"You know, don't you?" I exclaim in horror.
Guilt takes over her face.
"Oh my god." I want to scream. Or punch something. Or both. "How long have you known?" She just shrugs uncomfortably. "Does anyone else know?"
Somehow, her facial expression turns dramatically guiltier.
"You all know?" I accuse, grabbing paper towel from the dispenser violently. My hyperventilating is fully back.
"Cassie, don't be mad," Leah pleads. "He didn't mean for us to all find out."
I scoff. I had worked so hard to keep us a secret. I hadn't even told Ricki! Yet here Paul is letting his whole gang of friends in on our secret. "Yet you all did."
"I'm sorry," she exclaims, following me out of the bathroom.
After a moment of reflection, I tell her earnestly, "Don't be." I sigh. "It's not your fault."
"So," she hesitates, "you're not mad?"
"Oh I'm pissed," I clarify. And I am; if I was any angrier, I would be shaking. "Just not at you guys."
At Paul on the other hand? Well, I'm livid. He didn't just tell our secret. He broke a promise, and then he lied about it. If they all knew, he should've came clean when I asked him about it Thursday night. The walk to the car is dead silent, and when we reach the car, I must not be doing a good job at hiding my anger. My mom thinks I'm mad about her teasing in the mall. I tell her it's already forgotten. And it is.
Because my anger at Paul right now is the only thing on my mind.
I pretend to fall asleep on the way home, even though it's not even supper time yet. However, when I open my eyes, I notice Paul's name on Leah's phone. She doesn't notice me – still thinking I'm actually asleep – and I'm able to read the text she sends him:
Cassie knows we know and she's pissed. So good luck with that.
Although I'm a little bothered that Leah is warning him, I'm pleased that she ended the text with unsympathetic, laughing emoticons. Regardless, Paul's going to need more than luck.
Wonder how Paul's going to get out of this one D: Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think :)