Take my heart

Chapter II

They got married once, this kindergarten kind of ceremony that Adryan officiated and Darren witnessed, complete with plastic rings and cookies afterwards. Caesar's thinking about that for some unknown reason as he turns down a girl he's had a date or two with. She wants something serious and he's not interested—in fact, he's much more interested in the tip of Connor's foot pressed against the heel of his shoe. He's perched on the pool table, right behind him, pretending he's not really there as if that would give them some sense of privacy.

Caesar's not sure why they got married and Adryan and Darren didn't, and he's less sure why the girl insists he won't regret having a serious relationship with her. He makes some vague gesture with his left hand, doesn't need to look to know Connor catches the movement. It takes just a second, and then:

"Adryan's waiting for us, bro, come on." Connor steps away from the table, hands in his pockets and apologetic smile to the girl in front of them.

Caesar mirrors him and the conversation is over. They walk out of the lounge with no actual destination, and end up deciding to head to Connor's place without speaking up. Once in his car, Caesar keeps thinking about their fake wedding. Whose idea was it?

"Remember that movie we watched when we were kids?" Connor says a few minutes later. "This cheesy one Darren made us watch because one of the characters played the violin, you know, and someone got married."

The memory takes a moment to land on him. So it was Darren's fault, then.

"Oh, yeah! We got our own fake wedding after that, right?"

Connor's laughter floods the inside of the car, warm and colorful like his newest ceramic pieces. It draws a grin from Caesar, as always.

"We did, oh my god. Have we been cheating on each other the whole time?"

Caesar shrugs, attention back on the road.

"It wasn't the most official ceremony anyway, it doesn't matter. I was thinking about that just now," he admits.

They fall silent for the rest of the trip, each lost in their thoughts. Connor plays music from his phone; it's enough with Caesar to think about a particular song for it to pop up next, no agreement needed. His fingers tap along on the steering wheel as he convinces himself that it's only normal, after all the time they've spent together. Words are only the most superficial way people communicate.

A lime green coat catches his eye as he's about to park. In front of Connor's door stands a dark haired girl, with a cutesy bag in her hands and a blush across her cheeks. Upon further inspection, he recognizes Ali, Dawn's best friend. Now that's an interesting development. He senses Connor's confusion in his own muscles.

"What is she doing here?"

"My, I didn't know you had a date," Caesar teases. "I can leave you to it."

"Don't," his best friend says immediately. "Come on. I'll see what she wants, you go inside and make some coffee."

"I'm not your maid," says Caesar, though he complies.

They get out of the car with almost perfect coordination. Ali blinks at them, as if it surprised her to find them at Connor's place. Caesar lets it slide and greets her with a nod, letting Connor do the talking. He's supposed to head for the door, but this conversation promises to be more interesting.

"I-I just," she stammers, growing redder, "It's..."

"Do you wanna come in?" Connor asks, always the gentleman. "It's getting cold here. I'll make tea and you tell us what it is."

"No!" she startles herself with her outburst. Caesar lifts his brows, amused. "No, that-that's not necessary. I just, um, I just came to give this back," she thrusts the pink bag into Connor's hands. "And- to say thank you, for the other time. That's all."

With the way she purses her lips and lowers her gaze, shoulders tense and fingers fidgeting, it's rather obvious that is not all she came for. Caesar shifts his attention towards Connor as he takes a blue and gray scarf out of the bag. He narrows his eyes, not sure it ever belonged to Connor in the first place. It looks a lot like a gift someone gave to Caesar but, with these kind of things, they can never be sure.

"Well," Connor starts, "thanks, then. Are you sure you don't wanna come in?"

Ali shakes her head frantically. She seems mortified—Caesar begins to understand why after looking back and forth between the other two.

"Hey, Ali?" Connor tries once more. The girl doesn't meet his eyes. "You remember that was all faked, right? We agreed on that. I'm just saying, if you get any weird ideas, you'll only hurt yourself."

It's Caesar's turn to blink in surprise. He follows Connor through the door and down the hall, still going over those words.

"What was faked?"

"We went out the other night," his best friend explains. "She'd just broken up with her boyfriend or something, I found her crying somewhere random. Quite the scene, I tell you. I took her shopping and we went to a bar to cheer her up. I'm just reminding her it wasn't anything serious."

Humming his understanding, Caesar explores the cupboards for something to eat. Naive and principled girls like Ali always get the wrong ideas out of their antics, he knows what Connor thinks about them. And still, he gets involved time and again with this one.

"You followed my advice I see. To make it complicated."

Leaning on the counter, Connor's stare falls somewhere around his right shoulder.

"Not falling in love though."

They'll see about that.