WANT (completed)

ch. 4 | Know-It-All

ASA'S POV

"W-what?," Cassandra whispered, her face inches away from my own. I towered over her petite figure, my thumb moving off of her plump lip and brushing against the soft skin of her cheek.

I have always been very blunt. People like that about me. I'm an extremely straight forward, get-to-the-point type of guy, but in this moment, I know that I may be pushing her too far.

I met her a few hours ago, but I felt like I knew her my entire life. The entire time at the table, as people tried to talk to me about my life, I watched her, and not in the creepy stalker kind of way.

She was quiet, listened to everyone around her, but didn't say a word about herself, even if she had something to say. God, and the way she let that jackass talk to her as if he owned her, made me furious.

She is beautiful. The moment I laid eyes on her, after she tumbled right into my arms, I knew she was different. Her eyes screamed of her innocence, her voice soft and apologetic, although all I could think about was hearing her scream my name as I took her. That's all I wanted to do right now, but I was trying to hold back. I didn't want to scare her away.

"End it. End things with him," I repeat, the pad of my thumb rubbing gently against her cheek as my hand positioned itself to cup her face, lightly tilting it up so that she was forced to look straight up and into my eyes. Her big, beautiful brown eyes was my favorite of her physical features. She had a perfect body, soft skin, gorgeous dark and long hair, but her eyes are what did it for me.

Her expression changed to that of pure shock and my eyes darted down to her plump lips that were now parted slightly, as if she were to say something, although nothing came out.

Suddenly, she's laughing, shaking her head at me as she pushes her small hands against my muscular body, shoving me away from her. Although I am capable of keeping my stance, I relax and allow her to create some distance between us. My hand falls from her face, down to my side, and I watch as she steps away from me, walking around me as she continued to shake her head.

"You're fucking ridiculous, you know that?" Cassandra suddenly exclaims, turning back around to face me. Her tone shows that she's serious, probably thinking that I'm delirious for making such a comment.

There's a good six feet between us now. As much as I want to step towards her again, I hold myself back.

"So I've been told," I say with a casual shrug, stuffing my hands back into my pockets.

"You act like you know everything. But you don't, you don't know anything about me," she snaps, her eyes narrowing and her voice raising the tiniest bit. She was angry, her face gave that away, plus the tone of her voice.

I couldn't help but smile a bit. She looks adorable when she was angry. A small chuckle escapes my lips before I can stop myself, and I shake my head at her.

"I would say otherwise. Cassandra Rhodes. Columbia Class of what...2019? I'm guessing you studied business, probably focusing on finance and analytics. Maybe a minor in...history?," I suggest, watching as her expression falls. She's taken aback, but I don't give her a chance to speak before continuing.

"I'm guessing that you chose business because it's what's expected of you...but that's just stuff I could probably find on the internet," I continue, stepping towards her slowly, but being sure to keep my distance still.

"You're quiet. You hate being the center of attention. You said all but maybe a few sentences about yourself all night, even when people asked about you, you'd simply change the subject...You didn't want to be there tonight, but I'm guessing you were expected to be there. You admire your father, regardless of the fact that he pays no attention to you."

I watch as she continues to stare at me, and as much as I want to ask her to say something back, she doesn't, so I continue.

"Then there's Zachary, who clearly loves you, but tries to protect you, even though I know for a fact you can protect yourself. Camara, your best friend from the looks of it, thinks she knows everything about you, which isn't true, because you shelter your feelings. She might know more than others, but there's a lot you keep inside...and don't get me started on that stupid jackass that thinks you're his girlfriend. He treats you like shit, and for some insane reason, you let him. You let him walk all over you, when you're the one who has the advantage. He needs you to be successful. I guarantee that if you weren't with him, he wouldn't have gotten an invitation tonight."

There's so much more I want to say. So much that I want to know. After spending the entire night focused on only her, I could tell you about her habits, such as the way she bites down on her lip when she's holding back a remark, or the way she closes her eyes for a few seconds to take a deep breath every once in a while when no one else is looking.

But I don't. I've said too much already. More than enough to send her running, which is why I'm surprised she hasn't.

I am not in a position to be saying any of this. I'm a stranger, a big nobody to her, but here she stood in front of me. Her emerald green dress hugging her body perfectly. She's shifting her weight from her left to the right, and then back again after a few moments. I'm assuming because of the tall heels she is wearing, which I can only imagine are killing her feet.

"Literature," she mumbles, her voice soft, almost breaking as she speaks up. My eyes flutter back to her face, having been distracted by all the rest she had to offer.

"What?"

"I minored in Literature. I love books," Cassandra sighs, her arms crossing across her chest as she looked away from my stare. I couldn't help but smile at her.

"You love books," I repeat after her with a slight nod as I reach up and finally untie my loosened tie, pulling it down and off of me and tossing it onto the chair besides me, right next to her coat.

"You're quiet too. You figured your way around me, but you haven't told me anything about yourself," she mutters, her voice soft and shy. I notice her fingers rub against the skin on her arm.

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything. I want to know everything," she admits, a small smile finally appearing on her face, doing something to me internally.

God, this woman would be the death of me. She was perfect. I had never met anyone like her and after this, I didn't feel like I needed anyone else.