WANT (completed)

ch. 42 | What About The Future?

ASA'S POV

Cassandra was patient and keen on her listening as I told her about Lauren and Andrew getting together. That was just the start of the story, but not once did she interrupt me. A few minutes of silence fill the bedroom and I watch as she curls over me, forcing me to look up at her big eyes as her faces comes to hover over my own. "Asa?"

"Yeah?" I let out at her soft voice, completely mesmerized by her again. My hand runs up her thigh, her bare ass, and slides under my large shirt that covers her body, gliding up the smooth skin of her back.

"Nothing, I just wanted to make sure you're alright," Cassandra's soft voice echoes around me as she gives me a little smile. I smile back at her with a curt nod, moving my hand up and down her back lovingly. She's perfect and she's mine. I still can't fathom how that happened, nor am I sure if I deserve her, but I'm too selfish to let her go now.

"I'm fine," I assure her, feeling her lower herself against me, resting her head against my chest again. My heart beat remains steady as I watch her listen in to it, making me genuinely let go of a tiny grin.

"So what happened after that?" she asks me, bringing me back to my reality. I nearly forgot what we had been talking about minutes ago. Cassandra seemed to have that affect on me. She's all I can think about most days, and even when I'm not, she's always there in the back of my mind.

"I didn't talk to either of them. Andrew thought I was being a bitch about it, but couldn't care less about it, and Lauren tried to reach out a ridiculous number of times, but I just wanted to be left alone," I tell her, closing my eyes again as I recall all the lost conversations.

"I don't think we talked for a good six months. I saw Andrew at Christmas and Thanksgiving, but apart from the family dinners, we kept to ourselves. I think after the holidays was when I decided to make amends with Lauren. I couldn't keep ignoring her text messages and calls every now and then, and I was more upset with Andrew than I was with her," I continue.

I follow up, explaining how Lauren and I went back to being friends, with the exception that we wouldn't talk about her relationship with Andrew or anything surrounding him. Not once. I didn't know if they were still seeing each other, and I didn't care to know.

"I was being an ass about it. But I was just so mad at them for keeping it from me for so long," my voice cracks a bit as I recall the few conversations that I had with my brother over the years while I was in university. He had found a job in the city, so he had stayed nearby, but it wasn't the same between us anymore.

I feel Cassandra's soft hands on my chest, and it gets my attention. I look down at her, and she's staring at me with concern. "We didn't talk until Christmas my senior year. I wasn't planning on going to celebrate with them, but mom really wanted me to, so I cancelled plans to go to a ski resort with my friends and went home last minute. I probably shouldn't have gone, because I ended up punching Andrew straight in the face and breaking his nose."

"What?" Cassandra chokes out, a mixture of surprise and confusion expressed on her face. I smile a bit, nearly laughing at the thought of Christmas dinner that year.

"Yeah. Andrew brought Lauren, and I flipped shit because he told us that they were gonna get married. Not once did either of them talk about being together over the past four years, but they were perfectly fine with showing up and announcing that they were engaged," I shake my head at the memory. My mom was so confused, mainly because she only knew Lauren as my friend, whereas Dad was pissed off because we had ruined Christmas dinner and embarrassed him in front of his colleagues.

"Engaged? They were together the whole time and they never thought to tell you about it?" Cassandra asks me, sitting up suddenly. I grimace slightly, feeling her warmth leave from against my own, but she notices and quickly moves closer to me.