Mr. Hemmings |l.h.|

chapter 11

Luke

The next month, Cassi and I spend a lot of time together, as friends of course. I took her to Davey's again so that she could try it again and have a better experience. During that time I was able to share with her so many of the stories from when I would come to Davey's. I told her about the time I sang karaoke on their Friday karaoke night. The manager on duty said I was so good that I needed to come back. The next day, they contacted me and hired me to play every Saturday night for a month straight. I loved getting to perform at Davey's, playing my favorite songs and a few originals.

I told Cassi about the night of my twenty-first birthday. Ashton, Calum, Michael, and I had planned for weeks to come here. Davey's was running a special on alcohol the whole week of my birthday and we were so excited to blow all our cash. We all had consumed alcohol before, but there is nothing more exhilarating than getting drunk on your twenty-first birthday. Ashton and Michael were lucky though, as they both celebrated their eighteenth birthdays in Australia, then they got to do it all over again when they turned twenty-one in America.

This past month, Cassi and I have also found out we have many shared interests. Especially with music. We both appreciate many of the same artists and genres. It has been fun finding new music together and sharing our favorite songs. We also enjoy being outside a lot. Many days during the last few weeks we have gone on hiking trails, walked in parks, or went to the beach. I'm glad that I have found someone that appreciates the same things as me.

Our friendship is getting deeper. Nothing feels awkward or weird. It all feels so natural as if she was my missing piece. We have been making so many fun memories. I never want this to end. However, Cassi decided it would be best to keep our friendship a secret. It would not be good for all the students and the principal to find out. Even though we are just friends, rumors and speculations will arise. I do not want to risk getting fired or her getting expelled over assumptions.

Today, we went on a walk in our favorite park. It's on a back road that not many people know about, so the park is never populated. The many trees in the park also make it easy not to be seen by others.

"Okay, I don't know about you, but I'm really craving ice cream," Cassi says. Her face is starting to become dotted with sweat. It is pretty hot outside today.

"Haha, I am too," I reply. Cassi notices me looking at her and quickly wipes a few beads of sweat off of her face. "You're in luck because I did buy some ice cream at the grocery store yesterday."

"Man! Really?"

"Yup. I don't mind splitting it if you want to." I say.

"Yes, please! Let's go now before I start to sweat hard and get a sunburn," Cassi says. I nod in agreement and we walk to my car parked in the gravel parking lot. We both get in and blast the cool A/C. I connect my phone to my radio so that we can listen to music.

"Here, play something." I hand Cassi my unlocked phone as I began to drive home. She turns on a playlist that we made together.

"Hey, you got a Twitter notification. It's a dm" Cassi says.

"Who from? What's it say?"

"It's from Ashton. He said 'Hey man. Sorry, it took me a while to reach out. My schedule has been slammed. When are you free again? Let's catch up soon.'"

I smile at hearing Ashton's message. I haven't heard from him since we went to dinner at Davey's a month ago. I sent him a direct message a couple of weeks ago but got no response. I'm glad he wants to hang out, and one-on-one this time.

"Awesome. I'll respond to him in a bit." I say.

"Okay, cool," Cassi says. She locks my phone and places it in the cupholder. We continue our drive to my house singing our favorite songs at the top of our lungs.