Away: A Prequel

Chapter 14

"Cassie!" Dex smiled, taking her into a hug, though she towered him, "My, you've grown!"

"Yeah," She seemed shy; she pulled away from the hug.

"I want you to meet someone." He announced, bringing her over to me; I stood away to let them talk if they needed.

This was it. My heart was pounding so much.

"Cass, this is Kayla." He told her, "My girlfriend."

"Hi, it's nice to meet you." I smiled; Dex had pulled me into him, wrapping his arm around me, "Dex has told me about you."

"Yeah, I guess." She shrugged, before turning to Dex, "Can we get back to yours? I wanna put my stuff there."

"Sure, then we'll go for some food." Dex nodded, still with his arm around me.

I was a little disheartened at her response; I guess I hoped she was going to be as excited to meet me as I was meeting her. Doesn't seem like she was all that excited, or bothered to be honest.

She brightened up, "I could use some food."

"Great; c'mon then girls." Dex led the way.

We had taken Cassandra's suitcase and bag to Dex's apartment; she was going to stay in the spare room for the week. We then went to a nearby restaurant, I believe it was called Molly's Diner, and had dinner there. Dex and Cass did a bit of catching up, while I picked at my spaghetti bolognese with my fork.

Dex had excused himself to go for a smoke, leaving me with Cassandra. Alone. She silently sat there, eating her food. Suddenly with nothing to say. I tried to think of something, anything, to talk to her about, but nothing was coming up. I quickly glanced around the diner, looking for something. I then remembered a story Dex told me about her.

"Soo, Dex tells me you like goats?" I attempted a conversation; I gave a sweet-ish smile.

"I do." She looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"I love animals myself. Dex and I keep a couple of budgies, and I have a guinea pig." I smiled.

"That's nice." She looked back at her food, "They won't keep me up will they?"

"No... they shouldn't. They're pretty good girls."

"Okay."

I was glad when Dex returned and started a conversation with me, then included Cass too. I found starting conversations awkward, but I had a feeling it was more than me being awkward. She seemed a bit cold toward me, and I wasn't sure why. They were talking about a course Cass was studying at her college, when I heard something that caught my interest.

"How's that course on Egypt going?" Dex asked, sipping at his drink.

"Egyptology, David." She smirked, "And it's going great! I love it!"

"Dex." He grumbled when she mentioned part of his real name; he quickly brightened up, "That's good to hear. You like mummies and spooky stuff like that, don't you, pet?"

I saw he was looking at me, and I quickly tried to eat what I had in my mouth; I nodded, "Oh, yeah; love learning about Egypt, especially Osiris, the god of the Underworld."

"Cool." She flatly stated, taking a long sip of her drink; it was getting obvious that she wasn't interested in anything I had to say.

Dex raised an eyebrow at her, seeming now noticing her behaviour; he watched her for a moment, once hinting at me to say something. I tried to quickly think of something, and brought it back to Egypt.

"I always wondered how to write Hieroglyphs, does your course teach you that?"

"Not really." She shrugged; her grey eyes glanced away, her brows furrowed. She seemed annoyed.

"Alright, madam." Dex finally said, "You've been moody with Kay since you got here. What's the matter?"

The question must have shocked her, because her eyes quickly shot back to him; she bit her lip, before confessing, "I don't really like her."

It kinda hurt, considering she had only just met me and hardly knew me at all. I was a little disheartened about it, since I wanted to make a good impression. Did I do something? Did I say something I wasn't meant to? Did I not say or do anything I was meant to? I couldn't think of anything, and the thoughts kept running through my head. I kept a straight face though.

"Why?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

She gave a noncommittal shrug, glancing away again.

"C'mon, Cassie; give a better answer than that." Dex stepped in; he was getting a little impatient.

"You wanna know why I've been moody with your little girlfriend?" She angrily told him, "Because while you're up here playing happy couple, I'm back home taking care of mum, since dad left! I've been stuck making sure she doesn't kill herself with overworking because she's trying to keep her mind off the fact that her son left, and then her husband followed soon after! I do want my own life you know!"

She stood up, the chair scraping against the diner's tile flooring, causing a few people to look our way, and she ran out, growling at anyone who entered as she exited. My gaze had followed her, but was brought back when I heard Dex sigh.

"We better go make sure she doesn't do anything stupid." He stood up, getting his jacket and throwing it over his shoulders.

I stood up to follow; I told him, "Maybe I shouldn't..."

"What?" He swiftly turned to face me, "Kay, she needs to know you're important too."

"But, Dex, she might need someone to talk to. Who better than her big brother to comfort her?"

"You." He smiled, grabbing my hand.

"Dex! I don't think it's a good idea for me to talk to her. She's moody with me."

"She's actually more moody with me." He smirked; it changed to a more sincere smile, "She most likely took out on you, but she didn't know who to direct her anger at. She... does that... and she's lost a few friends because of it. I think it would be nice to show her you're not as angry with her."

"Well, I am angry she's mad at me..." I frowned, but then added on, "But, I'll talk to her..."

"That's my girl." He grinned, bringing me in for a kiss.

We exited the diner, and looked around; we soon found her in the local park. She had seated herself on the swings. Dex stepped back, sitting on a nearby bench and telling me to go. He started a cigarette up, making it clear he was sitting there. I approached the swingset, sitting myself on the empty swing beside her.