Cassidy
When I woke up the next morning, the previous day felt surreal. I wasn't sure if I dreamed of the kiss and acting on my feelings or if it had actually happened. I wasn't even sure if the way he had hugged me when we stood in my room that night was real or a figment of my imagination, and I was not even sure if he had slept in my bed.
The other side of the bed was empty, with the sheets crumpled in a ball and a pair of men's jeans left strewn across the ground. Maybe, Houston left to sleep in his own bed. Maybe, he really did mean that I was only a fling for him.
The sound of pans and pots crashing downstairs caught my attention, and I immediately hopped out of bed, shoved the white bunny slippers on my feet, and ran down the stairs. The sight of the scene left me shocked, my jaw dropping in amusement.
The source of his noise ended up being Houston, as he held his pointer finger while balancing multiple pans that had fallen out of the cabinets. He said sheepishly, "I burnt my finger, and all of these pans fell out of the cupboard."
I sufficed a laugh and asked, taking the pans out of his hands, "You need help?"
He nodded and I stacked the pans neatly in the same cabinet, careful to not let the pans fall back down. Houston muttered to himself, as he stirred the scrambled eggs, "You weren't supposed to wake up at that."
"I'm a light sleeper," I shrugged nonchalantly, while Houston gestured for me to take a seat at the bar stools. "Why are you cooking breakfast? You never cook."
"I cook. That's how I've survived." In response, he took a plate and started to put scrambled eggs and sausages on, which did not look seasoned at all.
With a raised eyebrow, I asked as he set the plate in front of me, "You wanted to make me breakfast?"
Houston took the seat across from me, and his smile lit up the room in reply to my compliment. He nodded and then said, "I wanted to make you feel special, so I cooked for you."
"Thank you," I replied, and then without a second thought I planted a kiss on his cheek, making sure no one was around to see.
Then, I took a bite of the breakfast Houston had made, and I had to force myself not to spit it out. The eggs might have been the most unseasoned eggs I ever tried, and the sausages were practically charred all around. Instead of spitting out the food, I pulled a fake smile and tried to reassure myself it could get better.
The food never did, and I eventually had to confess the truth. I said, spying Houston's smile turning into embarrassment, "This food is so bad. It's horrible."
In reply, Houston took my advice lightly as he added laughing, "At least you're honest."
I questioned, "You know you're a bad cook?"
He nodded quickly, and I couldn't help but want to grab both sides of his face and kiss him. Before he could reply, I pulled him in for a kiss while I grabbed his muscular bicep, feeling the world turn below me. The kiss ended shortly, mostly from the smile and giggles I was unwilling to hide.
We broke apart when a sudden voice startled us, and Gus stood in the doorway. Gus shrugged, holding a pair of tools from the barn, "It's none of my business, definitely none of my business. Y'all were probably lucky it was just me, and not anyone else."
"Sorry," Houston called out, hiding his smile underneath the shaggy, curly brown hair and blue eyes that always seemingly found my gaze. "We'll be careful."
"I really don't care whatever is going on," Gus replied, fixing the tools on the counter. "You could be having sex on the table, and I wouldn't care what you did."
I muttered as Gus left the house, "That's not going to happen."
"Really?" Houston questioned, overhearing my mumbling and it caused me to look up at his wet curls and dark blue eyes. "I thought that was where we were headed."
"Oh, shut up," I exclaimed, punching him in the same bicep I held before the kiss as he leaned back in mock pain. "It's not going to happen yet."
His smile radiated peace and happiness, and his lips pressed mine for a moment longer than usual when we were in the clear. When Houston pulled back, he chuckles and said absentmindedly, "Your breath stinks, by the way."
In reply, I rolled my eyes as Houston gathered the plates with his poor attempt at making breakfast, and cleaned off the dishes. For those short moments, I never thought I could have a love like this for once in my life. I always thought these types of things only happened in the movies and fairytales that I grew out of when I was nine years old, but to my surprise, it felt real.
After Houston finished washing the dishes, he finally turned to me with a sheepish grin on his face, noting, "This breakfast wasn't the last surprise, Cassidy. You're in for many surprises today."
Before I could reply, he gestured with finger guns at me and tripped over the threshold of the door, but his grin was still planted on his face when he made a smooth recovery. I really did like that dork.
~
Houston was right when he said that he had surprises up his sleeve, but he was also a horrible liar and cannot keep secrets to save his life. As I sat in his truck, Houston drummed his fingers against the steering wheel and tapped away an annoying beat. Oddly enough, I knew Houston couldn't keep a secret for long.
The telltale signs were all there in his demeanor. He continuously ran his fingers through his brown hair, he always had to keep his hands busy in the car, and he was sweating. A part of me wanted to act surprised when Houston eventually blurted out the surprise, but another part of me wanted to pester him.
However, I didn't have to pester him when my best friend called me unexpectedly. I picked up the phone and Houston's shoulders finally relaxed, as I asked, "Hey, Avery. What's up?"
"Did you make a move on Houston?" Avery exclaimed, nearly screeching into my air which caused Houston to glance my way. "Did he make a move on you? What did you two do after?"
Without giving much away to Houston who could hear our every conversation, I replied to her question, "Yes, we kissed, but after we went to bed."
"Boring!" Avery exclaimed with a hint of a smile in her voice. "You two sound like an old, married couple already. So there was nothing at all after the kiss? No sex, just going to bed."
Even with the phone up to my ear, Houston heard everything and fought hard to suppress his laugh. Him covering his mouth with his hand wasn't doing anything, as the crinkles of his eyes showed the opposite of what he was hiding. Now was the time to pester him.
"But Houston is taking me somewhere as a surprise," I added, causing Houston to divert my attention toward me instead of the road. "I think he might be planning to kill me. If I do end up dead, Avery, make sure to tell Beckett I get the spot next to our parents in the family mausoleum."
Houston's blue eyes went wide and he exclaimed, defending himself, "I-I'm not going to kill you. Why would you think that?"
"You're a stranger that I occasionally kiss, and you're driving me to an unknown location," I answered, teasing him because it was so fun. "Those two really don't hold up in court."
As Avery laughed over the phone, Houston asked in a grumpy tone, "How do you know what does and doesn't hold up in court?"
Finally, I put the phone on speaker so Houston can hear the conversation. After many giggles, Avery finally asked, "If you're not killing Cassidy, then where are you taking her?"
"First, I don't like you, Avery."
"The feeling's mutual, Cowboy."
"Secondly... We are headed to Lubbock," Houston spat out in a grumbling tone. "I thought it was time that Cassidy and I should hang out somewhere, besides Plainview or the ranch. Lubbock is the only place that no one would know who we were."
At this moment, Avery gushed, "Well, that is very romantic, Cowboy."
"Shut up," Houston muttered, then turned to me as he parked on the side of the historic main street. "Can you get rid of her? Use that red button, you know? So she can leave."
Before I ended the call, Avery spat out one last insult at Houston, "That wasn't very nice, Oklahoma. I can tell Cassidy lies about you so that she'll break up with you."
Houston spat back out, "She would never break up with me. I'm too hot. Cassidy, can you get rid of her, please?"
I giggled at his attempt of making me end the conversation as Avery repeatedly threatened our relationship, and said while ending the call, "Sure thing. Bye, Avery."
As I hung up the phone, Houston pulled into an angled parking spot and turned to me, his small town smile upturned in a huge grin. His blue eyes matched the cloudless, blue sky, and the crinkles around his mouth and eyes were prominent now before. Seeing true happiness on Houston's face was such a rarity; I wanted to take a snapshot inside my mind and save it forever.
His deep voice brought me back to life, as he asked, "What were you thinking?"
Honesty was something that came quickly to me, as I answered, "You. Not in a creepy way, but in a way of wanting to remember this very moment with you. Houston, you've already treated me better than any guy has ever thought, and I'm so glad you're with me."
He smiled back, squeezed my hand, and then opened the truck door and replied, "I'm glad you're with me, too, but I have a lot planned for you. We better get started soon."
As I stepped out of his truck, standing in the middle of Lubbock with the one man who seemed to be off-limits from me was something that I had cherished. There were no more judging glances, no more family members worried I made the wrong decision, and no more hiding. This should be better. This was what Houston wanted; I should be fine.
Houston was standing under a canopy of trees overlooking the city park, kneeling over the pond to feed the ducks. When I approached him, he gestured for me to sit closer to the pond as his arm snaked around my shoulders. His embrace felt like a warm, fuzzy feeling, like coming home after a long weekend away.
While intertwining my fingers with his, I asked with my head on his shoulder, "So what do you have planned?"
"Well, I was thinking of walking around Lubbock, seeing the shops and the restaurants," Houston replied, leaning his head into mine. "But if you're happy being here, I can stay longer."
Curiosity got the best of me, though. A question that had been racking my brain spilled out of me, as I asked suddenly, "What happened to your family?"
He glanced at me, and I saw a glimmer of a sad smile before it quickly was shoved away by his demeanor. Houston questioned with brows furrowed, "What do you mean? I told you about my family."
"You told me the facts of your family," I inquired, reading his expressions better than he could as his shoulders tensed under the weight. "You've still never told me about why you left Fort Worth or Oklahoma, and you barely talk to any of them."
"Most of my family suck," Houston breathed out, running his calloused fingers over his knuckles in an anxious gesture. "My brother, who I thought was my best friend, is a backstabbing piece of shit. I have one sister who stole money from me, and a couple of siblings who never tell me when our dad has another heart attack or is doing well."
I stopped rubbing the nape of his neck, worried that I opened a cavity in his past that seemingly no one got past before. Houston noticed my hesitation and wrapped his arms around me, kissing the crevice where my neck met my shoulder. For a while, we just sat there under the shade of the trees and held each other.
Houston finally whispered into my shoulder, "I'm so sorry you have to hear everything about my life. I'm sorry that I'm like this."
Finally, I leaned away and broke off the hug, staring into his tear-filled blue eyes. I replied, "Houston, you don't have to apologize about that. You're one of my best friends, and nothing you say will ever change that."
"Really?"
Then, Houston's phone rang interrupting our conversation, as he flipped it open. His demeanor immediately changed, and the same tense, worried shoulders as he grabbed a stray, short curl in an anxious manner.
"Hello, what the hell do you want, Dallas?" Houston answered, anger rising in the inflection of his voice. "I don't want to fucking talk to you... What do you mean, you're not in Fort Worth? Then where the hell are you?"
From only hearing the one-sided conversation, I only caught bits and pieces of his conversation. I caught on to someone named Dallas, and Fort Worth, and wondered where this Dallas even was. Even when Houston ended the call, I never actually caught on to why this person made Houston so angry, and who they even were.
Houston ended the call and I asked, "Are you all right, Houston?"
"M-My dad had a stroke," Houston managed to choke out, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. "That was my brother."
"Houston, if you need to, we can go," I reassured him, standing up from the grass. "I don't care about this date. If you need to, I can tell my parents that you'll have to visit Oklahoma soon."
"Thanks, Cassidy," Houston said, standing up from the grass as well and I was taken aback by the sound of my name. "But I can handle everything on my own. I've always handled things on my own."
Even though all the words Houston said were the truth, a part of me thought he was only lying to save his skin. That he was only lying so I wouldn't worry more, and partially because he never trusted me. Seeing Houston like this only made my heart ache.
We were together, but a small part of me echoed the thought in my head that we were never meant to last.
~
dun dun dun houston's dad had a stroke... and is cassidy having doubts already? hehe... also why does houston have a flip phone?
find out soon on disney channel at 8/7 central (jk jk)
but seriously, I'm so excited that it's only going to get better
The song is Our Song by taylor swift because and here's the chapter gif