A/N: Above is a picture of the dress that Cassie is wearing for the New Year's Eve party.
Alex's POV
The guys turned and looked at me with smirks on their faces.
"What was that, huh, Alex?", Aaron playfully asked me.
"A kiss, have you never seen one before?", I sarcastically replied.
"No kidding Sherlock. We weren't born yesterday you know", Liam responded.
"Besides, that definitely wasn't just a kiss. That was an entire make out scene in front of the entire class, man", Jax added with a smirk.
"It was just a kiss for the scene. We were acting so we had to make it seem believable. I got to say, clearly we did a bang up job if you guys think it seemed real", I joked.
Apparently none of them thought it was funny since they gave me the "we know you're lying, and you better spill it" look.
"Okay, okay! You all don't need to gang up on me about a kiss, though", I told them.
"Seriously, Alex. When are you going to talk to Cassie about how you feel? It's been awhile, and enough is enough", Liam firmly said.
"Yeah, the tension is so obvious between the two of you. Clearly you both feel the same about each other, man up and ask her out already!", Jax added.
"I agree with Jax and Liam. If you don't talk to Cassie soon, someone else is going to come and sweep her off her feet. Then you could kiss away any chance the two of you have", Aaron hinted.
"I know, you guys are right. I wasn't sure exactly how I felt about Cassie, but I just figured it out before the kiss. Then I tried talking to her, but someone interrupted us," I said as I looked at Liam.
The culprit only avoided my gaze and began whistling nonchalantly.
"Anyways, I don't know what to do. You know how fickle the girls are. I doubt they'll want to be near any of us during break", I said.
"Just go to Cassie's place and get her to talk to you. It isn't rocket science, man", Jax suggested.
"It's Christmas soon so get her a nice gift as well. You could tell her that you have a gift for her, and ease her into the conversation. I'm a genius!", Aaron confidently mentioned.
"Mr.Ego, cool it down will you. Anyways, you got this Alex and we have your backs if you need us", Liam added.
"That's the sweetest thing you've ever said Liam", I playfully told him.
"Honestly, why am I friends with you guys? I ask myself that every day", Liam said while shaking his head.
"Because we're awesome of course!", Jax said while putting his arm around Liam.
"Whatever helps you sleep better at night, Jax", Liam replied.
"Well, if you really want to know-", Jax began.
"Honestly, I don't really want to know. Good luck Alex", Liam gave me a reassuring smile as he left for class.
"Let's play follow the leader and follow Liam!", Aaron shouted as he ran after Liam.
As Liam saw Aaron fastly approaching him, he said "stranger danger, stranger danger!"
"Don't be like that Liam, we're friends!", Aaron exclaimed.
"My mom told me not to talk to strangers!", Liam childishly said.
"Seriously, how old are you guys?", I asked as I shook my head amusingly.
"Age is but a number, oh wise one", Jax said.
Still shaking my head, we headed to class.
Cassie's POV
The second I got home, I felt so relieved.
After Lit class, I felt drained, so I was looking forward to lying in bed and cuddling up to my book!
Just as I got comfortable, I heard a car door slam outside and the front door opening.
"Cassie, I'm home!", my mom shouted.
"Up here, mom!", I shouted back at her.
"Hey sweetie, how was your day?", my mom kindly asked me.
If you looked at my mom and me, our features are identical to each other except my eye color.
My dad and everyone on his side of the family had the same eye color.
I guess my mom noticed there was something wrong, because she sat on my bed, waiting to listen.
I laid my head on her lap, just like I did when I was little and she ran her fingers through my hair.
"What's wrong, sweetie? Did something happen to you and the gang?", she asked me.
I shook my head.
"Did something happen between you and Alex?", she softly questioned me.
"Yes, how did you know?", I asked her as I looked up at her face.
"It's a mother's intuition. So, what happened between you two? Did you tell Alex how you feel yet? I'm pretty sure everyone is wondering the same thing, Cassie", My mom teasingly said.
"No, we kissed", I mumbled into my pillow.
"You know I can't hear you when you talk into your pillow, sweetheart?"
"I said, Alex and I kissed," I stated a little louder
"A little louder, dear. I couldn't quite catch that", she requested.
"Alex and I kissed today, okay! Was that loud enough?", I shouted.
"Finally! Tell me all the details and don't leave anything out!!!", my mother exclaimed with a huge grin on her face.
Once I caught her up on everything, my mom was silent.
"Mom? Could you say something, please", I questioned her.
"So, what did you do after the kiss?", my mom asked me.
"Alex tried telling me something, but then I remembered Tiffany and him are dating and I didn't know what to make of the kiss. I don't know if Alex was acting during the kiss scene or if he actually felt something. After that, Liam interrupted us and the girls and I left for class.
"I just don't know what to say to him. Mom. If I tell him the truth, I might land up making a fool of myself and it'll make our friendship awkward. But I don't want to necessarily keep quiet about it for the rest of my life either. There might be a chance, even a small chance, that he feels the same way about me as I do him", I rationally explained to her.
"Well, how will you ever know how he feels about you if you don't talk to him about it, huh?", mom wisely said.
"Yeah, I know", I mumbled.
"Just sleep on it and figure it out whenever you're ready", my mom suggested.
"Love you sweetie", she told me with a smile on her face.
"Love you too, mom", I replied back to her.
Once she shut my door, I reflected on what she said. I know my mom was right, but I wanted to procrastinate it as long as I could.
New Year's Eve
As you can tell, clearly I didn't talk to Alex. I tried making myself go out and talk to him, but I never pushed myself enough to actually do it. Every time I opened my door and was about to go over to Alex's house, my fear would build up and I would chicken out.
However, Alex's family has a New Year's Eve party every year and my family, the gang and their families were always invited.
I tried to convince my parents that I was sick, but they could tell I was faking it and said I can't avoid him forever.
To which I quickly replied, "yes I can!".
Anyways, my parents won the battle and we arrived at the Roberts' home.
Alex's mom, Cynthia greeted us at the door.
"Come in, come in! Grace [Cassie's Mom], would you mind helping me finish the decorations for the party? Brian [Cassie's dad], Steve's in the living room watching football, if you want to join him?", Cynthia told my parents.
Like a little kid, my dad ran off to find Steve. Ever since the Roberts' moved in next door, Cynthia and my mom have become practically best friends. Don't even get me started on Steve and my dad. They have some kind of a bromance going on. You laugh, but they do almost everything together. Whether it's watching tv, playing sports, barbecuing, anything, you name it.
"I love you dress, Cassie! The color looks spectacular on you and you look very beautiful in it," Cynthia complimented me.
"Thank you", I shyly replied back.
"Oh, before I forget. Alex told me to send you up to his room when you got here. Something about a late Christmas gift", she replied with a wink directed at me.
"Oh, okay then. Well, I better go see what he wants then," I hesitantly responded.
Cynthia and my mom glanced at each other and seemed to share a secret smile.
Moms, there so weird sometimes...
Once I reached Alex's door, I gently knocked on it.
"Come in!", he shouted.
As I walked inside, the room was completely dark. Complete silence.
"I've been waiting for you," Alex said with a creepy tone of voice as he turned his spinny chair around to face me.
After that, he turned his light lamp on to give the room some kind of a light.
"Dramatic much, Alex. Honestly, I think you should go into drama for college. You're such a drama queen sometimes", I rolled my eyes at him as I flipped the switch to turn on his bedroom light.
"At least, someone finally recognizes my talent!", Alex dramatically shouted.
"You sure crack yourself up, don't you?", I teased him.
"Well, no one else seems to get my humor, so I guess I have to try and cheer myself up somehow", he said.
"Wow, that's sounds...really sad, now that I think about it", I smiled at him.
"Ouch, I'm wounded! Besides, that's not why I called you up here. I wanted to give you your Christmas gift, but I guess we both were busy so I wanted to make sure I got it to you today", Alex told me.
When Alex grabbed my gift from his desk drawer, I pulled my gift for him from behind my back and handed it to him.
"Wow, Cass, way to ruin my moment. I wanted to surprise you with a gift, not the other way around. But, you were always one step ahead of me anyways," he said with a gentle smile.
"I hope you like the gift, though", I hoped.
"You know I will like anything you give me, Cass. Because it came from you and you took the time to brought it," he replied.
Why did he have to be so sweet?
As he tore up the wrapping job I did, his face completely lit up.
"You got me front row seats to see the Fall Out Boy, Coldplay, and Maroon 5 concert! Cassie, this must have been so expensive! How did you get these?", he enthusiastically asked me.
"I had connections and pulled some strings and got the tickets. I see you like them?", I asked him.
"Yes, this is amazing! Thank you so much, Cassie! I could never thank you enough for this", he grinned widely.
He grabbed me into a fierce hug and spun me around the room.
"Alex, stop you're making my head spin", I told him to get him to put me down.
"Well, compared to your gift, my gift will probably look silly now....", Alex hesitantly replied.
"No, it won't. Can I open it?", I asked him.
"Yeah, I guess", Alex responded as he kept his head down.
I opened it to find.....