I knocked on Max's front door though he wasn't the one to open it.
Grayson did.
"Whoa little guy you're not supposed to be opening doors for people." I said as I picked him up and walked in.
"But Max is busy shaving." He replied.
"Max is always shaving." I retorted. "It's kind of his thing."
"Grayson, who was that at the door?" Max yelled from upstairs.
"Oh just a random person that loves to kidnap 5 year olds that open front doors without adult supervision." I yelled back.
"Oh, hey Cassie." He greeted with amusement.
Suddenly a man that looked a bit older than me walked into the living-room from the kitchen with a sandwich in his hand. He smiled when he saw me and walked up to me.
"Hi there, I'm Reese." He said as he held out his sandwich-free hand.
"I'm Cassidy." I replied as I shook it.
"Oh so you're Cassidy. I've heard a lot about you. You're even prettier in person."
"Thank you." I chuckled. "And who are you exactly?"
"I'm Reese...." He said.
I raised a eyebrow. Maybe he didnt understand the question.
"No I mean like who are you."
"Reese...." He replied once again with a confused look.
I facepalmed myself and he laughed.
"I'm just playing around." He said. "I'm a friend of River and Max."
"Really? How come I've never seen you before?"
"Because I've lived in New York for the past 4 years and I just moved back to Minnesota last weekend."
"Oh nice. So how'd you meet them?"
"I met them back when we were kids at.... Uh.... wait, do you know about Blairwood?"
"Blairwood? Whats that?" I asked.
"I'll take that as no. In that case, I met them through a mutual friend."
"But you just said-"
"Forget what I said." He cut me off. "Nice meeting you."
He casually walked back into the kitchen leaving me in complete and utter confusion.
I sat down on the couch with Grayson and figured I'd just talk to him for a bit until River got there.
"So Grayson, have you been having fun with Max?"
"Yes!" He excitedly screamed. "We played spidew-man. I was spidew-man and Max was Gween Goblin. I beat him!"
"Hm, that's interesting." I said with a slight smile trying to imagine Max battling it out with Grayson.
"I miss Jenna." He randomly said. A small frown formed on his face and he lowered his head.
"Who's Jenna?" I asked.
"My big sistew." He sadly replied.
"You have a sister? Where is she?"
"With aunt Macy."
"How old is Jenna?"
"13."
Wow. Now this changes everything.
I put my arm around him to comfort him and tried to get him to cheer up a bit.
"Hey don't worry. I'll talk to River about letting you see your sister okay?"
He nodded his head yes and I gave him a big hug to brighten his mood.
Eventually it worked and he got on the floor and started playing with his wrestling action figures.
Max walked in not too soon after with a freshly shaved face.
"You should really stop shaving so much." I stated. "You have a legit baby face."
"Guess who doesn't care? This guy." He pointed to himself. "Now come here, I wanna talk to you about something."
Uh oh. That was never good. I immediately started thinking of all the bad things I could've done. Did I fight anyone? No.
Did I break something? No.
Did I do anything illegal? Not that I know of.
I followed him into his room and sat at the end of his bed waiting for him to tell me what this was all about.
He gave me a weird look and put his hands on his hips as if he was contemplating what he wanted to tell me.
"Max what is it?" I asked as I started to get a bit worried.
He sat down next to me and looked at me with all seriousness.
"We need to talk about what happened between us."
As soon as he said that I felt like getting up and running all the way back home. I was not ready for this conversation.
"Or we can forget it ever happened." I suggested.
"But I can't." He replied. "We can't escape the fact that we had sex. When I said I was in love with you, I meant it."
I gulped (pretty loudly I might add) and I felt sweat start to form on my forehead. Not out of nervousness though, I was just really uncomfortable.
My heart skipped a beat as I tried to think of how to react but I was literally as still as a statue.
"Cassie?" He said trying to bring me out of my daze.
I looked at him to let him know that I was still listening.
"I know this all seems a bit crazy to you, but trust me when I say it feels just as crazy to me."
"How long have you felt this way?" I calmly asked.
"I- I honestly don't know. That night, I didn't mean to kiss you at all but it felt like something was pushing me towards you. There was a voice in my head telling me to do it. I didn't know I had feelings for you until after the kiss."
I shivered at the words coming out of his mouth. I got more and more uncomfortable with every second that passed.
"Okay so are we done here?" I impatiently asked.
"No." He stated. "That's not why I wanted to talk to you."
I looked at him in confusion wondering what he was about to throw at me next.
"Cassie, you kissed me back instead of pushing me away....why?"
"I don't know what you mean." I lied.
"You don't have to lie piccola, just tell me." He insisted.
"Like I said earlier, how about we just forget what happened and move on with our lives." I stated as I stood up and walked towards the door.
"You know we can't do that." He simply replied while still sitting on the bed.
"And why not?" I asked without even turning around to look at him, my hand still on the doorknob.
"Because you and I had sex...and now you're pregnant."
My hand fell from the doorknob and I slowly turned around.
"How do you know I'm pregnant?" I questioned.
"River told me." He responded. "I also know that there's a chance I could be the father."
All of the uncomfortableness flowing through my body quickly turned to fear.
"River doesn't know about what we did does he?"
"No, I didn't tell him. But you need to."
"Max you know I can't do that." I stated.
"You have to. What if the baby isn't his? You've gotta prepare him for that possibility. I'll tell him with you if you need me to but you have to do it as soon as you can before he starts getting his hopes up."
"No! I can't! If I do, there's no telling how he's gonna react! You know he's crazy!" I freaked out.
"Would you rather tell him after you give birth, when he sees that 'his' kid has my eyes instead of his or yours?"
I thought about it for a moment and realized he was right.
Why did I put myself in this situation.
"So... what if the baby really is yours?" I curiously asked.
"As much as I'm not ready for a kid, I'm willing to step up and help raise him/her if River doesn't."
My fear slightly went away after his response. It was nice to know I wouldn't have to go through my pregnancy alone.
"What about Lindsay?" I asked.
"Yea she's probably gonna kill me when I tell her about me and you."
Just the thought of Lindsay finding out that I slept with Max made me feel extremely guilty. She was crazy about him.
"Well, we'll tell them both together." I said. "Cause there's no way I'm telling River by myself and I'm sure you don't wanna tell Lindsay alone either."
He nodded his head in agreement and walked towards me.
He pulled me into a hug and we just stood there. Hugging away our problems like there was no tomorrow.
But then something weird happened. Something extremely weird.
My knees got weak.
Butterflies flew around within my stomach.
My body started tingling.
And my heartbeat raced.
Was I-
Am I-
Oh no.
I abruptly pulled away from the hug causing Max to give me a concerned glare.
"You okay?" He asked as he placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Yea. Perfectfly fine." I hurriedly replied as I opened the door and made my way back downstairs. As soon as I got to the living room there was a knock on the front door.
I opened it and came face to face with River.
"River!" Both me and Grayson yelled at the same time.
A feeling of relief overcame me and I threw my arms around him.
"Well hello there to you too." He laughed as he hugged me back and threw Grayson onto his shoulders.
I was so happy to see him. Mainly because I needed someone to save me from the awkwardness that I'd just experienced with Max.
"You two ready to go?" He asked.
We both nodded our heads yes.
"River, what's up man." Said Reese as he came back out of the kitchen with yet another sandwich in his hand.
"What's up Reese?" River replied as they bro hugged.
"Just eating a sandwich dude." He stated with an adorable smile as he held up his sandwich.
River laughed and shook his head.
"Doesn't surprise me."
"What time are you dropping Grayson off back over here?" Max asked as he came downstairs.
I tried avoiding eye contact with him but it didn't help that he was just as tempting to look at as River.
I punched myself in the arm after that thought.
"Around 11-ish. Why?" River said.
"Because I'm heading out for a bit. Just wanted to know so that I'd be here when you drop him off." He replied. "And Cassidy, call me later when you get home."
I stiffened up a bit and shook my head okay.
I grabbed River's hand and quickly led him out the door.
"Bye Cass!!!!" Reese yelled.
"Bye Reese." I replied as River and I left out.
"Bien aime, is everything alright?" He asked.
"Yea. Why?" I responded while still pulling him towards his car.
"Because you're acting weird."
"No, I'm not acting weird. I'm just- feeling a little queasy that's all." I assured him.
He gave me a doubtful look but didn't say anything else.
Smart guy.
We soon arrived at his house which still amazed me even though I'd already seen it.
"Whoa! Nice house!" Grayson yelled in awe.
As we walked to the front door I stopped in my tracks.
River continued walking a few steps until he realized that I wasn't right behind him.
"Um... you okay?" He asked with a puzzled expression on his face.
"I thought you said your wife would be at work?" I stated.
"She is." He replied.
I pointed to the car parked on the outside of the garage- the car that I'd saw her get out of the night I first came over.
His eyes followed my finger to see what I was pointing at and the puzzled look on his face disappeared.
"Oh, she took the truck with her today." He subtley said.
"Well damn, how many vehicles do you have?"
"Two cars, a truck, a jeep, and two motorcycles."
The funny thing is, he said it like it was completely normal.
"Why would someone need 6 vehicles?" I asked not quite understanding why.
"My wife and I each have our own cars just for daily transportation. We use the truck whenever we need more space, I use the jeep when I go off-road, and only one of the motocyles is mine."
He pointed to a motorcycle parked next to his wife's car.
"That one is Legend's. He leaves it here because he hardly ever uses it. But, I guess since its out of the garage, that means he's here."
"Great, my ex-boyfriend is at my current boyfriend's house who also happens to be his brother." I stated with false excitement.
"Don't worry, Legend and I hung out saturday and I talked to him about it. He's come to terms with you and I dating."
I sure hope so. The last thing I need is to be caught up in a love square with River, Max, AND Legend.
We walked into the house which looked even more gorgeous in the day time. The sunlight beamed through the glass ceiling when you first walk in. Suddenly there was a loud thud that came from the living room.
We cautiously made our way towards the sound, not sure of what to expect.
Though the sight we came upon was truly a sight of hilariousness.
In the middle of the floor lay Legend, curled up into a ball, with his hands on top of his head as if he was in pain.
Standing about 5 feet away from him was Rome, with a broom in his hand and an amused look on his face.
When he saw River he quickly dropped the broom and his amusement turned to joy.
"Daddy!" He yelled and took off running towards River.
River picked him up and ruffled his hair. "What did you do to uncle Legend?"
Rome smiled and started biting his finger making it obvious that whatever he did wasn't good.
"That little evil spawn of fucking Satan that you call your son is the literal definition of a hellion!" Legend stated as he struggled to get up while rubbing his head.
I placed my arm over my mouth and tried as hard as I could not to laugh at his sudden outburst but I lost it when River started chuckling.
"Its not funny!" Legend fumed. "That little bastard made me chase him around the house and tripped me with the broom causing me to land head first on this hard ass floor!"
"Nice job buddy! I raised you well." River grinned as he high fived Rome.
Legend groaned in disbelief and stuck his tongue out at Rome while Rome simply kept smiling.
"Excuse me while I go grab an ice pack from the freezer to end my excruciating pain. Thanks for your concern." He said then stormed away to the kitchen.
River laughed and put down Rome before following Legend into the kitchen.
"Would you mind introducing Rome and Grayson to eachother?" He asked me. "I need to go make sure my exaggerative brother doesn't have a mild concussion."
"Sure thing." I agreed.
Although I had no idea how to start. It was a lot harder than you'd think. Millions of questions shot through my mind as both Rome and Grayson stared up at me with sweet, innocent eyes.
Did River want me to tell Rome the truth about Grayson? I mean, he's only 4. What if he tells his mom about what I said. I could just imagine him saying "Mom! Dad brought home a kid from the airport that's gonna live with us one day!"
I started sweating and internally freaked out but then I realized something....
I'll just vaguely introduce them and let River handle the rest! Perfect!
"So uh- Grayson, this is Rome, River's son...and Rome, this is Grayson. You two are about the same age."
They had a small staredown as if they were attempting to read eachother's mind but then out of no where a smile slowly began to spread on their faces.
I looked at both of them in complete and utter confusion wondering if I'd missed something.
Then without warning, they both took off running upstairs leaving me standing there... not knowing how to react.
"Well... that was weird." I said to myself.
I went to the kitchen and was greeted by the sight of Legend sitting on a countertop, swaying back and forth a bit, while River stood in front of him waving a popcicle stick near his face from side to side.
Legend looked completely dizzy and it didn't help that he couldnt keep still.
"Legend, just try to follow the stick. Don't take your eyes off of it." River stated.
"I'm trying!" Legend insisted though his eyes kept wandering elsewhere.
After shining a light into Legend's eyes, River made a "hm" sound and proceeded to tell his conclusion.
"Well." He started off. "You definitely have a mild concussion. I think you should stay here for a few hours. I'll take you home later."
"What? No, I can drive. I'm fine." Legend argued. He hopped off the countertop and nearly fell over when he landed until River caught him.
"Nope. You're not driving with a concussion." River retaliated as his took Legend's keys out of his pocket and put them into his own.
"Dude! I can drive! I don't have a concussion! I feel perfectly fine!" Yelled Legend.
"Yes, you definitely have a concussion. You're disoriented, you can't focus, your coordination is off, and your eyes are subconsciously moving at a rapid speed." He determined. "And plus, you can't even walk without falling over you klutz. Now, go get some rest and I'll take you home later. And no tv/cellphone. Its only gonna make it worse."
Legend groaned in frustration and walked away defeatedly. It was funny seeing him give in to River, it kind of reminded me of Xander and Riley.
Oh how I miss those blow-offs already.
"Meanwhile, how about you and I go have a talk in the living room. There's still so much I wanna know about you and I'm sure you have a few questions for me." River remarked as he grabbed my hand and led to me the living room.
We sat on the couch and he interlocked his fingers with mine as he gazed into my eyes. Which obviously brought a smile to my face because, as you know by now, his eyes still haven't ceased to amaze me.
"Who do you get your eyes from?" I asked as the question came into mind. "I noticed that your dad has brown eyes like Legend."
"I get them from my mom actually." He replied.
I raised an eyebrow and looked at him in unsureness. From what I remember his mom didn't have a set of soft blue eyes with an odd touch of gray.
"But- she has dark blue eyes." I stated.
"You really pay attention don't you?" He joked. "Gabriela's not my real mom. She's Legend's mom. My mom died when I was 4."
"Oh, wow, I'm sorry." I said sympathetically. "What happened?"
"Uh- well, I don't know. My dad never told me. He doesn't like to talk about it so I haven't asked him. In fact, in along with his job offer, her death was a huge reason why we moved away from France."
"How much do you remember about her?" I asked, feeling a bit pitiful towards him.
"Not much. Like I said, I was only 4 when she passed away. Though I do remember little things. For instance, I remember she would always sit me on a stool in front of her beauty vanity and dash water on my hair then brush it back because she hated how wild it was. And I remember how every night before bed, she would come into my room and lay down next to me then tell me how proud she was of me for doing the simplest things just to put a smile on my face. But what I remember the most is the way my dad looked at her. Like she was the most rare thing he'd ever laid eyes on. One time he told me, 'Son, if there's just one piece of advice you actually listen to from me, listen to this. When you get older, find a woman as amazing as your mother and I promise you, you'll be the happiest man alive.' I'll never forget those words. Don't get me wrong though, I still consider Gabriela my mom as well. She helped raise me and treats me as her own. And plus, without her I wouldn't have that moronic brother of mine."
I laughed and snuggled up closer to him. Even during moments like this he still managed to make light of things.
"So how are you and Max related? He tried to explain it to me before but it didn't make sense." I said.
"Hm, I didn't even know he told you." He responded. "What doesn't make sense?"
"Well first off he said that your mom is his dad's sister and now that you just told me Gabriela's not your mom I'm not sure if he meant Gabriela or your actual mom." I stated in one breath.
"He's talking about my actual mom. Max's dad, Michael, is my mom's brother."
"But how are they brother and sister if your mom is French but Max's dad is American?"
"Because they have different fathers. Max and I have the same grandma though different grandfathers. Mine is in France whereas his is back in Colorado. Enough about me though, I have some questions for you now."
"Uh oh." I joked though in a way I sincerely meant that 'uh oh'.
"Don't worry I'm not gonna ask you anything uncomfortable." He replied as he gently squeezed my hand. "When's your birthday?"
"Oh.... Unfortunately its April 1st." I slightly cringed.
"Are you serious? Your birthday's on April fools?"
"Yep! Lucky me." I said sarcastically.
"Okay. That's easy to remember." He retorted with a small smirk.
"Hey don't get any ideas." I warned. "When's yours?"
"Wanna guess?" He asked.
"Well you're very mysterious, you definitely don't hold back when it comes to anything, you snap easily, and you have that sort of dark, arrogant aura. So I'd say you were born sometime in the fall. Maybe October/November." I concluded after taking his characteristics into consideration.
"That's pretty impressive. And yes, you're right. My birthday's November 9th."
I mentally patted myself on the back and congratulated myself. Man I was good.
"Do you like any sports?" He asked.
Without hesitation I shouted: "I live for sports! Especially football and baseball!"
"Nice." He responded. "I played soccer from when I was six up until I graduated high school. I started playing baseball as a kid as well though I was kinda forced to stop in college. Haven't played since. And it sucks because baseball was my life."
"Why were you forced to stop?"
"I got hurt in the middle of the season during my junior year of college. I hit the ball and took off running and as I made my way around I slid towards home base because there was a guy right on my heels. As I slid, another player in front of me slid and one of his cleats collided straight with my head. I was immediately knocked unconscious and went into a two week coma. Since then, I haven't played. I'm fine though now, I just prefer to stay on the safe side."
He tried looking sincere though I knew there was still something he wasn't telling me. And he could tell I knew something was up.
"What? It's the truth." He said though I didn't change the expression on my face.
"I'm not falling for that." I solemnly told him as I continued to stare into his eyes as if I could somehow find the answers floating around in them. "You never stay on the safe side."
He lowered his head and slightly smiled.
"You're relentless. You know that right?" He said.
"Only because you're acting like you're afraid to tell me what's going on." I stated.
"I'm not afraid to tell you. I just don't wanna drive you away." He explained.
"Come on, please? You're not gonna drive me away." I promised.
He lowered his head again and bit his lip. His smirk turned into a nervous frown. Which was weird for me because I'd never seen him get nervous.
I climbed onto his lap, facing him, and placed both hands on the sides of his face.
He sighed and wrapped his arms around my waist, still not certain if he wanted to tell me.
"Babe, we're together now. And that means we can't keep hiding things from eachother. You're not gonna drive me away. I can assure you that. Just tell me. All I want is for you to be honest with me."
He closed his eyes and thought for a bit then opened them again.
"I'm not as okay as I pretend to be." He confessed.
I tilted my head in confusion as a sign for him to further elaborate.
"When I was 14 I was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. At 16 I was told I have intermittent explosive disorder which means that I have moments when my anger gets so out of hand to the point where I can no longer control it. And after my accident in college, I obtained a traumatic brain injury. As of now, I still suffer from all three."
I could only stare in bewilderment after hearing what he'd said.
He looked at me uneasily, waiting for me to respond.
Its not that I was upset with what he told me I just couldn't believe that he, out of all people, was dealing with such horrible things.
"I- I-m... wow. I don't even know what to say." I admitted.
I continued gazing into his eyes.
I guess it's true when they say don't judge a book by its cover.....