If I told you that the next day was even worse I'd be lying. Because the next day was the complete opposite. It was actually one of the best days I'd had in a while. Years even.
So I'll just start off by saying that Max and I stayed up until about 2 am just talking about how crazy the past six months had been. We went outside of the tent for a while and just sat against a tree, gazing up at the stars. I even rested my head against him as he put his arm around me, held my hand and our fingers became intertwined. My heart raced every time I felt his hand slightly squeeze mine. I never wanted that moment to end.
The next morning started off casual. I woke up and crawled out of the tent at around 9 am. When I did, I looked around and saw that everyone else was already up. They were sitting at the picnic table, still in their PJ's, eating donuts. I walked up and joined them, sitting next to Max.
"How'd you sleep?" Jordan asked.
"Pretty good." I said. "You?"
"Pretty horrible." He replied. "Lindsay and AJ argued until 3 am. They were fighting and kicking the shit out of eachother over a fucking hershey bar."
"It was hilarious." River remarked. "They woke me up with their yelling so I walked over to their tent to see what was going on. Jordan unzipped it but as soon as he did Lindsay accidentally kicked him while trying to kick AJ and he went off. He tackled the hell out of her as if she was a grown ass man."
"Yea he was all like 'listen here lil bitch. I don't care if you kick the shit out of AJ but if you kick me again I'm gonna kick your ass out of the fucking tent and make you sleep outside with the goddamn bears!' River almost died laughing." Said AJ. "Then Lindsay got mad at him for laughing and threw a rock at his head."
I looked over at River and saw that he had a small gash on his forehead.
"Well he shouldn't have been laughing." Lindsay stated.
"She threw a rock at him?!" I asked shocked. "What'd River do?"
"Nothing. He just threatened to throw her in the lake if she did it again." AJ chuckled.
"Wasn't a threat..." River smirked.
"Oh shut up." Lindsay retaliated as she threw a piece of her donut at him making us all giggle.
I felt Max grab my hand under the table and I glanced at him. He smiled at me and held it tighter.
"Speaking of the lake, we all decided that we're gonna go swimming today. You coming?" Allison asked.
"Yea. Definitely." I replied. I hadn't been swimming in forever.
Even though it was the end of January, the weather outside was pretty mild. The sun was out and the temperature was in the lower 70's... not too bad for swimming.
After we finished eating, Lindsay, Allison, and I walked down to the girls' restroom and changed into our swimsuits. I stood looking into the mirror adjusting mine when Allison walked up.
"So how did last night go?" She asked as she stood next to me fixing her swimsuit as well. Her body was literally perfect. You could easily tell she was a model by how fit she was and how toned her skin was.
"What?" I asked in response.
"Last night, did you two... you know... 'slap bellies'?"
I thought about what she meant and when I realized it I immediately assured her that we didn't.
"Oh god no. No we didn't."
"Didn't what?" Lindsay asked as she exited a stall.
"Max and Cassidy didn't even get it on last night! Can you believe it?!" Allison told Lindsay. "This camping trip is the perfect time and place to be romantic!"
I saw Lindsay tense up and I could tell that she was uncomfortable.
"No. We just want to enjoy the trip. Thats all." I replied hoping to put Lindsay's mind at ease.
"Well I guess not everyone is as spontaneous as I am." She stated.
"Wait- you and River had sex last night?" I asked.
"Yep. Hot, steamy, sex." She boasted. "Even though River's an asshole I will say that he is absolutely amazing in bed. But this is just between us three okay? Plus, I don't want anything going wrong before he and I renew our wedding vows next week. "
I immediately felt sick to my stomach.
I left out of the bathroom abruptly before she could see my face. I felt light headed so I leaned against a tree and tried to stabilize myself.
Not too soon after, Lindsay came out.
Suddenly I saw River and AJ walking out of the guys restroom in their swimming trunks. River waved at me and smiled. That smile that I loved so much. The one that brightened my day. Then he kept walking.
Lindsay placed a hand on my shoulder and as soon as she did it literally felt like a knife had stabbed me straight through the heart.
I couldn't breathe. I started gasping for air as tears streamed down my face. I felt myself start to get lightheaded again and my heartbeat raced like crazy. Lindsay grabbed my arm to try to help me keep my balance.
"Cass! Cassidy whats wrong?! Stop moving! Just breathe!" She urged me.
After about 30 seconds of me having a full on panic attack I finally was able to catch my breath again.
"Cassie you scared the living daylights out of me!" She yelled. "Are you okay?"
I shook my head no and threw my arms around her. I cried and cried because I couldn't hold it in any longer.
It was like no matter how hard I tried to forget about River I just couldn't. He was causing me more pain than anyone had ever caused me. When he smiled at me I lost it because I knew how fake that smile was and what his true intentions with me were. I lost it because of how strong my feelings were for him. I lost it because he was breaking my heart and I was too afraid to tell him.
Then I heard his voice.
"Cassidy?"
I squeezed Lindsay signaling to her that I didn't want to talk to him.
"Now's not a good time." She said to him.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"I said now's not a good time." She repeated.
"I didn't ask you." He shot back. "Cassidy, what happened? Did Allison say something?"
I gained the strength to reply but my answer definitely wasnt what he expected.
"Yea she did. She assured me that you two are still very much in love."
"What do you mean? What'd she tell you?"
"Well she told me that you two had sex last night and are renewing your wedding vows next week." I responded while my tears refused to stop falling. "River you told me that you and her were falling on hard times and that you weren't even having sex anymore! You're such a fucking liar!"
Lindsay pulled me into a hug in an attempt to comfort me but that only upset me even more.
"Bien aime will you please let me explain?"
"Stop calling me that." I cried. "And just please leave me alone. I'd rather you not talk to me for a while. All I want is to feel normal again and not feel like I'm constantly fighting a battle to win your heart and losing."
The restroom door opened and Allison walked out, confusion written all over her face.
"What's going on?" She asked as she approached us.
River looked at me then back at her. A part of me wanted him to tell her the truth, about everything. Then maybe I'd be able to trust him more.
"Nothing." He answered.
I gazed at him with pained eyes. "You're pathetic." I stated.
I walked away without looking back as Lindsay jogged to catch up with me. She put her arm around my shoulder and consoled me.
"You're okay." She said. "You don't need him. All he's doing is bringing you down and breaking your heart and he doesn't even realize it. Its gonna be hard but you have to move on."
We made it back to the campsite and the others were waiting for us. By that time I had already cleaned myself up and didn't have tears streaming down my face anymore. I obviously did a good job at hiding how upset I was because no one asked me if something was wrong. Or maybe they just didn't want to bother me.
We covered ourselves in sunscreen, grabbed our towels, and headed down to the lake. There were people all around it, swimming, laying in the grass, and just having a good time. The aura of the lake was a good one and I felt like we'd all just have fun for the day and I'd forget about how horrible I was feeling.
Everything started off great. We picked a spot to put our things and ran off into the lake. The water was perfect. Not too cold but not too warm. I loved the feeling of the tiny waves splashing into me. Out of no where something grabbed my foot and I freaked out. I started kicking trying to get it off of me but it wouldn't let go. Right when I thought I was gonna die in the middle of the lake Jordan emerged from under the water with a smug grin on his face.
"Oh I'm sorry. Did I scare you?" He asked sarcastically.
"Yes you nimrod!" I yelled and splashed water in his face. Some of it went into his mouth and he immediately started gagging and spitting it out.
"Why would you do that? That's disgusting!" He yelled.
"Oh relax. Its just water." I replied.
"Water infested with fish shit, human urine, and trash!" He stated.
I giggled at how much of a girl he was being. But I wasnt gonna dare tell him because of how defensive he gets.
"Anyways, we managed to snag some jet skis. Wanna ride one?"
"Is that even a question? Of course I do!" I exclaimed.
When I was younger, my family would always go to Lake Como in St. Paul and I'd ride on the back of my dad's jet ski as he raced my uncle, my grandpa, and Danny. I'd never actually drove one myself but I was definitely ready to.
We swam back to land and walked over to where the others were standing. Allison was already on one of the jet skis and there was one still open.
"Wanna race me?" She asked with a smile.
"You bet I do." I replied without hesitation.
"Um Cassie, do you even know how to drive a jet ski?" Max asked.
"I've seen my dad do it many times." I stated. "I can handle it."
"Alright but can you at least get a life jacket first?"
"I can swim Max." I said.
He didn't ask any further questions because he knew I wasn't gonna change my mind. I got onto the jet ski and glanced over at Allison.
"May the best woman win." She said playfully as we shook hands.
"On your mark." AJ began.
"Get set."
"Go!"
I quickly pressed the gas and took off. I went as fast as I could but as I looked over my shoulder I saw that Allison was literally right behind me.
"Wow you're pretty fast!" She exclaimed. "But not faster than me!" She shot past me and giggled. I couldn't help but to laugh at how much fun she was having.
Then a thought occurred. Maybe she wasnt as bad as I thought she was. Didn't matter anymore though, I wanted nothing to do with River after this trip.
We reached the end of the swimming boundary and made a sharp U-Turn. The water was a bit rough but nothing I couldn't handle. Allison passed me up slightly but I quickly caught up to her.
"So long princess!" She said as she merged far left and sped up.
I accelerated as fast as I could possibly go to pass her up. The water went from rough to completely wild. It got so bad that high waves started forming making it hard for me to keep going forward because I couldn't quite see. I looked over at Allison and saw that she was having the same problem. We were still quite a bit away from land so we kept pushing on as much as we could. Suddenly Allison flipped off of her jet ski and went under water. I tried to hurry and get to her but before I could I too went flying off of my jet ski. I went completely underwater and to the bottom of the lake. I attempted to kick off the ground when I got to the bottom but didn't budge. I looked down and saw the my ankle had gotten wrapped up in a bundle of vines. I felt myself running out of breath but I knew that if I started panicking than that would do nothing but make me run out of breath faster.
.........................................
River's P.O.V.
I stood watching Allison and Cassidy racing, having a good time. It was the first time I'd seen Cassidy truly happy ever since we got here. It made me smile just to see her smile, even if she was mad at me. I turned my head for one second to see where the others had went. AJ and Jordan were flirting with two girls on one of the decks while Max was not too far behind them talking to some guy. As soon as I turned my head back around I saw the last thing I wanted to see. Both Cassidy's and Allison's jet skis were sitting on the water but they weren't on them.
"Max!!!" I yelled. When I got his attention I pointed to the lake and he quickly caught on.
"Fuck!" He shouted.
I ran to a deck and examined the scene before I made a move. Cassidy and Allison were too far apart from eachother for me to save both of them. Allison was visibly drowning but I couldn't see Cassidy at all. I prayed that Max would save one while I got the other. But I wasnt sure if he could make it in time considering he still hadn't even made it to the deck yet.
After just a second longer of deciding, I made up my decision of who to save, threw my shirt off, and dived in.
........................................
Back to Cassidy's P.O.V.
I could feel my lungs start to fill up with water but my ankle still wasnt budging. I knew for sure that I was gonna die right then and there.
As I was taking my last few blinks I felt a hand grab my arm. When whoever it was realized that I was stuck they hurriedly went down to my ankle and started tugging at the vines until they finally broke. The person then grabbed me and swam up out of the water. I was too weak to thank whoever saved me. In fact I was barely even breathing. About a minute or so later we reached the lakefront and by that time I had regained a bit of my strength. Then Allison came to mind. Before I could freak out though I saw Max swimming up to the shore with his arm around her. I felt myself get pulled up and arms quickly wrapped around me.
"Don't ever....do that again. You scared the hell out of me." I heard River say with a panicked voice and and a panicked expression on his face. "I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."
His breathing was harder than mine and his breaths were ridiculously fast. He walked over to where our stuff was and reached down. He grabbed an inhaler off of his towel and brought it up to his mouth.
He had asthma? I had no idea.
As soon as he finished an angered voice stormed towards us and I quickly ran up to him and grabbed his arm.
"What the hell were you thinking?!" Max yelled at River. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"
"I couldn't just let her drown." River solemnly replied.
"No but you could've let someone else save her!"
"There wasnt time. I did what I had to do." He replied.
"I'm sorry, what's wrong with him saving my life?" I asked Max.
"There's nothing wrong with him saving your life. I'm pissed off because of what happened before he jumped in!" Max yelled.
"What? What happened?" I asked.
"He was having a full on panic attack AND it triggered his asthma. He jumped in the lake while he was literally in the middle of having an asthma attack! If he would've stayed in any longer he could've fucking died!"
"But I didn't." Said River. "I knew the consequences and I accepted them. You would've done the same thing if you were in my position... I can't lose her. Not her."
Before Max could reply another pissed off voice approached us.
"WHAT THE HELL RIVER!" Allison yelled. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU ACTUALLY JUMPED IN TO SAVE YOUR STUDENT BEFORE YOUR OWN WIFE!"
"She's not just my student." River stated.
Both mine and Max's eyes widened at his statement. Was he really doing what I thought he was doing?
"Huh?" Allison asked confused.
"Cassidy and I have been together since the end of December." He confessed. "And she might be pregnant with my kid."
"Please tell me you're just kidding." Allison responded in shock.
River shook his head no.
"So you- you and Cassidy are... dating?" She asked.
"Not anymore." I said as I let go of his arm.
"Excuse me?" He asked, completely thrown off guard by my answer.
"You heard me." I stated.
"I know but... why not?"
"Stop playing dumb River. I caught you with Maracel back at your house. And I heard you say that you were only with me because of the baby."
"Wait- so you're cheating on me with Cassidy AND Maracel?" Allison asked.
"No. I'm not with Maracel." He objected. "Well I was but...not anymore."
"I literally heard you tell her that you only want her." I argued.
"I wasnt serious!" He said. "Maracel and I used to have a thing but I stopped taking it seriously after you came into my life."
"Bullshit." Jordan added as he walked up. "Once a cheater always a cheater."
"Pretty sure I didn't ask for your input." River stated.
"Yea well I gave it to you anyway." Jordan retaliated.
"You know, I'm not gonna argue with you because its gonna turn into a fight like it always does." River replied as he turned back towards me. "I don't have feelings for Maracel anymore. What you heard me tell her, none of it was true I only said it out of remorse. The ONLY reason why I said it was because when I first told her about you and about how I was falling for you she threatened to go back to France to be with her parents and her ex because I didn't want her anymore. First of all, Rome loves her. If she left it would be extremely hard for him to handle it and I don't wanna put him through that at such a young age. And secondly, I don't want Maracel to be with her ex. He abused her, sexually and physically, he had no respect towards her, and he was a dumb fuck. If I was to ever get a call telling me that he'd hurt her I'd lose all rationality and jump on the next plane to France because Maracel's such a sweet girl. She doesn't deserve that. That's why I don't want her to go. I promise you're the only woman I want a relationship with."
"Stop lying to her." Max jumped in.
"How about you stay out of this? Hm?"
"No, I'm not gonna stay out of this! I'm tired of sitting back and watching you constantly lie to her and break her heart. I've known you for 29 damn years River, I know what your intentions are."
"No Maxwell. You don't. At all. Everytime you look at me you see the person I was 4 years ago. The lying, cheating, cold-hearted, drunken bastard that stuck his penis in any and every woman he could get his hands on. That's not who I am anymore. Not since I met Cassidy."
"You're just manipulating me... like you've been doing this entire time. You don't really care about me. You're just a horny jerk that likes fucking his way to girls' hearts. You couldn't care less if I'd drowned in the lake. You only care about the baby."
He slightly narrowed his eyebrows and stared at me as if I'd just told him the biggest lie he'd ever heard.
"Come here." He said as he reached for my arm.
"Get away from me." I warned. But he didn't take my warning seriously. Instead he grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to him.
"Don't you ever say anything like that again. You really think I jumped into that lake and risked my life solely for the fetus in your uterus? To be completely honest, the baby wasn't on my mind at all when I jumped in. What was on my mind was the thought of losing you, something I'd regret until the day I died. And you know why? Because I've never felt this strongly about a woman in my life. It breaks my heart to even hear you say that I'm just manipulating you because I've given you nothing but my all. You wanna know how many women I've brought around my son that I was just 'playing'? None. Zero. But I introduced you to him. Do you really think that if I was just playing you that I'd introduce you to my son? I wouldn't dare do that. Why would I want him to get attached to a woman that I just plan on dumping? I introduced you to him because I see a future with you. Because I want you to be in his life. And Grayson, Grayson loves you. It'd tear him apart if you just disappeared out of his life. I want you to help me raise him. I want you to be the one that he calls mommy. I want you and only you. And I want to help you raise this baby. You've gotta believe me."
"Why should I?" I quietly asked staring into his eyes for the tiniest sign of deceit. But I didn't see deceit at all. All I saw was his gorgeous, piercing eyes staring at me with hope.
"Because... I love you."
I gasped and covered my mouth with my hands. A tear slid down my cheek but it wasnt a tear of sadness. It was a tear of joy.
"I don't want you to be the one that got away. I want you to be the one that walks down the aisle, and becomes my wife. And I mean that from the very bottom of my heart."
I threw my arms around him and hugged him as tight as I could. Hearing him say that he loved me completely lifted my mood. That's all I've wanted to hear from him and now that he said it I felt like the happiest person on the planet.
"I love you too." I whispered. "So much."
**************************
A/N!!!!!!
This has definitely been a bumpy road for Cass. I want you guys to answer a few questions in the comments just so I can get an idea of your mindsets. PLEEEEASE ANSWER THEM. <3<3<3
1: Do you think River is playing Cassidy?
2: Do you think he truly loves her?
3: Do you hope the baby is River's or Max's?
4: Who has stronger feelings for Cass.... River or Max?
5: Who do you hope Cassidy ends up with and why?
I promise I'll update when 6 or more people answer the questions!!! ^.^