Writer's block is a disease :/
Gif of David →
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"I'm not a huge fan of the red velvet," I said, covering my mouth as I chewed the small piece of cake. I swallowed and shook my head. "I'm not a huge fan of cake in general."
"You like the vanilla though?" The baker, a kind middle aged man, asked for confirmation. I looked to David who was seated beside me, the happiest smile on his face. He just shrugged.
"Whatever you'd like, Casper."
"David, no. Come on, this is our wedding. You should decide too. I know how much you love chocolate, so we'll go with that, hm?"
"I want you to have everything you want at the wedding. I-I need it to be perfect for you."
He appeared so serious about me getting what I wanted, that if it was anything short of my heart's desire, he'd be disappointed in himself. But that wasn't what I wanted. It was our day, not mine. "I love you, David Larsen. I would marry you underneath a bridge while wearing a potato sack. All I really need at our wedding is you. So, please be there."
He laughed, as did the baker. "I should be the one worrying about that, angel."
"Trust me, I wouldn't miss that day for the world. So, we'll split it? Chocolate and vanilla per deck? Four tiers total."
"Include all the other things we discussed please."
"I'll have a sketch made and sent to you very shortly. We're going to work extremely hard on this, Mr. Larsen."
"I trust you guys." He took my hand and stood up, so I followed him. We signed the contract after all our questions were answered and requests taken into account, then we left for the day.
David and I were quick to make it to the car. Despite Eric Larsen being locked away, we couldn't always shake the press. Luckily, there were none around today, so we made it home in peace. It was a good thing that I was getting my courage back being in a car or else they'd have a field day with that.
They did know about our wedding plans and Dani's baby coming any day now, so news of that circulated and was no longer a secret. I didn't care much for secrets anymore after everything that'd happened this year.
I was back in college, as much as I didn't want to be. I always hated attention, and I received quite a lot of it since I stopped taking my classes online. Even when David and I parted ways at my school, he'd have this apologetic look on his face, like it was all his fault. That hurt the most, especially because I didn't know how to ease his mind.
I tugged at my backpack straps while in the office that he shared with a couple other professors; however, it was empty. He was quietly shuffling through his mail and I was finishing up homework in a class. I closed my laptop lightly and sighed.
"David. Do you need to talk?"
"Hm?" He looked up from the mail. "No. Why?"
I shrugged slowly. "Just... it seems like something's troubling you, that's all."
He stared at a letter then shook his head. "It's fine; I don't want you worked up about anything right now."
I hitched up one of my eyebrows. "Is it that bad? If it's a burden to you, please share it with me. What is a fiance for?" I touched his hand in comfort, drawing up a soothing smile. He tried to smile back, and I knew why. We were so close to that cherished title, husbands, and it never failed to make the both of us happy.
"I've been getting letters at this office, not too long ago. Maybe for a week now."
"Please tell me your father isn't messing with you from behind bars."
He looked exasperated as his shoulders fell. "Honestly, Casper? I would much prefer that. At least I'd know who and what I was dealing with." He gave me the letter that was in his hand and I gazed down at it.
I swiftly understood that it was a girl writing the note, and she stated she needed to 'get this off my chest.' At first, it seemed perfectly harmless. But then...
My eyes widened and I gaped at the words. "Wait wait wait..."
"Yes," he confirmed.
I lowered my voice as I read a part of the letter. "We could have our own place, our own getaway. Nobody would ever know about us, and I'm much better at keeping secrets than..." I swallowed, "Casper. You could... make love to me endlessly, and I'd please you endlessly as well." I frowned, scowling at the graphic words. "I'm not even gonna attempt to read the rest."
"Most of them are anonymous, which means this is all just some game to them."
"I'm quite literally disgusted." I dropped the note onto his desk. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? This is insanity."
"Exactly for that reason. I had no idea how to say, 'Casper, I'm receiving love letters from students.' And I'm sure they're only doing it to taunt me because I took interest in you, a student."
"I don't blame you," I understood. Once upon a short time ago, I had to utter the words 'Rowan is alive' and it was the hardest thing in the world to do. "So what do we do about this? I have an inkling that it won't stop, not for a while anyway. Do we just let it blow over?"
"I was thinking of going to the department about it, and I don't even know if I should get law enforcement involved. They might have the letters analyzed or something."
"You think... maybe since Rowan's a forensic attorney..."
"We're not bringing my ex into this," he firmly stated. I quickly nodded, trashing the idea, but he shook a finger at me. "I'm serious this time. I know you two are friends which is good but he's still my ex."
"No, I got it. I think contacting the school department is a great start. Make sure they find who's doing this. God this is..." I closed my eyes and let out a long breath. "I don't like it. I love you deeply and to know people are fantasizing about you-I can't..."
"I know. It bothers me just as much, love, possibly more."
I put my laptop into my backpack and turned back to him, silently drumming against his desk with the pads of my fingers. "So... Buggie's gonna get here any day now."
We smiled at each other in an uncontainable excitement. "A few of our friends including Akita are taking care of Dani. In the event we're not around, she'll have people available to take her to the hospital when necessary."
"Tomorrow I'm heading to the store to buy stuff for the nursery. Just some finishing touches I'm sure Dani will love. I'm thinking a really huge, soft teddy bear and some decor."
David chuckled. "I'll give you my credit card. Something tells me you'll splurge with all this baby craziness."
"I won't splurge. I've got a fixed budget and as soon as school's over, I'll start working."
He wasn't convinced, and I laughed at his deadpan expression. "What?" I giggled.
"Last month you went two hundred dollars over budget at that one store in the mall."
"Fine. I admit defeat, but I had a great excuse! And I would've went almost three hundred over budget had it not been for those sales."
"Right. And what was the store called?" he smirked. "Spencer's?"
I folded my arms, squinting at him. "Gee, I'm sorry. I guess I'll just return all the underwear and sex toys I bought."
"You bought sex toys?" He whispered in surprise.
I pursed my lips. "No, I didn't," I admitted, blushing. "But if I'd known you'd bring this up over and over again, I would have. I just bought a lot of funny pride t-shirts, took a page out of Lucas's book. I even got a few for you. Like the one that says daddy." I smiled. "And that shirt is accurate in more than one way."
"Wow."
"Yes, and as for the sexy outfits... I got several. I'm yet to wear them; thought I'd save it for our wedding night. Would you like that?" I sent him an innocent look and he leaned back in his seat, possibly wishing our special day would come sooner.
"Well, when you go to the mall next, by all means... splurge again."
We laughed and I shook my head. "I need to get to class."
"I'll walk you. It's in this building right?"
"Yeah." We stood up together and started to walk out of the office. Before we could leave, I noticed some magazines on one of the other professor's desks and stopped. "Ooh! 'Five ways to spice up your sex life!'"
David grabbed my hand, pulling me away from the table and out the office. "We don't need to know, Casper. That advice is not for us."
**
"Oh my god. It's a unicorn onesie," I squealed, holding up the furry onesie to show my friends. Only Ava and Lucas had tagged along to shop for baby clothes and nursery accessories.
"I hope you have a gay baby." Lucas took the onesie and put it in the small cart.
"How about we not talk about my daughter's sexuality while she's an innocent?"
"It's so cool to hear you say 'daughter.' We can't wait to meet her," Ava smiled at me then gasped. "Omg! That's a cute shirt!" She ran past me to get it.
"We have to stay on budget, Ava," I began to say until she came back with the shirt in my face. It only took one look for me to throw caution to the wind. "You're right! It's amazing; good eye." I put it in the cart and thanked her.
"David's gonna murder you," she taunted.
"He's a multimillionaire. I doubt he'll notice and if he does, he loves Casper too much to care. Right Cas?" Lucas gave me a pointed stare and I could literally feel him bathing me with sarcasm.
I glared at him. "I'm getting a job!"
"Casper, as your friend... look, he may be extremely wealthy but I'm sure a lot of his money was hard-earned. Or... some of it-doesn't matter. You should stick to buying what your baby needs."
I sighed, picking up bundles of the baby clothes that I'd picked. "I guess she doesn't need all these. I'll put them back."
I was about to walk away but he held up a finger. "Wait a sec." He reached over and pulled out the unicorn onesie from the stack in my arms. "I think we can keep this one. She definitely needs this. How else is she supposed to express her true self?"
I shook my head and went to return the outfits from where I'd gotten them. "Alright, I think we're done then," I said when I came back to my friends.
We moved to the checkout line, paid, replaced the cart, and headed out with the shopping bags. "I stayed well below budget. Thanks, Lucas," I appreciated my friend. "And you were completely right."
"You got carried away; it's perfectly understandable."
"Oh, no. Guys..." Ava nudged me and I looked ahead, to see a crew of people with a bunch of cameras rushing toward us.
"Just look downward," I whispered to my friends as we strode to my car. The reporters' voices were jumbled messes, but I could make out certain distinct questions or statements.
"Hello, Casper!"
"Over here! Can we have a moment?"
"Rumors have it you've called off the engagement..."
"Is it true your fiance has been receiving romantic letters?"
My heart froze at that question but I kept it moving, holding onto my friends as we approached my car. They took my shopping bags and entered, and I was about to get in as well until one voice struck me.
"We have word that Danielle Larsen is in the hospital after being spotted just a few minutes ago-"
The woman's voice was drowned out quickly by more erupting questions, so I quickly nodded to them all with a tiny smile and climbed into the driver's seat.
"You really ought to get a bodyguard," Ava suggested, putting her seat belt on.
I started my car. "I need to hurry home. One of them said Dani's at the hospital!"
"Wouldn't someone have called or texted you?"
I gripped my steering wheel and drove out the lot. "I forgot my phone at home."
"Oh my god, Casper. Wrong day to forget your phone. I'd step on it," Lucas said, and I did just that.
I hoped to god that woman was wrong. But in another sense... Lord I hoped she was absolutely right.
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Author note.
See the picture below? Guess what that story that is?
That's right! Rowan's book, titled Heal My Perfect. I will release the first chapter right before this book ends (extremely soon). If you don't know, you will see Casper again in a short story that'll be simply titled Campus 3 (cuz I'm lame and can't make up anything better). For details on this and a sneak peak of Heal My Perfect, check out the latest post from my News Book, also pictured below.