She winked at me. "You'll see." She laughed.
I knew that her gesture wasn't aimed to flirt and that she was just being playful, teasing me. But,fuck. This girl hadzeroidea about her effect on the male population, and the thought of her doing the same gesture casually to any other man made me want to breaksomething.
Hold up. What was I thinking?
While we were walking farther down the road, I caught her wrapping her arms around her waist, shivering.
"Are you cold?" I asked, feeling that the wind was a bit chilly, and she was only wearing a sweater.
"A little." She bit her lower lip.
I wouldn't have thought twice about lending her my jacket, but she needed more than a jacket. I didn't know why the hell she'd decided to wear only a sweater here.
Even though it had been warmer earlier during midday, the weather would only get colder from now on. Luckily, Victor's house was just around the corner.
"Follow me," I said, quickening my pace, and she followed suit.
Once I reached the house, I unlocked the front door and stepped inside, heading to Victor's room. I hadn't thought much when I decided to come to Hallstatt so I hadn't even brought my clothes—it didn’t help that there had been a lot of drama going on in my family making me want to escape here in a flash.
But Victor had kept a lot of clothes in his wardrobe, including the coat that Cassie needed right now. I browsed through the coats, picked one and strode back toward the front door.
Then I noticed that Cassie had stayed outside—she didn't dare step into the house. I realized that I hadn't offered her to come in, so she preferred to stay outside even though she could get warmer inside.
She was different from those girls who wouldn't think twice to barge into my privacy and throw themselves at me whenever they had the chance.
Once I stepped out, I draped Victor's coat around her body and locked the door.
"Thanks for lending me your coat," Cassie said, slipping into it.
I helped her zip the coat until it fully covered her sweater, and relief washed over me. She should have been warm now. "It's mybrother's."
Surprise crossed her expression. She looked uneasy.
"I..." she faltered, making me raise my eyebrows. "I won't lose this coat. I promise."
And that made me want to laugh.
Cassie, Cassie...
???
We were walking down the road, and I still didn't know where she was going to take me. I bit my smile, watching as she scrolled through her phone, like she was trying to find directions to the place.
She snapped her head around, looking confused, and I found it even funnier.
"Come on," I said. "If it's that hard to find the place, why don't you just tell me what it is? Maybe I can help you."
"Just wait," she insisted. "I'm trying to find a way to get there."
That made me wonder whether we had to take a mode of transportation to get there, either bus or train.
She let out a long sigh, frustrated. But then, when she saw an older woman waiting at the bus stop, she rushed to her.
"Excuse me, do you know how to get to Dachstein Ice Cave?" she whisper-shouted at the woman, thinking that I wouldn't be able to hear it. How wrong she was.
"Yes. Are you planning to go there?" the woman asked.
Cassie nodded with enthusiasm.
