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“I am glad that we came with Steven. It’s been good to get out and see something new. We spend too much time working and not enough time living. I think that’s what I’m going to take from this trip.”
Steven agreed and his sister was silent in the backseat. Luke glanced at her through the rearview mirror, and he wanted to tell her that he knew. She was going to mess things up with him and his friends, again. Luke didn’t appreciate it, at all.
He asked Cassandra how things were going with her graphic design business, and Cassandra said that everything was fine. She talked about a few of her current work projects when prompted, and then Luke asked about his nephew. He was waiting for either one of them to tell him the truth. It was hard not to feel some kind of pull toward dragging the truth out, but Luke didn’t want to be the one to do it.
Instead, the elephant was not acknowledged and when they had to stay the night, Luke noticed that neither one of them seemed all that bummed out about staying a little longer than first planned. Luke was going to have to keep an eye on them. He might have another friend he was going to lose to betrayal. His sister really needed to find someone else, or Luke wasn’t going to have any friends left.
Chapter 22
Cassandra
Whatever was going on with her and Steven, it wasn’t helped that her brother was there. Cassandra wanted something else to think about than being home alone, and now she had it. When they got to the hotel and there was only a room left with two beds, Cassandra was sure that her brother and Steven would say something about it. She waited for a decision to be made to leave, not for money to come out of pockets to pay. She couldn’t believe that they were going to stay, altogether in a room. That felt like they were asking for something to happen. Cassandra wasn’t. She didn’t know where she and Steven would end up, but it wasn’t going to be with her brother there. She wasn’t that stupid. Cassandra could only imagine how she had hurt Luke. She didn’t want to go down that path with him again.
When they got to the room, Steven said that he would sleep on the floor, but Luke said that they could lie together, giving Cassandra the bed to herself. She agreed, didn’t seem to be much else she could do anyway.
“I’m going to go take a shower. Being in the car that long isn’t kind to a lady.”
The two men didn’t answer, though Cassandra did catch the man’s eyes that she was so confused by. Her brother was acting weird too, which put her on red alert. Cassandra started to think that maybe she shouldn’t have come. It felt like a setup of some kind, but she had no idea what kind. Cassandra fled to the bathroom and turned the bath water on, though she didn’t actually get into the water for quite some time. She felt like she had a lot to mull over in her head. It didn’t help at all that Steven was being so open all of a sudden. Their conversation stuck with her.
When she finally got out of the bathroom, Luke wasn’t there, and Cassandra asked Steven where he was.
Steven shrugged. “I don’t know. I think that he said he had to go for a walk, get some air. It was something like that, but he was acting weird.”
That’s what Cassandra was afraid of. “You don’t think that he knows, do you?”
Steven again moved his shoulders like he had no idea. “Knows what? There is nothing to know, Cassandra. I am not saying that’s the way I want it to be, but your brother can’t know anything, because there isn’t anything to know.”
Cassandra agreed and started to settle down internally. She knew that what he was saying was true, which was probably why she didn’t try to overthink it. Her brother was definitely acting weird, but maybe it had to do with Aaliyah and didn’t have nothing to do with her.
“Has my brother said anything to you about Aaliyah? I can't think of what else would have him acting this way. Maybe there is something more going on between the two of them and that's why Luke is acting strange? I am pretty sure that there is something going on between the two of them. I haven't talked to Aaliyah near as much as I usually do. I don't know what exactly is going on, but it has to be something.” Cassandra just wanted it to be anything that didn’t have to do with her.
Steven shrugged. “He hasn't mentioned her all that much. Your brother doesn't talk about women that he's dating or anything else. He always has liked to keep things close to his chest.”
Cassandra sighed. “I wish he would be a little bit more open. For a while there I thought that we were getting close again, but now there is that distance that I hate between us. I don't know why it's there, but I wish that we could repair it. I wish I knew how. I mean, what could it be that makes him act like this again? We haven’t done anything…I mean, not really.”
She was just shooting thoughts out at the moment. She really had no idea what was going on and by the look on Steven’s face, he didn't either. Cassandra wished she knew what was going on with Luke. He was so off but wouldn’t say why.
“It's fine, Cassandra. Your brother is just having a moment. I'm sure that once everything comes out, you’ll see that there is nothing to worry about. You two are siblings and will always be close.”
Cassandra knew that his statement wasn’t true. Her brother had ignored her for years, wouldn’t have anything to do with his nephew, would leave when she went home for a holiday. Cassandra knew that there was a distinct possibility that the two of them wouldn’t be close. She could feel the distance between them widening.
“At least now we can have that conversation we needed to have about what happened.”
“What’s there to say? Nothing happened.”
Cassandra couldn't argue with that. If Steven felt nothing, she had no idea what was going on. Why was it so complicated? Even when Luke wasn't around, they were still walking on eggshells, and Cassandra found it to be confusing more than anything else.
Steven finally said that he didn't want to start anything with Luke ready to come back at any time. “I do want to have that talk, but we shouldn't do it when your brother is somewhere around. He could just come through the door, hear and see everything we were doing. It's better to put it to the side and pretend for a little bit longer. We need to wait and feel it all out, see where we land. You know?”
Cassandra agreed, even if she didn’t want to put it off any longer. Every time she was around him, Cassandra had no idea how to act, and every time she laid down to go to sleep at night, Cassandra thought of Steven. She was in too deep to just walk away, so she had to play his game, no matter how impossible it seemed.
“Yeah, another time,” Cassandra agreed, dying inside to have to wait that much longer. Another time. Cassandra just hoped that time was soon.
Chapter 23
Steven
The night was awkward to say the least. Steven couldn't sleep a bit of it and even though Luke didn't say anything for hours, he knew that Cassandra's brother was still awake. He was awake, likely trying to catch Steven doing something that he wasn't supposed to do, with his sister. It was all so convoluted.
