Chapter 27: Play Something For Me

"Cass, sweetie, are you okay?" Mom asks through the phone, sounding frantic.

It's been two days, and the doctors have determined that the concussion isn't anything serious,  and that i should be fine if I stay off of my feet until I'm better.

"Yes, Mom, I'm okay." I am okay, besides the ever present headache and the sharp, shooting pain in my ribs, and the throbbing in my leg. But yeah, other than that I'm fine.

"You're going to be staying with Roxanne and Jeff until your father and I get back, okay?"

"Who are Roxanne and Jeff?" I ask, confused.

"The neighbors, sweetie. Mr and Mrs. Brewer?"

Oh, right. Adults have first names too, Cass.

Wait, my parents want me to stay with Aaron and his family. For an undisclosed amount of time.

Great.

Even though we've cleared up the fact that I don't hate Aaron, I still don't know exactly why he would think that in the first place.

And he's been acting weird around me. Maybe it's because we're alone in a small room and he's not sure what his girlfriend would think about that, or maybe it's because he just doesn't want to be cooped up in here with me. I don't really know, but I'm hoping it's the former and not the latter; with the former I can at least pretend he wants to be here with me.

"Okay, Mom. Do Aaron and Autumn know?"

"Yes. Aaron and Roxanne are on their way to pick you up now." A voice sounds in the background, coming from her side. "I have to go. Call me before you go to sleep, okay?"

"Okay."

She hangs up and I take my phone away from my ear just as Mrs. Brewer walks through the door, Aaron behind her with a wheelchair.

Mrs. Brewer smiles at me. "Ready to go?"

I nod and Aaron wheels the wheelchair over to the side of the bed and helps me sit down in it. The doctors said to avoid crutches until my ribs have healed more, so the wheelchair is my main mode of transportation.

Aaron starts pushing me out of the room when Mrs. Brewer is done gathering my stuff––a bunch of flowers, my backpack, and some school stuff––and soon we're out of the building.

I breathe in the fresh air, and thoughts of food start to enter my mind. Hospital food is so disgustingly good, but I'd take a pizza or McDonald's over it every damn time.

And now I want ice cream. Great.

Aaron stops by his car and opens the door, and I panic.

"No."

He pauses. "No what, Cassie?"

I shake my head. "Please don't put me in there." Even though I don't remember the crash in detail, I do remember the sound of the crash and the feeling of my bones breaking as I screamed.

Or maybe those are just fake memories, made up by my brain. Either way, they're frightening enough to the point that I don't want to get in this car.

I close my eyes as Aaron talks to his mother, but they jerk open once the wheelchair starts to move.

Aaron's pushing me out of the parking lot.

"What are you doing?"

"You said you didn't want to go in the car, so I'm walking you to my house."

Gratitude rushes through me, but the feeling is trumped by guilt. He's exerting himself because I'm too scared to get into a car, something I've been doing every day with Gracie and Gabby for the past three years.

"I'm sorry," I say softly.

I feel him pause, feel his rhythm falter for the shortest moment, before he speaks. "It's okay, Cassie."

We're silent the rest of the way to his house.

---------

I wake up because Aaron's trying to maneuver the wheelchair up his porch steps, resulting in me being tilted backwards, which is fucking terrifying.

He manages to do it and he wheels me inside the house, leaving me by the couch in his living room.

He turns the TV on before he leaves, switching it to a channel that's playing a rom-com, and then handing me the remote.

He walks upstairs, leaving me alone.

The house is silent except for the sounds of Mrs. Brewer puttering about in the kitchen, pots and pans clanking together. Wonder what she's cooking.

My eyes glaze over as I stare at the TV, and my thoughts wander.

We're going on a trip, in our favorite rocket ship, zooming through the sky, Little Einsteins. Climb aboard, get ready to explore, there's so much to find, Little Einsteins. We're going on a miss––

Fuck, I'm so bored.

I toss the remote on the couch and look around the room. There's nothing in here except couches and the TV, but something black catches my eye when I crane my head behind me.

It looks like there's another part to the living room, and when I wheel myself over to it, I see a black piano.

My breath catches in my throat as I stare at it because it's beautiful. I haven't seen a piano, haven't been this close to one, in a long time.

I slowly move closer until I'm standing––sitting––to the side of the bench.

Taking a deep breath, I push myself out of my wheelchair and on to the bench, wincing as pain flares up in my ribs and my leg.

I place my hands on the keys and test out a chord, closing my eyes as the beautiful sound resonates throughout the room.

My hands automatically start to the play the opening chords of the acoustic version Bad Day by Daniel Powters. I had a voice coach, but I stopped taking lessons for that when I stopped taking lessons for piano.

I open my mouth and start to sing.

"Where is the moment we needed the most?

"You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost,

"They tell me your blue sky's faded to grey,

"They tell me your passion's gone away,

"And I don't need no carrying on,

"You stand in the line just to hit a new low,

"You're faking a smile with the coffee to go,

"You tell me your life's been way off line,

"You're falling to pieces every time,

"And I don't need no carrying on,

"Because you had a bad day,

"You're taking one down,

"You sing a sad song just to turn it around,

"You say you don't know,

"You tell me don't li––"

"Cassie?" I jump, my hands flattening on the keys, causing the piano to emit a horrid sound, as I look up into Aaron's awed face. "You know how to play the piano?"

I hesitate, but end up sheepishly nodding my head, not meeting his eyes.

I feel him come to sit next to me, and I scoot to my left to make room for him.

I stare down at my hands on my lap. "I'm sorry, I didn't ask if I could play this, I get it if you––"

My words get cut off when he places his left hand over both of mine. I look up at him to see a soft smile on his face. "Play something for me?"

I slowly remove my hands from under his and place them on the keys again, thinking for a moment before beginning to play.

"All I knew this morning when I woke,

"Is I know something now, know something now I didn't before,

"And all I've seen since eighteen hours ago,

"Is green eyes and dimples––" Aaron cracks a smile. "––and your smile in the back of my mind making me feel like,

"I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now,

"I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now,

"I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now,

"I just wanna know you, know you, know you,

"Cause all I know is we said hello,

"And your eyes look like coming home,

"All I know is a simple name

"Everything has changed,

"All I know is you held the door,

"You'll be mine and I'll be yours,

"All I know since yesterday,

"Is everything has changed."

I warm up to the chords and the song, and when I'm ready to start back up again, Aaron sings for me.

"And all my walls stood tall painted blue,

"But I'll take them down, take them down, and open up the door for you."

Holy fuck, he can sing; he just got one hundred times more attractive. I snap out of my daze to sing.

"And all I feel in my stomach is butterflies, the beautiful kind, making up for lost time, taking flight."

We sing the chorus together, and I can't help but marvel at the sound of our voices together, at the feeling of happiness that bubbles up inside of my chest, threatening to overflow.

The song ends, and I hold out the last note, the sound filling the room before slowly fading away into silence.

Leaving my hands resting lightly on the keys, I look up at Aaron to see him grinning down at me. "How do you know that song?"

He smirks at me. "I have a sister, Cassie. At one point, Taylor Swift was her life."

I laugh at that, and his smirk falls away to be replaced by a soft smile, one that sends a warmth slowly unfurling through my chest.

But then, out of nowhere, I remember one very disappointing fact.

Aaron has a girlfriend.

Fuck.

Here I am reveling in smiles that shouldn't be directed at me. I shouldn't be sitting this close to him, I shouldn't want to be sitting this close to him because he has a fucking girlfriend, and it's that thought that causes me to shoot up from the bench.

My dumb ass, notorious for the amount of dumbassery I utilize on a day to day basis, somehow forgets that I have a broken leg and messed up ribs, because pain overtakes me and I start to fall.

Aaron catches me and places me in the wheelchair as quick pants leave my mouth. I barely restrain myself from writhing in agony, and that's only because I know moving will make it worse.

"Leave it to you to try and move on a broken leg." I ignore him and close my eyes. "Cassie?"

Fuck.

"Leave me alone," I whisper, my eyes still closed.

"What?"

My eyes open, filled to the brim with tears, to see Aaron looking at me, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Leave me alone," I say, my voice stronger. I need to hurt him so he'll leave me alone because I can't just hide my feelings and pretend to not like him. Not anymore.

"Why? What's wrong? What did I do?"

"Where's your girlfriend, Aaron?"

He looks taken aback as he takes a step away from me. "What?"

I glare up at him through the tears in my eyes. "You heard me. Where is she? You should want to be with her wherever she is, not here with me."

He tenses up, like he doesn't want to be talking about this. "I'm here with you because I want to be."

"Right," I scoff. "Because you want to be. Why don't you want to be with your girlfriend?" He doesn't answer. "You know she's cheating on you because half the school knows, but that doesn't bother you." His face grows angrier, but he still doesn't speak. "Why doesn't it bother you, Aaron? Is it because you're cheating on her, too?"

He explodes.

"I don't cheat," he says firmly, the anger behind his words clear as day. "I would never. Do you want to know why it doesn't bother me, Cassie? It doesn't bother me because I don't like her."

"Then why are you fucking dating her?" I yell. "Are you doing it because she asked and you didn't want to feel bad? Or is it just because you're a complete and total ass?"

"I'm not the bad guy here, Cassie. I'm doing this for Autumn, not because I want to hurt Tiffany."

My anger roars in my ears, a loud wave crashing on to the sand. "You're a dick," I say lowly.

I spin myself in my wheelchair and start to wheel myself out of the room. He grabs on to the handles to stop me and walks in front of me, crouching down to eye level. "Why do you care about this so much?" he asks me, and I lose it. I can't keep it in any longer and my feelings explode out of me.

"Because I fucking like you, you dumb fuck." He looks shocked, but I can't bring myself to stop. "I've liked you since before the accident, maybe before you even started dating her, but you're such a fucking idiot that you didn't pick up on it. And now you're dating her and it sucks because I still fucking like you and I'm trying to stop but you're not making it easy because every time you fucking look at me I like you more and––"

I never get to finish my Gracie-style monologue because Aaron's soft lips are firmly pressed against mine.

He pulls away and I blink at him and the blinding, little-kid smile on his face. "I like you, too."

---------

Is anyone watching the AFC Wild Card game between the Bills and the Texans because this game is seriously playing with my emotions. Like, I don't even like either of the teams, but my dad watches football and I'm so nervous; they just went into overtime and I'm dying.

So, that happened. I wish i could say it's all happiness and sunshine and rainbows and unicorns from this moment on but, sadly, the secret Cassie's parents were going to tell her is coming out in the next chapter, and the infamous Kyle makes a rather unwanted appearance.

I'm so not ready for school, guys, someone please kill me.

--Rose