Cassie

“Hi?” you ask the brunette through the doorway awkwardly.

You have a vague idea who this girl might be, while she obviously knows who you are. If your guess is correct, your memories of her aren't close to what she looks like now, since you clearly have no recollection of the gorgeous woman standing before you.

“It’s okay Mr. Craig. I know it’s been a while. It’s me, Cassie? I’m Sylvie’s daughter from 307 before we moved out. You used to babysit me?” she said, her tone filled with curiosity if any of what she said rings any bells.

“Yeah. Yeah. Cassie. Hi. Sylvie’s daughter.” you mutter, not realizing you just repeated what she told you; but you were right in your guess, and you remember her more clearly now. She was probably around 13 or 14 when they moved out. You remember Sylvie basically treating you and Diane like a free babysitting service so she could go and party while she left her daughter in your care.

She was one of Stella’s classmates who also lived in the same building, and with Sylvie forcing her on you and Diane every chance she got, she and Stella became best friends all throughout their childhood.

After more memories come flooding back, you really can’t believe your eyes when you look at her. You remember the last time you saw her, she was a cute middle school kid, barely reaching your chest in height. She’s almost as tall as you now, and being 6’3”, she’s gotta be at least 6’ tall. You remember she was always a cute kid, but you never would have expected her to grow up into such an attractive young woman. She really can’t be the young girl you used to babysit. You feel even creepier for finding her attractive since, for a brief period of time, you considered her like a second daughter.

You finally snap out of your trip down memory lane and realize Cassie’s still standing in the hallway looking at you expectantly. You realize you may be staring and break away from looking at her, and notice she has a suitcase next to her. You slowly try to connect the dots in your head, but then remember the conversation you had with Stella over the phone last week. Cassie’s here to stay over for the entirety of their summer break.

Shit. You’re reminded of the mess your apartment is right now.

“I’m really sorry to intrude Mr. Craig, I thought Stella told you about it already, and got your approval” she says to you, probably reading into the dumb look you had when you were trying to piece it together.

“Oh - uh - she did. I - uh - I just…” you try to explain but she cuts you off.

“Don’t worry about it Mr. Craig. I understand. Heard about what happened from Stella.” Cassie tells you.

“I - uh - I’d invite you in, but - uh -” you really don’t want her to see the state of the place, since it’s probably a perfect encapsulation of the state of you as well. “Can you give me five minutes to try and clean up the place?” you ask her.

“Don’t worry about me Mr. Craig. How about I help you clean up, and you go find Stella and catch up with her? I’m sure you have a lot to talk about”

“No. I can’t have you do that alone. Stella’s just probably sitting in the stoop trying to calm herself down. She’ll be back.” you reply, a hand rubbing the nape of your neck.

“No, really. It’s okay. It’s the least I can do for you... for agreeing to let me stay the entire summer, I mean.” Cassie answers you. “Plus, I’m sure Stella would rather have you talk to her to calm her down than me.” She adds.

“I’m not so sure about that” you tell her.

“Trust me. She’d be more pissed off to hear me side with you than with her. She kinda went overboard in my opinion.” she said with a wry smile. You return her wry smile but shake your head in disagreement. That was your daughter going easy on you.

“I really hate to impose, Mr. Craig, but can I come in?” the question makes you jolt as you realize you’ve been having this conversation while she was still in the hallway.

“I’m sorry, yeah. Make yourself at home.” you tell her as you let her in. She drags her suitcase inside your apartment and stops a few steps into the living room. “It really is just like I remember it.” she says with hands on her slender hips. You start to notice how her jean shorts hug her round butt and… you mentally slap yourself. You used to babysit this girl, stop it.

“Anyway, I’ll get started here and you should really go see what Stella’s up to” she tells you. Before you can protest she adds, “I insist. Please. She needs you more than she’d like to admit.” The last thing she said was what made you lose any hesitation you were feeling about looking for Stella. You haven’t really taken into consideration how Stella’s really been feeling about the divorce.

“Yeah - um, thanks Cassie. Are you sure about this?” you ask her, motioning your hands to show your awareness of how much of a mess the apartment is right now. “Positive.” She replies with a smile and without hesitation.

You move towards the door to leave until you hear Cassie shout for you, “OH! Mr. Craig!” You turn around to see what made her call out for you.

She has a shy smile, with a little lip bite of her lower lip. She points towards what you assume is your crotch area.

“You might want to put some pants on.”