Choice

“Morning.” You hear someone grunt from behind you, making you pause from putting on your running shoes.

“Good morning.” You greet a groggy looking Cassie after you turn your head, as she makes her way to the living room couch where you’re sitting. “You’re up early.” You add in reaction.

“Your shuffling kinda woke me up.” Cassie replies.

“Oh! Damn. I thought I got really good at not waking you girls up when I do that. Sorry.” You apologize.

“No biggie.” She replies, before plopping herself on the armrest of the couch, before smoothly falling backwards and resting her head right on your lap. “I’ll just go back to sleep here.” Cassie adds with a content smile, closing her eyes to show she isn’t joking about probably wanting to sleep on your lap like this. With Cassie’s head on your lap, you can’t really continue what you were doing, so you stroke her hair for a bit instead.

“I’m going out for a run with Brooke in a while. You want to join us?” You ask her.

“No.” Cassie bluntly replies, before shifting her head on your lap to get more comfortable. “You’re staying here with me.” She then adds, making you chuckle. She gives it a few seconds before letting out a chuckle of her own.

“I’m kidding about making you stay, but I am going to go back to bed.” Cassie tells you, but not moving her head up from your lap. “Just stay with me until Brooke looks for you?” Cassie asks sweetly.

“Of course.” You answer without hesitation.

The two of you stay like this for a while. Yours and Cassie’s breathing sync with one another, as she continues to rest, while you continue to stroke her hair and cheek with your fingers. It takes Cassie another couple of minutes before she speaks up again.

“Is this a regular thing between you and Brooke?” Cassie asks.

“We’re hoping so. We’ve only really done it once, and that was before she moved in with Viv. Now that she’s next door, we can do it more regularly.” You answer.

“So you’re not going to run with us later?” Cassie asks.

“Of course I’m still going to.” You answer.

“So you’re going for a run twice, and then the gym later tonight?” She asks.

“Sounds like a plan.” You answer, unable to hide the disbelief at your own answer.

“Who are you and what have you done with Mr. Craig?” Cassie jokes.

“Truth be told, I’m pretty sure it’s the magic that’s helping me recover a lot quicker than I used to. It’s the only reason why I’m confident that I can do it.” You tell her.

“Still, magic or no magic, you have to be willing to do it.” Cassie points out, and you’re somehow reminded of your conversation with Stella last night about choices.

“What can I say? I’m really eager to look like Shawn Michaels.” You joke.

“Wait, the D-X guy?” Cassie asks.

“You learned that from Viv?” You ask teasingly.

“HA! That’s pretty much all I learned.” Cassie admits. “Viv’s TED Talk on wrestling wasn’t as… coherent as she probably thought it was.” She adds.

“We’ll get Brooke to do it next time.” You tell her.

“When she’s not… busy.” Cassie says teasingly, alluding to your foursome with Brooke, Becca, and Maddy the night before last, getting you both to laugh.

“What about you? You were pretty busy yesterday with Marybeth.” You mention, and the mention of Marybeth brings a wider smile to Cassie’s lips. “You wanna go back there again today?” You ask her.

“It’s alright. I think I ditched Stella long enough yesterday.” Cassie replies. She might miss me if I do it too often.” Cassie jokingly adds.

“Are you sure who’s going to miss who isn’t the other way around?” You teasingly ask.

“Yeah~. It’s the other way around.” Cassie admits with a chuckle.

“It did take me by surprise that you chose to hang out with Marybeth and do chores instead of hanging out with Stella. I kinda thought you asked Becca permission to stay there for the day so you two could enjoy the amenities. Maybe have a ‘hang out’ just the two of you.” You share.

“Stella and I hang out all the time.” Cassie replies, not understanding what you were getting at.

“I mean, like a romantic one. Watch a movie, raid Becca’s bar that she said you had open access to, that sort of stuff.” You clarify.

“Oh.” Cassie says, her body language closing up a bit. “I kinda feel like I should take a break from pursuing that.” Cassie mentions.

“How come?” You ask, concerned.

“After I made an ass of myself the last time we went out, I’m not sure she even wants to explore that further.” Cassie says, dejected.

“Is that why you chose to hang out with Marybeth over Stella?” You ask.

“I mean… I don’t want to say I chose. Stella’s the one who dipped when I volunteered to help Marybeth with some chores.” Cassie halfheartedly defends.

“Gee. I wonder why she chose to watch Shrek 2 for the umpteenth time over chores.” You joke.

“Yeah. Me neither.” Cassie says with a sarcastic laugh.

“I think what Stella told me yesterday applies here. You have to be honest, baby.” You tell her. “If you want to pursue something with Stella, you have to be honest about your intentions. Not just with her, but with yourself too.” You add, causing Cassie to go deep in thought.

“If you wanted to hang out with Marybeth more, that’s fine; I just hope you didn’t use it as an excuse to avoid hanging out with Stella because you’ll feel awkward hanging out with her now, outside of your usual activities I mean.” You share, while Cassie just remains silent.

…

“Stella said that?” Cassie finally asks.

“Just the part about being honest with yourself and the reasons behind why you choose to do things. She didn’t mention anything about your date or not wanting to pursue anything romantic between you two.” You clarify.

“What do you think I should do?” Cassie asks.

“Before my talk with Stella, I probably would have understood why you wanted to pull back a bit. I know I would’ve if I felt the person I was pursuing didn’t enjoy my first attempt at something romantic. After what Stella told me though, I’m leaning towards the advice that you don’t stop pursuing your own happiness. If dating Stella and having a deeper relationship with her is what will bring you that, then make her know it.” You advise, and Cassie takes a moment to think about it.

“Okay.” She finally says, her voice shy.

“Okay.” You mirror, feeling like encouraging her more might have the opposite effect.

“I didn’t hang out with Marybeth just to avoid Stella though. I want to make that clear.” Cassie then shares.

“That part I believe.” You say with a chuckle. “What did you and Marybeth do besides chores?” You ask with a laugh.

“That was basically it.” Cassie replies with a laugh. “She and I basically just talked while she did some chores. She’s the only one allowed to clean certain rooms, and there was even a particular one that she wouldn’t even let me into; but for Becca’s bedroom and study, I helped her clean. Well, ‘help’ would be generous. I basically just sat there and made conversation while she cleaned.” Cassie shares.

“What did you guys talk about?” You continue asking.

“I mostly wanted to find out the juicy gossip she knows. Did you know, she actually knew my mom? So the story goes, Mom and Mr. Hoffman used to risk it in the Hoffman house when Mrs. Hoffman was gone. So, this one time, they almost got caught when Mrs. Hoffman got home early and they were still doing it in their bedroom! Mom had to hide stark naked in one of the maid’s quarters until Mrs. Hoffman left again. That’s apparently why Mr. Hoffman got my mom a job at his hotel. So they could do it there without risk of getting caught.” Cassie shares.

“Jesus Christ.” You say in reaction.

“Yeah. That’s what I thought too.” Cassie says, enjoying sharing the gossip she heard yesterday.

“You couldn’t have spent the entire day just gossiping about the past… could you?” You ask, already feeling like that’s exactly what happened.

“You’d be surprised!” Cassie happily reacts. “Did Marybeth tell you that Becca used to be such a brat as a toddler?” Cassie then asks you.

“She didn’t phrase it like that.” You tell her.

“Oh, sorry. Becca was a ‘tough one to handle at first’.” Cassie rephrases to the exact words Marybeth used when you, her, and Becca shared dinner; making you chuckle and confirm that she hit it right on the money. “Which is just a nice way of saying she was a brat.” Cassie says with a laugh.

“Marybeth told me about Becca only using the word ‘maid’ to refer to her up until she was like eight or something.” You share the story you heard from Marybeth connected to that.

“Oh! Did you also hear about the time Becca tried to get her violin instructor fired for wearing a short sleeve shirt with… *gasp* no jacket!? Marybeth said Becca didn’t want to learn an instrument from someone of ‘low status’.” Cassie jokingly gossips.

“What!? No! That’s horrible!” You react in shock.

“Becca was like seven at the time, so she didn’t know any better. Plus, it’s not like Becca didn’t get it from somewhere. Apparently, Mrs. Hoffman may have just as many red flags as her asshole husband.” Cassie clarifies.

“Don’t tell me you spent the entire day just listening to the Hoffman family drama.” You say, making Cassie laugh.

“Nah. It was mostly Marybeth sharing stories about Becca actually.” Cassie assures you. “It was pretty nice getting to know my co-girlfriend slash half-sister. Indirectly, but still.” Cassie adds.

“Why not just get to know Becca directly?” You ask.

“When? If she’s not busy at work, she’s been spending most of her down time with you.” Cassie asks with a laugh, which makes you realize she may have a point.

“You guys hung out the other day while helping Brooke move in.” You comment.

“I tried. Snuck in some getting to know you questions in between Viv planning that costumed orgy she… and you… are super excited about.” Cassie replies. “It wasn’t the same though. It was mostly just getting to know her interests, since she was obviously not into the whole superhero stuff. Unlike with the stories I heard from Marybeth, there was more depth in the information I was getting, you know? It may have been secondhand, but it told me a lot about how Beca grew up. I even found out some of the similarities we share.” Cassie answers.

“What kind of similarities?” You ask curiously

“Growing up with emotionally distant and manipulative parents.” Cassie answers with a pained chuckle, and you can’t help but hold her hand and squeeze it to help comfort her. “On the flip side of that, at least we found our own parental figures.” Cassie says with a much brighter smile, while palming your cheek with her other hand.

“Parental figures we chose.”