The morning of the big race…

“Good luck Mark!”

“Give them hell Rodgers!”

“Get us a win Mark! We believe in you!”

Wherever Mark went Friday morning, he was followed by great encouragement from his friends and peers of East Hall. The hype over this 100 meter race was a lot bigger than he could have imagined.

After an early morning class, Mark was free for the rest of the day before the race at twilight. Despite just wanting to hang around East Hall, the amount of people wishing him luck or wanting to speak to him about the race was too much pressure to handle. He felt such a weight on his shoulders that caused him to break away from the area and get some space for himself.

With the sun shining, he bought himself some lunch on campus and headed to a fairly isolated area of the college. It was in the shade, right next to one of the science department offices, not a place that you would run into many East Hall students at.

After sitting at one of the wooden bench tables outside for a while, he received a text from Cassidy.

Cassidy: You around? Got some news

He sent a quick reply with his location. Not that he really wanted to speak with anyone from East Hall but he assumed that Cassidy would be more occupied with whatever news this was that she needed to speak to him about.

***

“Bit odd to be hanging out around here, isn’t it?” the brunette said as she took a seat next to Mark on the bench.

“Yeah, yeah I know,” he said in return, “Just had to get away from everyone, if I hear anymore about this stupid race, I’m gonna go insane.”

She half smiled, sensing he was a lot more tense than she would have expected for something as trivial as a charity athletics race.

“Well I’ve got some goss to keep your mind preoccupied at least,” she mentioned.

Mark appreciated that she was going to get his mind off things by this new piece of news she had. He took a good look at her, checking out her attractive body. Cassidy had on some black leggings and a white sleeveless top that was loose enough that he could peer inside to see her pink sports bra that she wore.

“So uhh, what’s the news, hit me with it.”

Cassidy couldn’t help but smile, it was easy to tell she was trying to hold it in but just not successfully, “So uhh I was overhearing a few conversations this morning and may have heard that Matt broke up with Jade last night,” she told him.

This was gossip that Mark was definitely invested in considering he played a major role in the break up of Matt and Cassidy last year.

Who was he kidding? He was the only reason for it.

“Wow, did you hear why or anything?” he asked the brunette.

She shook her head, “Not really, I think they’ve been on the rocks ever since that little incident at the cafe. Apparently she’s become a bit of a brat around everyone, maybe a partial reason?”

Mark smirked, picking up off her facial reactions that Cassidy was seeing this as an opportunity to mend fences with her ex-boyfriend.

“You still like him don’t you,” he said, smiling.

Cassidy blushed, lightly pushing Mark’s arm, “I’m not going to just jump back in and try and get back together with him as if nothing happened if that’s what you’re suggesting.”

“But…”

“But what?” Cassidy replied.

“There’s a but isn’t there. You’re not try to get back together with him straight away but… you’re keeping that door completely open,” he said, smirking again.

“You’re such a stirrer,” she said again, smiling but shaking her head at the same time.

“Look I probably should be the one for advice on this considering I fucked up everything for everyone. But I know you Cas and I know you’ve never stopped liking him, it’s obvious,” he starting telling her.

Cassidy blushed more, looking down at the ground as she thought about everything he was saying. She couldn’t deny it, she never stopped loving Matt. Her heart was broken after the events had happened but she always seemingly held herself accountable for the fallout of what happened.

“I’m not telling you to get back with him right away or anything but… if it’s definitely what you want to do, you go for it, you know you’ll have my support,” he continued.

Cassidy almost had a tear in her eye by his kind words, “Really? Even with the way things are between you two?”

“Of course. I know he hates me but that shouldn’t have any impact on what you do, please don’t worry about that too much,” he told her.

The brunette used her hand on Mark’s leg, lightly squeezing it in an affectionate sign of appreciation. “That means more to me that you could imagine,” she said before taking a deep breath, “But even if that’s all true, I don’t think I could go back to him, not yet anyway.”

“That’s cool, but always check in with me if you need to talk about it,” he added.

“Thanks Mark,” she said, leaning in and giving him a hug.

He returned the hug, rubbing her back as he held her for a few extra seconds. In all honesty, Mark would feel a little more relieved about the whole mess from last year if they ended up getting back together. Mark thought about how he missed his friendship with his old roommate. He would never admit it but it would make him very happy to have Matt not wanting to stab him every time he saw him around.

“Anyways, you prepared for later?” Cassidy added.

“Let’s just say I’ll be very happy once it’s all over,” he said as they both chuckled together.