Jassandra Fic Central!

          Jake had only been in Club Effegee for about 30 seconds when he heard a squealing voice running towards him.

“JACOB!”

He looked up and Cassandra was racing towards him with impressive speed. She crashed into him and he stumbled, though he was laughing. This was strange, but also strangely adorable.

Trailing her, and looking exhausted, was Baird.

“Stone” she said. “You got in?”

“I found something I had in common with the bouncer” he chuckled “Made him like me and he let me in”

Cassandra was still hanging on him, giggling like a school girl and barely balancing.

“You wanna explain this??” he asked, indicating Cassie on top of him. Baird sighed.

“There’s some kind of spell in here that is making her experience the effects of someone else’s actions” she explained “It’s what happened to the girl you two found last night”

“So...she’s drunk?”

“In a manner of speaking yes.” Baird began to walk away, a guilty look crossing her face “Could you keep an eye on her for a bit while I check on something?”

She was gone before Jake could even utter a word. He looked at Cassandra, still giggling. He was going to pound whoever did this to her.

“Come on Cassie” he said, taking her gently by the arm. “Let’s go sit down”

He brought her over to a couch, which she promptly fell onto. He sat next to her and helped her up.

“Jacob!” she cooed “Jacob Jakeity Jake-Jake Jakeoo!”

How much has this guy had to drink? Jake thought.

“Why don’t you close you eyes for a bit Cassie?” he suggested. “Get some sleep in-case we have to do a lot of running later.”

“No! Sleeping isn’t any fun! Let’s go have some fun Jakey!” She grabbed his hand and started to get up off of the couch.

“No no no” he urged, pulling her down “Let’s stay here and just talk for a bit”

“Oh good! I like talking” she bounced on the couch and smiled at him.

“Alright then” he agreed, relieved that he’d gotten her settled down that easily. “What do you want to talk about?”

She thought for a moment before scooting closer to him on the couch.

“I know what we should talk about” she giggled, practically whispering.

“What’s that?” Jake tried to keep a level head, but she was so close to him she was practically breathing down his neck.

“You should answer some questions I have”

“Like?”

“Okay, just one question”

“And that is?”

“Why haven’t you kissed me yet?”

It came so suddenly that Jake didn’t how to react. If he’d been expecting her to say anything it wasn’t that. Along with not having time to know how to react came not being able to control the reaction when it happened, and so a smile crept across Jacob Stone’s face.

“See that?” she giggled, pointing at his expression. “I know you want to. At least I think you want to. I want to. Because your face is just so darn cute”

She started poking at his cheeks, and his nose, and even brushed her finger across his lips. He knew he couldn’t engage her while she was drunk, but she was making it increasingly harder to walk away.

“I love this cute little face. I love math! Ooh and I love strawberries!”

She continued to list off her favorite things. Jake was beginning to realize that maybe this whole “kissing” fiasco was nothing to worry about...until he tuned in again to what she was saying

“Oh and I love kittens! And science fairs! And I love you...oops!”

She fell onto his shoulder laughing hysterically. He had lost all ability to pretend now. He looked at her seriously, not sure what was true, and what was alcohol. He knew one thing that was true: he loved her too, but he certainly couldn’t tell her that now.

“Why are you laughing so much Cassie?” he asked

“Because I wasn’t supposed too tell you I love you. That was a secret! But now I did! Because my head’s still like a marshmallow!”

After another fit of her giggling, and him staring, all of a sudden she’d moved to him. Her lips were on his and then the whole club quieted. There was nothing save for the feeling of her kiss, and the smell of her perfume.

He wanted to stay there forever, but he knew he had to do the right thing. Gathering his strength, he grabbed Cassandra’s shoulders and pushed her away from him.

“Oh” she pouted. “I get it. You don’t want to kiss me. You don’t trust me”

“No no no it’s not that Cassie” he assured her. “I do, believe me i really do, but I can’t kiss you for the first time while you’re drunk. It’s not right”

“Oh” she turned away from him and they both stared at their laps. It was the first time he had heard her quiet all night.

Later that night, Jake found Cassandra still curled up in a ball on the annex desk, hours after everyone else had gone home. 

“Hey” he said.

“Oh” she replied, remembering what had happened earlier. “Hey”

“Can we talk?” he asked.

“Sure” she mumbled, and sat up to make room for him next to her.

“Look Cassie, about the things you said while you were drunk...”

“Oh Jake I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I was drunk and...”

“No Cassie you didn’t make me uncomfortable, I just wasn’t really sure how to respond at the moment.”

“Because you didn’t want to kiss me”

“No Cass I told ya I just didn’t feel right doing it while you were like that!“

He didn’t realize how harsh his voice had sounded until he watched her turn away from him and scrunch up shyly. Trying again, he placed his hand on top of hers and spoke softly.

“But, maybe we could schedule a kiss some other time”

She looked up and smiled at him, the softest one she’d given all night.

“That would be really nice” she said.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Besides, you still owe me that pint”

“I didn’t think you’d want any part of that after tonight” he joked.

“Yeah...maybe we’d be better off with a coffee” They both laughed for a while, and their smiles were bright. Cassandra leaned her head on Jake’s shoulder, and this time he didn’t even flinch.

“You’re a good guy Jacob” she whispered.

“Well, so long as I get to spend a nice evening with you, I’ll be happy”

             From the time Cassandra was a little girl, the drawings would randomly appear on her skin. They weren’t just normal doodles like she’d see on everyone else. On her skin she’d see intricate designs. There were series of waved lines, all curved together in genius ways, and symbols and masks framed at the center, looking like something out of a professional art book.

She always smiled when the designs appeared. Her parents never allowed her to draw on her own skin. They thought it would give her cancer. But when she was sitting alone in class, or locked away in her room studying, without a friend in the world, the designs made her smile. They made her feel a part of something.

          Unlike other people around her, drawings continued to appear on her skin as she got older. No matter what her age, she’d always had the little designs from her soulmate to comfort her and keep her company. It was the time that she needed them the most that they failed to deliver.

She was 15, sitting in a hospital room,with a brand new death sentence looming above her head. She’s asked her parents to leave her alone. They were out talking in the hallway. The room was silent, and the bed underneath her was cold.

A small smile dared to cross her face when she saw lines start to appear on her hand. A drawing from her mysterious love far away was exactly what she needed now. It was the only thing that would bring her any kind of happiness.

But the lines did not develop into a drawing. Quickly, she saw them develop into letters and numbers, and a cry caught in her throat. On her hand was the name Holly followed by a phone number.

There to greet her on the worst day of her life was evidence that her soulmate was going to go on a date with someone else, her soulmate who she now knew she would never meet.

He’d never come and take her away from her lonely life like she always dreamed as  a girl. She wouldn’t live very long, probably not even five years. She’d never meet the escape from her devastating reality.

        Cassandra was walking out of the Library one night. with a smile on her face. It was the weekend, and Flynn’s birthday too, and the next few days were sure going to be happy. They’d just gotten the information about the party.

Suddenly, she felt the familiar tingle on her arm that she hadn’t felt in years. She knew it all too well: the feeling of the pen ink, magically transferring to her own arm. Excitedly, she looked down at her arm, hoping to see her favorite designs for the first time in years.

Instead, she saw words popping up again, but this time she froze when she began to read what they were.

Flynn’s b-day. Baird and Flynn’s apartment, Saturday, 8 PM

Her soulmate was here in the Library, working right next to her all this time. Could it be who she thought it was? Was the man who made her feel at home really the one who’d unknowingly been doing it her whole life?

            It was a quiet day in the annex when she got the final confirmation. She was sitting at the center table, quietly eating her lunch and reading a book, when she felt the tingle on her arm again.

She looked down and was happy to see the curved lines indicating a drawing was coming. Slowly, she watched as they became a face, and a neck, and...curls that looked an awful lot like hers. The lines became a soft smile, and eyes...looking down at a book placed in front of her.

Cassandra began to hyperventilate. On her arm was  a drawing of her. Shaking, she looked up from her book to see Jacob sitting across from her, carefully doodling on his arm.

He looked up at her again, not knowing that she’d already noticed him. He stopped when they made eye contact. Her whole body trembling, Cassandra turned to show Jake the drawing on her own skin.

She found tears forming in her eyes. Jake was her long lost soulmate. Jake was her home, her rock, the man she’d thought she’d never meet.

Slowly, she rose and walked over to him, both of them smiling shyly.

“You never wrote me anything” Jake said. “I always thought my soulmate had been dead all these years.”

“My parents wouldn’t let me as a kid” Cassie chucked. “I never developed the habit. But you...God Jacob, your drawings. They’re beautiful. When life was bleak, you kept me smiling”

“Are you still smiling now you know it’s me?” Jake asked.

“I woke up to you leaning over the toilet puking your brains out! What was I supposed to say?”

“I’m kidding. Thank you for looking out for me”

“In sickness and in health”

Cassandra laughed and sat him down on the bed.

“The bag is in the closet” she said. “I’ll be right back. Don’t move”

She ran off to the other side of their room with a spring in her step. He fell back on the bed and smiled. It was good to see her happy after this morning’s ordeal. They’d been married two years now, and he still couldn’t believe he got to come home to Cassandra’s smile every day.

She came back and plopped herself on the bed, making the mattress bounce. Soon he felt her trying to push him up from his laying down position. He held himself down as tightly as possible just to mess with her.

“Come on sit up!” she grunted. She pushed at him helplessly and the two laughed hysterically.

“Come on Jacob really” Cassie said, more seriously this time. “You’re really going to like this present”“

“Alright alright” he conceded, grunting as he sat up. “But only because you asked me too”

Cassandra smiled and thrust out a pale yellow bag.

“Wow” he gasped. “You really went full out here”

“Just open it!” she insisted.

Jake shook his head and reached into the bag. His hands felt something tiny, but he didn’t really pay attention to what he was doing until the gift was in front of his face.

He was speechless. Suddenly all the dots began to connect: how Cassandra had begged him last week to make her lobster ravioli at 2 o’clock in the morning, despite how she the pasta, how she’d woken up this morning puking but showed no signs of it now, and finally the infant sized cowboy boots that he held in his hand.

Jake slowly looked up at his wife and saw her starting to cry.

“Is this for real?” he asked. “Are you really...”

“Yes” she cried, cutting him off. “I’m pregnant”

Jake jumped from the bed, grabbed her in his arms and spun her around in the air. She squealed before he put her back down on the ground to face him.

“Oh my god” He was crying too now. “We’re gonna have a kid”

“We’ll finally get to make our own little family” Tears soaked Cassandra’s face now as she leaned in to kiss him again.

15 months later

Cassandra and Jake walked into the library.

“Hey!” Barid exclaimed as they arrived. “How’s my little god-daughter today?” She stared down at the baby-carrier in Cassandra’s hand.

“Sleeping” Jake said. “And hopefully we can keep her that way. I think this is the first time she’s been down for more than 2 hours”

It was more than just that. I don’t think it would have been the same if Baird had comforted me, or Jones. or even Flynn, if he had been there. There’s something different about Jake, about the way he can make me feel: I’ve known that for a while. I guess that’s what the person who you love makes you feel like; that’s what the world says anyway

I don’t know why I let myself keep feeling this way. Not that I’d be able to control it, but I want to rid of this aching. When I’m upset, the only person’s arms I want to be in are his. I look at him, and I feel at home, and I want to know what his lips taste like. It wouldn’t be much of a problem I suppose, if I could say something to him. But some things can never be.

It’s all my fault of course, the fact that I’ll never be with the person who my heart wants the most. If I had never been so stupid that day, had never betrayed his trust, we could’ve had something beautiful, I’m sure. I know we both felt it from day one.If I had one wish I’d do it all over.  I’d trade all my tomorrows for just one yesterday.

From the personal journal of Jacob Stone:

Things with Cassandra grow increasingly torturous every day. I think I tired to make a move today. I’m not even sure what I did. It was more of a gesture really, one I didn’t even think about. None the less, it involved Cassie, and once again, nothing came of it.

We were trapped in a video game-which I still can’t believe- and we had to do grenade jumps to make it across the final platforms, and back to our own world. I could see how scared she was. It’d be nerve-wracking for anyone, but for her it had to be especially terrifying. Despite all the talking she does, I know anything life-threatening makes her freeze up with fear; I can see it when I look at her.

She had to jump, and I looked at her, and I just wanted her to feel okay. So I reached out my arm and put my hand on her shoulder. It was just a small gesture of comfort, the only thing I could think to do without wasting time. She looked up at me and smiled, and I watched the courage come back into her frame. I watched her big blue eyes look up from the floor and focus straight ahead. I was so proud of her.

I find myself feeling that way a lot. I’ve never been a real emotional person, not at all, but Cassie brings out something different in me. I find myself able to comfort her, which I didn’t think I knew how to do. I watch her, and in everything she does, I’m filed with pride. I suppose that’s what you feel towards the person who you love:that’s what all the great poets say.

I don’t know why I still feel this way. I’ve always been so good at controlling my feelings, I should be able to quell this, but no matter what I do, I can’t get a grasp on it. I’m just so incredibly in love with her. Every time she’s hurting, even just from a stubbed toe, I want to hold her in my arms and make it go away. When I’m hurting I want to hold her too. I look into those sparkling eyes of hers, crystal clear blue like sapphires, and I feel at home. I want to know what her hair would feel like tickling my cheeks when we kissed. This shouldn’t be an issue. I don’t have any problem asking girls out. But some things can never be.

It’s all my fault of course, the fact that I’ll never be with the person who my heart wants the most. Why did I have to be so god awful stubborn that day? Of course I still trusted her, how could I not see that? I’ve never trusted anyone, there was no way I let it go for something so selfish. She was scared, terrified for her life; I had no idea what that felt like, no right to judge. She probably felt awful, and she needed someone there, and I failed her.