Cassie Was Sad That Darling Didn't Seem As Thrilled With Her News As She Was. Darling Had Become One

Cassie was sad that Darling didn't seem as thrilled with her news as she was. Darling had become one of her best friends, and she was so glad that they had met, but Darling was also the type to stay away from others. They seemed to believe that other people judged them, but Cass had never judged Darling. She was also happy when Yuki Behr and her had finally started dating after months of beating around the bush. It was for that reason that she had been inspired to ask Dina. She wanted to be as happy as her two best friends.

"She likes me, Doll. I can tell.", Cass said, stubbornly, unable, or unwilling, to listen to her friends concerns.

"Have you told Yuki yet?". Darling asked, a sly smile crossing their face. It was then that Cassie hesitated, and she wondered why she hadn't told Yuki just yet. They were both so involved in so many extra curricular activities and spent so much time together, but she hadn't told Yuki about her date with Dina, or that she had feelings for her.

"No, not yet.", Cass admitted, though Darling already knew the answer to her question just from the hesitation.

"Don't you think that's a red flag? That you don't feel like you can share your news with your best friend?"

Cassie was lost in her thoughts. There was a million reasons why she hadn't spoken about it. Most of them involved the fact that she was betrothed to Malcolm Landgraab. But, she was also afraid. Afraid that she felt this amazing thing for this person and she was being used. She couldn't get a read on Dina, and that scared her.

At the end of the day, that was what Cass was really afraid of. She didn't want to risk losing Yuki's friendship over a crush.

Yuki couldn't remember the last time she was this angry, and that was saying a lot. Yuki did a lot to maintain a calm and collected image. She was the girl that was easy going, and could go with the flow with almost anything. But, when it came to her best friend getting her heart broken? That wasn't something she was okay with.

"I don't understand why you're getting so angry!", Cass said, defensively, raising her voice for the first time ever at her friend. "You should be happy for me. I'm your best friend! Shouldn't you support me? I encouraged you with Darling. You should do the same for me."

"Cass, don't twist my words. Of course, I support you! I just want you to find a person that loves you for you, and not for who you are...or the money that your parents have. Dina Caliente is a gold digging tramp, and she's been after Malcolm Landgraab for years. This has to be some kind of plan to get you to break up with him so that she can have him all for herself. There's no way this is real."

Cassie could hear what Yuki was saying, and she believed that it was true, but she didn't want to. She didn't want to believe that Dina was using her. Dina seemed so hurt; like she didn't believe in love. Cassie thought that maybe she could change her. If she could show her what real love was like, maybe she wouldn't run away from it anymore? Maybe they could even run off together, and then she wouldn't have to marry Malcolm; a man she knew would never love her and never give her what she needed.

"It has to be real, Yuki," Cass whispered, almost defeatedly as she rose from the lunch table with tears streaming down her face.

Yuki called after Cass, heartbroken that her friend seemed to be taking this so hard. She knew that Cass had always believed in love, and had always wanted to have a relationship like her parents had. Yuki could only hope, for her sake, that Dina wasn't scheming.

And if she was, Yuki would make sure she lived to regret it.

"I hope you haven't been feeling neglected.", Malcolm continued, raising an eyebrow at his betrothed. "You know that you're my first priority, Cassie."

Cassandra could only nod and smile. She felt like she had been doing that her whole life. And, if she went through with the wedding with Malcolm, it would continue. Malcolm would expect her to heel and behave herself. He had been raised rather harshly by his mother, and, after Johnny left the family to chase his dreams of building his own fortune without the Landgraab name, she had been particularly hard on her younger son. Cassandra felt bad for him, but she also knew that he wasn't going to change. There was too much at stake.

"Malcolm....there's something I have to tell you.", she started, as he rose from his seat and offered her his hand.

"Later, my little songbird. Let's sit on the couch and watch that documentary I was telling you about! The one about the founding of Pleasantview? I know your family has connections there and it should be really very interesting to you."

Cassie hated that about Malcolm. She hated that he never wanted to listen to her talk. He didn't value her words, or her voice, and that was why the irony of him calling her songbird as a pet name wasn't lost on her. But, maybe that was the whole reason why he called her that. He only wanted to hear her when she was happy and pleasant; not when her emotions were getting the best for her.

She followed him over to the couch and they settled in to watch the movie. It was boring stuff, really; mostly because everything in the documentary she already knew about. Her father had done extensive research on his family and their legacy before moving to Willow Creek to settle down and start a new life. Did she really need to hear all of this again from some quack who was convinced there was some conspiracy to rewrite time? It just sounded too strange to be true.

Nevertheless, she couldn't concentrate on the movie anyway. Not with the way his hand was rubbing her thigh, as he had pulled her legs into his lap. Cassie knew what was coming, and she was hoping she would be able to talk him out of it this time. Only time would tell.

It just keeps getting messier and messier.

enjoyable pleasurable nice satisfying... pleasant?

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