Lost & Found

The Aftermath

She soaked in the bath until the water was room temperature, deciding that the longer she could avoid the Copelands – or one Copeland in particular – the better. Though, she supposed it wouldn't be entirely difficult, seeing as he seemed to be doing the same to her.

He had been different when he'd reemerged from the house, a few minutes after Caroline, avoiding Cassie's eye contact and keeping his distance for the rest of the gathering. Cassie knew better than to try to confront him publicly, but she didn't even get the chance to do so privately. Once the kids all dispersed to go get ready for the concert, she had slid into the backseat of Tyler's car, hoping to catch his gaze a few times in the rearview mirror and maybe get a glimpse into his thought process, but he kept his eyes laser focused on the road. Even after they'd stepped into the Copeland house, he'd made a beeline for the stairs and locked himself in his bedroom before she could get a word out.

So she decided that avoidance could go both ways. It wasn't a particularly mature response, but she didn't know what else to do.

Apparently kissing him had been a terrible idea. She'd enjoyed it quite a bit in the moment: the way his fingers pressed into her skin and she could feel his eyelashes brushing against the tops of her cheeks and how he varied the pressure on her lips, going from soft and sweet to hard and rough and then back to long and passionate. And when her eyes had opened to meet his, she could have sworn she saw something there, some sort of spark of realization that indicated he felt the same way. Kissing Tyler had been everything she expected it to be: delicious and thrilling and leaving her wanting more.

And she did want more. Even after she returned to the gathering, she couldn't wait to be alone with him again.

But apparently he didn't feel the same way. She wondered what could have changed in such a short amount of time.

Curling her hands over the two edges of the tub, she lifted herself from the water, stepping onto the cold tile floor and reaching for the towel before she could start shivering. She wrapped the pink terry cloth around her frame before flattening her hands atop the white marble bathroom counter and staring at her reflection in the mirror.

This wasn't a particularly new scenario. Cassie was the master of getting easily attached to people who didn't return the feeling. She really should have learned better by now. It had happened before, and she was sure it would happen again, but it had never quite made her feel this way: as though every part of her body was aching.

Perhaps it was time she stopped giving her heart away so easily, she thought, standing up straight and reaching for her makeup bag. Perhaps the secret to not feeling lonely was not caring.

//

Tyler never pretended as though he had any idea what he was doing. More often than not, when it came to something that didn't involve swimming, he was hopelessly clueless.

However, this time, he knew he had done something wrong. He shouldn't have avoided Cassie after the kiss, he knew that, but he needed time to think about what Caroline had said.

What everyone had said, really. Because he'd heard this warning about seventy times since meeting Cassie and he hadn't heeded it at all. He had wanted to kiss her because he was intrigued and he generally wanted to kiss all girls, but when it actually happened, he had been caught off guard. Perhaps it was the shock that caused him to practically devour her as he attempted to savor the taste of her lips.

In the end, Caroline was right, though. It wasn't fair to Cassie for him to respond that way without knowing where it was going, especially when Jessamine was going to unknowingly end up in the middle of all of it.