Cassidy was asleep. On his shoulder. Her hair smelled like coconuts, and she made sweet little moaning sounds every once in a while—like a sleeping kitten. Like a beautiful, sleeping kitten.
Brandon had been tempted to fish his phone out of her pocket—or fish her phone out of her pocket. But a promise was a promise, and he had decided against it. He was bored out of his mind, however, and not at all tired. So, he found himself reading a paperback he found in her bag by the dim overhead light. It definitely wasn’t his usual genre, but it was better than sitting here staring at the back of the seat in front of him thinking about whether or not his mom was sober and whether or not his dad was worth missing.
Just as the novel was starting to get interesting, Cassidy mumbled something and then sat up sharply. He clamped the book shut and turned his attention to her; she was staring at him like she either wasn’t sure who he was, or she wasn’t sure what he would think about her sleeping on his shoulder.
“Hey there, sunshine,” he smiled. “How was your nap?”
Cassidy shifted her weight away from him in her seat and stretched. “Fine. I guess. What time is it?”
Brandon glanced at his watch before saying, “It’s about 3:30.”
“In the morning?” she asked, clearly shocked.
“No, no. In the afternoon. The sun is just temporarily out of order, that’s all.”
“All right, smart… aleck,” Cassidy replied poking him in the arm. “I just can’t believe I was asleep that long.”
“About four hours,” he nodded.
“Are you reading my book?” she asked, but she didn’t wait for him to answer before she checked her pockets for the phones. They were there, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. “You didn’t call my sister, did you?”
“No,” he assured her.
“Or Aaron?”
“No.”
“Or anyone else?”
“No, I didn’t call anyone,” Brandon replied. “I told you I wouldn’t, and I didn’t. Though I think we should.”
“No way,” Cassidy disagreed, shaking her head. “Not until we get there.”
“Well, that is in about another four hundred hours, so….”
“It’s not that much longer,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“It’s a long damn time. Remind me again why we didn’t just fly.”
“Because my sister’s got eyes all over the airport. I didn’t want to risk it,” Cassidy explained.
“Right….” Brandon replied. “Well, next time, I say we throw on some Groucho Marx moustaches and hazard it.”
“You’re impossible,” Cassidy mumbled. “And I really have to pee.”
“Go pee!” he implored. “You haven’t gone since you got on this train, and that was a century ago.”
“I don’t go to the bathroom on moving vehicles!” Cassidy whispered sharply. “No peeing on buses, or trains, or boats….”
“Or planes. I do not pee in moving cars. I do not pee though near or far,” Brandon rhymed, laughing.
“You are a regular Dr. Seuss,” Cassidy said, though she was trying not to giggle.
“I do not pee. I don’t, I don’t. I will not pee, I won’t, I won’t.”
“Okay, stop saying pee!” she begged, pulling on his arm.
“Fine. You sit there until your bladder bursts, and I’ll return to my exploration of Valery’s undying love for Rodrigo.” He held up the book so she could see how much of it he had read.
“You’re reading my vampire romance?” she asked, reaching for it.
“Well, yeah,” Brandon said, pulling it away from her. “Fangs of Love by Amber Rose. It’s really quite interesting. I’m doing research.”
“Just give it here,” she whispered, blushing and reaching for it again.
“No, no, no,” he argued, pulling it away again. “It’s just starting to get interesting. Rodrigo realizes that he loves Valery, but she can’t be with him because she wants to rip his heart out and eat it.”
“That’s not true,” she said shaking her head.
“Oh, yeah? How do you know? What chapter are you on?”
Cassidy scrunched up her face and crossed her arms. “Chapter seven,” she admitted.
“Well, I am on chapter…” he flipped through the pages, “ten. So, you wouldn’t know.”
“God, you’re ridiculous,” she said giggling.
“Thank you,” he said looking down his nose at her. “Now, if you’ll excuse me….”
“Fine. If you’d rather read that book than talk to me….”
He put the book down. “What would you like to talk about?”
Cassidy shrugged. “I don’t know. What’s life like in Pryor, Oklahoma?”
“Boring as hell,” he admitted. “How about Shenandoah, Iowa?”
She considered the question. “Well, it was pretty boring. Until last year when everything started to get so weird.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“I mean, when I found out Drew was dead, it was so bizarre. And then my sister started hanging out with all these new people. She dropped out of college. And your dad tried to convince me that I’d known him for years—he convinced everyone else. But it didn’t quite work on me. By the time Jack died, I knew something was up. I thought Cadence was a Vampire. Thank goodness I found out the truth.”
“How did you do that?” he asked, hanging on every word.
“I got a lot of clues from eavesdropping, honestly,” she acknowledged. “Your dad knew how badly it was driving me crazy, and while he wouldn’t admit it, he didn’t deny anything I asked him about either.”
Brandon nodded his head. “So, you were pretty close to him, then?”
“Oh, yeah,” Cassidy said quietly. “He was like the big brother I never had. He was such an awesome guy.”
He didn’t say anything, only nodded slowly, his eyes focused on the back of the seat in front of him.
Cassidy continued. “A few weeks before he… before Sierraville, I was having trouble with this guy at school. He was such a ….”
“Douche?” Brandon offered.
Cassidy giggled. “I was going to say dirt bag, but okay. We can use your word. Anyway, he kept asking me for help with his homework. He’d pretend like he liked me, you know? Flirt with me and stuff. And we’d hang out in groups, and he’d pay extra attention to me. So, right after I helped him study for this big test, he asked Lucy to the homecoming dance.”
“Lucy? Your friend? Wow, he is a douche.”
“I know, right? Of course she said no. And then he tried to explain to me that he was just trying to be nice, but Lucy didn’t need his sympathy. She’s got a ton of guys asking her out all the time. So… I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know if I should give him another chance or just walk away.”
“What did you do?” Brandon asked.
“Well, all my friends said I should give him another chance. He had them charmed, too. I tried calling Cadence, but she was super busy. I talked to my mom, and she said something I didn’t even understand, something about there being plenty of fish in the ocean but only some of them are silver tunas.”
“Whatever that means….”
“Right? Anyway, your dad just happened to call, and he could tell something was bothering me, but I didn’t really want to talk to him about it. So, he hung up. But then, about two hours later, he showed up. In my bedroom. Just like that—because he knew I needed him.”
“Wow,” Brandon said. “That’s pretty cool.”
“Yeah, it was. So, anyway, I ended up pouring my heart out to Elliott. I cried on his shoulder, and he just listened. And when I was done, he said, ‘Do you want some advice?’ Well, of course I did, and he said, ‘Scrape him off, Cass. You don’t need him. Anyone who would treat you with that amount of disrespect isn’t worth your time.’” She stopped, clearly lost in the memory, focused on her hands in her lap.
“And?” Brandon asked, waiting for her to finish.
“And I did what he said. I told Liam—that’s his name—that I didn’t have time for that. I wasn’t looking for someone who only thought about himself. I want someone that, as your dad put it, ‘would be willing to take a silver bullet to the lungs for me.’”
“Okay—that seems a little specific,” Brandon muttered before adding, “but it sounds like my dad gave you pretty good advice.”
“Yeah, he usually did,” Cassidy agreed. “He was hilarious, too. And he wasn’t afraid to be silly—to wear a Santa hat or sing Lionel Richie songs while driving my mom’s mini-van. He was an incredible person.”
Brandon rubbed his eyes furiously and said, “I think I have some dust in my eyes.”
Cassidy laughed. “It’s okay to be sad that you never got to meet him.”
“No, I’m fine. Just my horrible dust allergies,” he said in a ridiculous attempt to hide his emotions.
“You are a lot like your dad, but you’re a lot different, too. And I’m glad you are your own person,” Cassidy said softly, resting her hand on his arm.
Brandon looked from her hand to her face, studying her lips, contemplating the moment, when Cassidy pulled her hand back and looked away. “Right,” he mumbled. “Uh, thanks. I wish I would have known him, too. He seems like a super guy.”
“He was,” she agreed, still not looking at him. “Makes me wonder what happened between him and your mom.”
“Yeah, I don’t know,” Brandon admitted, “and I don’t think I want to talk to her about it either. My mom is … complicated.”
Cassidy turned her head to look at him now, clearly seeing that he did not want to talk about her. “Well, you’ve got a whole new life now, so the past is the past.”
“Exactly,” he agreed, nodding. “Time for new beginnings.” They sat in silence for a moment before Brandon said, “Liam? Sounds like a British boy band reject name.” Then he began repeating it in various British accents. “Liam. Liam. Liam. Liam….”
“Stop it,” Cassidy begged, giggling. “He isn’t a bad guy. He’s just not very mature.”
“Lucky you, you’re with a man now,” Brandon said in his deepest voice while striking a pose like the lumberjack from the Brawny paper towels.
Cassidy laughed even louder, invoking some shushes from other passengers. “Don’t make me laugh, I have to pee!” she whispered sharply.
“This conversation is circular,” Brandon whispered back. “Go to the bathroom! I’ll go with you. I’ll stand right outside.”
“No! I shall not pee until Philly!” she said, making her own rhyme.
“Suit yourself. But I’m going to sit here and read my book and talk about waterfalls. And oceans. And spraying fountains….”
“Stop!”
“And puddles. And lakes. And roaring rivers…”
Brandon continued to torture her as the train sped along toward their final destination, neither of them noticing the glowing eyes watching them from a few seats behind.