Page 16 of Roman and the Hopeless Romantic
One thing was for certain, having Roman around was either the worst thing for Cassie or the very best.
* * *
“Fancy meeting you here.”Roman strolled into the bathroom connecting their rooms.
Cassie acted like she hadn’t heard him and continued brushing her teeth.
Roman stepped up to the single sink, standing too close for comfort. She didn’t move because that would have been acknowledging his presence, and she enjoyed how much it bothered him to be ignored.
It probably wasn’t something he’d ever had to face. Charlotte told her how the kids at school fawned over the handsome hockey player.
Cassie Carrigan didn’t fawn.
“I like the PJs.” His eyes scanned her outfit from cow pajama pants to one of Jesse’s oversized sweatshirts. “What? No chocolate stain?”
She leaned forward to spit into the sink and turned the water on to rinse it down. Wiping her face on a towel, she turned away from Roman.
“Cass,” he called her back. “Just tell me why.”
Why what, she wanted to ask. Instead, she only turned to him in question.
“We used to be close. Now, you won’t even talk to me.”
How could she explain the frozen words sitting in her throat, or the stress that just trying to speak to him caused. She stared at him for a moment longer, before whispering “I’m sorry,” and ran from the bathroom.
When she re-entered her room and shut the door, she found Jesse lounging on her bed.
“What do you want?” she asked.
He sat up, putting his Jesse lecture face on. Sometimes her brother forgot he wasn’t their dad. “Roman isn’t going anywhere.”
“I know that.”
“Can you try to let him in more? He’s practically family.”
Basically, he wanted her to be normal. What was normal, anyway? Falling at his feet like the girls Charlotte told her about? “He just can’t take it that someone doesn’t like him.”
“That’s not what this is and you know it.” Jesse sighed. “You do like him. He was one of your best friends for years until—”
“Don’t say it.”
“We never talk about Mom or that night.”
“Because, Jesse, you weren’t there. You don’t have scars so deep they’ll never heal. You don’t know what it’s like to hide for your life moments after seeing the person you loved most in this world die. If I were… normal after that, what would everyone think of me then? Cold? I’m messed up, Jess, and that’s okay. Maybe that’s my normal.”
“You’re not messed up.”
“Now you sound like Annie.”
“Maybe you should listen to her. Cass, have you ever thought Rome could help you?”
“How?” she scoffed.
“Because he’s Roman. You let me back in after only a few months of not speaking. Why not him?”
“You’re my brother.”
He rubbed his eyes. “That’s my point. So was he.”
