Nice

"We have to talk," Cassie said when she saw Tate's eyes peering through the door.

Tate hated the how she pronounced some words. Like the way she made the word talk sound so elegant, as if talking was such an important thing to do. Maybe for her everything was important, like a form of art, but not for him. Talking was just... talking.

"Fuck off."

"I need answers."

He was about to close the door when he noticed a bruise on Cassie's forehead that stood out like a violet stain on a white canvas. He felt guilty; he had left Cassie to fend for herself when she was lying on the concrete floor unconscious. At lease he could have called an ambulance... but then she was immortal so why bother.

Tate scratched his head and grumbled. Cassie woke him up from his nap. What was he dreaming about her-the sky and the sun, the same colors of Cassie's eyes and hair but he would never admit it. His excuse, he didn't remember most of the dream. He just remembered her.

And there she was; not exactly an apparition from a dream, but close. Cassie couldn't think the same about him, he had dark circles under his eyes-like he hadn't slept very well, messy hair and he was wearing different shades of black clothes, contrasting with her white blouse and jeans. If she was a dream, he was a nightmare.

"How do you know where I live?" Tate asked while opening the massive wooden door. Cassie entered and strutted down the hallway, looking at every picture hung on the walls, touching the frames gently as if they were made of sharp glass. She sighed. "It was Piero, right?"

"Where are your parents? You don't have any pictures of them." Her question took him by surprise. Tate cleared his throat and bit his lips. He coughed a few times before answering.

"I live with my grandma."

Cassie scowled at Tate. She knew that living with his grandmother wasn't the reason because he would at least have a picture of his parents. Either way, she didn't question him further.

"I need to know what happened yesterday," she stated, "And I won't move from here until you tell me."

"Sorry for that," he said, while pointing at Cassie's forehead and like a reflex, she touched it.

"No, don't tell me you're sorry, tell me what happened." They stared in silence. Tate took something out of his pocket and a minute later he had the glow of a little fire between his fingers. He exhaled the smoke through his mouth. Cassie coughed and rolled her eyes, she didn't believe any of his bad boy antics.

"The less you know the better." He arched one of his thick eyebrows. Folding his arms on his chest, he grinned and leaned on the door.

"Don't pull your mystery-man act on me, Tate Ryder Hayes." Cassie challenged while pressing her finger on Tate's chest. He laughed and imagined her finger as a small dagger.

"Okay, okay! Clam down princess. My grandma is sleeping in the room next to us. So keep quiet while we go to my room, got it? I'll explain everything soon." He turned around heading toward the end of the hallway.

"Don't call me princess or I'll -." She started to follow him, but couldn't keep up with his long strides.

"What, shoot me again? You better not bring a gun into my house," he hissed.

"I might or might not have one in my bag," she teased. Tate laughed, it was a short and low laugh but Cassie looked at him. It was the first time she heard him laughing for real instead of one of his stupid satirical grins or smirks. His laugh echoed in her head as if it was an empty cave. The only thing she could think of at the moment was him. She had to focus; she needed to know what happened the day before.

"You don't like being called princess?" Tate questioned as he slowly climbed the noisy stairs.

"I hate it as much as I hate you."

Cassie stopped walking all of the sudden.

"Ouch! Come on you don't hate me that much." A second later Tate noticed Cassie was no longer following him; she stayed at the bottom of the stairs. She had her hands tightened and her arms close to her body

"Because of your existence and your curse now I'm the one who dies forever and you get to live another eighteen years. It's not fair! And I mean, I already died, I'm supposed to be a human guardian, an immortal being. How can I die if I'm already dead?!"

"Who is that, Tate?"

Both Cassie and Tate turned around to see a wrinkled old woman covered in dirty, shaggy blankets. It was the middle of summer, how could she be cold? A small four-legged furry friend appeared from behind her moving its tail side to side. The black dog had a white spot around his right eye and a red collar with spikes on his neck.

"She was about to leave." Tate said placing his brawny arm around her shoulder, guiding her to the door, and putting the cigarette on the ashtray as they walked down the aisle.

"What? No!" She let go of Tate's arm and her voice became a whisper in his ear. "You need to tell me what happened yesterday." She turned again to see the old lady and presented her a smirk of a smile, like the one she shows during a pose after completing a lively dance move.

"And? You are not going to tell me the name of your girlfriend, Tatey Bear?"

Cassie burst out laughing. She didn't know if it was because of the granny assuming they were a couple or the nickname she gave him.

"Oh dear god!" He covered his face with his hands but Cassie already saw a hint of red in his cheeks.

"Hi, I'm Cassie. Tate and I are friends." The dog barked making Cassie's heart skip a beat. She leaned over to pet it. Soon the dog was on his back with his paws up. "You didn't tell me you had a dog." "What's you name buddy?" she asked while rubbing his tummy.

"Titan." Tate answered.

"Do you want to stay and have dinner with us, Cassie?" questioned the woman while coughing.

"No."

Tate frowned while Cassie got up and said, "Yes, of course!"

"Oh, I almost forgot! My name is Lily." The old woman smiled.

"You don't have to cook... ," he started explaining.

"But I will! And nothing can stop me, I'm like a... how do you guys say?"

Lily raised one of her eyebrows and in that moment Cassie could see her resemblance with Tate. They had the same shape of eyebrows, thick and long and the same big rosy lips.

"Ah yes, a rebel! I'm a rebel!"

Lily raised her hand making the rock sign with her fingers and sticking out her mouth. "Dinner will be ready in half an hour."

"She is the coolest granny ever," said Cassie to Tate, but he ignored her taking her by the wrist and didn't let it go until they were in his room.

If someone in that moment asked her the definition of the word disaster she would show them a picture of Tate's room. Cassie tripped over a guitar and almost slipped on the papers strewn all over the floor.

"You should clean this up."

"Why?"

Cassie didn't know the answer, she just wanted his room to be tidy and organized but it was his room, why would she want it to be tidy? Then her gaze flowed around the room and noticed various posters from bands she knew.

"You like The Neighborhood eh," she said, but Tate gave her the I-didn't-know-you-know-this-band look. "What? I like them too."

Tate didn't bother to reply. She sighed in frustration making her way to the bed. She sat on it expecting Tate to sit next to her, but he stayed next to the door, far away from her.

"Okay, tell me exactly what happened yesterday." She held her hands together and leaned forward.

"Well, let's just say I'm not the most likable person on this planet," he began to explain.

"Oh really? I didn't know that! Tell me more..."

"Sometimes I say things that make people angry, you know like, "I stole your candy, I broke your pencil, I fucked your sis -"

"I get-I get it."

"Well the thing is that I kicked this guy out of the band and now he is furious and keeps confronting me... he is such a creep. I would kick his ass but he is taller and he always has two dudes with him, they are like his bodyguards or something."

"Aha...."

"His name is Pete. Okay so I ran into them yesterday and you see, I hate him so much I cannot resist punching him when I see him alone," he snickered slowly. "My mistake! The two dudes appeared from nowhere... still not sure why they knocked you out too, maybe because they thought you were going to scream and everybody would see them? I don't know, they stole my phone...but hey, I'm truly sorry to have left you alone there... but I knew you'd wake up and be all right."

"Are you serious? I was there alone, unconscious for three hours!" Cassie reminded him defiantly.

"I am truly sorry."

Tate dashed to her, arching his hack so he was at the same height. He held her face with both hands while looking into her eyes. Her heart raced-they were so close. She asked herself why was he being so... nice? No, nice was not the word. He seemed honest. But he was acting weird. Despite being surprised that Tate touched her checks gently, Cassie didn't protest. She let herself fall into Tate's gaze. Cassie wanted to know what Tate was thinking right then. She would never know.

That moment of romantic promise just couldn't last.

"Are you happy now I told you? Can you leave me alone now?"

Cassie straight-edged her back and swallowed hard, surprised she didn't want to leave. She grabbed the bed's blankets and started swinging side to side humming a song from that band The Neighborhood. Cassie felt warm...and it had nothing to do with the summer weather. She felt light and cozy, as if Tate's home was her own, was she meant to feel like that?

Did the other girls who fell in love with him feel like that?

After a long minute avoiding Tate's eyes...who surprisingly didn't say anything while she sang a song from their favorite band, "How many instruments can you play?" she asked, pointing the full-sized black-and-white keyboard.

"Guitar, harmonica, piano...."

"Wish I could play piano," Cassie replied as she walked over to it.

"It's easy...."

Tate opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but unsure the words came out trembling and doubtful. "If I teach you will you stop hating me?"

"No...I just dance, I can't do musical stuff."

"You dance, I play," he said with more confidence.

"Deal."

She went to the center of the room and moved some of the papers on the floor. Cassie was curious to read what they said so she picked one up when Tate wasn't looking.

He touched the keys, soft and quietly. Cassie knew that song. It was slow and serene. A violin started sounding in her mind. She closed her eyes and imagined a stage-her stage. Hypnotized, he couldn't look away. A few graceful twists and turns flowed with the dreamy piano melody. As her hands moved in the air her confidence grew and she was now able to open her eyes.

Her gaze flew over the room looking for nothing in particularly, until her eyes stumbled across Tate's. Only then did she notice he wasn't playing.

"Why did you stop?"

He moved from behind the piano and stood in front of her.

"Show me."

He didn't say any other word but she knew what he meant. She grabbed his hand, holding it up, placing her palm on his. Cassie didn't notice that her hand was half of his, but Tate did. She stared at his hands, scanning each bend and fold. He took those little seconds to drink in her beauty. Cassie didn't have a clue about her affect on men.

He struggled to hold in what his heart wanted desperately to say. His lips trembled and a soft whispering voice murmured in her ear, "You are so beautiful."

Tate regretted what he'd said a second later. Cassie's cute expression switched in an instant to a serious one. She was smiling but her eyes weren't. Why would he do that?

He couldn't resist her. She was something he could never control, as thoughts of being with her were burning in his soul like a wildfire racing across an empty field.

He positioned his other hand around her waist, knowing exactly where it was without looking. Tate made her spin once before her foot tripped making her clash to his chest-a beautiful casualty of the romance war going on between them.

"I don't know if I should kiss you or kill you," Cassie whispered.

Tate paused to take in the deeper meaning of what she'd just said.

"You are the only person allowed to do both," he replied reflectively.

"Stop, stop, please stop this!"

Cassie was referring to the curse. Her fingers weren't like tiny daggers; she pressed her hands together and kept punching him in his chest again and again and again, like meteorites crashing into a planet. He didn't feel them. Closing his eyes, all he could see was the black of his empty heart. Emotionally distraught, he heard Cassie struggling to hold back her tears while gasping for air-the thunder before the storm.

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credits to simba-aa for the amazing picspam! ♥