Chapter 15 - The Date

She holds on to me tightly as I keep driving the old Vespa around the city. It’s our first day in London together for Uni and we decided to take a little tour. We asked Sean for his vintage Vespa instead of taking my car, just so we could see better. Plus, it’s a lovely day, it’s great to feel the air on our skin as we drive around London.

I like feeling her this close, trusting me to keep her save as I drive. She’s not really fond of motorbikes, but as long as I’m driving, she hopped on.

We don’t really know where we’re going, we just let ourselves be guided by instinct, I guess. We’ll end up somewhere and we’ll manage to get back somehow. My phone has GPS.

We find many beautiful places with marvellous buildings. Nice small shops and she even buys some antiques to add to her collection like an old long necklace with a locket. We find a small coffee shop and after we buy a cup for each of us, we just walk around and we find this nice and kind of abandoned playground. It was two seesaws, two swings and one merry-go-round that looks kind of old. Cass looks at me with a big smile before running to the swing. Or something close to running as she’s careful not to drop her coffee. I go after her with a smile of my own.

“I like this place,” she says and although it’s old and clearly kids have forgotten about it, I like it too. “Probably kids don’t come here because there’s a larger park a few blocks away, don’t you think?”

“Probably,” I answer sitting on the swing next to her. It makes a funny noise and I freak out, which makes Cass laugh. “Or maybe they realised it wasn’t safe to play here.”

“Silly,” she tells me still laughing. “But I really like it, it’s quiet and simple. And imagine all the things that happened here! Imagine all the memories this place holds.”

I smile at the love in her words and I can see all the scenarios she’s playing in her mind in the green sea of her eyes, all the adventures she’s seeing. One of her hands holds the coffee, the other grabs the long necklace she bought and by the way she’s looking at it, I know she’s imagining a life for it.

“Whom do you think owned that before?” I ask her because I really like hearing her made-up stories.

Her smile is big and precious before she starts talking. “It was nineteen forty-three, it belonged to a girl. She was twenty-three when her boyfriend gave it to her.” Did I mention she is very detailed for her little stories? Yup, she is. “But he had to go to war and that’s why he gave her this necklace. To remember him when he was away, thinking of her. He promised her that he would come back and they’d be together forever, but he never came back. She kept the necklace until her last day and although she knew he was dead, she kept waiting, knowing one day they’d be together again.”

“Well, that’s rather depressing,” I tell her and she shakes her head with a smile.

“It’s romantic, don’t you see? It’s real love, a kind of love that goes beyond death,” she explains with her smile, holding the necklace tightly. “It’s the kind of love everyone wants to experience one day.”

I’d love you even after death, I think to myself but I can’t say those words out loud, but I know them. I just know them.

“Imagine all the things that happened here!” She exclaims, raising her eyes to look around. “All the kids having fun, all the teenagers that run here. Maybe even a first kiss on this very swing. So many possibilities!”

“So many,” I say but I frown when I see her losing her smile. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“People clearly don’t come here anymore. No one is making memories here,” she says in a whisper, her eyes on the locket of the necklace on her palm.

“Cass,” I whisper reaching her with my hand. She looks up at me. “We’re here, aren’t we?” I smile at her as sweetly as I can. “We’re making memories now and we can come here as many times as we can. This can be our place in London.”

She blinks as she thinks of what I’ve told her and her smile starts to slowly come up. Once again, she’s smiling brightly at me. “I’d like that very much.”

“It’s settled then. This is our place!”

“Our place,” she agrees with her beautiful smile making my heart race. “Only ours.”

+ + + + +

When I wake up after that dream, I know exactly where to take Cassidy for our date. I’ve been thinking a lot about that, because I want it to be special, and this dream has finally helped me. I know it’s still weird that I dream about her and a life we didn’t have, but this time I only focus on the idea. Cassidy loves antiques and making memories. She’ll love this.

Thank you, dream!

You’re welcome, mate. Good luck, my inner voice replies. You’ll need it, it adds and I don’t even care that the voice becomes clearer and clearer with every day that passes by, and it becomes more foreign, as well.

So I leave my bed really excited because I have my date with Cassie today after the physiotherapy session at the hospital. In fact, she’s going to go with me and after that we’ll go somewhere else. I know exactly where to take her because, strangely, I know where that little playground is. I haven’t been there but I’ve driven past a couple of times on our way to a bar we really like.

“Do you have to be so loud?” Zayn groans from his bed but I can’t help it, I’m excited. I know this date it’s going to be perfect. “My alarm hasn’t rung yet. I still have time.”

“In fact, it did fifteen minutes ago, Zayn,” I tell him and he jumps off his bed.

“Fuck, why didn’t you tell me before? I have a test today!”

“We have a test today, so hurry up. Me first on the shower!” I shout before sprinting to the bathroom leaving a grumpy Zayn behind.

Although we’re a bit late, we make it in time. The test wasn’t that hard and even if I didn’t do great I can make up for it in the next one. It’s just one out of three small tests we have during the term, and then those three only weigh a ten per cent of the final grade. It’s the professor’s way to know how we’re doing before the real exam during summer.

After that I have my other classes and the day goes by fast, but I find myself checking the time constantly, excited to see Cass at the hospital. When it’s time to leave, I practically run and Zayn laughs at me. It’s just that I know this will be perfect and I can’t wait to see her reaction when I show her this place. And I really want to spend time with her alone.

I arrive at the hospital and as we said we would, we meet outside the gym. She looks absolutely adorable, with a grey coat up to her knees, a red scarf and red woollen hat that keep her curls under control.

“Hi there,” she says when I arrive and I give her a hug. “How did it go with your test?”

“Fine,” I reply with a thumb-up.

“What class was it for?” She asks as we start making our way inside the gym.

“Dynamic Models of Engineering Systems,” I reply automatically and she nods. “How was your day?”

“Good,” she replies as we keep making our way, until we meet Rob. “Hi, Rob.”

“Cass! I see you’re making Liam company again,” he points out and she smiles at me.

“Yeah, we became good friends and it’s always nice to see you again.”

Did she friendzone me again? We have a date later but she didn’t even mention it. “That’s good,” Rob says, cutting my train of thoughts. “Now you go and change for your session today.”

I obey and try not to think that Cassie maybe only sees me as a friend and I focus on what I have to do. That way, time flies by faster.

The session goes welland Cass comments a few times on how much better I’m doing. I can’t help the proud smile on my face and Rob looks at me with a raised eyebrow at times, but I ignore him. After the session is finished, I shower and change so we can leave. Rob wishes us a good day and we do the same. I lead Cassie to my car and once we’re inside, she asks me, “So, where are you taking me?”

“To a place I’m sure you’ll like,” I reply with a confident smile.

She’ll love it, my inner voice supports and I nod because I know she will.

While I drive we keep a casual conversation about nothing important in particular, but those little things in the way she tells me about what happened with Nessa the other day or how Harry did a great presentation for one of her classes, or even how her work at the hospital is doing and how Niall sends greetings, tell me about her and I like learning about Cassidy.

I park in front of the same coffee shop of my dream. Yes, I knew I had seen it before and I wasn’t mistaken. I think once I even stopped here to grab a coffee with another girl who lived nearby, but I’m not sure. Cassie looks around like she recognises this place. Maybe she’s come here, too; but I bet she’s never been to the little abandoned playground. That was just my dream.

We walk into the coffee shop and buy one for each, just like in my dream, but this time it's reality. I order a latte and she asks for a cappuccino macchiato.

“Let’s take a walk, it’s really pretty around,” I tell her. “And it’s not that cold.”

“Okay,” she says but she sounds a bit reluctant, so I smile widely just to encourage her. She finally smiles back at me and we make our way outside the shop.

We walk in silence and Cassie looks a bit down, but I’m sure she’ll cheer up when she sees the playground. I’m really excited for that moment and the way she’ll smile at me. It’s going to be special, I know it.

Very special, mate.

We keep walking until we finally arrive to our destination and I stop next to her, just to appreciate it. It’s just like the one in my dream, with the two seesaws, the two swings and one merry-go-round.

“This—this place,” she mumbles and I smile.

“I know you like antiques so I thought this would be a good place. Imagine all the memories of this place, all the things that have happened here.”

I look at her, expecting to see the big smile I saw in my dream, her eyes shining with happiness; but I don’t see that. Her eyes are shining but they shine due to the tears that are gathered there while others fall down her cheeks. All colour has drained from her face and she even drops her cup of coffee.

“This place…” She whispers and I panic.

“Cassie, you okay? What’s wrong?” I ask and she gasps when I touch her, pulling back immediately.

“How… you… this place…” She looks at me with shock and sorrow but I don’t understand. Why? Why would this place cause such a reaction from her? “I can’t. I gotta go.”

“What? No, we can go somewhere else, you don’t have to leave,” I try to stop her but she shakes her head form side to side.

“I have to. I’m sorry, I just can’t.”

“Cass,” I say and I don’t know why, but the way I say her name makes her look at me more shocked and torn.

Before I can understand what’s happening and try to stop her, she turns on her heels and runs away from me. I stay there, blinking in confusion, trying to understand what happened but nothing makes sense.

What the hell?

-:-:-:-

Dedication to @MixedDreamz and yes, you think about  the bautiful things in life. Also, Molly is fine! Thanks for asking for her, that's really sweet <3

Bel, xx