"would that be all?" cassie smiled as she finished writing in her little notepad.

"yes, thank you." the girl by the table nodded and leaned back.

"then i'll be back in a minute."

cassie moved over to behind the counter, taking out the fruit that the juice required. yes, she was working in a juice café, but only now and then. it was something to enjoy instead of sitting by the dorm and studying on the weekends.

"gloves, cassandra." her co-worker whispered as he passed her.

"you know that's not my name, emmett." she sighed and sent him a glare, putting her gloves on.

"well, you won't tell me your full name and your nickname is cassie. what else am i supposed to go on?" emmett laughed and raised his dark eyebrows at her.

"cassie. maybe my parents actually named me that?" she smiled and dropped the strawberries into the blender.

"don't think so." he scrunched up his nose while shaking his head and turned his head to the customer in front of him.

the brunette with a messy ponytail rolled her eyes and mixed the drink. she looked up at the people currently sitting by booths and tables until the juice was finished.

cassie poured it into two glasses before returning to the table with the two people, putting down the drinks.

"here you go." she smiled — a little bit forced — and pursed her lips.

"thanks." the guy now answered a second before drinking. she awkwardly walked over to the counter and folded her arms together against it.

"you know what you should do?" she spoke up and gazed at emmett. he just moved his body in a questioning way, crossing his arms. "have some live music here every now and then. it would really live the place up after dinner time."

"live music? really?" he scoffed, but not rudely. "and what kind of music? this is a juice slash smoothie café with some food."

"i don't know, pop music?" she shrugged, and then grinned while standing straight. "a band." she added walking over to an area in the place. "right here, a stage. it's enough ground and it's not used. there's just a pool table here, but you could move it over there, more to the middle–"

cassie was pointing everywhere now, first at the potential stage area and then where they could re-situate the pool table. emmett chuckled over her sudden enthusiasm and hurried over to her, putting a hand against her mouth to shut her up.

"cassie, calm down. fine, i'll look it up. we just need to find a good band and move around a little. you're scaring the customers." he grinned widely before dropping his hand.

"do you promise to?" she asked in disbelief.

"i'm the owner, aren't i? or well, my dad, but i'm in charge." he shrugged and then knitted his eyebrows together.

"yay!" she cheered and bit on her bottom lip. "okay, i'll calm down. i just realized that i have a smoothie to make. excuse me." she added with a little laugh and placed herself in her position again.

the juice café, with the most original name ever — emmett's — was located as close to the beach as possible, which was one of the great things about it. the building itself was medium large and just screamed beach style.

the door wasn't an actual door; there was a wire curtain, but with small pearls that sounded whenever someone entered the café. it also consisted of an outdoor seating. many people came directly from the beach to drink or eat, or to just hang out. cassie liked it a lot.

she had worked there for a few months now, and since emmett was such a good friend, he let her have her own terms as an employee — and a big voice whenever there was a decision to make.

after serving a few tables, a familiar voice filled the place. she turned around to be met by vanessa who was softly smiling.

"hey, juice girl. what's up?" cassie just pointed up at the roof and heard emmett snort from behind her. "i hate you so much sometimes."

"the usual?" she asked with a giggle and already walked around the counter.

"yes, please." vanessa replied as she sat down on one of the bar stools.

"i can't believe you like carrot juice." the boss commented from beside them and peered up.

"will you ever stop judging my choices?" vanessa deadpanned and spun around in the stool.

"probably not." he answered bluntly and wrote something down. "i need to serve a table. be right back."

emmett grabbed two plates with a hamburger each on one arm, and then two drinks with his free hand. he left the two girls with a charming smile, causing cassie to roll her eyes.

"so are you here to just be here or do you have anything to say?" she asked while tightening her ponytail, and then made the juice.

"bit of both. i wanted to see how you are." vanessa smiled and rested her cheek against her palm.

"i'm fine." cassie responded a bit too quickly and mixed the juice.

"how come i don't believe you?" the blonde one said and glanced up at the roof.

"because you're stupid." she mumbled jokingly and poured the liquid in a glass. "i'm fine, as always. why are you asking?"

cassie frowned funnily before grabbing the drink and moving towards a booth. vanessa jumped down from the chair and followed her, speaking up.

"because you don't seem so fine. i'm your best friend and i notice stuff like that. alex has too. so open up to me, come on." vanessa sighed and rolled her hands in the air, as if to gesture for her friend to talk.

"here you go, a banana and strawberry smoothie." cassie smiled at the customer before turning around. "nessa, drop it. i'm fine." she added and decided to clean some table of empty items.

"no, you're not." vanessa stated as she crossed her arms together.

"okay, alright!" cassie exhaled and turned around to look at her friend, not bothering to keep it in anymore. "you're right, i'm not really okay. a few days ago i said something dumb."

"a few days ago... your family dinner?" vanessa figured it out quickly and frowned.

"yeah. matt came with me because marcus asked him, and we were having a really great time. then something happened in the car, i don't know. so i cracked a stupid comment, and now everything is so awkward and tense. i can barely speak with matt without feeling bad."

cassie explained quickly, hugging a towel with her hands. she hadn't spoken to him in a while now; it was tense. her comment really got to him, and it showed. she just didn't know what to do.

"matt has been pretty down lately now that i think about it."

"not helping."

"sorry."

"matt who?" emmett suddenly passed them and carried a box of fresh fruit to the cold room, where they stored everything that needed to be in a cold place, like a fridge.

"daddario. why?" cassie mumbled when he came back and fiddled with her fingernails.

"i know that guy." emmett grinned and straightened his back. "we're kind of friends. have been for a long while."

"kind of friends?" she quoted him questioningly and raised her eyebrows.

"well, we're not best buds, but we're friends." he shrugged and made a face.

"good to know." she smiled and looked back at vanessa. "so what do i do about this?"

"about matt? no need to worry, he'll forgive you soon. i mean, the boy's crazy abou–" vanessa started but pursed her lips and waved it off.

"he's what?" the brunette asked severely and folded her arms together while tilting her head sideways.

"nothing."

"vanessa."

"okay, fine, i think he's crazy about you."

"oh god." cassie muttered and looked down. "just stop, alright. you're wrong."

"but cassie, that boy would probably do anything for you!" vanessa whined and barely bent her knees.

"please, shut up." cassie said, which vanessa was a bit taken aback to. "i'm sorry, but i really don't feel like having this conversation, again. my shift is over." she said a bit coldly maybe, took the apron off, put it on the counter and left.

"cassie!" vanessa called, confused and regretting her words.

cassie let her hair out and almost jogged back to the college building. she felt bad for snapping at vanessa like that, but she just had to get away from there.

when finally reaching the school, she walked down the corridor and towards her dorm. as if it wasn't already enough, matt came towards her — although he had not yet noticed her.

"cass." he spoke when he did see her, slowing his pace down.

"not now, matt." she reluctantly mumbled and passed him, even if she didn't really want to.

"cassie, please! what's up with you?" he asked, causing her to stop abruptly.

"seriously?" she scoffed, turning around. "let's see what's up with me. for the past weeks, i've only talked about the same damn thing with everyone, and it's driving me nuts. the other day, i said something to you that i regret saying because it was really shitty of me. now it's awkward, and tense, and you're mad at me and that sucks. however, the reason why i'm being like this is beause i feel so dumb for saying something wrong and behaving like a brat. because perfect and happy little cassie can't be down, can't she?" she vented, doing some hand movements by the end.

"i'm not– i'm not mad at you. i never was. i just thought about what you said, and you were right. i'm sorry. and i hate that you feel that way about yourself, because–"

"matt, please." her voice barely cracked as she cut him off. "not now. selfishly, i need to be alone for a while and just breathe because i haven't done that since the dinner. i'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?" she murmured, not even having the guts to look up at him because she'd feel so bad.

"right, of course. i'll see you tomorrow." he sighed, turned around to walk away and pulled both his hands through his hair.

cassie closed her eyes and leaned her head back for a brief moment. she hugged her own elbows as she walked to her room, throwing herself on her bed.

"god, i'm an idiot." she whispered to herself and covered her face with her hands tiredly.

"hey, sweet c." alex smiled as she entered not even a minute later.

"oh, for fuck's sake."

"geez, love you too." the blue eyed one laughed and sat down on the same bed as her roommate. "what's wrong?"

"i snapped at vanessa and then i kind of ran away from matt." cassie answered with a monotonic voice. she removed her hands from her face and slightly pouted.

"okay, talk to mama daddario now." alex grinned and laid down beside her, locking her hands together against her stomach.

"it's just... so much talk about matt, with everyone. barely any with you, thankfully, but there's always something almost every day. and now that we've had some cold days, it just feels so weird. i feel so pushed."

the two shared a look, alex looking at her with empathy and a weak smile. cassie exhaled deeply and turned to lay on her side instead, gazing down and fiddling with the sheet.

"i understand that it's annoying, i do. i feel how annoying i am the second i utter his name with you, so sorry about that. but i also know you. i'm just going to say this, once okay? i promise. i know how you see your life, how you want it to be. finish college, get a proper job, stabilize yourself and then a boyfriend. why do you think you've never really taken someone seriously? and i'm not only referring to matt. then, when you actually meet a decent guy... you always push him away. i've seen you do multiply times. you can't have it like that."

cassie took in her words and licked her lips, almost in a realizing way. she didn't know what to answer either. she just understood alex's point, and knew she was right.

"i just don't know what i feel." she said quietly with the weakest shrug. "can we not talk about this? can't we just have, like, a girl's night? watch a stupid movie we've seen a hundred times, some weird youtube videos and just talk about something else other than this?"

"of course, love." alex grinned while nodding her head. "if i may ask a question."

"okay." cassie mumbled and sat up, stretching her arms in the air.

"be honest, really honest. and you don't have to answer right now. i won't tell anyone, and i'm asking to help you."

"got it. what's the question?"

"push aside everything anyone's told you. after all this time that you've spent with matt, do you fancy him? like, really fancy him?"

matt had probably been staring at the wall for ages now while mason just stared at him from his bed. matt would occasionally move his lips or hands to show that he was still alive, and mason would just sigh.

"dude." mason said and kicked his recovered leg. "stand up. move. walk. do something. this ain't healthy."

matt did all that just to be annoying. he stood up, moved his foot in a circle, walked a meter and back, and sat down on the bed again.

"happy now?"

"no."

"too bad for you."

mason tossed a pillow at his roommate and glared at him. matt sighed and put his head in his hands, moving his lips to the sides.

"just. talk. to. her."

"why do you assume my problem is revolved around cassie?"

"is it?" silence. "there you go. she's the only problem you have, football cap. and if you don't start solving it, it's going to be extremely dreadful to be your roommate for the rest of the year."

"i have other problems." he objected and crossed his arms together in a childish way.

"no, you definitely don't. are you gonna' talk to her or do i have to? i'm not saying right now because obviously she doesn't want to. but later."

matt had already told him about their short encounter. he also pointed out how tired she seemed, which mason thought was a bad sign. he had of course never seen her anything but happy and alert. if anything, she was the college mom.

"i told you. we'll talk tomorrow or something. now, can we do something? staring at the wall is getting pretty boring."

"you're unbelievable."

"i'll take that in a positive way, so thanks."

mason simply grinned; at least his friend was saying more than one word. the two boys ended up playing card games, while the girls watched twilight.

not that either of them actually liked or enjoyed it, but it was a classic. and it had many moments to comment on, which cassie strongly needed.

when they went to bed that night, cassie thought for quite a while before rolling around and looking at her friend. thankfully, alex wasn't sleeping at all.

"hey, alex?" she mumbled and chewed on her thumbnail. alex hummed in response and averted her eyes to her roommate. "since we've seen twilight a few times, i thought for a bit during the movie. and when not thinking about all the pushing and everyone else... i do like your brother. i just don't know how to handle the feelings."

-

a/n

dull, boring, chapter, soz
buuuut i'm very excited about the next one!!

omg i managed to step wryly and now my foot hurts so much

but yeah im happy atm so heres a chapter, hope you like it & dont be ghost readers pls because reading your comments is always funny