CARA 

I waited patiently--or so I tried--for Quinn and his fiancée. I called Bridgette earlier but she couldn’t make it.

“I’m on a date. You can do it. All you have to do is take down their choice of cake,” Bridgette had said on the phone. How could I have forgotten? I should have rescheduled this meeting.

“Where’s Natalie?” I asked Quinn when he entered the shop alone. He took off his cap and I couldn’t help but smile. It was still the same basketball cap he had ten years ago. “You still have it.”

He flipped the cap over with a smile before dropping in on the table. “Couldn’t make myself to let it go,” his voice was full of meaning as he said it and memories came flooding me. I had worn that cap in the rain while he walked me home, when I cried over a stupid exam paper, when I cheered for him and his team during the championship game… Yeah, it had been mine a lot of times ten years ago.

Clearing my throat, I reverted back to the present. “Natalie?” I asked again.

“Oh, she’s not going to make it. Said she’ll be shopping for shoes,” he answered simply as if it was not surprising at all. “Is it just me or does it really seem like I’m the bride here?”

I laughed. “She’s probably busy with the invitations,” I lied.

“She’s always busy. Haven’t even seen her since we had the last meeting,” he added.

“It’s a good thing then. You guys will miss each other so much. That way, you guys will have a great time on your wedding day.” It was weird to say that, but I had to. He had to be reminded that he was going to be a wedded man in no time and that he should forget about what he said to me last night.

The man in-charged to provide us with the different slices of cakes came to us and we started working.

“What do you think?” I asked after Quinn tasted the first one.

“I’m not really a cake person so I don’t really care for this stuff,” he answered. “Just pick whatever Natalie will like.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “Why did you come here in the first place?” The moment the question escaped my mouth, I regretted it. I just opened the very conversation I was trying to avoid.

“I told you last night that I we should talk about it when we are just two feet away from each other,” Quinn said matter-of-factly, his voice seriously serious.

I almost choked with the cake in my throat. Taking a sip of water, I took the moment to think about what to say. “You know what? Why don’t we talk about the wedding instead. You know it’s why I am here in the first place.”

“I’m not really interested in the wedding now that I know you’re here, Cara.”

I dropped the fork beside the plate and looked at him, “Quinn, please. You know there’s nothing to talk about. We’re friends and I am happy with that. You’re getting married. I don’t see any reasons why we should talk about it.”

“Then tell me you don’t have feelings for me anymore,” his voice was challenging, almost confident that I would affirm his suspicions.

I closed my eyes and when I opened them, they stared right back at his. “I don’t have any feelings for you anymore other than friendship.”

BRIDGETTE 

“This is not what I imagined a date would be,” Scott said behind the wheel.

I reached over and adjusted his cap. “This is our first date. Don’t complain. Okay, there she is! Go, go, go!”

He muttered something like, “I’m planning the second date next time,” before he started the car and followed my sister.

“I think she’s going to school,” I uttered when Lorraine drove her car in the road.

“Who is she anyway?”

“She’s my sister.”

“And why are we following her?” his brows were raised in a frown.

“I think she’s in trouble. Don’t drive too close. Okay, I think she’s going to school. Overtake her and go on ahead. That way, she won’t suspect.”

“What? That her sister is spying on her?”

I ignored his statement and concentrated on the road. “If my sister is up to something dangerous, I have to know. You should have seen the looks of the men she was with yesterday.”

“You don’t look alike,” he commented later as we watched Lorraine climb out of her car with a few books in hand.

“She has my father’s looks,” I lied.

“I think that coffee shop looks good. Want to try it and have a short, real date as we wait for your sister?” he asked. I looked at him and he had that amused look on his ruggedly handsome face.

“Good idea, detective Newman,” I smiled and climbed out of his car.

We settled outside the coffee shop and talked about a lot of things. Things started to get uncomfortable when he started to tackle the medical subject he thought I would understand. I didn’t.

So I just nodded when he told me about the interventricular septal defect his patient was suffering from. What the hell was interventricular? Which part of the human anatomy was that? He must have noticed my disinterest because he said, “I am boring you.”

“Not really, no. But I prefer we talk about movies, music, the weather, and fashion if that interests you.”

He grimaced, “I guess the first three is okay, but I doubt about the last one.”

I feigned disappointment. “I would have loved to talk about it.”

He chuckled, sipped his coffee, and added, “You know, I never thought I’d actually go on a date with you.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“You were never my type.”

The brow arched higher. “Physically?”

He shrugged. “Yeah, maybe.”

Maybe it was the fact that I had been wearing Cara’s body for quite some time now that offended me so I said, “So I don’t look good to you?”

He leaned back in defense. “No, I’m not saying you are not attractive. It’s just that you look,” he tried to find the right word and when he did, I almost immediately agreed, “fragile.”

It was true and I had been telling Cara the same thing over and over. “Well, I’m not that fragile.”

“Of course you’re not.” He had a smile on his eyes as he looked at me.

“You know what? At first I thought you don’t know how to smile.”

He frowned. “I didn’t think it is something you learn.”

“It’s a challenge to make you smile. Not just for me but for everyone else in the hospital.”

This time, he laughed. God, he was gorgeous! “I’ve heard that before.”

I nodded. “You should work on that.”

CARA

“I don’t believe you, Cara.”

I sighed in frustration. “Why?”

“Because your eyes faltered for a moment when you said it.”

I started to get up. “This is not really working. You’re not going to believe anything I say anyway.”

He reached out and grabbed my hand before I could take a step away from him. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry. But listen to me first.”

I clenched my teeth. I was angry. I was angry at him for even bringing the subject up. I was angry at myself because I couldn’t just say yes to him. I was angry at Natalie for being the girl he was marrying. I was angry because this whole thing was just a mess.

When I didn’t answer, he said, “I don’t think I can go on with the wedding when I am still having feelings for you.” His eyes were almost begging me to say something other than the usual ‘no’.

“But you’re getting married,” I reminded him. “And you love her. You wouldn’t be here in the first place if you don’t.”

His hold on my hand slackened. “Natalie was a big help. She helped me resolve some issues I had. But I don’t think I can go on with the wedding when I am obviously having second thoughts.”

“Quinn, do you know what you are having right now? You’re having cold feet. That’s normal. So please, don’t let this thing we had in the past stop you from marrying the girl you chose to be your wife in the first place. What we had ten years ago was special for me and you. You can call it first love, but then there’s a reason why it is the first. Because for you, obviously, you have a second one and it is the real thing.” I so wanted to slap myself for saying that. Why was I depriving myself of the chance to be happy? I could just tell him his fiancée was nothing but a gold-digging bitch and that she was probably having a great time with a guy named Brady at that very moment Quinn was holding my hand. Why did I have to push him away?

He finally let go of my hand. I stopped myself from taking the remaining steps towards him. “You’re probably right,” he finally uttered and it almost broke my heart. But it had to happen. Quinn should lead a normal life without my complicated, soul-swapping one.

I forced a smile on my face. “We should really choose a cake now,” I said with a business-like tone. “Bridgette will kill me if I don’t give her details of the wedding later.”

Quinn looked like he was trying to smile for the sake of me. “Where is she anyway?” he asked as I sat back on my chair.

“Out on a date. Don’t ask. I told you last night she’s been drooling over this doctor I work with in the hospital.”

It was a good thing Bridgette was a good subject to tackle because for a moment, our intense exchange on the subject, Quinn and Cara, was forgotten.  

BRIDGETTE

After almost two hours of waiting, Lorraine finally stepped out of the school entrance, crossed the street and into her car.

I was already running for the door of the coffee shop while Scott dropped a few change for our coffees and cakes.

“Hurry!” I urged him on. Lorraine was already driving away.

“Calm down, Cara,” he said as we climbed into his car. “She’s not going anywhere.”

“I am actually hoping she’s going somewhere safe,” I uttered.

But Lorraine drove to the same street Cara and I found her yesterday. For a few minutes, she stayed inside her car. An idea popped in my head. I dialed her number. She didn’t answer.

“She’s evading my calls. She’s really up to something,” I told Scott.

“This place is not that dangerous,” he commented after he parked his car behind Lorraine’s.

“Come on. We better follow her,” I announced when Lorraine finally got out with a large bag over her shoulder.

Scott walked beside me, just a few meters away from my sister.

“She might be carrying drugs,” I whispered beside him.

“You’re over-thinking. She might just be going to a gym.”

“I’ve thought of that. But last night, I Googled the street and there’s not a gym around here.”

His jaw dropped. “You are literally stalking your sister.”

I didn’t tell him how I scanned through her Facebook page when he said that.

Lorraine looked over her shoulder before she turned into a narrow corner. I pulled Scott into an art shop to hide. “Let’s go!” I said when she finally disappeared from sight. Before entering the small alleyway, I peered and she was not there. “She’s gone.”

Scott frowned and boldly checked out the alleyway, “It’s a dead end. It means she went inside that door.”

I walked ahead of him.

“I don’t think this is a good idea, Cara. Your sister might be keeping this a secret for a reason.”

“I don’t care. I want to know what she’s up to.”

The door turned out to be open, much to my amazement. A dark stairway greeted us. The walls were dirty, the paint peeling off. I could feel my shoes sticking on the ground as I climbed. “There’s still time to back out,” Scott said behind me.

“Shh! Be quiet!”

There were two separating hallways upstairs. We took the left one and tried every door. Each one of them was locked. We proceeded to the other hallway and did the same thing.

“Oh my God, it’s open!” I cried when the first door turned in my hand.

Scott was wearing a curious look by then. I leaned my head against the door and listened. I thought I heard Lorraine’s voice.

“She’s inside!” I whispered. Scott was looking like he was torn between stopping me and his own curiosity. I didn’t wait for his conscience to win over him so I opened the door and what I saw made my mouth drop open.

The totally-naked man turned his head to the direction of the doorway where I was standing.

“Uh…who are you?” he asked.

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