Chapter 45: "Fifty Shades of Grey."

"Cassie, calm down."

I had pulled Julian immediately in front of me after the gross creature had attacked me. Lucas had doubled over laughing at the slober that was running down my arm.

"Get this nasty thing away from here!" I said behind Julian as he started petting the dog. I hadn't realized I still had a hand on his arm. Quickly, I let go, feeling weird.

"Don't call Sandy nasty!" David said looking offended. "She's a purebreed!" I just threw him a glare and put my arm under the tap in the sink, letting water run down my arm. My eyes were feeling slightly itchy.

"She's such a good dog," Julian said as he kneeled down to play with the animal.

"Why the hell did you bring her to the kitchen?!" I asked David with an outraged look. "What if it has rabies?"

All of the three boys stared at me. "Typical, Evans," Lucas said. "The dog looks pretty clean to me." He also made a move to go pet the dog.

"Get out," I said.

"Sandy, you're ignoring Sandy?" David grinned. "You and my dog have so many things in common: name, gender, and sometimes attitude!" I rolled my eyes at my brother's friend.

"Nah. Your Sandy is much nicer, bro," Lucas told David.

"True. However, I cannot marry this Sandy. I'm marrying the human one," David said casually. He gave me wink and a smile. The boys in front of me with the dog were now looking between us.

"My brother's right out there, you know," I told him. This behavior was normal for David, still I didn't appreciate it. "Jimmy!" I shouted loudly.

"I'm just messing around," David said quickly. Julian laughed at David's face which actually looked a little worried.

"I'm not. Leave me alone. Actually, all of y— my cookies!" The goddamn dog was trying to eat up the cookies. It's front legs were propped up using the counter as it tried to get the cookies from the cooling rack. I didn't know what to do because I didn't want to touch the dog. I kept looking at my epidermis which was breaking out.

"They're burned," Lucas pointed out.

"So? I've spent so much time on them!" Plus, they contained special ingredients inside the chocolate.

Julian pulled the dog away from the cookies for the sake of my special dessert. Jimmy came in just in time.

"What's up?" my brother asked me.

"What kind of an older brother are you?" I demanded. Jimmy gave me a confused look. "You don't leave your seventeen year old sister in the kitchen with three guys around her age."

"Wow, Evans. Really?" Lucas said rolling her eyes.

"Did they do anything to you?" asked Jimmy, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, Lucas tried to chop off my finger." That earned me a look of disbelief from Lucas. "David brought the damn dog which I am allergic to." I rubbed my eyes and then pointed to my arm. "As for Julian . . . he has already done too much, so he can't afford to do anything wrong."

"Sandy, you're allergic to Sandy?" David said looking genuinely surprised. Julian and Lucas were looking at me with similar expressions.

Jimmy threw them all glares and pulled the dog away. "Didn't I tell you to leave it in the car?" Jimmy asked his friend.

"They wanted to see it," David said defensively, blaming Lucas and Julian.

"All three of you get out," Jimmy said to the guys. "I'll send Gramma in, Sandy, for the medicine and stuff."

"I got it. Just clear out of here, all of you," I told them and went to the cabinet with all the medicine. I heard some excuses from Lucas and David how they didn't know.

Great.

I took some medicine that we had for my allergies. My eyes still burned, so I went to the sink and splashed water in them.

"Don't you wear contacts?" I looked up startled at the British accent. Julian stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame. It took a couple of seconds for his words to sink in.

"Shoot!" I couldn't tell whether the soft lens were still in or not. I couldn't feel them inside my eyes either way. "I don't know if they are still in," I told him. My eyes were itchy and annoying, making it hard to tell whether my eyesight was bad from the allergic reaction or the missing lens.

"Need some assistance?" he asked as he walked over to me.

"It's fine. I'll go check in the mirror," I said and then added as an afterthought, "My doctor is gonna kill me for losing lens so frequently."

"I can check, Cassie. My sister wears contacts, and I've had to help her out a lot," he said firmly.

Julian didn't give me a chance to complain as he put a hand under my chin, lifting my face up to examine my eyes. I blinked back at him. He had caught me by surprise, honestly.

"Julian, it's—"

"Widen your eyes for me."

"They hurt."

Julian's gaze softened a little bit as he leaned closer to check. It was making me feel slightly weird being so close to him.

"The right one, I believe, has a lens. The left one is difficult to pinpoint. Look up," he instructed. I followed his directions as he moved the tips of fingers under my eye and checked. I tried my best to stand still. Julian leaned slightly closer to take a better look at my eye. It was a little extreme since I didn't appreciate the proximity. His palm brushed against my cheek as he used his fingers to check for the lens. I put my hand on the counter next to me for stability.

So much for getting my eye checked by someone.

¤》¤》Julian's POV《¤《¤

Cassie stood in front of seeming slightly flustered. Of course, she loathed standing so close to people. I, however, for some reason, couldn't let this opportunity go. Never was I going to get the chance of being so close to her. Slowly, I moved my hand around her face examining her features...along with her eyes.

She did have an allergic reaction but not that awful. The redness took away a lot of the sparkle she had in her light brown, almost hazel colored eyes. Cassie looked around, impatiently, waiting for me to finish up and give her space. As if that was happening anytime soon.

"Hmm."

She looked back into my eyes, now. Our faces were really close. One bad move and things could go wrong . . . or right. Cassie should maybe lose her contacts more often.

"Hmm?" Cassie asked confused.

"The lens is there," I replied. "Also, your eyes will be fine by morning. The redness isn't that extreme. Rest your eyes. Keep away from the dog."

"You were checking for my lens or my allergy?" she asked.

I grinned. "Naturally, both."

"I'm good, doctor?"

"Definitely."

"Good, now I can go back to hating you." She pulled away from me, gently. Something tugged inside me as Cassie reinstalled the distance between us.

》》》Cassie's POV《《《

Feeling more calm, now, away from being so close to Julian, I ran a hand through my hair. Something felt weird . . . on the inside. He had taken way too much time, just checking to see if the contact lens was still there.

"What? Why hate me?" I gave him a look. He couldn't be serious. Realization soon dawned on his face and he said, "Darling, that was only a prank. Like the ones you do."

"I don't kill myself in my pranks, Julian."

"I didn't die. Not for long, anyways." He gave me a hopeful smile which I returned with a glare.

"But I really thought you were dead, you idiot!" My anger was slightly rising as I thought back to what happened in the Asylum.

"At least, I'm aware now that you'll cry over my death." I looked at him in disbelief. "Bad joke?"

"Do you expect me to laugh at your death, Julian?"

"Not necessarily," he said uneasily.

"Did you not realize what I went through seeing you die in front of my eyes?" He was really being ridiculous calling that prank nothing. It was way over the limit.

"Sorry, darling," he said with a guilty look.

"'Sorry' solves everything, doesn't it?" I said sarcastically.

"What else do you want me to do?" he asked.

"Noth—" I stopped as I remembered something. "Actually, you can do something for me." I slowly looked at the mostly burned cookies. I picked up the tray and handed it to Julian who almost dropped it. He caught himself just in time and put them back on the counter.

"It's hot!"

"Yeah yeah. Now, your job is to feed everyone the cookies except for Gramma. She has diabetes, I think," I told him.

He gave me a suspicious look and turned to the cookies. "What did you do—aside from burning—to these cookies?" He picked one up and examined it.

"Try it," I said casually. With a skeptical look, he shook his head. "I hate you."

He rolled his eyes and took a bite of the cookie. Watching his expression change from a suspicious one to a disgusted one was hilarious. "This is not a chocolate chip cookie, is it?"

I shook my head and grinned. "Special ingredients. You got lucky. You picked the cookie with the tiny, cut out green peppers dipped in chocolate. Most of the other ones have dead bugs that I found behind cabinets."

I didn't think Julian's expression could drop. He seemed absolutely grossed out. "Why?"

"Why not? I am taking my anger out at everybody," I replied.

"I refuse to distribute these things out, Cassie."

"I refuse to talk to you if you don't."

Julian looked at me. I gave him a grin. He was definitely going to do it. "I respect your decision, in that case. I can't take part in any more revenge plans, today." My face dropped as Julian shrugged and walked out, leaving me just standing there.

He definitely wasn't doing it.

¤》¤《¤

"Why don't you boys stay for dinner?" Gramma suggested.

Julian and Lucas were planning to leave soon. With my proud attitude, I followed through with what I had told Julian. At the time when I said I wasn't going to talk him, I didn't mean it. Only because I expected Julian to comply to my demand. However, he chose not to. Therefore, it left me no other choice than to not talk to him.

Great.

"Yes!" Cate agreed in her loud, chirpy voice.

I rolled my eyes and went to take a seat next to Jimmy on the couch. He was on Netflix trying to find something.

"What are you looking for?" I asked.

"'Fifty Shades of Grey,'" Jimmy's best friend, David, answered as he plopped down next to me.

"That movie was terrible," Jimmy said shaking his head. When I raised an eyebrow, he quickly added, "That's what the people who watched it were saying. I'm just looking for 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.' Definitely not what David said."

"Sure," David said. Leaning next to my ear, he whispered, "He watched that movie—the Grey Shades—with his weird girlfriend, last weekend." He had said the name of the movie wrong on purpose, so I decided to ignore him.

"You have a girlfriend, Jimmy?" I asked surprised.

"David!" Jimmy said glaring at his friend who played innocent. I waited for Jimmy to explain. My brother sighed and said, "She'll be here any minute."

"You're bringing her home?" I asked even more amazed. Jimmy normally preferred to keep his relationships away from home.

"If you can bring your idiot of a boyfriend home, it's only fair I can bring my girlfriend," retorted Jimmy.

"Lucas and I are not- well, we are complicated," I said, not knowing how to explain.

"Evans, you are complicated." The devil himself joined us followed by his cousin and my sister. Julian and Cate seemed to be in a deep conversation, actually. They acted like they were long, separated friends.

"Sandy, Sandy, Sandy," David said and "tsk" sounds. "You are so awful at relationships."

"Relationship," Jimmy corrected. "This is her first relationship."

"Thanks for the unwanted and unnecessary information," I told my idiot of a brother. Was it really necessary for him to bring that up?

"Dude, I was her first relationship," said David. "Those happy days."

"You are so disgusting. I was born when you were five," I said disgusted.

"Five years isn't a huge age gap," contributed Cate.

"You better not be dating anyone who's that much older than you," said Jimmy, throwing Cate a stern look.

"Yeah. Sandy and I can date, though," David said putting an arm around me. I hit his arm as hard as I possibly could. Lucas, Cate, Jimmy, and Julian laughed at David.

"Damn, Sandy!" David clutched his arm and winced.

"Dude, stay away from my girlfriend. She can be violent," Lucas said sympathetically. When he saw my glare, he said, "Don't worry. The wedding is still on, C. C."

"She is my bride," said David.

"Someone will die if you marry either one these idiots," Jimmy told me. "Right now, Julian is the only guy in the room eligible for the position of a groom," Jimmy said and burst out laughing.

Julian showed off his dimples and said, "Sorry. Already taken by this one." He pointed to Cate who had looped her arm around his. I narrowed my eyes at Cate who stuck her tongue out at me. Even though we knew they were joking around being a couple, I wanted to tug Julian away from my stupid sister.

"You picked the nicer sister," David told Julian. Lucas nodded his head in agreement.

"Of course. At least, this one doesn't hate me," he said a little more seriously as he met my eyes. What? Where did he get that notion?

"I don't—" my sentence was cut off by the doorbell.

Great timing.

Jimmy and David both ran to the door, together. It took them a couple of minutes to bring themselves back with the guest. I assumed it to be Jimmy's girlfriend. When I saw who the girl was, I was—for the lack of a better word—astounded.

"Fiona?" Lucas stated with wide eyes.

My brother indeed stood with his arm around the waist of the redhead. Fiona didn't seem surprised to see Julian, Lucas, and I, on the other hand.

"You fortune teller are my brother's girlfriend?" I asked still in shock.

"You guys know each other?" Jimmy said looking between us.

"Old friends, Jimmy," Fiona said with a sly smile. I slowly nodded. I think "old friends" was stretching it a little bit since she called me "depressing" yesterday.

"Good thing. Now, I won't have to worry about introductions," Jimmy said looking relieved.

"DINNER'S READY!" We heard Gramma shout at the top of her lungs.

Everyone went over to the dining table to settle down and wait for Gramma to bring out the food. She took her time bringing in the meal. Jimmy, Fiona, and David helped her. I had the excuse of the allergic reaction. Cate was too busy talking to Julian about . . . I don't even know what. Her interest in the foreign exchange student just randomly popped up? To add insult to injury, Julian didn't even spare a single glance my way.

I didn't even do anything!

I never meant saying I hated him.

Some people took everything to heart, I swear.

"Start eating, everyone," Gramma announced, breaking me out of my thoughts. I hadn't realized that the table was all set with food.

No one wasted time in getting started. I attacked the chicken before anyone else could. Who knew how much chicken was going to be left with all these guys here.

"So, Jimmy, how did you and Fiona meet?" Gramma asked subtly. Everyone could tell she wanted the juicy details. Geez.

"Well," Fiona began, "I met Jimmy at one of the college parties." This was surprising news. I didn't know Fiona was in college, let alone in the same one as my brother's. "We instantly clicked off after he threw his beer all over my outfit."

Everyone looked at Jimmy, now. The tips of my brother's ears were turning red. "It was an accident. I was trying to throw the nasty drink at David, but she got in the way."

"Yeah yeah. One thing led to another. He apologized multiple times, took me out to dinner, and then we were well off being beyond friends," shrugged Fiona.

"So cute!" said Cate, across the table from me.

"I wouldn't give the idiot who spills his drink on me a chance," I told Fiona. She was too nice to Jimmy.

"Isn't that how you met Julian?" Lucas asked looking amused.

Damn.

I had forgotten about that.

Everyone looked between Julian and I with amused and curious looks. Julian was actually waiting for me to say something. "I was just saying, you know." I really did have the worst memory in the world. First, he thought I hated him. Now, Julian most likely believed that I hated him.

I was on a roll, today. "Now, I was just saying that the scenarios were different. Beer and iced tea are two different things. Throwing and bumping are two different things. American and British-Spanish are two different things—"

"If you don't stop blabbering, many different things can happen. Hush," David interjected, patting the sleeve of my shirt. He wasn't messing around rather serious about me shutting up. I shrugged and proceeded to eat my food.

"Wait, Sandy, you and Julian met by bumping into each other?" Gramma asked.

"He wasn't looking where he was going," I said.

"Neither were you," said Julian.

"Never denied it," I retorted.

"You should have bumped into me," Cate said nudging Julian.

Ew.

"It wasn't written in your destiny," Fiona spoke directly to Cate. "Some things are meant to be." Everyone stared at her weirded out. David looked the most creeped out.

"What do you mean, Fiona dear?" Gramma asked curious.

"I'm actually a fortune teller, believe it or not. I can tell some things that normal people can't," explained Jimmy's girlfriend.

"For example . . . ? Can you tell my future?" Cate asked excitedly.

"You have a bright one. It's actually a little complicated for you," Fiona said a little uneasily. "You're destined to be with someone whose- er I'm not gonna guess. He will be extremely successful. You won't have a lot of work to do."

"Oh phew, good. I don't wanna work," Cate said looking relieved almost. Lazy bum.

"What about me?" David asked.

"You are gonna be a lonely guy living in his parents' basement at forty," Fiona deadpanned. Everyone laughed except Jimmy and I. David quietly sat and shrugged it off.

I think I heard him even mumble, "I wish." Jimmy and I were the only ones who knew that David's only family was his Mom's brother and his wife. David's parents had passed away a couple of years back. I actually gave him a sympathetic look. He just focused on his food.

Everyone kept eating and enjoying the food. My eyes hovered over to the cookies that I had made. They sat in a plastic container in the middle of the table with Chips Ahoy cookies. I tried my best not to look suspicious.

Next to me sat Lucas Crowell eating his food, intently. He had never been so silent in my presence.

"Lucas, why so quiet? Is the food that terrible?" Gramma joked. I guess she noticed his silence as well.

Lucas looked up at her and shook his head. "It's not that. My mom used to cook chicken this way, too. It's been a while since . . . yeah." Everyone knew about Mrs. Crowell and Brandon in our town. Lucas hadn't seen his mother in four years. He did miss her. For once, Lucas wasn't play around.

"Well, I do look forward to seeing you come over more often. I'll definitely be cooking this for you," Gramma said kindly.

"Yes, come over again!" Cate said.

"Maybe," Lucas said with a grin. He sneaked his hand under the table, taking my hand that was resting on my thigh. I looked at him and tried to get out of his grasp. Lucas focused on his food and pretended that there was nothing going on.

"Your cousin is quiet as well," Gramma told Lucas, nodding at Julian.

Julian looked at her and smiled. "Only enjoying the superb dinner."

"How sweet of you, dear," Gramma said pleased. She really appreciated compliments on her cooking. "By the way, Julian, how is America?"

"Been alright," he said. "Everything is quite interesting. It's a really new experience for me."

"Understandable," nodded Gramma. "Did you have trouble making friends or you charmed everybody with your personality?"

"Cassie was my first friend," Julian told her. The way he said it, I didn't know whether to be pleased or offended.

"How lovely. You actually put up with her?" Gramma asked looking impressed. I stared at her. Whose side was she on? My grandmother avoided looking at me but my siblings had their snickers. Lucas just grinned and tightened his grasp on my hand.

Julian gave her a wide grin. "It's not as awful as you may think." At least, he wasn't that mad at me. Gramma nodded.

"You put up with her, too, Lucas?" asked Gramma, turning her attention on the guy holding my hand under the table.

"Put up with her? I'm not forced, Mrs. Evans, to spend time with Sandy. It's my own will and choice to be with her," he replied. No one expected that from Lucas. He gave my hand a squeeze and added, "I'm trying."

"Aw," Cate said looking between us.

I was actually taken aback by Lucas's words. I never expected him to say something like this. Maybe Julian but not Lucas. "Oh look, cookies," Lucas grinned as he grabbed one and popped in his mouth before I could have said something.

Unfortunately for him, he grabbed a cookie that I had made.

Julian and I both watched Lucas's expression change. He let go off my hand as he grabbed a napkin and put it over his mouth. He spat the cookie out in it and looked disgusted. "That was not a chocolate chip cookie."

"That was a cookie from Cassie's special batch," Julian told his cousin.

"Uh oh. Sandy, what did you do to these?" Jimmy asked as picked up one of the cookies I made.

"You don't want to know," Julian said shaking his head.

"Sandy, answer your brother," Gramma said firmly.

I threw Julian a glare before turning back to look at my plate. "There might be pepper or dead bugs covered in chocolate in the cookies." I knew all eyes were on me. Not daring to look up, I knew I was in trouble. Maybe this prank wasn't necessary.

"Sandy, room, now," Gramma said quietly.

"I—"

"Room, now!" Gramma said sternly.

"Of course," I said standing up. Without looking at anybody, I stormed out of there to my room. I hated it when Gramma did this. She didn't wait to hear my side of the story. Obviously, this system was unfair. I wasn't even planning on feeding anyone the cookies after Julian declined to do it.

Great, now I was going to be in trouble.

And I hadn't even gotten to finish my chicken.

Life sucked.

¤》¤《¤

A/N

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Silent reader: a reader who does not contribute to votes or comments of the book. Invisible or ghost reader. A silent reader is a person who basically shows no signs of existence. Most of you guys who said they were silent readers are NOT silent readers. I am proud of ya!

Cassie is such a troublemaker, I swear. That prank was so gross and unnecessary.

Whatya think of the chapter? Guess on how much trouble Cassie is going to be.

Yay Julian or nah? She said she hated him (whether or not Cassie meant it seriously, we know the truth)

Yay Lucas? He can be so cute sometimes.

Poor David. Oh yeah, so DAVID IS JIMMY'S FRIEND!!!!! JIMMY IS THE BROTHER not David.

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P.s. if you have ever re-read any of the chapters or even the whole book...YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU. Nothing—absolutely nothing—makes me happier than the #rereader sign.

Btw, pardon all my stupid typos and mistakes.