Chapter 8: Avoiding him

"You want me to come with them? Are you doing it on purpose, Ava?" Cassandra inquired, her gaze narrowed at her friend.

"Um, yeah, I don't want to be the only girl there, you know and it's better if I'm with you," Ava said with a tacky smile on her face.

"No way, I know that smile, Ava, I'm not coming," Cassandra said, standing up and crossing her arms.

"All right, you starve yourself here," Ava said, shrugging as Cassandra rolled her eyes.

"Alternatively, we could both stay here and order something," Cassandra said trying to convince Ava.

"No, I'd rather go to a restaurant and eat with my boyfriend; you're probably going to end up there as well, I knew it," Ava said, trying to pick up her sling bag and heading out the door, and getting ready to leave the apartment.

Cassandra then sighed. "Bye, don't think come running to me the next time you need something," Ava said before she left.

Cassandra then rolled her eyes and sat back down on the sofa, opening her phone as the front door closed.

Cassandra opened the delivery eats app as she was ready to order breakfast. She clicked the order button, then tossed her phone to the side as she turned on her tv, watching a business proposal on Netflix as she waited for her food to arrive, then her phone buzzed, and she picked it up, reading the text message.

"To our dear customer, we are sorry to inform you that your food will be unable to be delivered to you today due to our training now for improving some services. So, you may dismiss your order by clicking here or pick it up from the restaurant within the next hour before your booking food voucher expired; thank you!"

"F*ck! why are they doing this to me!" Cassandra grumbled as she rose from the comfortable sofa.

Then walked into the room as she decided to put on something cute outfit and go pick up some groceries and some breakfast.

"Well maybe I should go to the mall," she thought to herself as she rummaged through her small closet for a few minutes, selecting a cropped nude shirt with three-button designs and a pair of blue ripped jeans. Her ears were graced with small pearl Korean earrings, and she wore a thin silver necklace. Her feet were covered by Korean shoes, and she grabbed a thin Gucci black cardigan in case she got cold; it was Ava's birthday gift to her last year. She then tucked her hair into a messy bun, allowing a few strands to fall in front of her face.

She was now ready to go, and she grabbed her wallet and headed to a nearby restaurant.

As she approached the restaurant, she noticed a very familiar car." She's here," she sighed, shaking her head and walking into the restaurant, her face facing the floor rather than in front of her, hoping Ava wouldn't see or recognize her because she knows her friend was only going to tease here.

She then went up to the counter and ordered something for breakfast, after which the cashier walked to the back, looking for her food. She then felt a hand on her shoulder, tapping her.

"Oh, hello, nice seeing you here," a man's voice said next to her, and Cassandra turned to see Mark looking at her with a friendly smile.

Cassandra coughed, but no sound came out of her mouth.

"Do you still remember me? My name is Mark. I'm Ava's boyfriend. She introduced me to you at last night's party, and she's right there; wait, I'll call her for you--"

"No, no, it's okay! I'm fine," she said, vigorously shaking her head. "I'm just stopping by to get some food."

"Then you could come along with us, I'm sure no one would mind," Mark suggested.

"It's okay, I have, umm, something to do ahm," she explained.

"Come on, at least say hello to the other boys? they had a great time at the party last night, Edward even stayed overnight at some girl's house, I'm not sure who," Mark says, hearing him about it made Cassandra's heartbeat race, he then gently pulled her arm as he attempted to walk them over to the table.

"N-No, Mark, I'm fine I swear, and look, my food's here, I gotta go now!" Cassandra exclaimed, trying to grab the food from the cashier's grasp and sprinting out of the store before anyone else noticed her.

"Don't try to hide from me, Sandra. I already notice you. I told you, right? you'll end up here," Ava teased as she approached her and Mark.

"I despise you, Ava," Cassandra said quietly, sending a shiver down her spine. She gives her friend a sidelong glance before starting to walk away. "I have to leave, Ava, so bye guys! I'll see you later!"

"No my friend, you're coming to the table with us and saying hello to everyone," Ava said as she marched Cassandra and Mark over to where the other boys sat.

"You're a truly evil witch, Ava," Cassandra said to Ava, who simply smirked and said, "Guys, this is one of my very good and beautiful friends, Cassandra!"

As Cassandra squeezed Ava's soft skin under her elbow, causing her to screech quietly in pain.

"What was that for? I'm just trying to introduce you," Ava shrieked softly as she rubbed her arm.

"Yeah, introducing me with them being a b*tch," Cassandra replied, before pasting a fake smile on her face and waving at the boys.

"Hello guys, my name is Cassandra or Sandra for short," she said shyly.

"Hi miss, I'm Anthony, remember?" he said with a smile, but Cassandra just rolled her eyes at him.

"My name is Leo, and this is Ed—" he was cut off by Edward, who said, "My name is Edward."

"Ah yeah, he's Edward," Leo said again, causing Anthony to chuckle before his brows arched slightly and he relaxed.

"Would you like to join us?" Leo invited, waddling over so Cassandra could fit in the booth.

"Ahem, no need; I was thinking about leaving because I needed to go to the shopping center," Cassandra explained, trying not to meet Edward's gaze, which she could tell was fixed on her.

"Oh, that's a coincidence, we're going as well, and you could come with us?" Edward offered with a smile Cassandra couldn't reject.

"O-okay, sure," she said, lightly goofing.

"Let's eat, boys, we've got a very long day ahead of us," Ava said as she slid into the booth next to Edward, and Mark followed.

"So, I have an interesting question," Leo said, and everyone waited for him to continue. "Who were you with last night, Edward?"

Cassandra gagged on her pancake and coughed as she tried to swallow it. She gulped and reached for a glass of cold water, sipping it as she struggled to catch her breath.

"Friend, don't be so obvious," Ava whispered, smirking at her.

Cassandra replied silently, "F*ck Ava, I swear I'm going to drown you after this." Ava then tried to keep her laughter in check, but she failed horribly as everyone at the table looked at her.

Cassandra's brow furrowed, delivering a menacing glare to Ava.

"Oops, sorry, it's nothing, just don't mind me guys," Ava smirked, taking a long drink from her glass.

her glass of apple juice

"So, who were you in the first place?" Leo inquired again. "Was she nice? she undoubtedly was since you're blushing Edward," Leo continued.

"Ahm, it was Cassandra, actually," Edward said confidently, his gaze fixed on her. Cassandra then averted her gaze. "Sh*t! this is embarrassing; does he need to tell it?" Cassandra questioned herself.

"Ohh, so she's already off-limits, which is unfortunate because I'm interested in her," Leo said as Edward gave him a death stare. "Don't worry, bro, I'm not going to steal her from you," Leo joked.

"Holy sh*t!" exclaimed Mark. "Is it true, Cassandra?" Mark asked, surprised.

"Oh, it was true, babe," Ava chuckled. "I witness it, and they end up f*ckin--." she didn't finish her sentence when the two cut her off.

"Ava!" Edward and Cassandra both growled, before looking at each other.

"Oh my gosh, they're even saying the same things," Leo observed, nodding. "Well, we can't deny you both looked good for each other."

"Stop talking about it, guys," Mark said, noticing the awkward tension between Cassandra and Edward. "Anyway, are you all done eating, or do we need to go shopping now?"

Then everyone stood up and cleared their cups and plates from the table.

Cassandra's mostly full dish of food was thrown away, and she stood by the door, waiting for everyone else.

"Ahm, I just wanted to introduce myself again; since we didn't introduce ourselves properly at the time, how about we start getting to know each other?" Edward said as he approached Cassandra and turned to face her.

"Hmm, I think I know you pretty well already, Mr. CEO slash playboy, and let's forget what happened since you already had a fiancee," Cassandra said, recalling the girl in his Instagram post that makes her want to vanish in the air. "I shouldn't expect anything from him," she told herself, leaving Edward speechless.