Soul Searcher Book 1

As Cassie buckles her seat belt, she watches Rim press a button that starts the car and then he puts the car in reverse and backs out of the driveway. “Can I turn the radio on?” Cassie asks as her hand hovers over the button.

“If you don’t, I will,” Rim says with a grin. “You can’t do a road trip without some tunes.” Cassie smiles at his statement and hits the button. She is shocked to hear one of her favorite bands blasting through the speakers.

Her smile grows wider as she looks over at Rim, “nice!” He glances at her with a crooked grin on his face and then turns his attention back to the road. After hopping on the highway, Cassie starts to give him directions on which exits to take, and which turns to make. They sit in comfortable silence, not feeling the need to talk the whole time (music on but not feeling the need to be chatty). At one point, about ten minutes before they would arrive at the bus station, Cassie takes Rim’s hand and entwines their fingers. Rim looks at their hands before glancing at her and smiling.

“It’s been really fun hanging out with you these last twelve hours or so,” Cassie says as she glances at his profile. “I would like to do so again in the near future... I just wanted to say that now because when Ginny gets in the car, I probably won’t have a chance to mention it to you.” Glancing out the window she realizes they are just about to come to the turn that will lead them up to the bus station. “You’ll want to take this exit coming up and then turn right. After that we will be less than two minutes from the station.”

Just as she says this, her phone rings. “Hey Cass, I just got off the bus. Where are you?”

“We should arrive in about three minutes, okay,” Cassie responds.

“Okay. Wait! Whose ‘we’?”

“I’ll tell you in a minute. Bye.”

We arrive at the bus station and Cassie points out her best friend Ginny. A pretty girl but the type of human I would typically try to avoid encountering. Her strawberry blonde hair bounces around her face as she stuffs her suitcase into the back seat and then hops in herself. From the moment she shuts the door she is talking, to say she has a very bubbly, energetic personality is an understatement. I don’t know how many times I have to force my hand away from the volume button so I can turn the sound up and tune out her ramblings. I think this is torture, some level of Hell my mother has never told me about...

The girl doesn’t even give Cassie a chance to introduce me to her before she is talking about her crazy week of touring. She just keeps yammering on. I see Cassie look at me and offer me a sympathetic smile. All I can say is thank the heavens that it is only a twenty-minute drive back to my house.

A sigh of relief escapes my lips as I spot my home. I even find myself pressing my right foot onto the gas pedal a little harder. Pulling in under the overhang, I put my SUV in park and get out of the car. Quickly I walk over to the passenger door and open Cassie’s for her. Giving her my hand, I help her out of the car and then whisper in her ear, “please make the torture stop.” This causes a burst of laughter to escape her, and Ginny gives her a quizzical look as if she has just got out of the back seat.

“Thanks for going with me and for driving,” Cassie says with a smile. “I’m going to take Ginny back to my apartment but text me later, okay.”

I nod and give her a quick kiss on the cheek as I say goodbye to her. Turning to Ginny I plaster a fake smile on my face and say, “it uh, was nice to meet you. Have a good afternoon.” She waves goodbye to me and then they head down the boardwalk towards Cassie’s apartment.

***

“Okay, so spill. How in the world did you meet the hottie?” Ginny demands to know as soon as they walk into Cassie’s apartment. “I need all the details, stat!” She adds with a grin as she plops onto Cassie’s couch.

“Well, you won’t believe it, but I dreamt of him before I met him.” Cassie looks at Ginny to watch her reaction. Since Ginny didn’t say anything, just stared at her, Cassie continued. “After my first dream of him I ran into him on the boardwalk and then the next couple of days I would randomly cross paths with him and then share dreams with him at night. At first, I thought he was stalking me but then it really was just crazy coincidences. Finally, I gave him my phone number and told him we should hang out, which we did last night. I got really drunk at a beach party Khloe invited me to oh, and you remember Jimmy, right? Well, he was hanging out with us as well but kept trying to put the moves on me. I guess Rim saw me struggling with him and knocked him out. I don’t remember that part but then he brought me back to his place and took care of me. And no, he didn’t take advantage of me. I woke up this morning and then you called, and I asked him if he’d like to go with me and that’s the gist of it. Plus, I really, really like him...”

“Okay, first of all, ah! I told you Jimmy was into you and secondly, wow. That’s a lot to take in in the span of a five-minute conversation. Give me a moment to process all this,” Ginny states baffled. Trying to wrap her head around Cassie’s words, Ginny feels like she has to reiterate what Cassie had just said. “Okay, you began to dream of some random stranger, and then would ‘accidentally’ run into him here and there, and since that isn’t strange at all to you, you decide to give him your phone number and go on a date with him?”

“First of all, why are you trying to be the sensible one? You’re always doing spontaneous things, running off with a band you knew all of five hours on a whim.” Cassie knew her words were coming out harsher than she meant them to but how did Ginny of all people think she had the right to turn her nose down at her, to judge her. “Secondly, neither of us know why or even how we are sharing dreams. And finally, they were truly accidental encounters. Each and every time as though fate were pulling us to each other, trying to guide us onto the same sort of path or something.

So yeah, I gave in and gave him my phone number. I felt compelled to do so. I’ve never felt so sure of something in my life. I feel safe with him around me but more than that, I don’t know how to say it without it sounding weird, I feel like I’m home when he’s near...” Cassie trails off, not knowing what more to say and on top of that, she felt hurt that Ginny was making her feel like she had to justify herself for her actions.

Anger flashes in Ginny’s eyes as Cassie speaks. “If you’re going to be like this, I don’t want to be around you. I’ll just walk home...” Feeling like Ginny didn’t have the right to be angry with her, Cassie crosses her arms over her chest and glares back at her. She was just as stubborn as Ginny and wouldn’t allow herself to be the one to relent first. “Fine, whatever,” Ginny mutters. “I’m just going to go home. I’ll see you tomorrow, ...maybe.” She grabs her bags and storms out of Cassie’s apartment, slamming the door shut as she leaves. Cassie could hear her stomping down onto each and every step as she made her way out of the building.

Cassie walks over to her door turning the deadbolt over, so that it is securely locked. After this movement she rests her forehead against the white painted wood of the door and sighs heavily. We have been best friends for two years, I don’t think we’ve ever had a fight this bad, she thought to herself. With a heavy sigh, she pushes herself away from the door and makes her way over to the couch where she sits down at the same time turning the television on with the remote. Still wearing Rim’s hoodie, Cassie snuggles down into it and takes a deep breath in drawing in the scent of Rim that lingers on the clothing. The faint smell of burnt wood and cologne wafting across her nose.