24 Hours with You

A week later and I still hadn't talked to James, despite his attempts. Every couple days I could count on getting a message from him, wondering what he'd done and apologizing even though he didn't know why. It got harder for me to ignore him as the days went on, but it was better for both of us that way.

I returned back to work at Target that week, and that's when I realized that I really needed a change. I quit my job there and tried applying anywhere I could find. I wasn't expecting to hear anything for at least a week, so I was surprised, to say the least, when I got a phone call the next day from a sports bar in downtown Pittsburgh. The owner said that he was willing to hire me on the spot as they were desperate for an employee and since I was desperate for something new, I accepted.

My first night at work I was on from 7 pm to 1 am. That night was an interesting one to say the least.

There was only one other person working with me, his name was Jason. We became quick friends and he took me around and showed me where everything was and taught me what he could. He gave me a few warnings then before he left to take his break.

"You're allowed to have a drink while you're at the bar just not alcohol, and make sure that you NEVER lay it on the counter. There are some weird people who come in here from time to time and I wouldn't be surprised at anything." He said then gave me a quick side hug and headed to the break room. He was halfway there when he turned back around.

"Oh I almost forgot. If anyone is being inappropriate or making you uncomfortable, don't hesitate to kick them out. The customer is always right gets cancelled out when most of the customers are drunk." We both laughed and then he was gone through the back.

For my first time alone, I was doing pretty well. I didn't mess up any of the drinks and I was making easy conversation with the people that were sitting down at the bar.There were no crazy drunks at that point in the night so I wasn't too annoyed either. The Penguins game was on two of the TV's above the bar, and they were tied with the Stars 2-2 in the second, so everyone was engrossed in that, including me.

An hour later, the tie was broken with 10 seconds left in the game with beautiful slapshot from Suttsy. Assisted by Ebbett, the shot was perfectly placed above the right shoulder of Lehtonen. The bar erupted with cheers and shouts and became much more lively. After that, more and more people started coming in and Jason and I got very busy. I didn't really understand why there were more people after the game than there were before, so I asked once we got a break and everyone was happy.

"Why is there so many people here now?"

"They're waiting for the Penguins to show up." He said nonchalantly, then he took a swig of his bottle of water.

"You're kidding." I said, hoping he was just pulling my leg.

"No word of a lie, Scout's honour." He said with his right hand over his heart, then continued.

"This is the bar they frequent most when they win. So they might not come, but chances are they will."

"Great." I said sarcastically. I did not need that on the first day of my new job. Knowing James and Amber were together was bad enough but I knew they'd be attached to each other after that win and I did not want to be in the room to witness it.

"You aren't excited to meet the Pens? Most girls would've gone to the bathroom to fix their make-up and check their hair by now." He looked at me, confused.

"I've already met them. I'm friends with some of them but there's one in particular I don't really want to see but I know he'll be here if they come." I said.

"Ohhh, sounds complicated." He nodded in understanding. I looked towards the door then and saw some of the boys making their way in.

"Yeah but I have a feeling that it won't take you long to figure it out." I said and then tried to busy myself but I had to see if James came in, I couldn't resist. Sure enough, him and Amber were just getting through the door when I looked. He saw me and his eyes bugged out of his head, obviously surprised to see me working here. When Amber noticed she took his arm and quickly guided him to the booth that held the rest of the Penguins.

Shortly after, I saw the couple standing up and I rolled my eyes thinking they were leaving to do God knows what. I was surprised when I saw that they were actually fighting, instead of kissing. After a few minutes of their bickering back and forth, Amber stomped out of the bar angrily mumbling to herself, and James made his way toward me. As soon I noticed that he was heading to the bar I busied myself, picking up empty glasses off the counter and putting them in the sink. Once I was done that I crouched down and moved around bottles underneath the counter to make it seem like I was doing something but he knew the difference.

"Cass!" He said as he grabbed my arm from across the counter. I slowly stood up, knowing I had no other choice, and looked straight into his blue eyes.

"What's going on? Why have you been avoiding me lately?" He asked the question that I knew was inevitable.

"I haven't been avoiding you, I've just been busying myself with work since I've gotten better, and when I'm not at work I'm sleeping." I said trying to sound as convincing as possible.

"You could have at least told me I didn't do anything wrong. I'm sure you had enough time for that. But yeah I have to admit, it's kind of weird seeing you do everything for yourself for once." He joked. Of course he would.

"Hey!" I exclaimed and gave him a light shove on the shoulder.

"You loved taking care of me." I said while I poured him a new drink.

"Yeah, yeah." He said and lifted his glass to his lips to take a swig. We sat there for a few minutes in silence until I couldn't bear it any more.

"So where's Amber?" I pretended I didn't see her leave just a little while before.

"We got in a fight and she left." He shrugged nonchalantly.

"Oh, what happened?" I couldn't help but ask, the topic piqued my interest too much to leave it at that.

"She got angry with me because I wanted to come talk to you for a minute to see what's been going on. She said "She's not worth it James! Why can't you just leave it alone!" and it just escalated from there." He said, shaking his head before he continued.

"It's not just that though, she's just been getting on my nerves lately, trying to control me and make decisions for me. This is just another example of that." He said and took another sip of his drink, obviously annoyed. I could see it written all over his face.

"Do you wanna know what I think?" I asked as I crossed my arms and leaned on the counter between us.

"Shoot." He replied.

"I think she's just plain rude and she has to make sure that she gets what she wants no matter what the consequences. I've thought it ever since I met her and all of the guys think it too. She just isn't a nice person. When we first met her she barely even spoke to us. We all tried keeping up conversation but she was just plain disinterested." I said, confident in how I backed myself up.

"I know... I only started going out with her to distract me from someone else, but somehow I did end up liking her. Even if only a little." He said. That was great. I had to listen to him talk about liking two other girls now. I should have just let it go.. He broke my train of thought.

"What about you, how's your love life?" I just shook my head.

"More beer?" I asked and topped up his glass before he even answered.

"Cass, you can't just drop the subject. I told you all about my problems so now it's your turn."

"I thought the bartender was supposed to be the counsellor? Not the bar attender." I said with a smile.

"Ha-ha, funny. Now come on." He stared me right in the eyes, trying to force me to be serious about it.

"Fine, Mr. I don't have time for jokes." I paused, trying to think of how to say it.

"There's this one guy but it won't work anyway." I said and turned my back to grab my water bottle and take a sip.

"Why?" He asked, genuinely interested. I turned back around and shrugged my shoulders.

"He's got another girl on his mind." He shook his head and took a sip of his beer, then looked back to see if the boys were still in their booth. They looked to be having the time of their lives and there we were, having a depressing counselling session over the bar. We stayed silent for a few minutes, still getting used to each other's company again, until I blurted out something.

"How long do you think it should take before you know you love someone?" I mentally slapped myself. Why would I ask that question to the guy that I was referring to? I could've waited and asked Josie when I saw her next but it came out like word vomit. He stared off deep in thought for a minute before he replied.

"I don't think there's any rules for that. When you know, you just know. Nothing else matters." Wow, I was surprised at his insight to say the least.

"When did you get so smart?" I said then down the remainder of my water.

"Be nice!" He said and we laughed together just like we used to. After a minute or two I walked into the kitchen to refill my water bottle. As soon as I came into James' view again, he spoke.

"You should tell him." Now that insight was just plain stupid.

"You're saying to me that I should tell him how I feel. Yet you went out with someone else as a distraction for God sakes! How can I take that advice when you're too much of a pussy to take it
yourself!" I could tell I'd hit a nerve by the look on his face. However, I didn't care. It was the truth.

"It's not the same Cassie! You don't know the position I'm in... and I can't very well go around telling someone else how I feel when I have a girlfriend. It's not fair to her!" He whisper yelled at me. He barely liked the damn bitch, so why did he care?

"I don't know what position YOU'RE in?! JUST BREAK UP WITH HER JAMES! You admitted to me that you don't even like her that much so who cares?"

"IT'S NOT THAT SIMPLE." He said.

"What's so difficult about it? Enlighten me." I said and stared directly at him, waiting for an answer. He just shook his head as if I'd never understand.

"I can't." He said then started to walk away. He did not just do that, I thought.

"Fine! Run away from it all, it's not going to help you any. If you don't just tell her you'll be stuck with that bitch or another gold digger and you'll never be happy!" As soon as the words left my mouth I knew I'd gone way too far. I clutched my hand over my mouth in disbelief of what I said. Bringing up Shianne was a new low for me and I just wanted to crawl down underneath the bar and hide there, but I stood my ground. He looked back at me and I could see the pain in his eyes. That look assured me that I really did go too far. He turned back around then and left the bar without another look or another word. Why did I have to fuck everything up? We were getting along just fine until I started being a bitch. I'd even changed my mind about staying away from him, but after that fight I wasn't sure if he'd let me talk to him if I tried.

I leaned my back against the bar and ran my hand over my face, letting out a big groan. I was extremely frustrated with myself. That's when Jason came over and put an arm around me. He figured it out, just like I thought he would.

"I took it too far." I said and walked into the kitchen so I could have some space to think, before I had to go back out and deal with the new swarm of customers that I saw approaching.

10 minutes before my shift was up, I couldn't stop watching the clock. I just wanted to get out of there and curl up in my bed. The second that the clock hit 1, I rushed out of there and made my way to my car. I was lost in my thoughts during the drive home. I wasn't sure what to do, if I should talk to James or not, but I knew that I had to apologize for what I said. It was too late to call then though, so I waited until morning.

I didn't get much sleep that night, I stayed up for most of it worrying. I wondered if he'd even want to hear my apology or if he'd just ignore it and me. I was afraid that he might do to me what I did to him. That's when I knew I really did the wrong thing. I shouldn't have let Amber get inside my head and make sense out of what I was doing. I should have just went on like I never spoke to her and let the chips fall where the may.

As soon as the clock hit 9:00, I knew James would be up so I got up off the bed and dialled the familiar number. He didn't answer just like I figured he wouldn't, so I left a message and hoped he would at least listen to it before deleting it. I paced back and forth while I spoke.

"Hey James, it's Cassie. I just wanted you to know that I'm really sorry about what I said last night, I know I took it too far. I hope... uhh never mind. Just, uh, call me if you feel like it.. or don't... I know I deserve to be ignored so l understand if you don't want to talk to me... Alright bye." I snapped my phone shut and flopped back down on to the bed. Good one Cassie, you sounded like an idiot, I thought. It was too late to change it then so I rolled over on top of the blankets and fell asleep, getting a well needed rest.

I didn't wake up until the next day and as when I got up I checked my phone immediately to see if I got so much as a text from James. Nothing, and I deserved it.

It was 10:00 am so I decided to get up and make myself some breakfast. I heated up the frying pan and whipped up some scrambled eggs. Once the pan was hot enough I poured the eggs into it and let them it for a few minutes. While I was waiting, I texted Josie to see if she had any plans for the day. She replied quickly that she just had to drop Brandon off at the airport at 10:30 for the boys upcoming road trip, and then she was free for the rest of the day. When she offered to pick me up at 1 and suggested that we get mani-pedi's at a nearby nail salon, I was sold.

I checked back on the eggs between texting Josie and they were just about done when I heard a rustling at the front door. I grabbed a knife out of the kitchen drawer for safety then went to check out the noise. There was nobody there, but there was a letter that was left just inside the door, most likely slipped under. When I flipped it over, I recognized the messy scrawl immediately.

Cass,
I broke up with Amber, you were right...
But if I tell her, you have to tell him.

- J

I read it over a few times, making sure I didn't miss anything, though there wasn't much to miss. I thought about my options but I realized that if I thought much longer, my eggs would be burnt to a crisp before I got a chance to eat them so I returned to the kitchen, scooped them onto a plate and started eating.

If he told her, I'd have to tell him. That was a promise I wasn't sure that I'd be able to keep. Though, I was tired of hiding it and trying to stay away from him so I decided to just give in. He asked for it so whatever happens, happens, I thought.

Once I was done eating I put my plate in the sink and walked out to the living room to call him. I was pleasantly surprised when he picked up on the second ring.

"Hey, so I guess you got my letter?" I could hear his mischievous smile through the phone.

"How did she take it?" I asked, smiling too. She deserved to be dumped.

"Not well, she tried to control me again, so I said this is exactly why I'm breaking up with you. Then I walked out." I chuckled.

"Wow. I'm surprised, I didn't think you'd do it." I said, lying down comfortably on my couch while I talked with him.

"So do we have a deal?" He asked.

"I think we do, but you're doing it first right?" I asked just to make sure. If I had to do it first, there was no chance in hell I would do it. At least if he did it first and got a bad response he'd understand the position I was in and wouldn't treat me too differently.

"Yup." He paused. I could tell he was listening to something else so I waited for him to explain.

"I gotta go, they just called us to board the plane to Florida." He said. I could hear movement in the background along with some of the guys' chatter.

"Okay good luck in the game in a couple days." I said then hung up.

I laid on the couch for a few minutes after, wondering why the hell I'd agreed to that. Of course, I came to the same conclusion every time, I couldn't say no to James Neal.

Since I didn't need to be ready until 1, and it was only 11:00, I turned on the tv and watched sports highlights to pass the time. At around 11:30 I heard a knock on the door. I assumed it was Josie coming over early to hang out for a bit before our trip to get our nails done, so I swung the door open without checking the peep-hole first and I was pretty surprised at who was on the other side.

"What are you doing here? Didn't you just..." James cut me off as he took my face in his strong hands and leaned down to meet my lips in a slow but sweet kiss.

"It's you Cass. I've been falling for you every day since I spent those first 24 hours with you."

Notes

I've been waiting foreeeeeeever for this moment. I had the basics of it planned out before I even started writing this story. I'm so glad to finally get this done and up there. Hope you guys like it! Please comment so I know how you're feeling about this story, whether it's good or bad I still want to hear it :)