Page 171 of As the Rain Falls
But once I get there, who do I find?
Cassandra Rivera.
I swear to God, it’s like she’s haunting me.
“I can’t believe she’d show her face around here!” Antony snaps angrily, glaring at Cassandra as she waits for Caleb to finish his shift.
She swallows hard, pretending not to hear him, but her eyes lock with mine before she looks away quickly. I keep on staring, picturing the deep flush rising to her cheeks.
It’s been twenty minutes of this.Her pretending that I’m not sitting a few tables over. Me pretending that I don’t want to call her out for doing so.
Cassandra is wearing the tiniest hot pink shorts, the fabric stretching around the fullness of her thighs and elongating her legs a little more than usual.I force my gaze to rise, noticing her pink bikini straps tied around her neck next. The ends of the straps in particular are getting caught and messily tangled between her gold strands of hair, andmyleather jacket is around her shoulders, which altogether just makes me want to—
“Especially by his side!” Antony adds, disbelief showing in his exasperated tone. “What is she even thinking?”
The restaurant is closed until later tonight, but Silvio keeps the bar running at all times. It’s a fairly good spot to visit if you’re a tourist. The menu is cheap, the decorations are vibrant, with colorful flags tied to the ceiling, and the staff is welcoming.
The tables and chairs are either made of wood or plastic, making the spot look particularly homely, and the floor is always somewhat covered with bits of yellow sand. I feel the grains sliding underneath my sandals every time my feet shift underneath the table.
“Leave her alone,” I snap protectively, sipping on my virgin passionfruit cocktail. “She’s done nothing to you.”
“Nothing to me?” Tony scoffs, his voice rising as he speaks. “Cassandra Rivera is this town’s biggest liar, pretending to be your friend and ours all this fucking time.”
“Quiet!” I hiss, glaring at him. “She wasn’t pretending, and it’s not like you two were ever that close to begin with.”
It’s precisely what makes it worse. You can act friendly for a little while, but never for that long without the mask slipping.Le Port is a small place to live in. Small enough that everyone somewhat knows of each other since birth, but even then it’s hard to find real friendships to rely upon.
We locals have this tendency to automatically consider every other person as mere acquaintances in case we need a favor, but you can always tell when someone actually cares about you.
CassandraRivera wasn’t pretending, not even a single bit.
Besides, she doesn’t come across as someone who would fake it for ulterior reasons. That was all Lucia. I have nothing special to give her, nothing but what I have inside, which isn’t much these days.
But the look on her face when I turned her down the other night… She seemed genuinely heartbroken. It almost made me circle back, but I felt too angry and confused to stick around. I really don’t think there was any pretense, at least not towards me. Her brother was definitely the one to mess things up, and my feelings got in the way, too.
Mateo returns from the bathroom, his brown hair slightly damp, sticking to his forehead.
“Man, I’ve got the worst headache in the world!”
“It’s the heat,” I explain, pointing at the sky.
It’s been raining too much at night, which means that the days are hotter. If you’re not used to it, the weather can be brutal.
“You need to drink more water.”
I hand him my water bottle, still watching Cassandra. He takes a short sip while looking back to follow my gaze. “Look at her, she’s waiting for Caleb again. I told her not to take a chance with him, but she went for it anyway.”
“Oh, figures.” Antony rolls his eyes, still sounding just as annoyed as he did before. “He’s probably brainwashing the shit out of her—”
“It’s not great for her reputation,” Mateo’s voice cuts through, and I can tell he is genuinely worried, just like I am. “At least, that’s what I’ve been hearing from the guys.”
Because here’s the thing: whoever said men don’t ever gossip, they’re lying. We talk with our eyes, with the things we joke about. We can say a lot of shit under the pretense of not saying anything.
“What are they saying?” I ask, fishing for information.
“She’s like, his new fling.” Mateo takes another sip, a longer one this time. “He’s been bragging about her. Acting so full of shit because the others never took it as far as he did, that kind of thing.”
“How far?” I ask.
