no apologies

Cassie rarely gave in to going out. After all, she usually stayed to herself. She actually liked it that way, but she had never done anything with Sam, and it was practically summer..so she decided to check out the menu at the new New Orlean's style cafe in the Old Market.

And that's when Sam told her the news about Sky. She was ecstatic.

Cassie listened and studied the menu.

"Wouldn't it be fun ..if..you know, your boyfriend and mine could all hangout?" Sam's enthusiasm lodged a prickly feeling in Cassie's throat. She could hardly speak.

"I.." Shook her head. "I don't date."

"Who said anything about a date?" Sam's eyes lit as if Cassie didn't get it.

"Look, I did go out with this guy, once, and.." Cassie shook her head, no. "Believe me, I just..like being alone."

That was when she was a freshman in college. Of course, the college guy thought he'd get lucky. He didn't. And no one asked her out, after that.

Besides, she didn't want to explain it to Sam, but she could see from the stare she was getting that Sam thought she was strange.

"Oh, God..look, I enjoy, having some time to myself." She winced. Where did she begin? She'd given up her old life the freshman year of high school when her parents sold everything because they thought the world was going to end. They joined a cult. There was no way to explain this to Sam, without her friend having a good laugh.

It had been a hard life, in the mountains, surviving on life skills with no electricity for four years. She really liked having heat and TV. A part of her never really wanted to get involved with relationships.

In the end, it was when someone sued the cult, that scattered them. Of course, she wasn't really close to her parents. She'd wanted to get back to books and an education. She hoped she never had to skin a deer again and having her own bathroom was divine. But she could see these were things Sam didn't worry about. Sam had a boyfriend.