Authors: Hailey Abbott
C
assie was out the door and down the front steps almost before Trey’s car parked at the curb. It had been a week since he’d waited for her at her car, and this was their first official date—on the California mainland, anyway. For some reason that little fact had Cassie practically over the moon. It made it all so
real
, somehow. Like Catalina was this little bubble, and all the time they’d spent together over there was something out of a dream.
This was different. This wasn’t dinner after work or a walk along Descanso Beach. It was a warm August night in the city, and this was really happening.
Trey climbed out of his car as Cassie approached, and as usual, Cassie’s heart stuttered in her chest.
He was so gorgeous. Tonight he wore jeans and a blue button-down shirt with an embroidered pattern that managed somehow to emphasize his lean torso, narrow hips, and that confident way he held himself. His dark hair looked adorably ruffled, and the crooked smile he aimed at her made her breath come faster.
Cassie was glad she’d taken extra time with her appearance tonight. She’d figured that this was one of the few times that Trey would see her dressed up—instead of post-bike-tour Cassie, with windswept hair, too much sun, and only flip-flops. By this point she thought he’d probably forgotten how cute she’d looked at that first summer party. It seemed like that had been ages ago.
So she’d spent a long time in the shower, and then even longer blow-drying her hair. She’d made sure her makeup was perfect. She’d pulled on a pair of glossy black Bermuda shorts that she’d paired with very high, ankle-strap black shoes, and put on one of her favorite, dressiest tops: an off-the-shoulder silvery number from Miss Sixty that sparkled when she moved. She felt sleek and pretty, and the heat in Trey’s eyes as she moved closer to him confirmed it.
“Hi,” Cassie said softly. Speaking felt too intimate. He held out his hands, and Cassie loved the slide of his palms against hers.
“You look amazing,” he said, his voice soft. It was like neither one of them could believe they were there
together, with the whole night ahead of them and no ferry to worry about catching. After a moment, Trey ducked his head and nodded toward the car. “Come on,” he said. “We should get going.”
As he aimed the car north, toward the Hollywood Hills, Cassie relaxed in the passenger seat and tried to push away the sudden feeling of guilt that suffused her as her phone vibrated in her bag. It wasn’t that she regretted being with Trey—because that wasn’t possible—but she did regret having lied to Greta and Keagan about her plans for the evening.
Well. It hadn’t been a
total
lie. There’d been a lot of texting about the night’s activities, and Cassie had opted out of Keagan’s plan for movie night and funnel cake at the Grove and the Farmer’s Market at Third Street and Fairfax Avenue—one of her favorite places in the world. Cassie loved the outdoor fountain at the Grove, to say nothing of all the shops, and she really loved the eclectic mix of booths in the historic Farmer’s Market. A movie at the Grove theater and then people watching with a lot of sugar? One of Cassie’s top ten favorite L.A. nights.
But she’d told her friends that she needed a night off, and without actually saying it—or full-on lying—she’d hinted that she needed to get a good night’s sleep for once. It didn’t count as lying because she hadn’t actually
said
that. Greta had said it; Cassie just hadn’t corrected
her. And then she’d told herself that she didn’t feel guilty that she’d known it was safe for Trey to pick her up at her house because Greta and Keagan were safely off at the Grove. Not guilty at all.
Cassie pulled her phone out, biting her lip as she looked at it.
SURE U CAN’T WAKE YOURSELF UP
? Keagan texted.
GRETA HAS NEW PLAN. PIZZA
+
BOYS
=
CRAZINESS
!!
COME
!
ALREADY IN BED
, she texted back, another wave of guilt crashing through her, because there was no escaping the fact that she was lying now. Deliberately lying.
U R LAME
, Greta replied.
BOY BONANZA AT FARMER’S MARKET. LIKE HEAVEN
!
HAVE FUN
! Cassie texted.
MY PILLOWS R PRETTY HEAVENLY
!
Cassie shook the guilt off, because she’d made her choice and anyway, she wouldn’t change it even if she could. Being so close to Trey made her whole body ache in a delicious way, and she couldn’t stop smiling. How could she give up on that? Why would she want to—no matter what her friends thought of him?
“What are you smiling about?” Trey asked, looking over at her.
“This,” Cassie said, deciding not to think about her friends anymore. Not tonight. She switched her phone off and tossed it back in her bag. “Didn’t you say something about the perfect date?”
“I guess I did,” Trey said. He turned toward her when he stopped at a red light, and there was the light of battle in his eyes. It made Cassie shiver in anticipation. “And one thing you should know about me, Cassie—I love a challenge.”
“The perfect date requires skill and planning,” Trey told Cassie later, holding her hand as he led her through the crowd on Hollywood Boulevard.
Earlier, they’d swung by Pink’s, the famous chili dog stand on La Brea. They’d laughed the whole time they’d stood on the equally famous line, which snaked around the back of the building and never seemed to get shorter—unless it was raining. After a wonderfully disgusting dinner of chili dogs with all the toppings, Cassie felt giddy and silly.
“The night is just beginning,” Trey said. “Pink’s was just a warm-up. You’d better get ready for extreme fun.”
“Extreme fun better not mean, like, skydiving,” Cassie told him, holding tight to his hand and loving the way her skin felt against his. “Because I think you’re cute and whatever, but that doesn’t mean I’m jumping out of a plane.”
Trey’s hand squeezed hers tighter, and he navigated a path around a man dressed as Superman who was shout
ing at another man dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow. Which was just par for the course on Hollywood Boulevard.
“You think I’m more than cute,” he said, grinning down at her, his dark brown eyes gleaming. “Don’t deny it.”
“You’re okay,” Cassie deadpanned. But she shivered again, because the way he looked at her made her want to dance…or scream…or kiss him until she was reeling from it. Maybe all three at once.
“I would stop right now and demonstrate all the ways you think I’m more than cute,” Trey informed her as he pulled her closer to his side, “but we’re in a public place.”
“That didn’t stop you at Pink’s,” Cassie pointed out, smiling up at him.
“That was different,” Trey protested. “I was eating chili dogs with a beautiful girl. That’s like a male fantasy come true. How many girls can roll with a chili dog on a date? How could I not kiss you?”
It had been a great kiss, too—spicy and silly and still with that punch to the gut that Cassie was realizing was part of the Trey package. Cassie liked him more and more with every moment she spent in his company. Too much, maybe.
“Be careful of the guys in costume,” she told him then, trying to keep it light. “I think they’re stalking you.”
Trey laughed and looked over his shoulder. Tourists swarmed the streets in front of the El Capitan Theatre and, across the boulevard, at the Hollywood & Highland complex. There were a million stores, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, and hundreds of people out roaming around in the warm summer night. Hollywood Boulevard was gritty and unreal, all at the same time, with homeless guys begging for change on the one hand, and people in superhero costumes mugging for pictures on the other. There were stars on the sidewalks and music blaring from the Virgin Megastore. It was chaos.
Cassie soaked it in, reveling in the mayhem of an ordinary August night on the boulevard.
Trey kept moving, across the intersection and then away from the main drag of Hollywood Boulevard. He kept walking until they hit a velvet rope, and then he grinned down at Cassie.
“I hope you’re ready,” he said. “I’m about to bowl you over.”
He led her into a fancy, hipster-y bowling alley, which looked more like a nightclub, and which, Trey told her, required reservations.
“Bowl me over,” Cassie repeated, rolling her eyes. “Ha-ha. For all you know, I’m the best bowler in California.”
“Bring it on,” Trey said at once, leaning in to kiss
Cassie on the forehead. “But first, I have a present for you.”
He pulled a small package out of his pocket, and Cassie burst into laughter when she saw what it was: little white ankle socks.
“I thought you might be wearing cute shoes,” Trey said, looking almost embarrassed suddenly.
“You thought about my shoes?” she teased him. And then she was sure—that was definitely a hint of red around his ears.
“Girls wear, you know, sandals or whatever,” he said. They both looked down at Cassie’s high wedges. “And I didn’t want you to have to wear bowling shoes without socks, so I, uh—”
Cassie took pity on him, even as her heart swelled inside of her, and she felt that her smile might overpower her. She didn’t think she could speak past the sudden lump in her throat, so she leaned in and kissed him. Once, sweetly, and then again, because one taste of him never seemed to be enough.
“Thank you,” she said, and meant it more than maybe she should. But he’d thought about what
shoes
she might be wearing. That was adorable. And, to her mind, it proved that he really was the nice, caring guy he said he was. No matter who he might have been before.
Before didn’t matter, Cassie thought, following Trey to the lane he’d reserved. Nothing mattered but that
hopeful, happy look in his eyes—the one she knew she was wearing herself.
“You better get ready,” she told him with all the bravado in the world as they sat down and put on their bowling shoes. Music blared from above, and Trey grinned at her.
“I’m ready.” He leaned back, oozing confidence. “You can even go first if you want. Or take a handicap. Whatever you need.”
“Keep being condescending,” Cassie suggested, faking the tough talk and putting on a little swagger when she got to her feet. “It’s only going to make this more fun.”
“Where are we going?” Cassie asked later, settling into the passenger seat of Trey’s car. They’d bowled for a long time, finally calling the game a draw. Cassie was a little bit disappointed she hadn’t completely dominated the game as she’d planned—but at least neither one of them had held back. They’d both been in it to win.
Trey was the first guy she’d ever played a game against who hadn’t insulted her by acting like she wasn’t up to his level, aside from the expected bit of teasing and trash-talking. It had been exciting to be able to compete
with him without having to worry about hurting his ego or anything.
“I told you it’s a secret,” Trey said. He shot a look at her. “You’ll just have to trust me, I guess.”
“You really are cocky,” Cassie teased him, thrilled when he reached over and took her hand again. She cradled it between her palms. She couldn’t get enough of touching him.
“Confident,” he corrected her, laughing. “Not cocky. There’s a difference.”
He drove up into Los Feliz, nestled at the base of the hills, and then turned up into Griffith Park. Cassie assumed they were headed to something at the Greek Theatre, and was surprised when he drove past the white building tucked away in the trees. There was only one other place to go.
“The Observatory?” she asked, delighted. “I didn’t know you could drive up here again!”
“For a couple of years now,” Trey said, as the car headed up the dark, winding road. “You really have been away, haven’t you?”
They’d been renovating the iconic Los Angeles landmark for years. When it had opened again, people had had to make reservations on a shuttle bus in order to see the Observatory. It had completely killed the spontaneity of deciding in the middle of your evening to just drive on up to see the best view in the city.
“I love this place,” Cassie breathed. “How did you know?”
“I didn’t know.” Trey looked over at her again, and his mouth kicked up in one corner. “But it’s my favorite place in L.A. I hoped.”
Cassie had to look away from him at that point, because she was afraid the swell of tenderness that overtook her would look like tears in her eyes. She felt shy suddenly, as if by taking her to this special place from her childhood, Trey had accessed parts of her no one else ever had. She felt vulnerable. Exposed.
But then he parked the car, and they got out into the night air, so cool up in the mountains, and Cassie forgot all that.
The Griffith Observatory sat high in the hills above Hollywood, with sweeping views of Los Angeles. Trey pulled Cassie close as they walked up toward the gleaming white building, lit up against the inky backdrop of the night. He draped one arm around her shoulders, and Cassie relaxed against him, surrounded by his warmth and the smell of his soap. They looked at the statue commemorating James Dean, and Cassie imagined that if she squinted, she could see Optimus Prime hanging off the side of the dome as he had in
Transformers.
They climbed up to the roof and leaned over the side. Los Angeles expanded outward in every direction—threads of light knitted together into one huge, beautiful
tapestry of reds and yellows and whites. The skyscrapers of downtown L.A. rose high and proud, but still couldn’t approach the heights of the Observatory.
And up above all the messy lights of the city, the night sky was filled with stars, as if reflecting the city back upon itself. Cassie realized they hadn’t spoken in a while, that they were both staring out at all the immensity and glow surrounding them.
“Kind of takes your breath away, doesn’t it?” Trey asked, grinning at her and then looking back at the view.
But Cassie was looking at him. His face was dark against the bright lights below, but she could feel his warmth in the arm he pressed against her. She could feel
him
all around her. As if he’d created the view, and the perfect summer night, just for her. “Yeah,” she said softly, “it really does take your breath away.”