Like Strawberry Candy

She found herself reaching her hand towards him, grabbing his hand and stopping him from leaving the place. The room was incredibly bright, filled with this thin mist she couldn't remember where it came from.

Her eyes darted towards his face, but it was too blurry for her to detail his features. She couldn't see his face, but she knew who he was. The tall man turned his body completely to her, and after a few seconds he stepped forwards.

The warmth she felt when his body hovered over her overwhelmed her senses. Her mind was numb, a sudden rush to let herself free between his arms invading her.

His hands touched her gently, spreading the tingles all over the place, tracing their way to her neck. And he held her, firmly and yet gently. Her lips parted as she was trying to gasp some air in, since she had forgotten to breathe several seconds ago.

Again, her eyes tried to look up again from the curve of his collarbone to his chin, up to his lips. He was already leaning in to steal the little air she had gathered, but she couldn't refuse. Her eyes moved up again towards his vibrant green eyes, narrowed, focused on his prize.

She felt the butterflies flutter around the moment their breaths tangled softly, deadly, painfully slow.

But the kiss she so much desired never arrived.

A terrible wave of disappointment washed over her when her eyes opened again. Her sight was blurry, but she could make out by the weirdly shaped numbers on her clock that it was almost time to wake up.

Then, she cursed.

The disappointment quickly turning into and scowl as she remembered the kind of dream she was having.

And with whom she was dreaming about.

Of course, this was not the first time she had dreamed about Kyle. Something that bothered her, and even caught her off guard, as she barely knows the guy. Cassidy sighed, hitting the button on her clock the moment the alarm went off.

She got ready for school as usual, arriving fairly early that day, as her mother had an important meeting to attend to through video call with a foreigner.

Her feet dragged her to her favorite spot in school: behind the gym. She sat on the floor and comfortably fixed her backpack between her back and the wall, leaning on it. It was almost an hour until classes would start, so she just relaxed and put on her headphones.

The music quickly made her eyes waver, closing slowly as if it would help her enjoy the rhythm even more. And it did, until a shadow covered the light in front of her.

She blinked a couple of times, trying to set her eyes on the person in front of her. Only that it was not so necessary, as she could recognize that jawline wherever and whenever; specially since she had dreamed about him a couple of times already.

Cassidy straightened her back, taking the headphones off.

Kyle had kneeled down beside her, a fun smile on his face.

"Morning." He greeted, sitting down beside her.

"Hi." She was not used to Kyle or Allen talking to them, something that have been going on for a couple of days now.

"Can I sit here?"

"You already are." She raised an eyebrow.

"True." His smile grew wider, clearly not caring about if she wanted some company or not. He rested his elbow in one knee, letting his face rest on the palm of his hand. "You come here this early every day?"

Cassidy shook her head. "No, but I'll have to for this week."

"Why is that?"

"My mum has this foreigner client and they have early meetings because of his time zone."

Kyle hummed, his gaze lost at the sight of the trees behind the school. "You've got a hardworking mum, don't you?"

"Yeah." She shrugged.

"What about your dad?"

His sudden shower of questions threw her off, looking at him with a weird expression. She didn't like chatty people. Isabelle was someone to talk a lot, and yet, when the both of them are together, they could chat for hours without getting any tired.

In fact, maybe she didn't mind chatty people, but hated those that liked to talk about things they shouldn't talk about.

And she could tell he was nosy as hell.

"You didn't strike me as the nosy type."

Kyle's smile wavered for a second, only to turn into this crooked, wide grin. He licked his lips softly, like tasting the words he was about to pronounce.

"You didn't strike me like the bitchy type, either. But you don't see me complain about it." He leaned forward, closing a little more the distance between their faces. "Our best friends are dating, so we should start getting along from now on."

Cassidy snorted, a little surprised by his change of attitude.

"That's why you're suddenly interested about my personal life?"

He shrugged. "I never said I was interested. I just asked you a question."

"A personal question." She retorted.

One of his eyebrows lifted, his smile now completely gone from his lips. "You call that personal?"

"Yeah."

Kyle nodded, squinting his eyes as he realized something. Slowly, his body started falling back until it hit the wall. His eyes were still on her face, leaving an unsettling felling inside her chest.

Cassidy sighed. "What?"

He shrugged once more, finally lifting his gaze off of her.

And, just like that encounter never happened, his friendly smile showed up again.

"So... Your father." He said again. "What's up with him?"

She rolled her eyes, gasping some air in irritation.

"You really can't follow a hint." She waited for him to just change the subject, but seeing he had the same stupid smile on his face, she sighed. "I don't know. I don't talk to him much."

His eyes now sparkled a little, the vibrant green of his eyes staring at her long enough to make her continue. But the words kept piling up in her throat.

Cassidy hated talking about it.

She hated talking about that man a lot.

Silence took over the conversation, something that ticked Kyle off. He didn't like silence. In fact, he hated it probably as much as Cassidy's hate over talking about her father.

"Why are you so wary of others?"

Her eyes darted up, meeting his genuinely curious face. A sting of anger pierced her chest. Does this guy not have a filter? She thought. Cassidy breathed in and out, not letting it get the best of her.

"I'm not."

"Sure as hell you are." He insisted. "Ever since we met, you've looked at me from the corner of your eyes. Even the last time we saw each other, you told me that Iry was not—what was it? Ah, yeah, she was not there to mend anyone and that she didn't need a problem. A.K.A my best friend."

Cassidy shuddered at the memory. She thought she was having a normal conversation, and yet, he felt she had her guard up. Perhaps she had, but it was not something she did on purpose.

"Well, I clearly didn't do it on purpose."

"Then you know you're wary of others all the time." Kyle smirked a little, feeling a little win on his side. "Why?"

Cassidy snorted. "It's no secret men can be assholes. I was looking out for my friend."

"True, but so can be women. You don't go around assuming all men are."

"I don't have time to get to know everyone, y'know?" She hissed. "And I don't wanna know them, either."

"You're just a sunshine, aren't you?" He said, mockingly. "Still, you can't know for sure if—"

Cassidy cut him off.

"How can I not?" She laughed bitterly. "If even a father can ruin his own family, never caring about his own daughter, one he so much claimed he loved—" Cassidy spoke loud and clear, until every bit of sour feelings inside of her broke her voice.

She swallowed, letting the air she was breathing clear her throat.

"So I'm sorry if y'all look the same to me now."