3 comments/ 9070 views/ 2 favorites A Penny For Your Thought Ch. 01 By: happevaf 'Oh, God,' was his first thought as he started coming back to consciousness. 'Was I asleep or did I just blacked out last night?' was the second. Realizing the state he was in, he didn't try opening his eyes, but used his other senses to assess the situation. The feel of the soft bed in combination with the traffic noises coming from somewhere to the right made him believe he was in his own place. 'So I guess I came home last night.' Although he didn't remember it. His head was pounding and his mouth felt like it was thoroughly scrubbed with sand paper. On top of it, his stomach was heaving on the verge of throwing up. 'How much did I drink last night?' he wondered. He was lying on his stomach, his head turned to the right, placing the left side of his face deep in the soft pillow. Breathing deeply in order to calm the urge to throw up, he slowly opened his right eye and immediately closed it again. 'Why is the sun so bright today?' he groaned in his head. Then he stiffened, feeling a slight movement behind him in the bed. His eyes flew open, watering immediately from the sunlight. Very slowly, without any sudden movements, he turned his head to the left; the process made his head spin for a moment from the pounding pain. The first thing he saw as his head turned was a slender ankle and the foot attached to it lying on the pillow beside him. Following the leg further down the bed, he saw it disappear under the covers. Onward inspection revealed a half covered, shapely waist, a silhouette of a nice-size breast and a shoulder partially obscured by heavy looking, disheveled, locks of dark chocolate hair. Lying in the opposite end of the bed and thus not having a pillow, she (and it was definitely a 'she') pillowed her head on her left arm, the right arm hanging from the side of the bed, as was her left foot. Everything about her screamed 'HOT', even in her sleeping, slightly disheveled state. 'Great, I have a goddess in my bed and I don't even remember how she got here, not to mention what we did after she got here.' He closed his eyes again, going through a mental exercise, trying to clear the fog that seemed to cloud his mind, but his head hurt too much to allow any kind of focus. 'Well then, I guess there is no way I can try to listen to her either. I would need to wait to remember what's going on.' Moving slowly, he began getting up, trying to create as little disturbance as possible for the sleeping goddess (that's what he decided he would call her until he knew her real name), all the while keeping an eye on her. A floor board creaked as he placed his feet on the floor. He almost forgot how to breath when the goddess in his bed stretched very feline-like, then proceeded to groan and curse softly, but not very delicately. It was such a contradiction he almost laughed. Her head began to rise from the bed as a sudden realization of his nudity dawned on him and he grabbed his pillow to cover his groin, which showed some embarrassing signs of morning erection intensified by the beautiful sight before his eyes. The woman didn't even look in his direction. She crawled off the bed on the other side and leaned to get something obscured from his vision off the floor. In the process, the cover remained on the bed, allowing him to admire her back side in all its glory. As she stood up, she pulled on a thong, probably the object from the floor, which left no room to imagination (at least from his point of view). *** 'Oh, God,' was her first thought as she woke up. 'I can't believe I did this. What the fuck was I thinking?' was the second, as last night occurrences rushed through her mind. She knew exactly where she was, Nick's place. She felt his eyes on her as she stretched and cursed, feeling the aftermath of last night on her body. She also heard the sharp intake of his breath. Without turning to him, she got off the bed as gracefully as she could and bent to pick her underwear, which thankfully were lying on the floor by the bed. She didn't try for modesty 'I guess after last night it's not really necessary.' Anyway she never was shy, even when she had a couple of extra pounds on her. But now Cassie knew she looked great; the long hours in the gym were paying off and she looked the best she has in a couple of years. 'Well, I guess it's time to face the music,' she thought. "What music?" Nick asked and now it was her turn to stop breathing. *** 'Damn, I guess I'm more off balance then I thought. I should know better than to confuse a mental voice with a real one, or to be able to listen without actually listening,' he thought, as something in the mental voice he heard registered as familiar in his brain. Many questions were running through his head. How to explain his questions? Who is this woman? What happened last night? But then the woman turned to face him and though one question was answered immediately, all the others flew out of the window. 'Fuck!!!' "What the hell are you doing here?" his voice sounded almost whiney. "Oh for fuck sake, Nick, watch your language." Cassie's eyes were laughing. "And stop blushing like a school girl, this pretend modesty doesn't suit you." Then the memories of last night washed over him like a tidal wave, although some pieces were still missing... __________________________________________________ It was a bad day. The phone was quite and no new work walked through the door of his office. Nick was beginning to worry about this month's rent; he really didn't feel like dipping into his rainy day account. Not that money was really an issue if he needed it, but he promised himself that he will clean up his act and wanted to hold this promise. He decided to cut the day early since his mood was on the down side and he could feel his control of his Gift being quite bad. Nick headed to his favorite place, Duke's. Duke's was one of those seedy places that have bad reputation because of the way they look and not because of a real reason. It was a small bar with greasy wooden floors and no décor whatsoever. The owner, Duke the third, was a formidable looking guy, very tall and very wide in the shoulders with a short military style haircut and a very dirty apron. But Nick knew him from way back and actually liked the guy, knowing for sure he had not one menacing thought in his head. "You should really wash the floors sometime, Duke," he said as he walked in. "If you don't like my floors, you can just get out," grumbled Duke, a grin crossing his face. It was their usual greeting. Nick knew that the whole feel of the place was purposeful. Duke's philosophy for his business was that it's not and never will be one of those trendy bars where all the beautiful looking people come to relax after a day's work. He wanted the place to be homey, and for him, the dirty floors were as much home as they once were for Nick. He also kept a well-stocked bar with couple of very special and pricy drinks, so his clientele knew why they came there and usually they were regulars. Nick loved this place; it was a home away from home. He and Duke weren't really close friends, but they were comfortable with each other in a kind of a long time acquaintances way. The place was never crowded and the local patrons were usually the lonely, quite, brooding type, which meant they kept their thoughts to themselves and didn't broadcast them all around. Nick ordered his favorite single malt and went to 'his' corner of the bar, taking with him a newspaper from the stack that Duke kept. Though he didn't look it, Duke was a highly intelligent man. The bar was just a hobby; Duke was a scholar, a fact not many knew. He just finished his Doctorate in History and Politics of the Middle East, and started each morning by going through several newspapers, including special subscriptions in Hebrew and Arabic (and yes he knew these languages fluently). Focusing on reading always helped Nick to maintain control on his 'listening' abilities. And he really wasn't in the mood to be drawn into the mental torrent of the local drunk, Dave, who was the only other customer at this early hour of the evening. 'Raving about his ex, nothing new there,' he thought as some of Dave's thoughts wafted through the cracks in his control. He found an interesting article about the Oracle PI company, which was his competition since he himself was in this line of work, and settled down reading and sipping quietly. Duke kept filling up his glass when it was empty; it was a long time understanding between them that unless Nick said otherwise he was willing to keep on drinking. Usually when Nick came to Duke's, he wanted to get drunk; it was on days when he felt his Gift acting up or 'spiking' as he thought of it. When it happened, he knew that if he wanted to sleep that night he needed to be very drunk, otherwise all the mental voices of his dreaming neighbors will keep him up all night. "So, what should a girl do to get a drink from a handsome guy like you?" asked a familiar voice. Raising his head from the paper, he realized that he wasn't reading the article for some time since the letters were swimming before his eyes (which meant he was on track as far as booze consumption was concerned). He looked at the woman standing next to him. His sight was really blurry. He saw her silhouette, but he couldn't focus his eyes on the details and the image kept splitting in two. But he would recognize that voice in any condition so he had no question about who she was. Actually the fact that she was there at all said something about his condition. "Stand still Cassie, you're making my head dizzy with all the moving around..." he blurted out, though his voice sounded kind of drawly and unclear. *** From the moment she stepped into Duke's, she saw Nick sitting in his corner of the bar, a half empty glass standing next to his hand. He looked as if he was reading a paper, but his eyes were glassy and unfocused. He was in quite a state. She threw Duke a small, understanding smile and he showed her an almost empty bottle of Nick's favorite Scotch. With anyone else, it would have meant alcohol poisoning, but Nick really could drink, though this much did get him very, very drunk. "Thanks for calling me," she mouthed to Duke and went to her very drunk friend. This wasn't the first time she got this kind of call. Every couple of weeks, Nick would come into Duke's and get plastered. Most of the times it wasn't that bad and he would go up the couple flights of steps to his apartment, but once in a while, he would get this glazed eye look and then Duke would call her to come to the rescue. On these occasions, she was the only one he would actually listen too. Any attempts made by Duke or anybody else would be totally ignored. Using force to remove him would only bring to violence, and although Duke weighed way more than Nick, and probably could master him, he really didn't want to hurt the guy so he just called her. Cassie didn't know what Nick's problem was. When she first met him, she thought he had a drinking problem and even arranged an intervention for him. She even went further and moved in with him for a month to regulate his drinking problem and get him through withdrawal. But then Nick didn't drink the whole month and didn't show any signs of alcohol dependency. She tried to ask why was he getting drunk then, but he just shrugged his shoulders, which was his sign for 'I don't want to talk about it' and she knew she had to respect it. They had this agreement between them; they both had some aspects of their lives and their past they didn't want to share. This was probably what made them so close over the years, their ability to respect each other's boundaries. They also played important roles in each other's lives over the years, which was why she came every time Duke called, even if it wasn't a very convenient evening for her. She knew that Nick was and always will be there for her when she needed him. "So, what should a girl do to get a drink from a handsome guy like you?" she asked, choosing a light tone to draw Nick's attention. His eyes moved from the paper on the counter before him to her, but she knew he didn't really see her. "Staaaand sti Caie, yr makin ma head izzy all... movin aroun..." Of course he didn't make any sense but this wasn't new in his state. "I'm not moving at all; your head is dizzy from all the drinking..." She closed her mouth, knowing better than to berate him when he was like that she went on. "Get up!" she said pushing a little with her mind. She knew that he would respond to her command. He always seemed to in those instances, which was why she could handle him. She learned early on in their relationship that he didn't respond well to it at other times, and it usually gave her horrible headaches trying. It was like beating her head against a wall. Taking his hand in hers, she mentally pushed again as she pulled him towards the door. Duke waved his thanks. Nick followed almost meekly, the glazed look never leaving his eyes. As they went into the cool night air, she heard Nick take a deep breath and she turned to see him shaking his head a little as if trying to clear his mind. But then he was still again, looking at her but not really seeing. They made the short trip to his block and up the four flights of steps to his apartment. She thanked her abilities every step of the way because she didn't want to think how she would have managed it if he was walking under the influence of the alcohol and not due to her pushing him. She wasn't a small woman, but Nick was almost six inches taller, and although she worked out for the past year, she didn't have the upper body strength to carry him. "Give me your keys!" she told him as they got to his apartment. The blank look wavered a little on the verge of surprise. She felt the need to apply a little more pressure to get the thought in, but then his hand reached into his jeans pocket and fished out the keys, holding them out to her. She always love Nick's apartment, given she had only seen it in the dark on occasions such as this. When they just met to catch up, they preferred going out and trying new restaurants, fine cuisine was just one of their shared likes. Nick's apartment was actually one large open space. It wasn't designed as a studio apartment but when Nick purchased it, he didn't feel the need for the different rooms so he demolished all the walls, leaving only the supporting beams. He also removed most of the eastern wall, opposite to the entrance, and replaced it with huge windows. The house was on the outskirts of town, overlooking the bay so there were no nosy neighbors to peak in. Hard wood floors in dark mahogany and bare brick wall completed the homey look. The only walled area was the bathroom in the back of the space. It was a wonderful bathroom with a large old style tub on four legs and a comfortable shower stall. Cassie moved Nick towards the bed on the left. She always smiled when she saw it. The huge king size bed looked like some weird combination of styles. It was pretty low and close to the floor, almost like a futon, but supported by four posts and a light canopy of white silky material. It was like something out of a fairy tale. Looking at the bed also made her blush a little, since it tended to appear in some of her more 'interesting' dreams, as did Nick. She assumed this bed was very functional. Nick was a handsome guy, in a kind of disarming 'good boy' way completed with a shy looking smile and laughing eyes, and had a good sexual appetite. She chided him many times about the traffic his apartment is probably seeing, although he always maintained he never took girls to his place. She had a hard time believing him. These thoughts really bothered her, so she preferred not to think about it when she was here. The fresh laundry smell still wafting from the sheets told her they are clean so she decided she should make sure that Nick took off his clothes before tucking him in. Thinking about Nick taking off his shirt made her hot and she felt the flush that crept on her face earlier only deepen. She was standing very close to him, still holding his hand which she used to lead him in. The clean smell, the heat and Nick's proximity made her head spin a little. She had to get a grip on herself. Cassie let Nick's hand fall and took a step back, away from him and the tempting bed. "Strip!" she choked out the order with a push that might have been a little too hard judging from the speed with which Nick complied. The shirt and the pants literally flew to the floor and then he was tugging down his underpants. She realized with horror that she didn't give the order correctly. It was a rookie mistake really, since she learnt early on while discovering her abilities that she had to give direct and specific orders. And since all she wanted was for him to get out of his shirt and pants, this is exactly what she had to say. She had no intention of seeing him nude so she spun her back to him, but a little too late. From the corner of her eye she got a glimpse of his manhood as his boxer shirts were sliding to the floor. The image seemed to be burnt in her mind which was having a problem focusing and issuing the next and final order to get Nick in the bed and under the covers. So she stood with her back to him, her eyes closed, trying to focus and complete her 'mission'. But the image of him standing naked kept reappearing and her mind seemed to have a life of its own as it spun and conjured different kinds of images. It was as if all her restraint and control left her and all the pent up feelings were spinning and whirling, making her almost tremble with need. She had been in love with him for such a long time, almost from the beginning of their relationship. But seeing the girls he could get, she just knew that he wouldn't be interested in her this way. She was always a little too curvy and, although her face was quite pretty with big green eyes, long lashes, and pouty lips, she just didn't feel she could measure up to his standard in women. She loved him so much that the thought of not having him in her life was really unthinkable to her, thus seeing how he never slept with someone more than once and never stayed in touch with any of the women he slept with, she just gave up even the idea of trying to seduce him. Cassie settled for being his best friend, knowing for sure she was the most important woman in his life even if it was strictly platonic. She loved having him share his life with her and dreaded the day he would decide to settle down and choose some gorgeous model type to be his life's companion. Nick of course never knew how she felt. She always tried to keep a tight wall around these thoughts when she was in his proximity, so as not to 'push' some notion of what was going in her head into his. With all the control and mental exercise she picked up and learnt over the years, she just couldn't control her dreams. Once in a while she would wake up breathing hard and trembling on the verge of sexual climax from a mind blowing erotic dream where Nick would worship her body every which way her mind would ask for. These dreams left her empty and wanting. She knew that helping herself reach an orgasm wouldn't help and staying frustrated was a really bad idea, as her experience showed. Cassie still remembered the first time when she had such a dream. She couldn't fall asleep afterwards so she used her vibrator to bring herself to multiple orgasms. But the next day the images from the dream kept popping in her head and unfortunately she couldn't control her mind when it happened. One such image popped while she was waiting for a bus; it was an image and feel of Nick kneading her ass. To her mortification, the man standing next to her at the bus stop just reached out his hand and grabbed her. Then the image was gone and the man looked at her horrified and proceeded apologizing profusely. Understanding what just happened, Cassie turned and ran away. A Penny For Your Thought Ch. 01 At first she thought it was a mistake but several similar occurrences showed her that staying frustrated and going in public was a really bad idea. It only made her lash out and 'push' people (both man and women, whoever was available) around her do some really weird things like kiss her or grab her ass, so she developed a half way solution. After having a dream such as that she would call in sick the next day and go out in the evening, usually to some biker's bar out of town, a place where none of her friends or colleagues would go. She would dress provocatively enough to draw attention but not enough to seem like a whore. She would let some mildly attractive guy pick her up, never fearing for her safety, given her abilities. Then they would go to his place or her place or even a motel close by, and she would 'push' him a little just so that he followed a scenario she wanted, usually reenacting some part of her dream. These rendezvous left her either satisfied enough or disgusted with herself so that she could regain her mental control. On rare occasions when the sex was really good, she would keep in touch with the guy for some time but only as long as he considered her a booty call. Usually she just finished the night by mentally suggesting to the guy that he didn't really want to see her again, she just wasn't emotionally available for anything else. It wasn't perfect, but it worked. Cassie was just happy that these dreams weren't frequent. Yesterday night was such a night, therefore today when Duke's call came she was just heading out from the Red Boot Bar on the interstate with a very tall fellow, who judging by the bulge in his pants, looked quite promising. He also seemed to be a genuinely nice guy and she could see that he was really impressed by her, which made her feel pretty bad about using him. She was even considering making an exception, taking the time and letting him lead the way this night, and if he really was as 'gifted' as he looked, maybe even taking his number for future reference. But then the phone call came and she just pushed at his mind, suggesting he really needed to go home. He apologized and left and she went to take care of Nick, unsatisfied. That was probably why she was having such a problem now, the frustration of last night left her really unbalanced. Now standing with her back to Nick, she prayed to some god, whoever or wherever, to let her gain her control back. But she didn't have the chance... Thanks to aimili_sage for her editing. A Penny For Your Thought Ch. 02 A hand snaked out to circle her waist and Nick's body pressed into her back. This didn't improve her state of mind. She was a mess before and now she just couldn't breathe. 'What am I doing? Did I make him do that? I have to stop this'. But then Nick's lips were nuzzling her neck and all coherent thoughts left her mind... *** Through the alcohol induced haze, he found himself regaining some portion of his mind. 'Did I black out? How did I get here?' He was pressed against a warm back, his lips moving on the smooth skin of a woman's neck as if of their own accord. Everything was very dark around him, but he figured they were in his apartment. While his brain sluggishly appraised the situation, he let his hands explore the body he was hugging. The girl was definitely hot, at least she felt that way. Muscular but still curvy, with medium size breasts, which were free of a bra, but still very perky, and fit his hand perfectly. The girl was either cold or very aroused, her nipples pushing at the material of the top she wore. Nick suddenly had the urge to have better contact with these breasts. Fortunately the blouse she wore had a very low-cut neckline, allowing Nick to slide his hand under the stretchy material to cup one of the soft globes. The woman in his arms gasped quietly as his fingers skimmed over her nipple. Nick kept his eyes closed since opening them was useless in the darkness and only made his head spin. His hand continued to glide over the smooth skin under the material of the top, producing sighs and breathless moans from his partner. For a moment a thought crossed his mind, 'does she want this?' but the sounds that she was making and her passiveness in his arms told him he wasn't forcing her into anything. Just to be sure, he withdrew his hands from her body and her disappointed whimper was answer enough for him. Returning his hands, he continued to knead her bosom through the blouse. "...Top... off..." The words floated in his brain, like soft sighs. Something about the voice turning him on even more. Something almost familiar. 'Did she speak? Did I listen to her thoughts?' he wondered while complying and taking her top off. It was only because he was wasted that he didn't think it odd that he couldn't hear any of her other thoughts. *** 'What am I doing? Oh God, I don't want him to stop. Am I pushing him?' With her last ounce of will, she concentrated long enough to realize she wasn't pushing him at all, and she knew better than to think that she could influence him just by thinking. No, with Nick only 'pushing' worked. To prove it to herself, she thought 'take my top off'. Nothing happened. His hands kept their wonderful caresses of her upper body. 'Take my top off!' Now it was accompanied by a push, which she had to increase to almost her full strength and only then she felt him comply. 'I guess he is almost back to himself if I have to apply this much strength to manipulate his thoughts,' she thought. Now his hands had a free access to her breasts and he used this freedom in its fullest. Nick's fingers focused on her nipples and she shuddered, fighting not to make a sound. 'If he hears my voice, he will recognize me,' Cassie thought. 'I have to stop this... But I don't want to... oh, his hands feel sooooo good.' Nick was still behind her and she could feel his erection pressing against her. This was almost a dream come true. She wanted this for so long that now that it was happening, she couldn't stop it; she didn't want to. Throwing all caution to the wind, she spun to face him. Relief warred with disappointment when she saw his eyes were closed. Then he leaned in to kiss her. His lips were soft as he slowly brushed them against hers. His hands came up to cup her face almost tenderly. As his tongue licked her bottom lip, she realized she was holding her breath, her eyes still wide open to watch if he would open his. Then his lips pressed firmly to hers and she was lost in the kiss, her eyes closing and her mind whirling with all the sensations this kiss elicited. Nick was pulling her towards the bed, his lips never leaving hers, his tongue caressing hers. His hands slid from her face to guide her hips forward, and were now trying to push her skirt down. Cassie reached behind her and unzipped her skirt. It fell to her feet, and following Nick's pull, she stepped out of it, using the opportunity to get rid of her high heels that were really starting to hurt her feet. Nick apparently felt the change in her height; maybe it was the slight change of the angle of her head or the fact that she wasn't as stable on her tiptoes as she was in the shoes. Suddenly his hands were on her buttock and he lifted her almost effortlessly so that she could wrap her legs around him. He never stopped kissing her, but while his hands were on her behind, he probably noticed she was wearing a thong and a small groan escaped his throat. Cassie focused all her energy and frustration of her pent up feelings into the kiss. She couldn't have stopped even if the world was ending around them. She was on fire, wanting Nick's hands to be everywhere at once, trying to get as much of her skin to rub on his. He smelled like the scotch he drank, but at this moment, she couldn't care less. In her mind there were no coherent thoughts only 'I want him... Oh God... Yes, yes, yes... More... Closer... Oh my...' It was so close to the dream she had the night before; she almost couldn't believe this wasn't another dream. Then Nick placed her on the bed, his lips leaving hers only to move down her jaw line, to her neck, her collarbone and finally finding her breasts. As his lips reached a nipple, Cassie couldn't hold back the moan, but Nick didn't stop or look up. In fact he seemed encouraged by her moaning, sucking the nipple into his mouth and biting it lightly. Meanwhile, his hands were traveling all over her body, stoking, caressing, finding the places that made her gasp and moan. Cassie was in heaven. Her hands were touching him wherever she could reach. The apartment was absolutely quite; the only sounds breaking the silence were his occasional groans and her gasps and moans. Nick's hands reached her hips again, pulling her thong off and she was anticipating what will come next. His mouth moved back to hers as his body settled next to her. She would have preferred if he just settled over her so she could have his cock where she wanted it. She didn't need much foreplay today; she was ready for him before they even started, wet and wanting. But she wasn't going to stop him. His right hand snaked under her neck to comfortably cuddle her head and his left hand seemed to be drawing invisible patterns on her stomach. It was almost a lazy and quite moment compared to the explosive passion of the kisses and caresses that came before. But then Nick's hand slid between her legs, smoothly parting her, taking advantage of her wetness to dive in. Cassie was moaning and gasping at the feeling of his finger inside her. She was close to coming, her heart beating like crazy, barely able to draw a full breath. This was all just too much; last night's dream, the sexual charge of the day and above all knowing that it was Nick touching her. As Nick's finger skimmed over her clit, it was as if a switch was flipped in her mind. Cassie has heard other women describe earth-shattering orgasms, seeing stars and exploding. She never believed it, thinking it to be an exaggeration, a pretty way to describe an awesome sensation. Today she knew she was wrong. This was by far the best and strongest orgasm she had ever had. Her body arched off the mattress, her hands clutching at the sheets and flashes of light going off behind her closed eyelids, like fireworks in a night sky. Coming down was like floating, another sensation she didn't experience before. She was so focused on her own sensations she didn't notice that Nick stopped moving next to her, and his hand was just limply covering her mound, until her body fully relaxed and her eyes opened. "Nick?" she called softly. Then she turned her head to look at him. He was clearly asleep, a small smile playing on his lips. Looking down the bed, she saw a sticky puddle on her hip and on the sheet between them, then she knew what happened. This happened to her only once before. The very first time she had an orgasm. She was with her high school boyfriend, Ben; it was very predictably after the prom. She just agreed to lose her virginity to him and he was ecstatic, thanking her. Ben was a very serious young man. Apparently this was another issue he took seriously. He came prepared. Shyly he told her that hoping against all hope that she might agree, he spent the past week reading all he could find about human sexuality and how to make a first time special for a woman. At that she giggled hysterically because nobody before had called her a woman. Then he proceeded to try and make her come, reaching what he clinically called a 'clitoral orgasm'. He succeeded in his 'task', but when she came, she projected so much mental energy and pleasure that she not only made him come but also practically knocked him out. She was really embarrassed afterwards, thinking she did something wrong, but not as embarrassed as he was when he woke up with a wet spot under him. They never talked about it and just parted ways. Sometimes she wondered if maybe she should have somehow explained, but she was young and only just discovering her gift, and anyway she figured out the whole thing only much later. It never happened afterwards since she didn't have sex until she found a way to control her mental outbursts of pleasure. It wasn't that simple and required a lot of mental control. Some part of her mind had to keep what she called a 'barrier' while she was coming. That was probably the reason her orgasms were so mediocre compared to today. This night she just let go, forgetting about everything, forgetting to stay in control of her mind. 'I can't believe I did this to him. How will I explain it if he wakes up?' She quickly got up and cleaned herself and Nick as best she could. Then she soaked up the worst of the wet spot on the sheets. Nick never woke up. Looking at him sleeping peacefully and smiling in his sleep, she felt a tear slide from the corner of her eye. 'This can never happen again,' she thought. 'I need to leave, to go home,' she told herself. But she couldn't make herself go. She didn't want this to end yet. 'Just a couple more minutes and I will go.' She carefully set on the foot of the bed, watching Nick sleep. She was mesmerized by his slow breathing. Gradually, without her noticing, the exhaustion of the day crept over her. Somebody watching from the side would have seen her feet curl under her on the bed, then her head sinking lower until she assumed a fetal position by Nick's feet. Then her body stretched and she fell asleep. __________________________________________________________________________________ "What the hell are you doing here?" "Oh for fuck sake, Nick, watch your language." Cassie's eyes were laughing, but inside she was cringing. She took in his naked form and the strategically place pillow. "And stop blushing like a school girl. This pretend modesty doesn't suit you." Actually looking at him like that made her blush a little. 'Wow, he is so handsome, and I never thought he was this well muscled. I'm never going to get this image out of my mind. Sleeping will be impossible.' She averted her eyes careful to watch only his face. Nick looked shocked. She could see in his eyes that he had no idea what to say or what to do, or even how to deal with this situation. His face was changing expressions as his mind tried to process the situation. First there was understanding when he probably remembered some of last night. 'But how much of last night exactly?' she wondered. Then there was shame and even some horror as the situation sank in. There was even some lust there, but that was understandable since she was standing almost naked in front of him, and even if she wasn't his usual model type, she still had breasts. 'What is it with guys and breasts?' She never understood the fascination. But the most prominent expression on his face was indecisiveness and confusion. He looked lost. 'OK, time to take matters into my hands. I can't wait for him to do something in this situation. So what approach should I take?' she asked herself. The answer was easy, Avoidance. 'Now is not the time to talk about what happened yesterday, if ever there will be a good time. Maybe we don't have to talk about it at all. Maybe we can just ignore it, as if it never happened.' If only she could make him think it was a good idea to ignore yesterday night. But he clearly wasn't drunk anymore so she knew there was no point even trying to 'push' her thoughts on him now. 'It's not like something really happened at all. It was almost PG-13, well maybe a little more than that. And he is probably looking lost because he is trying to figure out how to tell me that it was a mistake.' The thought of him thinking it was a mistake made her heart squeeze almost painfully. 'Back to being just friends.' "Cassie..." "Shit. What is the time?" She couldn't let him start talking. "Cassie... what..." "Come on, Nick, what is the time? I have a big meeting today. I can't be late. My boss will kill me. We have this big settlement coming, I have to be there. I worked really hard on this case." She bombarded him with sentences as she picked up her cloths from the floor. In fact she didn't have to be anywhere till noon, and her boss was so impressed with her that he didn't really pay attention to her comings and goings at the office. As long as she worked her magic on the cases she was in charge of, he worshiped the ground she walked on. But she had to get out of here, and fast, without giving Nick the chance to think or talk. So she used her profession. This was one of the 'perks' of being a lawyer. People always assumed that you had important and urgent things to do. Usually it was true. "It's nine-thirty." Nick finally checked the time on his cell-phone. He still looked confused as his eyes followed her around his apartment, watching her put on her cloths, slip on her high heels and proceed to the kitchen sink to wash her face and rinse her mouth. His mouth was open as if he wanted to say something but her haste kept him off balance and he couldn't seem to find the right moment to say whatever it was. In addition Cassie kept talking giving him unimportant and probably uninteresting (at least for him) details about the case she was working on. "So this company, they think they own the planet and can do whatever they want with it. They spill so much waste in the ocean that there are no fish in a ten mile radius. And you should see the poor birds around their plant. I mean doesn't it just make you mad as hell? All these poor, helpless animals. They don't have anyone but us to protect them." A quick look in the mirror showed that her hair was a mess, so she twisted it into a heavy bun on the top of her head. She silently gave thanks that she didn't bother with heavy makeup yesterday. 'I can just imagine how I would have looked with mascara smudges under my eyes. Very sexy.' She laughed in her head. Fishing out of her purse the black eyeliner she applied it quickly never stopping her tirade. Nick kept trying to say something, but to no avail. *** Cassie was talking a mile a minute. He tried to talk to her about what happened but she was in such a hurry that there wasn't enough time to tell her all he felt. Maybe it was for the best. His feelings were a mess, and he couldn't concentrate and sort through them with the horrible headache from all the drinking last night, and her flying around his apartment half naked. 'Is she really planning on going to work wearing this? And since when does she dress like this anyway?' Cassie usually dressed conservatively. Her work cloths consisted of well fitted business suits and button up shirts, with most of the buttons closed, showing very little cleavage. When they met she usually came straight from work so that was the attire he was used to seeing on her. If they met during a weekend, she usually wore comfortable jeans and a T-shirt. The clothes always fitted well to her curvy form but weren't too tight or too revealing. Nick loved the way she dressed. He always considered it classy and feminine. But today, or rather yesterday, she wore something else entirely. Her pencil skirt was very tight as was her blouse, and her heels were very high. The skirt accentuated her butt and her well-shaped legs, while the low-cut neckline of the top in combination with lack of a bra left little room to imagination where her bosom was concerned. It was almost slutty, but not exactly. The skirt wasn't too short, and the blouse was made from a firm and expensive looking material. 'Not slutty, more like an expensive call girl,' Nick thought to himself. He couldn't seem to take his eyes off of her. She looked great. No, better than great. She looked amazing. The new color of her hair, one of the reasons he didn't immediately recognized her, was really flattering to her complexion and she seemed to have lost some weight. Not that he ever thought she needed to lose any, but now she looked even sexier than usual. A pang of jealousy shot through him as he wondered for whom she dressed like this. He didn't want anybody seeing her like that. It was this thought that finally pushed him to action. A quick look around showed he had some sweats lying near the bed and he pulled them on. Then, while Cassie was applying her makeup, he went to his closet and fished out one of his white button up shirts. "... and to think they have no remorse..." "Here, put this on. It will be too big, but I think it will do better for your meeting," he said extending the shirt to her, not coming to close, feeling she won't want the proximity right now. Cassie looked confused for a moment. Then she looked in the mirror again and blushed. 'Why is she blushing? It's not like she wasn't just standing naked in front of me two minutes ago.' Cassie's behavior didn't make sense. 'And why doesn't she want to talk about what happened?' *** 'I can't believe he's seeing me like this. How embarrassing. What he must be thinking?' She almost tore the shirt from his hand. Of course she had no plans going to work wearing her outfit from last night. But he couldn't know she planned to go home and change, otherwise her act of haste was pointless. "Thanks, great idea," she mumbled. Expectedly the shirt was too big. She put it over her top since it provided at least some support for her breasts and the white material of the shirt was practically see through. Instead of buttoning the buttons she crossed the two flaps in the front and tied them behind her back, effectively creating a wrap shirt. Since she was a little flustered about her look, there was a break in her speech and the silence was starting to feel uncomfortable. "Cassie, we need to talk." Nick sounded cautious. "Really?" The look he gave her said that he saw no other alternative. "Ok, we will. Some other time. I have to run." With that, she picked up her purse and moved to the door. She was almost out when his words reached her. "Thanks for coming last night. I hope I didn't ruin your date." "Don't mention it. Bye," she threw in as she closed the door behind her and ran down the stairs. *** As Cassie left, Nick threw himself on the bed. He was still hung-over from last night and really confused about all that happened. He was also frustrated, because, although he remembered the drinking and Cassie picking him up from Duke's, everything after that was a bit foggy. He couldn't remember how they got from Duke's to his apartment, which wasn't surprising; he never remembered anything on the occasions when Cassie had to 'rescue' him. In fact, he never knew how she managed to get him home on these occasions. The next thing he remembered he was naked and pressed against a woman's back, Cassie's back as he now knew. Then there was some fondling, although the details were missing. And then blank again up till this morning. A Penny For Your Thought Ch. 02 'Shit, I can't believe I finally get a chance with Cassie and I can't remember it. What if it was the only chance I get and I blew it? From the way she was acting this morning she wasn't very pleased with everything that happened. So how did we even get in this position?' His mind was throwing questions at him, questions he wished he could answer. Through all the thoughts running through his head there was a slim glimmer of cautious hope. 'Is there a chance that she wanted this?' He had to put his thoughts in order, but there was no chance of doing that before he drank some coffee. Nick got up, turned on his coffee machine and went into the shower. Feeling much refreshed he set down to drink his espresso. His mind strayed to the beginning of his and Cassie's relationship. A Penny For Your Thought Ch. 03 Maybe this chapter should have been the first and it's cutting the chronological continuity of the story, but this felt like the right place to tell the story of their first meeting. Many thanks to chunks for his editing; I never knew how many mistakes I make until he went over this chapter :-) Constructive criticism is welcome. ___ Nick was in class early; he still had about a half hour before the exam began, which was good because he wanted to go over his notes. Well, they weren't his notes, exactly. This one pretty girl always arrived to the exams a little early and went over her own notes, and from previous experience he knew that her notes were supreme. When he needed a review he just focused on 'listening' to her read her notes and make small but significant remarks to herself in her head. This, in combination with bits and pieces from her actual answers, was usually what allowed him to succeed in the exams he thought of as superfluous. He tried to make sure he never got a higher grade than she did in those exams, thus keeping his integrity intact in his eyes. Nick wasn't proud of himself. It's not that he wasn't bright enough or intelligent enough, it was just something he did. In high school he had shown real promise, until he discovered his gift. After that, concentrating was a real problem. Since he hadn't known how to block out or filter his classmates' thoughts, his grades had plummeted. The school administrators became concerned and sent him to the guidance counselor and eventually called his parents (or rather his adoptive parents). They reacted poorly, sending him to tutors, almost killing his social life, and eventually suspecting him of doing drugs and threatening to send him to rehab. That was when he had really become scared. Thankfully, during the spring break that year he had figured out how to separate the different mental voices. This revelation opened a whole new world of possibilities since he now could distinguish between the answers of the good students and those of the bad ones. Although he still couldn't concentrate enough to formulate his own answer, he started picking up answers from other students. After a while, even though concentrating wasn't an issue any more, picking up thoughts of others just became a habit. He didn't see the point in the pressure of exams when he could just pick the answers from some 'A' student. Now that he found himself school his perspective on studying had changed somewhat. Success was important to him; it was almost a need to prove that he was capable. Nick applied to law school because it sounded interesting, because at this point in his life he didn't have anything else that he wanted to study, and because it seemed that he should study something. But he had other things on his mind besides studies, not the least of which was the need to earn enough cash to fund law school in the first place. Therefore he found he needed to free some of his time for work or other lucrative activities. That's why he devised 'The System'. It wasn't all that elaborate. He just divided the courses each semester into 'important' and 'unimportant.' The 'important' group consisted of courses that either seemed challenging or interested him on a personal level. Nick pursued the knowledge given in these courses with zest, going to all the lectures and studying in earnest for the exams and taking pride in the grades he received. The other courses, unimportant and/or superfluous, and their requisite exams bothered him neither in a practical sense (given his abilities) nor from a moral perspective. Since he wasn't planning on becoming a lawyer he figured he wasn't cheating. This system freed his time for his favorite occupation and his true avocation. He had acquired his private investigator license some years earlier and had every intention of pursuing this as a career. He was a very good PI, too; given his 'listening' abilities this wasn't very surprising. It was a way he had found to use his abilities for good, at least to some extent. There were other ways his gift could be useful, too, but there was little that was good about them. Trying not to draw attention to himself he slipped into the seat behind the girl and closed his eyes as if resting before the exam. The proximity helped his abilities; he almost didn't need to filter the other students' thoughts. Nick had noticed her on the student orientation tour at the beginning of the previous semester. Her serious green eyes and her long, light brown hair with honey-colored highlights caught his attention immediately. Nick was drawn to her almost magnetically but knew better then to approach her. Something about the way she held herself screamed, "I'm here to study, I don't fool around and I don't do light relationships." He watched her and 'listened' from a distance, trying to discover as much about her as he could. He knew that her name was Cassandra and that she was very serious about law school; her thoughts focused on it almost exclusively, rendering his listening abilities essentially useless in his inquiries. Also, at times her thoughts were extremely quiet - more so than any other person he had ever met - and he had to exert his mind in order to hear her thoughts. If possible at all, doing so made his head pound. He knew that she was a couple of years younger than him but that was a given since he started college later than most. Other than these few trivial facts, he couldn't learn anything more. It seemed as though she didn't have any close friends and the people who knew her didn't seem to know any personal facts about her. He waited for a good opportunity to arise for him to talk to her, but she always seemed so busy that he just hadn't found the chance yet. She always seemed to hurry somewhere, not noticing him at all. Today she was distracted: stray and extremely quiet thoughts kept interrupting her reading, and it was difficult for him to focus on the material. To his listening gift, her thoughts sounded like blank pauses or static with floating words interrupting the flow of her reading. Something was definitely bothering her; she was berating herself for something she planned to do later but she couldn't seem to give up on the idea. Fortunately she finished reading everything before the exam began. *** Cassie couldn't believe she was going to go through with her plan. 'I'm a horrible person,' she thought. 'But then again it's for a good cause... eventually. And it shouldn't really hurt him. I mean it's just one grade, and it seems as though he doesn't even care that much about law school. I mean, he didn't show for any of the lectures during the semester'. The thoughts kept spinning in her head. Ever since Cassie discovered her gift, she had a plan. She was going to be an environmentalist lawyer and use her gift to punish big corporations that ruined the environment. But coming from her background, being part of a foster care system and not having an actual home to go back to once she turned eighteen, an Ivy League law school wasn't even a possibility. She had the grades but even on a full scholarship she couldn't afford it. So she did the next best thing, attending a lesser but affordable school, knowing that she had to be the best in her class in order to even be considered against the Ivy League graduates. Starting from the first semester, it was obvious that there was only one other student that could be considered her competition for the top of the class. She was smarter and applied herself harder than most of the other students and her grades were always better; except in comparison to Nickolas Levin. The thing that annoyed her the most was that he seemed to breeze through most of his classes. Hell, he didn't even come to most of the lectures. But time after time he got excellent grades, sometimes beating her by some points and sometimes coming in second. She felt like she was in a race and couldn't get a breath of air for fear of him taking advantage of her pause. It didn't help that he was very handsome, self-assured, and somewhat arrogant in a disarming way. She was instantly attracted to him, which for her only meant staying as far from him as possible. Although she had finally discovered a way to block the mental outbursts that could influence unsuspecting subjects, maintaining the thin mental walls she erected required a lot of concentration - concentration she couldn't seem to maintain when under the influence of strong emotions or even while simply looking at Nickolas. Fearing that she would slip and push her opinion of him into his head -- whether it was her jealousy of his accomplishments, her rivalry, or her attraction - she either focused on maintaining the wall as long as she could, not raising her eyes to look at him even if she wanted to, or deliberately thought of boring or study-related issues and moved out of his vicinity. Eventually it became second nature to erect the walls and look down while thinking her personal thoughts, and then suspend the effort while studying. Now at the end of the second semester, Cassie knew that Nickolas was beating her in their race to the top and she just couldn't stand it. That's why she decided to do something she swore she wouldn't do. She was going to make him lose this exam to her by a good difference by using her gift. She wasn't going to make him fail. All she needed was a fifteen point difference so that she would get a little boost in her average. This was going to be tricky. She was going to have to work really fast, writing down her own answers and then pushing the wrong ones into his head. The exam would consist of three questions. She figured that if she forced him to be half wrong on one of them, she would be fine. This was one of her favorite courses this semester and there was no chance that she would receive less than a perfect grade. *** The Professor handed out the exams and everybody focused on their papers. For Nick, it was a double focus since he had to both concentrate on reading the questions and block out the thoughts of the other students. As always was his habit, he skimmed over all the questions first and quickly recalled the relevant points from Cassandra's prior notes and saw which questions he still had and would need to fill in from her answers. He was still sitting behind her to keep the proximity. Suddenly her thoughts assaulted him. She was practically shouting her answers in her mind. Never before had he heard her so clearly and so loudly. More disconcerting was the fact that he couldn't block her though he tried to mute her thoughts in his mind. "... As stated in the constitution..." It was as if she were speaking aloud. 'Am I having a Spike?' he wondered. But then, noticing that he was still blocking out all the other students, he realized it wasn't a Spike. In addition to the weirdness of the situation, she was thinking about the wrong answer. This question was really easy, she had just gone over the material; there was no chance to get it wrong. So why was she so obviously mistaken? *** Just to be sure she didn't fail, Cassie started off by pushing the thoughts into his head with medium strength. When she discovered her gift she had learned that people were very different in their reaction to it. Some people were easily influenced, she only needed to direct her thoughts in their direction and they would comply. These people were the primary reason she learned to block her thoughts inside her own head: some people were so sensitive, so open to suggestion that she accidently influenced their thoughts and actions even without meaning too. Other people needed her to apply stronger degrees of mental force, which she referred to as 'pushing'. She had never before tried to push something on Nickolas so she had no idea what worked with him. He was sitting behind her and she couldn't see him, but she didn't need to. Usually she felt some sort of mental click as she succeeded to push a thought into somebody's brain; it was like sliding a letter through a slit in a door. But now she felt nothing of that sort, this was a different feeling all together. Gradually she increased the strength of her mental power, but again nothing. Soon her head was hurting from the effort and she even broke into a light sweat. Concentrating on what she was feeling, she could only describe it as shattering her thoughts against a mental wall. She had to stop and rest; also, all this effort was taking too much time and she had to think about her exam. Looking back at the exam she saw the letters swimming before her eyes. She panicked. 'How am I going to finish this exam?' Closing her eyes Cassie cleared her mind and breathed deeply. It was one of the simplest mental exercises that she knew. It helped. At least the headache eased a bit and her vision cleared. She concentrated on answering her first question, thinking that she would try again on Nickolas with the second. Cassie had little success with the second question or the third. By the end on the exam her head was pounding from the exertion and she almost had tears in her eyes. Worse than knowing she hadn't managed to do what she intended, she had the feeling that she hadn't done a good enough job on her own exam. She handed in the notebook and ran out of class. *** Something was definitely wrong with Cassandra. Throughout the whole exam he could hear her thinking of the wrong answers to the question, and then her mental voice would just disappear while she wrote it down. Nick knew her to be one of the best students in their class; he had never thought she could be this wrong. Even without studying himself he could see that her thoughts were definitely going in the wrong direction. Once the exam was over she practically ran out, and he thought he could see tears in the corners of her eyes. Nick handed in his exam and left. He knew that he had done reasonably well, not brilliantly (considering that he had only had Cassandra's notes to rely on), but he would pass. Probably. But this didn't matter to him at the moment. What he really wanted now was to make sure that she was okay. He couldn't understand why it mattered so much, but it did. He stepped into the corridor and went to the first obvious place a girl in distress would run to: the ladies room. Standing outside the door he opened his mind, trying to hear the mental voices inside. 'If only I were ten pound lighter Tom would notice me, for sure...' This wasn't the voice he was looking for. '...tampons, shampoo, some of that herbal tea that mom got me last month, milk, cheese, oooh, and those chocolate chip cookies that I really shouldn't eat, and...' This wasn't it, either. 'Breathe. Everything will be okay if I just breathe.' Her voice. As always it took some special focus for him to even hear it and it still sounded muffled. Cassandra was definitely crying, even her mental voice had a sniffling quality to it. 'I wonder if people know how much their thoughts reflect their emotional and physical states,' Nick wondered, not for the first time. This was another aspect of his gift: the thoughts he heard carried more than just verbal information. They also carried a flavor or hue (he could never decide which analogy fit better) that he learned to translate into feelings or physical conditions such as crying or arousal. It wasn't a fail-safe ability. Different people expressed or reacted to their emotions differently and the hues of the thoughts changed accordingly. But now with Cassandra there was no doubt. Nick was sure she was upset and crying. He couldn't hear a lot of her thoughts, just a general feeling of misery flowing on random words, like hearing a child cry behind a closed door. "Excuse me, you do know this is the ladies bathroom? I hope you weren't planning on going in." Turning his head, Nick saw a pretty blond girl addressing him, realizing he was standing in front of the bathroom door and staring. He blushed. 'Wow, he's cute. I wonder if I can make him blush even more.' Nick heard. "Not that I would mind if you went in there with me." She paused to see if he got her meaning. "But I think at this hour there are probably some other girls there too, so we wouldn't have any privacy." She flashed him a brilliant smile, wiggling her eyebrows a bit. While she was telling him this, her mind flashed some mental images of what they would do if they went in together and the bathroom turned out to be empty. Of course she had no idea that Nick could see these images with her. This was the kind of girl that Nick usually dated. Some people would have called her slutty; Nick thought of it as open minded and self assured. The good thing about these girls was they never expected much from you and weren't insulted if you didn't call the day after. Having his telepathic ability, dating was difficult, and having a relationship was almost impossible. After the fiasco with his high school girlfriend, who he had dated while discovering his gift, Nick tried dating only after he learned to block the thoughts around him. Unfortunately he found out that the more time he spent with someone the less he could ignore their thoughts. It was as if the longer he dated someone, the better attuned he became to her mental voice. Drinking alcohol helped somewhat; it dulled his mental abilities, but being drunk all the time was not very attractive. Then came a day when he could no longer block his girlfriend's thoughts at all. It's a horrible thing knowing all your partner thinks about all the time; there's a good reason why people don't tell each other all they are thinking. Actually the same problem applied to male friends: it's hard to stay connected to someone when you know all their deepest and darkest secrets, and when you can tell immediately when a person thinks about screwing your date. Eventually he understood that a long term relationship wasn't possible and decided to settle for one night stands or short but passionate affairs. It wasn't that bad really but he missed the human connection, having a close person he could rely on. Plainly speaking, Nick was very lonely. Nick smiled at the girl in front of him, and she smiled back. "Maybe we can meet at a less crowded place," she suggested and, pulling a black marker out of her bag, wrote a number on the back of his hand. "My name is Jen," she said while writing the name under the number. "Call me." And with that she went into the bathroom. He was still smiling and replaying some of the images he got from Jen in his mind when Cassandra exited the ladies room. *** Being in the bathroom didn't help. There were too many girls there so she couldn't have the melt-down she felt like having. And her head only throbbed more from all the mindless chit-chat of the other girls. Cassie decided to skip the rest of the day and go wallow in her misery at home. 'Ice cream and a spoon, a girl's best friends. That's all I need right now, and to hell with the extra pounds.' She could already taste the sweet soft vanilla chocolate chip ice cream she had in her freezer for 'emergencies' like today. Even thinking about it made her feel better. 'I'm such a cliché of a girl,' she laughed at herself. Cassie opened the door to exit the bathroom and saw Nickolas. 'The universe is definitely punishing me,' she groaned in her head, immediately lowering her eyes and steering herself to bypass him. She moved to the left, only to see his feet moving to the left too. She stepped to the right, but again he was in her way. "Are you ok?" he said. "Why wouldn't I be?" she answered, wondering why he was talking to her. "It just seemed that you were upset after the exam." "So what's it to you? You will probably get your wonderful grade and secure your place at the top of the class," Cassie blurted out. 'Why am I telling him all this?' she wondered to herself. As was her habit around him, she kept her eyes lowered and her mental barriers up, the concentration in combination with her already pounding head leaving her irritated and short tempered. A Penny For Your Thought Ch. 03 "What?! What are you talking about?" Nickolas sounded surprised and confused. "Never mind, can you please move so I can go home? I have a really bad headache and I think I just flunked the exam," she heard herself say. 'Again with the over sharing, why is this guy making me say everything that's on my mind?' she wondered. *** She was trying to get past him and Nick was thinking frantically about something to say that would give an opening to future association. Some part of his mind was wondering why he was bothering with this rude girl. "Wait," he heard himself say, while an idea was forming. "How about we meet later to wallow in self pity together? I think I did badly on this exam as well." "I don't date," came her short retort. "Good, I'm not asking you on a date, but an evening of self pity. I'm Nick, by the way." "Cassie," she replied automatically, but he saw she was still irritated and distrustful. He tried listening to her thoughts but it was like the sound of static noise, and it was really distracting so he blocked it off again. "Look, you see I have a date with Jen," he said showing her his hand. "I promise you, I have nothing but friendly intentions, plus I know you are a great student and I wanted to talk to you about studying together for the Ethics course. I'm really getting lost in all the material." Once he said it, it suddenly seemed like a great idea, and he berated himself for not thinking about the idea earlier. If she was so focused on school then this was a way to get close to her. "Okay," Cassie finally said. "Not to the self pity party but to the studying I mean." She looked as though she was flattered he had asked for help. "Meet me tomorrow evening in the library, around five PM?" "Great, thanks," he said, and with that he let her leave. ___________________________________ Now, sitting at his kitchen counter, Nick remembered how they began to study together and how he had gotten a glimpse into the strenuous and over-achieving world of Cassie. Once he understood her ambitions and her need to succeed, he started making sure she would get the better grades. He settled on being second best, so she would be happy. He seemed to care for her and her feelings from the start, and once he got to know her a little he was willing to do everything possible to keep her in his life. It was like they clicked on some spiritual level: if he was a hopeless romantic he would have said she was his other half. With time they became great friends. As far as he knew, he was as much her only friend as she was his. He was attracted to her but knew he would never do anything to jeopardize their friendship. Once he got to know her he discovered how sensitive she was - even though she tried to put up a strong front - so he knew he could really hurt her feelings if they started dating and it ended like all his other relationships. He was even determined to try and block her thoughts for as long as he could, and decided that no matter what he heard once her mental voice wormed its way into his brain, he wouldn't let it influence him. In time, Nick saw that something about Cassie was different. Even when he let go of his blocking, he usually couldn't hear her. Only a few words here and there. Actually, being around her was very relaxing; he could just let go of his concentration when it was just the two of them. After a while even the static noise coming from her brain disappeared, leaving in its place a soft silence that was disturbed only occasionally by a floating word or sentence that he understood only if he listened; if he didn't, it was like a distant conversation being held in another room. Many times he regretted not moving the relationship to the next level; she was perfect for him and he had known that he was in love with her for some time. But in addition to the fear of ruining their friendship, he just wasn't sure that Cassie was interested. Oh, sure, there were times that she looked at him appreciatively or when he caught a stray thought about him, but this didn't mean anything. Nick had learned early on that there was a difference between what people thought and what they were willing to act on. Moreover, he wasn't sure that he was as perfect for her as she was for him. Having his abilities opened a whole world of temptations and he didn't always take the higher road and act honorably. In fact he made quite a few mistakes in his life. Cassie on the other hand was perfect; she was a genuinely good girl. Even though, there were things about her he didn't know, some aspects about her past (mainly her childhood) that she never spoke about, he was sure there were no skeletons in her closet. All these reasons contributed to the reality, that although it was frustrating, although over the seven years they had been friends his attraction to her had only grown, he had forced himself to remain willing to settle for what they had. Until today.