Kayleigh brushed some hair out of her face. “Uh, yeah. I have some free time this Friday. Meredith and Viola canceled girls’ night all of a sudden. What’s up?” Kayleigh clasped her hands behind her back.
“Well, uh, I was wondering, would you like to to on a picnic? I found a really good spot at the park.”
Kayleigh’s face lit up in a wide smile. “Yes!” Kayleigh cleared her throat. “Uh, I mean yeah sure that sounds lovely.”
Cass’s alarm went off. He accidentally punched the clock. It successfully turned off but now he has to get Clemence’s help to fix it.
He was still in disbelief. Kayleigh and Cass have been in an exclusive relationship for a month now. It might not seem like much but their relationship has been mostly the same after the confession besides more kissing, sharing a tent and Kayleigh now calling him love.
It felt like his world had turned upside down. Cass has been in love with Kayleigh for a long while now. At first it was respect and admiration, but as he spent more and more time with her, the attraction was inevitable. He always felt so safe and comfortable with her.
Not to mention just how beautiful she was to Cass. Her long flowing red hair, soft and kind blue eyes, a smile that could light up a room… It would be hard for Cass to find anything about Kayleigh he wasn’t smitten with.
Cass dragged himself out of bed and got dressed. He picked up the pieces of the shattered clock, putting it in the drawer. He took a deep breath. Cass brushed his teeth multiple times, worried about morning breath even if he wasn’t event going to see Kayleigh until much later in the day.
Cass finished getting ready for the day and headed downstairs to the Gramaphone Cafe. “Morning Clemence.”
Clemence looked up as she was wiping down the front counter. “Good morning Cass! You’re up early, we’re not even properly open yet! Looking for a cup to start your day?”
“No thank you, Clemence. Actually… I was wondering if I could borrow the kitchen? I uh… I have a picnic I want to prepare for today.” Cass twirled some of his hair around a finger nervously.
Clemence raised an eyebrow. “Ohohoho, planning a romantic evening with your beloved Kayleigh, are we? Of course, my dear friend. Will you need any help?”
Cass rolled up his sleeves, tying his hair up into a bun. “I kinda want to try by myself but please be on standby just in case. Thinking about it, I haven’t cooked in a kitchen in a long time…”
“Be my guest, Cass. Kitchen is all yours. Don’t be afraid to use any of the ingredients you find.” Clemence bowed.
Cass took in a deep breath. He was impressed by the wide variety of ingredients. He started by throwing some corn flour in a dish, filling two pots with water over lit burners. He placed banana fronds into one of the pots. On a cutting board, he cut open some Serrano peppers, making sure to carefully remove the seeds. He followed it up by dicing some tomatoes. It was strange, though. Whenever Cass thought of an ingredient he needed, he would find it in the fridge.
He continued by adding the peppers, diced tomatoes, onion powder, garlic powder, thyme and cilantro to one of the now boiling water. As the ingredients cooked, he cut square shapes into a few pounds of chicken thighs meat. Cass added salt and pepper to the meat, making sure it got in between the cuts he made. He turned on another burner, putting an oiled pan on top of it. Piece by piece he fried the chicken thighs.
Cass was getting into the groove of things. Clemence was impressed by how well Cass carried himself in the kitchen, as if everything were second nature.
After a few minutes, the boiling vegetables and spices were ready. Cass transfered the contents of the pot into a blender, blending it all together. Once satisfied, he poured the resulting paste like liquid through a strainer back into its original pot.
Cass then thoroughly shredded the chicken meat, mixing it into the pot with the blended vegetables and spices. He took the banana fronds off of the heat and out of the pot.
Cass grabbed the dish with corn flour, adding water and lard. He needed the mixture vigorously. He grunted, putting all of his strength into it. He grunted and took a breath. It was hard work but he was excited. It had been so long since he last cooked. It felt nice to be decent at something besides just fighting.
Satisfied with the his work, he took the banana fronds and applied generous amounts of the dough. For a moment he felt like he was about to make too much but he remembered how much of these he could down in a moment. In total he prepped 30 fronds. Once he applied the dough to all of them, he took the chicken and paste and spread them on the dough. He made sure to put some extra meat on the ones he was going to take to the picnic.
Cass put another small layer of dough on the fronds. He then wrapped up the fronds, tying strips torn from leftover fronds into neat little bows around them. He placed the wrappings evenly on a steam rack inside of another pot filled with water. He covered the pot, letting out a sigh and wiping sweat off his brow. Cass washed his hands, cleaning up the mess he made.
Clemence sat at one of the tables, watching Cass with great interest. “My goodness, Cass. My heart skipped a beat seeing you work so hard. You’d make a wonderful husband.”
Cass laughed. “I’m flattered, Clemence. Sadly, I’m quite taken.” Cass winked.
Clemence scoffed. “The audacity of this man. You get complimented once and look at how cocky you’ve gotten.” She chuckled.
Cass finished cleaning the dishes, wiping his hands on a cloth. “Listen, I’m allowed to be confident about being able to do something useful!”
Clemence took a sip of her coffee. “What did you even make, anyways? Seems like a lot of hard work, and you made so much.”
Cass stretched before taking a seat across from Clemence. “Well, it’s pretty close to Christmas time so I thought some tamales would go great. Especially with the hot chocolate I’m going to make after I take a breath. It’s an old family tradition.”
Clemence rested her chin on her hand. “That sounds wonderful. How about this, you worked hard enough. I’ll make the hot chocolate and add in some desserts so you can really knock Kayleigh off her feet.” She smiled softly.
Cass looked relieved. “Clemence I would appreciate that so much you have no idea.” He chuckled, rubbing his face with a napkin. “I might be confident in those tamales, but I sure as hell would never be able to beat you at making beverages.”
Clemence smirked. “I appreciate you for differing to the expert here.”
They both laughed as they waited for the tamales to finish steaming, Clemence preparing two thermoses filled with hot chocolate and a Tupperware with assorted pastries.
The stove timer rang. Cass checked the pot. A nostalgia smell hit his nose and it felt like he was shot back in time to his childhood. He had a small smile and he carefully pulled out the tamales. He set aside half of the tamales for the picnic, and gave the other half to Clemence.. “Here you are, Clemence. I made enough for the whole group, you included.”
“Why, thank you kindly, Cass.” Clemence placed them in individual containers she always prepared for the party whenever they came by for lunch and dinner.
Cass sighed, tired but satisfied with his work. He packed up everything neatly in a picnic basket. He checked the clock, it was close to lunch time. “Ah, I’d better clear out. I need to get everything else ready for tonight. Thanks again, Clemence.”
Clemence nodded. “No problem, my dear friend. Anything to help this budding romance grow. Especially now that you are finally together properly. Took you two long enough.”
Cass rolled his eyes, blushing slightly. “Yeah, and you guys still owe me a new tent.” He walked out the front door quickly.
Clemence called after him. “Not like you need one anymore!”
Cass went back upstairs to his apartment. He had some time to kill before the picnic. He trimmed and cleaned his beard before hopping into the shower. Cass felt so nervous he was trembling. But he also felt excited. His life was a pendulum of suffering and barely getting by, but today? Today he was going to enjoy it with the woman he loves. Nothing is going to take this away from him. Cass finished up his shower, brushing his hair out. He put on a fresh set of clothes, his t-shirt with a crudely drawn Gearyu and a pair of sweatpants. He even pulled out an old jacket gifted to him by Eugene. It matched the one he wore except it was green instead of pink.
Caas took a deep breath. He decided to head to the picnic spot and clear out any beasts that might be roaming around. Surprisingly, there were no beasts nearby. Everything was quite serene, actually. He looked up at the sky and estimated that it wasn’t much longer until sunset. He hastily set up the picnic blanket, putting the basket in the center. Cass sat on the blanket and waited.
And he continued to wait. Cass looked out onto the horizon. The sun began to set. He felt his chest tighten, but he didn’t move. Maybe Kayleigh was just running late.
More time passed. The sun had completely set, the moon slowly rising into the sky.
A small voice in the back of his voice started to speak. “What if she forgot?”
Cass shook his head violently, trying his best to ignore those gnawing thoughts.
“What if she never actually liked you? What if this is all some long con prank?” Cass bit his lip. “You put in all this effort, and for what? To get neglected without a single thank you or apology? After all, who would want to be with a sad sack of shit like you?” Cass began biting down so hard he almost drew blood.
The tightness in his chest grew, his heart beginning to hurt. He pulled his knees to his chest, hugging himself tightly.
“It’s probably for the best. All you’re good for is bringing misfortune onto others.” Cass tried his best to fight back the tears. “There’s nothing good about you. You’re disgusting. You look like a monster. Your body is covered in horrifying scars.” Cass wept quietly. “Who would ever be attracted to such an ugly beast? No one wants you. No one ever will.” Cass hugged himself tighter, his knees digging into his chest. “It’s your own fault. You’re so unapproachable.”
“Please stop…” Cass sobbed. For the past few months Cass had been attending therapy sessions with Dr. Pensby. He likes to believe that it helped, but once he spiraled like this, it was impossible to stop.
“Keep crying. Every time there’s a small inconvenience you run away and cry and cry and cry like the little bitch you are.” The voice cackled.
Cass whispered between his sobs. “Stop… stop… leave me alone…”
Cass sat by himself in the moonlight for hours. Just as the moon reached the center of the sky, he stood up. He wiped the tears off his face, sniffling. He started to pack up when he heard rustling in the distance.
Out from behind a tree burst out Kayleigh. She was wearing a torn up sunflower themed sundress, holding a tattered sunhat. She was panting heavily, covered in scrapes and bruises. She took a breath to compose herself, trying to put the hat on but the remaining scraps blew away in the wind. She cleared her throat as she approached Cass. “H-Hey there, love. Sorry to keep you waiting, it was… a day to say the least.” She brushed some disheveled hair out of her face.
Cass immediately grabbed and hugged.”Kayleigh what happened? You look beat to hell and back!”
Kayleigh squeaked as Cass squeezed her. “I, well… I wanted to look nice for our date, and I asked Clemence and Meredith for advice and they said I should try dressing up. I’ve never really done that before so I thought, to hell with it, why not? And so we went to Falldown Mall.” Kayleigh and Cass sat down on the picnic blanket. She took a deep breath. “We found a clothing store and decided to try out a bunch of silly stuff and we ended up deciding this getup would be perfect.” She gestured to herself. “But we got attacked by some beasts that were Ghostly, and I didn’t have my cassette player on me since, well, I changed clothes. I ended up getting chased through the mall until I managed to grab my player and escaped. Thankfully Meredith and Clemence managed to make it out before I did. Then, one thing led to another and the sun was set. I ran all the way here as fast as I could. I’m really sorry Cass.” She looked Cass in the eyes, sniffling and frowning.
Cass shook his head. “It’s okay, Kayleigh. I’m just glad you didn’t get hurt worse than you already are.”
Kayleigh reached forward and caressed his cheek. “I feel a bit odd asking this all things considered, but… how do I look?” In the moonlight, Cass could see she was blushing.
He looked at her again. “Kayleigh… you look absolutely stunning. My heart feels like it’s going to explode. You’ve always been gorgeous, love, and today you look especially so.” She looked away in embarrassment. “I feel like I’ve been given a private showing of the most beautiful piece of art at a museum.”
Kayleigh felt like her face was about to melt. She barely managed to squeak out a ‘Thank you.’ She cleared her throat again, trying to change the subject. “S-so, um… what’s on the menu for our moonlit picnic?”
Cass smiled softly, pulling out the thermoses with the not so hot anymore chocolate, handing one to Kayleigh with a tamale. “Just some silly stuff I made with Clemence’s help.”
Kayleigh returned his smile. “Well, no matter what it is… all I care about is spending this time with you.”
Kayleigh and Cass chatted the night away, enjoying each other’s company.