Everything Happens For A Reason
By Misha
Disclaimer- Not mine. I’m just borrowing them for a little while and will return them when I am finished.
Author’s Notes- This is a High School Story and takes places seven years after high school graduation. It focuses on Michael and my MC, Cassie. I’ve had this headcanon about their relationship for a while and decided to write that headcanon into a story.
Pairing- Michael x MC
Rating- PG
Summary- Cassie gets set up on a blind date with the last person she expected.
Rating- 985
“So… Kyle’s meeting us at the restaurant,” Lauren told me sheepishly once we’d exited the office.
“If you want to make it a couple thing, I can do something else,” I told her, with a shrug. I would rather be ditched than be the third wheel. Though it was a little annoying since Lauren and I’d had dinner plans for a few days now.
“And… He’s bringing a friend,” she added, looking guilty.
I sighed. Of course. I had known Lauren for six months and I think she’d spent all of them trying to set me up with some guy or another. I rolled my eyes. “You’re blind-siding me with a blind double date?”
“Well, yes, but this is the last one, I promise,” Lauren swore, “if you don’t like this one, I’ll stop.”
“Promise?” I asked, giving her the look.
“Promise,” Lauren said and then sighed, “I know I’m annoying, it’s just, you are so great Cass and you deserve to be with someone just as great.”
“I’m happy being single,” I told her and it was mostly true. I had friends, a job I liked, lots of things to keep me busy. Yeah, sometimes I missed being part of a couple, but on the other hand, dating seemed like such a drag. Terrible first dates, that awkward getting to know you phase, well-meaning friends who kept trying to set you up… It was exhausting. I smiled at Lauren to show her that I wasn’t angry, exasperated, but not angry, “however I know it is the duty of every newly engaged woman to try and share her happiness with everyone around her.”
Lauren beamed, “thanks, Cass, you’re such a good sport.” “That’s me,” I told her with a laugh as we headed towards the restaurant, “you know in high school I once dressed up as the mascot to save the pep rally.”
“I can see it,” Lauren told me, “and I’m sure you somehow managed to look impossibly pretty while doing it.”
I laughed, “I don’t know about that. I’m not sure anyone can look impossibly pretty in a tiger costume, but I think I did ok. What about you, any wild high school stories?”
She and I chit-chatted about high school the rest of the way to the restaurant. “There he is!” Lauren said, waving at her fiancé, who was standing outside the restaurant waiting for us, along with another man.
I froze as I recognized the man standing with Kyle. “Michael?”
“Cassie?” He asked, obviously just as surprised, though he was also smiling.
“You two know each other?” Kyle asked, exchanging a look with Lauren.
“We went to high school together,” Michael explained, his eyes still locked on me.
“Didn’t you just say your high school boyfriend was named Michael?” Lauren blurted out.
“Yes,” I said with a smile, “Michael and I dated in high school.”
Kyle and Lauren exchanged looks.
“We parted on good terms,” Michael assured them, “so it’s not like this has to be awkward.” He looked at me. “It’s really good to see you again, Cassie.”
“It’s good to see you too,” I told him, stepping forward to give him a hug, mostly to show Kyle and Lauren that there were no hard feelings and there weren’t. Michael and I had broken up because we were going to college in different states and then my dad had moved away and I’d lost touch with all my high school friends except occasionally checking their social media.
The hug was brief, but it felt familiar and nice.
“We should go inside,” Kyle said after a moment, giving Michael and I another look. We agreed and entered the restaurant.
Despite the awkward beginning, dinner was fun. Kyle and Lauren quickly relaxed when they realized that Michael and I really were on good terms and as for Michael and I… It was like we had parted yesterday, not seven years earlier. I was reminded of when we’d first met and how we’d had that instant connection, apparently, it still existed.
“Do you want a ride home, Cass?” Michael asked though I could tell it was an effort for him to use the shortened version of my nickname.
I grinned, “it depends, do you still drive a motorcycle?”
Michael laughed, “no, I traded it in for something a little more practical.”
Kyle looked intrigued. “You used to have a motorcycle?”
“I did,” Michael told him, “fixed it up myself.”
Kyle looked impressed and they talked about motorcycles before Lauren cleared her throat pointedly, reminding them that the evening was coming to an end.
“I would love a ride home,” I assured him. I smiled at Lauren. “Thanks for the invitation to dinner, it was fun. I’ll see you Monday.”
“You will,” she said, leaning in for a hug. She whispered in my ear, “but you’re going to call me before then, I want to hear everything.”
I just laughed and made no promises. I followed Michael out of the restaurant towards a nice moderate sedan. “Definitely a change from the Michael Harrison I remember,” I teased as he opened the door for me, “what else has changed?”
“You’ll have to agree to go out with me again and find out for yourself,” he told me as he got into the car.
“I can do that,” I told him, leaning back in my seat.
He looked at me and grinned, “yeah?”
“Yeah,” I confirmed with a grin of my own.
I didn’t know if it would go anywhere after all seven years was a long time and I’m sure we were very different people, but Michael was a special part of my past and just maybe, he could be part of future. I’d always believed that everything happened for a reason and that meant there had to be a reason why Michael had come back into my life and I wanted to find out what it was.
- End
