Saving Cassilia

by Liz Thomas

  Then she slipped off of the bench, letting loose an involuntary scream of pleasure and shock as she crashed to the shower floor.

  It was a scream like nothing he’d heard before; not one of pain or suffering, but pure unadulterated pleasure. As Cody stroked himself fiercely, he felt the inevitable building as he realized that she was masturbating in there.

  His body shook and horror suddenly took him over as he felt the responsiveness of his own touch begin in his balls, moving up into his aching, throbbing cock…

  “Uh….ooooh!” Just like that, there was a large mess on the floor.

  Cassilia sat up when she heard Cody just beyond the door. Mortified, she covered herself protectively and held her breath.

  OH, SHIT!!

  Cody was terrified but hoped his saving grace was that the water was still running. She hadn’t stepped out of the shower yet, he hoped. Maybe she hadn’t heard him.

  That left his other problem, the small pool of semen he’d just shot onto the floor.

  As he backed away towards his room, his heart stopped when he heard; “Cody? Is that you? Are you out there?”

  Cassilia was momentarily relieved when there was no answer to her call. Maybe he hadn’t heard her.

  She wasn’t hurt in the fall, only embarrassed, but it had ruined what should’ve been a beautiful afterglow, especially after releasing so much built-up sexual tension. Aggravated, she pulled herself back onto the bench. She had just gotten comfortable when Cody replied.

  “Yes, I thought I heard you fall. Are you okay?”

  Quick thinking.

  He was on his hands and knees, furniture polish in one hand and a washrag in the other as he wiped away all evidence of what he’d just done. He had her scream in the bathroom, but wondered if it was just from her getting off. He wasn’t about to ask her that, though.

  He stopped scrubbing momentarily as he waited for her to answer.

  “I’m fine.” She called back after a moment, “Thanks for checking on me.”

  What’s he doing out there?

  Cody smiled and nodded as he finished the task at hand. “No problem!” He called back cheerily, “Come out whenever you’re ready!”

  He thought about that a moment. “Come” out.

  Allowing himself a brief chuckle, he rose to do away with the washrag and furniture polish.

  No, it couldn’t be.

  Cassilia was trying to wrap her mind around why Cody had suddenly appeared at the door as she completed her shower. She deactivated the nozzles at the main display and exited.

  He’d almost sounded alarmed when he’d asked if she was okay. Cassilia had spent enough time around her three stepsisters to deduce a lie, or when someone was hiding something, and she was almost positive that Cody was up to something.

  Then she considered the asinine idea that a football player would be interested in a flowery art student.

  She smirked and chuckled dryly. Yeah, right, Cassilia.

  She finished drying off and dressed herself. As she stepped outside the bathroom, she was greeted by a large, awkward, shining spot on the wooden floor. It reeked of furniture polish.

  No way!

  She was simultaneously flattered and appalled. It couldn’t be, she kept telling herself.

  “Cody?” She asked nervously.

  “Yes, I’m in here.” His reply was calm enough, coming from a room at the end of the hall. She found him as she entered the room. He was lying on the floor, on a makeshift bed of blankets, reading a book under a lamp. He lowered his book and looked at her.

  He immediately went red under her gaze, and she looked away. She hadn’t realized that she’d been scrutinizing him. “Um…” She finally managed.

  “…yeah.” Cody smiled meekly, “…Um, I turned down the bed for you. I promise not to bother you, okay? Get some sleep.”

  Cassilia slowly looked back at him and nodded. “..oh-okay. Sure. Thanks again for checking on me.”

  Cody nodded rapidly like a kid hopped up on sugar. “Oh, sure, no problem. I thought you, um, you fell.”

  “Yeah, I did.” Cassilia replied, smiling nervously and thumbing over her shoulder, “Yeah, your benches are kinda slippery…when they get wet…”

  She didn’t like the undertone and trailed off. Cody must’ve picked up on it too, because his face went crimson again. “I’ll have some rugs put down or something…”

  Cassilia frowned, wrinkling her nose. “Rugs? In the shower? You think that’s a good idea?”

  “Did I say rugs?” Cody replied quickly, “I meant…something else. I don’t know what. But I’m sorry you fell.”

  “It’s okay.” Cassilia smiled genuinely this time. His flustering was cute. “Hey,” She began, “Did something happen outside of the bathroom?”

  Cody blanched. “What?” He asked hoarsely.

  “Well, there’s this big stain out there and it’s obviously furniture polish. Did you have an accident or something?

  Cassilia hated to admit it but she enjoyed having him on the spot. She could see his wheels turning in his mind as he thought of a plausible explanation. Suddenly, she was tremendously turned on, knowing now that this extremely attractive young man had just spanked himself, thinking about her in the shower.

  She wanted to rip his clothes off, but morals were morals. He had a girlfriend.

  “I did!” Cody exclaimed, startling her, “I was looking for some clean clothes and I slipped. I didn’t want you to trip so I cleaned it up.”

  Cassilia had to restrain herself from chuckling. It was so cute, watching him make this up as he went along.

  “Oh, okay.” Cassilia agreed, “I’m glad you’re okay. Thanks for cleaning it up.”

  Cody appeared relieved. “You’re welcome.”

  For a moment, the two stood silent, a million things going unsaid. “Why don’t we get some sleep?” Cassilia finally said.

  “Okay. Goodnight.” Cody nodded agreeably.

  Cassilia made her way over to the bed on the other side of the room and hopped in, pulling the covers over her and turning away, facing the window. The bed smelled like him. “Goodnight, Cody.”

  “Night, Cassilia.”

  Cody unplugged the light, and the two were sleeping shortly thereafter.

  She awoke the next morning at dawn, as she had every day for more than a decade. Some habits were hard to break.

  Cody was still sleeping soundly on the other side of the room. Not wanting to wake him, she found a notebook with a few blank pieces of paper inside. She wrote him a letter, she hoped he’d respond too, and then left through the front door. She had to make it home before everyone was up or there’d be hell to pay.

  “Where the hell have you been?”

  Cassilia’s heart sank into the bottom of her stomach as she opened her front door, an hour after leaving Cody’s. She knew Trina’s hateful growl anywhere.

  As she entered the mansion, things went from bad to worse. The entire family was there waiting for her. Ramona sneered, sitting next to Roger on the couch. Annalise was in a chair adjoining the couch, her eyes firmly affixed to the floor, her hands folded. Trina was on her feet in predator mode, her eyes raging hatred at Cassilia, her arms crossed.

  Cassilia hadn’t meant to take so long to get home; she’d just been hungry, and knew that if she hadn’t eaten on her way home, it would’ve been hours before she could get anything on her stomach. Her appetite was about to cost her.

  “You heard your sister.” Roger demanded, “Where have you been, Cassilia?”

  Cassilia’s mind raced and she suddenly regretted putting Cody on the spot. Apparently, karma worked fast. “School.” She finally blurted.

  “What a little liar.” Ramona seethed, “She’s not even trying.”

  “No, school. Really, I swear.” Cassilia persisted, wishing she was better at lying, “The professor let me stay late so I could—”

  Trina moved so fast that Cassilia had no time to react. The punch struck in her midsectio
n, doubling her over and knocking the glasses from her face. Cassilia was forced to let out a gasp as the wind was knocked from her, and she felt her ribs give under the impact.

  Trina may as well have ripped her heart out as she pulled her fist away. Cassilia was struggling to breathe as she clasped her stomach and fell to her knees. “I don’t give a damn what you were doing.” Trina hissed above her, “You do your damn job around here, do you understand me, rat?”

  Cassilia would’ve replied but she could barely move. She fell completely to the floor. “We do our job, we let you stay with us in our house. The least you can do is take care of us, do you understand me?”

  Cassilia started to panic as she was unable to catch her breath.

  Above her, Trina scoffed, “So worthless. Why don’t you just go off somewhere and die.”

  “That’s enough, Trina.” Roger called. “Why don’t we give your sister some time to recover and think about her priorities.”

  “Can I hit her just one more time?”

  Oh, God, no, please. Cassilia was able to shake her head, but she started coughing as air at last returned to her lungs. “No.” Roger said flatly, “Leave her. Let’s go.”

  Trina turned and walked out of the room first. Cassilia tried to rise but her stomach wouldn’t let her. She could only hear the footsteps of Roger and Ramona as they followed Cassilia out of the room.

  A moment later, there was a soft hand at her back, like her mother’s, and a kiss at the back of her head. “Hold on.” Annalise whispered, “Hang in there.”

  Cassilia didn’t know what to say or do. Once she was alone in the room, she cried.

  Cassilia awoke early the next day. Upon finding that she was the only one up, she got dressed quickly, fixed two pieces of toast and was still eating them as she flew out the door. Only when she got halfway down the drive had she realized that she hadn’t made breakfast for anyone else, something she would most definitely have to pay for later. She turned back to the house as she reconsidered her actions. Trina was starting to get violent again, and Roger was permitting it. If she left them nothing to eat, there would be no telling what would happen to her at the end of the day.

  The wind picked up suddenly from behind her, blowing her hair about her shoulders as if urging her to go. It became so sharp that she nearly lost her balance, stumbling away from the house.

  In her mind was a gentle whisper; go.

  She took one last hesitant breath as her resistance melted, and then turned. She ran from the house for all she was worth.

  Cody woke up slowly to the sun hitting his back. He turned slowly, expecting to see Cassilia in his bed. Disorientation faded as he realized she was gone.

  She’d made the bed better than he ever had, and atop the comforter was a folded piece of paper with his name on it.

  He sat up, rubbing his face as he got to his feet. Meandering over to the bed, he stretched as he unfolded the note.

  Then he blushed, laughing out loud as he read the words Cassilia had left him.

  “Hey “lover”;

  Thanks for the awesome night. Hope it was good for you. ;-)

  PS: Thanks for letting me use your bed. If you still want to talk to me, I’m usually in the art room on the east side of campus first thing in the morning. See you then?

  Cassilia

  Wow, so she knew all along.

  Embarrassed, mortified even, Cody still couldn’t help but smile as he dressed himself. Pleased that he could put all of his weight on his leg, he quickly washed up—taking a long look in the shower—and left his house. He wanted to hit the weight room, but first, he needed to catch up to her.

  A new type of terror had set into the pit of Cassilia’s stomach when she finally arrived at school. She had chastised herself during the entire bus ride. It had been such a perfect night. Why did she have to tell him where he could find her? What if he didn’t show up? Or worse, what if his friends got ahold of the note and used it to play jokes on her?

  What if they’d been the one who’d destroyed her painting in the first place?

  She’d had to calm herself down to avoid a panic attack as she made her way to the art room, taking the long way around the edge of campus to avoid running into Michelle or Ashlynn. When she finally got to the art room, she was pleased to find it locked. Ensuring no one was watching, she reached above the door jamb, fishing for the spare key. Once she found it, she slipped it into the lock and disappeared within.

  She exhaled and leaned against the door, taking in the events of the past eighteen hours. Amazingly, Cody had never touched her. He hadn’t even tried, although if the mess outside the bathroom door was any indication, he was clearly thinking about it. She laughed, remembering her adventure in the shower.

  She never thought she’d be worrying about a boy. No one had ever shown any interest before.

  Still, she didn’t want to think about it now. Strolling over to the cabinet on the left wall, she pulled forth a blank canvass. Taking her seat on a stood at the far end of the room, she began to recreate what she’d lost.

  Cody must’ve rationalized his thinking a million different ways by the time he finally arrived on campus. He could’ve simply left it alone, yes. She’d done him a favor, and then they’d had a good time, and gone their separate ways.

  He could’ve left it at that.

  Just because she left the invitation didn’t mean he had to take her up on it, right?

  Even if he took her up on the invitation, that didn’t mean that anything had to happen between the two of them, right?

  Except a night of mutual masturbation with a door between the two of you.

  Ah, crud. I’m in deep.

  “Cody?”

  The boy leapt, snapped from his thoughts by the sight of his lumbering best friend moving towards him, a quizzical look on his face. “What’re you doing on this side of campus?”

  Cody’s mind raced. Anyone associated with sports wouldn’t usually be on this side of school unless they were trying to get away with something. As Cody’s wheels turned, Matt smiled. “What’re you trying to get away with, man? Sneaking in some art classes?”

  Cody thought about lying to Matt, and then decided against it. His shoulders sagged, and he relayed the events of the previous night to his friend. Matt smiled, but shook his head. “There are easier ways to kill yourself, man. Less painful, too.”

  “Cut it out. Nothing happened.” Cody snapped back.

  Matt placed his hands on his hips and looked down at Cody as though the latter had just told him that he was suffering from a terminal illness. “Sure, keep telling yourself that, if that helps you sleep at night.”

  Cody’s phone vibrated loudly. He pulled it from his pocket, checked it, and replaced it without answering.

  “Alyssa?” Matt asked.

  Cody nodded.

  Matt shook his head. “You sure you know what you’re doing?”

  “No.” Cody replied simply, honestly. “But she seems like a nice person and…”

  “And Alyssa reminds you of the Grim Reaper. I get that.”

  Cody laughed.

  “Hey,” Matt asked as the idea dawned on him. “Can I meet her?”

  Cody was apprehensive, but if he couldn’t trust Matt, he couldn’t trust anyone. Still, he asked, “Keep this to yourself? Not even Coach can know?”

  Matt nodded. “Of course.”

  The two walked, continuing down the vacant hallway towards a door at the end of the hall. Something dawned on Cody and he turned to Matt. “Hey, what’re you doing here? Why’re you on this side of campus?”

  “Me?” Matt asked, pointing to himself. He pointed to a door on the right as they passed it. “Natural life studies.”

  Cody raised his eyebrows. “You take art?”

  “What; are you surprised? I have to have some kind of fallback in case I can’t play football.”

  “You’re crazy. Haven’t you already been scouted by like ten teams or something?”

 
; “Yeah, but I could get hurt.”

  It was a reality they all had to live with. Cody became quiet. “I don’t know any girl who matches the description of your new girlfriend,” Matt said teasingly, “So she must be taking general art. That’s right here.”

  Cody nodded, grateful. When he tried to open the door, he found it locked. “Maybe she’s not in yet…” Matt suggested.

  “Or she played a trick on me…” Cody suggested sadly.

  Matt shook his head. “She wouldn’t go as far out of her way for you as she did and then not tell you how to find her.” He offered.

  Cody was about to leave when light footsteps could be heard on the other side of the door. A moment later, the door cracked open, and Cassilia peered out. She lit up when she saw Cody, who returned the smile. Matt smiled at his friend. “Oh.” She breathed, grinning, “Hi.”

  “Hi.” Cody smiled back, waving, “Your note said I could find you here, so…”

  “Oh! Oh, yes.” She looked warily at Matt.

  “Cassilia,” Cody began, “This is Matt. He’s my best friend. We play football together.”

  Matt smiled down at her and offered his hand. “Thank you for saving him, Cassilia.” He said gently.

  “No problem.” She craned her neck to look up at him and said, “You’re huge.”

  “Yes, yes I am.” Matt nodded quickly, “And not one lady has complained yet.”

  Cassilia giggled and blushed, and Cody stepped in between the two of them, glowering up at his friend. Matt raised his hands as though innocent and backed away. “Anyway…” Cody continued, “Your note said I could find you here so I thought I’d say hi.”

  “Oh. Wow.” Cassilia couldn’t believe that he was here, talking to her. “Well…do you want to come in?”

  Cody nodded quickly. “Sure, please.”

  She stepped inside, holding the door open for the two young men. Cody entered first, and Matt closed the door behind him.

  “So, this is what you do, huh?” Cody asked, looking at the beginning of her painting as she led them to the back of the room. Cassilia immediately felt hot and blushed. “Please don’t make fun of me.” She said softly.