Back to his normal life
It took Cassy several minutes, but she managed to grab Kane and pull him away from the bank.
"Let me go, I need to do this Cass!" He yelled desperately.
"I'm not letting you rob a bank Kane!" She yelled back, Kane finally gave up and let her pull him along.
The reason it took Cassy so long to stop him was because he kept effortlessly avoiding all of her advances, as if he knew exactly where she would go the moment she moved.
"You're no fun," Kane grumbled.
Cassy patted his head, "There-there, you can rob Cody of his food if you want."
"I know I joked about being a dog, but... well, I guess I am hungry."
"Shh, dogs don't talk!" She grinned.
"Which apartment do you live in anyway?" Kane questioned.
"Bottom floor, the door right in front of the staircase you went down to leave."
Kane sighed, "Great, I get to do cardio every time we decide to hang out."
"Pfft, what makes you think I'm gonna be hanging out with you?" Cassy snickered.
"Ego," Kane responded very matter-of-factly.
She rolled her eyes as they continued walking down the empty sidewalk. Occasional streetlights and big buildings littered one side of the road, while there was a large field leading up to their apartments on the other. Dots of clouds covered the black sky.
A moment of silence passed between them.
"... Hey, you said you're hungry, right? Want to come over to my place? I'm a pretty good cook."
"Though my stomach appreciates the offer, my dad's probably home by now, he's a pretty legendary cook."
"Is he a chef or something?" She leaned forward while asking.
"Used to be the head chef of a 4-star restaurant!" Kane said proudly.
Cassy had a look of awe on her face, "Wow! That's awesome, what's he do for work now?"
"He helps construct satellites, I thought he was a librarian for a while but it turns out I just misunderstood one of his conversations."
Cassy ignored that last part, "That's a pretty big career leap..."
"Absolutely, oh, we're here by the way," Kane pointed at the large apartment complex just a few feet away.
She shook her head, "Yes Kane, I know we're here, I have eyes."
"Show off," Kane stifled a laugh.
Waving her goodbye, Kane walked up the stairs, soon arriving at his apartment door.
Unlocking it, he walked in and called out, "Hey Dad, I'm back!" No response.
---------------------
Moments later Kane was hopping down the stairs and began knocking on Cassy's door.
"Kane? What're you doing here?" Her head popped out the cracked door.
Kane scratched his forehead, "As it turns out, I was wrong about my dad being back, and right about the cardio thing."
She let out a laugh and opened the door, "I was just about to start cooking, come on in!"
An older woman was leaning back on a couch, she turned her head towards Kane as he came in. "Oh, you must be that blind boy Cassandra mentioned, you're rather handsome aren't you? I do hope you and my daughter get along!"
Kane was taken aback as Cassy turned to tell her off.
"I swear to god Mom, please stop. You do this with every damn guy I bring over."
"I just want my precious daughter to hurry up and give me grandkids before my time comes," She pouted.
Kane held back a laugh and got a dirty look from Cassy.
Cass turned back to her mom, "At the rate you're trying to make it happen you'd end up with great-grandkids by the time you die."
Cassy's mom clapped her hands together, "Oh, that sounds wonderful!"
Kane burst out laughing. It'd been a while since he'd met someone so ridiculous (in real life).
Then again, his dad wouldn't exactly get off his back about a girlfriend either, maybe this is just how parents are?
After receiving a light punch to the shoulder from Cass, and listening to another minute of bickering, Kane was beginning to question if the food was really worth it.
Thankfully, Cassy's mom decided to go out for a stroll until dinner was ready, leaving them alone in the kitchen.
"Sorry about that Kane, she's a little out of touch with... well, everything."
"No, it's totally fine. I've never been referred to as a 'collectible' before, that was interesting."
She chuckled, "Of course you'd find that funny."
"Welp, show me what you've got, by which I mean don't show me but just make good food, since I can't see. I don't know where I was going with that."
She smiled and shook her head, "You're really weird sometimes, you know that?"
"So you've told me several times, having no eyes is already weird, so I just decided to own it."
"I somehow doubt you 'decided' to be weird, I'm pretty sure you just are." Cassy grinned cockily.
"At least my Dad isn't about to pressure me into an early marriage!"
She stuck her tongue out, "He would be if my mom had her way."
"What kind of old married couple do you think we'd be anyway? One of those overly-sweet ones? Or maybe we'd just be constantly arguing with each other."
Cassy thought deeply for a moment, "I think we'd be one of those old couples who make it on the news. Y'know, because one kills the other in their sleep."
"Yeah, sounds about right..." Kane chuckled nervously while Cass winked at him and picked up a knife.
Thankfully, vegetables were the only thing being chopped tonight.
-----------------
Cassy's mom arrived back at the apartment just as dinner was being finished up.
"By the way, what's your name? I don't wanna keep calling you 'Cassy's mom,'" Kane joked.
"You can call me Scarlet," She smiled brightly.
"Her name is Joan." Cassy cut in.
"Nice meeting you Joan!" Kane said with the most enthusiastic voice he could afford.
Joan hung her head in embarrassment from having the fake name she gave immediately get called out.
The dinner was pork sirloin with steamed vegetables and a sweet, slightly spicy, sauce.
While obviously not at the same level as his father, Cassy's skills were nothing to laugh at.
Cody was standing by Kane's side giving him puppy eyes while drooling.
Kane managed to sneak a little bit of pork down to him, listening as he ran off excitedly.
Joan began speaking, "So, what are your intentions with my daughter?"
"Currently? Eating." Kane replied while stuffing his mouth.
Joan was dumbfounded, but gave a little smile seeing her daughter happily laugh at his dumb jokes.
"What about after you've finished eating?" She teasingly asked.
"Was there something after that?" Kane glanced up with a fake look of confusion.
Joan switched her attention over to her daughter, "Hurry up and get married."
Cassy almost spit out her water, "I'm only 17 mom!"
"Which happens to be a great age to get married."
"For a co-dependant weirdo lik..."
'This is going to be my whole night, isn't it? Nah, I'm not that unlucky.' Kane thought to himself while tuning out their voices.
Eventually, the mother turned back towards Kane and threw him a question he couldn't just brush off with a joke.
"What do you think of my daughter."
Kane considered faking a stutter and giving some kind of exaggerated depiction of how amazing Cass was as a joke, but decided to be totally honest.
"She's pretty refreshing to hang out with, I like her sense of humor and how straightforward she occasionally gets."
"What else??" Joan desperately leaned forwards.
"She's a good cook? Her dog is nice? I've only known her for a few days, I'm really not sure what you're expecting me to say here."
"As much as I enjoy the compliments, just ignore her," Cassy interrupted.
"No No No!" Joan cut back in.
"Do you think she's cute, would you want to marry her??" Joan asked with flushed cheeks.
Kane moved his head over towards Cassy, "Is she drunk?"
Cassy let out a sigh, "It looks like it, this is why I usually don't like her going out on her own, she always overdoes it."
Kane faced back towards Joan, "To answer your first question, I have no damn clue, I'm blind. To answer your second question, no, we just met a few days ago. I'm single, not delusional."
Joan started sobbing as Cassy dragged her towards her bedroom.
Cassy finished tucking her mom in and walked back to the kitchen groaning.
"God that was embarrassing," She placed her palm over her forehead while speaking.
"Oh yeah, being complimented like that must be really tough," He poked fun at her.
"Speaking of which, I am extremely hot, for your information," She tilted her chin upwards.
Kane chuckled, "Thanks, now I know how to answer her first question." He rolled his imaginary eyes.
"You do have a cute voice though, so I figured as much."
Cassy's lips curved up in a smile against her will, "Just eat the damn food."
"I think that's the best thing I've been ordered to do in ages."
-----------------
After devouring the rest of his dinner and helping Cassy with the dishes, Kane waved goodbye and walked back up to his apartment.
Entering through the door, he was thankfully met with a concerned "Where were you?" from his dad.
"I was over at Cassy's having dinner, I left you a message didn't I?"
Kane's dad checked his phone, his face turning apologetic, "Oh, I see it. Sorry bud, today was a long one."
"It's fine dad, you gotta do what you gotta do."
"Damn right, and what you've gotta do is help me put away these groceries."
'Shouldn't have said anything,' Kane chuckled.