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When Cassie agreed to do the prank that The Chumps were telling her about she didn’t really think it would cause anything.
Of course sure it would lead to Sumner being a little upset but it would blow over. And besides, she would get to be a little closer to Sumner…not that she cared about that at all. And maybe he would also see that and call it a day. It was painfully obvious he wanted her anyways.
She and the rest of The Chumps got everything into place. Cassie made sure the mistletoe they got had white berries (just in case if Sumner wouldn’t do it because TECHNICALLY it isn’t a ‘real mistletoe’) and got Sumner over to the mistletoe in question, Roman and James were recording and ready to take photos behind the couch, and Joe and Will kind of just kept watch or were supposed to help but didn’t care enough.
Everything was running smoothly so far. Cassie had gotten Sumner over to the mistletoe while talking to him. “Oh and I’m gonna need the notes we took in Calculus we took today, I’ll give them back to you by next Friday, kay?” Sumner took a breath to respond, only to be cut off by Cassie. “Oh, how did that get there?” Sumner cocked his head a little in confusion, only to look up and notice a mistletoe above him and the girl he had been absolutely head over heals with. No big deal, right? If it wasn’t 34.7° F outside (as he last checked.) He would have been sweating bullets in his turtleneck. “Hmm…Well I guess kissing you wouldn’t be too bad…” Cassie spoke to him with a smirk.
Well if Sumner didn’t find himself on the brink of heat exhaustion before, at this point he certainly was. It didn’t help that apparently Cassie had more to say. Adding more to the verbal onslaught that he was still trying to process.
“This’ll be your first, won’t it?” That had Sumner completely baffled. Where was all of this coming from? Of course he didn’t hate it, not in the slightest…but had Cassie been feeling this for a while? He could already feel his nerves acting up a bit. He fidgeted with his hands quietly. He could practically feel his face getting redder by the second. He watched as Cassie leaned in a little with a wide eyed stare. “Are you nervous…?” Cassie had read him better than any notes he gave her. But that’s when it clicked. This was his chance…!! He had to pep talk himself into it before shakily starting to ask the question he’d been wanting to do all senior year… “Uhm…actually I’ve been wondering–”
The sudden sound of a camera’s flash going off stopped Sumner dead in his tracks. He quickly turned in his horror to see Roman and James. They were filming him and taking pictures of him. They were laughing at him. His face went pale, as he quickly walked, and then ran to the the closest room he could find and closed the door, locking it...or at least he thought he did. Even though he wasn’t in the living room anymore, he could still hear them laughing at him. Sumner didn’t really care for parties. They made his anxiety flare up a bit, but he still made a effort to try and go to them mainly just because Cassie went to a lot of them. He should have known. It was all just some stupid joke. He had made a complete idiot of himself in front of everyone. And in front of Cassie. Did Cassie even really like him? Or was that just apart of the prank too? But she wouldn’t be that cruel…right? Sumner sunk to the floor. He took off his glasses and gently laid them beside him as he brought his knees to his chest, his head in his hands. The world suddenly felt like it was fading away, replaced with only the loud, condescending laughter of his peers, which he was beginning to hate more than anything else.
Cassie had no idea where Sumner had ran off to after the fakeout was over. She ended up taking a few shots since then and was having a great time. That was until Lena of all people came up to her. She was only there because of Will, so why was she talking to her? “Sorry to uhm…bother you but…have you seen Sumner? I haven’t seen him since earlier and I’m getting worried…” Lena asked her timidly, fidgeting with her hair. Cassie couldn’t help but get jealous. “Why are you so worried?” Cassie asked. “Well we’re friends so I wanted to check on him…Sumner has kinda bad anxiety so I–” Cassie cut her off a bit short. If anyone was gonna check on Sumner it would be her. “Yeah well I was already planning on looking for him so you can like, go hang out with Will or whatever.” Cassie shooed her away as she finished her drink and started looking for Sumner. It took her a moment of looking around in the crowd before hearing something in the bathroom. It sounded like….sniffling? She knocked once to no response. She sighed in frustration. She opened the door not really realizing that Sumner was in there. “Sumner? Sumner where the hell are you- Oh! There you are! …Oh.” Cassie was glad to find Sumner…until she saw him hugging his knees to his chest, crying.
It didn't hit her at first, but when she realized Sumner was having a panic attack... she herself panicked a little bit. Cassie didn’t really know exactly how to comfort anyone, let alone while drunk…but guess she at least had to try. “Hey…uhm are you like okay…?” Cassie tried to ask softly, moving to sit down on the floor beside him. Sumner didn’t respond, he just let out a soft sob. He was trembling pretty bad. Cassie wasn’t really the kind of person to get all sympathetic when other people cried but seeing Sumner like this…kind of hurt. “Uhm…Sumner?” Again Cassie was at first met with no response, but at least Sumner actually looked up. His eyes were red and puffy as he just looked up at Cassie. He couldn't bring himself to speak. He didn't even know if he could trust her after that. Cassie put a hand on his shoulder, making him flinch as she promptly and awkwardly moved away. Cassie had only really watched someone else have a panic attack once but she at least kinda knew what to do. "Hey uhm...I'm sorry for the whole uhm mistletoe thing. Honestly it was mainly Roman's idea and I just kinda went with it…I know it was fucked up and like I know I can be evil sometimes but I didn’t mean to be that evil. Well, to you anyways." It wasn't the best apology, but hey, she tried. And luckily when your as head over heels for someone as Sumner is with Cassie, her trying was at least enough for him to accept it. He wasn't okay, by any means. He still was silently praying for Roman's demise, but with Cassie there, it made him less likely to take matters into his own hands.
It was clear he wasn't ready to talk just yet, but he wasn't trembling as much. He cried a little as the back of his mind was still roaring with laughter from everyone. Eventually Cassie cleared the small silence "Hey uhm...listen...why don't we uh...take breathes! That's what people are supposed to do during panic attacks right?" Cassie took a deep breath in and slowly breathed out, urging Sumner to follow suit. It took him a moment, but he started to breath in and out with her. The loud, mental image of everyone laughing and making fun of him started to slow down a bit. Sumner and Cassie stayed like that for a little, just trying to ground Sumner back to reality. As he calmed down slowly, Sumner found himself yearning for the quiet time him and Cassie. As he calmed down, he enjoyed the feeling of just being alone with her, even if the circumstances were a tad bit more bittersweet than he liked. It was during this time Sumner realized...him and Cassie have always done something when they were together, but he liked them just being together and enjoying her company. The silence in the room was no longer a tense hurry to try and calm Sumner down. It was now a long needed moment of calm after a storm. Eventually Sumner decided to turn the tables, wiping his remaining tears away with still semi shaky hands, and broke the silence. "....Thank you, Cashie." Normally he would have silently cursed himself for his slight lisp, but he didn't care at the moment. He was just happy that his panic attack stopped. He just felt safe with Cassie beside him.
So he wanted to be a little closer to her. With slightly flushed cheeks he grabbed his glasses and put them on so he wasn’t making blurry eye contact with her. “Cashie…I’m sorry if this is uhm…sudden but…can I…hold your hand?” Sumner had quietly asked her, stammering in between pauses slightly. Cassie honestly couldn’t help but blush a little herself. “Uh, yeah sure. Just don’t make a big deal out of it or anything.” Cassie had murmured that last part, but Sumner heard it and chuckled a little. “Says the one who’s blushing right now.” He responded to her with a smirk. “Ugh, whatever. It’s just because of the alcohol.” She had rebutted, but still put her hand out for him to hold it. Sumner quickly accepted it. He enjoyed the warmth of her hand as the moment was interrupted by Cassie letting out a small yawn. “God…what time is it even?” Sumner couldn’t help but blush at the small noise. Why did Cassie have to be so perfect? He lifted his turtleneck sleeve to check his wrist watch. “Well it’s about 1:43-1:45AM, er well now it’s closer to 1:44–” Sumner was stopped dead in his tracks by the sudden feeling of Cassie leaning on his shoulder, before falling asleep. Summer’s face burned red as he binked at her in a tad bit of surprise. After a moment to process, he grabbed her red solo cup and put it on the counter, before allowing himself to fall asleep, still holding Cassie’s hand as he wrapped a arm around her shoulder.
Maybe he’d be forgiving and consider burning down all of Canyon Hills High with Roman and James inside of it some other time.