Anywhere But Where You're Going Next

Cassie bit her skewer and held it there in her teeth, and reached up to pinch both of Akashi's cheek and give her a shake. "I love that you're you, too," she said, taking the skewer back.

Taylor guffawed at Akashi and jabbed her yakitori in her direction. "There were expectations on me too, man. Now look at me." She laughed, and left it unclear what she meant.

Cassie tucked her chin down and gave Akashi a gentle scolding with her eyes. "I don't know what's going to happen with Shinobu. He's coming with me, but... I'm just not going count my chickens before they hatch. I hope he loves it there, but I don't know if he's really used to being limited by things, and..." She shrugged. "We'll see."

To break up the moment, Taylor spiked her half eaten yakitori into a nearby garbage can and gave Cassie a push on the shoulder. "A'right, c'mon. We've gotta keep moving before you guys get all fat and sleepy. What should we do next?"

"Wellllllllll, I'd kinda-"

"Fuck that, we're going to the playground. It's like two blocks, wanna walk or drive?" Taylor asked, bouncing ni place like she just might fly there instead.

"Umm..." Cassie glanced at Johnny, who had been almost completely silent so far.

"Walk." Johnny said. As much as he loved driving, he liked walking and jogging and running too. The night was nice and the air refreshing, and Johnny felt like enjoying that would be good.

"Ha, I'll race you!" Akashi said and eyed Taylor, bolting down the street. She knew she wasn't going to outrace Taylor, but it was funny anyway.

Johnny strolled down the sidewalk next to Cassie, taking easy steps. "You know, shorty." He said. "He's a pretty cool dude. He wouldn't go with you if he weren't serious. I believe that. After he found out you were leaving, he freaked out, but not really because he didn't want to go. He was worried about Shikusu, but things kind of worked out." He said.

"My cousin and her are about the same age and Ma's been trying to get her out of our uncle's house for about as long as she's been born. Her and Shikusu are going to apply for the same universities and get a place together. They are both pretty scared, but I know that Shinobu's really grateful and Ma is too." He shrugged and pointed at Taylor.

"I had no clue what I was doing when I married her." He said. "Honestly, I still don't have a clue. I never ever thought it was a mistake, I love her to death, more than anyone in the world, but we're both so young. Thinkin about it is still a little scary and junk and I don't think either of us has half the head on our shoulders as either of you do." He laughed and ruffled Cassie's hair, leaning against her.

"Just, stay frosty and junk and everything will be cool, Shorty." He said finally. "That's how we make it work. We stay chill as fuck."

He smiled at Cassie. "Anyway, you want a ride to the park?" He asked. "I bet I could carry you on my shoulders and jog and barely break a sweat."

Taylor stopped, steel-eyed, and shook out each leg while Akashi thundered on ahead of her. She stretched her neck side to side and got down, one leg at a time, into a sprinter's starting position, and after a moment she lifted her head and opened her fierce eyes.

"BYE!" She shouted as she streaked past the huffing sumo light a bolt of blonde lightning.

Cassie watched the scene in front of her with muted bewilderment, something she was not unused to feeling.

"That's super awesome, about Shikusu. I feel bad that I still haven't really met her, and now I'm taking her brother away. But I'm really not thinking about marriage right now!" She assured Johnny. "I mean... We need to date for realsies before I can really think about that. Though... I guess..."

She sighed. She would have lots of time to think about that once she got home. Once she left everything she had known in her adult life and went home.

She reached out and took Johnny's hand. Her hands were small, but surprisingly strong. "I don't mind walking, just... Keep me company for a minute while those two have their fun." She said, and smiled up at him. "Johnny, when I leave, I want to make sure that everything is in order. I don't want to leave any... loose ends. Ya know?"

"Ok, See you!"

Akashi laughed as Taylor zoomed past her. She grinned devilishly and slowed to a slow trot. "Like my fat ass was going to race you." She said to herself, not looking back to Johnny and Cassie.

Johnny squeezed Cassie's hand as she took his. Some might have thought it was weird, especially with his wife a few yards up, but Johnny didn't think anything of it. Somehow it just felt natural.

He smiled at Cassie. "We'll get there, Shorty." He listened to her words and then gave her a a careful look. "Did you do it?" He asked. "Tie everythin up? Is there anything ya need me ta do? You know I'd do anythin for ya, Shorty."

"Umm... I dunno." Cassie thought while they walked along. "I guess it's now or never though, right?"

She saw Akashi slow her pace up ahead, while Taylor kept at a full sprint. "Fattyyyyy!" Taylor shouted as she disappeared down the street.

"I think... You're like a big brother, Johnny. I'm really fortunate to have so many big brothers who are so good to me. And they're all so polite and handsome!" She laughed-sighed. "I'm glad you married Taylor. I believe you when you say that you stay chill, but we both know Taylor pretty well... So I'm glad you're chill enough for the both of you."

She pulled out her phone as they approached the park, with swings and slides and monkey bars and all the trappings of a playground intended for much younger people. Taylor was already there, precariously perched on the very top of the monkey bars like she was queen of the yard.

"I'm gonna call Bucky..." She said, and dialed. She sat down on a swing and put it on speaker phone.

"I AM YOUR NEW QUEEN!" Taylor declared from way up high.

After several rings, a tired Jacob Elliot answered with a tired "Hey there, baby bear."

"Buckyyyyyy!"

"It's getting kinda late, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Me and Akashi and Taylor and Johnny are out on the town! Well, I'm on a swingset."

"Oh. Sounds like fun. Hi, everybody."

Taylor jumped down from the monkey bars and landed in a roll. "Heyyyy, Buckyyyyy," she said in a sultry voice. Bucky had been star struck when he had first met the person whose poster had occupied his bedroom wall, and since then Taylor liked to have some fun with it.

"Hey, Taylor. So I guess you're turning into a pumpkin in a few hours, huh, Bear?"

"Yeaah..."

"Yeah... Well have fun tonight and you can sleep on the plane. Do you guys want some baby Cassie stories in the meantime?"

Johnny nodded and let go of Cassie's hand, ruffling her hair and pulling her head against his chest while they approached the park.

Akashi strolled into the park wearing a big grin and looked around for something to climb on that Taylor wasn't on. She ended up just finding a spot on the grass when Cassie went on the swings. "Ohaaaayoooo Bucky-kuuuun." Akashi chirped.

"Yo, dude." Johnny said as he leaned against the swing poll.

"Sure!" Akashi said with a big grin. "Tell us all the embarrassing ones!"

"Well, you guys all probably know by now how she got her nickname..."

"Yeah, Cassie the picnic thief," Taylor chimed in.

"Hmmm... Well, when Cassie was little, like three or four, her most favorite word in the whole world was hodge-podge."

"Hodge-podge..." Cassie echoed with a smile.

"Probably mom taught her what it meant, and then it was everywhere. She was at the table drawing a picture, and mom looked at it and said 'Cassie, that looks like a kitty-cat'. And Cassie said 'yeah,' and mom said 'but I thought you said you were drawing a picture of Marcelo Garcia?' And Cassie furrowed her brow and nodded and said 'Well... Issa hodge-podge."

Taylor sat down on the dirt next to Cassie's swing and listened with a bittersweet smile, and Cassie blushed ever so slightly. "And you guys have to know about the poking. Poke-a-poke-a-poke-a-poke-a."

"Hah!"

"And sometimes it turned into pacha-pacha-pacha-pacha, but mostly when she poked our cat. And then dad would be having a serious conversation with one of the big, scary, Russian elite submission fighters preparing at the school for whatever, and then suddenly poke-a-poke-a-poke-a, and there's this little orange shrimp poking the confused Russian guy in the belly. And dad would just say 'go show Mr Palmer your rolls, Baby Bear', and she'd run off to find the assistant. And that happened a lot.

"And that was mostly when she was really young, and I'm not that much older. The one I remember the most, personally, was when we were at one of Nicky's soccer games for the home school league, when Nick was in middle school, and one of the kids on his team botched a tackle and got red carded. He was really upset, and he stomped back to the bench and sat down, and then we, me and mom and dad, realized Cassie was gone. And we were looking around all over, and then we see her going down toward the field. Mom sent me to get her, and as I was going down the bleachers, little six-year-old Cassie sat down on the bench next to this kid, twice her size, and put her arm around him. And I was nine or ten at the time, but I remember thinking... That's Cassie.

"She's such a special human being, and I'm so happy that she's finally coming home, but I know how much that sucks for you guys because she left us first. Just... There are no forever-goodbyes with Cassie, though. So... Have fun tonight, and then tomorrow we can all start something new."

Johnny and Akashi both listened to Bucky tell his stories about Cassie, smiling as he spilled the beans on the young Cassie. They were all very good and Akashi was grinning from ear to ear at the end. She felt a good connection to them as well. Her father died when she was very little, but her earliest memories were of him and her own heya, being similarly cute and adorable around big, scary men.

"Hey, man." Johnny said, speaking up. "We all got phones and junk. It's not like this is ancient times and shit where we gotta wait for some pigeon to send us a note in six months. Morgan's got all that computer shit hooked the fuck up in our house. We could talk to her over the computer every day if we wanted to as soon as either of us figures out how the fuck to use it." He gave Taylor a nudge and laughed. "It's all good, dude. Plus, if we got some time off, hoppin on a plane ain't a big deal." He added.

"Haaaai!" Akashi agreed. "So, are you all out of stories, Bucky-kun?" Akashi asked.