Mistakes Were Made(15)

“You slept with Parker’s mom?”

Cassie swallowed. “I didn’t know she was her mom at the time.”

Acacia took a deep breath. She looked toward the ceiling, like she was trying to figure out the details without having to ask.

“When?” she finally said.

“Family Weekend,” Cassie answered. “Friday.”

Acacia’s eyes went wide. “Friday? Friday like the day before you went out to breakfast with her and Parker? The day before you sat next to her at the a cappella concert?”

Cassie nodded.

“Fuck, Cass,” Acacia said. “How did you even sit next to her? God—you didn’t do anything then, did you?”

“No,” she said immediately. “I mean—we just, like a little, in the bathroom—”

“What the fuck, Cassie?”

Cassie wasn’t going to cry over some woman she’d slept with once, but she might over how angry her best friend was with her. Well, she wouldn’t, obviously, but she was drunk and Acacia had her hands balled into fists, her mouth turned sharply down. Cassie had thought she’d be shocked, yeah, but not mad.

“Why would you tell me this? What am I supposed to do with this information?”

“I don’t know, Kaysh. Nothing. You’re not supposed to do anything with it. I just needed to tell someone.”

“Oh, you needed to tell someone you fucked Parker’s mom before you knew her, then did it again at her daughter’s a cappella concert?”

“No! God, we didn’t do it at the concert,” Cassie said. “We just made out and I felt her up, Jesus.”

“Because that’s so much better?”

“Yeah, actually, it is,” Cassie snapped.

Acacia stared at her. Cassie saw the exact moment her glare started to soften, and it wasn’t long until she was cracking up like she had when she thought Cassie was joking.

“Oh my God,” she wheezed, could barely breathe from laughing so hard. “Oh my God, you fucked Parker’s mom and now you’re hung up on her. This is hilarious.”

Cassie got up. She needed another drink if she was going to deal with this.

“I am not hung up on Erin,” she said, setting her glass down a little too hard on the kitchen counter.

Acacia laughed some more. “You so are, though!”

Cassie left the tonic out and threw back some vodka from the bottle.

“You’re so hung up on her, you had to tell me about it weeks later. Have you been thinking of her this whole time?”

“No,” Cassie bit out the lie immediately.

She drank some more, grateful for the warm way it made her head spin.

Acacia finally stopped laughing. She rose from the couch and came into the kitchen. Her big brown eyes were full of way too much understanding.

“Cassie,” she said quietly.

Cassie tried to glare at her, but the look probably came across more desperate than anything.

“C’mon, babe,” Acacia said, taking the vodka bottle out of Cassie’s hand and putting it on the counter. “Come tell me about it. Feel free to skip over the details, though.”

Cassie followed her to the couch. They sat down again, Acacia still holding Cassie’s hand. Cassie told her everything. Acacia was silent until Cassie mentioned stumbling off the curb and Erin catching her.

“Shit, Klein, you are so fucked.”

“What?” That was like, the least bad part of this story. She’d fucked her friend’s mom and played footsie with her while at the same table as her daughter, but letting Erin catch her before she face-planted was what fucked Cassie over?

“So distracted staring into this woman’s eyes you fall over? And don’t mind when she catches you? With most people, you’d rather eat pavement than let them put their hands on you. I was mostly kidding about you being hung up on her, but damn.”

“Whatever,” Cassie said, because wanting to fuck her again and being hung up on her were two very different things.

Acacia went back to quiet listening until Cassie finished her story. She smirked before she opened her mouth, and Cassie knew she was going to hate whatever Kaysh said next.

“So you made out with my brother because you were sexually frustrated about Parker’s mom?” she said. “That is too good.”

“I hate you,” Cassie said.

Acacia beamed. “Actually, you don’t.”

“Actually, I do.”





Five





CASSIE


Actually, she didn’t.

She loved Acacia, because Acacia was the best friend she’d ever had. Acacia was stubborn and self-righteous and a little wild, but she was the most loyal person Cassie knew. And she was on her side.

She didn’t tell Parker. Didn’t tell anyone. She didn’t bring Erin up again, unless Cassie did first. Even then, she was the perfect friend—let Cassie whine a little bit, offered some comfort, then told her, “You really need to get laid. Like, by someone who isn’t Parker’s mom.”

Cassie knew this, but she didn’t do it. Spending too much time in the shop was a better way to get her mind off Erin than sleeping with someone else would’ve been. She’d probably compare them, which would be worse. Plus, the shop was more productive. She had reasons to spend too much time there that didn’t include thinking too much about Erin. Namely: Caltech. At the beginning of ninth grade, her school had students take one of those absurd “what career are you suited for” questionnaires. It had told Cassie to be a race car driver or a plumber. It told her that she had problems with authority and wasn’t built for academia. After, she’d googled “careers making planes” then “best aerospace engineering schools.” She found Caltech, and never looked back.