Mistakes Were Made(45)

“Got ’em,” Erin said as she pulled away.

She left with the marshmallows as quickly as she’d arrived. Cassie could still feel Erin’s tongue in her mouth.

“How many?” Erin asked Parker as Cassie remembered how to walk and made it back to her place at the counter.

“Three, please,” Parker beamed.

“Cassie?”

Cassie blinked. “One’s fine.”

Erin dropped two into Cassie’s mug, sliding a grin her way. Cassie swore she was going to give her a heart attack.

Cassie tried to estimate how far the pantry was from the counter. She got off on doing things she shouldn’t, sure, but they hadn’t been ten feet from Erin’s daughter.

Erin hid a grin behind her mug of cocoa.

Cassie let herself get a milk mustache and refused to wipe it off when Parker laughed at her.

The next day began with a good morning kiss and ended with game night at Haylee’s. Cassie beat everyone handily in Connect Four until they were no longer willing to play her anymore. They moved on to Life, which quickly turned into Life with booze, and devolved into just the booze part when Parker got mad that she ended up with four sons and flipped the board over.

Next came Mario Kart, then drunk driving Mario Kart—where you had to finish your drink before you finish all three laps or you didn’t win. Madison chugged their drink before even starting the race, then came back to take the lead for the last lap. Cassie got a blue shell and ended up sneaking into first place right before the finish line, laughing hard enough to almost fall off the couch while Madison cursed at her.

Things got a little hazy after that. Cassie eventually ended up sprawled across a couch, phone in her hand.

Cassie [Today 12:01 AM]

You said to text if we wanted you to come pick us up and you don’t need to but I want you to

Cassie [12:01 AM]

I mean I want you to and I don’t want you to

Cassie [12:02 AM]

I mean I want to kiss you

Erin [12:03 AM]

I thought you didn’t have a habit of drunk texting.

Cassie [12:03 AM]

I don’t

Erin [12:04 AM]

What do you call this?

Cassie [12:04 AM]

It’s not a habit. You’re just more interesting than Parker’s friends

That was mean; her friends were perfectly nice. But Cassie would’ve much rather been interacting with Erin than anyone here, nice as they may be. She could get drunk with college kids any time. She only had a week left with Erin.

Erin [12:06 AM]

Maybe they’d be more interesting if you actually talked to them instead of texting me.

Cassie was going to reply that that was very definitely not true, but Parker shouted from across the room, “Who are you sexting over there, Klein?”

“Your mom,” was out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

Parker rolled her eyes and went back to her conversation with Caleb. Cassie put her phone away.

The next morning, Cassie woke up cramped on a couch with Madison. She didn’t quite remember going to sleep last night, and couldn’t imagine she’d agreed to share a couch. Everyone else was passed out around the room. Parker had a couch to herself, Caleb on the floor beside her. Cassie wished she was still asleep, but it seemed her body had gotten used to waking up earlier than usual. She made her way upstairs in search of breakfast.

She found Haylee’s dad, sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper.

“Good morning,” she said.

“Good morning—Cassie, was it?”

She nodded. “Mind if I snag a cup of coffee?”

“Mugs are in that cabinet,” he said. “There’s nondairy hazelnut creamer in the fridge.”

Cassie turned away to hide her grimace. Nondairy hazelnut creamer. Yum.

She ended up needing the creamer, though, because the coffee itself was burnt and bitter. She wanted to pour it down the sink.

“Can you believe Congress these days?” Haylee’s dad asked.

He went on about something he was reading in the paper so Cassie couldn’t even escape to a bathroom and get rid of the coffee where he wouldn’t see. Instead she was stuck talking to him until Haylee came upstairs. Cassie took the first opportunity she got to book it back to the basement, leaving her mug on the kitchen counter.

Everyone else was at least partially awake by then. Caleb and Madison trash-talked each other as they raced in Mario Kart, Parker a yawning spectator. Cassie threw herself beside Parker on the couch.

“Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something?” Parker asked.

“We slept on couches,” Cassie snapped, basically proving Parker’s point.

“You hungover, honey?” Parker asked. She was faux sweet and it was all Cassie could do not to take a swipe at her.

She wasn’t really hungover, just grouchy. Haylee’s house was nice, but Cassie wanted to go back to Parker’s, where there was good coffee and better company—Erin would never try to talk to her about Social goddamn Security before 10 A.M.

When they made it back to Parker’s—not until past noon—the house was quiet; Erin was on shift at the hospital. Cassie tumbled onto the couch in the living room, leaving the love seat for Parker.

“There’s probably an NCIS marathon on or something,” Parker said.