Mistakes Were Made(70)
Cassie should’ve known better. She barely knew Parker. Parker was just a freshman who roomed with Cassie’s best friend. Yeah, she and Cassie had gotten along for a while there, but apparently that was it.
But whatever. Cassie didn’t need Parker. She’d had to fend for herself for pretty much as long as she could remember.
It wasn’t like she was short on ways to spend her time. She had homework and classes, Acacia and work in the shop.
She had Erin.
Not that they were dating, or anything. That would be ridiculous.
Seth had been Cassie’s first relationship. Not her first anything else, but her first actual relationship. Cassie knew from experience that sleeping with someone did not mean you were dating. People could get what they needed from each other without it being anything other than the physical. Admittedly, it was more than that with Erin—Cassie actually liked her, which was a lot more than she could say for most of the people she’d fooled around with.
But liking someone as a person didn’t mean you were dating them any more than sleeping with them did. Nor did texting every day. They weren’t texting each other good morning and good night or anything, but it wasn’t unusual for Erin to be the first and last person Cassie talked to each day. Acacia could only take so much engineering talk, but Erin seemed to have endless interest. They spent an entire day texting about grad school—Cassie admitted to applying at MIT, plus Georgia and Virginia Tech, even though she was dead set on Caltech. She was confident—cocky, maybe—but not dumb enough not to have a backup.
Erin [11:23 AM]
Have you decided what kind of astronaut you want to be yet?
Cassie liked that Erin included the emoji, like it wouldn’t have been obvious she was joking otherwise. It was how she always teased: gently. It was too damn sweet, and made Cassie feel way too rude for her most of the time.
Cassie went through the pros and cons of aeronautical versus astronautical specialties. Every time she thought she’d figured out which was right for her, she’d come up with another pro for the other one.
Cassie [11:34 AM]
I wanna make things that go fast. That’s all I know for sure
Erin [11:35 AM]
You’ll figure it out and kick ass in whatever you decide
Cassie grinned. She appreciated people who didn’t underestimate her.
Cassie [11:35 AM]
What about you?
Erin lit up when she talked about the free clinic that was opening that fall. They’d just gotten the final approvals, but Erin couldn’t shake the feeling that this dream was gonna get pulled away from her at the last minute.
Not all their conversation topics were so heavy though. Sometimes Erin would just complain about patients, or Cassie about classes. Cassie liked to send selfies from the gym, pre-workout, so she was in her sports bra and tight pants but wasn’t sweaty yet. Selfies from the shop, though, came after she’d finished working but before she cleaned up—Erin liked her a little dirty. They talked about vacations they wanted to take—Cassie had never left the eastern time zone, so she wasn’t particularly picky. Erin wanted to go anywhere warm.
Erin [4:51 PM]
I went snorkeling in the Bahamas once. It was amazing, but I’d love to go scuba diving
Cassie [4:51 PM]
Oh hell no
Erin [4:52 PM]
???
Cassie [4:52 PM]
The ocean is terrifying!!!!! Why do you willingly want to go into its depths?
Erin [4:52 PM]
From the woman who wants to go to space
Cassie [4:52 PM]
Okay, first of all, I’m not going to space, I’m just going to make things that do. And second, the ocean is way scarier than space!
Erin [4:53 PM]
Absolutely not. Black holes? Possible alien life-forms?
Cassie [4:53 PM]
You wanna talk about aliens? Have you seen some of the organisms that live in the deep ocean? Space is mostly nothing. We don’t even know what is in the ocean
Erin [4:53 PM]
You’re ridiculous.
Cassie [4:53 PM]
You’re the one who wants to go scuba diving
Erin never asked about Parker. Cassie couldn’t have told her anything even if she had.
The next Monday, after a weekend without hearing from Parker even once, Cassie decided to be the one to skip breakfast. She had class, so she still had to get up, but she didn’t have to eat in the dining hall. Lonely Reese’s Puffs in her apartment was a pathetic breakfast, but it worked.
Acacia [Today 8:15 AM]
Where are you?
Cassie lied.
Cassie [8:20 AM]
Just woke up sry. Gonna eat here so I can make class on time
Acacia [8:20 AM]
We both know you take .5 seconds to get ready for class. You got time for breakfast
Cassie [8:21 AM]
It’s cool. I’ll catch you at lunch or something
Cassie didn’t ask if Parker was there. It didn’t matter. She didn’t care. Her Reese’s Puffs were delicious, however pathetic, and there was no conspicuously empty seat at her apartment counter, the way there’d been in the cafeteria the past two weeks.
Erin [Today 8:25 AM]
Good morning
Cassie’s mood lifted. She held her phone up at an angle, snapped a quick selfie of her eating cereal. Except she almost missed her mouth and ended up with milk dripping down her chin. She sent the pic anyway. It wasn’t a great picture, but she’d noticed that while Erin usually sent photos of her coffee mug, or some other inanimate object, every time Cassie sent a selfie, Erin sent one back.