Page 109 of Mistakes Were Made

“Yeah. You don’t have to have everything figured out right now.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Again, Erin felt like she’d done something wrong. “Is that not what you wanted me to say?”

“I just thought—you’re usually the one pushing me to live up to my potential or whatever. I figured you’d want me to find an internship or go to art camp or something.”

“Well, yes, I know you can succeed at whatever you put your mind to,” Erin said delicately. “But you’re the one who gets to decide what that is. And you also have to make time to have fun. You’re allowed to be a kid for a while.”

Parker didn’t say it, but Erin could tell she was surprised. Rather than let her mind spiral again, Erin joked: “If you don’t get a job, though, I’m definitely making you mow the lawn every week.”

“Ugh, that might be worse than having to get a job,” Parker said with a giggle that made Erin’s heart grow three sizes.

Twenty-One

CASSIE

Parker [Today 3:38 PM]

What are you doing tonight? There’s a party at the baseball house

Cassie stared at her phone. After the a cappella concert, the group chat had been resurrected. Cassie sent her favorite of the pictures they’d taken at the after-party, then Acacia had sent pictures of her and Parker in Chicago over spring break. Cassie had tried to keep up the conversation, which mostly meant sending memes. Occasionally Parker would send “lol” in the group text, or even a meme of her own.

The last time Cassie had gotten a text solely from Parker to her was more than a month ago.

She had no plans for the night, but even if she did, she wasn’t going to turn Parker down.

Cassie [3:40 PM]

Sounds cool

She considered asking who was going, just for something else to say, but she didn’t want Parker to think she’d only go if other peoplewould be there. Her thumbs hovered over her screen, her brain never quite figuring out what to type.

Parker [3:42 PM]

I’m going out to dinner so I was gonna meet Kaysh there. You should walk over with her.

Cassie [3:43 PM]

Awesome, I’ll see you there

Parker [3:43 PM]

And it’s the baseball house, so there’ll probably be free jungle juice

Cassie [3:44 PM]

I’d expect nothing less

Parties at the baseball house tended to get out of hand, and when Cassie and Acacia walked up, it was already loud enough they were sure to get a noise complaint. Parker met them inside, Sam and Gwen in tow, and handed them red Solo cups before even saying hi.

Free jungle juice or not, Cassie should’ve pregamed. Greased the wheels of social interaction. It had helped at the a cappella party. How drunk did they have to get before that easy friendship came back fully?

Before it got too awkward, Parker suggested dancing, and Acacia was never going to say no to that. If it had been anything else, Cassie wouldn’t have said no to Parker, but as it was, she and Gwen begged off. The other three disappeared into the crowd, cups still in hand.

Cassie sipped her jungle juice. It didn’t taste like there was alcohol in it, which probably meant she’d be hungover as hell tomorrow.

“Don’t get too drunk,” Gwen said.

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