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I look up at him. This guy knows nothing about me. He’s not expecting anything from me, and I like that. I need that. “Yeah, I am fun.” Well, I used to be before I got too scared to do anything. But this is my year for stepping out of my comfort zone, so I can be fun Cassie again.
All of a sudden, Miles pulls me around the side of one of the food trucks where the light is low. “What are you up to?” I gasp.
He slips a flask out of the side of his jacket. “You look like you could use a drink.”
I take the flask, unsure if I should go there or not. Alcohol and I don’t mix well. One small drink leads to black-out drunk quickly, but I need something tonight to take the edge off. I can feel Miles’s eyes on me, and I take the easy way out, unscrewing the top and taking a big swig. The liquid burns the back of my throat, but weirdly it feels comforting, so I take another. The uncomfortable feeling from earlier starts to settle.
Miles is watching me with something like amusement on his features. “You want some?” I ask him, holding up the flask and giving it a wiggle.
“If there’s anything left.” He laughs, leaning up against the truck in that way that guys do. If I tried that, I would probably fall flat on my ass. But he looks so cool. “What’s the deal with you and Brandon? There’s this weird vibe between the two of you.”
I roll my eyes for emphasis. “He’s just a major pain in my ass. He was friends with my older sister, so he thinks he knows it all or something.”
Miles looks a little puzzled. “The way he looks at you, I thought there must have been a history there or something.”
I look at him, not sure exactly what to say, so I lie. “Nope.” It’s a lie I have said so many times before that it just rolls off my tongue.
“Good, cause I know you said you don’t date co-workers and I’m cool with that. But I like you, and I think we should be friends.”
I nod and give him a cheeky smile. “Yeah, we should.” The buzz of the alcohol combined with the way he is looking at me is giving me ideas.
BRANDON
I WANDER DOWN THE hill, searching the lineup of students and teachers for any glimpse of Miles and Cassandra. It’s been at least half an hour since they left, and I have been trying to play it cool, but I’m losing my edge and need to know where the fuck they are. I make it to the end of the lineup of food trucks and turn back, and that’s when I spot her, mostly hidden in the shadows, but I would know that body anywhere. She’s leaning with her elbow against one of the trucks. Miles is next to her, and the two of them look a little too cozy for my liking.
“There you two are. Scarlet and I were beginning to worry when you didn’t come back. The movie will start soon,” I say, announcing myself so they know I’m here and I don’t end up walking in on something I really don’t need to see.
Cassie rolls her eyes at me, in that over-the-top way that she knows pisses me off. “What do you want?” she groans with so much sass I almost want to show her exactly what I want right here and now, not caring who is around to see.
“Miles, Scarlet’s looking for you back on the hill,” I tell him in a tone he will understand. He doesn’t need to witness this scene. And it’s going to be one. The tension has been building all week.
He looks between the two of us, then backs away. “Yeah, okay. I’ll see you later, Cassie.”
“Told you he’d come looking for us,” she slurs, waving in his direction.
I take a step closer to her. “Have you been drinking?” I ask under my breath so no one else around hears me. Is she seriously that irresponsible? She could get fired for drinking on school premises.
She glares daggers at me, and her hands comes to her hips like she is trying to stand her ground, but she's going to need a hell of a lot more than that. “That’s none of your business, Coach.”
“We’re on school property and in charge of these students, so I think it might be my business. Do you want to lose your job in the first week?” I ask her more seriously. What the hell is she playing at drinking on school grounds? This isn’t like her at all.
“Like you're one to follow the rules. When did you get so stuck up and boring? You used to be fun,” she slurs, nearly tripping over her own feet as she continues to try and stumble away from me.
I place a hand on her shoulder and spin her back toward me. She’s acting like a brat, and she needs to cut it out. “It’s called growing up, you should try it. The Cassie I knew would never have been so reckless.”
“Reckless.” She laughs, and it’s haunted, her eyes staring right into my soul with a darkness that was never there before. She’s changed. Something has altered her so drastically, that when I see her like this, she’s practically unrecognizable to me, and I knew every last little thing about her back then. “The Cassie you knew thought all her dreams would come true if she wished for them hard enough. She was an idiot. The girl you see now has grown up, and she knows better. I’m not here for a long time anymore, Brandon. I’m here for a good time. Fuck the consequences. My life was already destroyed six years ago. You made damn sure of that. Now I just want to make up for lost time and have some fun. And tonight, you’re the fun police. I was about to hook up with Miles. Thanks for cock-blocking me.”
That comment has me seeing red. Why would she tell me that, knowing how jealous I get? She tugs on her hands, trying to pull out of my hold, but I keep my grip strong. She needs to hear me out, and I don’t want her stumbling out there like this in front of the students. Or worse into the parking lot and getting hit by a car.
“You’re going to put all the blame on me? I don’t think that’s very fair.” I ignore the last part of what she said and try and focus on what I want to talk to her about, hoping the other part was just to get a rise out of me and she wasn’t really serious about hooking up with him.
Her hands come to my chest, and she strokes over the fabric of my T-shirt softly, like I’m a puppy. “No, you’re right, it’s not. We both fucked up my life. But you got to move on with yours and become a mega-famous football star, while I was left here to deal with the consequences and pick up the shattered pieces of mine.” She shoves at me, aggressively pushing out of my grip, and I stumble back, surprised by her strength—or maybe it was her comment.
“Do you think it was easy for me? There were times I wanted to go to you, check if you were okay. I didn’t want to walk away from you, but I wasn’t given a choice,” I call after her, hoping it will be enough to stop her. I’m so not done with this talk.
She whirls around, even more furious this time. “Everyone has a choice, Brandon. Everyone, and you made yours,” she spits back at me.
“You have to understand, Cassie. I did what was best for everyone. I didn’t have everything handed to me on a silver platter like it was for you. Sometimes people have to make hard decisions for the greater good of others,” I say quietly, but so she can hear me.
