“Like mother, like daughter.”
Erin rolled her eyes like she didn’t find Cassie totally charming.
Four
CASSIE
By the time the concert ended, Cassie had sufficiently calmed down. She and Erin had kept their hands, thighs, arms to themselves for the rest of the performance, so she could breathe again. They stayed in their seats while the auditorium emptied around them. It was rude; they were on an aisle. But getting up meant accepting this whole thing was over.
Cassie finally stood when Acacia came strutting up the aisle with a grin on her face. She’d shaved off her relaxed hair when she came to school, and Cassie was still getting used to it, but Acacia somehow looked so much more herself than she had before.
“There you are!” She tugged Cassie into a hug. “I thought you weren’t gonna show up and I was going to have to help Parker hide your body.”
“Really, Kaysh?” Cassie said, using the nickname she’d had for her since they were little. “You wouldn’t protect me from her?”
“Hey, you and me go back, but you know she gets scary!”
Erin laughed beside Cassie, and Acacia turned to her.
“You must be Dr. Bennett,” she said. “I’m Acacia.”
Erin shook her hand. “Call me Erin. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“A lot of terrible things, probably,” Cassie said. Acacia punched her in the shoulder, harder than necessary. “Hey, where’s your big brother?”
“He had some work to do. He’ll meet us later,” she said with a look that meant the work he had to do was likely buying them booze. Emerson had been buying them alcohol since long before Cassie was legal.
“Hiiiiiii!” Parker appeared, practically tackling Acacia in a hug. “Thanks for coming!”
There was the requisite doting on the star of the concert while Parker told them to stop—the giant grin on her face telling them otherwise.
As they headed toward an exit, Cassie realized what an idiot she was. If she’d wanted a proper goodbye, she should have done it in the bathroom. They were sure as shit not going to get one now. For one terrifying moment, she wished she was a hugger, because at least then she’d get to touch Erin again.
Okay, you’re done. She shut it down. She’d just wished she was a hugger. This had clearly gone too far. Erin was a good kisser, but that was ridiculous. Get ahold of yourself. She’d say goodbye to Erin and move on. Emerson better be buying a lot of booze.
Except God hated her, or something, because instead of getting to flee and put all of this behind her, she heard Parker shout, “Daddy!” and watched her catapult herself into the arms of the man waiting by the door.
Of course Parker’s dad was here. Cassie had known that. Parker being with her dad was what allowed her mom to be in the fucking bar last night.
Cassie wiped her hands on her jeans—which she’d forgotten were streaked with grease from the shop—and chanced a glance at Erin, who was looking elsewhere, jaw clenched tight.
“Hey baby,” her dad said. Then, with much lower enthusiasm, “Erin.”
“Adam.” Erin’s spine was stiff. Cassie wasn’t sure she would’ve noticed if she hadn’t seen how Erin was earlier, loose and grinning and at ease. Now she was ramrod straight and unblinking.
Parker was still grinning like a thousand-watt bulb, hanging off her dad’s arm. “Daddy, you remember Acacia from when you dropped me off. This is my other best friend, Cassie.”
Best friend? They’d barely known each other a month. Then again, the only person Cassie hung out with more than Parker was Acacia. She’d gotten out of bed before 8 A.M. on a Saturday for Parker.
Everything with Erin seemed worse if Cassie and Parker were best friends.
“Nice to see you again, Acacia, and nice meet you, Cassie,” Adam said, running a hand through his shaggy hair. He was so not hot enough for Erin. “Are your families here?”
“My brother is running an errand,” Acacia said. “We’re going to meet up with him later.”
“And yours, Cassie?”
She didn’t want to talk about her family, or lack thereof, especially not to Adam, who looked like a mediocre white man who had never not gotten his way. “Nope.”
Adam’s smile faltered, just a little, at her lack of enthusiasm. “They didn’t make the trip to see their daughter for the weekend?”
“Nope,” she repeated.
She was an only child who’d never met her father and hadn’t seen her mom in almost a year. Adam didn’t deserve to know any of that. Parker didn’t even know all of that. Acacia stepped closer to Cassie, best friend instinct or something. Cassie didn’t know why, but she looked at Erin, whose face was creased with concern.