She paused to hug Acacia.
“Love you,” Acacia said.
“Love you, too.”
Cassie cleared her throat. “Parker. You were saying?”
“Oh right,” Parker said like she lost her train of thought, but her nonchalance was too obvious for Cassie to believe her. “Anyway, my parents are going to fly you to New Hampshire for break.”
“What?” Cassie stared at her. Parker looked over her shoulder to the short line of people at security. “What are you talking about? That’s gotta be like, hundreds of dollars.”
“I was good this year,” Parker said. “Santa helped out.”
“Parker, I’m serious. That’s way too much.”
“I gotta go so I don’t miss my flight. Love you both! You’re my best friends! See you after Thanksgiving!” Parker grabbed her suitcase and started heading inside. “And the ticket is already bought; you’re coming for two weeks. Bye!”
She was inside before Cassie could process her words enough to respond. She had to settle for angry text messages.
Cassie [Today 3:35 PM]
This is ridiculous. It’s too much. Your parents can’t pay for me to visit
Parker [3:35 PM]
Too late, it’s nonrefundable and they’ll never let you pay them back
Cassie [3:36 PM]
What if I had plans?
Parker [3:36 PM]
We’re best friends, babe. I already knew you didn’t
Cassie [3:37 PM]
I don’t want your pity.
Parker [3:37 PM]
That’s nice. You don’t have it.
Parker [3:41 PM]
Just say thank you and spend winter break with me. It’s gonna be awesome
Parker [3:42 PM]
My mom makes such good food
Cassie sighed. That was the thing, right there. She could get over the presumptuousness of Parker buying the tickets before asking her. She didn’t even care that it was a lot of money; she had no problem with rich people spending their money on her. But the idea of sharing a house with Erin for two weeks?
Cassie threw her phone into the center console and crossed her arms and stared out the window.
“You wanna talk about it?” Acacia asked. She’d been silent since they left the airport, letting Cassie process or something.
“It’s whatever,” Cassie grumbled.
She turned up the radio. Then turned it down.
“Did you know about this?” she asked.
Acacia nodded. “You’re gonna have fun.”
Cassie wasn’t so sure.
“You can’t fuck Parker’s mom while you’re staying with her for winter break.”
“I’m aware of that, Acacia.”
“But you’re going to want to, like, the whole time you’re there.”
Cassie was aware of that, too.
Kaysh tapped her thumbs against the steering wheel. “Remind me again why you can’t just keep it in your pants?”
“I can—I should—I will,” Cassie insisted. “I will.”
Acacia glanced over at her. Neither of them said anything.
“Erin’s just, like, super attractive, okay?” Cassie said eventually; Acacia’s patient quiet had always made her say too much. “And she’s pretty funny—I mean, we just made fun of Parker mostly, but whatever—you know how I feel about funny people.”
“Yeah, your panties drop.”
She wasn’t wrong.
“Just don’t fuck Parker’s mom.” She paused, then added, “Again.”
Cassie groaned. “I know, Kaysh. I’m not going to.”
They drove in silence for a while. It was just over two hours to Greensboro—they’d be there in time for dinner. Cassie would’ve liked to focus on the home cooking she was going to get all weekend, but the idea of two weeks in Erin’s house was not something her brain could set aside.
“She can’t even be that mad at me, though,” Cassie broke the silence. “Parker, I mean.”
“What?”
“She can’t be that mad at me for sleeping with Erin. She said I can bone whoever I want as long as I’m happy. Plus, she slept with Seth.”
Acacia stared at her for so long Cassie had to remind her to watch the road.
“She fucked your boyfriend so you get to fuck her mom?”
“Yeah,” Cassie said, because that only seemed fair, right? “Quid pro quo.”
“That’s not how that works.”
“Actually, that’s exactly how that works.”
“Her mother, Cassie.”