She definitely didn’t spend the entire time she was cooking thinking about how Erin had never called her babe before.
Avoiding the cafeteria was probably a good decision. No one wanted to be in their school cafeteria on a Friday night, especially not when it was Valentine’s Day. It seemed pathetic. Sitting in her dorm alone seemed pretty pathetic, too, so she decided to tag along on Parker’s stupid date after all.
Cassie [6:07 PM]
Okay fine I’ll come. Where are you watching movies?
Ten minutes went by without Parker texting back, and the only reason Cassie didn’t send another text telling her to stop making moon eyes at Sam and pay attention to her phone was that then Parker would not text back out of spite. Cassie considered venturing from dorm to dorm—but there were too many possible lounges they could be in, plus the sun had already set. Cassie had no interest in wandering around in the dark cold. Eventually she texted Acacia instead.
Cassie [6:42 PM]
I know you’re probably out with Donovan, but do you know where Parker’s having her movie night? I’m boooored
She played around on her computer for a while, waiting for someone to text her back. She didn’t have Sam’s number, and she was maybe too intimidated by Gwen, whose number she still had from when she was Cassie’s RA, to text her.
Cassie [7:37 PM]
Yo. Parker. Where are you?
She felt a little sorry for herself, to be honest. She’d never liked Valentine’s Day—if you’re being romantic only for the sake of a holiday, you’re not being romantic—but it was her first Valentine’s Day alone in years. It was weird, especially knowing Parker was probably snuggled up with Sam watching movies, and Acacia was likely through dinner and on to “celebrating” with Donovan. Cassie was lonely, was all.
She found some sappy stupid romantic movie starting on TV; it wasn’t actually on the Hallmark Channel, but it looked like it should’ve been. She tried to watch it to distract herself, but it didn’t work particularly well.
She was bored and lonely and Erin was off work by now, she was pretty sure. Cassie could text her. The flowers had gone over well, so texting was probably not a terrible idea. She clicked to the messages app on her computer so she didn’t have to switch back and forth between her laptop and phone.
Cassie [8:04 PM]
How was the rest of your shift?
Erin [8:05 PM]
Good. Got off early enough to miss the inevitable patients who tried some new sexual position for Valentine’s Day and failed
Cassie [8:05 PM]
Lol is that actually a thing that happens?
Erin [8:06 PM]
Absolutely
Cassie was trying to craft her next message when Erin FaceTimed her. She stared at her computer for a second, then muted the TV, sitting up straight so she didn’t look hideous, and answered.
“Hey.”
Erin smiled at her through the screen. Cassie’s heart absolutely did not start beating faster.
“Hey,” Erin said. “I wanted to thank you again for the flowers, and I realized I could just show them to you. They’re really sprucing up the kitchen, don’t you think?”
She reversed the camera to show the bouquet on the kitchen island. They were prettier than the picture online had been.
“They look great,” Cassie said. Erin turned the camera back to herself, and Cassie added, “You look great.”
Erin laughed, and even through Cassie’s tinny computer speakers, it was a wonderful sound.
“I don’t mean to keep you from anything tonight,” Erin said.
“Please. My plans for the night are watching this terrible movie on TV, and I am more than happy to be distracted from that.” Erin chuckled and Cassie bit her lip instead of beaming. “What are you up to?”
“Cooking dinner for one,” Erin said.
They chatted. Just chatted, like it was completely normal to be FaceTiming each other. Erin propped her phone up on the counter, and Cassie watched while she flitted in and out of the frame, chopping vegetables and cooking at the stove and pouring herself a glass of wine. Cassie told her how classes were going, and Erin talked about her day at work—a few mentions of patients, but mostly stories of reactions to the flowers.
“Everyone’s convinced it’s Ian from cardiology,” Erin said.
“I’m going to come up there and give this Ian a piece of my mind.”
“Oh, you’d terrify him.” Erin laughed. She served herself a plate and moved to the living room. “He’s very quiet and looks like he’s about twelve. Why anyone believes he’s brave enough to anonymously send me flowers is beyond me.”