It was the first group text in a week. Cassie didn’t even have to scroll that far to find her message asking if she’d never see Parker again.
Here she was, pretending nothing was wrong. Like Cassie had been overreacting the past two weeks. Cassie could admit she wasn’t necessarily the best at understanding how friendships worked, but she knew Parker had disappeared on her. Maybe this was her olive branch.
Cassie didn’t like doubting herself. So, whatever. A movie night sounded fun. It didn’t mean they were best friends or anything. Whatever Parker was feeling mattered less to Cassie than what movie they watched.
After dinner, Cassie stood outside Acacia and Parker’s room. A white board hung on the door. Block letters reading DAMN THE MAN, SAVE THE EMPIRE, took up most of it, but there were little embellishments. An unsigned “XO” in the upper left corner, a stick figure skeleton in a casket at the bottom left saying, “I’m so glad I went to college.” Cassie used to leave a different drawing every week. She always did it when Parker and Acacia were in class and never owned up to it afterward. Maybe it was obvious it was her now that she’d missed two weeks in a row. Then again, Parker probably didn’t even notice, too busy with Sam.
Last month, Cassie would’ve walked right in. Last month, Parker and Acacia would’ve been at dinner with her, probably. This month, she looked at the whiteboard and knocked twice.
“It’s open!” When Cassie went inside, Acacia threw her hands up at her. “What the fuck? You knock now?”
Cassie shrugged. At her desk, Parker didn’t look up from her phone. Cassie could let it go, but she decided to be petty instead.
“Hi, Parker,” she said pointedly.
“Hey, what’s up?” Parker said it like everything was normal, like it hadn’t been more than a week since they’d seen each other. She was still on her phone.
“We haven’t gotten Disney+ on your newest email address, have we?” Acacia asked.
Cassie and Acacia had been making new emails to utilize every free trial available over and over again since they were in middle school. They used Mama Webb’s Netflix and Emerson had just subscribed to HBO Max, but for things like Disney+ and Showtime, Cassie and Acacia needed [email protected]—or were they on 143?
“I don’t think so,” Cassie said.
Parker finally set her phone down. She looked at Acacia. “What do you want to watch?”
“Wanna do something really old? Like Aladdin?”
“Talk about old. That was my mom’s favorite movie as a kid.”
Cassie was not going to freeze or go awkward because Parker mentioned Erin. It wasn’t a big deal.
Instead of freaking out, she joined Acacia on the couch under her loft bed. The TV, an old twenty-four-inch they’d found at Goodwill, was under Parker’s bed across the room. Cassie stretched her feet into Acacia’s lap as her best friend signed up for a free trial.
“So how’s Sam?” Cassie poked at the bruise.
Acacia eyes flitted to her, then back to the TV. Parker looked at her for the first time since she’d arrived.
“Fine.”
That was her entire answer.
“You must be having so much sex,” Cassie said just to get a reaction.
Parker blinked at her. “Excuse me?”
“I mean, I never see you anymore, and school can’t be keeping you that busy, right?” Cassie grinned like it was funny. She was teasing, yeah, but she also wanted to be a bit of a dick. Because while she didn’t particularly like to admit to having feelings, Parker had hurt them. She’d made Cassie feel replaceable—worse: unnecessary. Cassie wanted to get under her skin. “How’s Sam in bed? I feel like it goes one of two ways—she’s stone cold, or she cries.”
Acacia pinched the back of Cassie’s calf where Parker couldn’t see. Parker didn’t bother responding.
“Okay, so did we agree on Aladdin?” Acacia asked.
Cassie wasn’t done, though. She sat up. Poked harder. “C’mon, princess, at least give me a hint.”
Parker rolled her eyes. “I’m not talking to you about my sex life, Cassie.”
“But you seriously have to be having a ton of it. We never see you anymore.” That might not have been true—Cassie had no idea how often Acacia saw Parker. Maybe the only person who’d been cut from the friendship was her. “Do you and Sam even hang out with anyone, or is it just all sex all the time?”
Out of nowhere, Parker snapped. “Actually, for some of us, it’s possible to have an emotional connection with people and not just fuck whoever the hell we feel like.”