Cassidy James

by Ashley Wilcox

  “Jesus, Graham, you scared the crap out me!” I scolded him, my heart beating out of my chest. I looked up, then blushed furiously when I noticed what he was wearing.

  He, uh…had really been working out lately…apparently. Because yeah…Graham Wagner had nothing but a white towel wrapped around his waist, and his abs…his pecs…they looked nice.

  “I’m sorry I scared you while you were trying to spy on me,” Graham said with complete and utterly sarcastic dryness.

  Oh yeeaaahhh….

  Immediately, I was chewing on my bottom lip, caught. “Ummm…about that.”

  “Checking to see if my Danny Zuko look was up to your standards?” Graham asked, knowing me all too well.

  My shoulders scrunched up, caught again. “Maybe,” I replied innocently.

  He shook his head, but with a grin that made my insides twist because having abs like that and a grin to match the hotness… When did Graham get so hot?

  I shook my head, snapping myself out of my daze. I couldn’t be staring at Graham the way I was.

  “You’re something else, you know that?” he asked, stepping around me to enter his room.

  “You love me,” I pointed out, following behind.

  Pulling a pair of boxer shorts from the top drawer, he glanced at me from over his shoulder. “Something like that,” he answered before focusing back on what he was doing.

  I turned my head so he could slip into his underwear and walked over to his bed, where the tight jeans and t-shirt for today were laid out. I picked up the jeans, impressed. “Where did you get these?” I asked, holding them up. Thankfully, he was already in his boxers. God, I didn’t even think about asking first.

  “My dad,” Graham answered simply, taking them from my hands to slip on. “Nice outfit, by the way,” he added, his eyes traveling devilishly up from my feet.

  I swallowed hard.

  What the hell was happening? Graham had always talked, joked, and looked at me in a flirtatious way. It was just his thing. It’d always been entertaining and sometimes even annoying, but today it was making me sweat, and I didn’t sweat. Even when we had to run the mile in gym, I didn’t even glisten.

  But good God! Those abs!

  “Thanks.” My answer was low, and not at all confident. I didn’t know what was happening or why I was feeling this way. “So, uh, it looks like you have everything under control,” I told Graham as I started to walk backwards towards the door.

  He looked at me, puzzled, his head tilted to the side. Typically, I’d watch his every move and even do his hair to ensure the look I was going for would be executed perfectly, but things were getting awkward. For me at least.

  I didn’t know if it was just an off day or maybe because I saw Graham in just a towel. I hadn’t see him that exposed in…I don’t even know, but the anxiety thrumming through my body was too much for me to handle at the moment.

  “You’re not going to stick around and be Miss Control Freak?”

  Why did he have to know me so well?

  “Uh, no, you look…” I began nervously, but backed into the unexpectedly closed door. My back made an embarrassingly loud smack when I crashed into it.

  Who shut the door?

  I played it off like it was no big deal, and smiled like I totally meant to do that, but I could feel heat crawling across my cheeks. “You’ve got it all under control. I trust you.” I waved it off, opening the door.

  He still looked at me warily. “Um, okay…”

  “So yeah.” I started to push my hair back, but stopped. I didn’t want to mess it up; it took me forever to get my wig to look like it did. “Just come over and get me when you’re done.”

  Then I ran. Well, not literally, but I peaced-out and hightailed it down the hall, then the stairs, past Mrs. Wagner, and out of the house like my life depended on it. And I managed to make it all the way home without face-planting in the damn high heels.

  Totally fucked that one up.

  I checked her out. I checked Cassidy out like she was a piece of meat waiting to be pounced on. Once when she wasn’t looking. The lines were getting blurred. I was letting the way I now perceived Cass to show through my actions.

  I had to make it stop. If I wanted to continue to have the relationship I had with Cassidy, I had to stop thinking with my dick and more like her best friend, because she totally noticed it. I don’t think she could have booked from my room faster. But, sweet mother of God, how was I supposed to keep my shit together when she walked into my room looking like she did?

  The way Cassidy looked today…it was dangerous.

  “Oh my God!” Abby practically screamed from down the hall when she saw Cass and I turn down the senior wing. “You guys look amazing!”

  I skipped the gym this morning. The thought of the harassment I would get, looking like I did…only an idiot would walk straight into that roast with the guys.

  Cassidy was all smiles. From the minute she got into the car and saw my slicked hair and even the pack of candy cigarettes rolled in the sleeve of my t-shirt, she was a ball full of excitement. I’d have to give my mom kudos for that one.

  “Perfect, right?” Cassidy asked.

  Abby looked at me and smirked. I knew she was silently saying, “I can’t believe she roped you into this” and to expect that comment later. I closed my eyes and shook my head in shame. It was probably going to be a regular occurrence today, but that smile on Cass’s face…I couldn’t deny the fact that I’d probably do this ten times over to see Cassidy glowing like she was. She was so fucking happy; even a douchebag couldn’t deny her this bliss.

  Abby looked back at Cassidy. “Speechless.”

  Can I take back my previous statement of doing this ten times over for Cassidy? Because yeah, never fucking again! If I thought only half of my nuts were handed over to Cass, I was sadly mistaken. The jokes, the banter, and the laughs I was getting by the entire male student body this morning drove me to the brink of almost changing into the practice clothes in my gym locker and calling it a day.

  Honestly. What the hell was I fucking thinking by doing this?

  By fifth period lunch, the talk of the school quickly took a turn. It was no longer, “Did you see Graham and Cassidy? Graham is so whooped by her.” The gossip squad was in full force with new headline news. Apparently, Connor Blakely and Corinne Lansing broke up because of something she heard him say about some girl after homeroom. I know, right, sound the alarm, Connor Blakely checked out another girl! It was totally asinine. If someone could paint an even better picture of why I didn’t date, this was it. Stupid, catty shit!

  Troy met up with me after the bell rang, dressed as David Beckham. Talk about lame—a soccer player? Come on. Sydney was dressed as Victoria, his hot wife, whatever Spice Girl she used to be. The hot one. I was fucking pissed. Why couldn’t Cass make it that easy on me? It was almost imperative for her to make an ass out of me on Celebrity Couple Day. I guess I was the dumbfuck that kept allowing it.

  “Dude, look at the idiot.” Troy tilted his head in Connor’s direction. “It’s like a damn feeding frenzy.”

  I shook my head, totally annoyed. Really, girls? I’m not kidding you when I say there were at least twenty girls circled around Connor’s locker. It was ridiculous. By no means did I hate Connor, we’ve known each other for years, but the guy looked like a total tool, acting cocky as all hell in the middle of the swarm.

  “I don’t get it,” I said in reply as we passed through the insanity, trying to get to our lockers.

  “Apparently we picked the wrong sport,” Troy said. “Girls are fucking vultures for football players.”

  “You have a girlfriend,” I pointed out.

  “Who I completely adore,” he kidded, smiling. “But look.” Troy half turned and motioned to the mass behind us. “You’re like a superhero if you play football and are single.”

  I exhaled, not at all impressed. “Yeah, no thanks,” I said, opening my locker.

  “Yeah, dressing
up like a fucking idiot is a way more fun attempt to get laid.” Troy started laughing hysterically, but lost his footing when I pushed him out of the way.

  Never again.

  He was single! Oh my God, the angels had fallen. Expect the unexpected. Coco was no more. I thought this day would never come.

  But holy cow were the girls in our class going fanboy crazy over him. Dozens, yes, dozens of them circled his locker after class. Seriously, I could barely see him through the flood of Barbie girls in the hallway. It took me forever to push through them all to get to my locker, which Abby was standing at, watching.

  “Oh my word,” I commented when I was close enough.

  “Insane,” she agreed, but then got all giddy. “Soooo…” She inched closer. “How does it feel?”

  I looked at her, lost. What the heck was she all excited about?

  “How does what feel?” I asked as I switched my books for new ones.

  She looked at me like I had ten heads. “Are you serious right now?”

  Ummmm….

  “About them breaking up, you mean?” I finally asked. That was the only news I could think of.

  Both of her hands cupped my shoulders, squaring me to her. Something more had obviously happened, because Abby was seriously freaking out about something. “It was because of you!” she said, practically yelling.

  Huh? My heart stopped and everything in me went numb. Come again?

  Without answering, she continued. “How did you truly not know about this?”

  My shoulders slowly inched up. “I had my nerd class last period,” I explained. “Gossip is a foreign language in there.”

  “Well, it’s all over the school,” Abby continued. “Apparently Connor is a big fan of your outfit and made it a known thing when you walked by him earlier.”

  “In front of Corinne?” I asked. This was all just crazy to me.

  “Apparently,” she said elaborately. “Because they are done-zo.”

  I couldn’t even speak. What? This was all so insane. Seriously, this day… everything was just backwards. I felt like I was dreaming, without a clue whether it was a good one or a nightmare. First the whole getting hot for Graham thing this morning and now this!

  “Um, shouldn’t you be jumping up and down right now?” Abby asked, not expecting me to be at a loss. This was my childhood dream after all.

  “I don’t know. This is crazy.” I was still shocked, but as I looked up at her, a smile slowly crept across my face.

  Connor Blakely checked me out.

  Oh my God…

  Connor Blakely checked me out.

  Connor Blakely checked me out and his girlfriend dumped him because of it.

  My smile turned into a full-fledged grin.

  “Well, it’s about time!” Abby sighed, relieved. “I was beginning to think something was wrong with you.”

  “What am I supposed to do?” Now that it was all coming together, what was I supposed to do about it? Was I supposed to go say something? Like thank you?

  No, that would look ridiculous.

  But did it mean he wanted to be with me?

  Gah! This was so flipping crazy!

  “I don’t know,” Abby answered, shrugging her shoulders.

  Gee, thanks!

  “So helpful.”

  “Sorry. I’ve never had the most popular, eligible bachelor all hot and bothered over me,” she said, totally not making the situation easier for me.

  Closing my locker and throwing my backpack over my shoulder, I rolled my eyes. “What kind of best friend are you?” I joked as we started to walk. We were going to be late if we didn’t.

  “Not a good one at the moment, obviously.”

  I don’t know what it was, but my mood went from pretty typical to dreadfully miserable by the end of the day. I wasn’t in the mood for any more comments about my costume, and everyone was driving me bat crazy with all this Connor Blakely bullshit. It was like Jesus had fucking rose again.

  Then there was all this talk about him wanting Cassidy. Cassidy! Why fucking Cassidy? I mean, yeah, sure, Cassidy was fucking hot as hell, especially today, but we’ve all grown up with each other. Connor has known Cassidy for years. Why now?

  “Well someone is certainly a pleasure to be with,” Cassidy pointed out on the ride home.

  Brushing my hand through my hair, I tried to wipe the pissed off grin off my face. This wasn’t Cassidy’s fault.

  “Sorry,” I said, because in all honestly, I was. “It’s just been a long day.”

  “Not everyone was a fan of your Danny Zuko look?”

  Not as much as they were of yours, I wanted to say, but decided it probably wasn’t the best idea.

  “What would make you think that?” I looked down at my tight jeans and tighter shirt. “You mean I don’t look manly in this?” I asked, trying to stifle a laugh.

  “Sorry,” Cass answered. She appeared at least a little regretful for conning me into this, but I knew damn well that there wasn’t an ounce of remorse in her body. People got a huge kick out of us. Teachers, students…everyone said that we’d won for sure looking like we did. Admittedly, we did look pretty spot-on. If it weren’t for Connor Blakely verbally fantasizing about Cassidy in her outfit, and every one of my guy friends giving me shit for it, I’d probably have been okay about the whole thing. But they did and he was, and it pissed me off more than it ever should have.

  “No, you’re not,” I replied.

  A smile peeked from the side of her mouth, revealing the truth.

  “Brat!”

  Dammit, I wish she wasn’t so damn cute!

  “Ready to go?” Graham asked, meeting me at my locker after last period.

  I knew he was in an extra rush today. He had a huge home game against Fayetteville-Manlius and he planned to take me home and rush back for it, like he did every other day. But I had a thought. Since Graham was being super grumpy lately, and because I didn’t have any plans, I thought maybe I’d stay and check out his game. It’d been forever since I stayed for one, and I knew he liked it when I did.

  “Actually,” I looked at Graham and smiled, “I was thinking about going to your game.”

  He was totally taken aback, which made me sad. Graham and I had been friends forever—best friends—and he was shocked that I wanted to stay after to school to watch one of his games. What a crappy friend I was.

  “Really?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Yeah, why not?” I said. “I haven’t been to one yet this year.”

  His face looked absolutely stunned, and he took a second to reply. Apparently he didn’t know how to respond.

  “Okay,” he finally said, “but it doesn’t start for another hour.”

  “I’ve got homework I can do. And I need to change out of these.” I smirked as I looked down at the tank top, silk Cazenovia boxer shorts, and matching slippers I was wearing for Pajama Day.

  “Yeah, probably not a bad idea,” Graham agreed. “It’s a little chilly outside for…” he paused, looking me up and down, “that.”

  I snickered at his expression. I clearly wasn’t dressed for the unseasonably cold fall weather we were having today. Luckily, I had some sweats in my gym locker and a fleece in my regular locker that I could wear instead. Not the hottest choice of clothes, but they’d have to work.

  “I’ve got some backups,” I assured him. “Including some super sexy sweatpants.” I wiggled my eyebrows. “You better watch out.”

  He laughed, and his eyes stayed on mine for a second. No words were exchanged. As much as it seemed like it should have been an awkward moment, it wasn’t.

  I didn’t understand her. Ever since the big break up—of which Cassidy (or better, Cassidy’s costume) was the cause—everything out of Cassidy’s mouth was about Connor Blakely. It was raging to experience, especially since she asked me all the time if I’d heard anything more. Like he would say anything to me about her.

  I couldn’t even tell you the last time I’d talked to the
dude. Sure, we were decent friends growing up, but we were hardly more than acquaintances since we hit high school. We got along, but that’s only because he was with Corinne and far away from me, but now…now that he was interested in Cassidy—lost his girlfriend because he was checking Cass out—no fucking way was I chumming it up with him!

  Over the last twenty-four hours that this whole hoopla had been going on I’d made myself come to the understanding. Cassidy and I being a thing just was never going to happen. Why it even was a thought, I don’t know, but it was totally out of the question now.

  But then she did something like this…acted interested in watching me play. Where did that come from? Growing up she would come with my family and me to all of my games. She was like my own personal cheerleader on the sidelines. As much as I thought nothing of it then, looking back, it was the cutest damn thing. Her attendance slowly faded as we got older and had our own lives. But now…

  Why was she making an effort now?

  Sometimes this girl confused the hell out of me and left me speechless—like right now. And sometimes I looked at her and wondered what it’d feel like if she were mine, like I was…right now.

  “So, I’ll see you in a bit.” She spoke first, breaking my gaze.

  I ran my hand through my hair. I did it again. I froze and stared at her. “Yeah…yeah, the game should start no later than four.”

  Cassidy nodded her head, confirming. The whole situation was starting to feel awkward, so I had to pull a Graham move to make it stop.

  “You should probably sit in the student section,” I advised, looking at her skeptically. “If you sit with my parents and all the player families, you might make people think we’re…” I inched closer to her, so that none of the people that weren’t around us could hear, and whispered, “You know. A thing.”

  She pushed me away and shook her head, grinning. “You’re such an idiot!” Cassidy laughed as planned. “Go, before you’re late!” she added, pointing down the hallway.