by Katie Wright
I was taken aback, "Well you said last month Lucy had been suspicious so why is she so surprised now?"
"My friend is slightly stupid and to be honest she wasn't really as interested in anything but fringe benefits with him. It was cool to be dating someone older than her and sleeping with…"
"Woah! I don't want to know the gory details, please spare me."
Sarah let out a laugh and then sobered, "Fine, but just so you know, Casey came here for only one reason. Are you going to let him take advantage of the fact that Tony's not here?"
I heaved, "Sarah, Casey is a good guy despite what you think. He's not going to take advantage of me like you think. He didn't know Tony wasn't going to be here tonight. Maybe he's a little depressed about Lucy and him. Even if you don't exactly fall for the person you're with there's still a connection…"
"Romantic idealisms, Heath," Sarah interrupted.
"Whatever Sarah, this really is something I don't want to deal with tonight. Casey and me have never gone behind Lucy's or anyone's backs. We're really just friends and we've always considered one another that way. Most of the time we're not even what anyone would believe friends but less than that. He's especially made that clear multiple times, no matter what my feelings are for him. So please Sarah, I love you, but spare me from this theory that you and everyone else seems to have about the two of us."
And with that I turned and walked away from her. I didn't even wait for a response because I was tired of what everyone thought about the subject. There was not a subject to think of because Casey and I never had gone on a date or been really physical with one another with the exception of him being my pseudo boyfriend and the bet. There was nothing there and I had accepted that so why couldn't anyone else?
Returning to the family room I watched Jane and Lee singing together, "Time After Time." Mickey sat with his arms cross appearing vexed. I took an absent seat and watched the rest of the show. After a few more performances I decided it was time to play a group game.
The basement was free of anyone so we set up a game of beer pong or drink of choice. I poured Smirnoff in my cups. Lee and I were on a team against Mickey and Casey.
I threw my first ball and it went directly into the cup.
"Whoa, I knew you were going to be tough Heath," Mickey began, "this is what they taught you in college!"
He laughed and tossed a ball missing just barely the cups. He drank and then we went on for awhile until Mickey decided it was time to distract Lee and me.
Mickey turned around and pulled his pants down mooning us. He and Casey were laughing hysterically while I cringed and turned away.
Jane noticed what he was doing I suppose and screamed, "Oh put that away!"
Mickey jumped over to Jane and started tackling her with a couch pillow. Lee then went over and took another pillow and attacked Mickey. Soon everyone but Casey and myself were in a full on pillow and cushion fight.
Casey turned and asked, "Shall we proceed?"
I nodded, "Surely."
Then I thought of a plan, but wondered if it was bit too daring to do with him. As he was cleaning one of his pong balls I leaned over the table. I pulled the top of my dress down enough to show cleavage and most of my bra. I was practically flashing him when he finally looked up.
He barely tossed the ball which didn't even make it to any of the cups. It dropped from his hands and rolled off the table. He stopped for a moment staring at what God gave me and didn't speak yet his mouth was open waiting for a word to leave it.
I smirked and then took the ball that he dropped and cleaned it. It was a wonderful feeling that I did still have some sort of power over him. The straps from my top left my shoulders and it wasn't till I heard Mickey yell, "Eww! Heath give him the show later!"
I flushed and pulled the straps over my shoulders and then fixed my top to cover myself. I realized then that I had popped out of not only my dress but a portion of my bra. Now I was not flushed but pale of embarrassment.
I placed a hand on my forehead and closed my eyes praying that Casey hadn't seen anything.
When I looked back up of course I could see a small smile on his lips. However neither of us made eye contact for the rest of the game. That would teach me a lesson; that I can never be a seductress.
Nearly three hours of partying and drinking to forget my humiliation it was nearly ball dropping time. And then it hit me that I had no one, once again. Although I noticed Mickey in a corner sulking and nursing a beer while watching Jane and Lee fall over one another.
"I feel bad for him," a voice approached me from behind.
I jumped and glanced back to see who had frightened me practically out of my skin.
"Casey," I breathed.
He chuckled, "Yeah, sorry didn't mean to scare you. I noticed you were staring at Mickey. It's tough being alone."
"Wouldn't you know?"
"I figured Sarah told you already," Casey looked down at his feet. Then he took his eyes off the floor and stared back at me. "That's why she took you away from me earlier."
I nodded.
"Well I think it was better this way," he continued, "I'm surprised she ended before me."
"What?" I was astonished that he was disclosing this information freely to me, "Sarah told me that you broke up with Lucy."
Casey shook his head, "Um, no, she dumped me, not that I wasn't thinking about it already," he admitted to me.
I didn't know at that moment what to say. That means that he was planning on doing it but that he hadn't actually done it because of me.
"Oh," was all I managed to get out.
I began hearing people in the background counting down the seconds to the ball dropping.
"Here," Casey removed the empty cup from my hand and placed it on a table.
I was in a daze, either from the alcohol or my disbelief about what really happened.
She dumped him, not the other way around. Not the way I wished it would have been.
Arms encircled me and held me close.
"Three."
The crowd behind me screamed louder and my head was being tilted up by him.
"Two."
I closed my eyes.
"One."
I was being embraced by one of the warmest kisses I have ever felt touch my lips.
"Happy New Year!"
When the cheering had subsided due to everyone conducting similar acts as the one I was in I finally pulled away.
His eyes were still closed and his breath was tinged with beer, he was drunk. As usual he was not in sync with me. Although the kiss was memorable it wasn't special, to him at least. And how could it be exceptional to me? He teetered backwards a bit almost falling until I grabbed onto the sleeves of his shirt.
I had to admit I was tired of us both being intoxicated whenever something I wished happened. He fell practically on top of me. I knew he was in no condition to go home so I proposed he stay in a bedroom upstairs.
His body was swaying all the way up but I held on tight. Finally I brought him to my bedroom, feeling I could always sleep in Sarah's room with her. I dropped him on the bed.
"Heath?" He whispered.
"Yes Casey?"
My present irritability couldn't be helped after what he did to me downstairs.
He reached out to me as I pulled his shoes off.
"Heather, please, sit."
I shook my head but then scooted next to him on my bed.
I slapped a hand on his leg, "What do you want Casey?"
He placed a hand on my hand and kept it there. Now I felt uncomfortable and felt the urge to leave before things got out of hand.
I jumped up but he grabbed a hold of my wrists and brought me down on top of him. Now straddling his lap I most definitely felt discomfited.
He started humming to himself and then ran his fingers up and down my sides. A part of me wanted him to continue and the other part told me if I didn't stop this it was something we would both regret. I knew that he would
probably most of all.
"Casey stop," I demanded.
He started drawing circles on my back until his fingers were on top of my shoulders toying with the straps of my dress.
"Please," I pleaded uselessly. At that point I was hopeless and he could do whatever he wanted.
"Heather, are you still with Tony?"
I rolled my eyes, "I'm dating him I guess." I don't know why my honestly still surfaced at a time like this.
"Could you stop seeing him?" His question was insistent and I could not deny him.
"If you want me to."
"Yes I do."
I pulled back but Casey spun his fingers around the straps and started to pull them down my shoulders to the top of my bra.
He then dropped his head on my chest and rested it there. I thought maybe he had fallen asleep but then he popped his head up and search my face.
"Please don't leave me," he asked.
I brushed back some of his hair, "I'm not going to leave you." I didn't understand what he meant by leaving him, I wasn't planning on going anywhere.
"Okay," he grinned. "Can I take a look?"
His grin turn mischievous and he started pulling down more of my dress. I jolted away from him.
"Casey," I pulled the straps back up and straightened my dress. Then I went over to the light switch and turned it on.
Casey squinted and when his eyes finally adjusted to the light I noticed they were glazed.
He started swaying a bit.
"Are you okay Casey?"
He shook his head and began to wobble. I ran over to him and got him up and down the hall to my bathroom. He emptied the contents of his stomach numerous times before he dry heaved. After I was sure he wouldn't be anymore sick I laid him down in my bed. As soon as his brown locks touched the pillow he fell asleep.
I brushed his hair back a bit and said, "I hate you for not remembering any of this tomorrow."
Then I turned off the light and left him to sleep till morning.
Chapter 21: My Pocono Weekend: Day One
I will briefly summarize the events that occurred after the New Year's Eve party. First of all after I put Casey to bed I went to bed in my sister's room leaving all my friends and family to party the rest of the night away.
When I awoke the next day and met my family I was surprised by the actions that happened that night as I slept. Apparently, but not surprisingly, a fight between Mickey and Lee broke out. In actuality Mickey started the fight and Lee ended it. Three guesses who the fight was about.
That morning I also found Casey was not to be seen. My bed and covers were in disarray and that was the only noticeable sign that a body had slept in my room that evening. I dropped on top of it and curled up into a ball my head facing into the pillow. I immediately regretted my actions as the scent of man hit my nostrils. It wasn't in anyway a bad smell, but that of an attractive clean fragranced man.
I turned my head away and stared at my ceiling wondering if he had remembered and then I felt the pain in the pit of my stomach that knew or assumed he didn't or couldn't. His needs may have been purely animalistic but he wanted them satisfied by me. Sad, I knew how pathetic and needy I had become.
I had not heard anything from Casey and I would not pursue the topic. I didn't even tell Jane and especially not my sister. I could tell she was harboring bad feelings for Casey. I never mentioned that her best friend, Lucy, had lied to her so that she could get some recognized sympathy. One day Sarah would realize her friend's flaws and make her own decisions.
I had at least a week to push these thoughts out of my head until the weekend in the Pocono's finally arrived. Myself, Jane, and Tony all drove in one car together just as we had to the bar last Thanksgiving. And just as last time Brian and Cara drove in one car and Mickey and Casey in another.
We all arrived at the cabin which was located in an isolated spot in the woods. The house was a large two story timber dwelling. It was less of a cabin and more like a mansion. Mickey and Brian's parents were still richer than I could ever wish to be.
We pulled up behind the two cars and got out bringing our own or two bags with us.
"This is fucking amazing," Tony's voice echoed out into the forest that surrounded us.
Brian, who was helping Cara with her luggage looked over, "It's great isn't man?"
Tony gawked a few moments longer when I finally told him he'd have three days to get a good look at the house.
"Plus," I added, "you haven't seen the inside."
When we opened the glass double doors we entered a large living room complete with fire place and cathedral ceiling. There was actually a loft set off to one side which we planned on doubling as a bedroom.
There was a staircase that led right up to it and after crossing the loft which looked over the living room there was a hallway where the bathrooms and bedrooms were located.
Jane and I made our immediate way upstairs to claim our bedroom.
"Whoa," Brian stopped us from ascending the staircase.
I composed myself from hitting him because at the time my hands were carrying all my bags. For another I didn't want to start a fight at the beginning of the trip and ruining it for not only myself but everyone else.
"What is it Brian," Jane whined, "My arms hurt."
"Cara and I are taking a bedroom for ourselves and then you're going to have to ask Mickey, Tony and Casey where they're staying," he demanded.
I gasped, "Why can't Tony just stay with me?"
Brian shook his head violently, "No freaking way is my baby cousin sleeping in any bedroom with a guy."
"Then why can Cara stay with you?" In actuality I hadn't planned on staying with Tony. I figured him, Casey, and Mickey would be sleeping in the loft. But at the moment I caught Casey in the corner of my eye and I couldn't help it, my evil side won out.
"Absolutely not, and I swear if I see him in there I'll kick his ass, or yours," Brian ended the conversation by turning around and ascending the rest of the staircase where Cara was waiting for him.
Jane turned around and offered me a strange look.
When we determined which room we would take Jane supposed, "I didn't know Tony was staying with us?"
I placed my bags on my bed and started unpacking, "He's not and never was."
She crossed her arms and waited for me to explain further.
I stopped what I was doing and looked at her, "I saw Casey and I don't know something came over me, I wanted him to hear that, okay?"
Jane placed her hands up in defense, "Okay I was just wondering."
I tried to finish packing but I needed to tell, someone. Jane was the best person to confide in but I knew once she got wind of what happened on New Year's Eve she'd be scheming again.
"Jane?"
She quit what she was doing and looked up from the dresser, "Yes?"
I remembered I had forced her to no longer speak of me and Casey as a couple or even the possibility but at this time I needed her help.
"Something happened New Year's," I started.
"And?"
"You might want to sit for this," I began. She did so and I told her the night's events leading up to when I left Casey to sleep alone in my room.
Her eyes grew wide as I recounted exactly what he did and asked of me. Finally I finished with a somber expression on my face.
She smacked me in the arm but not in a malicious way, "Why didn't you tell me?"
She jumped from her bed to mine and continued her investigation, "So he hasn't even spoken to you since then? He hasn't even mentioned it at all?"
My eyes cast to the ground, I felt embarrassed, "No, he hasn't even spoken to me. So either he really did forget or he's choosing not to acknowledge it, which is fine by me if he feels that way. I think I made enough of an ass out of myself."
"I can't believe this," Jane drew out, "I mean what about Tony?"
I turned and looked at her, "I know that's what makes this worse." I smacked myself in the head with
my hand. I wanted and needed pain, I felt like a terrible person.
"You didn't do anything wrong, you're not with Tony, you're only dating him."
Her kind words didn't help how I felt. I betrayed not only the person I was dating but a friend and a good one.
