Before Cassie could even think about what a bad idea this was, her phone rang. It actually rang. Erin was calling her.
She couldn’t let it go to voicemail—she’d set it up when she started applying to internships and graduate schools, all professional Hello, you’ve reached Cassie Klein. She couldn’t let Erin know it was her. Her phone was vibrating in her hand and she had to make a decision, if she waited any longer it would be made for her, and shit, this was why you should never ever drunk text anyone, she swore she was never going to do it again—this felt anything but inconsequential now. She took a breath and accepted the call.
She didn’t say anything. She couldn’t. She pressed mute and listened.
“Who the hell is this?” Erin’s voice sounded tired and gravelly and pissed. Cassie’s head swam. “Why would you think it was appropriate to text me at one in the morning? Why would you think I give a fuck if you can’t stop thinking about my tits? Go ahead and jerk off to them, because you’re sure as hell not going to see them. I’m not interested in some coward who can only send me creepy messages in the middle of the night.”
Cassie wasn’t a fucking coward. Okay, it might have been creepy to send a message like that to someone who didn’t have her number—shit, now that she considered it, she’d probably come across as a complete jackass. But she was no coward. Erin was still breathing angrily on the other end of the line, and Cassie was about to unmute and show how brave she was. She wasn’t sure if it was fortunate or unfortunate that before she got the chance, Parker and Acacia came traipsing down the driveway. Cassie frantically hit end call and fumbled to put her phone away.
“Cassie!” Parker shouted, and Cassie was drunk—obviously she was drunk, she’d texted Parker’s mom, Jesus, what had she been thinking—but Parker was drunker.
Cassie finally got her phone in her pocket, but it was too late.
“Cassie, who were you talking to?” Parker was still shouting.
“No one. I was looking through pictures.” Cassie avoided Acacia’s stare.
“Seems shifty,” Parker slurred. She barreled into Cassie, almost making her slide off the car. She reached for Cassie’s phone, but she was too drunk to be coordinated, and Acacia pulled her away gently.
“Definitely shifty!” Parker announced. Then gasped, comically loud. “Are you secretly boning someone?!”
Cassie was grateful for the low light and how alcohol made her skin flush; hopefully the other two couldn’t see how hard she blushed. She still wouldn’t look at Acacia.
“Yeah, Parker, I’m secretly boning someone,” she said, deadpan.
“Who?” Parker tried for her phone again.
“Parker, babe,” Acacia said, tugging her away. “Let’s get you home.”
Parker narrowed her eyes at Acacia. “You’re being shifty, too.”
“No, I’m trying to take care of your drunk ass,” Acacia said. “You better be able to walk back to campus.”
“I don’t wanna!” Parker whined.
Cassie ran with the subject change and started for campus. “It’s like two blocks, princess.”
Cassie tried to slow her pulse. Erin hadn’t called back, at least. Cassie wasn’t sure what would happen if she did. She’d be fucked, basically.
She couldn’t keep calm if she thought about it for another second, so she turned toward Acacia, who was walking with Parker behind her. “Did you manage to separate her and Sam before any clothes were shed?”
Acacia let out a noise halfway between a scoff and a laugh. “Barely.”
“Find a room next time, Bennett,” Cassie said.
Parker glared at her. “Maybe I’ll just go outside, call her on the phone, yeah? Like you with your secret fuck buddy.”
“Parker, I don’t think Cassie has a secret fuck buddy,” Acacia said. Cassie looked at her gratefully, but she was staring back like she knew exactly who Cassie had been on the phone with. “She spends too much time with us or in the shop to be fucking anyone.”
“You don’t know she’s in the shop when she says she is!” Parker said. “Why are you sticking up for her? You should be on my side, since you picked hers with the whole getting between me and Sam thing.”
Acacia ignored her and continued glaring at Cassie. Back in high school, they’d shared third hour—Acacia came out of homeschool into advanced English. They used to have entire conversations from across the room with just looks. Silent girl talk, or whatever. It had been fun at the time, but now Cassie wished Acacia couldn’t read her so well. She looked at her feet instead of her friend.
“Oh my God,” Parker gasped. “It’s you.”
Okay, now she’d gotten Cassie’s attention. Parker’s eyes flitted between Acacia and Cassie, and Cassie was still avoiding Acacia’s glances, so it almost made sense that what Parker came up with was, “You two are secretly boning!”
Acacia burst out laughing so quickly Cassie was offended. “Oh yeah, Parker, Cassie and I are totally boning.”
“Hey,” Cassie said. “Is the idea of sleeping with me that ridiculous?”
Acacia kept laughing. “Um, yeah? I’m with Donovan and you’ve been my best friend for nine hundred years and—you know.” She gave Cassie another look.
“You’re terrible liars and you’re definitely having a secret affair. I’m going to tell Donovan.”
“You do that, sweetie,” Acacia said.
There were worse things than Parker thinking Cassie was sleeping with Acacia. Like, you know, Parker knowing who had actually been on the phone.
“We’re definitely fucking,” she said, with a little too much bravado. “You totally caught us.”
Parker smirked. “I knew it. I don’t even want to know anything else, because ew, but I totally knew it.”
They got Parker into the dorm without incident. She tried to collapse onto Acacia’s bed first, would climb into her own only if Acacia and Cassie got in with her. Fitting three girls in a twin bed was not easy. Acacia ended up mostly on top of Cassie. Parker cackled at first, but then she started looking at them with these really sincere eyes. She took Cassie’s face in her hands.
“Cassie,” she said seriously. “Cassie, Cassie, Cassie.”
“Yes, Parker?”
“You’re my best friend.”
“I thought I was your best friend,” Acacia said.
Parker let go of Cassie’s face with one hand to pat Acacia’s. “You’re my best friend, too.”
Cassie realized maybe that was true. Somewhere along the line, the three of them had morphed into some kind of unit. Parker and Kaysh had been tight since they moved in together, but somehow, even though their introduction was Parker sleeping with Cassie’s boyfriend, Cassie and Parker had become just as close. Cassie didn’t even mind that she was squished up against Parker’s side.
“It’s okay that you guys are secretly boning,” Parker said.
Acacia snickered, and Cassie had a hard time keeping a straight face.
“You can bone anyone you want,” Parker continued. “As long as it makes you happy. I don’t care who you’re boning as long as you’re happy.”