nine thousand miles | cazzie

sixteen

I sat in my room, all alone. The silence of the empty room started to creep up on me and I felt my heart rate quicken by the second. Patrick had sent everyone to their rooms and Casey followed him after changing into one of my shirts. Before she left, I held onto her hand for a while and she turned around to smile at me, reminding me that everything was going to be okay. Was it though?

Erika left with Quinn after I told her I needed some space. There were empty red cups lying around, food crumbs on the floor and some of the balloons had deflated. I had no energy to change out of my bikini as I sat on the bed with my wet body, unbothered about how much I was shivering. I clutched onto my phone, praying for a text from Casey. It had been an hour already and there was no sign of her.

Why does her dad have to ruin everything? If he didn't approve of me after meeting me properly then fine. But he's deciding mine and Casey's happiness just based solely on the fact that I'm not a guy? But then again, the phone call may not even be about me right? But what else could it be about?

I heard my door knob turn and I whipped my head around, immediately getting off the bed. When the door opened, I felt a weight lift off my shoulders when I saw Casey. I ran towards her and she picked me up while I wrapped my arms around her neck. "Oh my God, I was so worried. Are you okay?" I mumbled against her neck. No reply.

"Casey..." I whispered, letting go of her to take a good look into her eyes. She cleared her throat before closing the door. "Why didn't you change yet?" She asked, noticing the goose bumps on my skin and the aircon at full blast. "I just didn't. What did your dad say?" I asked and she smiled at me sadly before going to my drawer to grab me a shirt.

"You're avoiding my question," I said bluntly and she didn't turn around. "Casey. What did he say?"

"Does it matter?"

I scoffed and turned away from her. "You seriously gotta stop with this 'does it matter' thing. It does. Ok? Now tell me what he said."

She turned around to look at me and she had a dead expression on her face. "Fine. It was about us."

I nodded slowly, already suspecting it. "So what did he say?"

"What do you think he said?"

"Casey I swear to God don't play with me right now."

She took my hand and led me to the bed before we both sat down on it. "My dad.... he doesn't approve..."

"Yeah well no shit," I grumbled and she sighed. "He kinda gave me an ultimatum. But it's okay. I chose you," She said, smiling before getting off the bed. I looked at her in confusion as she walked towards the fridge. "Wait what do you mean you chose me?" I asked, getting up to walk towards her. "I chose you. Cos I love you. And you're mine. And you're so beautiful. And smart," She said, shrugging her shoulders before sitting on the kitchen counter to open up the beer bottle.

Something bad must have happened for her to act like this. She's starting to build walls around herself again. "Casey... I need to hear exactly what he said to you. I know it's hard but I have to know," I whispered, walking towards her. Her eyes met mine for a while before they looked down and I saw her face soften.

"He told me it was either you or track..."

My eyes widened and I felt my heart clench. "Me or track?" I asked again and she nodded. "He called Patrick to talk to me because I haven't been answering his calls or his texts. He told me I either break up with you or quit track. So I chose to quit track."

No, no, no this cannot be happening.

"Casey, why would you do that?" I asked, raising my voice a little and she looked at me as if the answer was obvious. "Because I love you?"