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"Cassie's dad was really handsome. The kind of handsome that made people treat him differently. Her mom used to get ready upset at him for flirting. Which wasn't fair. It wasn't his fault. He really loved her. He loved them all. Her dad always wanted her to become a professional ice skater."
"And for a while, she thought she might. She was a natural. But her dad couldn't afford the lessons, so he stopped encouraging her. When she hit puberty, her mother and her became best friends."
"And it wasn't just her body that changed. But the rest of the world, too."
"Their family wasn't perfect. Her mom had, you know some issues."
"And her dad struggled to keep a steady income."
"And they fought. In all the ways parents kind of fight. Except for the night before she started ninth grade. Her mom told her that her dad was just being irrational."
"But Cassie had heard differently."
"At first, she was really angry at her mom. She resented her for being such a hypocrite. But then she realized that her dad wasn't perfect."
"And her mom wasn't either, and maybe they just weren't right for each other. He used to visit them on weekends."
"But eventually, it became once every couple of weeks."
"And then sometimes, more than a month would go by. Then one night... he was driving home from work and was in the ICU for twenty-three days. The doctors were afraid he'd never walk again. But Cassie knew he was strong, and that he'd get better. He was prescribed fentanyl for the pain, promethazine to offset the nausea. Liquid lorazepam to sleep, and Imitrex injections for migraines. Cassie would text home and talk to him. But as more time went by, the less responsive he became. And eventually, months went by, and she didn't hear from him at all."
"Until one night, a week after her fifteenth birthday, she got a text from a random number at about one o'clock in the morning."
"And even though she was excited to see him and wanted to hug him, there was something about the whole thing that scared her."
"He said he needed a few things, and made her promise that she wouldn't tell a soul. Cassie kept her promise, and never told anyone about that night. She also never saw her dad again. She fell in love with every guy she ever dated. Whether they were smart or stupid or sweet or cruel, it didn't matter. She didn't like to be alone."
"And every guy she ever dated asked for the same things."
"And she almost always said yes. Even though it didn't always make her feel good. And she knew that most guys, after she broke up with them, would always share those photos or videos. The first time she found out, she had a panic attack, and wanted to swallow a whole bottle of Tylenol. But she didn't. Because, I mean, what's the worst thing anybody could say to her? That she gave a blowjob to a guy who didn't deserve it? And she figured by the time she was out of college and looking for a job, ninety-nine percent of the population would have leaked nudes, anyway. And then, at the beginning of the year, she met McKay. And fell in love with him. And he fell in love with her. And even though things weren't perfect, he loved her for who she was. And even though she had made a couple of mistakes, I mean, they weren't big ones. They weren't the kind of things you couldn't come back from"
