Yours - A cazzie story

Chapter thirteen

Casey's pov

My feet pounded hard against the pavement as I completed the final burst sprint of the day. As I came to the finish, I felt my legs give away underneath me, sending me tumbling onto the grass. Slow breaths in and out helped me stop hyperventilating, but any sense of calm was absolutely evaporated when I saw a flash of red hair slowly approaching.

"First place apparently does a number on the body." Brian teased me with a giggle.

I groaned instead of responding, choosing to use my energy to grab the hand that he was holding out. When he helped me to my feet, I dusted some dirt off my shorts and fixed my half ponytail.

"Shut up."

Not the most unique comeback, but oh well. He looked up at me with an incredibly mischevious smirk as he bounced on his heels. Whatever was going on in his head was definitely not good.

"What're you thinking about you little leprechaun?" I squinted my eyes, not trying to hide my skepticism.

"Okay, I know you said that you're 'done with my crap' but just hear me out for like 2 seconds."

I groaned again. I was never prepared for the things that came out of his mouth, but I nodded for him to keep going anyway.

He smiled wide, which just scared me more. "I've been talking to this guy who's throwing this kickback in the lounge of the Frederickson dorm building. You've needed to relax for like two weeks straight. This'll be perfect."

"What?" I raised my eyebrows and sighed. "That's gonna be a no for me dude, every time you and I go anywhere, we end up completely thrashed. You're a bad influence."

"No, no, this is a completely chill thing. I swear. You can even bring Izzie if she's not busy. Plus, I have to go. Believe it or not, things are actually serious with this guy for me. Pretty please best friend in the whole world?"

I cringed slightly at the last part and smiled. "Fine. Fine! I'll go to your stupid party so you can flirt with some dude. But if it sucks we're leaving. And you owe me."

He owed me 500 favors at this point, but it still felt worth mentioning.

"Perfection." He grinned and clapped. "I'm gonna hit the showers, I'm coming to get you at 8!"

And with that, he vanished into the boys' locker room, leaving me to already regret this decision.

Izzie's pov

My phone had been ringing off the hook all day. And when I finally got a chance to look at it, I was incredibly nervous because of the number I saw. I had 4 missed calls and 24 unread messages from my brother Daniel.

My heart stopped beating for a second, and I went pale. The next thing I rushed to do was call him back to try and understand exactly what was going on.

"Daniel? Are you there?" I asked as he picked up.

"Izzie? Izzie, oh my God." He sounded so defeated. "Izzie, she just... she just vanished, I don't know. And she left us with no food and practically no cash. I haven't been to school in 3 days because I'm waiting for Grandma to get back from her trip."

I didn't even know what to say. My first priority was trying not to cry. How could she leave a 15 year old in this position? Again??

"Just breathe, Danny, I'll stay on the line for as long as you need me too. Are the kids okay?"

And with that reassurance, we ended up on the phone for several hours, just decompressing. Well, he was decompressing. I was just doing my best to listen.

The only thing that interrupted us was Casey coming into the dorm.

"Hey-" She greeted loudly, but I cut her off by raising my hand.

She immediately got the hint and stopped talking, but she gave me a warm smile that made me a bit happier.

"Danny, do you wanna say hi to Casey? Uh huh. Uh huh." I handed Casey the phone.

She looked at it stupidly for half a second before taking it to say hi to him. Their conversation was short, and I noticed the strained look she got on her face as he explained the situation to her.

"Damn. Seriously? Are the little dudes okay?" She nodded as they spoke to each other. "Okay. Yeah. Alright. Let us know. Yeah, I love you too, buddy. Yeah."

And with that, she gave me back the phone. We talked a bit more, just to confirm a few details, then he hung up to scramble together something to eat. When I looked up, Casey was smiling at me sadly.

"What?"

She shrugged. "It sucks that she did that to them. Are you okay?"

I wasn't sure what to say as she sat next to me. "Kind of? Mostly, no. I'm so worried about them. I know my grandma's on the way, but it's just a lot for them right now."

Casey opened her arms, and I flopped into them instantly, craving a bit of warmth. She gave me soft kisses and words of encouragement, which I appreciated, but she stopped after a little while. It looked like she had something to say.

"I guess this is a shitty time to mention that I promised Brian I'd go to some dumb thing with him." She mentioned with a chuckle.

I didn't really say much, but I sat up so I could look at her face. "Really?"

She frowned and nodded. "But I can stay if you need me to. I can literally cancel right now."

I shook my head, caressing her cheek with my thumb. "No, go have fun. I'm gonna stay in case he calls me again."

"You sure?"

I smiled and pulled her face down, giving her another soft kiss.

"Yeah. It's okay, I really don't mind. Just be careful, and come back soon."

Casey nodded slowly, giving me her full lopsided smile. I could have melted right there. "Alright. Call me the second you need me to come back, for any reason, yeah?"

With that, she got up to go get ready. I flopped backwards onto the bed and started thinking about my life, occasionally glancing at my phone as I waited for it to ring.

Let's pretend I didn't vanish for two years. I hope the update is good, this is for the people who asked for it