My Guardian Angel

Chapter 20

It was Friday night and for once, Cassie didn't feel like doing much of anything. Usually, Mads and Katie would drag her out to some party on campus. While Mads is one to drag you wherever she wants because she thinks alcohol solves every problem, Katie leaves you be.

Except for tonight, apparently.

"Open up! Come on! We're going out!" Cassie breathed calmly through her nose upon hearing Katie's muffled shouts behind her closed door. The obnoxious banging didn't help either.

Cassie swung open the door to see her, Mads, Breck and Casey all waiting for her. They were dressed to party. She was dressed to sleep.

"Come on, Cass," Mads sighed as she took her hand and dragged her to the bedroom. Katie was right behind.

"You guys, I don't want to," Cassie whined. Mads sat her down on the bed and went into her closet.

Katie sat down next to her. "You can't keep moping over this guy," she whispered so Mads wouldn't hear. "Come on. Come out and have fun. If you're not having any, I will allow you to leave."

Cassie looked at her friend with furrowed eyebrows. "Gee thanks, Kate."

Mads came back out with a tight red dress Cassie hasn't worn in years. She doesn't know why she still has it. She still tried it on and discovered it still fits, but just barely. Any wrong move and this thing will rip to shreds.

She said she didn't care about make-up, but the girls dragged her to the bathroom and applied some for her. She only sat there looking miserable.

By the time they were done, the guys had gotten obviously bored and were wrestling on the floor. "Hey, hey, hey!" Cassie shouted as she clapped her hands. Breck and Casey immediately stood up. "Don't you assholes remember what happened the last time you did this?"

Breck punched Casey in the side as he said, "Yeah, Casey-Wasey here knocked over your T.V!" Casey hit Breck back harder. This prompted Breck to say, "But he payed you back. You know, like you re-payed you in Mexico for 'the best blow of his life'."

"Dude, shut the fuck up!" Casey shouted as he hit him again.

Cassie bit her tongue and set a single hand on her hip. She had a look of both anger and disappointment on her face. She said calmer than she expected, "Great. Thanks, Case." She was now officially done with all the men in her life. She didn't care anymore.

"Casey, what the fuck," Katie scoffed. "Who else have you told?" She folded her arms, as did Mads and they both stared him down.

Casey was hesitating, so Breck answered for him; "Does the whole rowing team sound about right, Case?"

"Dude! Shut! Up!" Casey shouted again. He looked to Cassie and sighed like he didn't know what to say. "Look I'm sorry, okay? I was pissed about you blowing me off for three months after that."

Cassie raised her eyebrows at him. "Oh, I blew you off? You mean after you were pressuring me to be in a relationship? After we had our talk about respecting boundaries and you just blatantly disregarded mine?"

"You jerk," Mads scoffed.

Breck even chimed in, "Bro, that is not how you put it."

"How did he put it?" Katie asked, stepping more in front of Cassie. Mads did the same.

Casey looked like he was in a slight panic. "I said...I said she had promised me we would be together after Mexico...but that she found some other dude there."

Katie and Cassie's eyes went slightly wide as they glanced at each other. Mads still had no clue about her affair with Benedict and it's a good thing she didn't. She probably would have blabbed it to the entire school by now. Either that, or seduce him herself.

"What other dude?" Katie asked.

Casey shrugged. "I don't know. I saw her dancing with the same guy, having dinner with him, walking on the beach. I couldn't actually see him, unfortunately."

Cassie walked up to him. "I did not promise you a relationship. We had sex once and you know what? I lied. I didn't have a single orgasm out of the several you attempted to give me." Breck snorted while Casey's face turned cold. "Might wanna work on asking a woman what she likes, rather than assuming we all like the same thing. And I can promise you, there isn't a single woman out there who would have enjoyed that. If they did, they lied just like I did because of your stupid, fragile ego."

She stood her ground right where she was even though it looked as if Casey was going to explode. Breck was behind him nearly dying of laughter. "Leave, Casey," she told him. "Please." He stood there staring at her for a few more moments before finally storming out.

Breck stayed, trying to get his composure together. "You're not following him?" Katie asked.

He scoffed, "Fuck no! Look, I know I'm a dick, but at least I admit it. He has it in his head that he's the nicest guy on campus. Everyone on the rowing team hates his fucking guts. He's an asshole, man. I don't even recognize him anymore."

Mads shook her head and sighed, "Whatever. Come on, let's drink and forget this ever happened." That was typical Mads behavior, but they all agreed. Cassie especially wanted this out of her head.

Since Cassie lived closest to the campus, they only needed to walk a few miles. In heels, however, it felt like a million. Breck was ever the gentleman (not something he was often called) and took turns carrying the girls bridal style when their feet started to hurt. They refused to walk barefoot in Los Angeles.

One of the times it was Cassie's turn, Breck softly told her, "Hey, listen, the guys on the rowing team didn't believe Casey when he told them all that crap. He told them so he'd look cooler, but it backfired."

As she rested her head against his shoulder, she asked, "How?"

He didn't look at her as he smirked and said, "He told me what really happened while we were in Mexico. He was riled up after jet skiing and spilt everything. I don't know how much of it was true, but your side matches. So, I told them. Look, Case may be my best friend, but I don't tolerate that shit. I know I pick on you guys, but it's not personal. That shit was personal and he was trying to pin you as the bad guy. You're like my little sister, I can't let that happen."

Cassie leaned more into him and put her face in his neck. "Thank you," she whispered. He smiled and rested his cheek on her head.

"It's my turn now!" Mads shouted.

By the time they got to the party, it was packed with nearly every student that attended, and then some. Breck led the girls over to where the drinks were, but Katie and Cassie were a little hesitant. After all, it was only a giant fruit punch bowl.

"Excuse me," Katie tapped a very drunk guy on the shoulder. He clumsily turned to her. "What's in this?"

He laughed, and then hiccuped. "Uh..." he belched loudly "...everyt'ing!" He pointed to the mountains of empty liquor bottles on the other side of the room.

"Great," she breathed out. "Mads!" Mads was already finished with her first cup. "You don't know what's in that!"

Mads set down the cup and gagged. "It's good," she croaked out.

Katie and Cassie looked to each other, then poured themselves a cup each. They kept their eyes on each other as they knocked them back.

~*~

Trigger Warning for the next chapter: physical abuse

I will put another T.W before the next chapter as well.