She Kissed Me Barefoot (girlxgirl)

Chapter Three- Casey

Chapter Three- Casey  

I was deaf.

That’s most of what I can remember about arriving at the door of the under-21 nightclub after getting dinner at the diner down the street. I fidgeted around awkwardly with the bottom edge of my blazer as Anna checked us in with the bouncer, whom I could barely hear over the din from inside. “Last names?” He looked at us over his clipboard, blatantly trying to seem menacing. It didn’t exactly work. He was shorter than Adrienne in her heels- but, granted, most people were.

“Carlisle, Creighton, Stevenson, and Landon.”

“First na--” his voice cracked. “Excuse me. First…names?” he asked slowly.

“Anna, Brix--” Anna got cut off.

“Not like the cheese!” Brix burst out, reminding everyone within a 10-foot radius of the doorstep. She got a couple of looks and a lengthy awkward silence in return. “I… I mean it, it’s pronounced like that but… But it has…” She trailed off. The bouncer looked back to Anna, who stared back at him.

“Oh, yeah, sorry- Anna, Brix with an x, Adrienne, and Casey.” I could hear Brix muttering curses to the french under her breath.

“And can I have your IDs, girls?” Hey, who was he to call us ‘girls’? He couldn’t have been older than 21 or 22. And, hell, I could almost look him in the eye! (Well, I probably could’ve if I had stopped slouching and stood on my toes. I mean… That’s still close!) We all fumbled for our wallets- or, well, the rest of the group did. Pulling mine out of my pocket, I watched them dig through their purses and clutches and tried not to smirk. It’s the butch life, baby! Snapping out of my moment of victory, I realized that he had his hand held out for my license. He squinted down at it, scanned the list, and scrutinized me, then ushered me inside.

 

I didn’t know what to take in first. Lights flashed, music blared, and there was a large throng of people dancing aggressively. Can you dance aggressively? If you can, that was what they were doing. I spotted Clarissa in the horde. She looked like she was having the time of her life. Her parents must’ve rented out the whole club. There was a large and over-the-top cake in the corner, and that’s when it really hit me that she must have been hella rich. Like not just rich, not just very rich- she was rich af.

Brix came up behind me and joined me in surveying the scene. I turned to her. “Is my eyeliner okay?”

“WHAT?”

I made several, probably confusing gestures to my eyelids. “IS MY EYELINER OKAY?” She laughed at me, bemused, and leaned in to my ear.

“Calm down, Casey, it’s fine. That’s, like, the 20th time you’ve asked. It’s not gonna smear.” Brix grinned at me.

“I know, just…” I shuddered. “Nerves, ya know?” She nodded. “I don’t…” I glanced back towards the door, where Adrienne still conversed with the bouncer. “I don’t wanna look like a dork in front of her.” Too late, the voice in my head chimed in. Brix gave me this really sad look. “What?”

“Case, you’re gonna have to let her go.” I crinkled my brow at her words. “She’s really, really straight.”

“She told you?”

“She told me. Today, in the bathroom.” My heart sunk, then somersaulted, then cracked. See, I knew Adrienne was straight. I honest to god believed it like I knew water was wet. What I didn’t know was that actual proof of her heterosexuality would hurt so intensely.

 Brix must’ve read the look on my face. “Are you okay?”

I shook myself off and gulped. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.” I was going to convince myself of that, goddammit.

“Good. I don’t want you to think about her tonight, I just want you to have fun. Do you understand?” I nodded absentmindedly, and Brix twisted me toward her by my shoulders. She gripped them tight. “Do you understand?” she articulated. “I do not want her to bring you down tonight. I love that girl and you do too, but she is not worth your pain. Okay?” I nodded again. “Say it.”

“I won’t let her get to me.” Brix let go of me and gave me her best attempt at a hopeful smile.

“Now go be awesome, Case. You don’t need her.”

I won’t let her get to me. How much more could I have lied? The truth was, Adrienne got to me in every way possible. She stunned me, she tortured me, she amazed me, she killed me. Adrienne Stevenson was way past simply ‘getting to me’.

This proved truer and truer as the night wore on. Just when I was dancing, just when I felt happy, I’d look over and see her laughing at a joke some guy at the bar told. Or when I was playing wingwoman for Brix while sipping my cranberry juice and happened to catch a glimpse of her full-on grinding with a guy I was certain she didn’t know. Even during the cake-cutting, I couldn’t stop watching her, the way she smiled, the way she sang, the way she shifted her weight around in the heels. I was really in deep.

Around 8:30 or 9, I was in the corner and playing pool with Anna and her boyfriend when I glanced up and saw her whisper something in the guy’s ear. He leant down and kissed her.

I couldn’t watch, I really couldn’t. I set down my pool cue and, trying to keep my breath even, headed towards the back door I had spotted earlier. I stood in the alley for a good five minutes, trying to pull myself together. She’s not worth it, she’s not worth it. Brix’s familiar lilting voice echoed in my head. But she is, she’s beyond worth it, I thought, and I knew that was the truth. Thing was, I was never going to have her, because I wasn’t worth anything to her. 

“Are you okay?” Adrienne materialized behind me. I swear she glowed in the moonlight. Oh, great. Just the person I need to see right now.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just... Need to be alone.” I wiped tears down and off my face, remembering the eyeliner and dying a little more inside.

“You sure? I’m here to talk things out if you want.”

“No.” I looked up at her- in her heels, she towered over me. “You can go back inside.”

“Casey…” Adrienne dragged my name out and I wanted to strangle her. “I don’t...”

“Go.” It was not worth this sort of pain. I turned away from her and studied the wall, arms crossed. “Just go. Please.”

“But I--” No. No. No. No.  I glanced back at her painfully as she slipped her heels off.

“Wait, what are you--” I got cut off as Adrienne grabbed my shoulder and whirled me around, pushing me against the wall roughly, and stepping up so close that I could feel her breath on my cheek. Pressing her forehead against mine, she threw her heels aside carelessly. I didn’t have time to process anything before she kissed me barefoot.