Like No Other

“I’ll always be waiting.”
Cassie left the room, leaving me there alone thinking about earlier today and how sexy she looked in my boxers. When the door closed, I was surrounded in darkness. I yawned and closed my eyes. A few minutes later I heard the door click back open a small bit, a thin slit of light from the hall making its way in, and disappearing once again when it closed.
“Hey sweetheart. That was fast,” I greeted her.
I heard Cassie’s footsteps across the floor. Suddenly she was climbing on top of me, kissing my neck. Um, okay. This is cool. I thought to myself.
“Oh, Jeremy, I miss you,” she whispepered against my lips.
“I miss you too?”
Where is this coming from? I wondered. She kissed me again, pulling off my shirt. Pshh, I don’t even care!
We kept making out, our hands exploring each other. My beer bottle fell off the night stand somehow and crashed to the floor. I pulled away from Cassie and turned on the lamp. I reached down, picked it up, and set it back on the nightstand. I turned back to—
Vanessa?
I started to pull away, but Nessa threw herself back on me. She ripped off her shirt and reached for my belt. “Nessa, stop!” I fumbled around with her, trying to get her off me.
“What the fuck?”
Oh no…
Cassie walked in, covered in white cake icing. She had a plate with a big piece of cake in one hand and beer in a red cup in the other.
“Cassie, this isn’t what it looks like,” I said, pushing Nessa away.
“Are you kidding me? Her, Jeremy? Really?” tears filled her eyes, breaking my heart. She walked towards me.
“No, Cassie—“
“Fuck you Jeremy.” She threw the beer on me and smashed the cake in my face. “I hate you. Never talk to me ever again you fucking liar.”
She stormed from the room leaving me covered in cake and beer. What just happened?!
“Cassie! Wait!” I called out. The door slammed closed.
Nessa groaned, “I don’t feel so good,” she mumbled. Then she proceeded to puke all over me and the bed. I jumped up but unfortunately, Nessa had good aim. After she finished retching she leaned back and groaned again.
“Feel better?” I asked.
“A little,” she burped.
Almost immediately she passed out. And it was then, when I was in the bathroom, trying to clean off the cake, beer, and puke off of me that I realized. She’s gone. I need to go after her. I ran out of the room, leaving Nessa in the bed.
“Where is she?” I ran up to Marcus. He and Drake had invited Sandy and Tara from Columbus to the party and I found him talking to Tara in the living room.
“Ugh dude, you stink.” He looked at my bare chest and soaked jeans.
“Where is Cassie?” I asked again, looking around to see if she was still here.
“I don’t know,” he shrugged.
Tara spoke up then, “I think I saw her run out that way,” she pointed to the front door.
“What happened man?” Marcus asked, grabbing my arm when I went for the door.
I pulled away from him and pushed through people, getting a few mean glares and looks. I ran outside and down the street, and sure enough, the little yellow car was gone. I groaned in frustration and wanted to slap myself.
Dammit!
I started down the street, running in full speed. I don’t know where I was going or what I was going to do when I got there but I didn’t care. As I ran, I thought back to how I ended up with this mess.

**********

I pulled over after about thirty minutes of driving at 60 mph down the interstate. I had to because I couldn’t even see the road anymore. My vision was too blurry from tears that hadn’t stopped pouring down since leaving Drake’s house. I didn’t even know where I was going. I just had to get away from that stupid city. Why the hell did I think coming here would be a good idea? I slumped forward in my seat, leaning against the steering wheel. After I composed myself enough I called Angie. I told her what happened.
“Oh my gosh, Cassie. Can you get home alright?”
“Yeah, I think I can make it. But I don’t wanna be there. What if he shows up?” I bit my lip, trying to hold my tears in.
“Look, just go home and lock the doors. I’ll have Julie drop us off.”
“Okay, bye. Love you.” I started the car back up.
“I love you too,” she replied before hanging up.
I drove back towards Bridgeport, holding my tears that were on the surface, threatening to escape. When I got to Angie’s street, I turned on it slowly, looking around to make sure Jeremy wasn’t around. I pulled in the driveway and jumped out, running to the front door and unlocking it. Once inside I locked it back and ran upstairs.
Angie arrived about fifteen minutes later. She came up to my room to find me face down on my bed, sobbing like I had been since I came back. She rubbed my back until my sobs died down.
“I just don’t even know what to do anymore Ang,” I blubbered. “I loved him.”
“Did you have sex with him honey?” Angie asked hesitantly, not sure if I’d get offended or not.
I just nodded my head and put my head back down on the pillow, more tears coming. “Don’t be mad at me Angie. Please don’t be mad at me!”
“Cassie, how could I be mad at you? I am not perfect. You know how I used to be,” she started rubbing my back again.
“Why did you change? Because you met Jack?” I sat up.
“No, I changed for me. I never changed for anyone else. Sure, I was happy the way I was for a while but, then I realized I needed to start getting serious about my life. And trust me, Jack knows ALL about how I used to be. He accepts me for it.” She smiled, “He makes me so happy. That’s all you have to do too. Find someone who makes you happy.”
“But he DID make me happy. He made me happier than any person I’ve ever known. When I’m with him, I’m invincible. I forget about my past and who I was, and all I can think about is who I am with him. I’ve never felt anything like it. But it doesn’t even matter now. He obviously doesn’t feel the same way.”
Angie just sighed, shaking her head.
“I’m so jealous of you and Jeremy.” I said after a while. “You two can just pour out your heart and soul, your past to the one you love and care for and I can’t. He told me his deepest secret, his deepest hurt and I couldn’t even tell him about Mikey and Gabby. I tried but I just couldn’t.” I put my head down and picked at a string coming out of my comforter.
“The reason we can tell of our past, Cassie, is because we aren’t afraid of it. They don’t control our lives anymore,” Angie took my hand. “You have to let go of it. Embrace it and then let it go. Always remember, but don’t dwell.”
“But it’s so hard,” I whimpered. My lips trembled as I spoke. “I don’t even know who I am anymore. Who have I become? I’m not myself…because I can’t FIND myself. I’ve drifted so far away. I can’t remember where I left off. But it was weird though because when I was with Jeremy, I could feel a part of the old me inside.” I clenched my fists. “But then he had to go and be with that whore. God, I am so mad Angie! I’m pissed. Why do all these bad things keep happening to me? Am I doing something wrong? Am I missing something important?”
Angie hugged me, “I don’t know honey. Why do women have miscarriages? Why do innocent people die every day? Why are there adults and children that are starving in the world? Why do hurricanes come and destroy whole cities and towns whole? Why is there a war constantly going on overseas? Why does anything bad EVER happen?”
She pulled back and took my face in her hands. “Because that’s life. It sucks and we wish it could be different but sometimes we can’t control fate. We just have to get through it. That’s why there are people in your life to help you in the worst of times. Never forget you have family Cassie. You have so many people around you that care about you.”
“Thanks Ang. I love you.” I gave her a hug and she kissed me on the cheek. “I want to go home.”
She sighed. “I know, but will you stay? Please? Just until the wedding. Besides, I need my maid of honor to be there.”
“What?” I asked, my eyes practically coming out of my head. “Are you serious?”
She smiled at me, “I mean if you want. I would love nothing more than my beautiful sister to be standing at my side on my wedding day.”
“But, it’s so close to the wedding. Are you sure?”
“I’ve already had you a dress made. I hope you don’t mind but I kind of looked through your laundry and got your dress size.” She smiled sheepishly.
“What if I would have said no?” I asked.
“I was hoping you wouldn’t. You want to see the dress?” she asked, holding out her hand for me to take.
“When did you get them in?” she had received them a couple months earlier but they had gotten her order wrong so she had to have them resent. She was practically pulling her hair out because they hadn’t come, every day that it got closer to the wedding.
“This morning! Finally,” she exclaimed as I took her hand and we ran down the steps. Jack was in the living room watching Sports Center, his feet kicked up on the coffee table. We walked past him and into her bedroom.
She had a huge walk-in closet, twice the size of mine upstairs. At the very back of it, some identical purple dresses were hung in clear plastic bags. She rushed forward and started sorting through them. When she found mine she took it off the rack and squealed. “Try it on!”
I smiled, the whole Jeremy situation, not forgotten, but pushed to the back of my mind. I took off my clothes as she got the dress out of the bag and off the hanger. I pulled it on and twirled around, loving how the bottom of the dress flared out and spun with me.
“Oh my gosh, you look GREAT!!!” she jumped up and down.
She had a full length mirror on the back of her door and I walked over to it. She was right. It fit great. The dress itself was gorgeous, a deep purple that came to right above my knees. It was strapless and had a bustier top that came down to my waist and then flared out. On the inside of the dress was purple netting that peek-a-booed out at the bottom.
The rest of the night we talked about the wedding and how excited we both were. We giggled about the honeymoon and my stomach growled when Angie described the cake. But when it was time to sleep and I had climbed into my bed, I found myself face-to-face with the reality that I couldn’t push away anymore.
I checked my phone, which I had silenced when I got on the interstate because Jeremy texted me five times and called me about ten. Sure enough, I had eight more messages and ten more phone calls. My voicemail was full. I emptied it without listening to them. Then I flipped through my messages, eyes not even reading, just skimming over. But I deleted all of them too, knowing it was all bullshit. After clearing my phone of him, I turned it off and cried myself to sleep.