Fragile Hearts

Kasey walks slowly, taking deliberate steps along the sidewalk as she twists and turns her head every which way to find the restaurant Leana had told her about. It probably would have been a smart idea to ask for directions before letting her new friend hang up.

The place was supposedly right on the water and had “that big sign of the Mexican woman dancing. You totally won’t miss it.”

However, Kasey thinks she already has.

Her pocket vibrates twice quickly with a new text message. Hoping it’s Leana, she pulls it out, reading the message over.

Still coming?

I think I’m lost, Kasey replies back shamefully.

No worries, one second. Where do you think you are? What do you see?

Kasey relays her surroundings, staying rooted to her spot in the middle of the sidewalk. She’s bumped and cursed at by various passers-by as she chews softly on her thumbnail.

Instead of Leana as Kasey was expecting, a platinum blond haired head bobs up and down in the crowd, and as people meander side to side on the sidewalk, Kasey catches a glimpse of Val’s large smile.

“Oh thank God,” Kasey breathes once Val reaches her with a laugh. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not a problem,” Val continues to giggle. “You actually walked past it not too long ago.”

“I figured.”

Valary leads Kasey to the restaurant and out onto the patio overlooking the beach. Leana smiles wide when she sees the two, hugging Kasey.

“I’m so sorry,” Kasey rushes to apologize. “I just never took the time to walk around here.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

The three women continue to chat, making small talk as they look over their menus. Leana gushes about how good the food is, Kasey learns Gena and Lacey were supposed to come, but ended up with Zacky and Johnny for the day. Somewhere along the way, Val apologizes for Michelle the other week.

“Don’t worry, she’s not coming,” Val says when their drinks arrive. “I didn’t think it’d be a good idea.”

Kasey shakes her head, sipping carefully on her martini. “I’m- I’m fine. Really.”

“She was trying so hard not to laugh at dinner,” Leana winks.

“Yeah,” Kasey flushes red with embarrassment. “I still feel awful about that.”

“Don’t! It was hilarious!”

Even Val can’t help a small smile forming on her lips.

“So, Kasey. How’d you and Brian meet anyway?”

Kasey breathes in, shocked, forgetting she still has the margarita up against her mouth. The drink slips into her airways and she coughs.

“Uhm,” she croaks after what seems like ages. “Well, I work at a local diner and he came in one day.”

Kasey bites her lip as the girls nod, listening intently. She doesn’t know what to say. Especially if they ask her when.

“I kind of blew him off at first,” she giggles nervously. It was the truth, to some extent. “But then he kept asking and finally, he called me on my day off, giving me this long speech about how he went through all this trouble to get my number. I kind of felt obligated to give in then. And it’s been nice ever since.”

Kasey gulps nervously before Leana and Val break into sly grins.

“That sounds like Brian, alright.”

“How is he after meeting Beau by the way?”

Kasey frowns. It’s been a week and a bit since the dinner disaster and he hasn’t tried to contact her not once. And Kasey isn’t going to try and call Brian either because he needs his space.

“He’s- we’re working on it.”

An awkward silence envelops their table just as the waiter arrives with their orders. The girls eat in silence for the most part, only offering bits and pieces of conversation here and there.

After a while, Kasey wonders if they actually think of her as the rebound. Somehow, the idea doesn’t settle too well with her, even though she should be considering herself even less than one.

Midway through their meal, Leana excuses herself and the silence becomes more awkward than ever. Kasey finds it painful to hear herself chewing her burrito, so she swallows.

“How did you and Matt meet?”

Val smiles, a distant look glossing over her eyes as she thinks back all those years ago.

“We’ve known each other forever. Family friends. One day we kind of just… got together and started dating. This was before the band even started, so we’ve kind of been through it all, you know?”

No, Kasey doesn’t. But she nods and pretends she does, or is trying to, anyway.

The rest of their lunch hour flies by quickly, and soon all the girls are saying their goodbyes and going off in their separate directions.

Kasey frowns as she begins her long walk home. She can’t help but feel her relationship with Leana, Val and the rest of the girls is completely fake. Maybe it’s just her, or maybe it’s because her bond with the girls was created on an entirely fake relationship with Brian. It makes her feel uncomfortable as she weighs her chances.

What would happen after Brian and Kasey ‘called it quits’? How would they feel if they found out whom she really was? Kasey never really cared about appearances, yet here she was, wondering what everyone would think of her now that she was getting involved.

All of the questions swirling in her mind make her stomach churn uneasily.

Why the hell is Brian’s job becoming so much more hard and stressful than she had thought it would be?

The thoughts and questions keep bugging at Kasey all night, until she finally decides that sleep won’t be an option for the next few hours.

She tiptoes quietly through the apartment, trying not to wake Tess or alert Tex to her presence, but it’s too late, the kitten is too good.

He mewls loudly, forcing Kasey to pick him up and give him attention on her way to the computer the two girls share.

She checks through emails, deleting escort requests, not even bothering with them anymore, and looks at the news. With a sigh, she buries her head in her hands, bothered by the fact that another hour has gone by and she still doesn’t feel tired yet.

Tex nudges her elbow, bringing her out of her sleep-deprived thoughts.

What was the band Brian was in again? She suddenly asks herself.

Youtube pops up onto the monitor as Kasey drums her fingers against the keyboard softly. Avenge, Avengers…

A-v-enged Sevenfold.

That was it. Kasey hits the enter button, searching the search engine’s suggestion, clicking on the first video that comes up.

She nibbles on her lower lip as she watches the video screen turn white, followed by a male figure running towards the camera.

For the next four minutes, she is engrossed with the video, never once taking her eyes off of Brian when allowed. Her jaw hangs slightly as his fingers fly across his guitar as he plays the solo, her heart skips a beat as he looks to the camera with a knowing smirk and at the end of the video, Kasey replays it again, knowing her chances of falling asleep now are completely dashed as she tells herself she’ll try to not only watch Brian.