Fragile Hearts

“Hey Kase,” Tess calls out from inside the kitchen. “You got something here.”

Kasey quickly closes the e-mail draft she’s working on to send to the site she’s been advertised on.

To say the least, even after Brian, the calls haven’t stopped coming in.

“What is it?” Kasey asks, taking the thick white envelope from her friend’s hand.

Tess shrugs. “Open it.”

The first thing Kasey sees is green. And lots of it. She takes all the bills out slowly, counting them up.

“One thousand,” she says quietly.

“I thought he wasn’t going to pay you?”

“I told him not to,” Kasey huffs, stuffing the money back into the envelope.

“Oh, I think there was a note in there too,” Tess bites her lip, forcing Kasey to dig back into the package.

Kasey. it reads,

I couldn’t just not.

Brian

Kasey shakes her head, giving off a soft, frustrated sigh. Why couldn’t people take a nice gesture these days?

“I have to return it,” the brunette finalizes.

Tess’s eyes widen. “Wait, why?”

“Because I told him he didn’t have to do this for me. I don’t need it.”

“But he gave it to you anyway,” Tess protests. “That means he wants you to have it. Or is that concept of generosity just flying out of your head?”

“Tess, please,” Kasey groans. “I don’t want the money.”

“Okay, fine then. And how are you planning on giving it back to him?”

Kasey stops dead in her tracks. She hadn’t even thought of that. She knew where one of his friends, Matt, lived, but giving Matt the money to give back to Brian that Brian gave to her? That wouldn’t seem suspicious at all. Which would ruin the whole point of the date Saturday.

She can’t screw it up for Brian.

“Never mind,” she concludes, defeated.

Tess breathes out a sigh of relief. “Thank God.”

“I can’t believe he did that,” Kasey fumes, sealing the envelope tightly.

“Why wouldn’t he?” Tess asks. “He seems like a nice guy. Not to mention that he’s smokin’ hot. Plus he looks like a really good kisser, probably great in bed. Did I mention he’s gorgeous?”

Tess finishes, licking her lips in satisfaction while Kasey just rolls her eyes.

“You’ve told me that about a million times since last Saturday. Why don’t you give him a call? I’m sure I still have his number on my phone somewhere.”

Tess flushes. “Couldn’t. I’m a pussy. Plus he’s got ex issues.” She opens her mouth up to say something once again, but decides against it, shutting up quickly.

“What?” Kasey pries suspiciously. “What were you going to say?”

“I just- it’s not important, really.”

Kasey’s own chocolate brown eyes narrow. “Fine.”

“Okay, it’s just… You two have something going on. I don’t know what it is. I was watching you before you left and when you got back last week and there was just something there.”

Right now, Tess has her whole soft, mushy voice thing going on. Which means she has an idea already forming in her mischievous mind.

“Oh God, Tess. Grow up,” Kasey spits. “One, I had never ridden a motorcycle before in my life, he was just taking it easy on me. Two, I’m never gonna see the guy again.”

“You don’t know that,” Tess insists.

“I do. Not everyone can have their happily ever afters, Tess. Where’s yours, huh?”

That shuts the girl up fast. Really fast. So fast she’s blinking back tears and Kasey is immediately regretting what she just said.

“I-I’m sorry,” Kasey whispers. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

Deep breath. “It’s fine. I know where you’re coming from. I get it.”

In fact, Tess was supposed to have her happily ever after with Prince Charming. They should have been married by now and Kasey would be living with another roommate.

Of course, nothing plans out like Disney movies do.

Tess and said Prince Charming had been going out since their junior year of high school when Kasey met her. Tess was twenty-two and Kasey was twenty-one. She had said that she would only be living in the apartment with Kasey for a short time until she and her boyfriend could scrap up the savings to get married and get an apartment of their own.

Never happened. Prince Charming broke up with Tess a few months after Kasey met them both. Leaving Tess heartbroken and with a roommate who could care less.

Kasey never liked Prince Charming anyway, he was a douchebag. Tess just couldn’t see that. And it wasn’t in Kasey’s place to say anything at the time.

“You know what?” Tess says after a while, “We’re running low on groceries. I’m just gonna… do some shopping.”

“I’ll go,” Kasey offers, as if this gesture will somehow trick Tess into feeling better. Because she knows what Tess really wants. Tex, Ariel and a huge pint of ice cream. “Rocky Mountain Road, right?”

A small smile appears on Tess’s lips. “Yeah.”

“I need to do something with this money anyway,” Kasey looks at Brian’s envelope.

At the grocery store, ice cream is the first thing Kasey gets. One for Tess and mint chocolate chip for herself.

“Kasey? Is that you?”

Kasey turns around, startled. She wasn’t expecting to be recognized today, much less by a female voice.

“It’s me, Leana,” the woman smiles.

“Yeah, hey. Didn’t expect to see you here,” she chuckles nervously. “How was the party after Brian and I left?”

Leana laughs. “Well, the boys went from being drunk to being plastered. Nothing out of the ordinary, you’ll learn that fast.”

Kasey laughs to go along with Leana. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“So, are you coming to dinner with us next week?”

Kasey’s mouth falls open, but nothing comes out. “Uhm, Brian never told me anything about a dinner. I’ll have to talk to him about that.”

Kasey feels as if Leana is staring into the depths of her mind as she narrows her eyes. It’s not a very comfortable feeling.

“I don’t know why Brian’s so secretive with you,” Leana finally speaks, allowing Kasey to breathe out a silent sigh of relief. “I mean, Michelle, yeah. But what’s not to like about you?”

“Aw, thanks.”

“You should come with us sometime, have a girl’s night out. It’ll be fun. And we can all get to know you better.”

Even though the offer seems very tempting, Kasey’s whole mind screams no!

“Yeah, that’d be awesome. Are you going to the dinner next week?” Kasey tries to veer the subject onto a different course.

Leana bites down on her lip. “I don’t know. I might be working.”

“Oh, what do you do?”

“I’m in the porn industry,” Leana smirks shyly. Okay, not the direction Kasey wanted to go in. “Lesbian.” Definitely not.

Leana laughs when Kasey can’t come up with a coherent sentence.

“It’s okay, I get that a lot.”

“I’m sorry, I’m just surprised is all.”

“Most people are. Except Jimmy. He thought it was a bonus.”

Kasey giggles. Mostly because she can actually see Jimmy acting that way, even though she only met the guy once.

The two women talk a bit longer about nothing in particular and Kasey makes the fair conclusion that yes, her assumptions were right. Leana is an awesome person to hang around.

“Well, I’ll see you around, Kase,” Leana finally says. “Hopefully at the dinner. Make sure Jim doesn’t do anything too stupid if I’m not.”

Kasey grins. “No sweat,” she bids farewell to the brunette.

As soon as her back is turned however, Kasey’s smile drops into a frown. She can’t tell if Leana finding out about what’s actually going on with her and Brian is in the foreseeable future or not. Which is almost as bad as knowing she would find out. It’s just a matter of when, why and how.

When Kasey finally makes it back to the apartment, two plastic bags worth of groceries on each arm, she’s not surprised to hear The Little Mermaid playing from the living room. Ariel is Tess’s favorite Disney princess, and she only watches the movie when Prince Charming is on her mind.

Forgetting about the groceries, Kasey takes the pints of ice cream out of the bags, digs two spoons from the pantry, and dutifully makes her way to the living room.

Ariel; check. Tex cuddling up against Tess; check. And now, finally the ice cream.

Tess smiles. “Thanks a bunch. I’ll take the groceries out later.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Kasey digs into her own dessert. “I’m sorry for being a bitch earlier. It was uncalled for.”

Tess shakes her head. “It’s fine. I’m too nosy for my own good anyway. That, and I should’ve known my Prince Charming was a total dickface.”

Kasey hums a reply and the two friends settle in to watch the movie. Kasey liked Ariel, she really did. She was probably the only princess out of all the Disney girls that actually had to work for her prince. Mulan too, but her man wasn’t technically a prince, more a warrior.

Just as the mermaid dives to rescue Eric, Kasey can’t help but think of Brian. And if she’s really going to see him again soon.