September 21st, Friday - Casey Silpetti
Casey wakes up, hearing Harmony singing in the shower from their shared bathroom. She rolls over and sees that it’s almost time to get up anyway. She starts getting a clean uniform ready to wear, then remembers, “No uniforms for seniors today. Crap!” She puts the uniform away and looks through her meager choice of clothes. She finally decides on a pair of worn-looking jeans, a fitted tee, and a cropped hoodie; laying them out on the bed. She hears the shower stop and slips into the bathroom a few minutes later. “Hey Harm. Can I jump in?”
“Go for it girl! What are you wearing today?”
“It’s laid out on the bed, have a look. I’ll be done in a few minutes.” Casey starts the shower running and checks the temp before stripping and stepping under the hot stream of water. She lets the water pound against her head and body for a few minutes before washing. When she’s done, she wrings out her hair before putting it up in a towel and stepping out of the shower to finish drying off. She wraps another towel around herself and heads into her room to get dressed. She stops short when she sees a different outfit on the bed. “Harmony! Get back in here!”
Harmony bounces into the room, decked out in her new clothes; pink and purple gypsy skirt, sheer lavender tunic with a white tank top underneath, lavender ballet flats, and even a matching purple knit skull cap. “What’s up girl?”
“Harm, what happened to the clothes I picked out?”
“Those were so boring. You have to live it up girl! Who knows how long they’re going to let us wear street clothes on Fridays. You’ll knock Aiden’s socks off in that dress.”
“It’s a sundress…kinda flimsy…a little too cold for September. Plus, I don’t need to knock Aiden’s socks off, Harm. They’ve already been off.” She blushes immediately, knowing how Harmony will take that comment.
“You go girl!! Bow-chica-wow-wow!” She grins at Casey for a moment before continuing. “Well anyway, you don’t want him to put his socks back on do you? If you’re not gonna wear that dress, at least pick something fun and flirty…kay?”
Casey can feel the blush die down some. “OK. Fun and flirty it is. I’ll meet you downstairs.” Harmony heads down to grab some breakfast, leaving Casey to pick another outfit. After going through her small pile of clothes, she checks out what Harmony has in the closet, finally deciding on a fun paisley halter dress of blues and browns that’s covered in a geometric print and lands just above mid-thigh on Casey. She slips on matching chocolate brown leggings that hit just below her knees and teal espadrilles that lace up her calves. She grabs a cropped white, loose-knit sweater and her bags and heads downstairs.
Harmony hands her a bagel smothered in cream cheese. “Perfect! Fun and flirty, and still appropriately covered. You ready to go?” Casey nods as she takes a bite and Harmony grabs her own bag and drags her out to the car.
“Why are you in such a hurry Harm?”
“I’m hoping to see Chris before school…get a date for this weekend.”
“Ms. Beaupre’s still out? What happened to her?”
“IDK. Maybe she finally got a life. I don’t really care, Case.”
Once at school, Harmony heads off to see if Chris is subbing again. Casey makes her way to the caf and gets some orange juice and a banana before finding a place to sit in the student center. Aiden comes up behind her, kissing her neck. “Hey sweetheart. You look great!” He sits down, wearing jeans that are so pale and worn they’re almost white, navy blue button-down shirt with varying light blue stripes on each side – a la Charlie from 2 ½ Men. He also has a white wife-beater underneath. “It’s so weird to see so many people out of uniform. I don’t think they’ve ever done this before. How you feelin’?”
“OK. Everything’s still a little weird looking.”
Cadence comes over and Casey has the weird double vision thing happen again, before Cadence settles back into one person in her eyes. “Hi Aiden, Casey.” She looks at Aiden, “Hey do you mind if I talk with Case real quick?”
He stands up. “Nah. I’m gonna go grab something to eat anyway. You want anything?”
Cadence shakes her head no, waiting until he’s out of earshot before sitting down, speaking in hushed tones. “What did my mom say to you last night…outside, I mean.”
“Just that she’d do anything for you and told me to be safe.” Casey’s tone turns a little more sharp, “Oh, and she had a gun tucked in the back of her pants. Can I tell you how that made me feel? What if I’d said something different? Would you mom have shot me?”
“Depends on what you said…but yeah, probably.” Casey pales, knowing Cadence is telling the truth. “But Case, there’s something about this place. There’s something about you. I trust you, and my mom took that into account. At this point, unless the shit really hits the fan and she pulls me out, or I say go, we’re staying for a while.”
She looks like she wants to say more, but Aiden comes back over with a giant muffin, an apple and two milks. She smiles at him when he sits back down, but it’s a little forced. She nervously tugs at her uniform tie, then stands abruptly. “Hey, I gotta grab some things from my locker before homeroom. See you both in Chem.” Cadence waves as she heads off.
“Did I interrupt something?” Aiden asks.
“Nope. So, ready for tonight?”
He smiles, and leans in for a kiss. “Still ready, as long as I keep getting these all day!” She play punches his arm, and they finish their breakfast and head to homeroom.
Classes go by smoothly. Cadence seems a little hesitant around Casey, unsure of whether the other girl is upset with her thanks to her mother’s actions the night before. But since they’re split again to finish their labs, they don’t get a chance to interact in Chem.
Chris is still subbing for math, although he opens class by saying that Ms. Beaupre should be back for Monday. The announcement is greeted with the sounds of the class groaning, and Casey thinks to herself that she might want to go over the last few chapters this weekend, it’d be just about right for the witch to give a pop quiz on stuff they were supposed to be covering.
Harmony does a good job of not mooning over the sub all class, and in fact gets Casey to tutor her on some of the harder formula’s and all that they’ve been learning.
At lunch, Casey passes through the caf and then heads out to what’s become ‘their’ table, as usual. She passes May, standing off to the side with her normal cronies, all wearing their cheerleader uniforms.
“Oh, you look nice, Casey. I’m sorry, was your friend’s name Harmony, or Charity?” May pipes out in a fake, happy tone. Shelby and Caitlyn giggle at her remark, and Casey can feel a flash of anger fire up.
Before she can turn towards them, Cadence walks up from behind her, and shooting them a look, links her arm with Casey’s and pulls her away. “Don’t worry,” she says as they walk up to their table, “I found out a little something about Ms. May, and she’ll get hers tomorrow.”
“Oooo, what are you going to do?” Aiden asks, pulling Casey down to sit in his lap.
“You’ll have to wait until the fair tomorrow, but have a camera ready,” Cadence replies, giving a particularly evil grin.
“Speaking of tomorrow,” Veronica breaks in, “my mom is leaving to go on a trip today. My dad said we could have a sleep over tomorrow after the fair, if ya’ll want to come over. We can have the whole pool house to ourselves, but the guys have to leave at 11. If you want to come over, I mean.”
“I’m in, tiger.”
“Sounds like fun, what do ya think Case?” Aiden asks. He looks up at Roni. “We’ll be there, won’t be hon?”
“Sure.”
“Will you ask Harmony to come too?” Veronica says. “And, she can bring a date, but…” she blushes as she continues in a soft rush, “she can’t make out with him all night like at the dance…and um, no alcohol either.” Roni looks at Casey like she doesn’t want to hurt her feelings about her friend.
Casey grins, “I’ll tell her, but I don’t know what her plans are for tomorrow, so she may not be able to come.”
“Tom coming?” Aiden asks.
Cadence takes extra interest in her lunch tray as Roni answers. “Yeah. And I think Binks will be around, but I think she said something about going to a party after the carnival, so she’ll probably do that instead.” Veronica turns her attention to Cadence, “Is there anyone you want to invite? You can, you know?”
Cadence pastes on an overly bright smile. “Thanks tiger. Nobody really comes to mind, but if I think of anyone, I’ll invite them.”
That afternoon, Casey finally gets the chance to process the photos she took Wednesday night. The roll using her regular lens turns out fine, nothing outstanding, but nothing really bad either. The roll from the cobalt lens takes a while, and in the end is rather disappointing except for three photos. The first is one that was taken of the crowd. She had focused on getting Faust and the woman he was with, but the minimal zoom on the lens means that they were almost lost in the crowd.
Or would be, but they stand out like beacons. The crowd is a dark, mostly featureless mass. But the figures of Faust and the woman are bright and distinct, almost as though they were cutouts of pure light. They are also the only things in the picture that are in color, although it’s faded.
A second photo shows Madison, just as she was climbing the small stage. The photo shows her looking more strict and prim than Casey remembers her really looking, she looks almost regal. There are small flecks on the photo that Casey first takes for dust, but on closer observation they appear to be small sparkles of yellow light surrounding the woman. A small trail of them lead away from her, looking almost like a thread of light…
The last picture is of the mayor, although if you didn’t know that beforehand there would be no way to tell. A dark, shadowed blur stands menacingly at the podium, clawed hands grasping the sides. Bright, shining light swirls around him, at times coalescing into bright orbs of pure light. In one of them Casey can almost make out a shrieking face, its mouth open in a silent scream.
She shudders, putting all three photos in a folder and then into her bag. She cleans up her darkroom areas and heads to the library to scan in the photos from the first roll of film to put on her site for David Mors’ perusal.
The final bell for the day rings and Casey heads to her locker to get the books she’ll need for this weekend’s homework. She crosses paths with Aiden and Chance on their way to the locker room to get ready for the game. Aiden pulls her in for a kiss and gives her his keys. “Put your stuff in my car, then you don’t have to lug it around until I’m done.” Casey wishes them both luck, Chance giving her the weird cold shoulder she got last time she tried to talk to him.
Casey texts Cadence before heading out to the parking lot. “Something to show you. Meet me at Aiden’s car. – C” She gets her school bag put in the back of Aiden’s SUV and has all her gear ready to go for the game when Cadence shows up. Casey makes sure no one’s paying attention and gets out the photos for Cadence. Speaking softly she says, “Faust gave me a lens that he says shows what’s real. The last time I used it, one of the photos showed a monster that later killed the two little boys that were also in the picture. I also had a photo of one of those newly renovated warehouse condos down by the market that had colored posters, actually moving, from black and white film. These are the only three that turned out this time.”
Cadence studies them for a bit before giving them back. “Well, I’m guessing Faust’s date was also a Player, like him. And it looks like he was right about the Mayor, doesn’t it? But what’s with this one of V’s mom? Looks like some kind’a link or something coming off her. I wonder what it’s going towards?”
She looks up at Casey. “That’s some powerful thing to be giving to you, why do you think Faust did that?”
“I don’t know. I think it was so I would believe his crazy story about all this stuff….but I really don’t know.”
Casey puts the photos back in the folder and into her camera bag to keep them close by. “You can’t tell anyone I have these.” She looks around again, nervously. “I’m kinda supposed to show them to Mr. Mors first, but I need to get a read on them from Faust before I do that.” She grabs her gear and locks up Aiden’s SUV, tucking the keys in a pocket of her bag. “You know I didn’t really think about the working practicality of this outfit this morning. This should be fun. You going to the game?”
“Yeah, gonna sit with V and Bianca. I’m pretty sure they’re saving you a seat too.”
“I’ll be down on the field most the time shooting, but I’ll come up before and probably between the periods too. Will you do me a favor during the game?”
“Sure…shoot.”
“There was some guy in the stands at the last game with a camera. He wasn’t there at the end of the game and he was in no position to get any decent shots of the game at all, which makes me think he was shooting something else. I think there was a girl with him or something, but I didn’t make it close enough to really see much of either of them or what he was taking shots of. Keep your eye out. If I see him again, I’ll try and point him out toward you.”
Cadence nods. “I’m gonna drop my stuff at home. I’ll see you at the game.” She trots off toward her apartment as Casey heads over to the field. She heads up the bleachers to where Bianca and Veronica are sitting; saying hi and chatting until the players come back on the field from the locker room. She climbs down the bleachers and onto the field to get single shots of all the starters and be in place for the game. She drops her bag under the team bench, near the manager. She pulls her hair back in a quick ponytail, sticking the pencil through it, since she doesn’t have pockets. She quickly drapes her Holsey Press ID around her neck and heads over to get the shots she needs. She scans the stands between each starter announcement, looking for the photographer she saw at the last game, but not able to make him out. It’s finally time for the game to start and she moves over to the sidelines, focusing on getting the right shots.
At the end of the period, Casey grabs her gear bag and heads back up into the stands to sit with her friends. She gives Cadence a questioning look, asking if she’s seen the photographer.
Cadence shakes her head no, and shrugs before turning back to answer something that Bianca asked her. Casey notices Veronica talking animatedly with Tom, who’s sitting next to her looking quite bored with the game. Casey’s surprised to see that Harmony and Chris have also shown up, though they are both lost in conversation.
“Hey… ahh… Casey. What’cha doing?” She turns and sees Kale standing there, his press pass clipped to his pocket. He runs his hand through his hair. “I mean, I know what you’re doing, duh. Sorry, I mean, how are you doing?”
She smiles in spite of herself. “I’m doing ok. Did you get my pictures? Were they ok?”
“Oh yeah,” he nods vigorously. “Yeah, I turned in the article with the pictures and all, and Mr. Norman said it looked great, thinks we might even be able to get it in the Arkham Chronicle!”
“Hey Kale,” Cadence says. Bianca has turned around in her seat, and is talking to their bodyguard tonight, Fetch.
Kale looks over, and gives a little wave. “Hey, Cadence. Thanks for introducing me to your mom, she said it’ll be fine if I come see how the play is put together, and some of the auditions.” Cadence nods at him.
He turns back to Casey. “Well, better get back down there and see what’s going on… just wanted to say hey.” He looks between her and Cadence, “Err… ya’ll have fun!” He turns and walks quickly away.
Casey looks over at Cadence, who’s pointedly not looking back at her, but who’s grinning widely. Casey elbows her in the side playfully, and they both laugh a little.
The game starts back up, and Casey gets some more action shots throughout. The Blake Holsey Hawks absolutely dominate the Seaside Raiders, most of the visiting team fans leaving well before the end of the game.
Casey heads back up to the stands after taking pictures of the players headed off the field and into the locker room. Tom has already left, and Veronica is talking with Harmony and Chris, when she gets closer she realizes they’re talking about Chris’ classes at AU.
Bianca’s still lost in deep conversation with Fetch, so Casey sits next to Cadence, who gives her a weary smile. She leans close to Casey and whispers, “No odd looking photographers, with or without girls tonight.”
“Thanks for keeping an eye out.”
She sighs. “No problem, not like I had a lot else to do.”
Aiden comes running up the bleachers, and leans in for a long kiss. “Told ya I was ready for tonight! What’dya think of the game?”
“Ya’ll were great!”
“Hey Aiden, great game,” Bianca says. She and Veronica are standing nearby, Fetch standing a little distance away. “We have to get going, but see you tomorrow?”
They say their goodbyes, Chris leaving about the same time.
“So, how about dinner? Cade? Harm? Ya’ll up for a dinner run?”
“Aww, how sweet Dennison, offering to buy us dinner! Connor, you can ride with me. The Max?”
When Aiden doesn’t answer quick enough, Harmony nods. “Great, we’ll be waiting for ya’ll. I hope you brought your wallet Dennison, cause all this foreplay and talking and stuff has got me hungry!” Harmony grabs Cadence’s hand, and pulls her at a fast pace towards her car, Cadence looking back over her shoulder with an ‘Uh Oh’ look on her face.
Aiden laughs, and pulls Casey to her feet. He grabs her bag and throws it over his shoulder with his bag, and takes her hand with his free one. They walk out to his car, and head over to The Max to meet with Harmony and Cadence.
“So, you gonna stay with me tonight? I figure we can head to the fair together?”
Aiden drops their bags in the back and opens the door for Casey, letting her climb in. “Yeah, that sounds good. We’ll have to swing by Harm’s so I can get some clean clothes though.”
“Good.” He smiles big, kissing her quickly before shutting the door and going around to the driver’s side to get in. They get to The Max and head inside, joining a bunch of other Holsey players, students and fans celebrating the win. Aiden and Casey slowly make their way over to the booth that Harmony and Cadence have commandeered, as Aiden gets congratulated and slapped on the back.
They all order and chat about school and other things, occasionally being swept up into the rest of the crowd’s enthusiasm over the game. Casey tells Harmony about the post-carnival slumber party at the Kane’s, making sure to pass along the date invitation and the warnings from Veronica. After they’re finished eating and are just hanging out, Harmony gets a text from Chris inviting her – and whoever – to a party just off the AU campus. The rest of the group begs off and Harmony makes arrangements for Chris to pick her up from home, giving her time to go change. Casey gives her friend a hug, saying in her ear, “Don’t get too crazy Harm. Remember, you’re said no more party-girl.”
“I know. But I really like him, and I’m not about to miss a chance to hang out.” She squeezes Casey. “See you tomorrow at the carnival.” She waves at Aiden and Cadence and heads toward the door, stopping after a few steps and turning back around. “Sorry, um, Aiden, can you give Cadence a ride home? Or I could take you home now, if you want…”
Aiden nods yes, and Cadence says, “As long as I get home, doesn’t really matter who gets me there.”
“Cool. Thanks Aiden. See y’all tomorrow.” Harmony practically runs out to her car in excitement.
“Does she ever fall for someone halfway, or is it always over the top?” Cadence asks.
Casey laughs, “It’s pretty much always like this. But she’s had a crush on him for a couple years I guess. Plus, this one doesn’t seem to be all about the sex.”
“Yeah, maybe he’s her lobster,” Aiden interjects. Casey and Cadence both give him blank looks. “Like from Friends. Mate for life. ‘Maybe he’s your lobster…’ Phoebe said it. I’m gonna stop now.” Casey and Cadence both look at each other and totally crack up.
“Why, Aiden, I never knew you were such a fan of Friends,” laughs Cadence.
“Me either,” Casey says with tears in her eyes from laughing so hard. “But OK, maybe he’s her lobster.” And with that, Casey and Cadence both break into a fresh laughing fit while Aiden turns beet red.
“My mom loves it. She has ‘em all on DVD. I’m gonna go hang out with some of the guys for a bit now.” He kisses Casey’s cheek and quickly heads over to a group of other soccer players.
“Wow, the things you learn,” Cadence observes, as soon as she’s done laughing.
“No kidding.” Casey wipes her eyes. “OK, change of subject. I thought you didn’t swing that way, but what was up between you and Kale at the game? You seemed kinda flirty.”
She raises an eyebrow. “Did I? Didn’t realize it, just introduced him to my mom and all, decided to be nice to him. I know what it’s like to be interested in someone who’s not interested back.” She grins, “He’s got it bad, kiddo.”
Casey blushes a little. “Gotcha, and it’s not that I’m not interested – I mean I just met him – but I don’t really know him that well. And I have Aiden now… If circumstances were different…who knows. He’s cute and we have similar interests, but…I don’t know. Oh, did you ever ask your mom about trying out for the play? You’d make Roni’s day if you did…and I already promised her I would, so it’d be nice to have someone else there that’s a friend.”
“Yeah, she said I could. Just not for any of the headliner roles or anything, keep my name out of the flyers. Although if what Faust mentioned to me works, I might not have to worry as much. He said he could help hide us in plain sight, we’re going to do a ritual to try and make it work next weekend.”
“Let me know if you need me to go with or anything, kay?”
Cadence nods and Aiden comes back over and sits down, draping his arm over Casey’s shoulders. “So, Chance is having the team and our friends over for a little late night pool party tonight. Would you ladies care to join me?”
Cadence’s eyes flash with hatred. “Not on your life.”
“Case?”
“If that’s what you want to do tonight, I’m up for it. But I don’t want to stay too late. Tomorrow’s gonna be a long day too, with the carnival and the thing at Roni’s. And you’ll probably want to super-duper-moisturize your lips tonight so they don’t get chafed tomorrow at the kissing booth,” she grins.
“Oh yeah,” Cadence teases, making kissy lips at him. “Get ready to pucker up. We’re just going to take up all your kissing time tomorrow – me, Case and V.” She smacks a big air kiss toward him, laughing.
“Suh-weet!” he laughs. “You guys ready to head out then?” He stands, hooking arms with one girl on each side as they leave. Aiden drops Cadence off at home, waiting for her to get inside before taking off. Then they swing by Harmony’s for Casey to get clothes for tonight and tomorrow, plus her bathing suit, leaving her book bag there, but bringing her camera gear with, for the carnival.
They head to Aiden’s to drop everything off and for him to get his trunks and towels before they head to Chance’s house. Before he pulls out of the driveway, “Hey, are you sure you’re ok with going to Chance’s house tonight? He’s been acting kind of weird and I know he kinda gave you the cold shoulder before.”
“It’s fine, really. He’s your friend, so we’re obviously going to hang out sometimes. Plus I love the house…do you know how much awesome artwork they have just sitting around…like everywhere?”
He laughs, leaning over to kiss her. “I love you Casey.” She pulls back immediately, smacking the back of her head against the door molding, gaping at Aiden’s comment. “Uh, I mean. Well…um, I love being with you. And, uh, I really like you, which could maybe be love someday,” he rambles. “And I love the things you say…and I love lots of things about you.”
Casey holds up her hand for him to stop, her face burning bright red. “Umm…can you stop now?” Aiden smacks his mouth shut, almost biting his tongue in the process. She smiles shyly, rubbing the new bump on her head, “I, um…can we just pretend you didn’t say that. I’m not…I don’t think I’m ready for that yet.”
“I didn’t mean…I mean, I meant it, but…”
Casey takes a deep breath, interrupting. “It’s ok. Let’s just go over to Chance’s.” Aiden looks at her for a second before putting the car in drive and heading over to the Mors’ place. Casey takes his hand on the drive over, softly stroking her thumb across the back to reassure both of them; telling him she’s not put off by what he said and trying not to freak out and bolt from one of the best things in her life.
Aiden grabs his gym bag with their suits and towels and takes Casey’s hand, heading inside, straight to the pool area. They can hear the music and people long before they get to the pool, running into Chance in the hallway.
“Dennison, you made it. Casey, glad you could come,” he says, managing to keep the chill from his voice that was there last time she talked to him. “Make yourselves at home. Changing rooms are over there. Drinks are at the bar.” Chance continues down the hall, disappearing into another room.
They try the door to the first changing room, finding it locked. The next one is open. “I can wait ‘til you’re done, Case, if you want.”
She smiles a little at Aiden, “No, it’s ok. Come on.” They both go in, locking the door behind them and change in awkward silence. Aiden puts their clothes back in the bag, handing Casey a towel and taking the other one for himself. She wraps hers around herself as he slings his over one shoulder, grabbing the bag and leading her to the pool area.
“What do you want to drink?”
“Just a Diet Coke, or regular Coke,” she says looking around, not seeing a lot of friendly faces. “I’ll go with you.” Casey spends the rest of the evening, pretty much at Aiden’s side, chatting with the teammates that he was hanging out with and not many other people. He even remembers her lack of swimming experience and stays on land, in the hot tub, or in the shallow end of the pool. Things even seem almost back to normal between them after an hour. She sees May across the room, talking non-stop with various people and oftentimes pointing Casey’s way.
Casey slips away to use the restroom. She steps back into the pool area and is almost immediately picked up. She starts to laugh, “Hey, put me d…” before realizing it’s not Aiden. She sees that it’s Marcus, one of the guys from the team that May has wrapped around her finger. “Marcus. Put me down.” She looks around for Aiden, but doesn’t see him.
“Oh, I will.” She squirms in his arms and he only hangs on tighter.
“Stop it! You’re hurting me.” Everybody that’s still in the pool area just sits there and watches as he walks over to the diving board and steps onto it. Casey finally realizes he’s going to dump her in the pool and fights to break away. When she can’t, she tries to wrap her arms around him so he can’t drop her, but his skin is slippery from the water and she can’t hang on. He starts to dump her in, but she accidentally claws his neck and he drops her. She catches a corner of the board with the back of her head before she splashes into the pool. She struggles in the water for a little bit before passing out as everyone just stares. Jake, Aiden and Chance come back in just after all this has happened, taking in Marcus on the board and everyone staring at the deep end. Jake tries to keep the guys’ attention, but they know something’s up. Chance sees Casey and sprints toward the pool, shouting, “Aiden, call 911!” before diving in.
Aiden calls 911, still not quite sure what’s going on, other than that someone’s in the pool. Everyone seems to come out of their shock. May’s cronies preening and laughing as if nothing is wrong. Everyone else starts scrambling to help Chance, only to get in the way. Chance gets Casey out of the pool and Aiden shoves the phone into someone else’s hand, running over to her. He kneels down, stroking her hair. “Casey, wake up. Please.”
Chance pushes Aiden out of the way. “Move Dennison.” He finds a slight pulse, but she’s not breathing, so he starts doing mouth-to-mouth. He gets her breathing on her own just before EMS arrives to take over. Aiden grabs his bag and goes with Casey. “I’ll meet you there,” Chance says as they head out to the ambulance.
—
Chance finds Aiden in the ER waiting room at Kingdom Hospital at the same time that Harmony comes running in. “Is she ok? What happened?”
“I think so, and I don’t know. The doctor said she’s awake, has stitches in her head and a concussion, but we have to wait out here until they let us in since we’re not family,” Aiden answers as Chris walks in and joins their group.
“From what Marcus told me, May wanted to play a joke on Casey, just drop her in the deep end, but she freaked.”
Aiden interrupts, “Of course she freaked, she can’t swim!”
“Anyway. He said he was about to throw her in, but she scratched the hell out of him and he dropped her instead. She hit her head on the diving board.”
“Ohmygod,” Harmony whispers, Chris putting his arm around her.
“I made everyone leave.” Chance puts a hand on Aiden’s shoulder. “I’m sorry dude. I had no idea. Oh, and Jake was there to get us out of the room.” He grins almost evilly, “And now has one helluva black eye.”
A nurse comes into the waiting room. “Aiden Dennison.” Aiden looks toward her, raising his hand. “You can come back and see her now.”
Harmony rushes over to the nurse. “Can I come too. I’m Casey’s best friend. Please.” The nurse hesitates and Aiden nods at her before she gives the ok. Chance and Chris start to follow and she stops them. “I’m sorry, there’s not enough room. You can see her, but only two at a time.” The two guys sit down to wait.
Harmony practically runs into Casey’s partitioned off area, giving her a big hug. “Case are you ok?” Aiden steps up to her other side, taking her hand and stroking her cheek.
She nods slowly. “Yeah. Sore and freaked out, but basically ok. They said I can leave, but the doctor wanted to talk to you, Aiden. He said I have a concussion and can sleep, but someone has to make sure I wake up every hour for the next 24 hours.” She bites her lip. “Can you do that?”
“Of course, sweetheart. I’m gonna go find him, kay?” Casey nods and he heads off to find Casey’s doctor.
Harmony gives her another hug, not letting go of her hand. “Stitches?”
“Yup. Fifteen of ‘em.”
“Are you gonna be ok at Aiden’s? I know you were gonna spend the night there, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to, you know?”
“I know, and I’ll be fine there. I’ll be in almost tip-top condition by the time you see me at the carnival, Harm.”
“Alright. I’m gonna have Chris take me home.” Harmony gives Casey another hug and heads out as Aiden comes back into the room.
“Harmony,” Casey says softly, and Harmony turns back. “I’m sorry I ruined your night.”
“You didn’t ruin it, Case. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she turns and heads out.
“Ok Case, here’s the deal,” Aiden says as he sits next to her on the bed. “You can leave and go to sleep, as long as I wake you up every hour, or you can stay here in the ER and they’ll make sure you’re awake every hour. You might get nauseous, and you’ll probably have a headache, which they gave me some heavier duty aspirin or something for you to take. What do you want to do?” Chance comes in during Aiden’s explanation.
“I don’t want to stay here.”
“How are you feeling, Casey?” Chance asks.
“I’ll be ok. Thanks for coming.”
“Well, I’ll just be in the waiting area and I can give you both a ride to Aiden’s. Find me when you’re ready to go.”
Casey waits until Chance leaves to ask Aiden, “Um, do you have my clothes? I don’t really want to walk out of here in a swim suit.”
“Ta-da!” He holds out his bag full of clothes. “Do you need help or are you ok to stand?”
“I’ll be fine.” She changes as quickly as she can, noticing there’s some blood on her swimsuit top. “I’m ready.”
Aiden finds a nurse and gets Casey’s discharge papers. He also finds Chance and has him pull around to pick them up. Casey signs all the papers, asking the nurse about billing, since she doesn’t have insurance anymore, and is told how it will be taken care of. Aiden wheels Casey out and helps her get in Chance’s car, giving the wheelchair back to the nurse before climbing in back next to her.
Chance drops them off at Aiden’s house without saying much. Casey thanks him again for the ride and Aiden gets her settled into his bed.
“How’s your stomach?”
“A little funky, but I don’t feel like I’m gonna puke, so I think it’s fine.”
“Your head?”
“Ouchy, but I’m sure it will be better tomorrow. Are you sure you’re ok with waking me up every hour? You know you won’t get much sleep either?”
“I know. It’ll be alright. We’ll go to the carnival and Veronica’s tomorrow, but you have to take it easy. Now, get some sleep sweetheart.” He kisses her on the forehead, and before she knows it, she’s out, only to repeat that little conversation every hour as Aiden wakes her up.
