Page 3 of Yours for the Weekend

Chapter Two

“ I ’ve never seen you look so happy!!”

Something inside me cracks. Emotion swells in my throat, and my eyes water as I force myself to reread the words over and over like the pathetic masochist I am.

Nina hasn’t responded to the comment yet, but it won’t be long.

She responded to every “congratulations” on her Instagram post. It’s going to kill me inside to see her agree with her aunt’s words, and, like, how could you, Aunt Karen?

Nina and I had dinner at her house several times a year, and I thought she loved me.

She’d always asked me about my class and seemed so enthralled by everything my students had been up to.

How could she comment she’s never seen Nina so happy when she’s seen Nina with me ?

I tug down on my screen to refresh the page when Casey snatches my phone from my hand.

“Hey!” I complain as Casey keeps it from my reach. She tosses it on an empty lounge chair and pushes me back down as I attempt to stand up.

“Quit!” She holds me down by the shoulder as she rejoins me in the hot tub. “You’re obsessing. ”

I groan and sink back in the water. We switched to wine, and I take a long pull from my glass.

Zolita plays over a wireless speaker from Casey’s phone.

The moon hangs high in the sky, and there’s a string of lights illuminating the patio, giving the deck a pretty atmosphere that doesn’t at all match my mood.

“I’m not obsessing,” I complain.

She levels me with a stern look.

I roll my eyes, but there’s no heat behind it. When Casey headed inside for the bathroom, the door didn’t even click shut before I found my way to Nina’s Instagram.

“I leave you alone for five minutes.” She tsks while saddling up next to me, our legs pressed against one another’s.

“I’m sorry.” I rest my head on her shoulder.

She gives my knee a comforting squeeze. “You don’t have to apologize. I know it hurts.”

I wrap my arm around hers. She leans deeper into me, and I let her warmth and the copious amounts of alcohol I’ve consumed comfort me. My eyes water with fresh tears that I’m thankful she can’t see.

“Maybe Marcus was right,” I say.

“Never thought I’d hear those words cross your lips.”

I smile. “I don’t know, I’ve been thinking and maybe I need to sleep with someone new,” I whisper the last part. Even though my body wants to get laid, the prospect still terrifies me. Nina is the only person I’ve ever been with.

It wasn’t until I left my small conservative town and deeply religious family for grad school that I realized I was a lesbian.

I was starting to question things, so I signed up for an LGBTQIA+ kickball league and was placed on an existing team.

Nina took me under her wing from the moment I showed up to the field.

And when the team went out for drinks to celebrate our first win, I latched on to the excuse to spend more time with the gorgeous brunette who was glued to my side whenever we were both in the dugout. And that didn’t change at the bar.

Nina and I were in our own little world at the end of the high-top tables the team shoved together.

We split a basket of nachos, and by the end of the night, we made plans for the weekend.

A simple dinner turned into a marathon date that started at seven pm Saturday and didn’t end until six am Monday morning when I had to leave to get ready for class, and Nina had to go to work.

“Doesn’t hurt to try,” Casey says easily, bringing me back to the topic at hand: sleeping with someone new.

I knew she’d say that. Casey is the Queen of Casual.

I’ve always admired the way she’d see who or what she wants and unapologetically pursue it.

She’s always clear about her intentions, never leading someone on, but she insists life is too short not to embrace her desires.

She’s always seemed so happy, so why can’t I do that?

“How do you do it?” I ask.

“Do what?”

I lift my head, shifting so I can face her. “How do you find your one-night stands? Do you just go up to a random stranger and be like ‘Hi! Want to have sex with me?’”

She grins, not in a teasing way as if she’s mocking my cluelessness, but in this sweet way as if she finds me endearing.

“That’s not the first thing I say when approaching a stranger, no. But in the DMs?” She shrugs. “Some people are quick to cut through the bullshit in there. I mean, not me. I like a little more build up, but I’ve received my fair share of messages insinuating that. ”

I cringe and sag back against the wall of the hot tub. “I don’t think I can do that.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I know. I just …” I can’t finish that thought. Instead, I worry at my bottom lip.

“Hey.” Casey grabs my hand. Her palm is so smooth and warm. “What’s going on?”

“It’s nothing,” I lie, because I’m scared to admit the truth. I’m twenty-seven years old, and Nina is the only person I’ve felt a real spark with. There’s a big part of me that is afraid I’ll never feel chemistry with someone else, and how can sex feel good without intimacy?

“Liar,” Casey says with no judgment. “What is it?”

“I’m not lying.”

She stares, and I groan. Nobody knows me better than Casey—or Nina, not that it’s relevant anymore.

“What if … Could it be …?” I shake my head.

Casey cups my cheek and turns me so I’m facing her. Still, I avert my gaze from hers, so she presses her forehead to mine.

“What’re you thinking?” Casey’s voice is soft, patient.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. The water is warm as a frog croaks in the distance.

Casey’s hand is gentle and comforting on my knee, and her touch grounds me.

Her closeness, the warmth of her body, and the knowledge that she would never ever judge me gives me the courage to speak the words I’d never be brave enough to say to someone else.

“I want to sleep with someone new, but I don’t want it to be a stranger.

I want it to be someone I’m comfortable with, but I’m not ready to have feelings for someone new.

I’m still so in love with Nina—even though I know I shouldn’t be—that I can’t comprehend the idea of dating again, so how the hell do I find someone?

Who would be okay with that? I don’t know what to do. This is so stupid.”

“I’ll do it.”

I reel backward. “What?”

“I’ll be that person for you,” she says simply. “If you want?”

Casey’s expression is so sincere, I almost believe her, but she’s joking. She has to be. This is my best friend we’re talking about. She’s my family. I barely speak to my parents or brother, not since coming out.

Nina and Casey became my chosen family. It’s just another part of why Nina’s loss aches so deep, but it’s also why I know Casey is making a confusing joke. I don’t care if she’s the Queen of Casual, she has to be kidding. So, I burst into laughter.

“I’m serious,” Casey says with a slight frown.

“You’re drunk.”

“No. Well …?” The corner of her mouth ticks up into a smile. “A little. But I’m being serious. I know you, Dakota Spring, and I know how in your own head you get about things. You’re clearly freaking out about this, and if this will help you move on from Nina’s bitch ass?—”

“Casey,” I warn, annoyed by the way Casey and Nina have always made snide comments about one another. Since the breakup, Casey has gotten worse, but I’m not in the mood to hear Casey bash her with Nina’s engagement, leaving me so raw and vulnerable.

“I love you, Dakota, but Nina’s a bitch who never deserved you. She was toxic as fuck and made you think you’d never be happy without her. She always put you down to lift herself up.”

“ Stop! ”

Casey watches me for a second, and I hate that she can definitely tell I’m starting to cry. She softens. Delicately, she reaches up to wipe a tear from my cheek with the pad of her thumb. She takes both my hands in hers, and I instinctually intertwine our fingers.

“You deserve the whole world. To feel loved every single day. To be treated like the special, amazing woman you are. To be appreciated and adored. You deserve it all, and if hooking up with someone else will help you move on and see that? I will a thousand percent do this for you.”

“But won’t it make things weird?” I whisper. “You’re my best friend.”

“It doesn’t have to. If you’re worried or not comfortable, we don’t have to do anything.” Her thumbs gently stroke the backs of my hands. “I know Nina is the only person you’ve been with. I know you’re scared. And I want to help you. If you want me to, it can be as simple as that.”

My stomach flips. Do I want her to?

There’s a part of me that knows there isn’t a person alive I’m more comfortable with than Casey Greene.

With the alcohol warming me, and the heat radiating off not only the water of this hot tub, but Casey’s skin, I consider it.

I’ve always found Casey attractive, but I met her after Nina, so I’ve never once thought about anything more.

And then she became my best friend. People don’t have casual sex with their friends, right?

Casey is patiently waiting as I take her in.

Her cheeks are tinted pink. Is it the alcohol, or is she nervous?

Something about the idea of my confident, gorgeous, and experienced best friend feeling even a fraction of the anxiety I am relaxes me.

My gaze drops lower to her pillowy lips.

They’re parted and a little wet. I wonder for the first time what they would feel like.

She’s kissed the top of my head before, but the sensation was muted by my hair. Would her lips be soft against mine?

My thoughts dip to her mouth on the most sensitive spots of my body, and I shiver. My thighs squeeze together as I realize I want to know what they feel like.

“We can go slow,” Casey says, her voice soft and reassuring. She tucks a strand of wet hair behind my ear then lets her fingers linger. Her thumb grazes my jaw, and I inhale sharply. My chest rapidly rises and falls.

“We’ll do only what you’re comfortable with,” Casey says. “And I promise I’ll make you feel so good.”

My core floods with heat as desire burns inside me.

“Okay,” I whisper because I want it. I want her to touch me. I want her to make me feel good.

“Okay.” The corners of Casey’s mouth tick up in a smile. She cups my face with her hand and leans forward, her lips parting, when a phone dings. Then dings again multiple times in rapid succession.

“What the hell?” Casey grabs her phone, her eyebrows furrow before a vicious scowl overtakes her features. “I’m so sorry, Dakota,” she says, while putting the phone to her ear like she’s calling someone. She stands up and climbs out of the hot tub.

I frown, confused about what’s happening. “Who is it?”

“Marcus.” Casey rolls her eyes and grabs her towel. Into the phone, she spits, “Why the fuck are you here?”

My eyes widen, and my mouth falls open. He’s here?

“You need to leave. Seriously, Marcus. This isn’t fucking cool,” Casey barks into the phone. “No, I’m not coming outside—It’s none of your business who’s here.”

I wrap my towel around my body as Casey begins to pace.

Fucking Marcus .

I’m not surprised he showed up here. He’s been texting her off and on all day.

Casey once confided in me that she and Marcus purposely get under each other’s skin to make a fight worse because it makes the make-up sex ten times hotter.

If history is any indicator, they’ll be back together by the end of the night.