Page 65 of Walk Off

She lifted her head and found Cassidy standing in the doorway to her classroom. She’d known her newly married friend was home from her honeymoon, but this was the first time she’d seen her.

“I thought you’d be tanner.” Her pale skin did have the glow of someone who’d just been in tropical weather but it wasn’t a full-on tan.

Cassidy shrugged, stepping further into the classroom. “We didn't spend much time outside.”

“Have I mentioned that I hate you?”

“From what I heard, you had your own,” she paused, lowering her voice just in case a student walked by the room, “fun, not in the sun, while I was away.”

Celia couldn’t help laughing at Cassidy’s description of what she assumed was sex. “I appreciate you keeping it PG since we’re in a middle school.”

“I do what I can. Are you ready to get out of here?”

Grabbing her bag from her chair, Celia stood. “I guess, but I don't have time for a drink, I need to get Jasmine.”

“Got that covered. Her Uncle Benji is picking her up and taking her home, ordering pizza, and watching, what I can only assume, is some mind-numbing cartoon until it’s bedtime.”

Celia sagged. “He doesn't have to do that. You guys just got back.”

“He does have to do that because he’s my husband—how weird is that to say, by the way—and I need to spend a few hours with my best friend to find out what the hell has been happening while I’ve been gone.”

Celia gave in. “Fine, but if I have to tell the story of my second heartbreak by the same guy, then I'm going to need margaritas.”

“Got you covered. Benji dropped me off so you drive. But, let’s just drop your car at home and take an Uber, so we can both drink and not worry.”

Celia agreed to Cassidy’s plan, and somehow, on the drive to her apartment and the one in the Uber, she was able to ask about Cassidy’s honeymoon and trip without thinking of the misery that was her own life.

As soon as they sat down at a table, that all ended. “Talk,” Cassidy said. “And start at the beginning.”

“A long time ago, I fell in love with a man.” Celia was trying to be funny to lighten the mood.

“Ha ha,” Cassidy said. “I meant the beginning as in my wedding reception when you just so happened to disappear along with a certain hot baseball player.”

Celia sighed. “Seeing him was a shock, that was for sure, but when we were alone together, it was like everything just sort of clicked into place. There was no awkwardness, no strangeness. It was just him and me, needing each other.” Like we always had.

“How did it feel, having sex? I mean, it’s been a long time for you.” Her friends all knew that she’d gone a long time without sex, and in fact, had been trying to push her to date more in the last year.

“Nothing had changed.” No, that wasn’t right. A lot had changed. “Well, except that he was a little dirty.” She lowered her voice.” And domineering.”

“Did you like that?” Cassidy raised both eyebrows.

“I did. I might be lacking in experience, but I’ve watched enough porn to know what I was looking for. And it was just what he gave me. It was just sort of a shock, because he was never like that before.”

She shrugged. “We change as we get older. We start to learn what turns us on.”

Everything he did to her had turned her on. “I sort of had a freak out in my own head about the condom leaking when we finished. It was not one of my finer moments.” She still remembered the look on his face. The one that wanted to help but didn’t know what to do. “He texted Heath who got Zara to come check up on me.”

Cassidy tilted her head, biting down on her lip. “That’s not something guys do if it’s just sex.”

“Kyle’s always been a nice guy. The kind of guy who would do something like that, even if it was just sex.”

“If you say so. Tell me the rest.”

She went on telling her friend everything that happened after that up until his phone call the night before. “Now, I’m here wishing for more when I told him it was impossible.”

“I’m going to preface this statement by telling you that I love you. But seriously, Cel, you’re a fucking idiot.”

That took her by surprise.

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