Page 101 of Hot Summer

Aisha: YES

Aisha: do you see what we were saying now?

Cas: Yeah, actually, I do

Aisha: so... what are you going to do about it?

There was really only one thing she could do now, wasn’t there?

Cas: I’m going to stop running away

#HotSummer—Live Updates

@topsyturvey: this reunion better be good or i stg

@sprinkleofsparkles: don’t know why you have hope they’ve been terrible for the last 3yrs

@topsyturvey: then why tf do we keep watching

@sprinkleofsparkles: we hate ourselves.

@zoeybug: ok but they have to bring Cas back for the reunion

@pixelpenguin: honestly they probably won’t

@SaraSays: yeah they literally dropped her as quickly as humanly possible

@infinitescroll: @HotSummer bring Cas back—we need to hear her side

@taliatells: you actually think that’s going to work

@averyart: no but seriously they just sent Cas off, we DO need to hear from her

@hypernautical: bring Cas back for the Hot Summer reunion!!! #HotSummer @HotSummer

@farahfinesse: there’s literally no point in watching if they don’t bring Cas back

@retroretorgrade: should we boycott???

@HotSummer : Ready for the reunion, lovers? We have a few special surprises lined up...

33

From her vantage point in the corner, Cas could see no fewer than a dozen people running around backstage.

She couldn’t see the soundstage from where she was sitting, but she could hear the crowd—the laughter, the conversation, the shuffling as people got to their seats. They were all anxiously awaiting the reunion, hoping, probably, that the drama that would unfold would be worth the time it had taken them to come into Central London on a Friday night.

If Cas weren’t waiting in the wings, planning to surprise most everyone there, she would have bet that this reunion would have been just as boring and pointless as all the other reunions for the last decade.

Cas didn’t know who knew, beyond the production staff, that she was going to be there. It should have been a foregone conclusion—she was on the show for almost the entire summer, she shouldn’t have to fight to be on the reunion—but with the way she’d left, Chloe had insisted time and time again that there would be a lot of pushback if the audience even thought they were going to see her face at the reunion.

Cas still didn’t know why Chloe had caved in the end, but having got her way, she wasn’t going to question it.

Cas was assuming, too, that they hadn’t told the lovers that she was attending, probably in the hopes of some dramatic reaction shots, but it put her in an awkward situation over the past week. Once everyone else returned home, she had debated reaching out directly to her friends over DM to apologize. She wanted them to know how sorry she was, and to give them a heads-up that she planned to clarify a few things at the reunion.

Uncertain of how they’d react, she’d decided against it, but just barely. She was still arguing with herself about it now as she sat there, tucked away in the corner, turning her phone over in her hands.

She’d done everything she could to make herself feel ready for tonight. Skye had helped her reach out to brands on social media and, after a couple of promising DMs back and forth, had sourced a dress for the night. It was white (Perfect if you’re trying to convince everyone you’re innocent, Aisha had said) with a slit so high that Cas had had to buy special underwear for the occasion. The top had corset detail and fit Cas like a second skin.

---