Mine - A Cazzie Story

Chapter twenty-five

Casey's pov:

I'd been stunned into silence as Izzie slowly took her hands off my face. She muttered cuss words under her breath angrily. My head began to hurt as my brain processed what was going on. I was standing in Izzie's room and her mother, who hates me, just got home. Fuck. Izzie let out a sigh and looked at me.

"Wait here for a second, okay?" Her face saddened.

"Okay." I lightly squeezed her hand. I didn't want her to let her talk to her mom herself but I also knew she wouldn't let me come with her.

She pecked my cheek and disappeared through the door. I had no idea what was going on anymore, I just had to hope that Izzie would be able to handle it. I sat on her head covering my face with my hands. This could potentially be a really long day.

Izzie's pov:

When I got into the living room, I found José glaring at my mom as she downed glasses of wine. I walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at me before going upstairs. It was time to face the beast. I shakily sighed as I walked over to her.

"Oh, it's you." She groaned turning to face me.

"Right. Anyway we need to talk."

"About?" She chugged another glass.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "You do know that Mikey hit José, right?"

"Please, it was just a bruise."

It took all the composure I had not to smack her. She didn't even know how bad an injury on her own child was. What did I expect anyway, it had been like that for five years.

"A bruise?! He needed stitches!" I half yelled.

"I don't see the big deal here."

I threw my arms up in frustration and stormed off. If I didn't leave immediately, I'd do or say something that I'd regret. Before I left, I heard her say one thing.

"Say hi to your friend, Casey, for me."

Friend.

It was like she now completely ignored the fact that Casey and I were dating. That made me furious. Speaking of Casey, I desperately needed a hug.

Casey's pov:

Ten minutes had passed and I was getting nervous. The faint yelling I heard didn't help. I'd been twiddling my thumbs waiting for Izzie to come back so relief flooded my face as the door opened. But that relief disappeared when I saw how upset she looked. I didn't ask any questions before pulling her into a hug.

I held Izzie close as her sobs were muffled into my chest. Her arms were wrapped tightly around my torso like she never wanted to let go. I slowly lifted her head up and looked into her eyes.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" I smiled softly.

She sighed and nodded slowly before hugging me one more time. I sat down and listened to her tell me what happened downstairs. My ears started to burn a little as she went on.

"Shes such a terrible mother," Izzie grumbled pacing the room, "Not only does she neglect all of us, she doesn't give a fuck about Daniel's mental health issues AND shes completely denying the fact that I'm dating you."

The last part of that sentence slapped me in the face. For some reason, I couldn't believe that her mom outright refused to accept that I was Izzie's girlfriend.

"Oh my god. I'm so sorry Iz. I wish there was more I could do than just sit here." I felt a bit guilty.

"Its okay. You sitting there supporting me is all I need you to do."

She sat down next to me and I kissed her lips.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

We sat in silence for a moment just enjoying each other's company. The sound of Izzie's breathing was enough to put me at ease. Suddenly, both out phones went off.

Two emails from UCLA.

Izzie's pov:

I stared at the phones in disbelief. No doubt these were the emails that would decide our futures. I was super excited but Casey looked nervous as hell. I put my hand on her knee and rubber it gently. That just got a sigh out of her.

"I don't want to open it."

"Baby, you have to." I turned to face her completely.

"What if-"

"No. Whoever got in has to go, even if the other didn't."

Casey sighed and looked at her phone. I opened the email I received and got slightly confused. I got in, but not because of track. Without Casey's knowledge, I'd applied for a regular scholarship. So I got in because of my already high grades. She looked at me with concern, like she was waiting to hear what I'd say.

"So, I didn't get the track scholarship."

"Damn it. I'm sorry Izzie."

"It's okay, I still got in."

"What?"

"I may or may not have applied for an academic scholarship as a fail-safe."

Casey's mouth fell open in surprise. She slapped my arm and whined about me not telling her. She had the tendency to act like a small child.

"Well okay then, I guess in 9 months we'll both be in California."

"I guess we will."