|||Cassandra's POV|||
~~i'd believe it twice~~
..((April 7th 2022))..
"God, these taste awful.." Alexa grimaces as she bites into the chocolate chip cookie, placing it back down on the baking tray, chewing slightly. "I think we need to add more butter.. and more eggs," she starts listing off. "more milk, some more chocolate-"
"Man, y'all might as well make a whole new batch," O'Sean scoffs, walking up the tray and taking a cookie before taking a huge bite outta of it, immediately turning his face up. "Nah, matter fact.. just stay out the kitchen 'cause this don't make no damn sense."
It's day three of Spring Break and I invited Alexa over to the house so we can all make cookies together.
Me, Alexa, and Lori did most of the whole ingredients and baking process, while Chris and O'Sean just ended up following Reign into her room so they could play with her snake and mess with all her instruments. That didn't last too long 'cause as soon as they started getting too wild, Reign kicked them out, and to they extreme disappointment Hail didn't leave one of her Nintendo Switches behind like she usually do. Two months ago she was on the phone talkin' about how 'stupid' she was for leaving the switch she had Pokémon on. She said she didn't mind if I used it while it was over here, so I ended up using it to play Animal Crossing, even though I was getting into that game late as hell.
"I think these are pretty good actually," Chris shrugs, picking up a cookie and easily biting off a piece.
"No shit?" Lori asks as she approaches him before going ahead and breaking off a piece of the cookie and putting it in her mouth. "No, these are awful.." She frowns and Chris shakes his head, finishing the cookie in a few more bites.
"You don't think those cookies terrible, man?" O'Sean asks and Chris takes another cookie off the tray, shrugging. "Taste good to me.."
"What a liar," Reign mumbles and he just looks at her. "Don't 'yuck' other people's yum's, Reign."
"Such a 'white thing' to say," Alexa mutters, and I walk over to the counter and start looking over all the ingredients.
I don't know why I didn't remember, but me and Hailey bought these ingredients almost a week and a half ago, 'cause we were supposed to make cookies together.
Since Hailey's vegan and has a really bad tree nut allergy, we had to pick up ingredients that were vegan and avoid things that could have been a victim of cross contamination involving tree nuts in the factory. We ended up picking up stuff like organic plain flour, dairy free milk, caster sugar, baking powder, silken tofu, baking soda, vegan chocolate.
So I've come to the conclusion that's why the cookies taste the way they taste. Why I didn't read the label on the ingredients before we started, I have no idea.
"These are practically vegan, guys." I look up from reading the label on the flour, flashing the back for them to look at. "And we all know how much Chris likes Vegan sweet shit, now don't we?"
"I do, and I'm not ashamed." Chris replies smartly, continuing to just eat up all the cookies. I know for a fact he gonna have a stomach ache that's something serious after this all said and done.
"Maybe we should just make a new batch and let Corey have the rest.." Alexa speaks up.
Chris furrows his eyebrows, mouth opening showing off all the bits of cookie inside. "Dude, my name isn't Corey, it's Chris." He corrects her quickly.
"Hail, wouldn't have got his name wrong.." Reign mumbles quietly.
"Well, that's 'cause she's always callin' him white boy," I say, looking at her, seeing Chris shrug in the corner of my eye. "She still never got it wrong. Not like she called me 'black boy'," Chris says.
When did this even become what I feel like they tryna make it?
"Let's just start over, Chris." Alexa smiles. "I'm sorry I got your name wrong, m'kay? Maybe we should start over on the cookies too-"
"No, thanks. I'm actually full. Plus I gotta pick up Christiana from the hospital." Chris tells her, walking over to the coat rack, grabbing his jacket. That's a valid excuse too. Christiana been having some nausea and stomach issues so she went to the ER earlier today. "We can do this next time.. preferably with Hailey though.."
"Yeah, I'mma go with you too, bro." O'Sean pulls out his keys, heading towards the door.
"Need a ride, Lor?" Chris offers, looking back at her. "We'll be riding past your place anyway."
"Yeah, that'll be cool, thanks.." Lori smiles, joining them by the door. She slips on her jacket, and her boots, fluffing out her hair a bit, skipping back over to me and giving me a hug, "This was really nice. Thanks for inviting me, Cassie."
"Girl, I'll always invite you. Thanks for coming," I smile as she rocks us back in forth while we hug, eventually pulling away. Chris starts walking towards us, and ends up walking right past, gathering all the cookies.
"You don't mind, right, Cassie?" He glances at me for a short second and I sigh, laughing a bit. "Yeah, you can take them.."
And then eventually Chris, Lori, and O'Sean say their goodbyes and give their last hugs before they leave, and it's just me, Alexa, and Reign. "We should watch a movie," Alexa suggest as we start cleaning up.
Reign shakes her head, putting the bowl in the dishwasher. "I have to feed my snake- Cass, can I talk to you real quick?"
I nod, following her into the hallway. "What's wrong?"
Reign's just looking at me for a long time before she finally decides to speak. "Cassie, girl, why would you invite her over here?"
I furrow my eyebrows together. "What do you mean? You're the one who kept telling me to invite her,"And that's the truth too. It was originally only gonna be me, Reign, O'Sean, Lori, and Chris before Reign had told me to tell Alexa she can come over here with us.
"Okay, but I didn't think you actually would. I was just tryna be nice," She looks at me and I raise my eyebrows. "That doesn't make any sense.."
"I just didn't know you'd invite her. I would have preferred Hailey either way it went." Reign admits and I just roll my eyes, walking away from her, 'cause she's literally making no sense.
If she didn't want Alexa over here, she should have never invited Alexa over here, and if she wanted Hailey, she should have just simply invited Hailey.
I walk back into the kitchen seeing it's pretty much all cleaned up, Reign following after me. Alexa turns away from the sink, looking at us. "Um, my mom's still on her way. Do you guys mind if I stay with y'all for a few more minutes?"
"Um," I started hesitantly, seconds later deciding it would be okay. "Yeah, it's okay."
"Well, I'll be in my room," Reign announces suddenly, walking off.
"And we can go to mine." I say without thinking, mentally wincing at all the bad things that can come from this situation just starting to flood my brain.
I hesitated, but still let Alexa follow me into my room, taking off my crocs as I got comfortable on my bed, pulling out my phone, checking to see if Hailey texted me and sure enough, she didn't. I don't know if she's still mad about the fight or that terrible stuff I said, but I wish she would just let me know either way. I just really miss her.
Like, I know we're in a long-distance relationship and going without seeing your significant other in person for such a long time is something that happens with all long-distance couples, but it's still kinda hard.
It probably doesn't make sense, but every time Hailey ends up leaving it feel worse than the first time she left.
"Your friends are really nice." Alexa says making me look up from my phone. "O'Sean's really funny,"
"Yeah, thanks," I hum, sitting up and pulling my legs into my chest, sighing a bit. "I'm happy you had fun though, even though the cookies were.." I trail off causing her to laugh.
"Yeah, no, those things were really something. We don't need to speak on those things ever again." She chuckles and I nod, laughing a little. "Like, actually"
"Your hoodie looks really nice." Alexa clears her throat when our laughter dies down. "Where'd you get it?"
"Oh, this my girlfriend's." I smile a little, self consciously playing with the bottom of the hoodie. And I guess you can say it's a really nice hoodie. It's baby pink, really soft, really comfortable, and it has all these really pretty sounding Hawaiian words written in even lighter pink calligraphy, stitched into the sleeves.
But unfortunately I can't tell her where it's from 'cause I think it's custom. "I don't where she got it from though. I'm sorry." I tell her.
Alexa shrugs. "It's fine.. so, um, have you ever got in contact with your girlfriend? Hailey was her name, right?" She questions.
"Yeah, that's her name. But, um, I haven't actually talked to her in awhile" I admit and she pouts her lips, moving a piece of loose hair away from her face.
"That's must be hard,"
"I mean, sometimes.." I trail off, holding back the words 'but I'm used to it' that desperately want to follow after the first word out of my mouth. Lately I'm trying not to give out too much information..
"Girl, y'know.. she really messed up Chucky's face the other night. That girl he messes with sometimes, had posted on her story telling people she set up a GoFundMe because he gonna need Lasik to correct his eye." She explains. "I don't know if they got the money to cover it or, what.."
I hum softly, listening as she continues. "Has she always been that.." She pauses for a second. "violent?"
"Hailey isn't violent," I say quickly. Maybe she's a little violent, but I'm not finna sit up here and let her think she is. "She just got pissed off. Chucky's been bothering me forever and she was just handling it. That's it, that's all."
Alexa furrows her eyebrows together. "Handling it? Did you see how much glass she was beating him with? She could have killed him."
"Okay, and who asked you-" I ask quickly, my phone immediately starting to ring which cuts me off. I sigh deeply, picking up my phone and seeing an unsaved number calling. It's a Milwaukee phone number though, and the one person I know who live in Milwaukee is my grandma and my cousins. I get up without saying anything and press the answer button, as I leave out the room.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Cassie, baby.. i-it's Grandma." She speaks carefully and I press myself into the wall, sighing a bit.
I haven't talked to my Grandma since she kicked me out her house when she found out I was gay. Worst feeling in the world considering me and her used to be really, really close.
She taught me how to bake, she took me shopping often, let me help her out at the nursing home, take me to visit the rest of my family in Mississippi, and all that other stuff. "Um, hi, Grandma.. you okay?"
"Oh, yes, baby. Grandma fine. I just wanted to check up on you. I've missed you a lot."
"Oh," I mumble out.
"I'm having a barbecue next Saturday for all the kids. I wanna apologize to you in person, apologize for what happened. All the kids tell me you.. with a girl who be on the TV's and such. Is she making you happy?" She asks and I shrug as if she can see me.
"Yes, ma'am. She's really good to me." I tell her politely.
"Oh, that's good to hear." She replies happily. "You should bring her down here with you to the barbecue. Introduce her to your grandma,"
My eyes widen, and I look at the ground. "Um, thanks for the invite but I'm just gonna have to think about it." I tell her.
"That's fine, Cassie. Just let me know. I'd love to see you after all this time,"
"I will. Talk to you later," I say before moving the phone from my ear and hanging up. I don't really know if I wanna see Grandma.
I haven't seen her as the sweet, old black Grandma she was to me, since she just kicked me out and left me with Momma and Dad. I guess I could probably try to forgive her and appreciate her effort to apologize but I don't know right now, and I'm not about to stress myself about it.
Leaning up off the wall, I walk back into the room seeing Alexa on her phone sitting on the edge of the bed. "Girl, we should watch Netflix." She says, looking up from her phone. "You ever seen Narcos? It's really good."
"Nope, but I'll watch it if it's good." I say grabbing the remote from the dresser, flicking off the light, allowing the fairy lights on my wall to be the only source of light. I throw Alexa the remote and she catches it. "Here you go."
"Thanks," She smiles, clicking the TV on.
I go into the bathroom and brush my teeth, doing my little skin care routine before going back to the room. Alexa already watching the show so I just sit against the headboard and watch it with her. The show probably good, but I wasn't really paying attention. I was honestly looking at Hailey's contact hoping she'd just end up randomly calling. And we was probably on episode two when I just decided to call.
And when it picked up on the second to last ring, my heart dropped. "Yeah?"
"Um, yeah, Hi.. I've been calling you for the last week."
She goes quiet for a second. "I know that.."
"You haven't answered," I tell her and she scoffs.
"Don't start this shit. I totally recall you saying I couldn't help you. Most definitely recall you talkin' shit, saying that stuff about me not being able to help myself and now you just want someone to call you? Fuck that, you hurt my feelings." She admits and I frown, pressing the phone closer to my ear, watching as Alexa drifts off to sleep in front of me.
"I'm sorry, Hailey." I apologize softly. "I'm really sorry, and if I could take it back, I would. I was just upset and-"
"I get upset too, but if the situation was reversed, I don't think I would have said something like that to you." She tells me. "Like, I've heard that shit from hella people, but when you said it.. it hurt. It hurt like a bitch, and I know that you knew it would hurt.."
"I'm so sorry I hurt you," I say and she lets out a humorless chuckle before sighing. "Yeah, I'm sorry you felt the need to hurt me, but.. this shit isn't the end of the world, okay?"
"Y-yes," I whisper breathlessly, wiping the tears that drip down my face when I blink.
"C'mon, bae, please don't cry." She whines, laughing a little. "People have said way worse shit to me. Way meaner shit than you can think of. Hell, I say meaner shit to myself!"
"That d-doesn't make it okay, though!" I tell her, hiccuping at bit when my voice cracks. "You're so unbelievably nice, and generous, and kind, and such a fucking sweetheart. I had no right to say what I did."
"But you did, okay? The shit's just over now." Hailey replies simply. "I mean, I don't really forgive you right now, but.. we'll move past it, alright?" God, I don't deserve her. How'd I get so lucky, I will never know.
I nod as if she can see me, "Alright."
She sighs, the familiar beep of the FaceTime buzzing sound in my ear, making me full the phone away and answer the FaceTime she's sending my way. And when her face pops up, she's there with the Dexter lying on her chest. Palm trees waving in the background as she sits against a heavy green stitched chair.
"..Where are you?" I ask curiously.
"Kohala." She answers softly, Dexter shifting around a bit, breathing heavily from his nose.
"I didn't know you were going back to Hawaii."
"We're actually in the process of moving back down here. California isn't really us, I feel like. I like it here better than anywhere." She explains and I nod, watching her smile a bit.
"You look really pretty," I tell her softly and she rolls her eyes, the smile still playing on her lips.
"Nothing compared to you, bae. You look really pretty. And as much as I would love to keep talkin' to you, it's late there. You should go to sleep."
I smile, nodding again. "Okay,"
"I'll talk to you in the morning. Kisses?"
"Kisses,"
.
.
.
.
.
.
A/N:
ending was trash ohhh welll 🤝. if i'm not mistaken there's two chapters left?? i think there's two but, like, don't quote me..
i know people probably gonna feel like hailey *forgave* cass too quick but i need them on good terms before the last chapter, and plus.. hail don't really forgive her, so..
thanks 4 reading! also thanks 4 1K reads in awful things 😕. that book.. is something. glad u like it tho
‼️4 votes and 4 comments for da next chapter‼️