Cassie still hadn't heard anything from Isaac as the next morning dragged on. When she woke up the next day, she immediately regretted kissing him in front of Lexi. It was frustrating— every time Cassie tried to hurt her enemy, she'd unintentionally hurt Isaac in the process. In the entire time that she'd been trying to win him back, she had managed to hurt him in some way. Now he wanted absolutely nothing to do with her; him calling her a bitch last night had more than proven that. She sat on her bed in an attempt to convince herself that maybe— just maybe— Isaac would eventually change his mind and want to be with her instead.
A knock at her bedroom door interrupted her thoughts, but Cassie immediately knew who was there.
"Come in."
Mariana entered with a solemn look plastered on her features. She ran a hand through her long red hair as she took a seat on the bed. She'd already been filled in about her best friend's antics from the previous night by a mutual friend of theirs. At the time, she was unimpressed by Cassie's inability to keep her promise of behaving for once. But she didn't look to be in a lecturing mood— she seemed worried instead of irritated.
"Are you still thinking about him?"
"What do you think?"
At this, Mariana sighed. "It's not worth it, you know."
"But I can't stop! Seriously, it's fucking impossible to get my mind off him. Kissing Isaac felt so damn good...I missed it way more than I thought. But then he threw me off of him like I was nothing. It's like all those years we were together meant nothing to him anymore."
"Cassie, he's clearly moved on with someone else. I don't think— actually, I know that he's not gonna change his mind anytime soon. I really think you need to give up on hoping that he'll ever leave Lexi for you. I know it's hard to accept, but you don't really have a choice. Just give it up for the sake of your mental health, okay?"
This wasn't what Cassie wanted to hear, especially from her best friend. She needed to hear some kind of reassurance that Isaac would one day want to come back and resume what they once had. Yet even as she held onto this false hope, the sensible part of her knew well enough that Mariana was right. It was a hell of a bitter pill to swallow, but she couldn't avoid it any longer. Tears filled her eyes as she dropped her head towards the foot of the bed.
"You're right," she muttered in a weak voice.
As Cassie began to cry, Marina hugged her tight to try and comfort her as best she could. It wasn't a fun spot to be in, having to tell your best friend that her ex-boyfriend wasn't about to come back. Yet at the same time, Cassie knew that Mariana needed to do it. She was rather grateful for it, but it didn't make things less painful.
"Look," Mariana said, "it's clear that you need more time to move on. There's nothing wrong with that, okay? Take as much time as you need to get your shit together before you start dating again."
"If I start dating again," Cassie corrected.
"It'll happen, girl. I know you're really upset right now, so let's not talk about it anymore. I won't bring it up again unless you do," Mariana revealed. "Deal?"
"Deal. I'm not heading back home 'til tomorrow, so I'm just gonna spend the day here doing a whole lot of nothing."
"Well, I can skip out and grab some ice cream, if you want. We can stay here and gossip about school and other random shit. We haven't done that in so long!"
Cassie finally smiled. "That sounds like a great idea. Let's do it."
***
Lexi was full of many conflicting emotions long after her and Isaac's talk last night. Her head kept spinning, while her heart held fear for the unknown that was to come with her new relationship.
I can't believe Isaac's actually my boyfriend now! I thought for sure he'd turn me down because of everything he's been through, she thought as she left her bedroom for the kitchen.
"Morning," Nikita called out.
"Good morning. How are you?"
"I'm fine. I bet you're not feeling so great after Cassie's latest stunt."
Lexi raised her eyebrows. "How did you find out about it already?"
"I overheard Mariana telling DeShawn what happened last night after it all went down. Cassie actually kissed Isaac?!"
"Yeah, that's the gist of it."
Nikita's laugh was of bewilderment. "She's unreal. If I were you, I totally would've lost my shit!!"
"Oh, believe me, it was so upsetting. As soon as she looked back at me with that stupid grin on her face, I had to hightail it out of there. I didn't break down and lose it, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt," Lexi confessed.
"I feel bad for Isaac, 'cause that's such a shitty situation to be in," Nikita admitted. "I hope you're not mad at him."
Lexi shook her head. "I already knew the truth because of Cassie looking back at me after kissing him. He explained what happened, but I wasn't upset with him. I was— and still am— upset with Cassie 'cause she's the one who created this whole mess."
"I don't blame you at all for being upset. She's been acting like such a bitch that even I don't wanna be around here anymore! I'm glad you and Isaac could work things out despite her bullshit."
"Things are better than ever, actually. I asked him to be my boyfriend during our talk, and he said yes! I couldn't believe it!"
Nikita's jaw dropped. "Are you serious?"
"I wouldn't joke about this, I swear," Lexi insisted.
"Wow...I didn't see that coming. Don't get me wrong— I'm so happy for you two. And now that I think about it, I should've seen this coming. You guys have been dating for a while now, and you seem happy."
"I wasn't sure Isaac would even say yes, but I'm happy he did. Although there's one problem... Cassie doesn't know that we're official. I think she thinks we're just dating."
This revelation made Nikita frown. "Aren't you worried she'll continue to try and fuck things up between you guys?"
"Oh, yeah. But I'm not gonna let that bitch break us up, no matter how hard she tries. Cassie's crazy if she thinks that'll happen," Lexi replied.
"Good," Nikita said. "And if she or her bestie do get in the way, I'll be more than happy to tell them where to go and how to get there."
Lexi couldn't help but cackle. "That sounds awesome. Thanks, Nikita. I'm glad you have my back."
"That's what friends are for— to protect you from crazy ex-girlfriends! Well, among other things, obviously."
The two laughed before finally preparing a late breakfast to enjoy in the comfort of their apartment.
***
Isaac and his roommates spent most of their day cleaning their house since last night's party had created quite the mess. It took the whole morning to get the place clean, which lead to them spending the afternoon not doing a whole lot afterward. It wasn't until the early evening when the trio reunited to play video games and talk about what had gone down the previous night.
"I managed to sleep with a hot chick from my program," Felipe suddenly boasted as their game's current deathmatch came to an end.
Isaac and DeShawn exchanged unsurprised looks, but it was DeShawn who replied. "Is that so?"
"It sounds like you don't believe me," Felipe noted.
"What's her name?" Isaac challenged.
"I don't like using real names on the off chance you two meet the girls I've hooked up with, so...let's call her Nikki."
"I call bullshit if you won't give up her real name," DeShawn declared.
"I agree," Isaac chimed in.
"Hey, I'm not really one to...go into detail about the girls I sleep with," Felipe countered. "Anyways, enough about me— I saw Cassie kiss you last night, Isaac!"
"I saw that, too!" DeShawn bellowed. "I couldn't believe it."
"Neither could I— and I had to go through it," Isaac grumbled.
"That sounds awkward as hell 'cause you're dating Lexi, too. I hope you two are fine."
"We're great, actually. After we talked things out last night, we decided to become a couple."
Both Felipe and DeShawn's jaws dropped. They even gave each other shocked expressions; after all, they hadn't realized just how serious things had become between Isaac and Lexi.
"I thought you said you wanted to be single?" Felipe inquired.
"Well, he and Lexi have been dating for several months now," DeShawn pointed out.
"No, he has a fair point— I did say that," Isaac commented. "I've also said I didn't think this would be anything serious. I guess I was wrong, but I'm okay with that. Lexi makes me really happy. I'll admit I'm a little nervous about how things might go down, but that's gonna make it interesting, I think. I have a good feeling that we'll be an alright pair together."