Senior Year Box Set

“Me too,” I agreed and hung up.

I didn’t want to let her see me tear up. I got into the shower to cover it up.

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Chapter 20 – My Drug Buddy Monday April 10

When I woke up, my slightest movement made me realize that yesterday had been a mistake. Raking leaves had been a little painful, even with the meds, and having sex all afternoon had been, well, fun. But I was paying for it today. My chest felt like Cassidy had drop-kicked me a dozen times to prove a point.

As I rolled my shoulders back to stretch, I heard a crack like when you popped your knuckles. I prayed it was a good crack and not a bad one.

I really should have followed through and gone for treatment yesterday instead of just taking pain meds. When I walked into the bathroom, I saw the bruises had become a darker purple. I’d received some doozies playing football and even suffered some severe contusions from my car accident. This was on a whole other level. Though my injury looked a lot worse, and hurt a lot, it was better than the car accident because it was only bruising. I didn’t have cracked ribs or a hip pointer.

I skipped my run and got ready for school. That was probably for the best because only dim daylight filtered through the clouds; the sun was hidden behind massive storm-laden cloud banks. I’d almost made it to the back door when it began to sprinkle.

The light continued to dim as the dark, angry clouds rolled in. The rain stopped for the moment, but the wind picked up. A gust hit, and I could hear the leaves shake violently. It sounded like someone shaking a tambourine in the yard.

Duke and Precious darted for the back door, and I wasn’t quick enough to stop the cat. There was a crack of lightning that sounded like it had struck close, and I immediately forgot about Precious and quickly stepped inside. The next gust of wind sounded vast and ponderous, like a freight train rumbling through.

As I walked into the kitchen, I saw Precious sitting in Cassidy’s lap. She slowly petted the cat from hell while staring off into space. Cassidy was being a total slacker and hadn’t even started breakfast.

“They’re letting Paul come home today.”

“That seems fast,” I worried.

“They put a drain in his wound and told him to take it easy. He should get the drain removed in a few days,” Cassidy said and then looked at me. “How’s your chest?”

I just pulled up my shirt and showed her.

“That’s not good,” she said, making the understatement of the century. “Does it hurt?”

“What do you think? Of course it hurts.”

“Good. Next time, don’t get shot.”

“It wasn’t like I was trying to.”

“You should’ve put them all down, not just given them love taps. If you’d done that, you wouldn’t have been shot, and we wouldn’t have had to run for our lives,” she said, showing heat than I’d seen in a long time.

I started to snap back at her, but stopped myself when I realized that Cassidy blamed herself for what had transpired.

“Cassidy, we are all upset with what happened, but none of us was seriously hurt.”

“I should’ve figured a way to get the drones through the trees, and when they came out of the woods, I should have zapped them then. It’s all my fault you got shot because I didn’t do my job. I think you’d be better off without me as your security,” all came out in a rush.

“If you’re going to act like that, you shouldn’t be,” Dad said as he walked into the kitchen.

“Rob!” Mom chastised as she came in, too.

“Cassidy, from everything I know about you, you’re not a whiner,” Dad said. “You’re a strong young woman who can handle anything. If you plan to someday lead Marines, you can’t be second-guessing yourself like this. I’m a firm believer in dissecting a situation after it’s happened and figuring out what went right and what went wrong. That’s how you get better. Wallowing in self-doubt never solved anything,” he lectured.

“Dad’s always told me that you’re going to make mistakes. If you don’t, you’re not trying. The measure of a person is how they handle it afterward,” I shared.

“We are all going to get together tonight to go through all the video,” Dad said. “I’ll bet you see things that’ll make you cringe and others that will show you really did do a good job. We’ll use this review to figure out what we should do to get a better result the next time something like this happens.”

“If you all are just going to lecture each other, I’m making breakfast,” Mom announced.

I blinked a few times as I tried to remember the last time Mom cooked.

“Does she even know how?” I asked in a stage whisper to my dad.

He closed his eyes and shook his head. I decided I’d better go help Peggy get the boys before my mom took a chunk out of my ass bigger than what Paul had lost.

◊◊◊

Cassidy drove us to school. When we arrived, she hugged Dare to say thanks for how the drones had performed. He was all smiles when they ran off to watch the drone footage from Saturday.

“Did she just steal my boyfriend?” Chrissy asked as we were left standing there.