Kass
Kass squinted at the blinding white light that was burning up her retinas. When had her room gotten so . . . bright? And why did her head feel as though it was filled with thick, gooey cement?
She groaned and turned over. The clock on her nightstand blinked: 2:30. Two-thirty, as in the middle of the afternoon? Had she really slept that late? She always woke up at 7 A.M. sharp, alarm or no alarm.
There was only one explanation. She must be sick. She almost never got sick, as a result of her daily regimen of vitamins and herbal teas, plus her fastidious use of hand sanitizer. But obviously, these things had not been an adequate firewall. She knew that a bad flu was going around, and she had been feeling run-down lately. Finals week was coming up soon, and she had so much on her plate . . .
A loud, whirring noise came from somewhere in the house. Kass sat up abruptly—and immediately felt a wave of nausea unlike anything she had ever experienced before. She took a deep breath and tried to focus. What was that sound? Was there a burglar in the house?
The whirring noise stopped. Kass clutched her stomach and slithered out of bed, trying to be as silent as possible . . .
. . . whereupon her legs buckled out from under her, and she landed unceremoniously on the floor, ass first.
“Hey, doll! You up?” a voice called out.
Oh. Kass smiled, relieved, despite the fact that her body seemed to be falling apart. Not to mention naked. Where were her pajamas?
It wasn’t a burglar; it was just Kamille.
Just Kamille.
KAMILLE!
It all came flooding back to her. Last night. The fight with Eduardo. The tequila-thon with Kyle. (Damn that little bitch!) Coming home. Running into Chase, alone.
And doing other things with Chase, alone.
Several times, in fact.
“I am so screwed,” Kass muttered to herself. “I. Am. So. Screwed.”
There was a knock, and the door opened, and Kamille walked in.
Kass braced herself for the barrage of swearwords. Or maybe the barrage of something else, like bullets.
“Hey, sleepyhead! Are you talking to yourself again?” Kamille said cheerfully.
“What?”
“I made mango smoothies, you want one?”
Kass blinked. Kamille was not coming after her with a gun or even yelling at her. She was offering her a mango smoothie.
In fact, she looked downright happy. Dressed in pink sweats and a matching tank top, and her face free of makeup, she was sunny, radiant. How did she manage to do this first thing in the morning? Oh, yeah, it wasn’t first thing in the morning. And she was Kamille Romero. She was always beautiful, 24/7.
“Kam, I’m sick,” Kass groaned, although she now realized that she wasn’t sick from any flu. “My head, and my stomach . . .”
“Poor baby! Is that why you’re all pasty white? And why you’re sitting on the floor naked? Do you have a fever?” Kamille reached down to touch Kass’s forehead with the back of her hand.
“Stop that!”
“I’m just trying to help; you don’t need to be such a bitch about it!”
Kass winced. “Sorry, it’s just that—”
“Just what?”
“I—”
Kass stared at the floor. What was she going to say? I got really, really drunk last night and hooked up with your boyfriend! So sorry! It won’t happen again! He’s a sleazebag, anyway, and you’re better off without him!
Unfortunately, Chase wasn’t the only sleazebag in this situation. Kass could only go so far, blaming her hideous lack of judgment on the tequila. If she confessed what she’d done to Kamille . . . well, Kamille would disown her. No question about it. In fact, the entire family would disown her. Kass would end up totally alone in the world, spending the rest of her life without the people she loved most.
She began to cry.
“Ohmigod, Kassie! Is it that bad? Where does it hurt? I’m calling 911!” Kamille insisted.
Kass shook her head. Which made it hurt even worse. “No, no, I’m fine. I was just, um, thinking about Valentino, that’s all,” she said, sniffling.
“What? Why?”
“I miss him.”
“Doll, he’s been gone for like seven years. But yeah, I miss him, too. Seriously, Kass, I think you should go back to bed. I can run out to the drugstore and get you some meds. I’m not meeting up with Chase till later, anyway. I can even cancel, if you need me.”
“Wait, what? You’re . . . meeting up with Chase?”
“Yeah. He and I had this humongous fight last night. In fact, I kinda broke our martini pitcher. Sorry. Not that you care about martinis, but still.”
“You had a fight?”
“Yeah. I walked out on him and went out with Simone and these randoms till like three in the morning. I figured I’d ignore him and let him feel really, really bad about hurting me like that. Well, it worked, because when I finally texted him, he texted me back right away and told me how much he loved me and how he wanted to make it up to me. So I went over to his place, and we had like the most incredible sex, ever. Ohmigod.”
Kass couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You . . . did?”
“Sorry, TMI, right?”
“But I thought he was here.”
Kamille frowned. “He was. I mean, he was here in the beginning, when we had our fight. But he left after that, obviously, duh, because we met up at his apartment. Like four, four-thirty this morning. Kassie, why are you getting all OCD on me with these weird little details?”
Kass tried to think, which wasn’t easy through the toxic haze of her hangover. When had she fallen asleep last night? Or, more likely, passed out? She tried to remember Chase getting dressed and leaving the house.
But all she could recall were the blurry images of his naked body pounding against her naked body . . .
“Sorry. Go on,” she mumbled, trying to ignore the heat in her cheeks.
“With what? That’s all. The point is, Chase and I are back together, and we’re better than ever! He had this work thing he had to go to this afternoon. But he’s taking me out tonight, to celebrate. I’ve gotta skip Sunday Night Dinner . . . you don’t think Mommy and Beau’ll mind, do you?”
“What? You can’t miss Sunday Night Dinner!” Kass told her. And you can’t get back together with Chase, she added silently. He’s a jerk. And I’m a jerk, too.
“Just this once. It’s really important to Chase. I’ll tell Mommy I’m sick! You’re sick, too, so she’ll believe me! It can just be her, Beau, Kyle, Benjy, and Bree tonight—and whatever freaks she decides to invite.”
“I don’t think that’s a good—”
“Oh, hey! Didn’t you have a date with Eduardo last night?” Kamille interrupted. “How’d it go? Did you finally hook up, or are you waiting for a sign from God?” Her blue eyes sparkled merrily.
Kass turned away. “I think you’re right, I need to rest. I’m gonna take a nap now,” she mumbled.
“Oh! I’m sorry, sweetie! I’ll leave you alone. Just call me if you need me, okay?” Kamille bent down and kissed her on the forehead. “Feel better! Love you, doll!”
“Love you, too.”
Kamille breezed away. Crawling back into bed, Kass laid her head on the pillow and tried to think.
She had to tell Kamille.
But she couldn’t tell Kamille.
What in the hell was she going to do?