:: ft. my alt page, Christian, who began as simply an NPC.
‘You’ll all find out sooner or later, so I want my first story to be the first you hear. As many of you know, Casey and I have been together for six years, and last night I found out he decided to completely ruin it by cheating on me with a close friend who I will not say the name of. Needless to say our relationship is not able to withstand the stress of it. At this time, I won’t be answering any questions. I’m extremely hurt right now, and hope for your understanding and support, rather than any prying or harsh words. If you wanna attack him with all your questions and hate though, by all means.
Peace & Love,
Sarah’
“So, the cat’s outta the bag, huh?” Christian asked over the phone.
“Yeah…” Casey rolled his eyes, leaning back against the couch, cheek still throbbing from where his phone hit him in the face when Sarah made the discovery.
"People eating you alive yet?”
"Oh, of course they are.” Casey laughed, raking his fingers through his hair, eyes on the ceiling, then out the window. There wasn’t much time before he and Sarah would have to finish their confrontation. He watched her pacing back and forth outside on her own phone, probably with her sister, tears streaming down her face. His chest hurt. "I guess I’m not really in a position to complain."
“Well, are you gonna say anything? It wasn’t like it was all on you, right?”
Casey shook his head. “I’m not gonna say anything.”
“Why not? Dude, she hurt you too, right?”
“I can’t get mad at her for running my name through the mud and then turn around and do the same thing. Everyone’s gonna be upset no matter what I say at this point, so I might as well just say nothing.” He heard the front door click open, so he started to stand. “I gotta go.”
"Call me later, okay?”
“Sure.”
Casey hung up as Sarah came through the front door, her eyes sharply locked on his phone. "So you guys are really gonna stay together, huh?"
“Does that matter?” Casey snapped. “Real nice post, by the way. Definitely sheds light on the entire situation.”
“I didn’t say a single thing that wasn’t true,” Sarah argued. “Jamie is coming to pick me up. I’ll get Savannah from school and then I’m staying with her until we sort this out. I just came back to get some stuff, so just… stay away from me ‘til she gets here.”
He shook his head, starting to walk off. “Not a problem at all.”
“I really can’ t believe you, you know that?” Sarah reached for his arm and yanked him back, a crack in her voice as she started to get worked up again. “I can’t believe you’re the one acting upset when I’m the one who just found out my husband of six years has been cheating on me. You’re really just gonna shrug me off right now?”
“What do you want me to say, Sarah?!” Casey snapped, arm thrown out as he turned to face her again. “What do you want me to say?!”
“How about a f***ing apology!?” Sarah fired back, shoving his shoulder.
“You’re gonna be waiting a long time for an apology because I’m not f***ing sorry.” It was a lie, a purposeful jab just to put some distance between them. “You were everything to me, Sarah. You were everything to me, and you think you lost me now, but I lost you a time ago. You told me to leave you alone and I’m doing it, so let me go.”
“Fine!” The demand for distance obliged, but only for as long as it took her to get to the kitchen, Sarah picked up a bottle of wine off the counter and chucked it clear across the living room.
The shattering glass was an alarm to the soul, a wake up call to both of them, paving the way for stunning, sickening silence throughout the room. Casey found himself in a struggle to breathe through the tension in the air, heart hammering against his chest, ears ringing.
He finally lowered arms from their instinctive position covering his face, and then, for a moment, he and Sarah just started at each other with mimed expressions of awe. The realization that there was a reason this was all happening.
“Sh*t... I’ll -- I’ll clean it up…” Sarah scrambled to the ground to collect shards of glass. Casey remained entirely still until she drew her hand back, a sharp his through her teeth. She’d cut herself on the glass.
At that point, Casey knelt down to start picking up where she left off, though as soon as he caught a glimpse of the blood on her hand, he had to turn his head away. “Look I got it just - just go clean that up, go wait for your sister.”
“No, I can -”
“Just go, Sarah,” Casey snapped. “Go get that covered, I said I got it.”
There was a time he’d have gladly braved the sight of blood to tend to her wound. Once he’d even passed out himself trying to help her clean up a cut she got on her finger from cooking - a story he didn’t think he’d ever live down, though it didn’t compare much to the current one.Now he couldn’t stand to look at anything about her, much less her blood.
She gave a small nod, then got up and escaped to the bathroom, and after that, out the front door again.
It felt like he was being crushed underneath everything going on, and it all just kept stacking higher and higher upon his shoulders. His hands were shaking. His body felt like it was about to give out on him, vision tunneling. What was he thinking offering to clean it up?
Why did he look at her hand when he bent down?
Casey paused what he was doing, sitting on the ground with his head in his hands and taking a deep breath. “God, what are you doing…”
"Casey!" Sarah’s sister Jamie came roaring in from the front hall. He hadn’t heard her come in, but suddenly found himself in a scramble to collect himself to some extent, or at least get to his feet.
“What’s wrong with you, huh?" Jamie asked, pointing a finger at him. "You think that's just okay to treat someone like that?! I knew you were messed up, Casey Caverly - I knew it." By then, Sarah had joined to try and stop her, but she wouldn't have it. Without even looking at Sarah, she went on. "Don't you ever come near her again, you hear me?"
The closer she got to him, the further away his prior queasiness became, burned away by the fire erupting inside his chest. “Get out of my god damn face, Jamie, this has nothing to do with you! You seriously have no idea what you’re talking about, so to come in here and start insulting me and yelling at me is absolute bullsh*t. Take your sister and go.”
Jamie paused, staring at him, wide eyes, eyebrows arched - as if she was waiting for him to take it back. “You’re a real a**hole, you know that? It’s got everything to do with me, she’s my sister.” Jamie finally backed away, taking Sarah’s arm. “I’m serious, you stay away from her. C’mon.”
Three days went by after Casey and Sarah's big blow up, but the dust hadn't even begun to settle. Casey had been staying at a hotel near the house while looking for an apartment after deciding he didn’t want to displace Sarah. He had the troubling task of moving his stuff pending, but he had his essentials at least. “Well, it’s… quaint,” Christian mused as he wandered around the hotel room.
Casey scoffed a laugh, arms folded as he leaned on the little table near the door. “Ch’yeah… real cute,” he remarked.
After a brief period of silence, Christian let out a sigh.“Look, Casey… you know I really love you.”
“Yeah?” Casey’s eyebrows furrowed, head tilted. Christian stepped in closer; Casey found himself inwardly fretting about how obvious it was he hadn’t slept in a few days. “I love you too.”
“Like I’m crazy about you, you know that,” Christian went on, dancing around his point, but not for long enough. “But I think it’s probably better at this point if we don’t keep going with this.”
“Wait what?” Casey looked like he’d been smacked across the face. He honestly felt like it too. “How can you say you’re crazy about me, and then turn right around and be like ‘but let’s break up’?”
“It’s not because I don’t love you Casey, it’s because people are never gonna give this up. If we stay together, all this sh*t’s just gonna get worse,” Christian insisted. It didn’t take people long at all to figure out he was the third party involved, and he’d seen no shortage of backlash either. “That’s not something I wanna build a relationship off of.”
Casey lowered his eyes, giving a bitter laugh, arms folded tightly over his chest. “Well that… really sucks…” he muttered.
Christian cupped his cheek, directing head chin so he would look at him. “It sucks for me too, Case, but this is what we have to do. I’m really sorry, I didn’t wanna come here and tell you this.”
"How do you think I feel?" Casey remarked. He didn't want to pull away. When he stood with Christian, particularly when their foreheads met, it was like being taken to another world, blissfully far away from a home he never wanted to return to, but just like there was no hiding from Christian’s decision, there was no hiding from home either.
He had to return, even if it made his chest hurt. Even if the air of his own world felt poisonous. Even if it meant losing the way to the world he and Christian created. "I get it, okay?"
“Okay…” Christian said, standing still for a moment, then starting to back off. “I should get going.”
“Yeah…” Casey pushed himself off the table, walking with Christian to the door.
“If you need anything, you can still gimme a call, okay? We don’t have to stop being friends.”
“Yeah,” Casey repeated. He just wanted Christian to leave at that point. He just wanted to sleep this off for awhile. When they got to the door, Christian pulled his arms around Casey’s shoulders, kissing his temple. “Hang in there, kiddo, okay? I do love you. I wish things happened a lot differently.”
At that, Casey rolled his eyes, more at himself than anything. "Yeah well, you and me both."