“I don’t say it to scare you. It’s just the truth. And try dancing while you’re sober.” Her eyes got big and dramatic. “I’m the worst dancer I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t believe I had actually danced in front of people while drunk before.”
“What are you doing for Christmas?” I ventured to ask as I slid into the pool and walked away from her.
“Just home with my mom and dad. It will be pretty quiet. Christmas movies, hot cocoa, one present opened tonight and the rest tomorrow. My parents still go a little overboard with the presents. Sometimes I think they forget I’m an adult now.”
It sounded perfect. I could picture her and her parents sitting around a warm fire, drinking their chocolaty drink and watching movies. I hadn’t had a good Christmas since my mother was alive.
My heart sank at the idea that I would never get that sort of Christmas again. Someday, I hoped to have my own family and my own Christmas traditions, but until that time came, I would just have to deal with the loneliness of the season.
“Sounds like postcard perfection.”
“Do you want to come?” she asked as she walked
across the pool toward me.
“What?” I asked, actually wondering if I had heard her right.
Did Cassidy just ask me to go to her family’s house for Christmas? I couldn’t have heard that correctly. Or maybe she was joking. I wanted to go. It sounded like the perfect way to spend Christmas, but I didn’t want to intrude on her family time. I didn’t want to be that awkward stray guy who she brought home who made her family get angry with her.
“I asked if you wanted to come? I’ve brought random people home with me before. I’m a sucker for someone who doesn’t have a place to stay on Christmas. It’s one of my favorite times. I’ll just tell them you’re a sober friend from my AA meeting and you didn’t have a place to go. It will be fine.”
I was actually considering her offer. More than just considering it, I wanted to say yes. And strangely enough, it wasn’t because I wanted to sleep with her. Throughout my time at treatment, I had really started to miss my own mother. I missed the happiness she brought into my life and I longed to find that again somehow.
The way Cassidy had described her Christmas drew me in, and before I knew it, I had replied.
“Yes, I’ll go with you.”
Even Cassidy seemed a little shocked that I had replied yes to her. She had probably just made the offer as a gesture of kindness and hadn’t really expected that I would be game for it.
“I’ll email Mr. March and let him know you found someone to hang out with and won’t be here.”
“He’s going to be okay with me going home with you?” I asked a little surprised.
“Oh no, I’m not telling him that part.”
“I don’t want you to get into trouble. I just said yes because I’d love to see what a real Christmas is like again. I haven’t had it in so long.”
“It will be fine. You can take a cab to my place and no one needs to know. Plus, there’s no alcohol in my house, so it’s a safe place to stay and it will give you a fresh perspective on your treatment.”
“So, just to clarify, you are in love with me,” I jokingly exclaimed.
“No!” She laughed and started to chase after me in the pool. “You came in the middle of the conversation. I was making a sarcastic remark.”
“About loving me?” I teased as I swam faster.
“Oh my gosh. I don’t love you. I don’t even know if I like you.”
I stopped dead in my tracks as she came up behind me and tried to push me under the water. Her hands pressed on my shoulders as she pushed her own body out of the water and tried to get me to go under. But her tiny little frame was no match for me, and in one swift motion, I grabbed her around the waist and thrust her under the water.
Quickly, I pulled her back up though, and held my arms around her as she wiped the water from her face. Messing around with her in the pool was fun. It felt like we were old friends just having a blast and hanging out.
“I’m the pool wrestling king back home.” I laughed.
“Oh, you’re going to pay for that.”
Her tone was serious, and as I looked at the expression on her face, I got a little worried that she was mad at me. But then she wrapped her legs around my waist and grabbed my head and successfully pulled me under the water.
Cassidy’s legs were wrapped around me still, and I pulled her under the water with me. Our bodies touched in so many places that I wasn’t sure where mine started and hers ended. My hands grabbed for her ass and I let my fingertips lightly move up and down the seam of her swimsuit. Oh, how I wanted to slide them under that fabric and feel her wet center. It took every bit of my self-control not to touch her longer, deeper, and in more places.