Free Paper Airplanes by Monica Alexander

towns over for a light show he was producing that night since his car was in the shop. Scott was a pyrotechnics genius, but he’d also dabbled in the tamer effects and had been mastering light show software as of late. Thankfully he’d be too busy during the show to talk about Cassie, but I’d be in the car with him for thirty minutes, and I guaranteed that every second would be spent dissecting how he could get her to talk to him.
    Maybe I could put a moratorium on the Cassie talk for the night. I could just pick up the argument we’d been having before we’d run into her, and he’d gotten all lovesick, because I knew I was right. That code for Gods of War didn’t do anything different with a star on the end. He was full of shit.
    As I walked out to the server s’ station and took a look at my section for the day, I chanced a look out into the dining room where I saw Brooke laughing with a group of guys she knew. I glared at her back for a second before pushing away from the counter, smacking a smile on my face and going to greet the family of four who’d been sat in my section. With any luck we’d be busy that afternoon, and I’d be able to avoid too much interaction with my ex.

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Five
    Cassie
     
    “OMG! Cassie Witter! No way!” Nicole Daniels screeched at me as she practically launched herself over the produce table to hug me. “Girl, it has been too long! How are you?”
    She was grinning from ear-to-ear when she pulled back to appraise me. Nicole and I had been good friends in high school, but we’d gone to different co lleges, so it had been a while since we’d seen each other.
    “I’m good, Nicole,” I said, because what else was I supposed to say.
    “You look fab!” she gushed. “Are you home for the summer?”
    I shook my head. “No, I actually moved back a few months ago.”
    She looked confused for a few seconds, and then it dawned on her. “Oh. Right. I heard about what happened. How are you?”
    It was almost as if I could see the false remorse on her face. She didn’t want to talk about the shooting any more than I did. Thank God.
    I smiled. “I’m fine. Really.”
    It was such an awkward subject. It was like, ‘Hi, how are you? Yeah, I got shot. It pretty much sucked. Yeah, and I lost almost a month of my life, and my boyfriend and good friend were killed. Total bummer.’ How did you even talk about something like that? I didn’t want to – especially not with Nicole. She was quite possibly the most shallow and self-centered person on the entire planet.
    “ That’s so great,” she said with more false empathy, which was weird. Did she think I’d be suicidal or something? I wasn’t. “So, I’m having a party tonight. You should totally come.”
    Ugh, a party. That was about the last thing I wanted to do. Nicole and I had partied together in high school all the time, so she readily expected me to pick back up where we’d left off, but I didn’t think that was me anymore. And it was so weird to realize I felt that way. I’d always loved parties and socializing and drinking, but now I couldn’t picture myself in that setting – at all.
    I smiled politely. “We’ll see,” I told her. “I actually might have plans tonight.”
    I didn’t, but she didn’t need to know that.
    “Oh! ” she said brightly. “Do you have a date?”
    “No, it’s not a date. Just plans with some friends.”
    She looked at me with mild confusion, probably wondering who I was friends with that she didn’t know. Thankfully she didn’t pry.
    “ Oh, well, no worries. Come if you can. It’s going to be so awesome.” Then she leaned closer, almost conspiratorially. “It’s so on the down-low, but I’ve kind of been doing this friends with benefits thing with Andre, so he’s totally coming, and he’s bringing Kyle and Brock.” She winked at me as she leaned back. “Kyle said I should invite you.”
    I sighed. I knew what she was insinuating. Kyle Fowler had