Read Online Finding Cassidy by Laura Langston - Free Book Online

“food” at the top of her lungs. I knew this scene. Within seconds the locusts would descend.
    “Hurry!” I told Prissy. “Grab a piece. Grab two pieces!” I clutched a slice of pizza in each hand and began stuffing my face. I was right. In less than a minute, the kitchen was so full of people you couldhardly turn around. Normally this kind of thing drove me outside for some quiet, but now I liked it. Someone turned the music back on, people laughed and yelled, my stomach filled with Jell-O and pizza and I floated. I felt happier than I’d felt all day.
    “Here you are!” A familiar arm grabbed me from behind.
    “Jase!” I swung around and planted a cheesy, open-mouthed kiss on his cold lips. Jason. My guy. My other half. No longer was I Cassidy the Separate. I was whole again.
    “Whoa.” He grinned. “Nice greeting.”
    “Nice you!” I reached out, touched his damp hair. “You had a shower.” Tell him. You have to tell him.
    “Had to.” He looked embarrassed. “Damned cantaloupe had soaked right through my pants.”
    I slid close, whispered in his ear. “Good thing you showered, ‘cause I’ve got plans for later.” Later, after we did it, that’s when I’d tell him about Frank.
    Jason just laughed. He had a half case of beer in one hand and a paper bag in another. “What have you been drinking?”
    “Just Jell-O and pizza. Thass’ all.”
    “Prissy’s Jell-O shooters.” He nodded knowingly. “I brought you some coconut rum in case you decide to have a drink later.”
    “Never mind later, I want one now!” Pushing my way to the counter, I grabbed a glass. By the time I got back, Jason had the bottle open and Brynna was there with another bottle of vodka.
    Yvonne was right. The vodka was amazing. Especially with the coconut rum.
    When Jason asked about Dad, I told him about the third test. I think. By then we were in the living room dancing. The crowd of people and the noise…the smoke…Dad’s Huntington’s diagnosis…none of it bothered me. I was having too much fun to care.
    Prissy danced nearby with Max. “Hey!” she yelled. “Did you hear the news?”
    Prissy was gossip central. “What?” I yelled back. The room was tilting; I was tilting. Tilt and whirl. Whirl and tilt. Wheeeee.
    “Rowan’s dad lost his car dealership. They’ve filed for bankruptcy.” Rowan was a wide receiver on the football team. His parents owned the Mercedes Benz dealership on Douglas.
    Someone whistled. Another person groaned.
    “I wondered why he wasn’t here tonight,” Jason said.
    “I guess it’s the day for news.” I clapped my hands over my head in time to the music. “My daddy’s dying. Only he’s not my real daddy at all ‘cause I’m asperm child.” The last two words slid out all sloppy and crushed together. I laughed and repeated myself. “Sperm child, just dancing to the music.”
    Somebody whooped. “Are you serious?”
    Feet stomped the floor. “Eww, no shit?”
    In the distance, a bell rang. “What’s he dying from?”
    The questions swirled around me. I didn’t answer. “I am sperm chiiiiiiilllllld,” I sang, swaying with the melody. “Sperm chiiiiiiilllllld, dancing to the music.”
    “Come on,” Jason grabbed my wrist and tugged me toward the kitchen. “The cops are here.”
    The music came to a screeching halt; bodies scattered. We ran for the double doors of the sunroom. Even though the walls were moving like walls aren’t supposed to, I must have grabbed my purse and jacket, because they were in my hands when I got outside.
    Jason pulled me toward the beach. “The cops are all over the front yard. We’ll have to walk this way.”
    The cold air and biting wind sobered me up fast. Stomach churning, I stumbled after Jason. I was dizzy, nauseous. I’d had way too much to drink. Too many Jell-O shooters. All that rum and vodka. And pizza.
    But that was only part of it.
    I’d outed myself in public. I’d told everybody thetruth about my conception, when I