(10 years later)

Anna Rhodes POV

I feel a mixture of anxiety and excitement as I walk up the steps to Cassie’s apartment. I’ve been here countless times, of course, but tonight is different. For the first time ever, Cassie has agreed to go out to a party with me and the rest of the volleyball team. I’m eager to introduce her to the party scene, but I’m also nervous that she won’t like it. This might be my only chance to join Cassie with the rest of campus society. I absolutely adore her, but she’s always been a bit of a shut-in. A buzzkill, really. As long as I’ve known her, Cassie has always refused to drink or even go out, really. But tonight, she has finally agreed to go out with me and the rest of the girls for a “night of friendship and fun.” She needs this.

She’s been having a rough week and I’m confident that some female fellowship and some ogling from the boys will make her feel better. And if she enjoys herself, we can go out to more parties and I can flaunt my BFF. Beautiful famous friend. She just needs to loosen up a little. If I can just somehow convince her to drink with us, I’m confident she’ll forget about her problems and have a good time. I’ve never met drunk Cassie before, but I bet she’s a real hoot. Reaching the top of the steps, I knock on the door. Cassie shouts from somewhere within her apartment, “Almost ready! Come in!”

Opening the unlocked door, I can see her apartment is a mess. Clothes hang over the furniture, discarded makeup cases cover the table and counter, and textbooks lie open and scattered over the floor. Normally, Cassie is quite organized, but it seems like she turned the place upside-down getting ready for tonight. For some reason, it makes me less anxious knowing she’s anxious. Then again, she’s always anxious. People may think Cassie is this aloof, perfect girl, but I’m her best friend. I know better. Where others see quiet dignity, I see shyness. Where others see flawless beauty, I see insecurity. I love Cassie and think she’s the most beautiful girl in the world, inside and out, but I also know how she sees herself.

As I enter the apartment, I hear Cassie’s footsteps as she rushes from the back of the apartment to the bathroom at its center. She calls out, “just a minute” as she dashes quickly into the small washroom. Lost in my own anxious thoughts, I fail to get a good look at her as she speeds across the apartment’s small bedroom vestibule. I don’t need to see her, though. I know what she looks like. Her most readily-apparent feature is her height. Cassie stands at a whopping six feet and six inches tall, a daunting height that sees her tower over the vast majority of people, but serves her quite well as the middle blocker of our volleyball team. Though many people would find her height alone intimidating, the fear factor is magnified by her gorgeous looks. Cassie’s mother was a real looker before she passed away and Cassie certainly inherited her good genes. Her perfectly-symmetrical face is framed by beautiful golden-blonde hair that complements her deep turquoise eyes. Her radiant smile is accented by light freckles on her sun-kissed cheeks, which are punctuated by the cutest little dimples. I think her flawless face is wasted on most men, however, since they would have to peer over her big boobs to see it. Boasting at least double-Ds at her height, few women can see past such obstacles when interacting with her up-close and few men care to even try. Ugh, men… 

I can’t focus on them right now. Focus on Cassie. Right. Her beautiful body is set upon two thick, but toned legs joined to an equally-impressive butt conditioned by years of volleyball. The only slightly funny thing about Cassie’s appearance is that she doesn’t really look like she should be tall. Our teammates have made the same observation, so I know it’s not just me. Cassie doesn’t look like a girl that should be six and a half feet tall. Without an object or a person for reference, she would probably seem like she’s average height in pictures. Whereas most tall girls are lanky with long legs and small chests, Cassie’s frame looks like it belongs to a girl that's, like, five-foot-six. And a supermodel.  In fact, despite being several inches taller than me, I think our legs are roughly the same length. Mine might even be a little longer.

As if her height and beauty aren’t off-putting enough, Cassie is also a genius. I mean, maybe not literally. But she is definitely smarter than most people. I like to think I’m smarter than most people and she’s definitely smarter than me. A lot of people that don’t know her think that she’s a bimbo because of her looks. They assume she’s just at our school on an athletic scholarship, profiting from the naturally good genes that blessed her with tremendous height and divine looks. However, she’s actually really smart. She’s studying chemistry or chemical engineering or something like that and as far as I know she’s a straight-A student. I think her dad was a chemist or something, so she’s probably following in his footsteps. She really won the genetic lottery with her dad’s brains and her mother’s looks. I don’t even know where her height comes from because I think both of her parents were under six feet tall, but maybe she had really tall grandparents or something. 

She's also kind of a celebrity. The accident that killed her parents made her somewhat notorious, but she never talks about it with anyone. Even me. She doesn't even like watching herself on TV when our games are broadcasted because the media always brings it up. Now Cassie is one of the most popular student-athletes in the country. Her athletic prowess combined with her good looks has made her super popular on social media and landed her a lot of brand deals. Though her tuition is already covered by her scholarship, she makes a lot of money off of NIL and promotions on her social media accounts, though she doesn’t post as often as I think she should. She’s even on a huge billboard alongside the highway exit to our school. So yeah, Cassie is beautiful, smart, rich, and famous. Wow, I’m gushing over my bestie again. I’ve always considered myself heterosexual, but Cassie makes me second-guess myself.

My amorous thoughts are interrupted as Cassie pokes her head out of the bathroom door. “Are we running late?”

I laugh this off, trying to conceal the embarrassment from my latest train of thought. “It’s a party, you’re supposed to be late! Take your time, barbie!”

Her face breaks out in a giddy smile. “Ok! Almost ready. Five minutes, tops!”

As the door closes again, I return to my earlier monologue while I spin an empty makeup case on the coffee table in front of me. I love her to death, but she is in a truly tragic socio-psychological situation. Cassie is a paradox in that she’s both shy and needy. In my expert opinion as a psych major, I attribute her shyness to her early childhood development. Her dad seemed - what’s the term? - "mousey." Based on what I can remember of him and what my parents have said, he was always pretty shy. Even timid. It’s a wonder how he ended up landing Cassie’s mom. I think Cassie could have inherited some of his personality, but I think she was also conditioned by it. She wasn’t always so meek as a kid. It’s like she was taught to be afraid. She probably picked up on it from her dad. She also may have some lingering trauma from “the accident,” but she won’t talk about it with me, so I can’t say for sure. Maybe if I get her liquored up a little she’ll open up about it… Focus! Did I take my ADHD meds today? Hmm... where was I? Oh right… 

Unfortunately, Cassie isn’t as confident as everyone perceives her to be. In fact, she is super shy, but because she’s perceived to be this “perfect girl,” a lot of people think she’s just self-absorbed and reserved, so they don’t make the effort to approach her. It’s tragic, really. She’s truly quite lonely… and of course, there’s the companionship issue. Being as tall and perfect she is, very few guys dare approach her to ask her out. And the ones that do are self-absorbed douchebags with too much confidence. Between their overconfidence and her lack of confidence, they consistently steamroll her. She always gets pushed around by the guys she’s with. If only she’d let me set her up with somebody… any guy would be lucky to have her. Maybe she’ll meet someone special tonight.

Of course, just because she’s practically perfect doesn’t mean any guy that’s lucky enough to be with her actually appreciates her. Which brings us to our present woes. Derek.  He was always a jerk that took her for granted. I learned through my extensive social network that Derek had hooked up with another girl at a party and, being the dutiful best friend that I am, of course I told her. She didn’t believe me at first. She loved him so much and was so desperate for it to not be true. She even accused ME of being jealous of her! Or jealous of him… I don’t really remember. But the truth prevailed when the other girls on the team backed up my story and she eventually confronted him about it. That arrogant pig didn’t even deny it! And he blamed MY bestie because she always refused to go to parties with him! The nerve! Fortunately Cassie at least had the self-esteem to dump him after this.

But the following weeks have not been kind to her. She’s become more withdrawn and doesn’t seem as passionate about volleyball or her schoolwork. In my qualified opinion, she’s clinically depressed. It certainly doesn’t help that she knows Derek is going out to parties, sleeping with other girls and spreading rumors about her. That’s how I convinced her to finally go out with me tonight. We have to take her out to have a good time! To counter the rumors Derek spread, to show everyone how fun she is! And maybe find her a new man more deserving of her affection. It will be good for everyone.

I look up as I hear the bathroom door open once again. Cassie steps out wearing white flip-flops, a white skirt, and a pink top that shows off a generous amount of cleavage, but still keeps “the girls” in place. Surprisingly, she’s not wearing much makeup. Not that she needs it, but what took so long? She excitedly squeals “Ready!” and I roll my eyes with a silly grin, pretending I’m embarrassed to be seen with her and feigning nonchalance, despite my heart racing in my chest as the realization that this is really happening finally hits me. No going back now.

“Finally! What took you so long?”

Cassie beams at me and addresses the unspoken part of my question. “I know, I’m not wearing a lot of makeup, but it took a really long time to curl my hair today. It’s hard to get it wavy the way I like it!”

Her hair is luscious, I think to myself as I admire its waves and faint sheen. She should really do a shampoo commercial or something. “The no-makeup look suits you. And besides, with the frat house’s pool and hot tub, it would probably just make a mess. Which reminds me, are you-?”

She interrupts, “Yes, I’m wearing my swimsuit underneath. Let’s go!”

Trying to feign more expertise than I actually have, I chirp back, “Not so fast! Let’s go over the checklist.”

Cassie rolls her eyes, but I can see through the act and can tell how excited she is to go.

“Is your phone fully-charged?”

“Check.”

“Did you go to the bathroom?”

“Check.”

“Condoms?”

She sheepishly looks at her feet, but nods and says “Check.”

“Fake ID?”

She pauses, still looking at her feet, before slowly raising her face to look at me. “I have it with me, but I really don’t think I should drink tonight. I mean, I’m not old enough yet to legally drink and everyone already knows who I am. Plus, I stand out like an elephant in a chicken coup.” She gestures up and down at herself. “Anyone can Google me and find out I’m not of age to drink. And if anyone takes a picture of me drinking, I could get in trouble with my scholarship and my brand deals. And besides, I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to drink, because I’ve never done it before, and I’m feeling kind of nervous, and with all these sad emotions in me I don’t know if a depressant chemical like alcohol should be in my system…”

I can see she’s spiraling, so I interject quickly, “You don’t have to drink tonight! It’s just in case you change your mind! Besides, you won’t get carded at the party anyway. It’s just in case we decide to bail early and hit a bar or something. It’s like the saying goes: Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.”

She smiles at my reassurance, and together we walk out of her apartment door.

I did tell a little white lie, though. Though I meant my promise that she didn’t have to drink tonight, I have no intention of keeping her sober. She needs this. Besides, this is a bonding experience!