Across The World For Love

Casey's only regret about going out for another night on the town with innocent, kinky, exotic Cassie was that there was no point. Oh, Cassie, Casey's head spun at how easily she had folded into going to something she detested.

She stared into her somber pretty face; the doe-like brown eyes stared blindly back at her. They flared with suspicion and anxiety-like they always did; she was about to do something uncomfortable. How did Cassie always talk her into going along with her? She didn't have to go…they knew who she was at work, most of the people who had met her would even deny she would step foot in an event such as this one. She sighed and brushed a few of the small pieces of lint off the little red cocktail dress, then cocked her head at her reflection.

Three years since she had worn this dress, she was still the same, but so much had changed. Her hair was longer than the way she used to cut it for Sam. He had always been an I like girls with short hair kind of guy; he had loved the way she looked with her bright blue eyes and the deep black shine of her hair. Her small thin nose, with its slight upturn, had always made her look arrogant and pretentious; her jaw, so Cassie said, was defined and pretty but rounded to a point. A face that was as beautiful as it was stern.

Sam used to say it was a face that lacked emotion, a pretty face you could love if you loved the girl that came with it. It was her fault he had never truly done so; she had never let him in. She had tried; she thought he was happy with the little bit he did get. But... A man as successful and driven as Sam never had been content with what she had offered.

They were both driven people with high-reaching goals, goals that tore his heart from hers. After four and a half years, it had only taken a bottle of champagne and an invitation to her work Christmas party to make him say goodbye.

A bottle of champagne to change what had been for her the most amazing four years of her life, special moments where she would go out with him on her arm and be proud he was hers. A small-town girl like her had landed a big-time man like him.

A man of importance and respect, a man whose dignity she could love. Yet a man who could still go out and have a great time on the town, parading her about on his arm like a piece of tantalizing candy. He had always known what she should wear. How she should keep her hair, where to be seen, how she should dress. He liked his life lavish, his apartment, car, and the rest of his possessions had always reflected that, even the possession that had been her.

Some people would be mortified at this. At the idea that she had liked being his. But she had. She had loved it with her whole heart. The idea that she was good enough for a man as wonderful as him. It was a source of pride, like the many other things she was proud to tout around her. He had been as much of a prize as she thought she had been for him.

But a love like that. A love based on how much you bring only to the table, that kinda love was great on paper. But real life wasn't a page out of a script or a scene from a movie, and that kinda love was doomed to failure.

She knew that now.

"Oh, stop pouting. I can practically hear your thoughts screaming out his name. I told you that you could have just borrowed one of my dresses," Cassie laughed, then sneered at her. Casey tried not to laugh as she scrunched her face into a nasty pose.

"God, don't do that. You look like a maniac." Cassie threw herself on the top of the bed and plopped onto it with a loud squeaking noise.

Casey snorted lightly and changed the subject to her earlier observation. "Yes, because then my boobs would just be stumbling out into other people's laps all night." She smiled at Cassie and adjusted the front of her dress.

"Where's the harm in that?" Cassie said as she rolled off the bed laughing and gave Casey a quick hug from behind. "You look pretty, like a porcelain doll, a hot sexy stripper doll." She gave Casey a wicked grin. "Maybe there is some hope of getting you laid tonight."

Casey wrinkled her nose at Cassie through the mirror. "I am taking it off. I think I hate it."

A loud laugh busted out behind her, and she felt Cassie's hands grab her arms tightly. "No way, Smarty. You look amazing. Besides, we have no time; you have been ogling yourself for far too long, we are late."

"What are you talking about, the only reason I stared at myself for so long was from sheer boredom. Besides, didn't you just put that dress on like a few minutes ago? I wasn't the hold-up," Casey pointed out. Cassie's face crinkled into a cute little pout, and Casey grinned smugly, daring her best friend to challenge that statement.

"Okay, Sherlock, let's go!" Cassie said, then gave Casey a quick air kiss. Casey rolled her eyes and grabbed the car keys to her 2008 Carrera.

"I am driving, though. I will never stop being amazed and astounded by how drunk you can get in an hour. We are only going for an hour, right?"

"Yes, yes, now go." Cassie made a funny face at her, then ran gracefully out the door. Casey sighed and stared longingly at the large gray couch that called her name. Then flicked off the lights and followed her giddy counterpart out the apartment door.

The music screamed loudly into Casey's ears, and she looked over at her best friend, Cassie. She was flirting with a 6-foot blond blue-eyed muscle man. Great… another one for her endless line of arm candy.

Casey rolled her eyes as Cassie threw back her head with a candy laugh she only used for her men. She brought her entire body forward from the shaking laugh and fell softly into the unsuspecting man's arms.

Or maybe they were suspecting, most likely there wasn't a man at the party who wouldn't sleep with Cassie if they could. Who cares, it was a classic Cassie move; that guy didn't stand a chance.

Casey looked down at her drink and stirred the vodka martini slowly with the cherry that she had requested over an hour ago. An hour, exactly how long they were supposed to be there before they left. She looked around the first Christmas party she had been to since her break-up with Sam. It was a party, just like all the rest. Yet, it was dreary; the life sucked out of the fun; she couldn't have fun now.