Back To You ~ (Cazzie Fanfic)

Almost Normal

Casey carefully lays the garment bag down in the back seat of her mom's car with one hand while she holds her phone in the other.

"And then she was just... there!" Casey says into her phone.

It's been two days since she got home to Connecticut. Two days since she'd seen Izzie.

"Why was she at your house?"

Enrique's rich, scandalized voice is small and thin over the phone. Casey closes the car door and locks it.

"Right?! She and my mom are friends! I guess. They've been like, secretly hanging out this whole time."

She crosses the parking lot, heading back toward the outdoor mall to finish her errands.

"So wait, your mom is cheating on you? Pretending some other girl is her daughter? And you didn't know?"

Casey can't help but smile a little at E's flair for the dramatic and thinks back to her conversation with Elsa. She'd been unpacking in her room after returning from a grueling 2 hour run when her mother had come to lean in the doorway.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Izzie," she said quietly.

"No, it's fine," Casey said, with fake nonchalance, not looking up from what she was doing.

"You're allowed to have secret friends. I mean... it's a little weird that your secret friend is my ex-girlfriend who broke my heart but... fine. Whatever."

"Casey," Elsa sighed, closing her eyes, "that's not fair."

She came and sat on the bed with a beseeching expression.

"I tried to talk to you honey but you told me not to ever bring her up... It upset you so much whenever I did so I just stopped. Izzie had a really hard time after you two broke up-"

"Yeah, so did I," Casey snapped, tossing her pajamas onto the bed.

Then she paused. Closed her eyes and took a deep breath. This was pointless. Elsa was perched trepidatiously on the other side of her bed looking anxious and older than the last time Casey had seen her and all of a sudden Casey just couldn't find it within herself to be angry.

What, did you think you'd just never run into her again? Casey asked herself.

She sank onto the bed and stared at the wall.

"There was a lot going on back then, Case," Elsa said. "Izzie needed a lot of support and she didn't have any. I had promised to be there for her and... I guess it... gave me purpose in a way. It was hard for me after you left for school."

Casey bit back her snarky comment about Elsa not having enough people to smother and looked up at her. She had so many questions but asking them felt like surrender somehow.

"It's... it's ok," she finally said, with a sigh, "I just wish I hadn't run into her here, that's all."

"Well, as long as you don't have any more surprises planned then I can guarantee you no more run-ins here," Elsa said, relieved.

Casey smiled, thinly.

"Now tell me about your interview!" Elsa had said, "Oh! and Curtis! How's he doing?"

Now, as Casey explains everything to Enrique she can't help but feel a little annoyed again. Because what was Izzie thinking? She, what, just cut Casey out of her own life and then secretly tried to infiltrate Casey's life? Was she trying to replace her?

"Who knows dude, I'm like never gonna see her anyway since apparently Elsa is very good at hiding her. This time was just a fluke."

The nonchalance in her voice almost makes Casey believe that she doesn't care. She crosses to the sidewalk and begins walking toward the candle store.