into the night [cazzie]

six

CASEY WAS TIRED. She was tired of thinking about Izzie, tired of having the track captain creep into her thoughts when she had thought she was alone. She was tired of faking happiness, tired of pretending that Izzie's new girlfriend was the best, most interesting news she had ever heard. She was tired of her family, who was doing excessive preparation for Sam's first year of college. She was tired of Evan, who constantly seemed to want to hang out, though she didn't.

But deep down, she knew that Evan wasn't doing anything bad on purpose. He was just a guy who loved a girl, a guy who wanted to spend as much time with that girl as humanly possible. And it made Casey feel immensely guilty because she felt the same way, just not for him. However, one day, he made an offer too good to resist. So Casey pushed back the tons of guilt that were weighing her down and told Evan to pick her up to spend the night out.

"You ready?" Evan looked over at her worriedly as they walked the downtown streets.

Casey nodded, looking up at the building. There was nothing special about it; it looked like any old building downtown. There were no fancy lights, just a sign in the window. Kingston Bar. It was a plain name, and it looked like a plain bar. Casey followed Evan and stepped into the bar, unsure of what to expect. However, she wasn't that shocked when she was greeted by the smell of alcohol, liquor, and male sweat. Apparently, Evan's friend was the security guard, and he let both of them in without question after chatting with Evan. Casey highly doubted that she could pass for 21, but she went with it, just wanting a fun night with her boyfriend.

They went up to the bar, where Evan also knew the bartender on duty, who was apparently named Eddie. She was slightly shocked by Evan's familiarity with this place, while Casey didn't even know the name of the bar until a couple of minutes ago. He ordered two Rushed Twilights, insisting that they were the best drink in the bar. Casey decided to go along with it, and when she got the dark, mysterious drink, she was actually quite pleased with its taste.

"The alcohol content in this is low," Evan explained, "so your folks don't kill me. Still a good drink though. Especially when Eddie bartends, it's his signature."

Casey swirled the drink gently before taking a long sip. If she were being honest, she kind of wished that the drink was more alcoholic. It seemed that recently, she didn't have that much fun sober. Evan stared at Casey's forlorn expression, taking note of her mood and being careful not to make it worse. He tucked a piece of Casey's brown hair behind her ear before putting his hand under her chin, gently stroking the girl's soft skin with his thumb. She flinched at the touch initially, like a wounded animal.

"You alright, Case?"

She swallowed, lying through her teeth, "Yeah."

Evan didn't reply, not sure of what to say. He placed a light kiss on her lips, one that she barely returned before he pulled away, knowing that Casey didn't like any sort of PDA. He pursed his lips, not wanting to pry but feeling the need to.

"Casey, can we talk?"

"About what?"

There it was again. That despondent tone. Paired with her downcast eyes, Casey was the epitome of sadness. Evan saw all of this, and his heart yearned to make it better. He feared that it was something he did, that he inadvertently caused her to feel this way. He had never wanted to cause Casey pain, and if he did, he would never forgive himself.

"About you," he said softly. "Case, if something's wrong, you can tell me." He gave her a sad smile, unable to keep the corners of his lips from turning up as he said, "I love you, and I care about you. I worry, sometimes I think it's something I did. If it is, I'm sorry."