into the night [cazzie]

sixteen

IZZIE DIDN'T KNOW IF SHE SHOULD KEEP HOLDING HER BREATH. Ever since she had met Casey, Izzie had been waiting for this other shoe to drop. And it had dropped. Multiple times. First, meeting Casey in itself was overwhelming because she was the most gorgeous girl -- nay, person -- that Izzie had ever met. It sucked to know that Casey was her competition as Newton's track captain, and that was the first problem. Then, Casey and her had bonded in some twisted way through detention, but Nate had to make a move on Casey, and then suddenly that brief inkling of a friendship was gone, too. But Casey and her made up. They were doing good, but then, Casey got into a car accident, and even though Izzie did man up and admit her feelings to Casey, all their progress was reset by Casey's offhanded comments and Izzie's mistake with Sawyer.

The cycle seemed never ending -- just when Izzie thought they were getting better, they got worse. So by this time, Izzie knew that there was definitely more trouble coming; she just didn't know when.

But now, Izzie was standing at the doorstep of the only other possible thing that could get in their way: Sawyer. She couldn't imagine anything else keeping her and Casey from being together anymore, and she couldn't bear to be without Casey for any longer. So even though she dreaded doing this, she had to do it. If not for her, for Casey.

As Izzie stood in the halls of Sawyer's apartment complex, she thought about how much she had been doing things "for Casey" recently. Though she was still officially with Sawyer, Casey and her had decided that it would be harmless to stay friends and do friendly things together. So they did just that, and they'd been doing that feverishly for the past two weeks. They had spent almost all their nights just talking, whether it be in person during a sleepover or on the phone through texts, so Izzie was finding herself tired during the day, but it was all "for Casey." During the days when Izzie was free, they'd go on walks together; Casey's arm was keeping her from running, but she stubbornly still want to go outside and exercise, so Izzie often found herself roaming around town "for Casey." Other days, Izzie would go over to the Gardner house to surprise Casey with a bunch of snacks she had picked up from the convenience store. Whenever she made excuse to Lydia for ditching her for the night, it was always "for Casey." Thankfully, Lydia understood.

Life truly was all about Casey now, and Izzie didn't mind it. The thought of Casey, Casey, Casey no longer brought Izzie dread from her unrequited feelings: it brought happiness from knowing that, on some level, Casey was hers now. It brought memories of sunshine yellow days, bright smiles, friend-kept secrets, forehead promises, shared and smeared strawberry lip gloss, and so much more. Though Izzie had only known Casey for around six months, Izzie felt like she had known Casey and her soul for a lifetime. There was something remarkable about that. Something special that Izzie couldn't quite pinpoint right then and there.

Izzie's thoughts and musings were interrupted by her cell phone ringing. She was shocked, almost having a heart attack as she tried to find the phone to pick up and answer the call. After fumbling around in her pockets, Izzie pulled out the phone and checked the caller ID.

"Hey Sawyer," she tried to sound as normal as possible, hiding the fact that she had just been thinking about another girl.

"Hey Iz," Sawyer answered. "Are you coming soon? You're coming over tonight, right?"

"Yeah," Izzie nodded to herself before realizing that Sawyer couldn't see her. "I'm in your building. I'll be at yours in like a minute."

"Sweet, see ya then."

The line clicked off then, and Izzie quickly made her way to Sawyer's so as not to raise suspicion. As she began to realize what she was going over there to do, Izzie started to feel a sinking feeling in her stomach. Izzie had already kind of made peace with the fact that she was a bit of a cheater and that was really hard, but she knew that she needed to find even more peace with herself, and the only way to do that was through ending the relationship.