Sink or Swim

Chapter 10

Cassandra blinked slowly and extended her arm to show Skye the notification of Jake's message. Skye hesitantly reached out to take it from her. She pushed her lips together, feeling speechless. How could she be so silly? What had she turned herself into?

Skye's eyes reluctantly looked down to read it. He was just checking in and asking if he could come round again soon.

Skye,

Hope you're doing good.

Thought we could meet up again outside of work stuff.

Happy to come round to yours again if your leg isn't up to going out.

Let me know, eh?

Jake x

Again. Again. Again

Skye could see the anger curling around Cassandra's lips, looking like she was about to breathe fire. "So, what? You don't sleep with anyone for years and then decide to do everyone's ex at the same time?"

"I-I haven't slept with Jake." Skye was starting to tremble; the tips of her fingers moving uncontrollably. She'd seen Cassandra like this many times, but not to her. They were best friends and they protected one another. Cassandra was always there for a warm hug or a mopey movie night with ice cream.

"You promised me you'd never speak to him again," the older woman hissed.

Skye breathed out, "He's helping with the investigation, I couldn't just ignore him." It wasn't exactly a lie, but it hadn't been how they'd reconnected either. Her hands fell down her messy, blonde locks. She looked like she'd just got out of bed. Red, tired eyes and a bloodless face.

"And Craig? We all know you like to try and mend broken souls, Skye, but he's grieving over my sister. Or maybe he isn't. Maybe he's as much of an idiot as I always thought he was."

Skye rested her fingertips on her forehead. "No, Craig's a good man. They both are." She paused, taking a deep breath. "Cass, sometimes good people make mistakes." She paused and looked away from her friend. "Life is painful. It's like walking into a wall continuously and feeling the pain with every hit. They've both looked after me since the accident, just as you have."

The words were going into Cassandra's ears and straight back out again. "You're not the friend I thought you were." She screwed her nose up. "Can't believe you'd go near Jake after everything." The older woman paused and rolled her tongue into the corner of her mouth in disgust. It took a moment or two of silence and ghastly stares before she asked, "Are you into him?"

"No, of course not. You know I don't want a relationship."

"Jake  falls for every pretty woman in sight. Especially blondes. Nobody warned me, but there's your warning," Cassandra snapped; her voice growing louder and angrier with every word. It was exactly what Lalia had recently told Skye, but that didn't make it true.

In small villages, the residents were always stereotyped into boxes but Skye refused to judge people based on what others thought.

The Swimmer took a step forward. "Cass-"

"No. You need to get yourself together because I don't like this Skye. You're a mess. Don't come near me again." Rage flowed through the older woman like lava and with that Cassandra marched out of the door, slamming it with force behind her.

A lone tear rolled down Skye's face as she tilted her eyes away from the door. It felt like the world was caving in on her. Whilst Skye's usual instinct was to be brave and find a way to fix everything that had gone wrong, the broken, new side of her just wanted to reach for the champagne bottle sat on the coffee table.