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Ashley Kingston.
    Cassidy unzipped her dress and put on her fuzzy pajamas. Tonight she would wallow, tomorrow she would hate, and the days after she would be indifferent.
    If Andrew had used her and couldn’t even remember, and her first time too, there was no point in letting him know the depth of her misery. She would act as if nothing happened.
    She would go back to NYU in a few more days, Andrew would leave for Yale, and they wouldn’t see much of each other. She could successfully dodge him if he came around before she left.
    This would work, it would have to. It would be the only way she could forgive and forget.

Chapter Three

     
    Seven Months Later…
     
    “C assidy, are you sure you don’t want to go with us?” Rachel asked as she stood in her bedroom at their apartment, packing the rest of her clothes. “I’m sure your dad could pull some strings. I thought this cruise was supposed to be our graduation gift. Not just mine. I can’t go without my best friend. I mean I’ll be with Drew a whole month, I can’t talk to him about the cute guys that we’ll see or any girly stuff.”
    “You’ll be fine, Rach. The Colombia Speech Pathology Masters program starts next week, I can’t be off on some cruise, skipping the first three crucial weeks.”
    “They had a delayed start day, but you just chose to start early.”
    “That’s because the later date was an accelerated program. It will be hard enough as it is, I don’t need to add an accelerated pace to it as well.”
    “Fine, just know that I’ll miss you.”
    Cassidy laughed. “Just think of me every time you see one of those cute guys you talked about.”
    Rachel smiled and turned to zip her suitcase. “You in here, sis?” Andrew called from the apartment entrance.
    Cassidy and Rachel had lived in the same apartment since sophomore year at NYU. Now that Cassidy would be attending Colombia for her Masters and Rachel would be staying at NYU for a Masters in Art, they decided to keep the place. It was situated right in the middle of Manhattan so it was the perfect location for both girls.
    Cassidy tensed upon hearing Andrew’s voice. After the horrible New Year’s Eve party, she had calmed down and apologized to Andrew for throwing champagne on him. She had managed to convince him that she was just surprised to find out the news and was upset to find out from Ashley. They’d never brought it up after that, and Cassidy managed to avoid Andrew whenever he came to New York to visit. She was either studying in the library or working on upcoming projects.
    “Hey, we’re in here!” Rachel called out.
    Cassidy went to help Rachel zip up her overstuffed suitcase.
    Andrew walked into the room and smiled at Cassidy when she looked up at him. She gave him a small smile then averted her eyes. She hadn’t given him a real smile since the New Year’s Eve party. Andrew looked visibly disappointed, but didn’t comment.
    “Are you ready, sis?” Andrew asked.
    “Yeah, here take the suitcase,” Rachel said, pulling it off the bed.
    “God, Rach, what do you have in here?” he asked.
    “I’ll be gone a month,” Rachel replied.
    “Whatever,” Andrew said as he began to wheel the suitcase out of the room.
    “Are you sure you don’t want to change your mind?” Rachel asked pleadingly.
    “I can’t, Rach.” Cassidy could never bear to spend that much time with Andrew, not after what had happened. She resented Andrew for ruining this for her, because she and Rachel had been talking about this cruise for ages.
    “You can’t or you won’t ?’ Andrew asked, giving her a shrewd look from the doorway.
    Cassidy sighed and looked at Andrew. “I can’t.”
    Andrew nodded, a sad look in his eyes. “Well, see you later, Cassie.”
    Her heart still flipped in her chest when he called her by his own nickname, but she had to remember it meant nothing. She meant nothing to him. She was just his little sister’s best friend. Cassidy smiled then turned to