Seeing Stars
24: Ain't Worth The Whiskey
" Or I might close this place down, but don't think for one second I'm out to drown your memory, baby you ain't worth the whiskey..."
Cassidy stretched awake the next morning, pushing her arms above her head, squeaking out groans as her back cracked. The two-hour time difference hadn’t done much to her sleep schedule. It was eight, but she doubted whether Jamie and his parents were up. And with their rules, she was hesitant to sneak over to Jordie’s bedroom to see if her boyfriend was up yet.
Being alone for the moment gave her time to think and evaluate everything that had happened the night before. It was all so overwhelming, and having time to herself would allow her to grasp everything that had gone on. Within the span of one night, she had met Jamie’s parents, made a good impression, and then got the slight notion that one of Jamie’s ex-girlfriends was an important part of his life. Mostly, that last part scared her.
“I thought you’d be up,”
Cassidy’s heat shot up, spotting Jamie as he shut the bedroom door behind him, sitting on the edge of the bed, with his arm supporting his weight as he leaned across her body.
She smiled and nodded, “I was just thinking.”
“Uh oh,” he murmured, kissing her lips quickly and innocently. “What’s wrong,”
She shook her head, and he immediately leaned in again to kiss her forehead, as if encouraging her to explain everything to him. “The only other girl you brought home…”
“Cassidy, she’s an ex-girlfriend. We grew up together, thought we’d give the dating thing a chance, and then I got drafted and left.” Jamie said this confidently, like he saw no problem with the words coming out of his mouth.
But the problem was, Cassidy saw a problem with it. Jamie had basically admitted that the only reason he and the other girl had broken up was because he left town. Not because they weren’t compatible, or she cheated on him, but simply because he moved.
“What was her name?”
“Chelsea,” Jamie murmured as a young, red headed bartender flung herself at him.
She was wearing low cut jeans and a mid-drift shirt, all of which terrified Cassidy as the girl pressed her chest against Jamie’s in a tight, overpowering hug. Jamie even reciprocated the action by hugging her back, maybe even a little tighter than he should have. And instead of being confused and scared of the situation, he seemed pleased, even excited to see the girl in front of him.
When Chelsea backed up, Cassidy looked at her, then at Jamie, and then back at the petite bartender. Chelsea looked at him with the eyes of an admirer, and turned to the bar, taking the drink being handed to her by a different, male bartender.
“I haven’t seen you in forever, Jimmy Jam,” Chelsea shrieked, walking back behind the bar. She now crossed her arms and bent over the glossy counter, making it obvious that she was trying to show off her assets to Jamie. And the pet name… resulted in Cassidy throwing back her mojito like it was water.
“Well I was in Dallas. And I didn’t see you last summer; so it must’ve been a year and a half since we last saw each other,” he picked up the drink she set in front of him and took a first sip.
“I can’t believe it; and you look exactly the same,” she smiled and reached to touch the top of his hand gently.
“Not you,” he paused and his eyes not-so-subtly drifted over the parts of her body he could see. “You look different,”
Chelsea glanced at Cassidy, seeing that her eyes seemed disinterested in the interaction between her and Jamie, “and we’re being completely rude.” Chelsea held her hand out to Cassidy, “I’m Chelsea.”
Sucking up her pride, Cassidy smiled as best she could and shook the bartender’s hand, “Cassidy. Nice to meet you,” She looked over at Jamie, shooting him a glare.
“Oh, Chels… this is my, uh… my girlfriend.”
Cassidy sunk lower in her seat. So she couldn’t match up to Chelsea’s looks, and Jamie obviously had a thing for redheads. Before Chelsea could come up with a response, another patron at the other end of the bar called for her attention, and she ducked away, promising to come back in a moment.
Jamie took another sip of his drink and turned on the barstool to face Cassidy. She wasn’t shy in showing her emotions to him, and by the look on his face, he was catching the hints she was dropping.
“Do you want me to leave so you can catch up with her, or do you want your, “uh, girlfriend” to stay?” Cassidy spat, smiling at the bartender as he handed her another drink. God, Jamie Benn was going to turn her into an alcoholic.
He smiled and tilted his head to the side, reaching forward to grip onto her barstool and drag her closer to him.
“It’s not funny, Jamie!” Her voice rose a little louder, “do you realize how uncomfortable and insignificant I feel when I see you check out other girls?”
“Babe,” he set his drink back down on the bar. His eyes flicked upwards to check that Chelsea was still helping the other patrons. “I wasn’t checking her out. You’re the only girl I want to check out,” he grinned and leaned in for a kiss.
Cassidy deflected his attempt and turned her head to the side, biting to lower lip to keep her from saying something ridiculous.
“C’mon Cass,” Jamie muttered, setting his hand down on her thigh and squeezed it gently. “She ain’t worth the whiskey in my drink.”
“Don’t give me that line of crap!” When the person next to her began staring, she lowered her voice. She leaned her head into her hand and looked up at Jamie. “I feel like I’m not worth the whiskey in your drink. And the way you look at her doesn’t make it any easier.”
Jamie leaned in closer and kissed her forehead, as she wouldn’t allow him anything else. “Cassidy, I love you so damn much. I don’t look at Chelsea and see a person I want to be with for the rest of my life.” He pushed his drink away, “I’m sorry. The last thing I want is for you to feel uncomfortable.”
Chelsea came strutting back, leaning back over the bar. Quickly, Jamie looked down at his lap and wrapped one arm around Cassidy’s waist, turning his head towards her, pressing his lips against her temple gently.
“Jimmy Jam, some of our old friends are having a party tonight; you should come by, hang out,” Chelsea pulled the end of her top, revealing more than she really needed to.
He shook his head and stood up from the barstool, reaching into his pocket to retrieve his wallet, and pulled out enough money to pay for the drinks. “Cassidy and I have plans tonight. But I’m sure I’ll meet up with the guys soon.” He smiled at Chelsea quickly and then held his hand out to Cassidy.
She took it and stood up, walking closely behind Jamie as he weaved between people towards the exit. Once outside, the sun had just set completely and the temperature had dropped from the previous high sixties. Cassidy shrugged her shoulders trying to warm herself up. Without a jacket to offer her, Jamie wrapped his arms around her shoulders, tugging her into his side.
Down by the marina, the public seemed to have gathered to spend the summer night outside. This meant that Jamie was to be the main attraction, as he and Cassidy moved down the sidewalk, being stopped every so often so Jamie could take pictures or sign autographs.
When the crowd around him began to die down, and they could begin walking again, Jamie clutched onto Cassidy’s hand. “Are you still mad at me,”
Cassidy sighed and set her hand down on Jamie’s shoulder, closing her eyes for a quick moment, allowing Jamie to lead her. “Let me put it this way; if the roles were reversed, you would understand how I feel if I left you for Jordie. You might not be mad, or pissed off, but you’d be hurt.” She looked up at him, stopping suddenly as he turned her to face him.
Jamie cupped his hands on either side of her face, bending down to kiss her gently, pecking Cassidy’s lips quickly until he settled, and planted a slow, passionate kiss on her lips. He slid one hand away from her cheek, moving it down her back until he reached her hips. He then pulled her tighter to him, leaving no space between their bodies.
“If you ever dated Jordie, I’d probably kill him,” he murmured, pulling away and kissing her lips once more, “don’t make me kill my brother.”
Cassidy smiled and pushed against Jamie as they began to walk down the sidewalk again, getting to the shelter of his car a short while later.
Jamie was perched on the couch watching a prerecorded golf tournament when Cassidy walked in after her shower. He had a beer in one hand and the remote in the other, eyes glued on the TV screen like nothing else mattered. Only when Cassidy sat beside him with her legs in his lap, did he watch her get situated with a smile on his face.
“How long did you date Chelsea for?”
Jamie groaned and set his head back against the couch, pursing his lips stubbornly, “are we really going to bring her up again?”
Cassidy stared at him, waiting for him to answer her question. And when he saw that she wasn’t going to let up, he sighed and clutched at her feet. She sat forward and grabbed Jamie’s beer from his hand, pressing it against her lips and began nursing it slowly.
“We started dating shortly before the draft, and when I found I’d be in Kelowna, we decided to stick it out. But after a year or so I found out she had cheated on me, and that was that. Now quite possibly she wants me back, but I have a feeling it’s only because of the amount of zeros on my paycheck.”
She handed the beer back to Jamie. It was evident he needed it more than she did. Slowly, Cassidy felt the jealously within her subsiding. Chelsea had done wrong by Jamie, and if anything, he was being a mature adult by letting the past lie and moving on with his life.
“And how many girls did you have to sleep with to get over it?” The question was half serious and half a joke. But with the honesty roll Jamie was on, Cassidy pressed her hand against his chest to keep him from answering. “No, I don’t want to hear about the horrible aftermath. However…” she leaned forward and rested her chin on Jamie’s shoulder, looking up at him, “awhile back when you said you could see yourself marrying me… was that the truth, or just a line?”
He licked his lips quickly and leaned his forehead against hers, “you’re twenty-one, and I’m twenty-four, and I know marriage is a long ways off for both of us. But I also know that I’ve never felt more ready to marry someone.”
Cassidy pressed her lips against his shoulder to conceal her smile, but as Jamie leaned in and kissed her forehead, she knew he got a hint of her expression. With her arms secured around his neck, she crawled into his lap, feeling the coolness of the beer bottle as he brushed against her exposed lower back. She bent down and kissed his lips slowly, grazing her teeth along his lower one as her hands snaked to his cheeks, fingers curling around his ears.
“I want a square cut diamond,” she murmured playfully against his lips.
“You’ll be happy with what I get you,”
For a quick moment, he leaned forward and set the beer bottle down on the coffee table before he sat back along the couch, loosely setting a hand on her hip and cocked his head to the side, slipping his tongue into her mouth in a swift motion. Cassidy melted into his body, chests pressed together as her hips swayed against him.
It would have been easy to forget that just an hour or so ago, she was mad at him. And although it was the simple solution, she didn’t want to just forget. Forgetting meant that he would be inclined to do it again.
What could’ve turned into a long night of passionate lovemaking, ended up to be nothing more than a makeout session, as Jamie’s attention was drawn back to the golf tournament when someone got a hole in one. He was too enthralled with the spectacle on the TV to grasp the concept of a willing woman on top of him.
Cassidy checked her phone sometime around eleven to see what time it was. She felt like her eyelids weighed a ton each, threatening to close and stay shut, until she obeyed. That, mixed with Jamie rubbing her back softly and soothingly, was enough for her to drift off to sleep.
Cassidy stretched awake the next morning, pushing her arms above her head, squeaking out groans as her back cracked. The two-hour time difference hadn’t done much to her sleep schedule. It was eight, but she doubted whether Jamie and his parents were up. And with their rules, she was hesitant to sneak over to Jordie’s bedroom to see if her boyfriend was up yet.
Being alone for the moment gave her time to think and evaluate everything that had happened the night before. It was all so overwhelming, and having time to herself would allow her to grasp everything that had gone on. Within the span of one night, she had met Jamie’s parents, made a good impression, and then got the slight notion that one of Jamie’s ex-girlfriends was an important part of his life. Mostly, that last part scared her.
“I thought you’d be up,”
Cassidy’s heat shot up, spotting Jamie as he shut the bedroom door behind him, sitting on the edge of the bed, with his arm supporting his weight as he leaned across her body.
She smiled and nodded, “I was just thinking.”
“Uh oh,” he murmured, kissing her lips quickly and innocently. “What’s wrong,”
She shook her head, and he immediately leaned in again to kiss her forehead, as if encouraging her to explain everything to him. “The only other girl you brought home…”
“Cassidy, she’s an ex-girlfriend. We grew up together, thought we’d give the dating thing a chance, and then I got drafted and left.” Jamie said this confidently, like he saw no problem with the words coming out of his mouth.
But the problem was, Cassidy saw a problem with it. Jamie had basically admitted that the only reason he and the other girl had broken up was because he left town. Not because they weren’t compatible, or she cheated on him, but simply because he moved.
“What was her name?”
“Chelsea,” Jamie murmured as a young, red headed bartender flung herself at him.
She was wearing low cut jeans and a mid-drift shirt, all of which terrified Cassidy as the girl pressed her chest against Jamie’s in a tight, overpowering hug. Jamie even reciprocated the action by hugging her back, maybe even a little tighter than he should have. And instead of being confused and scared of the situation, he seemed pleased, even excited to see the girl in front of him.
When Chelsea backed up, Cassidy looked at her, then at Jamie, and then back at the petite bartender. Chelsea looked at him with the eyes of an admirer, and turned to the bar, taking the drink being handed to her by a different, male bartender.
“I haven’t seen you in forever, Jimmy Jam,” Chelsea shrieked, walking back behind the bar. She now crossed her arms and bent over the glossy counter, making it obvious that she was trying to show off her assets to Jamie. And the pet name… resulted in Cassidy throwing back her mojito like it was water.
“Well I was in Dallas. And I didn’t see you last summer; so it must’ve been a year and a half since we last saw each other,” he picked up the drink she set in front of him and took a first sip.
“I can’t believe it; and you look exactly the same,” she smiled and reached to touch the top of his hand gently.
“Not you,” he paused and his eyes not-so-subtly drifted over the parts of her body he could see. “You look different,”
Chelsea glanced at Cassidy, seeing that her eyes seemed disinterested in the interaction between her and Jamie, “and we’re being completely rude.” Chelsea held her hand out to Cassidy, “I’m Chelsea.”
Sucking up her pride, Cassidy smiled as best she could and shook the bartender’s hand, “Cassidy. Nice to meet you,” She looked over at Jamie, shooting him a glare.
“Oh, Chels… this is my, uh… my girlfriend.”
Cassidy sunk lower in her seat. So she couldn’t match up to Chelsea’s looks, and Jamie obviously had a thing for redheads. Before Chelsea could come up with a response, another patron at the other end of the bar called for her attention, and she ducked away, promising to come back in a moment.
Jamie took another sip of his drink and turned on the barstool to face Cassidy. She wasn’t shy in showing her emotions to him, and by the look on his face, he was catching the hints she was dropping.
“Do you want me to leave so you can catch up with her, or do you want your, “uh, girlfriend” to stay?” Cassidy spat, smiling at the bartender as he handed her another drink. God, Jamie Benn was going to turn her into an alcoholic.
He smiled and tilted his head to the side, reaching forward to grip onto her barstool and drag her closer to him.
“It’s not funny, Jamie!” Her voice rose a little louder, “do you realize how uncomfortable and insignificant I feel when I see you check out other girls?”
“Babe,” he set his drink back down on the bar. His eyes flicked upwards to check that Chelsea was still helping the other patrons. “I wasn’t checking her out. You’re the only girl I want to check out,” he grinned and leaned in for a kiss.
Cassidy deflected his attempt and turned her head to the side, biting to lower lip to keep her from saying something ridiculous.
“C’mon Cass,” Jamie muttered, setting his hand down on her thigh and squeezed it gently. “She ain’t worth the whiskey in my drink.”
“Don’t give me that line of crap!” When the person next to her began staring, she lowered her voice. She leaned her head into her hand and looked up at Jamie. “I feel like I’m not worth the whiskey in your drink. And the way you look at her doesn’t make it any easier.”
Jamie leaned in closer and kissed her forehead, as she wouldn’t allow him anything else. “Cassidy, I love you so damn much. I don’t look at Chelsea and see a person I want to be with for the rest of my life.” He pushed his drink away, “I’m sorry. The last thing I want is for you to feel uncomfortable.”
Chelsea came strutting back, leaning back over the bar. Quickly, Jamie looked down at his lap and wrapped one arm around Cassidy’s waist, turning his head towards her, pressing his lips against her temple gently.
“Jimmy Jam, some of our old friends are having a party tonight; you should come by, hang out,” Chelsea pulled the end of her top, revealing more than she really needed to.
He shook his head and stood up from the barstool, reaching into his pocket to retrieve his wallet, and pulled out enough money to pay for the drinks. “Cassidy and I have plans tonight. But I’m sure I’ll meet up with the guys soon.” He smiled at Chelsea quickly and then held his hand out to Cassidy.
She took it and stood up, walking closely behind Jamie as he weaved between people towards the exit. Once outside, the sun had just set completely and the temperature had dropped from the previous high sixties. Cassidy shrugged her shoulders trying to warm herself up. Without a jacket to offer her, Jamie wrapped his arms around her shoulders, tugging her into his side.
Down by the marina, the public seemed to have gathered to spend the summer night outside. This meant that Jamie was to be the main attraction, as he and Cassidy moved down the sidewalk, being stopped every so often so Jamie could take pictures or sign autographs.
When the crowd around him began to die down, and they could begin walking again, Jamie clutched onto Cassidy’s hand. “Are you still mad at me,”
Cassidy sighed and set her hand down on Jamie’s shoulder, closing her eyes for a quick moment, allowing Jamie to lead her. “Let me put it this way; if the roles were reversed, you would understand how I feel if I left you for Jordie. You might not be mad, or pissed off, but you’d be hurt.” She looked up at him, stopping suddenly as he turned her to face him.
Jamie cupped his hands on either side of her face, bending down to kiss her gently, pecking Cassidy’s lips quickly until he settled, and planted a slow, passionate kiss on her lips. He slid one hand away from her cheek, moving it down her back until he reached her hips. He then pulled her tighter to him, leaving no space between their bodies.
“If you ever dated Jordie, I’d probably kill him,” he murmured, pulling away and kissing her lips once more, “don’t make me kill my brother.”
Cassidy smiled and pushed against Jamie as they began to walk down the sidewalk again, getting to the shelter of his car a short while later.
Jamie was perched on the couch watching a prerecorded golf tournament when Cassidy walked in after her shower. He had a beer in one hand and the remote in the other, eyes glued on the TV screen like nothing else mattered. Only when Cassidy sat beside him with her legs in his lap, did he watch her get situated with a smile on his face.
“How long did you date Chelsea for?”
Jamie groaned and set his head back against the couch, pursing his lips stubbornly, “are we really going to bring her up again?”
Cassidy stared at him, waiting for him to answer her question. And when he saw that she wasn’t going to let up, he sighed and clutched at her feet. She sat forward and grabbed Jamie’s beer from his hand, pressing it against her lips and began nursing it slowly.
“We started dating shortly before the draft, and when I found I’d be in Kelowna, we decided to stick it out. But after a year or so I found out she had cheated on me, and that was that. Now quite possibly she wants me back, but I have a feeling it’s only because of the amount of zeros on my paycheck.”
She handed the beer back to Jamie. It was evident he needed it more than she did. Slowly, Cassidy felt the jealously within her subsiding. Chelsea had done wrong by Jamie, and if anything, he was being a mature adult by letting the past lie and moving on with his life.
“And how many girls did you have to sleep with to get over it?” The question was half serious and half a joke. But with the honesty roll Jamie was on, Cassidy pressed her hand against his chest to keep him from answering. “No, I don’t want to hear about the horrible aftermath. However…” she leaned forward and rested her chin on Jamie’s shoulder, looking up at him, “awhile back when you said you could see yourself marrying me… was that the truth, or just a line?”
He licked his lips quickly and leaned his forehead against hers, “you’re twenty-one, and I’m twenty-four, and I know marriage is a long ways off for both of us. But I also know that I’ve never felt more ready to marry someone.”
Cassidy pressed her lips against his shoulder to conceal her smile, but as Jamie leaned in and kissed her forehead, she knew he got a hint of her expression. With her arms secured around his neck, she crawled into his lap, feeling the coolness of the beer bottle as he brushed against her exposed lower back. She bent down and kissed his lips slowly, grazing her teeth along his lower one as her hands snaked to his cheeks, fingers curling around his ears.
“I want a square cut diamond,” she murmured playfully against his lips.
“You’ll be happy with what I get you,”
For a quick moment, he leaned forward and set the beer bottle down on the coffee table before he sat back along the couch, loosely setting a hand on her hip and cocked his head to the side, slipping his tongue into her mouth in a swift motion. Cassidy melted into his body, chests pressed together as her hips swayed against him.
It would have been easy to forget that just an hour or so ago, she was mad at him. And although it was the simple solution, she didn’t want to just forget. Forgetting meant that he would be inclined to do it again.
What could’ve turned into a long night of passionate lovemaking, ended up to be nothing more than a makeout session, as Jamie’s attention was drawn back to the golf tournament when someone got a hole in one. He was too enthralled with the spectacle on the TV to grasp the concept of a willing woman on top of him.
Cassidy checked her phone sometime around eleven to see what time it was. She felt like her eyelids weighed a ton each, threatening to close and stay shut, until she obeyed. That, mixed with Jamie rubbing her back softly and soothingly, was enough for her to drift off to sleep.
Notes
This chapter is titled after "You Ain't Worth The Whiskey" by Cole Swindell.
I know this chapter is shorter than some others but prepared for some exciting things to come :)
please update!!!!
5/2/16