Casey stood at the front door to the Kappa Tau house. Normally she would just walk in like she owns the place, but things felt different. Since she and Cappie were having issues, she did not want to just walk right in and have the brothers treat her like a pariah. So instead, she knocked on the door…and waited.
It took a few minutes; long enough for Casey to question her choice in coming over. But then the door opened and she was relieved by who answered.
"Hey sis." Rusty smiled. He rubbed Kevin's cheek. "And how's my little nephew?"
"Hey Rus. You're not in class? I thought you nerds started early." Casey poked fun at her brother.
"For once I had a lunch break in between classes, so I thought I'd come hang out with the guys for a bit. Trying to keep that school life balance." Rusty explained. "You looking for Cappie?"
Casey's fun little bonding moment was short lived. Time to get to the real reason she was here. "Yeah, if he's here can you tell him his little guy would like some daddy time."
Rusty smiled. "I'll go grab him."
Casey could hear Rusty calling for Cappie. She then heard something that worried her…silence. The Kappa Tau boys were never silent. Just as she suspected earlier, she had become public enemy number one.
She was torn from her thoughts when she saw Cappie standing on the porch.
"Hey Cap." She said nervously.
"Hi." Cappie replied, also feeling the awkward tension.
After a few moments of awkward silence, Casey explained the reason why she was there.
"So, this little man is just about to kill me and every girl in the ZBZ house with his awful sleep schedule. And since I know the Kappa Tau's have the same awful sleep schedule and also don't go to class, I was wondering if you would like to take him for a few days so that the girls and I can get some real sleep and actually be able to focus on school."
Cappie was annoyed by the 'don't go to class' comment, but decided not to start an argument because he didn't want her taking his son away again.
"Of course I'll take him. When it comes to Kevin, you never have to ask." Cappie replied, taking Kevin into his arms.
Seeing Cappie holding Kevin made Casey's heart melt a little, but she knew she couldn't go there. She had sort of ended things for a reason and she was sticking to it.
"Well, thanks for taking him." Casey said awkwardly. "The girls and I appreciate it. I'm going to head back to the house. Bye little buddy. Mommy will miss you."
She kissed both of Kevin's cheeks playfully. She then went up to kiss Cappie like they had always done when they played the fun kissy face game, but they both stopped themselves and just awkwardly stood there. They stared at each other for a second.
"Well, I'm going to bring him in the house." Cappie said, turning back towards the Kappa Tau house.
"Yeah, ok. Thanks again." Casey turned back towards ZBZ. "I'll pick him up in a few days."
"Hey Casey! I see you finally took me up on my offer." Claire greeted the usually bubbly blonde who didn't look so bubbly.
"Yeah, let's just say I needed the distraction." Casey replied. "Think you can help me out?"
"You got it! Drop your bag in a locker and let's go!"
Casey did as she was told and met Claire over by the treadmills.
"Jump on. We'll start with a ten-minute power walk before hitting the weights, just to get the heart rate up."
Casey watched Claire set her treadmill and matched her settings on her own. She felt a little out of breath at first, but half way through she hit her stride and could really feel how much she needed the workout, both physically and mentally.
"You're doing good Case." Claire smiled.
"Thanks. It feels good. I wish I had done this sooner." Casey replied, getting off the treadmill and following Claire over to the weight machines.
Claire set one of the machines for her. "I want to see you do a two by ten, meaning two sets of ten reps each."
Casey sat down on the machine and began doing bicep curls.
Claire continued, "And you know you could have done this sooner. I did text you multiple times."
"I know. But at the time I was settling into being a new mom and then-"
"Got sucked into the Kappa Tau vortex." Claire giggled, knowing that vortex all too well with Andy.
Casey nodded. She got off the machine and switched with Claire.
"And now?" Claire asked as she started doing her own reps.
Casey sighed a little. "Now I'm trying to do the single mom thing. I didn't come last week because none of the ZBZs could watch Kevin. I dropped him off with Cappie a few days ago as a way of trying to make it work which is why I had time to come today."
Claire dropped the bicep curl levers. She sat there with a stunned look on her face.
"Single mom? What the heck happened? I thought you and Cappie were the end-all-be-all."
"I thought we were too until I realized we are going two different places in life. Well, I am going, he is happier staying put. I basically told him to come find me when he figures out what his future is going to look like." Casey explained as Claire went back to her workout.
Claire finished with that machine and the girls moved on to the next one. Casey got on the next machine and continued explaining her reasoning.
"And I didn't want to drag my kid into that mess so I thought cutting Cappie off was going to be the best solution for both of us. Then at least Kevin could get one parent that was solidly there in his life. But then Ash made me realize that Cappie is a good dad and I shouldn't take that away from him."
"Well, Ash is right." Claire said matter-of-factly. She jumped onto the machine across from Casey and continued to work out. "Did I ever tell you my parents got divorced?"
Now it was Casey's turn to look shocked.
"Don't worry. It's not like it was yesterday. They got divorced when I was five." Claire explained.
"I'm so sorry." Casey said sympathetically.
"Don't be. They are much better off not being together."
"Can I ask what happened?" Casey asked.
Claire shrugged her shoulders.
"The usual. High school sweethearts that went to the same college. Thought they were on the same path until they realized they weren't. Well, maybe not completely different paths. They are on a very similar path career wise, head honcho big business people, but their personal lives just weren't the same anymore. They were going through the motions because they thought that's what married life was, but they had lost that intimate connection that they first had when they were young. So, they got divorced but still remained good friends and honestly it was the best thing. I finally had two happy parents. And even though they weren't together they still made it a point to both come to any event that I had going on; football games, choir concerts, parent teacher conferences, all of it."
Casey and Claire walked over to the next set of machines and continued their workout. Casey soaked in everything Claire had to say.
"So you're saying that Cappie and I can be like your parents." Casey asked.
"I'm saying...do whatever is going to make Kevin happiest. And I'm sure if he's anything like me, he'll be happy as long as his parents are happy…whether they are together or not. I mean come on it's the twenty-first century. There are divorced parents, step kids, half siblings, all different kinds of blended families. You'll figure out what works best for you and Cappie."
"Thanks Claire. I knew I should've come to you sooner." Casey smiled.
"Yeah, you should have." Claire got a cocky smile on her face. "Now drop and give me twenty!"