Page 30 of Saving Graces
“You’re freaking out,” Cassidy said quietly and Kinsey whirled back around.
“Yes, I’m freaking out. Why didn’t you tell me? Why would you go out of your way to hide that from me? I thought,” Kinsey felt weirdly like crying, “I thought we were a team.”
“We are!” Cassidy exclaimed. “We are a team. I care about your opinion of me, okay? You’re this wildly talented musician and I wanted you to respect me for me. I didn’t want you to think you were teaming up with Jamie-Lynn Spears!”
Kinsey stared at her for several long seconds, then burst into laughter. Cassidy’s chin was high, her eyes blazing.
Kinsey smothered her laughter, gathering herself as Cassidy glared. “ Okay, that makes a weird kind of sense. If it helps, I do think you’re Britney.”
Cassidy glared at her, but after a few seconds a small smile slipped out. “It does help, actually,” she admitted.
“You’re exceptionally talented, Cassidy,” Kinsey reassured her. “But you’re an asshole to do that to me. I feel so, so dumb. You could have told me, after we became friends.”
“I’m sorry,” Cassidy said, eyes wide and imploring. “I should have. You’re right, you’re totally right. I’ve just had this thing in my head for basically my whole life, worrying what people will think of me, if that’s what they see first. She’s so… she’s so big. And I love her, but sometimes it feels like she takes up the whole sky. Like there’d never be room for me out there too.” Her shoulders slumped, her voice dull and defeated. “I’m always going to be the little sister, but I didn’t want you - of all people - to see me like that too.”
Kinsey sank back against the wall beside her and they both gazed at the across the alley, lost in their own thoughts.
“This does change things,” Kinsey said after a while. “Strategy-wise, I mean. We should probably come clean to Hailey.”
“No!” Cassidy yelped and Kinsey raised her eyebrows.
“Cass,” she said, “you’re acting as though this is a terrible, dirty secret. It’s not. I mean, I understand your reservations and you know I share them. I don’t want to be written off anymore than you do. But it’s not like we can hide this forever, not if you want to be in the public eye. We’re going to have to come up with a plan.”
Cassidy nodded, but she couldn’t stop scuffing her feet against the ground.
“How much do we trust Hailey, exactly?” she asked. “Because you know what she said. She can see potential dollar signs when she looks at us. What would she do if she thought she could use Savannah Grace as a marketing device?”
Kinsey hesitated, taking a moment. “Shit, you’re right. We need some more time to feel this out.”
Cassidy grabbed her hand. Kinsey looked down to where their fingers were joined and blinked.
“Thank you,” Cassidy said and squeezed Kinsey’s hand before dropping it. “I should have trusted you earlier. I’m really sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Kinsey said. She got it, though she still felt stupid. “Cassidy,” she thought of something. “Oh my god, you’re going to let me meet them, right? Savannah and Brynn? They are… holy shit, I don’t want to freak you out, but they are literally my fantasy wives, so-”
“Oh my god, please stop. Cassidy scrunched up her face. “You’ve already met them, after our first show together.”
“No, that was Sarah,” she said, and Cassidy shook her head.
“Disguised. I wouldn’t let her come otherwise.”
“You asshole,” Kinsey breathed, her eyes wide. “You let me meet Savannah fucking Grace and Brynn Marshall and I didn’t know it was happening? Oh fuck, you did know Noah Lyman and Coral Sanchez. I literally cannot tell you how much I hate you right now.”
“Do you?” Cassidy’s voice wavered. “Do you actually hate me?”
Kinsey looked at her, her golden hair getting slightly tousled in the breeze, her huge blue-gray eyes focused intensely on Kinsey’s face, her full pink lips basically in a straight-up pout and she sighed.
“No,” she said, heavily. “I don’t hate you.”
“You know we can’t say yes to Brynn’s tour dates,” Cassidy said and Kinsey literally wanted to cry. “There’s too much crossover with Savannah’s fans. People will figure it out straight away. And then,” she winced, “everyone will say I’m riding her coattails and that will do us no favors at all.”
“Fine,” Kinsey said after a while. “If Hailey doesn’t dump us instantly over this, at least we’ll know we’ve probably got a manager we can trust.”
Cassidy nodded and together they walked back in to turn down the opportunity of a lifetime. Kinsey only hoped there’d be more.
Hailey was pissed. But she also could see that they were both united and resolute, and while she didn’t understand it, she didn’t dump them either. Cassidy still wasn’t quite ready to come out as the little sister of a megastar and Kinsey tried to accept her choice for now.
They walked out of the diner a little bruised and more than a little freaked out, but despite the feeling of betrayal still lingering in Kinsey, something had shifted between them. They really were a team now.
