I'm trying not to fall asleep third period when I get the bright idea to text Dres.

[CAS] 10:31 AM: I've got the next best-seller cupcake flavor

[CAS] 10:32 AM: no seriously it's actually brilliant

[CAS] 10:33 AM: like I might just be the Steve Jobs of cupcake flavors

[DRES] 10:34 AM: Are you going to tell me the flavor?

[CAS] 10:35 AM: spiced pumpkin cake

[DRES] 10:35 AM: No

[CAS] 10:35 AM: wait I'm not done

[CAS] 10:35 AM: spiced pumpkin cake

[CAS] 10:36 AM: cranberry walnut frosting

[DRES] 10:36 AM: How do you make a cranberry walnut frosting?

[CAS] 10:37 AM: I don't know that's your job to figure out

[CAS] 10:37 AM: honey drizzle

[DRES] 10:37 AM: What??

[CAS] 10:38 AM: I wasn't finished

[CAS] 10:38 AM: spiced pumpkin cake

[CAS] 10:38 AM: cranberry walnut frosting

[CAS] 10:38 AM: honey drizzle

[DRES] 10:39 AM: No. And you could've sent that in one message.

[CAS] 10:39 AM: it was for dramatic effect

[CAS] 10:40 AM: apple cider cinnamon cake with brown sugar rum frosting

[CAS] 10:40 AM: anotha one

[CAS] 10:40 AM: I'll take my promotion to flavor consultant now please

      Mrs. Scott glances suspiciously at me while she waits for everyone to copy the notes on the board. I shield my phone under my notebook and pretend to scratch notes into the page but I just make a doodle of a cartoon dog, instead.

[DRES] 10:41 AM: You're in school. Stop texting me.

     She starts explaining the Domino Theory and I re-focus on my phone.

[CAS] 10:42 AM: you should do a special Christmas menu

[DRES] 10:43 AM: Halloween hasn't even passed yet

[CAS] 10:44 AM: okayyyy but a good business is always preemptive

[CAS] 10:44 AM: I'll have you know this is the most productive I've been all morning

[DRES] 10:45 AM: When do you take your exam?

[CAS] 10:45 AM: oh I bombed that first period

[CAS] 10:45 AM: like I said this is the most productive I've been all morning

[DRES] 10:45 AM: You failed it?

[CAS] 10:46 AM: well, not failed necessarily def didn't get an A, probably a 70 something

[DRES] 10:47 AM: Why?

[CAS] 10:48 AM: bc memorizing all the different bones, and their attachments and locations was not a priority

[DRES] 10:48 AM: Your grades should be your first priority

God he sounds like my mom.

[CAS] 10:48 AM: swiss chocolate cake with peppermint-flavored marshmallow frosting

[DRES] 10:49 AM: Redirect your productivity to your classes please

[CAS] 10:49 AM: you're no fun

[DRES] 10:50 AM: I'm loads of fun. Just not while you're in class.

     That sounds sexual af. Did he mean for it to sound as sexual as it did? Or am I so reading into that?

     I consider several responses, none of which make me sound like a competent adult and anyway Mrs. Scott dismisses us so I don't get a chance to embarrass myself. I have Calculus next, and there's no way I can get away with texting in that class. And my mom will kill me if I get another detention.

     I wait until lunch to text Dres again.

[CAS] 11:46 AM: I feel like coconut and peanut butter would compliment each other in a cupcake

     Grace and Halston are arguing who's prettier on Game of Thrones. It's Sansa v Margaery. I think they're focusing on the wrong Stark/Tyrell competition. It's more of a question of Rob against Loras, and even though I'd have no shot in hell at him I pick Rob. Still, they're going back and forth on the topic so I can get away with texting during our lunch with little scrutiny.

     Otherwise, Halston would say Cas, you're being very rude and Grace would say, Clearly, whoever you're texting is more important than us. They have both said this to me on more than one occasion, even when I'm just texting my mom about the night's dinner menu.

[DRES] 11:48 AM: I really don't condone the texting during school hours. You're going to get in trouble.

[CAS] 11:48 AM : I'm at lunch relaxxxxx

[DRES] 11:50 AM: Coconut and peanut butter together sounds terrible

[CAS] 11:51 AM: peanut butter goes with everything

[DRES] 11:51 AM: Not coconut

[CAS] 11:51 AM: coconut and vanilla bean

[CAS] 11:51 AM: its like Caribbean

[CAS] 11:51 AM: oh my god, coconut, vanilla bean, and espresso

[DRES] 11:51 AM: I feel like you're just naming things and not actually considering the mechanics behind this

[CAS] 11:52 AM: cherry and marzipan and brandy

[DRES] 11:52 AM: Case and point

[CAS] 11:52 AM: lol

[CAS] 11:52 AM: I'm feeling inspired roll with it

[CAS] 11:52 AM: lemon! You should use lemon in your next cupcake

[DRES] 11:53 AM: You don't even eat the cupcakes so what's it to you

[CAS] 11:54 AM: I'll eat them eventually

[CAS] 11:54 AM: I'm just waiting for the right cupcake to come along

[CAS] 11:54 AM: Patience virtue all good things you know

[DRES] 11:54 AM: Right

[CAS] 11:55 AM: Make a lemon cupcake with lavender icing

[CAS] 11:55 AM: I'd eat that

     Grace and Halston are both staring at me when I finally look up from my phone. I'm grinning but I quickly stop doing that because both of their expressions are a cross between amusement and annoyance.

     "Hey! You guys were talking about Game of Thrones for like three years over there. I had to find someone to entertain me."

     "Are you texting Dres?" Halston asks, ignoring everything I've just said.

     I shrug my shoulders. "What's it to ya?"

     "What are you guys talking about?" Grace asks propping her elbows on the table. Sighing, I scroll up to the beginning of our conversation and slide my phone between the two.

     After a few seconds of reading, Halston says, "I am so down for that apple cider cupcake."

     And then Grace makes a noise and goes, "Oh my god you guys are flirting through cupcakes. So dorky."

     "It's cute," Halston says with a small laugh. "I, for one, am happy for you."

     Grace holds my phone to her chest and pretends to wipe a tear from her face. "Oh my little Cas has a boyfriend."

     I frown. "He's not my boyfriend."

     Grace shrugs. "Not officially. But you guys are definitely seeing each other."

     Halston turns her head slightly, and goes, "Do you think you and Dres are going to sleep together?"

     I hadn't thought about it. I mean I had thought about sleeping with Dres. I'd thought about that plenty. But as a fantasy. As late night triple-X premeditated dreaming in hopes my REM sleep would give me a good one.

     "If presented with the opportunity to have sex with Dres, I will not turn it down," I tell them both one part joking one part extremely, deadly serious.

     Halston blushes and folds her hands in front of her face. She hasn't done it yet, or anything really, for that matter. She's never kissed anyone, mostly by choice not for lack of opportunity. She doesn't talk about it with me, maybe she does to Grace, but from what I've gathered she really hasn't found the guy yet. I can understand that, though I don't put much weight in kissing.

     Grace goes with a cheeky grin, "Ahhh, butt sex. I'd do it." Grace is like that, always open and willing to experiment.

     "Ew ew ew," Halston goes, and then throws an apologetic look my way mouthing 'sorry'. I shrug, not offended by her comment

     "Oh come on, Halston. Aren't you at least curious? Aren't you curious about anything?"

     "No," Halston says and it's in this cold tone that stops me from pressing. It stops Grace, too, which is saying something because nothing really ever stops Grace. We finish our lunch with small talk about mindless things and I can't stop thinking that there's a larger talk necessary, and wondering when Halston's going to be ready to have it.