Something pushed her shoulder.
“Erin, wake up!” Cassie hissed.
“Mmm?”
Cassie shoved at Erin’s shoulder again, hard enough to move her entire upper body. “It’s past ten.”
Erin sat bolt upright in bed.
“Shit,” she agreed.
Cassie was already out of the bed, hopping on one leg trying to get into her pants.
“Okay,” Erin said. “Okay. Parker’s probably still asleep.”
She climbed out of bed and Cassie immediately hurled a shirt at her.
“Put clothes on!”
Erin caught the soft gray Henley against her face and inhaled. It smelled like the travel-sized body wash that had appeared in the shower this week.
“This is yours.” A giggle escaped.
“No.”Cassie pointed a finger at her. Her attempt at austerity wasn’t particularly effective, given that she was fully topless. “This is not funny! Do not laugh at my potential impending death!”
Erin bit down on what would’ve been a wave of laughter before throwing the shirt at Cassie. She picked her own up off the floor and pulled it over her head. Her pajama pants were on the other side of the bed. By the time she reached them, Cassie, now fully dressed, was at the window on the side of the room, sliding it open.
“What are you doing?” Erin asked as she put her pants on.
“Is the gutter out here attached well?”
“What?”
“Like is it sturdy?”
“Cassie.”
Cassie looked out the window toward the ground. “It’s not that high up. It’ll probably be fine.”
She actually stuck one of her legs outside the window, straddling the sill. Laughter rattled in Erin’s chest, but she didn’t let it out.
“Cassie,” she repeated. “I can just check and see if her door’s closed. You don’t have toclimb out the window.”
None of this should have been funny. It was exactly why they weren’t supposed to have sex while Parker was in the house. But Erin felt ridiculous, like Bugs Bunny in a cartoon, tiptoeing to the bedroom door. Cassie quit examining the sturdiness of the gutter to watch.
Erin opened her door a crack, just enough to see down the hall. Parker’s door was still closed. The tension in her body released, and her shoulders sagged in relief. She turned around, closing her door, her teeth biting hard into her lower lip to stop her laughter. Cassie almost smiled at her before furrowing her brow.
“Are we safe?” she stage-whispered.
Erin nodded, not trusting herself to open her mouth.
Cassie pulled her leg back over the sill. She cringed once she was fully inside. “Oh Jesus, I think I pulled something.”
Erin couldn’t stop it then. She leaned against the door, hand over her mouth, shaking with laughter.
“You were really going to go out the window, huh?”
“Iwashalfway out the window.”