Held
By 4pm - half an hour before she was scheduled to get off, and about ninety minutes past when she would have liked to get off - it was obvious to Courtney that she was not fine. Not fine at all.
Not one of her fellow employees had come forward about moving mannequins. In fact, the only thing any employee had reached out to her about was quitting. Turns out, no one wanted to work at a store where the boss committed suicide.
All of that, plus the ever-increasing onslaught of bitchy customers waiting till the last minute to do their shopping, plus worrying about school, and expenses, and working too many hours, plus Taylor Courtney was just about ready to scream-
“Excuse me, ma’am? Do you have this, but in a different size and color?”
Courtney held back her banshee wail of frustration as she turned away from the display she was straightening to deal with the latest in a long line of annoying shoppers-
-only to blink in surprise. “Brooke?”
It was indeed Brooke, standing there with a wry smile on her face. “Courtney.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Figured I’d offer to give you a ride back to the apartment. Plus,” she added, lifting up the bag dancing from her side so that Courtney could get a look. “I needed to pick out a gift for Lauren.”
Ah. That made sense. It was honestly a bit of a relief as well. The thought of dealing with the bus on top of everything else… “Ok, thank you, seriously, I’d seriously appreciate a drive back. I’ve got like 20 minutes left though? That fine?”
“Sure. How about I swing by the food court, grab us all something for dinner?”
Us. Dinner.
It wasn’t a date thing. It was just someone trying to be friendly. They were neighbors, at most friends (and that itself was brand new). Anything else was just Courtney, poor, gay, abandoned Courtney reading into stuff that wasn’t there.
‘Jesus fuck, Courtney, how pathetic are you, slightest bit of kindness and you’re ready to take off your pants. Keep it down and keep it together.’
She wasn’t blind. Her crush might have been on Lauren, but she would have been an idiot not to find Brooke attractive.
‘Stop being a creep.’
“Sure, surprise me,” she answered back.
Brooke nodded and left, and Courtney returned her attention to her work.
With Brooke’s return to look forward to, the last 20 minutes of her shift passed by quickly. She finished folding the shirts she was working on, had a short talk with the employee who’d been asked to handle closing, and then soon after stepped out of the store into the mall proper to wait for Brooke.
She’d only been waiting for a few minutes when a clearing throat pulled her attention from her phone. She closed her eyes and started to count to 10, thinking surely he’d go away, but she’d just gotten to 7 when he cleared his throat again. Giving up, she slid her phone into her pocket and turned back around. “Hello, Brandon.”
“Heya, Court.” She tried not to flinch. “Did you just get off?” His eyebrows wiggled. “Or do you need help with that.”
She tried not to barf. Succeeded, barely. “Still not interested, Brandon. And I’m just waiting on someone, so if you could go…”
“Come on, babe, just one -”
“I believe that she said no.”
Brooke stepped up, coming to her rescue. “Sorry, honey,” she offered, causing Courtney to give her a look of surprise, but Brooke just gave her a wink. “The line was longer than I thought.”
And then she kissed Courtney.
It wasn’t a real kiss. Well, it was, but it was just a quick, brief thing against Courtney’s cheek. Still, it sent butterflies through her stomach.
Why did girls have to be pretty, damn it.
“Ughhh.” Brandon trailed off, his mouth making the same noise Courtney’s brain was making.
“Are you bothering my girlfriend?” Brooke demanded.
Girlfriend?!?
“Girlfriend?” Brandon repeated. And then, Christmas miracle, something in Brandon’s brain clicked . “Wait, you’re gay? Why didn’t you say something?”
That snapped Courtney out of it. “I did ,” she started, but Brandon wasn’t listening. He turned and started wandering off, mumbling about women leading him on. Courtney watched him go.
“That was Brandon, I take it?” Brooke asked from beside her, and her attention snapped to the other woman. She too had been watching Brandon go, but now her attention drifted back over. “Sorry if my improv was too much.”
“No, it’s fine,” Courtney replied. “Just, uhhh… caught me off guard.” Was she blushing? God, she was blushing, wasn’t she. And from the way Brooke was smirking at her, the other woman had noticed. “Uh, we should go, yeah? In case he comes back?” She offered to take the bag of takeout from Brooke - Mexican food - and then let the other woman lead her across the mall, out into the parking lot, and to Lauren’s car.
The drive back was pretty peaceful. They chatted about work, school, this and that. Soon enough they’d gotten back to the apartment, and the two walked in tandem up the stairs towards Brooke’s apartment.
“Ren should be here in a little while,” Brooke offered, pushing the apartment’s door open. “We can get started without her though. Just give me a minute to hide her gift.”
Courtney nodded, and started unbagging dinner. Brooke soon joined her.
They ate in silence for a while, each just enjoying the other’s company, before Courtney sat her to go container down. “Brooke? Can I ask you something?” There had been something that had been bothering Courtney since the mall, and it just kept getting worse.
“What’s up?”
“…When you kissed me. That was just play-acting, right?” Please say yes, please say yes. She needed Brooke to say yes.
Brooke shot her a look. “You do remember I have a girlfriend, yeah?”
“I know,” Courtney answered. “That’s why… that’s why it needs to not be real.” She couldn’t look at Brooke. Forced herself to do so anyway.
Brooke was looking at her with… worry? Confusion, curiosity? Courtney couldn’t quite tell. “What exactly are you asking?”
Alright. Time for subtlety was over. She took a deep breath to get together her nerves, then asked. “I… I have a real issue with… with infidelity. You weren’t actually-”
“No, ” Brooke answered and Courtney flinched. Brooke noticed, and added softer. “I wouldn’t do that to Lauren. And I wouldn’t use you like that either, Courtney.”
“…Thank you. And I’m sorry for thinking it. It’s just…”
“…Do you want to talk about it?”
No. No she didn’t.
But maybe she should.
“…When Lauren gets here?” She didn’t want to have to go over it twice.
Almost as if the universe itself were calling her, the apartment door opened. “God is it cold out there,” Lauren murmured as she stepped into the room. “Oh, hi, Courtney…” she trailed off as she caught onto the mood of the room. “Everything ok?”
“Have a seat,” Brooke ordered. “Courtney was going to tell us something.”
Lauren frowned, but sat down onto the couch on Courtney’s left, mirroring Brooke who had already been sitting on Courtney’s right.
Three best friends - rulers of the school - ready to take on any challenge-
It hurt to think about. She didn’t want to think about it. But she had to.
“Courtney?” Brooke. “What happened between you and Taylor?”
A mistake. Mistake upon mistake upon-
“She cheated on me.”
Whatever the two expected to hear, it wasn’t that. They recoiled from her, though glances in their directions showed shock on their faces rather than any negative views toward her.
The voice of should have seen it coming existed only in her own head.
Brooke’s face darkened. “That bitch .”
The swear was enough to jolt a laugh out of Courtney. “Yeah.” She sighed. “Can’t get too mad at her. Two of us had no business being together in the first place.”
“Why do you say that?” Lauren asked. “You two were inseparable.”
“Three. The three of us were inseparable. And then-”
I’m leaving. Me and my girlfriend have fucking had it with this town and are getting out.
“Do you know what made us a couple? What got the two of us together?” At their blank looks- “We were both in love with the same person.” A laugh, rough and painful as it came free. “How fucking pitiful is that? Courtney and Taylor - each in love with the same person - a person with zero fucking interest in either of us. But that was fine because she didn’t have any interest in anybody, she was the ice queen, we accepted it, it hurt but we accepted it, and then-”
“And then she ran off with Chloe Price,” Brooke finished. “I remember how everyone couldn’t stop talking about it. Queen of the school, bitch of Blackwell - and she dropped out to run off with another dropout.” Brooke hesitated, before adding. “I remember seeing you two then. You were so lost.”
“And that’s how we got together. We fell into each other’s arms to deal with the heartbreak.” A rueful smile. “Again, how pitiful is that? What kind of people start a relationship where the other person is a consolation prize?” Her fingers dug into her knees. She was so alone. “And then we graduate and move to Seattle to live together and then she runs into her fucking ex-” if her fingers dug any deeper she was gonna start bleeding- “and now she’s off somewhere with fucking Steph Gingrich-”
Arms around her, pulling her in, holding her. She hadn’t even noticed when she’d started to cry, but cry she did, and they held her, and she was safe, and she was cared for, and she had never been more afraid.