BUSINESS BEFORE PLEASURE

Chapter 29

Courtney's POV:

I am nursing the hangover that seems to not have an end in sight. What did I think would happen after I blacked out for two days?

After my life altering lunch with my mother yesterday, I drove home and took everything that had happened in the last week in. My best friend's boyfriend got shot and died in front of us. I came out to my homophobic mother. I blacked out for almost two days with no idea how I was still alive and to top it all off  the woman I love is getting married to someone else.

Thinking about all of those things helped my delayed hangover surface and I ran straight to the bathroom as I walked into my home and threw up.

How do I come back from this? How do I just carry on living my life like none of it happened. I spent the rest of the day moping around my home trying to figure that out and occasionally threw up into a bowl I carried with me.

I was feeling slightly better physically this morning. Mentally I was not even close to being better.

Gia was getting married today.

All I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and decay there into nothing. I felt so pathetic. I wanted Gia here with me so badly it hurt. But she didn't even care enough to try. She was always pushing me away when things got complicated.

I still can't wrap my head around why she would choose to marry someone she doesn't even know over trying to find a better solution with me. Maybe Gia never really felt the way I felt about her. I mean I had told her I loved her for fucks sake. I gave her a part of my heart that I could never get back. All the while she had never even said the words "I love you" to me.

I feel absolutely empty and in serious need of some caffeine to get me through the day. I went down into my kitchen in search of coffee and realized I forgot to go to the store. I can't really be mad at myself about it after the chaos I have endured.

I threw on a sweatshirt and grabbed my car keys. I don't normally go into my coffee shop on the weekends but I was desperately in need of a well made frappe and I know Reece can make one for me. I quickly drove there and parked in my usual spot. The store was empty when I walked in. I wasn't really worried seeing as it was a Sunday at 11 AM. The bell above the door rang out as I walked through it and Reece appeared from the back a few seconds later.

"Courtney! Oh my god! You're alive!" She yelled out. She sprinted around the counter and collided her body into mine, wrapping her arms around my neck.

"Hey Reece. I am so sorry I haven't been here. This week has been the craziest one of my life." I sighed, hugging her around the waist.

"Well why don't I make us some coffee and we sit down and talk about it?" She said, letting go of me and taking a step back. I gently frowned at her.

"Coffee would be great. But I am really not ready to talk about it." I answered, shaking my head.

"Okay. I'll make you some coffee and then we can talk about me." She grinned. I chuckled lightly with her then she turned around and walked back around the counter. I sat down in a booth close to the register.

"Your usual?" Reece called out from behind a large espresso machine.

"Yes please!" I called back.

Reece made us our coffees then sat across from me. I took a small sip of my drink and hummed in appreciation.

"Sooooo." I started, placing my cup back on the table. "How have things been?" I asked.

"Well, not great." She chuckled. "I broke up with my boyfriend." She sighed. I immediately thought about Gia and felt a small pang in my heart. I let out a loud exhale and pushed her hazel eyes from my head.