And Then She Showed Up / Smosh Squad!

Chapter 56

Sunday
"Come on Court, let's go for a ride," Keith said at the girl's doorframe. She was laying on her bed, on her phone. Her tv was on but didn't play a movie. It was just on.
"I don't wanna'," she replied childishly.
"Come on Courtney, just us, just come with me to the store."
"Can't you go by yourself?"
"I drove all the way down here, it'll be 20 minutes tops and then you can go back to mourning."
Courtney begrudgingly sat up and blew a few stray hairs out of her face. With a glare she nodded him off so she can get ready.
"I'm not mourning," Keith heard her say as he closed the door.

"You're Keith right?" Kari asked as the boy walked into the kitchen. She was holding her hands around a mug of what looked to be coffee.
"Yeah, and you're Kari," Keith replied.
"Yeah, umm, Courtney's been acting, strangely and I wanted to ask if everything's okay at school?" She looked a bit worried, which Keith could understand. He was worried too.
"At school, everything is fine, no one picks on her if that's what you're asking. Classes... I don't know for sure. However, I do know that something happened with one of our friends," Keith decided to answer truthfully. Kari slowly nodded, her eyes beckoned for him to go on. "I've been meaning to ask, I have my boyfriend asking said friend but-"
Courtney walked in wearing a sweater and a beanie. She looked like the epitome of halfhearted.
"Le's go," the girl said. As she walked by, she drew a peace sign to her sister.

"So how's Liv?" Keith questioned, almost awkwardly. He drove through the city.
"How is Liv?" Courtney shrugged. She held the handle on the side of the door.
"She's fine," he sighed.
"Why did you ask?"
"I wanted to see if you knew," Keith glanced to her unsurely. She was looking around his car.
"You wanna know what happened," Courtney noted out loud.
"If you're willing to answer," Keith didn't lie.
"I told her," is all the girl said. She watched the road ahead of them. With the darkness outside, she was able to see her reflection in the glass. She took note of how bad she looked. Her eyes looked tired and lifeless. "I told her that I liked her but not the way that I wanted to. I was too." Courtney needed to think of the right word. "Forceful? I don't know, she didn't take it too well."
"How did she react?" Keith glanced over.
"She wasn't exactly anything. Maybe surprised. It wasn't the greatest news ever for her, it scared her more than anything."
"Scared? Of you liking her?"
Courtney turned to him, a slant in her eyebrows and a look that said honey.
"We're both gay, think of a straight person with no prior experience to gayism, and having someone of the same sex liking them- Think of if a girl liked you, or a boy liked me. I have no experience in straightism."
"I'm not exactly mad. Flattered but not scared."
"Has she ever had a girl crush?" Courtney sighed. She was probably having as much trouble as Keith trying to understand Olivia's situation. Or rather to generalize the whole of the events, the Olivia situation.
"Sometimes people don't vocalize their feelings, so maybe."
"Maybe she didn't know she liked them then. Maybe she didn't know it was a gay side of her- Maybe she's just confused-"
"Not everyone is gay though, what're the chances of 4 out of the 5 of our group is gay? All of a sudden Shayne could be gay and then our school is just one whole gay community and then the world-"
"Don't overdo it hotshot, you started it by saying maybe she just didn't vocalize if she had a gay crush."
"Hotshot?"
Courtney sighed. "I'm sorry Keith, it's just... She's driving me crazy."
"I understand Court. You know how Noah and I started dating?"
"The gay fairy struck you both as you sat at the lunch table and then you-"
"You're off by a little bit. The four of us, and Shayne's girlfriend at the time, hung out. Noah apparently had the biggest crush on me at the time, and I didn't know. We both weren't out publicly but I was out to the group."
"Did you just tell them? Hey, I'm sort of gay here," Courtney said, waving her arms around.
"It was just something that was just, there. I don't know, they just knew," Keith shrugged.
"I never had trouble saying I was gay. Anyway, go on."
"I don't know how hard it is to like someone and want to go out with them because Noah asked me out one day and then we were dating. I never had to hide my feelings so I don't-"
"You live the good life," Courtney interrupted. Keith stopped talking, and had to understand that she was just hurting a little bit and maybe his story wouldn't help.
"Aren't we supposed to get our hearts broken a few times in our life? I-I have never- I don't want him to break my heart but I don't want to break his," Keith explained. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel while the girl tried to think of a way to answer. She didn't know how to reply.
"You still have him, and if you're holding him right, his hand will always be in yours."
"That's very poetic, but-"
"But you should be glad. You like him enough to not want to break his heart, a lot of people our age probably don't really care."
"Do you speak from experience?" Keith side glanced.
"I used to really like Jess if that's what you're asking. She didn't really care and here I am."
"Wait, hold on, I have a question."
"Shoot."
"Did you like Liv, while you were with Jess?"
"I used to like Jess a lot, a long time ago. To be completely honest with you, I was just with Jess to get my mind off of Olivia."
"Did it work? Did she take your mind off of-"
"I don't know how well I benefitted, all I know is that it wasn't good."
"Was she good?"
"She was good, but at what point do I say I don't care how good she is, if I could only think about Olivia."
"At any point in time. You are you, and you could feel however you want whenever you want."
"That was poetic. You're saying I could feel how I want but it's not up to me-"
"It's not up to you, but it's okay to feel how you do."

When Keith walked out of an aisle, Courtney was staring up at a security camera. One of those weird circular disc ones that's like a mirror.
"Someone could be watching us right now," Courtney noted. Keith rubbed her shoulder.
"Yeah, do you want to entertain them or should we just leave?"
"Who knows, maybe they saw a whole lot already today. What about other stores?"
"Do you want to go to other stores to entertain security cameras?" Keith repeated the situation, smiling loosely. He was willing to if Courtney wanted to. To do something different than to mourn what doesn't need mourning.
"No, I want to go home. Are you done?" Courtney turned around, walking to the checkout.

"Did you talk to Kari?" Courtney asked completely impassive. She had sat motionless back in Keith's vehicle. Her eyes trained at the colour of other cars around them. She had been busying her mind by keeping count of all the warm coloured vehicles.
"I said hey," Keith shrugged, glancing at her while still focusing on the road.
"What did she say? Did she ask about me?"
"Well she's worried about you as much as we are Court. This thing with Liv has taken a toll on you."

"Would you consider Noah your best friend as well as boyfriend?" Courtney asked suddenly, looking asked him.
"Umm, yeah sure. Is that a problem?"
"Well if Noah broke up with you right? You'd feel heartbroken wouldn't you? Probably. And then say he still wants to be your best friend so crushing on him is out of the question but your life story is still a big thing in that boy's library. Imagine that."
Keith didn't respond, still trying to comprehend her analogy for a few minutes.
"Except I was never able to call her mine you know? And she doesn't want to be."