Love At First Bite

chapter three

The diner was closed on Sundays. Which meant Courtney, who woke up late, had to find a way to spend the afternoon.
She wandered around the house for a while, eating some breakfast and feeding her cat. She even had the time to sit down and write a few pages of her advanced literature essay. But boredom quickly consumed her and she flopped onto the couch, shooting a text message to her best friend.
Bridgette, though she was supposed to be at work, responded with ridiculous speed.
Bridgette Evans had been Courtney's best friend since first grade. She was one of those beachy chicks who had grown up in California until age 6 and then moved to New York, two hours away from the coast. No beach, no waves, no turtles. Bridge loved turtles, and would not hesitate to talk about them every five seconds. And she still made the trip to the Sacket's Harbor with her boyfriend Geoff and his family every summer.
Of course, she was the head lifeguard at the Condervale Public Pool. She loved bossing Geoff and Duncan around from late spring and through summer.
Courtney didn't mind going to the pool. Except for when Duncan was working of course.
But Bridgette assured her, over text, that Duncan didn't have a shift today. This eased her mind enough and she changed into a swimsuit. Courtney wasn't a huge fan of swimming in particular, but hanging out at the pool could be enjoyable.
    The Condervale Public Pool was about half a mile from Courtney's house. It wasn't quite close enough to walk, but also not quite far enough to take the bus. So she settled for walking and left. Though she had a coverup over her grey bikini, the March air was not forgiving and the 20 minute walk was spent in slightly uncomfortably cold silence.

It didn't take Courtney long to realize Bridgette had been lying.
The blonde was leaning on the open front gate when Courtney arrived, a suspicious smirk plastered across her face. Courtney immediately knew there was something up, and she almost straight-up walked away when Duncan walked out from behind the snack bar. She shot a pained glare at her 'best friend' and walked straight past the punk, ignoring him as he followed her around the pool to the spot where she usually sat. She set down her drawstring bag and towel, removing her sunglasses and coverup, and sat on the edge of the pool. Duncan stood over her, arms crossed, "What's with the silent treatment all of a sudden, princess?"
Courtney's gaze snapped upwards and she had to squint against the bright sunlight, "Don't call me that."
"Okay...? But still, what did I do to deserve the honor of being ignored by you, your majesty?"
Courtney rolled her eyes, looking away again as she caught a glimpse of Bridgette watching intently from inside the snack bar.
"I don't particularly want to talk to you," she stated, crossing her arms, "after you didn't respond to my text yesterday I figured you-"
"You texted me?"
"Yes I did. At approximately 9:26 la-"
"I never got it."
Courtney blinked. "What?"
"I never got the text." Duncan repeated, taking a seat next to her on the water-cooled concrete.
"Oh..." She muttered, not making eye contact with the green haired boy beside her.
He seemed lost in thought for a moment before he turned abruptly to her, a revelation flashing in his ridiculously clear blue eyes, "Let me see your phone."
"Now why in hell would I-"
"Just trust me for a second would you? God-" He trailed off, hoisting himself from the ground and walking to where Courtney's things were laid neatly on the pool chair and reached into her bag, claiming her phone in his palm and holding it out in front of him in silent triumph. She stared at him, not really sure how to react, since no one had ever just...ignored her like that before. Well, apart from Justin; he was just stupid and didn't actually know any better.
Duncan returned to where Courtney was sitting, holding the phone out to her.
"Unlock it."
Courtney cautiously snatched her cell phone from the punk's outstretched hand, slowly pressing the pad of her thumb to the home button. After a moment, the screen lit up with her home screen; a picture she had taken with Bridgette at the beach last summer, and she silently handed it back to Duncan.
She watched him fiddle with it for a minute, no doubt trying to rifle through her pristinely organized app folders, until he obviously found what he had been looking for.
His nodded once, turning the phone around so that she could see the screen, "you put my number in wrong."
Courtney just stared at him for a moment. That wasn't possible. She looked at it multiple times in her thirty-minute-long contemplation of whether she was even going to reach out to him or not.
"Well then how do I know you didn't give me a fake number?" She said, aggravated now, trying with all of her being to convince herself that he was just some awful person instead of her being wrong.
Because Courtney Hayden was never wrong. Especially when it came to stupid boys like Duncan Cross.
But he shook his head, typing on her phone furiously for a few seconds and handing it back to her.
"There. One number difference. Try and call that one."
She took the phone back from him, furrowing her eyebrows as she tried to see the screen in the bright sunlight. When she finally found it, she pressed the call button, and held it away from her face as it began to ring.
After a moment, something in the pocket of Duncan's bright red, lifeguard-issue swim shorts started ringing loudly. He grinned, pulling open the Velcro and removing his violently-shaking cell phone.
"See?" He smirked, "what did I tell ya?"
Courtney sighed and ended the call with a swift tap of her index finger.
She swore quietly under her breath as Duncan continued to smile at her, extremely pleased with himself.

This boy was going to be the death of her.