Que the tension.
Also, my apologies for the late chapter.
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Gillian's POV
The television screen fades to black before the small white credits begin to roll up the black background.
Not hearing an insult from Courtney in nearly twenty minutes, I glance in her direction.
Her head rests against my pillow, her cheek pressed against my shoulder. The honey-haired girl's tresses are tied up in a bun that sits on top of her head in a disheveled manner. Her familiar sapphire blue eyes are hidden behind her bare eyelids.
Great! She's asleep...and I cannot feel my arm anymore.
I slowly begin to sit up, my eyes glued to the honey-haired girl.
When Courtney does not react to me moving, I continue with my mission. It takes a little more maneuvering than I would like to admit, but slowly but surely my arm is free from her grasp.
I double check that Courtney is still sound asleep before I carefully stand from my bed, making as little sound as possible.
My legs make their way around the moderately-sized bed and walk in the direction of my closed bedroom door.
Once I reach the door, I place my hand on the doorknob and turn it. The door opens to reveal a dimly lit room at the end of the hall.
My mom must be home.
Throwing one last glance over my shoulder at the sleep honey-haired girl, I exit my bedroom before closing the door behind me.
It takes me virtually no time to walk down the hall and turn left into the dimly lit kitchen.
As I enter said kitchen, I am met with the sight of my mother drinking from a large coffee mug.
"What's in the mug?" I question with curiosity as I make my way towards her.
I watch her tired brown eyes glance up from the contents of the mug to meet my own brown eyes.
A small chuckle falls from her lips.
"Take a guess." She quips.
"I have to work a double at the hospital because a coworker just went on maternity leave." She informs me.
I furrow my eyebrows at this statement.
"Work a double? Didn't you just get home?" I ask.
The older woman shrugs her shoulders before bringing the large mug up to her face and taking a large sip from it, seemingly finishing off its contents.
I decide to turn to the cabinet above the toaster. Reaching up to open said cabinet, I am greeted with the sight of numerous glass cups. I grab ahold of one of the cups only to remove it from the row of perfectly lined glasses.
As I am closing the door to said cabinet, my mother says something that causes me to immediately freeze in my spot.
"So, who's the girl in your bed?"
How does she know about that?!
When did she come into my room?!
Did I really doze off that long?!
"Oh, uh- uhm, that- that's uhm- that's actually Courtney." I awkwardly reveal with an unsure tone, my cheeks tingling from embarrassment.
I avoid turning in my mom's direction, but I can feel her eyes burning holes into the back of my head.
"The same Courtney that you used to have a crush on?" She questions.
I toss my head back, a groan of frustration falling from my lips.
"I didn't have a crush on her, mom!" I turn to face my mother.
"It was just one kiss, one stupid little kiss that I'm sure she doesn't even remember."
The older woman tilts her head to the side a little as she continues to stare at me.
"You seem frustrated." She acknowledges.
"Yeah, because my own mother is insinuating that I used to have a crush on my ex-best friend." I state.
My mom does not immediately answer as she instead makes her way over to the sink where she places her empty mug.
She remains silent as she turns around to face me, leaning back against the edge of the counter with crossed arms.
"I know I joke, but please promise me that you will at least think about a possible future with her." My mother requests.
"Mom-" I begin to shake my head only to stop when my mom holds her hand out.
"I'm not asking you to date her or even marry her. All I'm saying is that I want you to think about a possible alternate reality where you two end up together."
"I regret not giving my best friend the chance as soon as I noticed the signs of a possible attraction..." my mother glances down at her white socks with a sorrowful expression.
"...now I will never get the chance." She whispers more so to herself.
I drag my bottom lip into my mouth, my teeth nipping at the soft skin.
My mom appreciates my father. I mean, I probably wouldn't even be here without him. However, I can tell that she really regrets not only losing contact with her ex-guy friend, but also not giving him a chance when she had the chance.
"Okay, I'll think about it." I answer with a low tone.
As if tuning back in, my mother glances back up into my eyes with a gentle smile. She leans off of the counter and makes her way towards me, taking my face in her hands once she has reached me.
"You always do the right thing,Gill," she whispers.
"Don't mess this up." She tells me with a cryptic voice before placing a kiss upon my forehead and walking off.
Before she has the chance to reach the door, I hear her throw something over her shoulder.
"Don't forget to tell Courtney that I say 'hi'."
Okay, that was a weird conversation.
Suddenly remembering the original reason why I came into the kitchen, I make my way towards the refrigerator where I press the glass to the lever labeled 'water'. In mere seconds my clear glass is being filled with equally as clear water.
Once the glass is full to my liking, I remove it from the lever and bring it up to my lips.
Courtney's eyes drift away from mine and towards my hair that is messily tied up into a ponytail.
Her hand that is resting on the back of the couch slowly makes its way towards said ponytail.
"Do you remember how we first met?" She ignores my question as she twirls a strand of my auburn hair around her manicured finger.
A smile makes its way onto my face.
"Yeah, we met on that overnight field trip to Nepal." I answer.
The honey haired girl smiles as well.
"We hated each other."
"Actually, you hated me." I correct.
"I never hated you."
"You called me a lopside-tittied bitch because I told you that you shouldn't sleep in makeup."
"Well, you grew into them eventually."
I roll my eyes at her which causes her to giggle. It doesn't take long for her soft giggles to slow down and inevitably cease.
She just stares at me, her eyes trailing along the entirety of my face before meeting my eyes.
"You're, like, my favorite person." She says, her fingers still playing with my ponytail.
"You're my favorite person." I agree with her statement.
Courtney goes silent once again, her sapphire irises trailing up my face to my eyes before backtracking and trailing back down to my lips. She does this a total of ten times before ceasing all movement.
The hand that is connected to my ponytail is suddenly disconnected as it moves down to rest on top of the honey-haired girl's thighs.
Courtney seems hesitant, her eyes focused solely on my lips.
My confusion only grows when she chooses to fix her posture so that she is sitting up straighter. The upper part of her body slowly inches forward a hairs length before stopping, the space between us still being relatively moderate.
Courtney inches forward three times before coming to a complete stop, her eyes finally breaking away from my lips only to stare up into my own eyes.
Her eyes seemingly search mine. For what? That I have no clue of.
A few seconds later, her eyes flicker down to my lips again.
"Can I kiss you?" Her usually opinionated voice comes out weak and quiet.
Instead of giving her a verbal response I settle for just nodding my head.
One of Courtney's hands separate from her thigh to meet the side of my face, applying extra support underneath my jawline in order to angle my head the way that she likes.
With my blessing, she leans forward with significantly less hesitation this time around.
The honey-haired girl wastes no time, connecting our lips.
She angles my head up a little and to my right, her left.
Things start off slow as the two of us attempt to get an understanding of the pace and each other's body signals. Courtney's gloss-coated top and bottom lip gently capture my lip balm-covered top lip in between the two of them, my top and bottom lip sandwiching her plump bottom lip in between them.
I feel my heart pick up in speed the second that her lips touch my own.
This is happening...this is happening!
What the fuck?!
The two of us slowly separate from one another.
I am the first one to open my eyes, Courtney following soon after.
Euphoria is the first emotion that I see flash inside of her eyes, this is followed by fear which is then followed by panic.
Almost as if I, myself, am on fire, Courtney quickly jumps as far away from me as she physically can on the couch. Her hand being the first thing to separate itself from my own body.
I go to comfort her, but decide to double down when I notice her use her own hair as a shield to block my view of her.
"You, Uh, you should go." She mutters.
I furrow my eyebrows at her suggestion.
The movie isn't even finished yet.
"Court-"
"Leave, Gillian." She tells me with a hard tone.
I should have stayed...
...I know that I should have stayed...
I don't know why I didn't.
Usually I would challenge Courtney on whatever I had a problem with...so, why couldn't I do it with this?
-
I enter my first period class only to spot Courtney talking to a bubbly Cassie who just so happens to be sitting in my seat.
Not wanting to make an unnecessary scene, I walk up to the two with a large grin on my face.
"Hey guys." I greet.
The two immediately look at me, but I receive two completely different reactions.
"Hi, Gill, cute top!" Cassie responds as cheery as ever.
Courtney on the other hand, her greeting was less than welcoming.
The sapphire-eyed girl slowly trails her eyes down my body with a look of disgust before eventually meeting my eyes. A scoff exits her mouth before she turns back to face Cassie, continuing their conversation and ignoring my presence.
Okay?
"You're, uh, you're sitting in my seat." I awkwardly tell Cassie.
As if realizing, Cassie apologizes profusely.
"Sorry, I completely forgot!" She says as she goes to stand up, only stopping when Courtney reaches a manicured hand out and pushes her back down into the seat.
"No, don't go." The honey-haired girl tells her.
"She can find another place to sit."
I furrow my eyebrows at Courtney.
What is her problem?
"Courtney, that is my seat."
"It literally has my name on the back of it." I remind her.
Courtney rolls her sapphire irises at me before turning to face me with a pissed expression.
"It's just for one fucking day, okay? Call your fucking tits."
Honestly, that hurt a little.
"Guys, it's just a seat." Cassie cuts in.
"Here you go, Gill." She says before she stands and makes her way towards her own seat.
Courtney groans with annoyance, crossing her arms and staring straight ahead at the board.
Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.
-
Spotting Courtney exiting the girls bathroom, I quickly grab ahold of her wrist before dragging her across the hall.
The sudden intrusion forces the honey-haired girl to look up from her cellphone where she appears to be texting a high school boy.
Oh my god, this girl right here...
I quickly slap my hand over her mouth before she has the chance to speak, her cherry-tinted lipgloss transferring to the palm of my hand.
I ignore the uncomfortable feeling as I force her into the dimly-lit janitors closet, releasing my hands from her once we are inside in order to lock the door behind us.
"What the fuck is wrong with you, you psycho?!" She exclaims with wide eyes, her eyes now on me.
"Well, how else was I supposed to get your attention?! You've been ignoring me all day!" I match her tone.
"So, you pull me into a fucking janitors closet?!"
I groan with annoyance at her dramatics.
It's getting a little old now.
"I wouldn't have had to if you would just talk to me-" I emphasize the word 'talk'.
"Oh my god, you're literally obsessed with me!" She is quick to cut me off.
"We talk to each other about everything, Court." I say, talking a few octaves over her.
Courtney anger takes the backseat, replacing itself with a stuck up expression.
"Things change." She cryptically responds.
"Not overnight!" I stress.
The sapphire-eyed girl shrugs her shoulders.
Okay, I can't take this anymore.
"You kissed me, I kissed you back..." I finally say what's on my mind.
"Things only started being weird between us after that kiss."
Courtney rushes towards me, inevitably placing the palm of her hand over my lips as soon as she reaches me.
"Shut up, someone might hear you!" She stresses with wide, panicked eyes.
I bring one of my hands up to pry her hand away from my face.
"Incase you forgot, we're inside of a fucking closet." I stress every syllable.
Her eyes narrow at me.
"Why did you even bring me in here?" She questions, roughly removing her wrist from my hold.
"Like I said, I just want to talk."
"About what?! There's nothing to talk about."
"Courtney, you can't pretend like nothing happened between us."
The honey-haired girl takes a step closer to me, the two of us practically breathing each other's air.
"If you tell anyone what happened between the two of us yesterday night, I'll fucking bury you with my bare hands." She threatens me.
I watch as her eyes slowly trail down my body before she side steps me and exits the small closet.
"Can I have some?"
I am in the midst of drinking my water when Courtney's voice frightens me half to death.
"Some water?" I question with furrowed brows.
The honey-haired girl just nods her head as she begins to make her way closer and closer towards me.
Her sapphire eyes never leave my face, my eyes more specifically.
My heart races in my chest as I anxiously glance from Courtney's unwavering sapphire irises and the marbled-tiles below us. The exact same tiles that I wish would swallow me while in this very moment.
Suddenly realizing that I haven't actually answered her question, I panic.
"Uh- sure! Yeah, uhm, the- the glasses are up the- there and I just-" I struggle immensely to get my words out, watching her sapphire irises roam freely over my front.
Courtney cuts me off by gently taking the half full glass of water from my hands.
"Or...I could just have some of yours." She replies with a low, almost sultry, voice.
O-Oh...
My mouth remains glued shut as I watch the honey-haired girl lift the glass up to her cherry-stained lips.
She appears to be in no rush, slowly sipping the contents of the glass with her eyes peering over the edge of the glass to connect with my own.
Feeling awkward, I break our eye contact to glance over to the empty countertop.
"Do you, uh, do you want to, uhm, stay the night?" I ask the first question that comes to mind.
My eyes are absent from Courtney's, therefore, I glance back at her only to be met with a conflicted expression.
"I should go home." She eventually responds, placing the now empty glass down on the countertop beside her.
I nod my head to hide the painful pang that I feel in my chest.
Courtney turns to walk out of the kitchen but stops the moment that she feels my hand hook around her bicep.
"Wait, I should give you my number." I say.
The honey-haired girl turns to face me fully.
"You know, incase you have anymore problems with Noel or you just have something that you want to get off of your chest..."
I go to pull out my cellphone when I am stopped by Courtney resting a gentle manicured hand on top of my own hand.
"I already have your number, Gill." Is all that she says before walking off.
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Again, sorry for posting this chapter a little late.