Her eyes quickly glanced over at his as they walked down the street together with coffee cups in their hands. She cleared her throat and opened her mouth to speak.
"So, uh. How've you been?"
Duncan looks at her in the eyes and raises his eyebrows, "Me? Oh, I've been good." He turns away and they both sit down at a park bench that had frost linings over it.
"What about you?" He asked.
"Well," Courtney took a deep breath, "It's been good...Yeah, just good."
Duncan rubbed his nose and stretched his back out so he could sit comfortably.
"Do you work?" He asked curiously.
She was about to speak until Duncan waved his hands in front of her face.
"What kind of question is that? Of course you work, you're COURTNEY for god's sake." He chuckled.
Courtney smiled to herself and scoffed. It surprised her how he still knew how she was a hard worker and she never went astray from her studies as a teenager. Part of the reason they broke up was because of how much she was studying and filling out college applications.
"Yep. Do you do anything?" She took a drink of her coffee that has partially cooled down due to the freezing weather.
"Uh, well I own a business. Selling skateboards and stuff." He nodded his head and coughed.
Courtney sat up from her seat and her mouth gaped. "For real?! You're making money?" She laughed and he rolled his eyes sarcastically.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have my own brand. It looks like people really like it in this shit city." He took a swig from his coffee and Courtney sat there in shock.
Duncan had never set his mind to something as a teenager. Now that they're almost 25, he looks like he got his life back on track.
"What's the brand?" Courtney stared into his blue eyes and he pulled up his sweater sleeve to show a tattoo on his bicep. It appeared to be a logo that said "Skull Junk".
She nodded her head slowly, but Duncan knew Courtney did not understand a thing about skateboarding. She always saw him out there, doing tricks and riding his board to school, but she never asked him if she could teach her how.
"Any guys in your life yet?" He smirked and nudged her arm softly.
Courtney took a deep breath and stared off into the middle of Central Park.
"Y-Yeah. Kinda. It's...complicated." She looked down at her cup and then back at Duncan.
"What do you mean?"
"Well...we dated for almost a year and he broke up with me for no reason one day. He just came home, grabbed his stuff, and left. No explanation at all."
His eyebrows raised and he turned his body to face me.
"Then, after a week of crying and heartbreak," Courtney scoffed to herself, "He called. He said got a job somewhere in Wisconsin and didn't feel the need to say goodbye to me since I was busy."
Duncan's face turned white and Courtney's eyes were tearing up.
"I haven't seen him in almost 2 years, but you know. That's life." She faked a smile and didn't want to make eye contact with the boy who also broke her heart once.
"Wow."
"Yeah."
Duncan's mind started flooding in with the memory of him breaking up with the brunette sitting right next to him. The way she despised him for the longest time made him feel sick in the stomach.
Courtney cleared her throat and sighed, "What about you?"
"Nah. It's kind of a long story." Duncan shook his head.
"I have time."
Her dark brown eyes looked sincerely into his and he gave in.
"So this happened before Gwen and I like, broke up. After World Tour, she told me she was pregnant."
Courtney's eyes widened and her heart started to rapidly beat faster than usual. Duncan is a dad?
"This was almost half a year of dating and I was scared as shit," He laughed, "But I thought it was my responsibility. I mean, I stuck it in her, I should help with the kid too."
Courtney's nose scrunched at the vocabulary he used and he cackled at her reaction.
"Then, the kid turned a year old. Trust me, I fell in love with her. I never knew how much you could love a child until you know it's yours forever."
She smiled and continued to listen.
"Then, all of a sudden, Gwen isn't coming home early anymore. She's been taking the kid with her almost every day and never had a solid reason why. 'I'm going to drop her off at Day Care', she said. 'It's bring your kid to work day!', she said. I was beginning to worry and so I called her job. The secretary told me that Gwen got fired a month ago and she has been getting a visitor almost every time she was free."
Courtney's mouth gapes open slightly and Duncan keeps talking.
"So I follow her one day. She has the baby in the car, and I secretly see where she's headed. Gwen finally reaches some house and then I see him standing there with his arms open. You know who?"
She shakes her head and clenches the wood of the park bench.
"Trent. That's right, Trent. Of course, I get out of the car and hell rises." Duncan smiles.
"Don't tell me you beat him up..." Courtney's eyebrows furrowed.
"Of course I beat the shit out of him."
Duncan starts laughing when Courtney groans.
"But yeah, Gwen wanted a paternity test, and it turns out I wasn't the father. Trent was."
Courtney could see the hurt in his eyes and she wanted to comfort him somehow, but she thought it would be inappropriate.
"It hurts, doesn't it?" Words slip out of her mouth and she instantly regrets them.
"What?" Duncan looks at her in confusion.
"To get your heart broken by someone you thought you loved. It hurts, right?" Her face becomes serious and the boy just stares at her. He finally understood how she felt.
"Yeah. Feels like shit." His eyes never left hers.
"That's what I've been trying to tell you back then. I wanted to hate you, I tried so hard. But you have no idea how many times I thought about you. The thought about you loving someone else killed me."
Courtney's eyes started watering and Duncan placed a hand on her knee.
"I'm an asshole, but it doesn't mean I'm not sorry. I was just a kid, I didn't think it would affect you this way."
"You're so stupid!" She abruptly stood up from her seat and her coffee spilled on the sidewalk.
"You thought it wouldn't hurt me? Just because we were young?" Her voice was getting louder and Duncan thanked The Lord that it was early and nobody was around.
"You honestly don't give a shit about anybody except yourself," A single tear falls from her eye and she grabs her book bag from the bench. "I have to go. It was good catching up."
Before she walked away, Duncan stood up and followed her.
"Courtney, what the hell? We need to talk!" He called after her but she pretended as if he was nonexistent.
"There's nothing to talk about, it's been said!" She retorted and had now started speed walking.
"Stop acting like this is just some random conversation, Court. You can't brush this one off this time!" He yelled back and grabbed her wrist suddenly.
"Let go of me!" She yanked her wrist back and people in the streets are starting to stare.
Duncan stood at his place and Courtney just wiped away the tears.
"Why now? Why call me after all these years?" She croaked.
"Because..." Duncan sighed and rubbed his eyes.
"What? Speak up!" Courtney raised her eyebrows and rolled her eyes.
"I just wanted to like, catch up and stuff. To see how you were doing. I missed talking to you." He says very sincerely and Courtney snorts.
"Great excuse."
A/N: I'm stopping it here so I can continue on another chapter if people like this story so far :) please review!
-PT