The Boy Next Door
~Courtney~
It's 2 a.m. I need to sleep. But it's hard to sleep, because whenever I close my eyes, I keep seeing his face. His amazing turquoise eyes. His smirky, half-lazy smile that makes my heart skip a beat. His nice, long, lean body and tone muscles. Even his name does something to me.
Duncan.
I sighed. Duncan has always had an effect on me. Rather if it was what I was thinking about to the guys I liked. And there have been many guys. But whenever I start to date someone, I'd get disappointed, because they're not who I want. And sadly, the guy I want hasn't spoken to me for almost two years. And not to mention, he switched schools a little over a year ago. And that almost broke me. But I lived, and I've been trying to fill the emptiness inside of my heart for a while, but nothing has worked. Of course it doesn't help when a song reminds you so much of that other person. And to me, it seems as though almost all the songs were written for me and Duncan.
I sighed again and turned over in my bed. Closing my eyes, I started to think of my memories with Duncan. Starting from when we met in third grade leading to our mild conversations in eighth grade. Slowly, I realized that I was starting to drift into a nice, welcoming haze, with a small, faint smile on my lips.
"Courtney, wake up." Says my mom, who insets on turning on the light by my bed. As I mumbled something unpleasant into my pillow, I slowly sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. Hunting for my phone, which is no doubt somewhere underneath my sheets, I start to think about what today is: the last first day of school. Senior year. I can't believe I made it this far. It seems as though only yesterday I was a fourteen year old freshmen, getting lost trying to find what class was where and in what building. Boy, wasn't I glad when that year was over. Finally finding my phone, I checked the time: 5:50 a.m. I decided to do what most teenagers do and went back to sleep.
~ 10 minutes later~
I woke up with a sudden jolt. It was like I was touched with an open wire. With shaky hands, I sat up and laid my head into my hands and took several deep breathes. Finally, after it felt a century, I got out of bed. I put on my new lime green bra/panty set, a black tank top, my favorite cut-off jean shorts, and my pale pink low Converse. While finger brushing my hair, I went down stairs and started to eat a pop tart. Barely able to eat the damned things because of the butterflies in my stomach, I finished eating and drunk some orange juice. While taken one final look at the time on the stove, I went back upstairs to finish getting ready. Going into the bathroom, I started to straighten my hair. After about 20 minutes, I looked at my newly styled dyed hair and smiled. Bridge did an amazing job dying my long, brown hair to a pale blonde with purple bangs. My mom wasn't too thrilled, however. After bushing my teeth and putting my make-up on, I put on a few bracelets, my silver "C" necklace, my new silver hoop earrings, and my favorite lip-gloss, I looked in the mirror and stuck my tongue out. I couldn't believe that my parents haven't noticed the small, metal bud in my mouth. Yet again, I am kinda glad that they haven't noticed. I mean, with the hair dying and the tattoos, they would utterly lose it if they found out about my new piercing. Looking at the clock above the sink, I almost couldn't believe the time it was: 7:28 a.m. Two minutes before I had to go pick up Bridgette. Rushing back into my bedroom, I grabbed my messenger bag, cell phone, and car keys. I ran down stairs, told my mom that I would see her at five, and rushed out the door. After I was in my car, I glanced over to my right and saw several, unpacked boxes on the porch. With a frown, I pulled out of the driveway and wondered why the new family would leave unpacked boxes outside. As I drove down the street, I put on Kiss 10.7, and started to drive to Bridgette's.
~5 minutes later~
I saw her before she saw me. As I stopped in front of her house, I honked the horn and turned down the radio. Bridge was sitting on her front porch steps, reading 50 Shades of Grey. Laughing, inspite myself, I remember when I read that trilogy in sophomore year. I was teased for months, 'cause I loved the series so much. She finally notices me and throws the book in to her backpack and half-runs to the car. Once she got settled in to the passenger seat, she pulled her cell phone out and smiled. And knowing that smile, she just got a text message form her boyfriend, Geoff. The two might as well be married. As I turned the volume back up, I started to think about my classes this year; IB English, AP Art, creative writing, AP Photography, financial literature, and AP Psychology. This was going to be my easiest year, hands down. I've been taken AP classes since ninth grade, and I took an IB class last year, so these classes weren't new to me. When Bridgette put down her phone and turned down Justin Timberlake's "Sexy Back," we began to talk about our summer's and plans this year, until we got to school.
~5 minutes later~
When I pulled into the back parking lot, I parked in my favorite parking spot; in the last row, on the far right, facing towards the gate. There are barely any cars in the parking lot now, but soon before the warning bell rings, the lot is going to be packed. After grabbing our stuff, we started to walk towards our favorite hang-out spot this time of year. Bridgette huffs and says, "Why must you always park in the very last row, when there are perfectly good, empty spots closer to the building?" I rolled my eyes and laughed. I don't respond because she knows the answer. This has been our usual morning joke since I started to drive in the spring.
As we got closer to the under pass, our friend Owen is talking to this guy whose back is facing us. Right as I started to wonder who it could be, Bridge says that Geoff wants to meet her by the band steps and hugs me before she crosses over the driveway. When I'm about five feet away from Owen and Mystery Guy, Owen notices me and points over M.G's shoulder and waves at me with a big grin on his face. That's when Mr. M.G himself turns around and meets my eyes.
It felt as though the world froze. My brain seemed to have stopped working and my heart nearly stopped beating. One word echoed in my brain and shot through my heart a million times.
Duncan.
Duncan is back.
