A few days passed since Duncan last saw Courtney. They had cut it close that day, a little too close. He could see why she had been keeping mum.

Still, she promised she'd text him.

"Duncan! Come down and eat dinner with your family," his father, Dave, shouted up the stairs.

Duncan groaned and reluctantly dragged himself out of his messy room. His family stared at him from the dining table as he slowly made his way down the stairs, one step at a time.

The chair squeaked as he pulled it across the tiled floor. He sat down and picked his fork up, stabbing his dish.

"Son, don't do that," Dave said, shaking his head disapprovingly.

Duncan slowly looked up, extremely annoyed. He set his fork down and pulled his phone out, setting his elbows on the table.

"Duncan…" his mother, Emily, warned.

He closed his eyes, sighed, and reopened his eyes.

"You know what?" he asked, pushing away from the table. "I'm not even hungry. Goodnight." With that, he stood up and retreated to his room.

"Get back here and finish your dinner! Duncan?" his dad called after him.

The only response was the sound of Duncan slamming the door behind him.

Courtney sighed audibly at the dinner table, slightly prodding at her food. It was silent, aside from the noise of her mother's dainty chewing and her father typing away on his smartphone.

"Mark, please, not at the table," her mother chided. "So, Courtney, how was school today?"

"Oh, it was wonderful. Learning, learning, learning!" Courtney answered sarcastically.

Her mother frowned. "Courtney, you know how important your education is…"

"Of course, mother," she said with another sigh.

Focusing on schoolwork had never been a problem for her, even if it meant she had no time for fun. It never bothered her until recently, when she met a certain troublemaker who lived in the moment. To be completely honest, she never noticed the lack of fun until she met him.

"That's new," Cynthia said, pointing to her daughter's bracelet.

"What?" Courtney wasn't expecting that. She fumbled with the bracelet. "This old thing? Um, a friend gave it to me."

"A friend? Courtney, you really shouldn't be wasting your time with friends—"

"Is it really that bad to have friends?!" Courtney stood up from her seat.

Her father looked up from his small smartphone. "Courtney, sit down," he said sternly.

She opened her mouth to say something and decided against it, pressing her lips together tightly. She slowly sat down and ate her dinner in silence.

Ding.

Duncan turned in his sleep.

Ding.

He snapped his eyes open and glanced at the clock; it was two o'clock in the morning. He groaned and buried his face in his pillow.

Ding.

He groggily propped himself up with a pillow and blindly grabbed for his phone in the dark. When he found it, he turned it on. The blinding light caused him to squint. After his eyes adjusted, he saw three new messages. From an unknown number.

It occurred to him that he never got Courtney's number, so he didn't have a contact for her. His spirits rose slightly at the thought of her texting him.

But this late at night? No, it couldn't be her.

Duncan finally opened the messages:

Duncan. It's Courtney.

Duncan, wake up. I can't sleep.

Duncan, wake up!

A new message popped up:

DUNCAN. WAKE UP.

Duncan, now fully awake, grinned. He couldn't stop grinning. She had texted him! And he had her number! He immediately pressed the green call button.

It rang once.

Twice.

Three times.

Four times.

He thought she wouldn't pick up.

After the sixth ring, he finally heard a faint "Hello?"

"Court!" He exclaimed. "Didn't think you would pick up!"

"Okay, well, I did. What do you want?"

"I should be asking you. I'm not the one who woke me up at two in the morning."

Courtney could hear the smile in his voice. "Sorry. I just—I couldn't sleep."

"Aw," he pouted. "Princess couldn't get her beauty sleep?"

She rolled her eyes. "No. My parents saw my bracelet."

The smile fell off his face.."Did you tell them it was from me?"

"What? No, no. Nothing like that. I just said it was from a friend of mine. And now they think I'm wasting my time on friends and not focusing on my schoolwork. I mean, is it really that wrong to have some friends?"

"Well—" Duncan was cut off.

"And it's not just that. They saw your shoes. They're definitely suspecting something. And I don't know how much longer I can keep lying to them. I mean, they're my parents. I have never lied to them before!" Courtney rambled.

Duncan paused, taking in everything she just said. He didn't know what to tell her; he wasn't some sort of counselor, and he wasn't planning on becoming one anytime soon.

"Duncan? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bombard you with my problems." Somehow, after a lifetime of being reserved, she was able to talk freely with this guy that she had met only a short while ago. And she didn't know what to think about that.

"Uh…" He wasn't sure how to begin. "Courtney—"

Courtney cut him off again. "You know what? It's okay. I am okay. Thanks for listening. I should really be getting to bed now; I have school in the morning. Goodnight, Duncan."

And with that, she hung up.

Duncan wasn't the type of guy who got hung up on. But he decided that he would let it slide, just this once. He also decided that he would go see her after she got home from school tomorrow.

Courtney tossed and turned all night. By the time she was in class, she was nodding off to sleep. Her teachers were disappointed with her; she was disappointed with herself.

When she finally got home, she found a note from her parents saying they had gone out of town for important business meetings.

Figures, she thought with a sigh.

She sat down at her desk and silently began working on her homework. Before she knew it, she fell asleep, her head hitting the desk with a soft thud.

Click.

Courtney snapped her head up to the sight of Duncan shutting her door..

"Ohh…" she groaned.

"Rise and shine. 'Bout time you woke up."

"Duncan? What the heck are you doing here?" Courtney raised her voice. "More importantly, how did you get into my house?!"

"Relax. Your spare key was under the mat. Y'know, for a family of smart people like yours and a fancy house like yours, it's probably not a good idea to hide a key there. People like me could easily get in and steal something." He winked at her.

Courtney stared at him. "Give me that!" She grabbed the silver key from him and set it down. "Are you telling me that you are going to steal from me?"

"Maybe."

Courtney raised her eyebrows.

"I'm just kidding! I couldn't do that to you, Princess."

"So why are you here?" she asked, exasperated.

"I came in to check on you."

"Thank you so much," Courtney replied sarcastically. "I was in need of my knight in shining armor."

"Don't I know it," he answered, sitting down.

A small smile crept onto her face. Duncan smiled back. Courtney leaned in and Duncan followed, closing his eyes. Their faces became extremely close and…

"You're not my type," she whispered, pushing him back with a shove..

Duncan's eyes snapped open. "What? Come on! That was evil!"

Courtney giggled and shrugged.

"So," Duncan leaned back, "where are your parents off to this time?"

"Business meetings. Probably won't be back until tomorrow morning."

"Ah. So we have the whole night."

"Gross."

"Hm. You know, you're pretty cute when you sleep. Here, look. I took a picture." Duncan pulled out his phone and showed it to her.

Courtney's mouth dropped open. "You pervert! You neanderthal! You broke into my house, possibly stole something, and took a picture of me while I was sleeping?! What is wrong with you? Delete it now! Delete it right now!"

Duncan laughed. "You're even cuter when you're mad at me."

She furrowed her brows. "Give that phone to me."

She made a grab for it, which Duncan dodged swiftly without missing a beat.

"Ah, ah, ah, Dollface. First, you gotta kiss me," he grinned mischievously.

"No. Way. Now give it to me!"

"Not without the kiss."

"Duncan, seriously."

"I am being serious!"

"I can't believe you."

"Well, believe it, sweetheart."

Courtney narrowed her eyes. "I am not kissing you, and you are going to delete that picture right now."

"No," he said simply.

"You little—ugh! I hate you!"

"Aw, come on. You don't mean that." Duncan grinned wider.

"You… scumbag!"

"Ouch. That hurt, Court. Now, I'll tell you what. I'm going to leave. And you have my number, right? So you can let me know when you want this picture deleted."

"I want it deleted now."

"Then give me that kiss now."

Courtney was sick of him. "You know what? Fine!"

She pulled him close and pressed her lips onto his. After what seemed like hours but was probably only a few seconds, she pulled back and glared at him, eyes watery.

"There. Are you happy now?! Now please leave so I can work on my homework!" Her voice cracked. She stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

Duncan was too shocked to speak. Slowly, he opened the picture on his phone and hit the delete button.

Thanks for reading!