Courtney and Duncan IV
The sun shone bright as ever as I walked through the farmer's market, my purchase in my arms. The wind was crisp and the crackling leaves swirled around on the ground, giving me a sort of theme music. I walked toward the car, running and vibrating, and opened the passenger side front door, getting in. Duncan reached over and turned down the music and the vibrating presumably stopped.
"What'd ya get?" He asked, reaching over to tilt the brown paper bag and peering in at its contents.
"Apples. And some other stuff." I smiled.
"Nectarines?" He asked eagerly. I reached in and extracted a single, perfect, tiny orange and handed it to him. He whooped and began to tear into the fruit.
"You'll never guess who I saw at the register." I said, drawing my feet onto the seat and my knees to my chin, wrapping my arms around them.
"Who?" He mumbled, mouth already full of fruit.
"Harold." I smiled, suppressing a chuckle as Duncan's jubilant face turned sour. He stopped chewing and concentrated on focusing his energy on what he said next.
"What did that little twit want?" He growled, resuming chewing. I suppressed another giggle as the flattery of what he said wore off.
"He apologized." I said in a semi-defiant tone. He raised an eyebrow at me. "He immediately asked how I was and if we were still together. I told him we were." I paused here as Duncan looked about to say something but thought better of it. "He really sounded sorry for pulling that little elimination stunt." I smiled.
"Little elimination stunt?" Duncan demanded, mimicking my light tone. A loud rap resounded from his window, though, and he jumped, nectarine flying from his mouth as he turned to look at a taller, grinning Harold.
"And he said he was going to come say hi." I added, glad Harold had introduced the subject so I wouldn't have to. Duncan growled but rolled down the window.
"Hey dude!" Harold exclaimed, reaching his hand into the car. Duncan proceeded to awkwardly shake it before releasing it as if it were contaminated. "Thought I'd drop by, say hi."
"Hi." Duncan grunted. I smiled at Harold.
"Courtney told me all about how you guys have been. I've been great, started writing my own comic…"
"We really can stay long, I left beans on the stove." I chided. Duncan smiled at me. Harold, on the other hand, groaned.
"Well that sucks! It was great to see you guys, though." He said, airily.
"You too." I smiled at him again as Duncan proceeded to roll the window up on him, forcing him to turn and stalk away. Then, Duncan rounded on me.
"I've always hated that guy!" He exclaimed. "And after what he did to you…" He trailed off and I smiled at his attempt to keep his composure.
"I know, that's why I sent him off almost immediately." I said.
"Beans on the stove?" Duncan joked. "Really? Beans. On. The. Stove." He grinned.
"I could have left beans on the stove." I shrugged defiantly. He chuckled and put the car in drive.
"Sure."
The next few weeks played out similar to the ones before. Smooth, easy, and relatively uneventful. Duncan seemed determined to show me his more amenable side and I was happy to indulge in it, not regretful of the loss of strife and his rage issues. About three weeks later after a long day, we laid in bed, talking. It's worth remembrance because talking didn't usually happen much in our bed.
"Courtney?" I heard Duncan ask and opened my eyes to see him tracing lines in my palm.
"Hmm?" I sleepily mumbled, curling my toes as I yawned. His tracing became more determined as he stared at my palm.
"I…" He paused and sighed. "I just wanted to say, before you got too sleepy, that I'm so sorry." He looked up at my face, which I'm sure was puzzled. We hadn't had a row in a long while.
"What for?" I asked.
"For everything. I think back a lot; I can't help it. I think about how I treat you sometimes, how angry I can get…" He trailed off again, his grip tightening around my hand. "There are so many things I regret…" He whispered.
"You've said that before." I whispered back, feeling it necessary with the severity the conversation was taking. "What do you regret?" I asked. "The time when our antlers got stuck together? Or the time we raided Chef's fridge? Or the birthday of mine where you surprised me with a candlelit picnic?" I stopped as the sweet memories overtook me. "Maybe the day I found out my gran had died and you spent hours just holding me and letting me scream and cry? Or was it the time when I had the flu and you went out at two o'clock in the morning to get me a grape slushy because it was the only thing I could hold down?" I faltered, realizing I was prattling now. Duncan was silent for a while.
"You don't understand." He said, putting his other hand on top of the one of mine he was holding, encasing it. I reached my free hand and ran my fingers through his green mohawk, feeling the softness of the grown hair. I smiled at the familiarity of it.
"I think I understand more than you think I do." I said, my voice soft and raspy. My eyes sagged with weight of a long day's past.
"Courtney, you only remember the good things." He said, his voice almost anguished.
"They're the best parts. It's reasonable that I remember those." I said.
"But all the other times…" He said.
"You only remember the bad." I interjected. "Sometimes, I can tell you're thinking about them. The rough times."
"I can't help it!" He said. "How can you not? They overshadow the good times, always a dark spot on the corner of a good memory." He groaned. "When I think about the day we danced in the kitchen together, the memory of the bruise still yellow on your arm blots out the happiness."
"It's not always that way, though." I said.
"Court, I've hurt you." He squeezed his eyes shut and drew in a breath. "I've hurt you. I think that sentence and I want to take a chainsaw to my head."
"You and your chainsaws…" I sighed. "Duncan, you know what I think about when I remember us dancing in the kitchen?" I asked.
"What?" He whimpered. I frowned at his obvious pain, but had to smile at the memory.
"I think about what I was feeling." I sighed. "I think about the butterflies that were fluttering in my stomach. I think about the love that swelled in my heart." I paused to look at him as he stilled to my words. "And I think about how happy I felt." I lamented, laying my head on his shoulder. "So stop worrying so much about the bad stuff."
He sighed in defeat and kissed the top of my head. "I love you. So much. I don't think I tell you enough…" He said. I turned up to him and kissed him softly before laying my head back down on his shoulder.
"I love you too." I said. We were both silent for a long while after that. When I had almost drifted to sleep I heard his whisper.
"I won't ever hurt you again." He said in my ear, nuzzling his nose against it. I sighed, contented. I had never needed his reassurance, but having it- no matter how true it may have proved to hold- was still a sweeping relief.
So I'm sorry it's taken a long while to update, but I've been struggling on ways to realy Duncan's softer side. Oh! And I'm sorry its so short. I had a hit of inspiration and decided to strike. Longer updates can be expected promptly. Or... prompter than this one. Thanks for reading and reviewing!
