Courtney could feel the burning feeling of Michelle's eyes glaring at the back of her head during study period, and it took all of her strength to ignore it. She hadn't done anything of course, except she was finding herself more and more attracted to another girl's boyfriend, the brother of the kid she was babysitting, no less.
She kept tapping her pencil to derail her mind from the thought of Michelle getting mad at her, but that was making too much noise especially study period, so she ultimately stopped.
"Sorry, I had to cut Duncan's time away from your study time. Oh wait, no I'm not because I'm allowed to spend time with my boyfriend whenever I want." Michelle teased from behind her, almost making Courtney break her pencil.
But Michelle was right, she could spend time with Duncan whenever she wanted. And for once, Courtney envied her.
But she was not gonna let Michelle get the best of her, Courtney looked up at the clock and saw that there was only about twenty seconds left of class. She turned in her seat to get a good look at Michelle, sure she was in deep water but she couldn't let Michelle get the last laugh.
"Oh but did Duncan tell you that Sophie said her first word, yesterday?" Courtney let her lips curve into a little smile at the fond memory, "Yeah, it was princess." As the bell rang, Courtney leaned in to whisper to Michelle, "That's what Duncan calls me,"
Boy, did the expression of pure shock on Michelle's face make Courtney feel so good. She didn't like the fact that she was attracted to someone who had a girlfriend, she should respect it. But Michelle did not deserve a guy like Duncan, so for now she just had to see how this would all end up.
Bridgette, Geoff, and Courtney sat at their usual table for lunch when Courtney seemed more different to the couple than usual. Geoff stopped taking a bite of his hamburger to get a better look at his friend.
"You alright, dude? You seem relaxed, more happy even." Geoff chuckles as Courtney gives him a smile and continues to eat.
"Why wouldn't I be happy? I have the best job, good friends and my debate is in two days. I'm ecstatic." Courtney beams at the thought of all the good things coming into her life, but did not mention the one new person.
Bridgette snorts and Geoff looks at his girlfriend confused, "It's this new guy she has a crush on."
"New guy? Who is he? I've never seen you with any guy around." Geoff questions as Courtney gives Bridgette a playful glare for telling Geoff about Duncan.
Courtney clears her throat nervously since Michelle and Heather had passed by on their way to their table. "Um, he's not a student here. He is a little older."
Geoff laughs and smacks the table, "Damn Courtney!"
Bridgette giggles along with him but eventually hits him for making such a scene about it, "You cannot say a word, because well, Michelle is dating the guy she has a crush on." Bridgette whispers quietly as her boyfriend's eyes went wide.
"Oooooh scandal!"
Michelle gazed at her lunch as Heather was talking crap about some poor girl at school and she quickly noticed the lack of her best friend's contribution to the conversation.
"Um Michelle, are you okay?" Heather asks, picking at her lunch.
Michelle put on a fake smile, "Yeah." She then gazes over at Courtney who was happily laughing at something Geoff said.
"Oh is it your man troubles?" Heather scoffed as she rolled her eyes, thank god her and her boyfriend Alejandro had no petty relationship problems.
"He likes her, I can tell. He's never looked at me the way he looks at that bitch." Michelle snarled, "I want to tear her hair out."
"Now he's asking to leave dates early just to check on her and Sophie, both are brats." She continues.
"So? He's your boyfriend, you let him know he can't leave. Show him why he was dating you in the first place." Heather explains but was cut off by Michelle's cell phone ringing.
Michelle looked at the caller ID and smiled. Duncan. This is the luxury she had that Courtney could only dream of, Duncan calling her 24/7.
"Hey baby," Michelle answered as she got up from the table so the girls wouldn't eavesdrop.
"Hey babe, listen I'm going to Gwen and Trent's tonight to celebrate their engagement and I was wondering if you wanted to go." He offered, only because Michelle hated when she wasn't invited to things.
All of that sweetness was gone and Michelle went back to her bitter self, "Why would I want to go? You know how much Gwen hates me. God, why are you always so clueless about these things!"
Duncan groaned on the other side if the call, "Because you were gonna get pissed if I didn't offer. Never mind, I'm going by myself. Later."
With that, the phone call ended and Michelle threw her phone on her bag as she threw a tantrum.
Gwen could only feel herself smirk once Duncan had told her that Michelle, his demon girlfriend wasn't coming to her engagement dinner tonight. In fact, she was overjoyed, she had always hated Michelle, she would judge Gwen on her clothing as if she were her mother, and wanting Duncan all to herself.
"How about you invite that princess you're always bringing up. I would love to meet her!" Gwen suggests happily.
The two were in Gwen and Trent's apartment as Duncan arrived early due to his parents being home all day and he didn't want to deal with him now.
Duncan chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, "I don't know. Gwen, we aren't together, and I have a girlfriend who will be pretty pissed if she finds out."
Gwen shrugs, "All the more better." Duncan shares a laugh with his best friend before he turns serious.
"She'd never want to go anywhere with me," Gwen could've sworn that Duncan looked disappointed, he has never shown real emotion with any girl ever, it wasn't his fault though, he didn't know how to present emotion.
Duncan sighed and began to pace around the room back and forth, "God, what am I doing?"
Gwen approached him and held his shoulders, "You're falling for her, whether you like it or not."
Courtney was surprised to see both Diane and Thomas at home with Sophie since she figured they would be at work by now.
"Oh Courtney! We forgot to tell you that we had the rest of the day off today." Diane smiles while bouncing Sophie.
Sophie sees Courtney and begins to clap, "Pincess!" She calls out.
"Hi, my angel."
Courtney tried to hide her disappointment since she loved to watch over Sophie but the Jones' hadn't seen a lot of their daughter so she understood. She smiled back and then gathered her things.
"I'll let you guys have some quality time, I'll see you tomorrow." Courtney waves and heads for the door but is immediately stopped by a tall figure.
"Where are you off to, Princess?" Duncan asks with a head tilt and his signature smirk.
She motions over to his parents sitting down, "Um I have the day off now." She chuckles and opens the door once more, to get to her car.
Duncan bites his lip nervously, balancing his options in his head, he then thought to what Gwen had told him. You're falling for her, whether you like it or not.
"Hey princ- I mean Courtney, do you think you would want to come over to a friend's house with me?" He finally asks after a silent debate with himself. Courtney stares at him in shock, so much so that he almost took it as a hell no.
But actually Courtney didn't know what to say, the guy that she hated to admit that she liked just asked her out, pretty much. Part of her, the smart part wanted to hit him and remind him that he had a girlfriend but the hopeful look in his eyes made the sweet part in her made her think otherwise.
"You're the last person I'd want to spend the day with, neanderthal." She crosses her arms but then lets her tough demeanor go, "But seeing as I now have a day off and nothing to do, I guess I will go."
Duncan lets out a silent sigh of relief and hands her a helmet, "You ever ridden a motorcycle before?"
"No, no, no, no, no, no," Courtney objects as Duncan had to practically drag her out of the house. She holds onto the helmet tight as she stares terrified at the motorcycle in the driveway. "Duncan, that looks dangerous."
Duncan looks at his bike then at Courtney, "It's completely safe, you've got your helmet and you'll hang onto me the entire time."
The young brunette placed her hand on the death contraption, according to her, maybe this was what Bridgette was telling her. To live a little, to have fun. "You'll make sure I'm safe, right?"
Duncan smiles, "Princess, I'll stop the entire bike if you don't feel safe, okay?"
Courtney takes a deep breath and begins to slowly nods earning a nod of approval from Duncan. He climbs on the bike first and warms it up as Courtney eventually makes her way to climb on the bike and place her helmet on top of her head. As soon as she made sure it was secure, she clutches Duncan's torso and hangs on for dear life. Duncan shakes his head at how scared she was but knew she would grow to love it.
"You ready, Princess?" Duncan calls out and Courtney gasps.
"No, but just start the goddamn thing anyway." She yells back and before she knew it Duncan had backed out of the driveway and onto the streets to Gwen's house.
During the ride, Courtney heard Duncan grunt and immediately got worried since he was the one driving. "What's wrong?" She asks.
"Might want to easen that grip on me, Princess." He just laughs and Courtney blushes and she slowly gets rid of the pressure she placed on his torso. Thank god he didn't see her turn red or he wouldn't have let her hear the end of it.
As Courtney started to ease up she noticed how nice it was, the ride, the sky, the wind blowing in her hair. Everything moved quick, she couldn't focus on just one thing and she loved that feeling. Duncan could feel Courtney let loose a little, and when she began to laugh and cheer he began to smile genuinely.
After a few minutes the pair finally made it to Gwen's apartment, and Courtney let her dark brown hair fall from being confined in the helmet.
"So who is your friend?" Courtney asks as they walked up the steps to the front door.
Duncan opened the door for her then they continued to the elevator, "It's my friend Gwen. She just got engaged so we're celebrating."
Courtney smiled brightly, "Oh how sweet."
Duncan knocked on the apartment door and Gwen opened the door happily. "You must be Courtney!" She grins from ear to ear as Courtney was taken aback.
"How do you know who I am?" Courtney started to back away and Gwen rolled her eyes.
"Relax, Duncan here talks about you often." Gwen jokes and Duncan turns beet red that doesn't go unnoticed by Courtney.
Duncan swiftly places his arm behind Gwen's head and gives it a light smack, "I just talk about you and Sophie is all."
"Ow!" Gwen howls and she hits Duncan right back.
Then, to get in front of the two, stood a tall man with fair light skin and shaggy black hair that rested just above his eyes so he could see. His attire consisted of a nice white dress shirt and black pants with regular black dress shoes.
"Babe, you aren't gonna do that at the wedding will you?" The man chuckles as he rested his hands on his fiance's waist.
Duncan holds the back of his head in pain and glares, "Trent you sure you wanna marry her, buddy?"
Gwen laughs but frowns once she sees Trent playfully think about it. She nudges him in the shoulder, "Too late to back out now,"
Trent smiles but then his eyes land on Courtney, "Oh hey, Courtney right?"
Courtney nods at the mention of her name, but then looks at Trent more closely, "Wait Trent Wyatts?" The young man grins and immediately embraced her.
Duncan's eyes were glued to the contact between Trent and Courtney, and so were Gwen's.
"Um wanna explain how you two know each other?" Gwen asks, and once Trent gets out of the embrace he simply laughs.
"I was Courtney's music mentor when she was just a freshman, she did well on the guitar but man, this girl can sing!" Trent exclaims as he recalls when he first sang a song with Courtney.
Courtney sat there quietly in the music room a Trent began to sort out some song sheets that he thought that she would like to sing. Ever since their first assignment last week, Courtney had been so quiet due to the fact that she shy and timid being only a freshman.
Mr. and Mrs. Rivera made it crucial for Courtney to stand out in college applications by enlisting her in certain activities such as music as soon as she got to high school. Courtney didn't know why she needed to though, she has played the violin perfectly since she was four, why did she need another music lesson.
Trent nervously smiles trying to connect with Courtney, "So, what kind of song do you want to perform at the concert?"
Courtney didn't look at him though, her parents were expecting her to sing a Broadway classing like something from Wicked or the Phantom of the Opera, which Courtney loved, hell she grew up listening to Mamma Mia. But it wasn't necessarily her style, she wanted to sing something different feel something different.
"Um, I'm not sure." Courtney admits quietly.
Trent nods and then sits in front of her, "Your parents gave me a list of songs to do but frankly, they are kind of old school." Courtney let out a slight laugh and Trent took this as progress.
"I would like to try something out."
Courtney ended up singing Bohemian Rhapsody with Trent and at the school concert as well. Her parents were visibly upset since it wasn't in their list of songs chosen for her but Courtney didn't care, the crowd loved it, and she loved it. That was all that mattered.
"She definitely can." Duncan mutters and everyone turns to grin smugly at him, especially Trent and Gwen. Courtney looked away to avoid her blush, and Gwen guides her to the dining room table.
"Okay, how about we start eating?" Gwen offers, dragging both her best friend and fiance to the table.
Duncan takes a big chug of beer and then sits beside Courtney as Trent followed after and sat next to Gwen.
Gwen then turns her focus over to Courtney who was quietly eating as she began to feel out of place at this dinner, this was essentially going to be a double date but Courtney was not Duncan's girlfriend, and she never will be.
"So tell me about yourself, Courtney." Gwen smiles which stops Trent and Duncan's side conversation as they tune in to listen as well.
Courtney shakes her head nervously, "There isn't much to say. I'm just a senior in high school, trying to be valedictorian, and being a babysitter on the side." Courtney jokes with the last part. Gwen squints at her, not in a bad way but in an interesting way. Courtney was holding back, she could tell, the shy, timid girl that Trent met in high school was coming back.
But once thing was for sure, Gwen had a better vibe from Courtney then she ever did with Michelle.
Gwen tilts her head, "Hey, I need to get my wedding dress soon, and I go with my mom she is going to drive me crazy. So, I was wondering if you wanted to go with me. Maybe we can get to know each other."
Courtney hesitated, this girl that she hasn't even known for a good 2 hours was asking her to accompany her to go wedding dress shopping. But Courtney could tell Gwen was a great person and was trying to get her to feel included, she was very grateful for that.
"That sounds great, actually. Thank you." Courtney smiles as Gwen shot her a wink.
"No problem," She then whispers to Courtney so she could only hear, "I like you a lot more than Michelle anyways."
