Chapter 43

Courtney POV

I pulled on my jacket and left the house to return all the DVDs I had bought. It was pretty chilly still outside and most of the snow had frozen over into ice, so I almost slipped and ate shit like 5 times. These douche bags thought it would be hilarious to use their hose and make their drive way into a slip-n-slide/ice rink type thing. One of the geniuses was sliding down the drive way and ended up in the street and almost got hit by a car.

The door ringed when I stepped into the deserted video store. I walked up to the counter and saw a familiar face, but not the one I was looking for. It was a guy and I could have sworn I had seen him before. I walked up and placed all my junk on the counter. He must have recognized me because he was staring back at me while he was checking my DVDs back in.

"Do I know you? I feel like... were you at Andy's party the other night," he asked sliding the last DVD across the scanner.

"Yeah, god I knew you looked familiar. Hey, your Brendon's friend... Spencer right?"

He smiled, "Yeah, you must be the all mighty Courtney I can't get Brendon to shut up about," that made me blush. "Yeah, he's always talking about how beautiful and understanding and funny you are. Can I see your card?"

"Oh yeah," I handed him my card, "He really talks about me like that?" I asked with a smile. Wow, I was feeling all jittery inside all the sudden.

Spencer hands me back my card, "Oh yeah, all the time. Sorry I didn't recognize you before by the way, I didn't really see you much at the party."

I put my hands up, "Oh no, no it's fine. I didn't remember you either, so we're even. Hey, do you know where a girl named Emma is?"

He stroked his beard, "Hmm, there's no girl named Emma that works here," he said with a serious face.

"Wait, wha, but, she was here yesterday. She checked out my-"

He started laughing, "I'm just messing with you!" he said holding his stomach, "You should have seen your face!" I glared at him but couldn't help but laugh, I bet my face did look really stupid. It took us a minute but we pulled ourselves together, "Yeah Emma, she's I the back I think,' he threw me a set of keys, "I'll let you through cause your cool and your my best friend's girlfriend."

"Thanks, your pretty cool yourself Mr. Spencer," I said with a smile and walked to the back of the room.

"Don't steal anything or I'll be in the shit for sure!" he called from his counter.

I found the door to the backroom and unlocked it with the key Spencer gave me. It opened easy with a click and I walked inside. It was pretty dark, there were old dimmed lights hanging from the ceiling, each one wouls swing back and forth slowly. I was staring to get a little freaked out, who would hang out in a place like this? There were tall shelves forming rows and columns through the room, it was like a maze. They really have a lot of shit back here.

I wondered through the rows stacked full of old TVs, DVDs, CDs, and even VHS tapes. I ran my finger along one shelf full of old VHS tapes that were at about eye level. I lifted my finger and it was covered in dust, they should really clean this place sometime. I continued to stroll down the isles when I tripped over an old box lying on the ground.

"Fuck!" I got up and dusted myself off. I turned back and glared at the box when something caught my eye. I walked toward the old cardboard box and picked up an old copy of Ghostbusters. I smiled, Patrick and I would always watch this movie together when we were kids. Of course we didn't get most of the snarky remarks Bill Murray made, but we still loved the movie anyway. I remember sitting in Patrick's living room at night, we must have been 5 or 6, watching this movie. I would always hug him in the beginning when the ghost of the librarian came on. Man I hated her. He would always hug me back and say something like, "Don't worry Courtney, I'll protect you," with a mouth full of popcorn.

I turned it over and read the back. I guess it was some special edition copy with a whole bunch of extra stuff on it. Patrick would love this, I think it's still his favorite movie of all time. I looked around before I slid it into my backpack and zipped it up quickly. I turned around and almost bumped heads with the person behind me. I jumped back, I was scared shitless. Not only was I back there without legit permission, I just gave myself a five-finger-discount. It was too dark to make out the person's face all I could see was that they were crossing their arms.

"What do you think you're doing?" It was a feminine voice, kinda sassy.

I stuttered, "Uhh, I uhhh."

The girl started laughing and stepped into the light, it was Emma. "Oh my god," I said putting my hand on my chest, "You scared the crap outta me! I thought I was gonna get arrested! What is with this place and messing with costumers."

Emma straightened up, "Yeah, you must have met Spenc, we always fuck around with the people who come in. And don't worry, I won't snitch about you taking that video. You could have it if you want, we don't even keep track of VHS tapes anymore. The boss is just too cheap to 'dispose of them properly'."

"Thanks, it's just I brought back some good memories, and that's something I need right now," I said with a little chuckle.

Emma eyed me, trying to figure out what I meant. "Hey, do you want a drink, there's a break room over there. We can talk about what ever you're so bummed about," she said motioning to a door I hadn't noticed.

I smiled, "Yeah, that'd be great. I don't really have another girl to talk to, all my friends are guys."

She made a stink face, "Ew really, how do you manage that?"

I laughed and we started walking to the break room, "They're like my brothers except it's better because I don't have to deal with them all the time."

She laughed, "I guess that's cool," she said opening the door to the break room. It was a pretty plain room, tan walls and tiled floor. There was a small TV in the corner up high on the wall, there was a man talking alone on the screen but the volume was low and I couldn't her what he was saying. There was a fridge, a sink, and some counters with cabinets. Then in the middle of the room was a round table surrounded with blue plastic chairs.

We sat down at the table and she started asking me a whole bunch of questions. "So what's up? School problems? Mommy issues? Daddy issues? Boy Issues?"

"Bingo."

"Oooo boy issues, cool. So spill," she said leaning on the table.

I took in a deep breath and started telling her the same story I had told so many other people before. I was surprised that she listened throughout the whole story. She would nod and react to all the twists and turns. She even slammed the table when I told her about Patrick kissing Allie at the lake. Every once and a while she would say something like, that's fucked up or she would tell me what she would have done, and most of the time it was punch someone's teeth out.

I finally finished my story and by that time it had been 20 minutes. "Wow," she said, "Well my friend, you have some issues. Here's what I think. It sounds like you've had a longer history with this Patrick guy. I think you should give him another chance, plus if you really liked the other dude, Brian was it?"

"Brendon," I corrected her.

"Yeah Brandon," I opened my mouth to correct her but decided not to since she was helping me, "If you really liked him then you won't have a problem letting go of Patrick. Boom," she said hitting the table and sitting back in her chair with her arms crossed.

I thought for a moment, "You're right. I should give Patrick another shot, I know he isn't the hurting type. You should really meet him, he's so sweet and nice and caring," I went on until I saw she was staring at me with a smirk. "What?" I asked.

"I was so right, you do still have a thing for Patrick," she said drumming the table. I feel bad for this table, she's beat it so many times. "We should get going, my break was over 10 minutes ago."

"Oh sorry about that," I said giving her sorry smile.

She waved her hand, "No it's alright, I was gonna take a long break anyway," she said smiling and we both walked back into the main part of the store laughing.


Hey guys! Hope you Emma, I felt like the story need a feminine break. I mean Courtney was the only decent girl in the story, props for me for writing 41 chapters without another girl character (besides Allie, but she doesn't count cause she's satin). And I would have posted earlier but my account was restricted some bitch tattled on me because I'm writing fanfiction. Hope you liked the chapter! Don't forget to subscribe and comment, tell me what you think! Anywhore... Thnks Fr Rdng!