Five

Past.

The night of the dance Courtney had organised a way to sneak out of the house, since she was still grounded, so her parents couldn't possibly know she was gone. It didn't matter anyway since they had something else on. She had assured them that she would be a good girl and spend the whole night studying, but as soon as they were gone had hurried upstairs to get ready.

Bridgette and Heather, already all done up and ready to go, helped with her hair and make up to make sure it was done in time since they only had an hour between when Courtney's parents left and Duncan arrived.

"You've got ten minutes before Duncan gets here," Bridgette told Courtney, looking at her watch which did not match her dress at all. She clearly didn't care though, since her date was just Geoff and they'd been together for over a year already.

"Thank you guys so much," Courtney thanked them, pulling them into a hug. "There's no way I could've done this without you." She heard a knock on the door and grinned at her two best friends.

"You'd better go to your stupid date with your terrible choice of boy in his lame excuse for a car," Heather said scathingly, folding her arms. Courtney rolled her eyes.

"I'll see you guys there," she said breathlessly. Bridgette gave her a thumbs up before she ran down the stairs to answer the door. Duncan's heart stopped when he saw Courtney in her long purple gown.

"Wow. You look... amazing," he told her. Courtney cleared her throat. "I mean, you look beautiful," Duncan corrected himself. He was dressed in a nice black suit and Courtney thought he looked pretty good himself. It was certainly much nicer than the baggy jeans and band shirts he usually wore.

"Much better," Courtney said in approval. "Shall we go?"

"Yeah," Duncan agreed, without moving. He was still looking her up an down, trying to take her in. Courtney cleared her throat once more. "Oh, right, sorry." Duncan led her down the path from her front door to a limo that was parked out the front. Courtney's jaw dropped when she saw it.

"What? How on earth did you afford this!" she exclaimed happily, climbing into the back seat of the limo before Duncan got a chance to open the door for her. He shrugged before climbing in after her.

"Don't you worry about that," Duncan told her as the limo drove off. "Just relax and enjoy the night."

Courtney grinned at him. "I'm sure I will," she assured him. "Since for the first time ever I actually have a date to one of these things."

Duncan looked at her in awe as he poured two glasses of what looked like champagne. "You've never had a date?" he asked, completely baffled by how that could be possible.

"Well normally Heather and I would go as friends. But no, neither of us have ever actually had a date," Courtney laughed. Duncan handed her a glass and took a sip of his own.

"Heather I can completely understand," he said with a smile. Courtney glared at him, taking her glass.

"Heather isn't even that bad," she replied, not totally believing it. She knew her friend wasn't the easiest to get along with. "This isn't alcohol, is it? I don't drink."

"Don't worry princess, I kind of figured that. It's fake wine," Duncan assured her. Courtney nodded and downed it. "A bit thirsty are we?" Duncan smirked.

"Um, nervous mostly," Courtney admitted. Duncan wiped the smirk off his face and took her hand, squeezing it gently.

"It'll be okay. We still have to eat at Joe's first," he reminded her. Courtney nodded and took a deep breath. They pulled up out the front of Lazy Joe's and Duncan took Courtney's hand as she stepped out of the limo.

"Well if it isn't my two favourite people!" Joe greeted them as they walked into the diner. "And what are we all dressed up for?"

"The school dance is tonight," Duncan answered. Courtney nodded, feeling a little uncomfortable about being called Joe's favourite person when they'd only met once.

"Is it now?" Joe asked. "This calls for a picture. Hang on just a moment!" Joe hurried out the back to grab his camera while Duncan and Courtney took a seat at one of the booths.

"You look uncomfortable," Duncan noticed. "Are you okay?"

Courtney shrugged. "Does Joe ever feel a little... Over friendly to you?" she asked a little worriedly. She didn't want to offend one of Duncan's friends but she also wasn't completely sure about him.

"No," Duncan replied casually. "He's just trying to make you feel at home. He doesn't mean anything by it. His motto is that everyone should feel welcome, and especially since you're here with me he wants you to be especially comfortable."

Courtney nodded, feeling a bit more at ease, as Joe rushed out with a polaroid camera. "Alright kids, stand up, hold hands and say cheese," Joe commanded. Courtney and Duncan did as they were told. There was a flash and the picture printed out. "Just beautiful," Joe told them. "This is going on the wall. Now I'm guessing it'll be the usual for you?"

"Yes thank you," Courtney replied with a smile.

"Such manners. I like her!" Joe told Duncan approvingly. "The usual it is! I'll be back in a jiffy." He hurried back to the kitchen and Courtney turned to Duncan.

"What's the wall?" she asked.

"Over there," Duncan pointed to the back wall where there was a collage of polaroid pictures. "Joe takes pictures of special occasions for his customers and puts them on the wall so that he can remember all of the good moments life is full of. It's kinda lame but it makes him feel better so I guess..."

"I think it's sweet," Courtney decided.

They stayed at the diner for an hour, so the dance had already well and truly started by the time they got there. Courtney didn't mind though, since the evening wasn't really about the dance for her but more about spending time with Duncan.

They handed their tickets to the person at the door and walked into the school gym. It was decked out with streamers and balloons of silver, black and blue. There was a disco ball in the centre of the ceiling and a band on the stage playing "Time of my Life" from Dirty Dancing.

Bridgette ran up to them almost immediately, grinning like an idiot and dragging Geoff behind her. "Heather and Trent disappeared almost as soon as they got here and I haven't seen them since," she announced happily, not bothering to give either of them a proper greeting.

"What? But she hates Trent," Courtney reminded her. "She was so reluctant to even take him here. I wonder what changed."

"Who cares?" Bridgette exclaimed. "For the first time she was wrong about someone. And I like to take credit for that." She smiled smugly and Courtney couldn't help but think she was acting completely different to how she normally would.

"They are so smashed," Duncan observed as Bridgette and Geoff walked towards the dance floor.

"That explains Bridgette's weird behaviour," Courtney agreed.

"Dance with me?" Duncan asked, holding his hand out for Courtney. She smiled and nodded, taking his hand and letting him drag her onto the dance floor. The song had changed but it was still a slow one so Duncan pulled Courtney close to him and they smiled nervously at each other. Courtney leaned her head on Duncan's shoulder as they swayed in time to the music.

"This is nice," Courtney murmured. Duncan hummed in response.

"I like it better than arguing all the time," he said. Courtney smiled.

"It is a lot less stressful," she agreed. It was the sort of relationship Courtney had never had with anyone before, but it was new and exciting and she was curious to see how it would pan out. She knew her parents certainly wouldn't approve.

She shook the thought and decided to just let herself have this night at least. They danced for almost the entire night, simply enjoying each other's company, and when the event was over and they turned on the lights, Duncan took her home in the limo they had arrived in.

"Can I see you again?" he asked, walking Courtney to her front door. Courtney nodded.

"Yeah, I think I'd like that," she replied, beaming at him. They stood at her doorway awkwardly smiling at each other.

Duncan sighed. "Well, goodnight."

"Yeah, goodnight," Courtney said, a little disappointed. She stepped inside and turned the light on before going to the window to watch Duncan leave. He walked down the path, hands in his hair as if he were annoyed about something. Just as he reached the car, about to open the door, he turned around and marched back up the path. Courtney ran to the door and opened it before Duncan got the chance.

The grinned at each other and Duncan pulled her into a kiss, one hand on the small of her back and the other running through her hair. She wrapped her arms around his neck and brought herself even closer to him, kissing him back.

They pulled away from each other, still smiling like idiots.

"Goodnight," Duncan said again, walking away backwards so he can look at her for as long as possible.

"Goodnight," Courtney laughed. She closed the door as Duncan got in the limo and she quickly ran to her room to get changed before her parents got home and realised she'd been gone all night.

They didn't even come to check on her when they got home, and it took her a long time to get to sleep as she played the night's events back in her head.