Sixteen

Past.

"Come on Courtney, it's been three years now. It's time to move on," Heather urged as she threw various outfits at her friend to try on. "You can't be upset about Duncan forever."

"Can't you be a little more sensitive, Heather?" Bridgette scolded her. "I don't think I'd ever get over it if me and Geoff broke up."

Heather scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah but you and Geoff are different. You're practically soul mates," she argued. "Not that I believe in that crap, but if I did you know you would be."

"How do you know Courtney and Duncan aren't soul mates?" Bridgette wondered.

"Because if they were, he would've written," Heather hissed.

"You know I can hear you, right?" Courtney reminded them, still lying motionless on the bed under a pile of clothes Heather had thrown on her. "Also remember that time I tried to move on? That was a disaster."

Heather sighed. "Okay but if we'd been at boarding school with you we would have told you that getting with Scott was a bad idea," she informed Courtney. "But it's okay because we're here now. Everyone has to have a lapse of judgement every now and then anyway."

Courtney groaned. "I doubt I'm going to find my new love interest at a club."

"Who said anything about love interests? You just need a good hook up," Heather said, putting her head in Courtney's wardrobe to see if there were any clothes she wasn't seeing.

"Come on, Heather. Not everyone is supposed to have crazy hook ups every night like you do," Bridgette tried to reason.

"And not everyone is supposed to settle down like you and Geoff," Heather retorted. "I don't think I'll ever be in a long term relationship."

Bridgette raised an eyebrow. "Really? Because you and Alejandro have been seeing each other for four months now, and that's the longest you've ever gone out with anyone," she reminded Heather.

"I'm sure I'll be bored with him soon enough," Heather said confidently.

"I'm never going to see Duncan again," Courtney piped up. Bridgette gave her a sympathetic look. "And I don't think I'll ever love anyone as much as I love him."

"Loved," Heather corrected her. "Three years, remember?"

"No. I still love him," Courtney countered. "I think a part of me always will."

Present Day.

"So I'm thinking tomorrow we can go swimming with the dolphins," Heather suggested as she flipped through the brochure, both of them relaxing in the hot tub, drinks in hand. She was angry at Courtney for claiming to still be in love with Duncan and was doing everything she could to take both of their minds off the matter. "Or we can save it for our last day and just hang out tomorrow. It says here they have a huge luau on the beach every Saturday night so we should definitely go to that."

"You do realise you're not helping, right?" Courtney said. "I'm still thinking about it. I still have to make up my mind."

Heather sighed. "I know."

"That's why I'm here," a voice said from behind them. Courtney turned around to see Bridgette standing there beaming.

"What are you doing here?" Courtney asked excitedly, scrambling out of the hot tub to give Bridgette a big hug. Bridgette didn't seem to mind the wet embrace as she wrapped her arms around Courtney just as tightly.

"Heather called to tell me about what you were going through so I got mom to take care of the kids for a few days," Bridgette replied, releasing Courtney from their hug. She looked her in the eyes sympathetically. "How are you?"

Courtney shrugged. "I've seen better days," she admitted. "But let's not talk about it right now. I want to hear about what you've been doing, and we need to get a drink in your hand."

Bridgette laughed in agreement.

"Okay let me get this straight," Bridgette said as they all sat by the pool edge. They'd already gone through the small talk and Bridgette had told them briefly about how busy her life was as a mom. She said it was the most rewarding thing she'd done since she'd retired from professional surfing (and yet the only reason she'd retired was because she was pregnant). "You're sleeping with Duncan, but you're still married to Robert who you suspect is cheating on you with someone he works with and yet you have no proof of this but you're still thinking about leaving him for your teenage flame because you think you have more of a future with him, even though you've basically only known him for a week."

"I've known him for twenty two years," Courtney corrected. "Just because we didn't keep in contact for seventeen of those years doesn't mean he's not the same person."

"But he isn't the same person," Heather protested. "You don't even know this person. You don't know what he's been through and how that might have changed him. You know you're not the same person you were in high school so why should he be?"

"You don't get it!" Courtney snapped. "I don't expect you to. Both of you found the person you were supposed to be with and haven't thought twice about it. Robert is fifteen years older than me!"

"Then why did you marry him in the first place?" Heather demanded.

"Heather, don't," Bridgette warned her. "She probably already feels bad enough about it."

Courtney put her head in her hands. "He used to be so different," she mumbled regretfully. "I never wanted to get divorced but I feel like it's the only way I can be happy."

"I just don't get it," Heather continued. "It's not like you needed someone to look after you. Was there a lot of sexual tension? Is that why you married him?"

Courtney sighed but she didn't reply. Bridgette bit her lip in thought.

"I know you said you'd tell Duncan your decision by the end of the week," she started thoughtfully. "But is there any other reason you have to decide by then? Your holiday finishes but that doesn't mean you have to go back to Robert. You don't have to rush."

Courtney didn't want to hear this. If she gave herself more time she'd never make a decision, and she'd seen enough movies to know that if she let that happen someone would tell Robert she was sleeping with Duncan and she'd end up having nothing and no one.

"Let's just go swim with the dolphins, okay?" she said. At least she could make a decision about something.

The week was almost over, and as the three girls got drunk at the luau on Saturday, Courtney had made a decision. She wasn't sure if it was the right one, but she was sure either way she would regret it. Tonight she was just going to have fun with her two best friends, and tomorrow she could worry about the consequences of her decision.

Bridgette, who was the most drunk of the three of them, seemed to be doing an interpretive dance around the fire.

"What are you going to say to him?" Heather asked as she and Courtney watched Bridgette to make sure she didn't land in the fire. Courtney shrugged.

"I don't really know," she admitted. Heather raised an eyebrow at her.

"But you always know what you're going to say," she reminded her, as if that was supposed to make her feel better.

"This is different," Courtney said. "How do you let someone down like that? It takes a lot more thought than a presentation or a school captain speech." Heather nodded in understanding and the two watched Bridgette as she fell over backwards. She quickly stood up and brushed herself off then stumbled over to Courtney and Heather who were standing by the food and put a lei around Courtney's neck.

"Come dance with me!" she said in an unnecessarily loud voice, pulling the lei towards the fire and dragging Courtney along with it. Courtney laughed and grabbed Heather's hand so she would join them. They started dancing and for the first time in a long time Courtney realised that she didn't need a man or a fancy job to be happy, she just needed her two best friends.

Hey y'all! So after this there is only one more chapter to go. I've almost finished it but it still might take a while to post because I don't want to rush the ending too much. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Peace out!