it's
better
to cross
the line
and
suffer
the
consequences than to
just
stare
atthat
line
for the
RESTOFYOURLIFE
Tom's POV:
For the next couple of days, Courtney acted strange. She spent most of her time actually doing work and practicing. We did exchange small talk, but nothing more than that. Every time I would ask if something was wrong, she would reply, "Every things fine, just stressed out from midterms." She would smile and put her headphones back on and continued to practice.
After two weeks of her basically avoiding me, I pulled her aside. "Did I do something to piss you off?"
She looked away, "No."
"Then why are you being weird? Is there something wrong? Anything I should be worried about?"
She kept her glance away from me and kept her answers short. "No, live I've said its just stress from midterms."
I couldn't stand her not looking at me. I turned her face to look at me. "Well, exams are over so let me take you out…to celebrate."
She scoffed rather loudly. "Won't 'wifey' get mad that you're going out? Especially with me?"
"Rachel is doing a performance a couple towns over for the next few nights. She'll be going out with people from the show anyway. C'mon what do you say?"
"I could use a drink…or two. Pick me up around 7?" she asked as she ran a hand through her silky brown hair.
"Sure, I'll take you to this real nice place that no one knows about. You'll love it. Oh and it's nothing fancy, so don't worry about dressing up."
"Okay," she chuckled. "I'll see you at 7, then."
We leaned towards each other as she pressed her cheek to mine. We both made the kissing noise. "You most certainly will."
I went home to get ready. I wanted to make sure I looked halfway decent. I took a shower and made sure that I didn't smell. I picked out a black button down shirt and skinny blue jeans.
Right before I was going to leave to get Courtney, I glanced at a picture of me and Rachel and felt guilt build up. I turned away from the picture but grabbed my cell phone out of my pocket and sent her a quick text. "Good luck tonight, hun, xoxo-Tom." For some reason I didn't bother saying I love you. I was wondering if she would notice, but she never texted back.
I stood outside Courtney's apartment building wondering if I should call her or just ring the bell. I pressed the intercom button. A voice came over the speaker, "Hello?"
"Hi, I'm here to pick up Courtney."
"Tom, yeah? Come on up," the voice replied followed by a loud buzzing.
I climbed two flights of steps and knocked on her apartment door. A girl that I could have mistaken as Courtney's sister opened the door. "So you're the infamous Tom, huh? It's nice to meet you, I'm Cailyn." We shook hands as I entered the apartment. "She'll be out in a minute. She's just drying her hair."
When Courtney finally made her grand entrance, she was stunning. She was wearing a red v-neck sweater and a denim skirt. She looked amazing. I gave her a hug and kiss on her cheek. We said goodbye to Cailyn and headed to the restaurant.
The car ride was strangely quiet. I hummed along to the songs on the radio and noticed Courtney eyeing me out of the corner of my eye. I wondered if she knew yet.
We were seated at a table in the middle of the restaurant. Like the care ride, not much was said until we ordered our meals.
She leaned in close so only I could hear. "Why didn't you tell me?" she smiled evilly.
"Tell you what?"
She slapped my arm playfully. "You know what I'm talking about."
"So you finally figured it out? It's about time."
"It's about time? Why couldn't you just tell me?"
I took a sip of my beer before answering. "Some people get weird after finding out who I am. They ask if I can get them record deals or if I can introduce them to one of my old band mates etc."
She slapped my arm playfully again. "You know I wouldn't do that. God, do you really see me like that?"
"No," I laughed.
"Well, your stuff is amazing. You're brilliant. I'm even nervous sitting here talking to you right now. You're famous Tom Fletcher and I didn't even know it. I'm one lucky girl to have you as a friend."
I felt a pit in my stomach start to grow as she said the f-word: friend. I took another sip of my beer. "Thanks, but you're not the only lucky one. I'm lucky I have such a gorgeous friend. Every guy in here is staring at me with jealousy right now."
We continued to talk throughout the rest of the evening about my music career which I hadn't really done since the band had broken up. She got me to open up about a lot of things I hadn't even told Rachel especially how I missed jamming with the guys on Friday nights. I didn't say much about Rachel; I felt it wasn't my place to talk about my relationship. I didn't want to make Courtney feel uncomfortable.
By the end of the night, we both had had three drinks. Neither one of us was drunk, although we were slightly buzzed. Flirting was at its highest level between us because of the alcohol, but I didn't care. It was the first time in a long time that I had felt alive.
We were standing outside her apartment at about quarter to two trying hard to not wake anyone in the building. Courtney giggled loudly and quickly covered her mouth with her hands like she did quite often. She leaned back against her apartment door. The light hanging at the end of the hallway cast a sliver of light over her lips. All of a sudden I felt myself leaning in toward her. I put my arm above her head as I put all my weight upon it. I was within an inch of touching her lips to mine when my phone vibrated with a text message. I opened my eyes to see hers closed and waiting with anticipating. She looked so perfect, but I couldn't do it. I backed away slowly and let the light fall across her again. Her eyes blinked open, and I looked away not wanting to see the hurt in her eyes. "I gotta go," I said rushed and walked back down the hallway and the two flights of steps.