14. Faults and Bi Polar

Why am I so freaking stupid?

Courtney was walking—or limping—to God-knows-where. She didn’t care if something happened to her, because she was full of immense remorse. She wouldn’t be surprised if that regret inside of her swallowed her up.

She sighed heavily.

She only said that for Duncan. She knew how her parents would react if they saw Duncan. If they were to date and her parents would find out he was a criminal, she would be confined in her room—her old room. Her parents could very well win the “World’s Strictest Parents” award. She just didn’t want Duncan to suffer her parent’s wrath.

But, she thought, Duncan can handle them, right? And why would I care about what my parents think? I’m an adult now—I’m living on my own; I’ve got a decent-paying job; I’m doing good in school, even though we haven’t had school in a while due to stupid problems; and…I’ve got an idiot who’s in love with me.

Courtney wanted to cry right now, but she couldn’t—she just couldn’t. Some guy passer-bys asked if she needed help in walking, because they saw her limping. They only did that because of lust, obviously.

Duncan did that at first. And he stole my first kiss. And we had odd, fun times together. And he confessed to me…

Again, she was only doing this for Duncan. Her parents were powerful, considering they own a rich business corporation. And anyways, Courtney wouldn’t be a good girlfriend. She would follow her parents’ every whim without question.

Her phone rang, and she quickly checked it, hoping it was Duncan.

But her hopes died when she saw the title “Bridgette” flashing on her phone. She sighed and answered it.

“Hi, Bridgette.”

“Where are you?” Bridgette asked seriously. “Come home now. When I was walking to your apartment to visit you since I haven’t seen you in a long time, I saw Duncan go in his apartment with a depressed look. I want to know now.”

“I would be there by now if I didn’t have a sprained ankle,” Courtney snapped. She didn’t know why she was putting her anger on Bridgette, but she was.

“Fine, Geoff will pick you up. I’m too lazy to go and ride your car. You don’t even use your car, you know that? Bye.” She hung up.

She’s mad, Courtney thought as she stared at her phone.

Then her phone rang again, showing Geoff’s name.

“Hey, Geoff,” she greeted tiredly. “Thanks for picking me up; I’m near this Asian restaurant. We went there for your birthday party.”

“Okay, and no problem, Courtney.” He paused. “What happened between you and Duncan? He looks…freaking dead—and angry. He didn’t even want to talk to me.”

“I’ll tell you when you pick me up.”

“M’kay. I’ll speed up, and you can’t stop me. Bye, Court.”

She pressed the end button. He’s mad, too. He didn’t even call me ‘Mocha.’ And he didn’t sound happy like he usually does. Damn it.

--

“You’re acting immature, Duncan,” Trent said on the other side of the phone. “She must have her reasons on why she said ‘No.’”

Duncan punched the wall in anger. “What reasons, Trent?! It’s obvious that she likes me—loves me even! Why is she saying ‘No’?!” he yelled. “Why does she have to be so damn freaking confusing?! Why the hell do I love her?!”

“Duncan,” he said calmly, “she probably said no for you.”

Duncan’s eyes widened a bit, but his anger quickly came back. “What the hell? How in the world would she—?!”

“Her parents are super strict, dude. I know when I first described them, they seem like the regular pushy parents—but I just assuaged their true personalities. They’re… I just can’t explain it. When I first met them, they asked me my qualities, my old jobs, my old girlfriends! They thought I was her boyfriend! They asked my freaking gender, and—” He broke off, sighing. “Man, dude, I feel sorry for Courtney. She did things she didn’t want to do for them. The only thing she enjoyed doing was martial arts, because she got to put her anger on something.”

“Courtney’s not a dog,” Duncan muttered.

“That’s all you have to say?”

Duncan rubbed the nape of his neck. “I’ll talk to her when she comes home. I just left her, and—aw, shit! Dude, crap, crap!”

“What? What happened?!”

“I left Courtney…who has a sprained ankle.”

“Duncan…you really are an idiot.”

“I get that a lot.”

--

Courtney felt this tense, awkward atmosphere around her and Geoff. When she came in, Geoff had an upset look on, and that wasn’t normal for him. He was always all happy and smiley—the quintessence of sunshine, you could say.

“Geoff,” Courtney started quietly, “are you mad at me…?”

Geoff took a deep breath and managed a small smile. “Nah,” he replied. “I’m just upset at the situation at hand here. Sorry for being all droopy and crap; I’m just…” He sighed.

“What’s…wrong?”

“Well, Duncan’s shutting me out, man. He mostly talks to me about everything—I mean, we are ‘BDFAY,’ aren’t we? I feel sad that he’s not talking to me. And you!” He looked at me. “Why didn’t you say ‘I love you’ back to him? I heard him whisper to himself, ‘She didn’t say it back’ when he passed by me.”

“Geoff,” she sighed tiredly. “Look, it’s not that I hate him or anything. I’m just doing this for him and you know how irritatingly cruel my parents are. I don’t want him to meet them and suffer from their uncanny interrogations like how you and Trent experienced it.”

Geoff shuddered, obviously remembering the memory. “Harsh,” he commented. “But Courtney I thought that you didn’t give a freaking crap about your parents’ stupid opinions. Isn’t that the reason why you left and went to live on your own?”

“I know, but—I just—it wasn’t—ugh!” she sputtered out. “I was just thinking about him, okay?! Even though I don’t care about their opinions, that doesn’t mean I can just not tell them about Duncan being my boyfriend!”

“If they don’t accept him, what will you do?” Geoff asked suddenly. “I’m speaking…hypothetically, m’kay?”

Courtney had to smile at Geoff’s sudden advanced vocabulary. He’s been watching too much adult TV shows.

“I guess…I’ll…say that I don’t care about your opinions, and I’m only introducing him to you, because I’m being polite and…” Courtney banged the back of her head to the headrest. “Damn it.”

“Do you regret your decision, Mocha?”

He’s not mad… That’s good. “Yes, I do,” Courtney answered surely but sadly. “I was just being…stupid—but it’s Duncan’s fault!”

Geoff was surprised by her sudden mood change, but Courtney ignored it.

“He’s planting kisses on me everywhere and biting me! It’s so disgusting, but also quite sensation—I mean, weird!” She didn’t want to admit in front of Geoff that she liked Duncan’s kisses. “Gosh, he’s rubbing his entire stupid residue on me, and it’s already going inside of me, crawling it’s way inside my cranium!”

“Mocha, I think you’re being a little bit—”

“Damn it, why the hell am I in love with that perverted criminal?!” After she said that, she quickly covered her mouth, shocked. Did she just say that?

From her peripheral vision, she saw Geoff smirk. He patted Courtney’s hand twice and put it back on the steering wheel.

“My work here is done,” he announced. “I’ll speed up for you since you should say what you blurted out to me to a certain criminal.”

“He was right…,” Courtney mumbled, feeling stupid again. “That idiot was right… Why am I so stupid?”

“I shouldn’t say anything about that, but it might be because you’ve been spending too much time with D—”

Courtney cut him off again, “It’s your fault, Geoff!” She pointed an accusing finger towards him. “If you didn’t meet Duncan, then I wouldn’t be in love with that stupid idiot and I would still have my unattainable intelligence!”

They both stayed quiet. The only thing heard was the car and Courtney’s loud breathing. Geoff broke the annoying silence.

“You’re not bi-polar, are you, Mocha?”

He was met by a sharp elbow to the guts.

--

Duncan leaned against the railing in front of Courtney’s apartment door. He was waiting impatiently for Courtney and Geoff to arrive.

Okay, how should I react around Courtney now? Should I be mad or look pathetic? He was silent in his mind for a moment. Scratch that—I hate seeing people take pity on me. Anger is the way, dude. Anger…

“Now I’m thinking to myself like a stupid thinker,” he grumbled. “Fan-freaking-tastic.”

“Hey!” he heard a Geoff yell. “Oh, my gosh, it’s my ‘BDFAY’! My best dude forever and yeah! Over here! I brought your princess! I didn’t kidnap her or anything, but she has a sprained ankle! I think you harassed her, because Courtney’s the most graceful person ever! And maybe you guys should—!” His voice became muffled.

“Geoff, shut the hell up, please,” he heard Courtney snap. “Jeez, you’re so freaking loud!”

“Loosen up, Mocha!”

“Oh, I’ll loosen you up!”

Despite Duncan’s supposedly angry feeling, he couldn’t help but chuckle at Courtney’s usual self. When Courtney looked over at him, he put on his expressionless façade quickly. She frowned at that.

Geoff clapped him on the back. “Mocha here has some good news to tell ya’, best dude forever and yeah!” he shouted.

Duncan glared at him. “Dude, I told you not to call me that. It was a joke, okay?”

“But I like it.”

Courtney suddenly stepped closer to him, biting her lip, tempting him again. There was something wrong with Courtney—why does she always tempt him with that simple gesture?

“Duncan,” she started, “I need to—”

“Geoff, leave us now or else I won’t allow you to call me that anymore,” Duncan interjected. “I want some alone time with Courtney.”

Geoff quickly obeyed, but before he left he winked at Courtney.

“Okay, look,” Courtney suddenly said, stepping closer towards Duncan. “I’m not going to wait for you to look at me and say, ‘Well, what do you want, Courtney?’ like those sentimental, clichéd movies, all right? I’m here to tell you why I said no. I’ll start now, because I’m too irritated to hear you say coolly, ‘Explain then.’”

Duncan was taken aback on how Courtney knew him so much. I guess he wasn’t the only one who can predict the other’s actions.

“I said no for you,” she explained. “My parents are incalculably brutal, and I don’t want you to—”

“Hey, babe, I practically got all of your explanation from Trent. You can just skip the part about your parents and go to the good news that Geoff told me, because I don’t care if your parents don’t like me or whatever. Now, go—continue.”

Courtney rolled her eyes before continuing, “Well…maybe the part about my parents was just an excuse, because I was confused.”

“‘Was’?” Duncan repeated.

“Yes, and…I’m…in love with you, too.” She smiled softly.

Duncan was elated—but that was a huge understatement. He wanted to wrap his arms around Courtney and kiss her senselessly. He knew that Courtney was in love with him, as well.

“Took you long enough,” he grunted, stretching his arms. “Damn, I’m tired.”

Courtney punched him. “What the hell?! Aren’t you supposed to be saying something else?!” she cried.

“What am I supposed to say, anyways? And you said so yourself—this isn’t some ‘sentimental, clichéd movie’! I’m not supposed to sweep you off your feet or whatever trash!”

“So you don’t want to be boyfriend/girlfriend?!”

“Maybe I do, Princess! But I’m not going to go down on my knee and hold your hand, saying—”

“That’s proposing, you dumb ogre!”

“Whatever! I’m tired, so let’s just agree on being boyfriend/girlfriend, all right?!”

Courtney stepped closer. “Fine! Let’s go in your apartment since I’ve never seen it, and then we’ll cuddle or whatever!”

“Kiss me furiously first and then we can!”

“Fine!” She grabbed him and kissed him hard.

Duncan put his hands on her hips, pulling her closer as can be. He heard her moan, and of course he had to smirk at that. Courtney let go and leaned her forehead against his.

“You’re an idiot,” she said.

“You’re an uptight chick,” he replied.

“Carry me?” She looked up at him with big, pleading eyes.

Duncan carried her bridal-style and walked to his door. He suddenly felt Courtney smack him on his chest hard, and it stung badly. He almost dropped Courtney, but he resisted the pain and the urge to do so. He did not want Princess to smack him again.

“It’s your fault for leaving me there with a sprained ankle!” Courtney yelled. “That’s why you received that physical pain!”

“It’s your freaking fault for falling! I’m not a super fast vampire who can just catch you in the blink of an eye! And that’s saying something coming from me!” he yelled back.

Their shouts were muffled from behind the door, but it still didn’t lessen the irritation of the neighbors.

--