STUFFED

Torn

"Courtney?" She still hasn't responded to his question. He starts to panic, "You don't have to give me an answer right away... you can think about it if you need to."

He'd rather she 'think' about it than reject him immediately.

"Yeah."

"Yeah?" Bradyn gets excited for a second and Courtney quickly realizes she should elaborate.

"Yeah, as in I'll think about it."

Bradyn's shoulders slump but he tries to keep a smile on his face, "Okay."

The flowers and chocolates make sense now.

"Sorry Bradyn, I just-"

"-Need some time to think." He finishes her sentence, "It's cool. I get it."

She can see the disappointment in his face.

Bradyn tries to act like it doesn't bother him. He rubs her side and then moves his hand up to her face to push her hair behind her ear. He pushes it further back, removing it from her neck, and a light purple circle catches his eye.

He runs a finger over the bruised patch on her skin and adjusts the neckline of her top a little bit to expose another one.

His heart sinks.

"Is he the reason you need to think about it?" His voice is uncharacteristically quiet and his words come out shaky.

Her silence answers his question.

"Does he make you happy?" He doesn't want to hear the answer but he asks anyway.

She nods.

"That's good."

He's being so genuine but the sound of defeat in his voice is killing her.

"All I want is for you to be happy and taken care of so if he makes you happier than me, you should be with him. I'm not trying to influence your decision or anything, I just want you to know that I'm not going to hate you if you don't end up with me... but selfishly, I really do want you to choose me."

There's an awkward silence because Courtney doesn't know what to say.

Bradyn inhales a sharp breath and takes his hand off of her. He doesn't really feel comfortable staying here anymore.

"Hey... well... I'm gonna go..."

She doesn't really want him to go but she understands.

"Yeah... okay." She goes to get up to walk him out.

"No it's cool, you don't have to get up."

Bradyn gets out of the bed and losing his presence immediately makes the bed colder.

She hears him walk down the stairs and out the front door, locking it behind him.

Courtney is sitting alone in her room now and it's too quiet. She doesn't move as she tries to process everything that just happened.

Bradyn and Griffin both asked her out on the same day.

She liked the way things were before. Uncomplicated and fun. Now she has to make a choice.

But how can she choose between them? They both make her happy. Why can't she just have both?

The stress of the situation sets in and she becomes discontent. Courtney gets up out of bed and walks down to the kitchen. She anxiously rips open the packages of chocolate and devours all the bars in a span of five minutes.