Enemies

13. "Leave Me Alone."

Side note, you might need tissues for this chapter.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Gillian's POV

I inhale slowly through my nose and exhale equally as  slowly from my mouth.

Everything is going to be fine.

Everything is going to go fine.

Once I have successfully gaslit myself into believing that Courtney will not attempt to start a fight with me, I take a step forward and bring my balled fist up to knock on the tomato-red door.

A few seconds go by before I make out Courtney's pajama-clad body making her way towards the door.

Shit.

I was hoping that her mom would answer the door so that I could lie and say that Courtney had my history textbook or some shit like that.

My relaxed composure completely dissolves the second the honey-haired girl opens the door to reveal her bare, makeup-less face.

"We need to talk, Court."

Unable to take my eyes off of her, my eyes trail down her front with an indescribable curiosity.

Courtney's honey-colored tresses are pulled up in a ponytail with a fluffy pink scrunchie, a few strands of hair framing her face due to them being too short to fit into said scrunchie.

My eyes trail further down only to stop at her neck when I recognize the necklace that she is wearing, the necklace in question having a 'G' charm, pink heart charm, and a 'C' charm hanging from its thin golden chain.

The reason why I recognize this is because she used to have a charm bracelet with these same charms on them that broke.

I remember her being really upset about this.

She must have took the charms from the bracelet and put them on a chain.

It takes everything in me to hide the smile that is trying to force its way onto my face.

She still cares about me...even after all of these years.

Next, my eyes meet her white cropped tank top that is covered by her unzipped pinked jacket. A further look past her exposed midsection tells me that she is in fact wearing a matching pair of thin white sleep shorts, her toned legs on full display.

Her comfortable clothing contrasts my slightly less comfortable clothing.

I am wearing an old, distressed band tee that I stole from a box in my mother's closet labeled 'college'. I paired a pair of equally as distressed jean shorts with the shirt, black fishnet tights resting underneath the shorts.

Due to the shirt's length, it kind of appears like I am not wearing any shorts underneath it. Though, I feel like this adds to the whole look.

The sound of Courtney's voice meeting my ears has my eyes flickering back up to meet her deep blue eyes.

"Me ignoring you all week at school wasn't enough of a hint that I don't want to talk to you?!"

A small exhale exits through my nose.

"That's what I'm trying to understand, Courtney." I tell her.

"Why won't you talk to me?"

Courtney brings the corner of her bottom lip up in between her teeth, a thoughtful look presenting itself across her face.