STUFFED

Embarassed

Harlow can't stop apologizing the entire time and eventually, Courtney loses count of how many times he has said the word "sorry". After a while she stops responding to him because his words no longer sound like an apology; they sound more like a self soothing mechanism. She tunes out his droning as she searches for his phone.

After looking for a couple seconds, she goes to ask him where he put it but stops herself mid sentence. There's no way she was going to be able to get a helpful response out of him right now. So instead, Courtney keeps plunging her hand in between the couch cushions. 

She can't even remember where he had it last. As she separates the pieces of the couch from itself, liquid remnants of Harlow seep their way deep into the furniture. It's going to be a nightmare to clean this all up. Not that she has to do it but she does feel bad for the cleaners that are going to have to come to his house. There honestly might be no saving this couch. 

Courtney switches her prerogative and decides to search his pockets... that she can't reach. Her hand only makes it mid back. 

Harlow places his hands on the couch on either side of Courtney's body and attempts to get himself off of her. She watches as his whole body trembles before it comes crashing down on top of her again. 

Something falls on the floor.

His phone.

Covered in blue sludge.

Courtney leans over, reaching for it. No use. She was fine up until this point but now she's beginning to panic. Not being able to take a full breath and being pinned underneath Harlow is making her a little claustrophobic. 

"Harlow, you need to get off of me so we can get you cleaned up." 

She tries to speak calmly but the desperation can't help but creep out through her words. She even attempts to push him off of her with both hands. She tries and tries again, her movements getting more frantic. Courtney is now repeating his name over and over again as if this repeated spell will magically levitate him up off of her.

 For a while the room is filled with chants of, "Harlow! 's" and "Sorry! 's" as the pair have simultaneous panic attacks.

Harlow tries to push himself up off of her one more time and Courtney takes this opportunity to lean over and reach for the phone again. She grabs it this time. Courtney holds the screen up to his face, and once it's unlocked, goes into his contact list and calls one of his friends.

The next several hours are ones he wants to forget.

Quinn got to the house first. He finds them downstairs and helps get Harlow off of Courtney. 

Once she's free, Courntey walks out of the room without saying anything. She doesn't check if Harlow is okay, she doesn't thank Quinn for coming, and she doesn't tell either of them where she's going. She's dripping blue slime all over the carpet as she walks through the house but she doesn't really care. She's sure there will be an entire cleaning crew in the house within the next hour anyway. Right now she needs to get outside because the smell of Harlow's insides all over her body is going to make her sick.

On her way out she runs into Grayson; not physically. Grayson stops before their bodies collide.

"Woah! What the fuck?" Grayson holds his hands up as if he's being held at gunpoint and takes a step back. He knew it was going to be bad but he didn't expect it to be this bad. 

Courtney just walks past him, "Will you hose me down outside?" She doesn't know why this was her first idea. Getting into a shower would have probably been more efficient but she doesn't really care right now. She just needs this vomit off of her.

Grayson follows her outside to the front yard and grabs the hose on the side of the house that the gardener uses.

The water that hits her skin is freezing and jarring. Grayson puts his thumb on the end of the nozzle to strengthen the water pressure. Courtney turns slowly to let the water hit her on every side while Grayson sweeps the hose up and down. Once her clothes are clean, he releases his thumb and holds the garden hose as she rinses her hands through her hair.

She stands up and he turns the water off. 

She's drenched. And cold. But at least she's clean.

"Good?" Grayson asks.

"Yeah." She responds.

With that, Grayson makes his way into the house. 

_______________________________________

Harlow is still in disbelief days after the incident.

He's been ignoring Courtney's calls and texts.

He just can't bring himself to face her right now. 

Grayson, Will, and Quinn all reassured him that if she really liked him, this situation wouldn't be enough to scare her away. And they were right because Courtney hasn't stopped texting him since it happened but whether or not he was strong enough to get past this was the real question. 

Courtney has thought about just going over to his house to break the silence but she figures that if he wanted to talk to her he would have picked up her calls or at least responded to her texts so she decides to give him his space.

A week and a half goes by and Courtney is starting to wonder whether she's going to hear from Harlow ever.

Harlow's friends have noticed the silence as well. He kept turning them down when they asked to hang out and eventually he just completely stopped responding to the group chat. His friends don't have as much self control as Courtney and they decide to show up at his house unannounced. 

As to be expected Harlow is in his room, gorging himself on things that the National Food Guide wouldn't consider food. He barely acknowledges their presence as they walk further into his room. Quinn goes over and opens the blinds and Harlow recoils at the harshness of the light. 

After a few minutes of trying to get him to respond to anything they're saying, Grayson grabs his phone and tells him that he's going to, "respond to these texts from your girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend." Is the first and only thing he says.

That wasn't necessarily a protest so Grayson goes ahead and texts Courtney.

Hey Courtney, it's Grayson. Harlow isn't dead, he's just... going through it.

Is he okay?

Grayson is surprised at how fast she responds. He looks over to Harlow, moping on the bed. For a second he considers lying but he knows she'll see right through him.

Not really.

She already knew the answer to this question but it feels more real now that it's been confirmed by another person. 

Can I do anything?

Nah, me and the boys got it covered. I'm sure he'll be fine. We'll call you if we do end up needing your help though.

Okay, thanks Grayson.

She thinks of anything else she needs to say. She wants to tell Grayson to tell Harlow something for her but she doesn't know what. 

Can you tell Harlow that I'm thinking of him?

Grayson has already put the phone down when her text goes through so she doesn't get a response.