“Thank you so much, Mrs. Johnson. I promise you won’t have to worry about anything else.” I gave her a polite smile, despite the look Courtney was giving me. “Very well then. Let’s go.” She turned around and we made our way outside of the pool area, and eventually out of the building. “Goodnight Mrs. Johnson,” She waved us goodbye and I turned to Courtney. “What the hell was she talking about?” I sighed and put my head down. “You’re going away…? And you didn’t even bother to tell me? Diggy…” She ran her hands through her hair. “I was gonna tell you…” She shook her head. “When? The night before you’re supposed to leave? Damn, Diggy… You didn’t even bring this to me. We haven’t talked about this at all… Why?” I grabbed her hands, but she slipped them out of mine. “Courtney, listen to me. I was going to tell you about it… When… I’m not so sure.” She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe this,” “Listen baby, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about what was going on. I’m sorry you had to hear it from her and instead of me. But I promise to tell you everything, sweetheart…” She didn’t say anything. “Please don’t be mad at me…” She shook her head. “I’m not mad… I’m just hurt… You’re leaving? For how long?” I put my head down. “Till about February…” She rolled in her lips and I knew that she was about to cry. “Courtney-“ “It’s late… I need to get some sleep… I-I’ll talk to you later.” She wiped a tear from her eye. “C’mon now, baby…” She turned around and began walking away. “Goodnight Diggy,”
“Yo Dig, you alright?” Ricky sat on my bed as I gathered my stuff for class. “Not really, man.” I sighed. “What’s wrong?” I zipped up my backpack and stood to my feet. “It’s just some problems with me and Courtney…” He stood up behind me. “Uh-Oh. You were cheating?” I snapped my head around. “No!” He nodded. “She was cheating? Awe man… I’m so-“ I put my hand up. “No one was cheating. She found out I was leaving for my music career… But she didn’t find out from me… So she’s pretty upset.” I sighed and threw my backpack over my shoulder. “Damn… Well, you just need to talk to her, man.” I nodded. “I am… It’s not going to be easy, but I will talk to her.”
“Courtney?” I looked around the cafeteria for Courtney. “Babe?” I walked around. She wasn’t here. I sighed and sat down at an empty table. I pulled out my phone and dialed her number. I put the phone to my ear as it began to ring. One time… Three times… Six times… Then voicemail. I blew out a breath and placed my phone on the table. Maybe she had to stay after class… I shook my head. For what, Diggy? Courtney’s like the perfect student. She wouldn’t ever have to stay after class. Then where is she? I opened my grape juice and began to drink from it. Dig, maybe she’s just avoiding you. I mean, she has every right to. You did keep something pretty important away from her. She did seem pretty upset last night. Maybe she just needs some space…
Well Courtney, I’m sorry but I can’t do that…
“Courtney, I know you’re in here. Please let me in.” There was silence. “C’mon now, baby. Don’t be like this.” Nothing. I knocked on the door harder. “You owe me for this,” I heard a voice from inside their dorm. The nob twisted and the door opened. A tall girl with long brown hair stood before me. “Hi… Are you Courtney’s roommate?” The girl nodded. “The name’s Elise. Look um… Diggy? Courtney doesn’t want to speak to you right now.” I shook my head. “Oh well,” I pushed past her and walked in their dorm. Courtney sat on her bed with her arms folded. “Great job, Elise.” I stood in front of her. “Avoiding me?” She sighed. “Diggy-“ “No. Courtney, we need to talk. Now.” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t want to talk to you right now,” I grabbed her arm. “Oh well,” I pulled her off the bed and led her out of her room. We stepped in the hallway and she snatched her arm away from me. She rubbed around her wrist. “What do you want?” She pushed back her hair and stared at me with angry eyes. “Why are you avoiding me?” She didn’t say anything. “Alexa…” I looked at the ground while shaking my head. “I know you want to talk about this, but we can’t do that if you keep avoiding me.” She still didn’t say anything. I stepped closer to her and placed my hands on her waist. “Please talk to me…” She lifted her head and looked into my eyes. Her eyes were turning red and they were filled with tears. She blew out a breath and laid her head on my chest. “…Why didn’t you tell me?” She sniffled and I closed my eyes. “For this exact reason… I-I didn’t want to see you hurt. I mean, I was going to tell you… There’s just never a right time to tell someone this type of stuff…” She lifted her head and wiped away her tears. “I’m sorry…” She drew in a breath and began to calm down. “No, no, sweetheart. You don’t have to apologize. I should be the one apologizing to you.” She was silent. “Listen. How about we head over to my dorm, pick up some food on the way, and talk this all out? Sound like a plan? It’s about time I tell you what’s been going on… I’m so sorry I kept it from you.” She gave my hand a squeeze. “It’s alright… Let me grab my stuff and then we can go.”
“Okay… Start from the beginning.” Courtney opened her container of chicken and grabbed her fork. “Alright… Well, over the summer Chris called me saying that this was the perfect time to start taking my music career off the ground. He was telling me that once I enroll into college, and get off to a good start, we could see if I could take my studies on the road while promoting my music.” She nodded, while chewing her food. “He said he would get in touch with all of my professors and see if we could work something out… And he just told me a week ago that my professors said it was okay as long I was doing what I needed to do.” She glanced at me. “And I promise I’ve been trying to find out a way to tell you since then.” She nodded. “And when do you leave?” I put my head down and whispered, “Two weeks,” She placed her food on the floor. “And you’ll be gone since February…” She shook her head. “That’s a long time for me to be away from you, Diggy…” I nodded. “I know, baby. For me too… But we’re gonna make this work, right?” She nodded. “Of course,”
“Tell me what’s the deal with you.
There’s something wrong, I feel it too…
We hardly see each other.
And now you wanna talk about space.
You’ve changed.”
“Court, c’mere for a quick second.” Courtney turned around as she headed out of my dorm. She walked towards me and I opened my arms. She smiled at me and slowly sat on my lap. “Let’s make the best out of these next two weeks, alright?” She nodded. “Okay,” I kissed her cheek. “I promise to make our time together special before I have to go…” She looked at the floor beneath us. “I love you, Courtney.” She looked into my eyes. “I love you too, Daniel.”
“Baby, how would you feel if I were to take you out tonight?” She smiled as she sat down at the table. “Where we going?” I smiled. “Anywhere your heart desires…” I moved my hands in the form of a rainbow. “How about we go bowling?” I chuckled. “Ohoho, somebody wants to get beat tonight.” She slammed her hands on the table. “Whatever! Man, you know I’m the best at bowling.” I laughed while holding while stomach. “I must be really amusing you… Obviously you haven’t seen me bowl.” She licked her lips. “And you haven’t seen me either.” I squinted my eyes at her. “I guess we’ll see the best bowler tonight,”
“Bam! Another strike! You might as well surrender now, babe.” She did this little dance as she walked back to the seats. “So cocky, baby. I love it, but the game has yet to be over.” She ran a hand through her hair. “Might as well be. I’m up by like forty.” I rolled my eyes. “You won’t be, when I knock out these strikes.” I laughed. “Haha, okay.” She sat there as I lined myself up. “Don’t go too far left, na. I don’t want it to go straight in the gutter.” She started laughing. I shook my head and started taking slow steps. “Thanks babe…” I swung out my arm and dropped the ball down the lane. It rolled down the middle and hit the first pin; knocking the rest down. “But I think I’m good,” She rolled her eyes. “Whatever… I’m still in the lead.” She got up and grabbed her blue and purple ball. She adjusted it on her hand and walked over to the little black dots. She sighed and lined herself up. “Awe baby, what’s wrong?” I teased her and she rolled her eyes. “Mad that I’m catching up?” I walked over to her. “Diggy, back up.” Her voice was hard. “C’mon now, babe. I just want a hug…” I slipped my arms around her waist; and her body began to relax. “I know what you’re trying to do, Daniel… But it’s not going to work.” I smiled. “What am I trying to do, honey? I’m not trying to do anything…” I kissed her cheek. “I’m just trying to make you happy…” She twirled the ball in her hands. “I’ll be happy when you lose this game. Now if you’ll excuse me…” “Alright, alright,” I took my hands from around her waist and backed away. I walked back over to the chairs and sat down. “Better?” I looked up to see the ball knocking all the pins down. She turned to me with a smirk on her face. “Perfect,”
“Did you have fun tonight?” I grabbed Courtney’s hand as we walked towards her dorm. “If you’re asking if I had fun beating you, I did.” She smiled and I shook my head. “I throwed the game…” She giggled. “Whatever, you lost by almost a hundred. No one would drop that low even if they were trying to lose the game.” I pulled her closer to me as we stood in front of her door. “I must really love you…” She looked into my eyes and started to blush. I brought my lips to hers slowly. We kissed sweetly before I backed away. She smiled at me. “Gosh… You’re smile is so beautiful.” I shook my head. “My goodness…” Her cheeks burned a brighter red. I caressed her cheek. “You’re beautiful…” She stood on her tippy-toes and kissed my lips quickly. She slipped her arms around my neck and I hugged her around her waist. “Gosh, I love you so much…” I hugged her tighter. “I love you too, baby.”