Starting Over / Shourtney

Chapter Three: The Weekend from Hell

<Courtney's POV>

Even though Shayne told me not to hesitate to call him over the weekend, the jumbled nerves in my stomach warned me vehemently against it. I guess I wasn't ready to deal with the elephant just yet. But as soon as I got home, I realized that I very much could not be on my own tonight and I quickly texted Ian.

C: Hey, what are you doing right now?

I: Wallowing in angst and self-pity. You?

C: Lol yup, pretty much the same. Want to do that over at my place? Maybe watch a movie?

I: Sounds like a much better plan. Be there in 30?

I replied with a thumbs-up and dragged myself up off the couch to check if I had anything in my apartment for us to eat. After finding nothing edible but a singular bag of Cheetos, I saw a message from Ian that Damien had texted him and he was picking him up on his way over. I replied that that sounded great and said I would order us pizza.

The boys showed up at my door 20 minutes later and I felt my body breath an involuntary sigh of relief at the sight of them. Damien pulled me into a hug as soon as he walked into the apartment.

"Hey you. How are you holding up?"

"I'm doing alright," I replied with a small smiled, pulling back from his arms. "It's just weird, you know?"

"Don't we all," Ian agreed, plopping himself down onto my couch. "I brought the wine," he added, holding up the bottle.

"I'm glad you guys are here," I said, moving towards my kitchen to grab some water bottles, a bottle opener and some cups. Damien followed me and grabbed the water bottles, carrying them over to the couch and handing one off to Ian.

Ian nodded in thanks and took a sip of water before asking, "Did you end up reaching Shayne?"

My ears perked up at Shayne's name and I became slightly more aware of my heart thudding in my chest as I waited for Damien's response.

"Oh yeah, he texted me back right before we got here saying he wanted to come over too but couldn't." Damian shrugged, before looking over at me and adding, "I hope you don't mind that we texted him without telling you."

"Oh no, of course not. Not at all," I sputtered, "Did Shayne say why he couldn't make it?" I asked as casually as I could manage as I poured the Cheetos into a bowl.

"Nope," Damien replied, settling onto the couch next to Ian. "Only that he wasn't able to come with tonight."

"Oh, ok," I said, trying not to let my disappointment show in my voice. I wondered if Shayne was actually being honest when he said he would be there for me if I needed over the weekend. Even though I had purposely not called him tonight, a part of me was a little disappointed that he didn't come over when Damien asked.

"I'm glad we're doing this though. There's no reason to be sitting home alone tonight. It's good to be together," Ian said, reaching for cork screw to open the bottle he brought.

"With this weirdly appropriate wine brand." Damien commented, gesturing to the label on the front of the bottle which had imagery of flames engulfing a city.

"Oh I get it, because our careers just all went up in flames," Ian quipped sarcastically.

"The juxtaposition of this wine bottle to our current situation is incredibly fitting. In this essay, I will..." I began and my friends all joined me in insuppressible laughter. It felt good, and any nervous tension I had in my body since hearing the news today seemed to fade away as I laughed with my friends.