Starting Over / Shourtney

Chapter Six: Packing Up

<Courtney's POV>

*Beep Beep Beep*

The sound of my alarm rang through my otherwise quiet room and I fumbled to grab my phone from my night stand. I opened my eyes a crack before squeezing them shut again against the too-bright-sun streaming through my windows. Finally managing to hit the stop button I let out a sigh of relief.

My head was pounding, and I groaned as I pushed myself up into a sitting position and rubbed my face with my hands. It was slowly coming back to me how much I had drunk the night before. That explained the head ache.

I dared to open my eyes again and blinked several times before I felt like I could actually see my surroundings. My room was an absolute mess. My clothes from the night before were strewn across my floor. One of my shoes was on the end of my bed while the other was all the way across my apartment by the front door, next to what must have been my crumpled-up sweatshirt.

"Coffee is a must." I muttered as I forced myself to push off my covers and padded over to the coffee maker.

I made myself a large cup and threw some bread in the toaster before settling down onto my couch. My head was still killing me, and it didn't help that my memories from last night were flooding back into my brain. If there had been a list of things not to do when drunk at my job's shut-down party, making out with Shayne would have been at the very top. I felt my face burn as my now sober-self groaned at my own stupidity.

And it wasn't just any kiss. It was all consuming. Our bodies pressed together. His mouth moving against mine. The way he backed me up against that wall... I shivered involuntarily at the memory.

So much for tabling it.

I finished my coffee and toast by route, my mind still working overtime, overanalyzing the events of the night before. I decided to take a shower to clear my head... and well, because I still reeked of beer. Once I was clean, dressed, and feeling a bit better, I saw that I had a text from Ian on the Squad group chat. He was reminding us that we agreed to meet the next day at the office to have a quick meeting and clear out our stuff. I replied that I would be there.

I watched the chat, waiting for the rest of my friends respond. Shayne replied. "See you guys there." Even those simple words sent a shock through my gut and I hastily put my phone down. Stop it Courtney. I would deal with this tomorrow.

When tomorrow came, I was very much sober as I stood at the front entrance to the place I called my second home. There was eviction notice pinned to the door.

"Damn that was fast."

I looked over to see that Olivia had walked up beside me.

"Yeah," I agreed with a frown. "Sort of a punch in the gut to see the sign, huh?"

She nodded as we stared ahead at the notice.

"I just thought we were... so stable, you know?" Olivia confessed.

"I know."

"Should we be looking for new jobs?"

That caught my attention, and I turned my head towards her quickly.

"Liv, it's all going to work out. I know it is."

I needed her to believe it because I needed it to be true. The idea that all of this was over was too much for me to fathom. With little to no information about the situation, all I could do at this point was choose to believe that we would be ok.

"I guess," She said and stepped forward to push open the door. I followed her into the building and up towards our office. It was a total mess. No one had cleaned up after our party and there had definitely been some looting that had gone on.