Glimpse

Chapter 32: Courtney **Mature**

Fresh red sheets enclosed Courtney's sprawled-out form lying on her stomach across the diagonal of Shayne's bed. Absentminded fingertips toyed with the tracking pad of his laptop. Scrolling up and down without purpose. Too distracted by Shayne's secured bathroom door, or rather, what was hidden behind it.

On the ground adjacent to the door, their sodden garments spilled over the rim of an overfilled laundry bin. A bra strap dangling from the wrinkled heap of clothing skimmed the puddle pooling on the wooden floorboards. Why didn't I think to pack another change of clothes? This is the second time, for God's sake. Courtney groaned, shoving the laptop away. An array of colored contacts lined its screen.

The compulsion to join his shower pulsated across Courtney's exterior, spurring her to barge in and attach herself to him. To latch on and never let go. It electrified her muscle, but willpower shackled Courtney to his bed.

Tugging his borrowed shirt to her nose, Shayne's scent soothed her unraveling nerves. Its anesthetic infiltrated her arteries. Liquified comfort gushing through veins. It suppressed the rapid firing of synapses sparking her nervous system and provoked a resurgence of the past.

Memories projected across her eyelids, reels of film portraying frame after frame of a nostalgic bliss she longed for. A time where the term 'alternate' tasted foreign and genuine happiness graced his features more often than not. A time before dating even seemed in the realm of possibility.

I don't want to go back if I can't be with you.

Courtney smothered the tears condensing in her throat with his scent-saturated pillow. It's not the same. It's not you. Still, she curled into a ball around it, eyes dashing to the bathroom now and then. A few inches of wood. That was all that separated him from her, yet loneliness snaked its way in. You'll be an entire universe away soon enough.

Chimes whistling from the computer sidelined her thoughts and diverted her attention to an email notification flashing in the upper right corner of its screen. I know it's none of my business, but... Curiosity clicked it, prompting a new browser window to open to Shayne's email. Damien's response popped onto the screen:

'Sounds good, I'll text you later with a time and place. Also, I still want at this Alternate of yours, maybe pry some information out of him.'

Saliva trickled down her esophagus, snagging on membrane and choking her breath. Eyes flying back and forth, she read and reread the message. Over and over, praying that her vision had tricked her. Nothing changed. Black letters burned her irises, their connotation unwavering.

Damien wanted to talk to Alternate Shayne.

What are you crazy?

Then again, they had omitted Alternate Shayne's motivation for hating him. The threesome and the resulting fallout, items they had both elected to exclude from their journals. Too embarrassing and seemingly irrelevant. Would that prick even co-operate?

Though his jagged edges softening escorted Courtney towards a yes, she worried that it originated from self-preservation rather than a legitimate desire to assist. This change of heart. The vulnerability he chose to not only show her, but now Shayne as well. Are you scared of being alone too?

Hearing the door creak open, Courtney tabbed-out of his email and to her Amazon search. Laptop discarded to the side, her focus redirected to Shayne now leaning on the doorframe.

Water painted trails down his torso to saturate his loose-fitting sweatpants. Glistening beads accented sharp lines and chiseled abs. Traveling up his well-defined V and across bulging pecs, her emeralds tarried at stubble framing his mouth. She licked her lips, an unconscious act that a canine spearing his smirk reciprocated.