CASSIE'S COFFEE HOUSE
"Oh. My. God." Courtney inhales another
giant gulp of the mocha in front of her. "This is exactly what I needed
this morning."
"I could go for a magic wand or something,"
Lauren grumbles from across the table.
"Magic wand?"
"Yeah. To make last night go away
... or maybe make this whole thing with Alex and me go away. Just -- poof,
into thin air."
"Was last night that bad?" Courtney
asks.
Lauren's brown eyes widen. "Ohhhhhhh!
It was just ... wow. Beyond the realm of what I ever could've expected."
She goes back to mulling over her
own hardly touched drink, a steaming mug of coffee and chocolate that is
usually one of her favorite treats. "I guess I should've seen it coming,"
she says dolefully. "But you know how I am -- completely oblivious. A real
idiot."
"What happened, Lauren? When I saw
you and Alex kiss and then head upstairs, I thought something good
was going on." She pauses as a new possibility strikes her consciousness.
"He didn't hurt you, did he?"
"No, no, no." Lauren shakes her head
emphatically. "I mean, he didn't attack me or anything."
"Good. I figured Alex wasn't the
type to do something like that, but you never know ..."
Lauren's eyebrows jump as she shares
a private joke with herself. "Nope. Definitely not that type."
Confused, Courtney watches for a
few seconds and then says, "You know, I could maybe be of some help
to you if you'd tell me what in the world is going on."
"All right ... You said you saw us
kiss, right?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, so after that thing with Nate
I was in a terrible mood. I talked myself into going to talk to Alex. Maybe
I was hoping something would happen, maybe I just wanted him to make me
feel better. I dunno. So I started asking why things didn't work out between
us, and I kissed him."
"And?"
"It was weird. He, like, didn't kiss
back at all. But he didn't push me away, either. And then he told me we
needed to talk, seriously."
"... which is why you went upstairs."
"Exactly." Finally Lauren draws a
long, slow sip of her drink, but as it goes down into her unwelcoming stomach,
she realizes that it was more to allow her to stall and think than because
she wanted to drink it. "I ... I don't know how much I should say, Court."
"What do you mean?"
"It's ... complicated." Lauren risks
a look up into her friend's face and, seeing it so full of confusion, she
is tempted to spill the whole story. She's so used to being able to do
that with Courtney. But she can't, she shouldn't, not now. "I will tell
you that it is definitely totally over between Alex and me," she says.
"All right," Courtney says, showing
a touch of disappointment. "I'm sorry."
"I am, too. But it's for the best
that I know. Believe me."
Court looks down into her mocha and
then back up at Lauren. "So what, you don't feel comfortable telling me
what happened upstairs?"
"No, it's not--well, yeah. I mean,
I don't know if it's my place to tell you or not."
"What? You were in the middle of
it."
"I know, but ... like I said, it's
complicated. Just go see Alex first. Ask him about it."
Courtney accepts the instructions
with a baffled crinkle of her brow. What in the world is going on? Is Alex
in as bad shape as Lauren? She has to find out. And she will.
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