KING'S BAY PARK
Courtney's feet step over the bark,
crunching it lightly as she walks closer to the swings.
"Alex, I love you," she says as she
stops just a couple of feet in front of him. "You're practically my brother.
I want you to be happy."
"I love you, too," he says. The beginnings
of relief are washing through his body and he loosens his grip on the chains
a little.
Courtney sees him start to smile
a little, the evening moonlight catching his soft face at just the right
angle for her to realize why Lauren was so into him for so long. It makes
it even more difficult to say what she is going to say.
She forces it out, though. She knows
she has to. "I wish I could have found out about this in a different way.
I'd want to be there for you and help you through this."
There is a little pause before he
responds. "Thanks."
"But just because you're going through
a rough time does not make what you put Lauren through okay! And
it's even worse that Jason let it go on!"
Alex rises from the swing, still
holding the chains but rising almost to his full height. "I asked him to
keep quiet about it--"
"He still let it go on! Lauren got
hurt really badly. He knew that was going to happen." Courtney is staring
Jason down now.
Jason's defense comes ripping out
of him abruptly and furiously. "I tried! You got mad at me for telling
you to back off, remember that? And you don't have any idea of half the
stuff that went on--"
"No, I don't! That's the problem,
Jason!" She throws up her hands in total frustration. "How is this supposed
to work between us if I can't even trust you to watch out for me or your
other friends?"
"It's complicated," he says, much
more quietly. "More than you understand." He looks like he is going to
cry now.
"Maybe." She steps back from them.
Jason can see the shock of what has just happened painted all over her
face, still sinking in.
"I need to go," she says. "To think."
Holding her purse at her side with the other arm, she turns and jogs off.
Jason finally stands up, off of the
swing, but his legs don't take him anywhere. "I need to go after her ..."
"Let her go," Alex says. "Just for
now. Let her cool down. You guys will work this out. I know you will."
Jason watches her shadow disappearing
into the night, fading away from him.
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