Fast-Talking Friday

Hey guys!

How's your day going?

SUMMER! Summer school is officially over! I don't know how I did, but I did my best and that's all that matters. Now I can do all of the things that I want to do this summer! Beach, bonfire, San Francisco, San Diego, shopping, trying to work out (probably not going to happen), picnic- I'm SOOO excited! :)

Is anyone taking any vacations or going on any trips this summer (or went on some trips this summer)?

Oh, boy. I'm exhausted. There really isn't anything going on right now. My room exploded so I have no idea how I'm going to sleep right now.

Happy Friday, guys!

Today's National Cheesecake Day! Half off on cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory! :)

Have a great weekend!

New York, New York

My jaw dropped. I thought I had heard her wrong because she couldn't have possibly said New York. New York as in The Big Apple. New York as in the state that is almost 3,000 miles away from California. New York as in the New York that is all the way on the other side of the country. Yeah, she couldn't have possibly said New York.

"New York?" I asked her. "Why are you in New York?" I heard her sigh.

"It's a long story," she told me.

"I have time," I told her. Henry poked his head into the hotel room right when I said that. "Hold on one second." I put the phone against my body.

"Hey, are you coming?" Henry asked me. He saw that I was on the phone. "Who are you talking to?"

"Sarah," I said to him. He gave me a look as if to say "what?". "I know. I think you and Justin should go without me. I want to talk to Sarah for a bit."

"Ok, I'll bring you back something," he said to me. "I don't want you to pass out from hunger." I smiled at how sweet he was. He came in and give me a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving the room. He made sure to close the door behind him.

"Hey, I'm back," I said into the phone. "So why are you in New York? Why did you leave Justin?"

"I love Justin, I do, Courtney," she said. "I mean, I don't know how to put this. I don't know how to say this in words and actually make it make sense. It's complicated."

I don't think I can say that I know what she's going through and that I understood what she was feeling, but I wish that she'd just try to talk it out. Maybe if she had talked it out with me then this whole leaving Justin at the alter thing wouldn't have happened. I wanted her to make me understand what was going on inside her mind.

"Please try?" I pleaded with her. She took a deep breath.

"Justin and I have been together for so many years, Courtney," she said. "We know each other inside and out. We're so comfortable around each other and we can tell each other anything."

"So far I'm not really seeing a problem here," I said to her.

"I know," she said. "But I don't know, I feel like we're in a rut. We've become so predictable. When we're not in school, we're working. After we get off of work, we would hang out at his house and watch a movie. If we're not at his house watching a movie, then we're out to dinner at the burger joint. It gets boring after awhile, you know what I mean?" I started to nod, but I realized that she couldn't see me.

"Yes, I know what you mean, Sarah," I said to her. "But that's when you suggest new things to do. You know, try out a new restaurant? Go hiking? Go to a park for a picnic?"

"I did!" she exclaimed. "We did all those things. I thought that I could marry him and then everything would be ok. But then I asked myself, can I do this for the rest of my life? And I couldn't."

"Oh," I said.

"I just got bored of him," Sarah continued. "It doesn't mean that I don't love him, because I do, but I just don't look forward to spending time with him anymore."

"Maybe you shouldn't be explaining this to me, but to Justin," I told her.

"No, I can't," she said. "I mean, I'm in New York now."

"Why are you there?" I exclaimed.

"There was this guy in one of my clubs," Sarah said. "His name's Sean. We've been hanging out for awhile now and we're really close. We're not dating or anything because I was with Justin. Now that Justin and I are over.. Well, I guess you could say that Sean and I are together. He's going to New York University and he asked me to come with him to New York. So, I did and we're moving in together... In New York. Actually, we just signed the lease today."

When You're Going to San Francisco

It had been two days since anyone has seen either Justin or Sarah.

After Justin had left, Haylie, Henry, and I had sat in the living room waiting for him to get back to the reception. The minutes had turned into hours and no one had heard back from him. I had tried calling him, but all I got was his voice mail. I left a couple of voice mails pleading him to come back to the house, but they were left unanswered.

But thankfully, his parents just called me to let me know that he was ok. Justin had called his parents letting them know that he was safe He explained to them that he needed to get away from everything because everything reminded him of Sarah. I felt a rush of relief when his parents had called me to let me know that he was fine. I immediately called Henry and Haylie (who will relay the information to Adam) to tell them the wonderful news. They are going to be so relieved.

Guess where he is? He's staying at a hotel in San Francisco. He traveled all the way to San Francisco to get away from Beachside. I was a little angry at Justin for not returning anyone's calls when he was nice and comfortable in a hotel in San Francisco while we were all worried sick about him. I tried to think positively. At least he's ok.

Apparently, he didn't go find Sean, whoever Sean was. Justin went home to take a duffel bag full of clothes and drove off to San Francisco.

Sarah's parents were extremely worried about her. They were relieved that Justin was safe and sound, but there was still no signs of Sarah.

Unfortunately, she had left her cell phone behind when she ran off. We had no way of contacting her. Henry and I went to all of her favorite places in town (and some closely out of town) but no one remembered seeing her in the last two or three days. We gave up searching for her (for now) because we knew that there was nothing we could do about it because she was the one who left.

Henry and I decided to drive up to San Francisco to be there for Justin. Haylie declined the invitation to tag along and Adam.. Well, Adam was busy entertaining Zoey. They've been all over each other since they had gotten back together. It was disgusting, really, to see all that PDA.

"It's nice that we're taking a road trip together," I said to Henry as we passed by a sign indicating that we're 30-something miles away from San Francisco. "Too bad that it's under these circumstances."

"I promise we'll go on a nice road trip together one day," he said with a smile. "Maybe when all of this blows over." I grinned.

Half an hour later, we arrived at the hotel that Justin was staying at. It took a lot of coaxing and lies, but we managed to get the receptionist to give us Justin's room number. I don't really want to talk about it, but let me tell you, it involved a lot of leg.

We got into the elevator and I pushed the number 3. Justin was staying in room 310. I watched as the number jumped from L to 1, 1 to 2, and finally 2 to 3. The doors opened and we got off the elevator. I pointed to the right, where the sign said room 310 would be, and Henry and I followed the hallway until we reached the room marked 310.

But before I could raise my hand to knock on the door, the door opened. A drop dead gorgeous brunette stepped out wearing a really short dress with a super low cut that revealed a lot of cleavage. She gave us a strange look and proceeded to walk down the hallway, towards the elevators. She didn't notice that she had left the door open.

I peeked inside and it appeared that the coast was clear. Henry and I went inside, calling Justin's name. Justin stepped out of the walk-in closet.

"Henry? Courtney? What are you guys doing here?" he asked us, confused.

"We came here to be there for you," I said, giving him a hug.

"Who was that girl that just left?" Henry asked him. Justin looked embarrassed and looked away.

"She was a girl that I met at the bar last night," he mumbled. "I don't remember what happened. I've been drinking a lot in the last two days." Henry patted him on the back.

"Come on, let's go downstairs to get something to eat," Henry said to him. "We haven't eaten lunch yet and we're starving." Henry and Justin walked into the hallway.

I heard my phone ring in my purse and I scrambled to find it.

"Hello?" I said into the phone.

"Courtney, it's me," It was unmistakable. It was Sarah.

"Sarah, where are you?" I asked her, worriedly.

"I'm in New York," she said.

The Big Day (Part IV)

Justin broke down in tears a minute after reading the note. I looked at Henry, sadly. I really felt bad for Justin. When Justin started crying, Haylie followed suit. I went inside and grabbed a box of tissues for both of them. I found Henry sitting down next to Justin, trying to comfort him.

"Why would she do this to me?" Justin blubbered.

"I don't know, J," Henry said, patting his back. My heart ached for Justin. I handed him the tissue box.

"Here's the tissues, Justin," I said to him. "Everything's going to be ok, I know it."

"How can everything be ok when the love of my life just ran out on me on our wedding day without an explanation?" he asked me, angrily. He was practically yelling at me. "How is that ok, Courtney? Tell me that!"

I was speechless. I didn't want to say anything else that would provoke Justin. I just bit my tongue and let it go, even though he had no reason to yell at me like that.

"Don't snap at Courtney," Henry said to him. "She didn't do anything to you. She's just trying to be a good friend." Justin sighed.

"I'm sorry, Courtney," he said to me. I gave him a hug. "I don't know what to do. I have a back yard full of people expecting a wedding and I don't even know why she ran out."

"Am I too late for the wedding?" I heard someone yell loudly. I saw someone stumble into the kitchen, obviously drunk. Taylor.

Henry looked at me, surprised. I mirrored the same look. Haylie had her mouth hanging open. I quickly went up to him and brought him into the living room.

"What are you doing here?" I hissed at him. "You weren't invited to the wedding."

"Is that any way to say hello to someone, Courtney?" he asked me, his breath reeking of alcohol. "For your information, Sarah invited me so we could talk."

"Talk? What's there to talk about?" I asked him. Obviously, Ricky had gotten him drunk so Taylor would have the "courage" to come over to talk to me. That's something only Ricky would do, drink before going to a formal function. He went to prom drunk. "There's nothing to talk about, Taylor. You know how I feel."

"But, I love you, Courtney," he exclaimed, loudly. "I don't love Farrah! I love you! I want you back!"

"Taylor, let's talk about this when you're sober," I said to him. "We'll get a coffee or something. Let me call you a cab." I called a cab and sent Taylor on his way. I went back into the kitchen to find only Henry in there.

"Hey, where did Justin and Haylie go?" I asked him, confused.

"They went to tell everyone what happened, I think we're still going to have the reception," he said. "Is everything ok with Taylor?"

"I sent him home in a cab," I told him. "Apparently, Sarah invited him to the wedding so we could talk."

"Oh," was all he said. I went over and kissed him on the cheek.

"I want to start telling people about us," I said to him. He nodded and smiled, probably relieved by the fact that people would know that I'm off limits. Haylie busted into the kitchen in a panic.

"OMG! Justin's gone!" she cried.

"What do you mean Justin's gone?" Henry asked, incredulously.

"I accidentally let it slip why I thought Sarah left! I didn't mean to! It just slipped out!" Haylie exclaimed. "He told everyone to enjoy the reception and that he will be back! I think he's going to do something to that club guy."

"I don't think he's going to talk to the club guy," I said to her. "You don't even know who he is."

"He muttered a name," Haylie said. "I think I heard the name Sean."

"Oh, crap," Henry said.

Fast-Talking Friday

Hey guys!

How are you guys?

I can't believe it's Friday already. I'm kind of in high-stress mode because I have finals this week for summer school. I feel like I'm tired and cranky all the time. There's so many projects and midterms and reviews I have to do this week and I'm not sure how I'm going to manage to pull it all together by Thursday. I think I need a vacation. Badly.

Of course, I brought this onto myself by trying to do more than I physically can handle. But, on the bright side, I got the Honors room organized! It was awesome to see the looks on the guys' faces when they saw that it was clean. They loved the surprise and now think I'm superwoman because I did this in between classes. :)

So, I'm taking a break today to see Grown Ups with one of the guys in Honors. It's going to be a blast, we always have fun together. Did anyone see Grown Ups? I saw Dispicable Me on my birthday. Again, thank you for all the birthday wishes. :) I had a really nice birthday, hanging out with my boyfriend and the movie was adorable!

I heard that Inception was REALLY good. Has anyone seen that one yet? I think I'm going to see it with my boyfriend on Monday (apparently, I'm taking lots of breaks! :]).

Does anyone want to give brief review of any of the movies above (or a movie you really liked or disliked that you've seen recently)?

I know that this post is all over the place, but I would like to get back onto the topic of vacation!

I'll be heading to San Diego from August 9th until the 12th or the 13th. The vacation may or may not affect the posting schedule (probably not, hopefully, if I get my act together and stop being in "summer" mode). I just wanted to give you guys a heads up. I'll post something on the sidebar (does anyone even read the sidebars? I'm just curious. :]) as a reminder. :)

I think I'll stop rambling now and go to sleep before taking my Astronomy exam. =]

Happy Friday, guys!

Have a GREAT weekend! :)

The Big Day (Part III)

I held the note in my hand, reading it several times over. I was shocked, to say the least. I would have never thought that Sarah would run off like this. I mean, she loves Justin and Justin loves her. They're soul mates. Anyone who looked at them knew it. They were voted cutest couple in high school for heaven's sake.

Haylie looked at me, looking just as shocked as I was. I found Sarah's wedding dress hanging on the door when I closed it. I shook my head in disbelief. I can't believe this is happening. That's when it hit me. Someone is going to have to tell Justin what happened. He's going to be completely devastated.

"What are we going to do? OMG, someone has to tell Justin! OMG! OMG! OMG!" Haylie was hyperventilating. I tried to calm her down, but nothing that I was doing was helping. Before I knew it, I saw my hand slap her right across the face. "Ow! Courtney!"

It felt good to slap her. I wanted to do that earlier when she was hitting on Henry. Too bad I didn't slap her hard enough to leave a mark. I mentally smiled. Does that make me a horrible person? It probably does.

"I need you to calm down," I said to her, annoyed. "We need to find Justin and tell him."

"I don't want to tell him this!" Haylie yelled, loudly. "You're such a bitch for slapping me!" I heard a knock on the door.

"Is everything alright?" I heard Henry ask. I opened the door and pulled him into the room before shutting the door behind him.

"Sarah's gone," I told him.

"What do you mean Sarah's gone?" he asked me.

"I mean that she got cold feet and left Justin," I told him. I handed him the note. "Here, she left this." He read the note and his jaw dropped.

"All of the wedding guests are here," he said to me, still in disbelief. "I can't believe she'd do this on her wedding day."

"Why would she run away like this?" Haylie asked. "She and Justin looked completely happy together."

"She was mentioning something about Justin cheating on her when I talked to her the other day," I said. "When I got both her side of the story and Justin's side, it didn't seem like he cheated on her at all."

"No!" Haylie exclaimed, as if realizing something. "It can't be!" Henry and I looked at her confused.

"What?" Henry asked her. Haylie bit her bottom lip, hesitating to say anything.

"Sarah started having feelings for this one guy she met in one of her clubs back when we were still in high school," Haylie said. "I mean, I shrugged it off as just a crush, but I don't know. She always talked about him and they were spending a lot of time together, getting really close to each other. I took it as them being really good friends, but now, I'm not so sure. Maybe it wasn't Justin who had cheated, but Sarah."

"I don't know," I said, with a sigh. "We won't have any answers why she did this until Sarah gives us one. All I know is that we can't stay in here forever. We have to go downstairs and tell Justin." We agreed that we were going to tell him together.

We slowly made our way downstairs, trying to procrastinate the bad news. We located Justin in the backyard talking to one of his relatives. I took a deep breath and walked up to them.

"Hello, my name is Courtney," I said to the woman that Justin was talking to. She introduced herself as Justin's aunt. After a few minutes of small talk, I managed to get Justin alone so Haylie, Henry, and I could talk to him.

"Justin, we have something to tell you, man," Henry said. He looked at Haylie to continue.

"It's pretty bad news, you should sit down for this," Haylie said, sitting him down on the chair behind him.

"What? What is it?" Justin asked us. I took a deep breath and tried not to stumble over my words.

"Sarah's.. Sarah's gone," I said to him. "She left this note." I handed him the note.

I've never seen someone look as heartbroken as Justin did when he read that note.

The Big Day (Part II)

**OOPS, I forgot to schedule the post and pressed "publish post". So, the time stamp will be a little off. Early post, I guess? I'm sorry about that, guys? It was my mistake. Happy Wednesday! :P)

I gulped nervously. I wanted to avoid Henry for as long as I could, well, at least until after the wedding ceremony was over. Then I really couldn't have avoided him for long because he would come looking for me. I mean, I knew that there was a strong possibility that I had scared him with the "love you" I said over the phone.

Honestly, I kind of scared myself. I didn't mean for it to slip out and I wasn't sure if I meant it as a friend or as something more. I just didn't want Henry to leave. I had caught my breath and managed to find my voice.

"Yeah, sure," I said to him, taking a seat in Sarah's kitchen. "So, um, what do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know how to make this not-uncomfortable," he said, with a sigh. "You told me you loved me over the phone?" I nodded, not knowing what to say. There was an awkward silence.

"I don't think I can say it back to you yet, Courtney," He said, breaking the silence. "It's too early in the relationship to be saying 'I love you' or anything of that sort. I don't want to hurt your feelings for anything, but I'm trying to be honest with you here."

"No, I understand," I told him. I did understand. I mean, I'm not sure of my feelings right now. I'm just glad that he's being so honest. "Now, I'm going to be honest with you. I don't know if I meant it as a friend or as something more, because I do love you as a friend. I do, Henry."

"Good because I feel the same way about you," he said, smiling.

There was something nagging at me about the phone conversation. I suddenly realized what it was.

"Did you tell anyone that we're dating?" I asked him. He looked at me confused.

"No, why?" he asked me, questioningly.

"When I called you that day, one of the guys told you to stop talking to your girlfriend," I said. "Then Adam said that it was just me. It sounded like the guy was teasing, but it didn't sound like Adam was."

Henry laughed and took my hand into his.

"They're guys, they're just joking," he told me. "They wanted me to get off the phone so I could hang out with them. Adam doesn't know about us- no one does. I don't think Adam would care that we're dating."

"Why not?" I asked him.

"He and Zoey got back together," Henry told me. "I thought you knew already?" I shook my head no.

I thought that it was odd that Adam didn't tell me that he and Zoey got back together. I was going to ask Henry when this had happened, but I saw something out of the corner of my eye and realized that the wedding guests were starting to arrive.

"Hey, guys!" I looked up and saw Haylie, looking kind of tipsy. Really? She started drinking already? It wasn't even 1 yet! "What are you guys up to?"

"Nothing!" Henry and I both said quickly. Haylie shot us both a look.

"You guys are acting weird," she said. She shrugged and turned to Henry, batting her eyelashes. "So, you look handsome in a tux, Henry. Did you bring a date? A handsome guy like you should have a date." He looked uncomfortable.

"W-w-well, it's complicated," he stuttered.

"Why don't you tell me all about it over a drink?" she said, flirtatiously. "I'd love to hear all about it."

I couldn't believe that Haylie was being so direct (ok, I can). I mean, this is my boyfriend! She doesn't know that yet, but still! She's hitting on my boyfriend! Well, I'm not all too surprised about that either. Isn't she with Luke? I tried not to rip her hair out, which was proving to be very difficult.

"Come on, Haylie, stop flirting with Henry and come with me to check on Sarah," I said to her. She looked at me with a blank stare. "You know, Sarah? The person who's getting married today? One of your best friends? Ringing any bells?"

"Oh right, Sarah! Gotcha!" she said, giggling.

I rolled my eyes and took her hand, dragging her upstairs to Sarah's room. I knocked on Sarah's door and didn't get hear anything.

"Sarah?" I called. I knocked again, louder, but I still didn't hear a response. "I'm coming in!"

I opened the door and the room was empty. Her bedroom window was open and I found a note taped on her desk.

Justin-
I'm sorry, but I can't go through with this. I will always love you and I hope you can forgive me someday.
Sarah.

The Big Day (Part I)

**** Hey, guys!!!!!!! Today's my 19th birthday! WHOOOOOOOOO! Haha. If you can't tell, I'm kind of excited! It's funny that I'm turning 19 on the 19th! But, yes, I wanted to let you guys know that I might be a little late responding to the comments. Oh. I added my email to the sidebar if anyone has any questions, concerns, comments, criticisms or just wants to have a chat. Have a great day, guys! :)*****

I was excited when I woke up this morning. There was so much to do before the wedding. Since the wedding was held in Sarah's backyard, everything had been set up yesterday. The food was being handled by her mom. All we needed to do was get ready and show up to the ceremony while Sarah's mom handled everything else (ie making sure that everything was where it should be). How hard can that be, just showing up to the ceremony?

I jumped out of bed and got my bridesmaid dress. Sarah had changed her mind about 10,000 times about what the bridesmaid should wear. First, she wanted us to wear a aquamarine colored dress. Within 24 hours, she had changed her mind and wanted us to wear a silver colored dress. Finally, she decided to let us wear a black dress of our choosing, as long as it was ALL black and was approved by her first. I think the dresses she approved were no where near as pretty as hers. Yeah, Sarah's a bit of a control freak. That's Ms. 4.0 for you. I mean, really, what did you expect?

After jumping into the shower and pulling my hair up into a ponytail, I headed over to Sarah's house. We had to meet there to get ready. Of course, I was the first one there.

Sarah's nerves were still going.

"OMG, Courtney!" she exclaimed, nervously, after she let me in. "Today's the day."

"Are you ok?" I asked her, worriedly. She nodded, hesitantly.

"I think so," she said. "I have a mixture of feelings going on. I'm really scared, but I'm really excited. I think mostly excited."

"That's normal, sweetie," I told her. "I'm glad that you're no longer nervous about this."

"Me too," she said.

We went upstairs and waited for Haylie to come over so we could go to the hair salon. We waited and waited. She was nearly 15 minutes late. Sarah made me call her. So, I picked up my phone and dialed Haylie's number.

"Haylie, where the hell are you?" I almost yelled into the phone, before she could even get a word in. "The appointment for the hair salon is in half an hour!"

"Courtney?" she asked, groggily. "Oh. Geez! Today's the wedding, isn't it?"

"Yes!" I exclaimed. "Get your butt over here!"

"I'm sorry! I overslept!" she exclaimed. "I'm on my way over."

I rolled my eyes when she hung up on me. I didn't want to tell Sarah that Haylie pretty much FORGOT that the wedding was today. I sighed. The doorbell rang a couple minutes later and we were off to the hair salon.

It took us a long time to get our hair done. I was pretty much cranky afterward because of Sarah's perfectionist attitude. She was such a bridezilla in the salon that I felt sorry for the person who did her hair. The hair stylist didn't deserve to get yelled at because one single strand fell out of the bun. That's just my opinion though.

We had quickly gotten our nails done (for the second time this week because Sarah changed her mind about what color nails we should have. I know.) and rushed back into the house. I had left Sarah alone in her room to change into her wedding dress. I quickly changed into my bridesmaid dress and did my make-up before heading downstairs.

I was trying to make it to the backyard to find Sarah's mom to see if she needed help with anything- the flowers, placements, etc. I couldn't find her and ran into someone on the way back into the house.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed, laughing nervously at my clumsiness.

"Courtney?" I looked up and saw that it was Henry. I haven't talked to him since I told him that I "loved him" over the phone. To be honest, I was trying to avoid him.

"O-oh, hi Henry," I stuttered, nervously.

"I was just looking for you," he said. "Can we talk?"

Fast-Talking Friday

Hey guys,

How are you guys?

I'm not really feeling well, so I think I'm just going to do a short dedication to the Diary of J. If you don't already know, she is ending her blog. But, she has wrapped up everything (almost everything) in her goodbye post. If you haven't read that, then head on over to check it out.

I'm actually going to miss her blog. I mean, sure, there were times where we, as readers, were frustrated with the lack of posting. But, J's blog was very entertaining to read and helped us pass the time.

Who can forget about her ex-boyfriend Russ, her jobs, and her interesting love triangle?

I'm sorry that you're leaving, J. Good luck with everything ahead in life.

Feel free to comment about anything on Diary of J in the comment section. :)

Happy Friday and have a good weekend!

J'et

Bachelor Party

I woke up this morning feeling a little disoriented by what happened last night. I kept thinking back to what Justin told me about what happened. I wonder if I asked Sarah, if she would tell me the same thing. I reached for my phone and saw that I had a couple of messages from Sarah, asking me to call her. I immediately dialed her number.

"Hey, Sarah, what's wrong?" I asked her, worried.

"I started to freak out about Justin again last night," she told me. She said it so fast that her words had jumbled together.

"I hate to ask you, Sarah, but can you tell me what happened to make you think that Justin cheated on you?" I asked her. Then I quickly said, "If you're not comfortable with it, I totally understand. I mean, it is really none of my business and it's between you and Justin. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

I heard her sigh into the phone and take a deep breath before saying anything.

"Well, I went to visit him at work one day," she told me. "I mean, he was so buddy buddy with this one girl. What was her name? Angie? Angel? Annie? Angelina? Anyways.. He was extremely close with her. I mean, they had inside jokes. They were laughing all the time. I mean, he practically ignored me when I was there. He was too busy talking to what's-her-face. She was really flirty with him too. I just didn't trust her around him. I got a really weird vibe from her- like an 'I have your boyfriend, what are you going to do about it' vibe. I don't know, Courtney. What do you think about this whole thing?"

I didn't know what to say to that. How do you tell one of your best friends that you think that she's completely overreacting. I mean.. It didn't sound like Justin was cheating on her at all. All it sounds like is that she's jealous of Angela. I mean, she didn't even bother to get her name correct.

Honestly, Sarah had a wild imagination. She thought, last summer, that Justin, Adam, and Henry weren't going on a camping trip. She thought that they were really going to Las Vegas with fake IDs to go see some strippers and get drunk. She based this on the fact that, right before the camping trip, she saw Adam talking to this guy who was well known for making fake IDs for people. Adam was talking to this guy about playing basketball over the summer. I was there and jumped into the conversation, I guess, before Sarah had gotten there.

Anyways, my point was.. I had to reassure her then that Justin wasn't going to cheat on her with a stripper from Las Vegas or a prostitute or any other girl while he was on his trip (which was really a camping trip to the middle of nowhere). I know that Sarah loves Justin, but is a tiny bit insecure. Ok, a lot insecure.

"Courtney?" I snapped out of my thoughts.

"I don't know, Sarah," I said. "I'm just wondering if this is like the whole thing between Adam and I where everyone thought that we were dating or something when we weren't. I honestly don't know, Sarah, because I wasn't there." She groaned.

I honestly loved the fact that she was freaking out about everything now, when all the guests have arrived and the wedding was this weekend. She definitely couldn't have picked a better time to freak out. Well, it could be worse. It could have been right before the wedding.

"Today is his bachelor party too!" she exclaimed. "What if.. what if he has a stripper there and he ends up sleeping with her?"

"Sarah, he's not going to do that," I told her. "Do you trust him?"

"Yes," she said, in a small voice.

"Good, that's all you need," I said, softly. "Now, stop obsessing about this and get ready. We need to kick off our girls' day out and ignore what the boys are doing."

Needless to say, our girls' day out was amazing. We were completely pampered at the spa and I think that Sarah is 100% back to normal. I mean, you can't go wrong with an all day spa day with hot male masseuses, right?

Of course, Sarah kept sneaking off after each activity to call Justin to make sure that he wasn't doing anything he wasn't supposed to do. I laughed because I was doing the exact same thing with Henry, except that I only called him once.

"I promise you, there are no strippers," he told me, over the phone. "It's just a couple of guys, playing poker at Justin's house. We're probably going to play some video games after our poker tournament. It's completely alcohol-free and girl-free. You can tell Sarah to stop worrying. Her constant phone calls are driving the guys nuts."

"Thanks, sweetie," I told him. I was relieved that the guys weren't doing something crazy.

"Hey, Henry! Stop talking to your girlfriend and just go!" I heard one of the guys yell.

"He's just talking to Courtney!" I heard another person yelling. I think it was Adam.

"Listen, I'm going to go, the guys are ragging on me now," he told me. "I'll talk to you later."

"Bye, love you," I said, before hanging up.

It wasn't until after I hung up when I realized what I had said to him. Crap.

On This Side

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Justin? Justin cheating on Sarah? I couldn't believe it. He was so completely in love with her that you couldn't even find the words to express it. If he didn't completely love her, he wouldn't have proposed to her at such a young age (not really young young, but you get what I'm saying). He wouldn't give up being single if he wasn't sure that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. I mean, come on! We're going to college here. College = lots of cute girls.. Just saying.

I'm going to get off my little tangent now before I start a little rant or start rambling about nonsense.

"I don't understand, why you didn't say anything to me?" I asked a nearly sobbing Sarah. "Why didn't you tell me or Haylie? You didn't have to go through this by yourself, sweetie. You know we're here for you no matter what."

"I don't know!" she cried. "I didn't want to admit it to myself. I think.. I think that I wanted my relationship with Justin to seem like it was perfect- like we didn't have any problems like a normal couple. I mean, we do have our problems that we usually work out, but I don't know. I'm doubting if he can stay faithful to me- to our relationship- if we get married."

"I really think that you're freaking out over nothing, Sarah," I told her. "You forgave him. He hasn't done anything since then, right?"

"No," she answered, sniffling.

"So, I really don't think that he's going to do it again, Sarah," I told her. If he did cheat on you in the first place. I thought. "He's completely in love with you. You can see it in his eyes. He wouldn't have proposed to you if he wasn't sure that he wanted to be with you."

"I guess," she said, looking a little better. "I'm just overreacting to nothing. Thanks, Courtney. You're a great friend." I hugged her.

"No problem, sweetie," I told her. "Are you going to be ok?" She nodded.

"Want me to give you a ride home?" she asked me.

"No thanks," I said. "You get your rest, sleep it off. I'll be fine." She nodded and let me out.

As soon as I was around the corner, I pulled out my cell phone and without even thinking about it, I called Justin.

"Courtney? What's up?" he asked me.

"I don't know how to put this, so I guess I'm just going to cut to the chase and just tell you," I said, quickly. "Sarah told me that you cheated on her a while back." I heard him groan.

"Not this again!" he exclaimed. "I did not cheat on her! She's being paranoid."

"How about you tell me your side of the story?" I asked him. He sighed as if this was the hundredth time that he's had to explain himself. Knowing Sarah, that was probably what happened.

"There was this girl at work named Angela and she was really cool," he said. "We had the same shift all the time and we really clicked- as friends and nothing more. One day, Sarah came in to visit me and assumed that I was cheating on her with Amanda because of our closeness as friends. I tried telling her that Angela and I were just friends because guys and girls can be just friends. But she didn't believe me. So, to this day, she believes that I had cheated on her with Angela. Really, I never hung out with Angela outside of work. If I wasn't working, in school, or sleeping, I was with Sarah. I would never cheat on her, you know that. She just blew everything out of proportion."

Well, I don't know. I can't say that I didn't believe Justin, even though I'm supposed to take Sarah's side. I knew Justin almost as well as I knew Sarah and I know that Justin would never do anything to hurt Sarah. He considered her to be the best thing that has ever happened to him.

I can kind of relate. It's like the whole situation with me and Adam. I can't count how many people have thought or once thought that we were going out, when we were just friends. That's it. Nothing more. Nothing less. I felt really bad for Justin that he had to go through the same thing, but with the added fact that his girlfriend thought that he was cheating on her with his friend.

"Do you believe me?" Justin asked me, breaking through my thoughts.

"Of course," I told him. "I don't know if Sarah ever will though."

Blog List

Hey guys!

Someone requested for me to add my blog list on the sidebar so I did. If you don't already know, some of the blogs have ended or taken a break. Those blogs include: Apathy, Macyn, Leigh Ross (until the end of this month), The Karen Chronicles (for now), Chapters (for now), Life With An Indian Twist (I think for now), and etc (I might have forgotten one or two).

If anyone has a problem with having your blog listed in the sidebar, please let me know and I'll take it off.

Happy Tuesday! :)

J'et.

Your Betrayal

It took us about five minutes to get to Sarah's house. We found her sitting on the curb, with her head buried in her lap. I immediately threw myself out of the car and ran up to her, wrapping my arms around her in a hug. It didn't take me long to realize that she was crying. I looked at Henry, helplessly- not knowing what to do.

"Are you ok?" I asked her, still hugging her.

"No!" She cried. "Does it look like I'm ok?"

Henry and I looked at each other. She was really upset over this. I wondered what happened. I wondered if Justin did something to her or if something happened (like a fight) that caused her to break down.

"Hey, I'm going to go," Henry said to me. "Is that ok?"

"Yeah, I'll just stay here with her." I told him. "I think that it's better if you go, Henry."

"I understand," Henry said. "I'll see you tomorrow, Courtney. I'm not quite sure what is going on, but I hope everything is ok with you, Sarah."

He waved at me and Sarah, who looked up long enough to wave bye to Henry. She sniffled.

"Hey, do you want to go back inside so we can talk about this?" I asked her.

"Sure," she said, sniffling.

I walked her back into the house. When we were inside, I got a good look at her face. It looked like she had been crying for hours. Her face was all red and puffy. We went into her room and I saw a bunch of tissues all over the floor. We sat down on her bed. I really couldn't help but wonder what was going on.

"What's wrong, Sarah?" I asked her. "What happened?"

"Nothing really happened," she sighed. "I don't know, Courtney. I just feel like maybe we're maybe moving too fast. I mean, we're just going to college and we have our whole lives to think about. What if he's not right for me? What if the only reason why we're doing this is because we've been together for so long?"

"Ok, Sarah," I said, with a sigh. "I really don't know what to say, mostly because I have never been in this type of situation before, but I really think that you're freaking out over nothing. It's normal to have cold feet. It's normal to have second thoughts. I mean, this is a really big step that you're taking. I don't blame you for freaking out."

"I don't know," she said, uncertainly.

I kind of got the feeling that she wasn't telling me something. It felt like she was hiding something from me. I don't know too much of her relationship with Justin because they like to keep things private. They don't talk about their problems to anyone. I mean, I didn't even think that they had problems. They just seemed so happy all the time.

"Are you not telling me something, Sarah?" I asked her. "I mean, it's ok if you don't want to tell me. I completely understand."

"It's kind of hard for me to talk about it," she said, with her voice wavering. "I mean, I don't like to talk about my relationship problems."

"It's ok, Sarah, if you don't want to," I told her.

"No, I'll talk about it," she said. "But, keep in mind that this happened over a year ago."

"Ok," I said. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Justin and I really love each other," she told me. "I mean, if we didn't, we wouldn't have been together for all of these years and be planning on getting married. I know that he's really looking forward to spending the rest of our lives together and it looks really bad that I'm questioning if I want to spend the rest of my life with him." She had tears in her eyes.

"Go on, sweetie," I told her. "It's ok."

"Well, over a year ago, Justin.." she trailed off. She started crying. "He cheated on me, Courtney. Justin cheated on me."

Fast-Talking Friday

Hey guys!

How are you guys today?

I thought that it would be nice to do something different and dedicate a whole post to the movie Eclipse. :) There might (probably will) be some spoilers in here, so if you haven't watched the movie yet... AVERT YOUR EYES! haha.

Ok, I went with friends to see the movie. I have complete mixed feelings about it. Let me start off by saying that I'm a complete Taylor Lautner fan. Also, I haven't read any of the books.

I really liked Jacob in New Moon, but this movie kind of made him a little bit more cocky and arrogant. I mean, with the first kiss. He really went for it when it felt like it was the COMPLETE wrong time to do it. It was like "she loves me, she just won't admit it." Which I thought was really weird that he said it more than once. I was thinking, "Man! What if she doesn't love you back? You would look like a complete jerk!"

I had a problem with Edward just letting Bella kiss Jacob when Jacob had found out that they were engaged. This is basically my impression: "Edward! Do something! That's your fiance that Jacob is making out with right in front of you!" I loved the fact that when Bella admitted that she loved Jacob but loved Edward more, all he said was "I know." Fight for your woman, darn it! LOL.

Also, I kind of had an issue with the "Yeah, I'll marry you if you have sex with me." Bella just makes me mad. I mean, you're supposedly really in love with this guy. So in love that you would give away your humanity to be with him, but you won't marry him without a compromise? I mean, I really don't think that she deserves either one any way.. Or she can have Edward and I'll take Jacob (I mean, Taylor). Why string both of them along?

But, I loved the comedy that went into the movie. My friend and I were totally laughing. I think my favorite scene was the tent scene, just because of how well it was done.

I really missed seeing Taylor with his shirt off for 75% of the movie, but it was worth it when he first came out during the movie. My friend was like.. "Calm down." LOL. Males just don't get excited over a shirtless guy like females do. :)

Overall, I thought that the movie was decent. I wasn't really disappointed with the movie, but I heard a lot of the hardcore fans were. I'm excited to see the wedding play out in the next two movies. I don't really have a problem with the actors in the movie, although I don't really see the appeal to Robert. I don't really find him attractive at all. To each their own though. :)

So, what did you guys think of the movie? What were your favorite parts? Which parts do you think could have been better?

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday to Me

Henry and I were planning on going out to see a movie tonight to celebrate my 18th birthday. After much playful arguing, we had decided to go out and see the new Twilight movie. I really wanted to see what happened after the last movie and Henry.. Well, Henry wanted to go see that new Sandler movie, but I didn't want to see a comedy tonight. All it took was a promise that I would buy the popcorn. I was an extremely happy girl. Lucky, that I had a boyfriend that would go with me to see a Twilight movie.

Yes, I did. I did said boyfriend. Henry officially asked me to be his girlfriend this morning. Let me see if I can recall all of the details..

*

It was 6 in the morning. I had grudgingly walked downstairs to answer the door, yawning and rubbing my eyes the entire way down the stairs. I opened the door to find Henry standing there.

"Henry?" I asked, sleepily. I was leaning on the door, my eyes heavy. "It's 6 in the morning. Go away."

"I have something really important to talk to you about," he said to me. "Can I come in?" I think I nodded and I let him in. I cuddled next to him on the couch.

"What did you want to talk about?" I asked him, wishing that I was in my nice, warm bed. "It has to be important if you couldn't wait until later to tell me."

"I wanted to be the first person to wish you a happy birthday," he said, with a smile. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small jewelry box. He gently placed it in my hands. "Open it."

I looked at him confused. I opened the box and found a gorgeous heart shaped ruby pendant in white gold. I gasped in delight.

"Oh, Henry, it's beautiful," I gushed. I was grinning in awe of how beautiful the necklace was. Henry had such good taste. "I can't accept it though, it's too much."

"It's not too much," he insisted. "Really, Court, I'd give you anything you want, just to see you smile." I blushed.

He took a deep breath and I thought I was dreaming. I thought I heard him say: "Courtney, will you be my girlfriend?"

"Of course I will, Henry!" I said, kissing him. I was grinning like an idiot. "Of course! Of course!"

"Here, let me help you put this on," he said to me, with happiness written all over his face.

*

So, now, I was walking around the movie theater with a goofy grin on my face and wearing the necklace he gave me.

"When do you want to tell everyone that we're together?" Henry asked me.

I thought about it for a second. I honestly didn't know how the group would react to our relationship. They had practically laughed in our faces back when we were crushing on each other. I don't know if they would be supportive of our relationship. Then, I had the perfect idea.

"Let's tell them after the wedding!" I exclaimed. Justin and Sarah's wedding was next week. That would give us enough time to prepare what we would say to them and everyone would be so happy that Justin and Sarah had gotten married that they couldn't possibly hate on our relationship. "Everyone would be either too happy or drunk to disagree with our relationship."

"I don't want to take away from their wedding," Henry said. He was right, it really wouldn't be fair to make their wedding day all about me and Henry. "Let's tell them when they get back from their honeymoon." I nodded in agreement.

After watching the movie, we walked to the car chattering about which team we were on. I was on Team Jacob and he was on Team Edward. Our interesting conversation was interrupted by my phone obnoxious ringing.

"Hello?" I said into my phone.

"Courtney, it's me," the voice said, breathlessly. Sarah. "Can you come over?"

"Is there something wrong, Sarah?" I asked her. "I'm on my way over." I got into the passenger side of Henry's truck.

What's wrong? He mouthed to me.

I don't know. I mouthed back to him. He quickly started the car and got on the road to her house.

"Uh, I'm not sure, maybe," she said, after a pause on the phone. "I think.. I think I don't want to go through the wedding, Courtney."

Honestly

I tried to rack my brain for a reason why Ricky was here. I couldn't come up with anything. All I could do was glare at him, trying to hide my confusion. Apparently, I wasn't doing such a good job since he laughed. I assumed that he was laughing at me.

"What are you laughing at?" I asked him, rudely. "Why are you here? I'm busy."

"Can I come in?" he asked me, ignoring both of my questions. I rolled my eyes and stepped aside so he could come in. "Thank you. You're such a gracious hostess." He smirked.

I fought the urge to punch him in the face. I hated Ricky and his cockiness. He thinks he's the best thing that has ever happened to women. He was just an asshole. He tried to hit on me back when we were in high school when he knew that Taylor and I were going out. And he was supposed to be Taylor's best friend. Seriously, he's a sleazeball. I wish that he didn't have to come back from college in the summer.

"So, how have you been, Courtney?" he asked me, after sitting down on the couch next to me. I sighed.

"Ricky, I don't know why you're here, but I'm actually busy," I told him, trying not to sound completely rude. "Can you just cut to the chase and tell me why you came over today?"

"Really, Courtney? You don't have time to chat with an old friend?" he asked me. "I haven't seen you in a long time." He put his hand on my knee. I rolled my eyes and moved to the recliner.

I sighed. I don't really know why I let him in in the first place. I was curious as to why he was here, but now, I just really wanted him out of my house. I don't have time for his little games.

"I have to go to work," I told him. "If you're not going to tell me why you're here, I'm going to ask you to leave."

"You're no fun, Courtney," he said, with one of his creepy smirks. "Fine, I'll get on with it."

"Thank you," I said, gratefully.

"So, I heard that you know what happened with the McNeely fire," he said.

"Maybe," I said.

"I just want to make sure that you're not a loudmouth like Farrah and go blabbing about this all around town," he said, a little threateningly. I blinked at him, confused.

"I haven't said anything to anyone, Ricky," I told him. "I didn't tell a soul that it was you who did it."

"Shh!" he shushed me. "Do you want someone to hear you?" I rolled my eyes.

"Everyone's asleep here, no one's going to hear," I said, biting my lip.

"I wouldn't have this problem if Taylor hadn't screw things up by falling in love with you and started blabbing to you about everything that happened," he said, angrily. "I swear, if you ever tell anyone..."

"I won't!" I practically yelled.

We sat there in silence. I looked away and heard him sigh.

"You know that he's still in love with you, right?" he asked me, softly. "He talks about you all the time. He doesn't love Farrah the way he loves you. I really wanted you to know that." I sighed.

I was starting to think that Taylor sent him over here to talk to me about my feelings about him and for Ricky to prove that Taylor was telling the truth about the fire. I was glad to have the opportunity to clear things up and maybe Ricky will talk some sense into Taylor, since Taylor does everything Ricky says.

"It doesn't matter if he still loves me, Ricky," I told him. "He had his chance. He made his choice. He's going to have to live with it."

"He didn't have a choice, he was protecting me," he protested. I scoffed at him. "Do you love him?"

I didn't even have to think about that question before I answered. I already knew how I felt about him, about the whole situation, about everything.

"I did love him, but not anymore," I said to him, trying to sound confident. "He didn't have any form of contact with me after we broke up. He didn't call me to tell me he was sorry. He didn't ask to stay friends. He just cut me out of his life completely. So, I moved on. Maybe it's time for him to move on too."

"Maybe he should," he whispered. "Or maybe he shouldn't and just fight for you."

Hey Ya

I didn't remember falling asleep last night, but I woke up this morning wishing that I could just hide under a rock for the next couple of days. I had such huge headache and my eyes hurt from all the crying. I groaned and hid my head under my pillow. I feel like crap and I had work all day today. Great, what a great way to spend my 4th of July.

I managed to get myself out of bed and, believe me, it wasn't easy.

I checked my phone and there were a couple of messages from my mom, telling me that she was sorry and asking for my help because she's having trouble picking out a format/font/whatever for her wedding invitations (I deleted those texts). I rolled my eyes. She was delusional if she thinks that a text saying she's sorry is going to get me to help her pick out wedding invitations or anything else wedding related. I don't know if I should send her to an insane asylum or something, because she is definitely off her rocker.

Besides my mom's There was a text from Henry asking if I was ok. I sent him a quick text back, letting him know that I was fine (even though I wasn't sure if I was). I set my phone down to pick out what to wear for work. I had to find something that was red, white, and blue for the holiday. After I had picked out what to wear, my phone rang. It was Henry.

"Hey, Henry, what's up?" I said into the phone.

"Hey, Court," he said. "Are you working today?" I don't know why he was calling me and asking me if I was working today. He knew I was working today. We usually work together because Jasmine thinks that we make a good team.

"Yeah, I am, but you know that already," I said, confused. "We usually work together."

"You're right, I'm just using that as an excuse to call you," he said, with a nervous chuckle. "Not that I need to have a reason to call you. I just wanted to hear your voice." I giggled at his awkwardness.

"You're adorable," I told him, with a small smile on my face. "Do you want me to pick you up for work later or do you want to come here and pick me up? It doesn't really matter either way, really."

"I'll come pick you up, ma chérie," he said, with a perfect pronunciation. I blushed. He called me his "darling", which I don't think anyone has ever called me their "darling" before. I thought it was kind of cute.

"Glad to know the two years of French in high school is working out for you," I joked. "Bet you use that on all the girls."

"Just you," he said, with a chuckle. I blushed again. I was really glad that he couldn't see me.

"Ok, Romeo," I said, laughing. I looked at my clock. "I'll see you in an hour or so?"

"I'll be there," he said, before hanging up. I giggled.

He was a sweetie. I loved how he didn't constantly ask me if I was ok or not. Is it too early to say that I really like Henry? We're not even official yet, but I caught myself humming sappy love songs throughout my usual morning routine. I couldn't help but laugh at how goofy I was being over a guy who hasn't even asked me to be his girlfriend.

I went downstairs, trying to contemplate what to have for breakfast. I decided on scrambled eggs, when I heard someone knock on the door.

That's weird, Henry's really really early. Maybe he wanted to get breakfast together or something?

I went to open the door.

"I didn't know you were coming ear-" I paused.

It wasn't Henry standing there at my front door...

It was Ricky, Taylor's best friend and partner in crime.

What was he doing here?

Fast-Talking Friday

Hey guys! :)

How's everyone today? I'm just going to jump right in! Does anyone have any fund raising ideas?

I'm the president of the Honors Program at my college (I'm not officially in the office until fall) and it's pretty sad to see how much money we have in our funds for scholarships for those who are in our program (think somewhere in the $200 range) and I, along with two other students, are trying to fund raise over the summer to help jump start our bank account. It's difficult to turn things into a success when no one wants to pull the legwork and do it. So, it's just the three of us right now, dealing with cleaning out the office to use as a study center and trying to locate the Honors coordinator. In the program's defense, it had to be resurrected a year ago because the last coordinator retired or left the school, so it's a fairly unstable program as it is. We're barely staying afloat, so any ideas will be much appreciated!

It's actually really interesting to see what the majority of the readers like in the polls section. The most popular soft drink was Coca-Cola with Dr. Pepper close at second. Currently, Milk chocolate is dominating the chocolate poll. Is there a specific poll that you would like me to add?

Ok, let's move onto a more interesting topic: blogs!

I'm glad that Life with an Indian Twist is back. :) I can't wait to see what's going to happen next.

Ooo! Bedroom blog. I love where it's leading now. I'm kind of hoping that things are winding down with how things are going between Ben and K. are going. :)

Diary of J- I'm kind of getting restless to see what's going to happen between J. and Alejandro. It's interesting to see why and what she's doing. I don't know. It's so interesting at a psychological standpoint of why she's doing what she's doing.. and why Brandon is doing what he's doing. Why is he letting this happen? So many theories! :)

Modern Day Faith- I really hope that Faith can let Sean in. I really like him and I think that he'll be good for her. Super excited to see what's going to happen. :D

That's all I can recall from the top of my head for now.

Happy Friday, guys! :)

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND! :)

Please Don't Leave Me

I stood there with my mouth hanging wide open. Brittany and I shared a look. I couldn't have possibly heard her right. I think she said that she and Joe were getting married. I thought that it was just a fling, that she would get over her midlife crisis. I didn't think, not for one minute, that this thing that my mom has with Joe was serious- marriage material serious. I honestly thought that this thing with Joe would end in another couple of months and that I would have my mom back, but it appears that she's gone forever.

I was speechless- stunned silent. I wanted to tell her that she was making a mistake- that she's moving too fast in this relationship. I wanted to tell her how much it hurt that she would choose Joe over my happiness and Brittany's happiness. We didn't even have a say in this whole situation, how is that supposed to make us feel? Can't she see how much it hurt us? The guy is 3 years older than Brittany and I. Luckily, I didn't have to say anything because Brittany was the first to recover from the news.

"What the hell are you thinking?" Brittany yelled, angrily. "Really, Mom? Really? You're going to marry a guy who's almost half your age and a couple of years older than your children? Really? Do you even care how we feel about this?"

My mom opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something, but she closed it. She looked at Joe, pleading for some help.

"I know that this is hard for the two of you to take in, but I really love your mom," he said, grabbing my mom's hand and smiling at her. "Age doesn't matter when you're in love." I wanted to wring his neck.

"Oh, shut up, you homewrecker," I spat at him. "My mom and dad's divorce isn't even finalized yet. Here you are, trying to waltz in like everything is fine and dandy but it's not. I don't want you to marry her and I don't care if you love her." I put quotations around the word love.

"Courtney, you know that the divorce will be finalized soon!" my mom exclaimed, looking at me with sad eyes. "Don't you want me to be happy?"

"Don't I have a say?" I asked her, with tears threatening to overflow. "Don't you care about my opinion?"

"Yeah, Mom, don't you care about what we think?" Brittany asked her. My mom looked at us.

"This is going to happen whether you like it or not," she said, loudly. "It's time for me to be happy and Joe makes me happy. I gave up the best years of my life to raise the two of you and this is the thanks I get? The least you can do is let me be happy!" Brittany and I looked at each other shocked.

"Whatever, Mom, do whatever you want," I told her, with tears streaming down my cheeks. "I don't care. Don't expect me to be at the wedding."

"Get out of this house!" Brittany yelled. "You're not welcomed here! Get out!" My mom looked shocked, but she and Joe left without another word.

"Are you ok?" I asked her, in a whisper. She shook her head.

"No," she told me. "But, it's ok. She's just a selfish human being who resents us. If she doesn't care about us, then we're not going to give her the time of day." I nodded. I dragged myself upstairs and into my room.

"Are you ok?" Henry asked me, giving me a hug as soon as I walked in. "I heard everything."

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, trying to squirm out of his hug. "I forgot to bring the food up."

"It's ok, Court," he told me. "I'm not that hungry anyways. We can eat it later. We'll just relax up here and watch TV or something."

I shook my head and sighed.

"I want to be alone right now, Henry," I told him. "I need process what just happened and I think I need to be alone to do it."

"Don't push me away, Court," he said, softly. He held me in his arms. "I'm always here for you."

I got out of his hold and looked him straight in the eye.

"Please, Henry," I said, sadly. The tears were building up in my eyes and I didn't want Henry to see me like this. "I need some time alone. Please just go away." He stood up.

"Ok, if that's what you want, Courtney, I'll give you your space," he told me, kissing me on the forehead.

I knew that I had to stop him, that I was being unreasonable- crazy even. But, I didn't want to be near anyone right now- not even Henry. I did the only thing I could do...

I watched him walk out my door.