Going Out (Part II)

*Note: I'm so sorry guys! I scheduled this and apparently I set it for 10pm instead of the usual 12am. I'm so sorry that this is late. Again, I am really really sorry! I honestly thought I set it at 12am! I hope you guys understand and I promise that this won't happen again.*

I sighed and put my phone away. Logan was being a downer. Is it just me or is he getting a little possessive over me? I could reading too much into it and all Logan wants is just for me to come over so we could have sex. I thought this whole "Friends with Benefits" thing was supposed to be fun, not a stressful type thing.

"Is everything ok?" Henry asked me, with concern in his voice.

"Yeah, everything's fine," I told him. "Logan's just being stupid. He wants me to come over. But I'm busy having dinner with you."

"Oh, I see," he said. "Do you need me to punch him in the face or anything? I'll be glad to."

"No, thank you," I said, trying not to laugh.

Before we could have an awkward silence, the waitress came back with our food. We couldn't possibly have an awkward silence while we were eating. I smiled to myself.

After we were done eating, I paid the check. I had to physically wrestle the darn thing away from Henry. He was very insistent on paying for me (again). Is it because I'm a girl and he's a guy and there's some sort of obligation? I hope not, because that's stupid.

"So, what do you want to do now?" Henry asked me. I shrugged.

"I don't know," I told him.

"How about we hit the beach?" he asked me.

"It's dark," I said, pointing out the obvious.

"So?" he said, laughing. "We can sit there and talk."

I thought about it for a little bit before I agreed to go. Henry looked extremely happy when I agreed. I laughed. He was cute. We pulled up to the parking lot facing the beach about five minutes later.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" I asked him.

"I don't know," he said, laughing. "I just wanted to get you on the beach."

"Well, we should actually go on the beach then?" I said, getting out of the car. Henry chased me onto the beach and picked me up. I realized what he was going to do. "Henry! No! I'm going to kill you if you throw me into the water! No!"

The last thing I saw before falling into the water was Henry's grin. I stood up and splashed water at him.

"Ugh! I'm going to kill you!" I said, chasing after him.

"Not if you can't catch me," he teased.

He was right, he was too fast for me. I plopped down on the sand in my soaking wet clothes. Not long after I sat down, Henry came over and sat down next to me. I shoved him.

"Thanks a lot," I said, with a pout. "I'm soaking wet." He laughed.

"I'm sorry," he said, with a grin.

Our eyes locked in an intimate gaze and I got that feeling.

Omg, he's going to kiss me.

Henry leaned in and kissed me. He quickly pulled away, as if he was burned.

"Courtney, I'm so sorry," he said, quickly. "I don't know what came over me."

"Shut up," I told him.

And I pulled him in for another kiss.

Going Out (Part I)

Henry was picking me up for the dinner at six. I didn't know where we were going and I had such a hard time deciding on what to wear. I didn't want to get all dressed up and find out that it wasn't a date and look like a completely idiot. But then.. I also didn't want to be too under-dressed in case we WERE on a date and he WAS taking me somewhere nice. I really hate the situation I'm in. I'm so confused, I'm getting a headache.

Brittany was in my room, going through my closet, trying to find something that was perfectly in the middle of those two extremes. I was near ready to give up and just not go to dinner. It was too much stress.

"How about this?" she asked me, pulling out a black miniskirt.

"That's definitely for a date," I told her. I pulled out a T-shirt. "Can I wear this?"

"No, that's too casual," she said, throwing the T-shirt onto my bed.

"Can I just go naked?" I groaned. "It'd be so much easier." Brittany laughed.

"Then he'll definitely think it was a date," she said, giggling. I laughed. My phone vibrated. I took it out of my purse and saw that I had a call from Logan.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked him.

"Nothing," he said. "I'm a little lonely over here, do you want to come over?"

"I can't, Logan," I told him. I'd have to admit, I was a little bit sad that I couldn't go over to Logan's. He was really good company. "I'm going out to dinner."

"Who are you going out with?" he asked, with a suspicious tone. I decided to ignore it.

"Henry," I said, nonchalantly.

"Is it a date?" he asked, curiously.

"No, it's not," I told him. I rolled my eyes. Brittany tried not to giggle. "I've got to go, I'll talk to you later."

"Ok, bye," Logan said with a little sadness in his voice. I hung up and went back to choosing what to wear.

I ended up choosing a nice halter top and a skirt. It looked like something I would wear to school. Brittany convinced me that I shouldn't look like I was on a date, just because it was Henry and we're friends. This is just two friends going out to dinner together.

Henry picked me up right on time. We ended up going to our usual burger joint. Brittany was right. Thank goodness that I didn't get all dressed up. I almost let out a sigh of relief. We went in and sat in our usual booth. The waitress, who once thought that Henry and I were a couple, greeted us and asked what we wanted to order.

"I'll have a cheeseburger," I told her, not even looking at the menu. "Oh! Some fries, too, please. And a diet soda."

"I'll have the same thing, but with a regular," he told the waitress. The waitress left to go put in our orders. "You look nice."

"Thanks," I said, blushing.

My phone rang and I looked at Henry, apologetically.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hey, can you come over after dinner?" Logan asked me.

Oh jeez, I can't believe that Logan's interrupting my dinner just to ask me to come over.

"No, I can't," I told him. "I'm sorry. I'm busy right now. Seriously, I'll talk to you later."

"Ok, have fun on your date," he said. He hung up on me.

"Logan?" Henry asked.

"Logan," I said, nodding.

Saying Sorry

After I left Logan, I met up with Haylie at this cute little Italian restaurant in downtown Beachside. It had the best spaghetti I've ever tasted. Of course, when this cute Italian waiter came up to the two of us (and he was totally flirting with us), I ordered the spaghetti. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

"Listen, Court," Haylie said. "I know I've done some horrible things." She looked at me with her sad eyes.

"Yeah?" I said, nodding. "Go on."

"I would really like to apologize for ruining our friendship," she said. I could already tell that she was going to start crying. The tears in her eyes were already threatening to overflow. I felt really bad for her.

I didn't know what to say to that. I didn't know how to explain why I forgave her already or what my thought process is. All I know is that, I do forgive her. I don't really care anymore. I just want our relationship to go back to normal, if that was even possible. I don't know, but I would really like to try and have my best friend back.

"Oh, sweetie," I said, patting her hand. "It's ok, really. I forgave you already. I really miss having my best friend."

"I miss you too, Court," she told me, sniffling.

She came over and gave me a hug. I smiled at her.

"So, tell me about Luke," I said, laughing.

"Omg, Luke is amazing!" she gushed. "He is everything that I want in a guy and more. I mean, we're not official or anything like that yet, but I think we're heading in the right direction."

"I'm so happy for you, Hales," I told her, grinning.

"The only downside is, he doesn't believe in sex before marriage," she told me. "I don't know how I feel about that one. On one hand, I think that it's amazing that he has such strong will to commit to something like that. On the other hand.. well.." She grinned.

"I don't know, Hales," I told her. "If you really like the guy, it shouldn't matter. And you COULD end up marrying him and you'll be his first, which would be really special to him."

"Oh, gosh," she said, laughing. She was on the border of hysterical laughter and I was suddenly scared. "I don't even want to think about marriage right now. I mean, I'm happy for Sara and Justin, but I really think that we're too young to get married. Way too young. There's so much to do in the world, you know? I don't want to be tied down that young with such a committment."

"I understand," I told her. 'But, I'm glad that they're going to the same college, that makes things a little bit easier."

"So, enough about Sarah and Justin," Haylie said, dismissively. "What about you? Are you seeing anyone?"

I hesitated. I mean.. Do I tell her that I'm "seeing" Logan? I mean, they are exes, even though I technically had him first. Haylie didn't really take the break up well, according to what Logan had told me. I don't want to risk ruining our relationship that we're trying to start up again. I know that honesty is the best policy, but I don't want to hurt her feelings.

"No," I said. I decided to choose my words carefully. "I'm not dating anyone."

Daddy's Home

My dad got back from his business trip yesterday. But before I get into that topic, I have some really good news! We had found somebody to replace Zoey at Bella (after she had came into the store to give Jasmine her formal resignation and I guess she was required to put in her two weeks, so she is technically. Guess who it is? It's Henry! Henry is going to be working with me at Bella!

Henry had been looking for a job for a while now. So I recommended him to Jasmine. Jasmine said that she trusted my word and took my recommendation. She practically hired him on the spot. I got him to come in that day to fill out all of the paperwork. The only downside of the new hire is that I'm the one that is going to have to do his training and showing him all of the ropes. But I'm still really excited to see a friendly face at work.

So, back to my dad! He got home from China and he took Brittany and I out to dinner. He had brought each of us a gift from China. We ripped into our gift bags like little kids on Christmas morning. We each had gotten a gorgeous silk purse (mine was blue and Brittany's was pink) and matching Jade necklaces.

"Thank you so much, Dad! They're gorgeous!" I gushed.

"Thank you, Daddy!" Brittany said.

I didn't want to beat around the bush. I really loved my dad and I didn't want him to go into a situation without prior knowledge of what's going on. I didn't want to see him hurt because of what my mom is doing with Joe. I didn't want to see him hurt because of my mom.

"Why are you and Mom getting a divorce?" I asked him. Brittany elbowed me in the ribs.

"Court!" Brittany hissed at me.

"No, it's ok, Brittany," my dad said. "Your mom and I have grown apart over the years. We love each other very much, but not romantically anymore."

I could tell that Brittany and I both had the same question floating around in our minds. I wasn't sure if I could really ask my dad the question without crossing any lines. I actually wasn't sure if I wanted to know the answer either. My mind was going back and forth, back and forth. I decided that I didn't want to ask it. But apparently, Brittany and I weren't on the same page.

"Did Mom cheat on you?" Brittany asked. I fought the urge to smack myself on the forehead.

My dad gave her a funny look and shook his head.

"No, never, why?" he asked. Brittany and I looked at each other.

"We, um, have something to tell you, Dad," I told him. "I'm not sure if you know or how you're going to take it, but um, mom has a boyfriend."

"No, a fun buddy," Brittany corrected me.

"Fun buddy," I corrected myself. "I came home early from Spring Break and caught them all over each other-"

"and we walked in on them on Mother's Day," Brittany finished for me. "It's so disgusting! He's half her age-"

"Only 21!" I interjected. "A little over 3 years older than us." Brittany turned to me.

"Isn't that disgusting?" she said to me.

"I know! And she tells us that we shouldn't date older guys!" I exclaimed. "But she can date younger guys?"

"Girls," my dad said, grabbing our attention. We both turned to look at him.

"I'm glad that you both love me so much to tell me what your mother is up to, but I assure you that your mother is did not have an affair," he said. "Whoever she wants to date now is fine by me. We shouldn't mettle in her life or question her choices and actions." I took a deep breath.

"Dad, I want to move in with you," I told him.

"Me too!" Brittany said, quickly.

"You're both old enough to decide who you want to live with, you'll be 18 soon," he said, calmly. "We'll talk to your mom on Monday, but I would love to have you girls come live with me. Now, enough with the serious talk!"

I laughed. We ended up enjoying a very nice family dinner together. We did a toast before we chowed down.

Here's hoping to living with Dad.

I'm Yours

Today was a incredibly great day! I woke up this morning to the birds chirping and the sun shining. I had decided to walk to school today. Adam was a little annoyed at me for some reason and I don't have the energy to deal with it after what had happened with Haylie. We're still not speaking to each other. It sucks to be mad at your best friend.

When I got to my physiology class, Logan was waiting for me with a dozen roses. I was mildly confused.

"Pretty flowers for a pretty girl," he said, kissing me. I giggled. It was the first time I've ever giggled over a guy. "You're adorable." He smiled.

"They're so beautiful," I said. "Thank you!" I gave him a kiss.

"Read the card," he urged me. I opened the card. Logan wishes to invite you to dinner at his house this evening at 6pm.

"Aww, how cute!" I gushed. "Of course I'll have dinner with you."

The bell rang. We hurried into class.

********************************************

I decided to get dressed up for dinner. I had the smokey eyes, sexy thing going on with my little black dress. I drove to Logan's house. My parents let Brittany and I drive their cars, but I don't like to drive. I prefer to walk to places or go with my friends in their cars. I have my license, but it's one of my quirks. I arrived at Logan's house at 6 on the dot. I rang his doorbell.

"Hey," he said. I kissed his cheek. "You look drop dead gorgeous! Let me go change. Sit down."

"Take your time," I said, smiling. He ran into his room to get changed. I sat on the sofa in the living room, waiting nervously. I don't know why I'm so nervous. It was just dinner with Logan. My gut tells me that there is something more to this dinner.

"All changed," he said. He looked amazing in his white dress shirt and black dress pants. "Come sit at the table." He showed me to the dining room. He had set a candle in the middle so it was an intimate setting. He pulled the chair out for me and sat me down.

"Thank you," I said, grinning. This is just too perfect.

"I'll go fetch the food," he said. He went into the kitchen and grabbed the salad bowl and the steak with mashed potatoes.

"This looks amazing," I told him. "You shouldn't have gone through all this trouble."

"For you, it's worth it," he said, smiling. We proceeded to eat our dinner. I managed not to spill anything on myself. I was known as a klutz. He brought dessert out, a piece of cheesecake that we thought would be excellent to enjoy in the living room next to the fireplace. He had me sitting on his lap and he was feeding me the cheesecake.

"You know I can feed myself, right?" I asked him jokingly.

"I like it better this way," he said, finishing the last bite of the cheesecake. He put the plate down. "You're extremely beautiful, you know that?" I smiled.

"You keep telling me that, so it must be true," I joked.

"I want to ask you to be my girlfriend, Courtney," he said, calmly. "I want it to be official. I want to be able to call you my girlfriend in front of everyone in the entire world. I want everyone to know that we're going out. So, Courtney, will you be my girlfriend?" I teared up.

"Of course, Logan," I said, smiling like an idiot. He kissed me. Just his asking me to be official made me so incredibly happy. We spent the rest of the night just enjoying each others' company by watching a movie on his TV. I came to a sudden realization.

I was falling for him.