I’ve never been more thankful to be home. I was on the phone for three and a half hours, apologizing to a client. Her flowers were delivered to the chapel, oh yes. But it would have been nice if they hadn’t been wilted. So now, because the florist doesn’t hold themselves responsible for what happened, I am left to foot the twelve hundred dollar bill, so she doesn’t call up her three sisters and tell them not to consult me for their weddings.

My aunt has been in the wedding business for, well as long as I can remember. I started working for her when I turned sixteen, and then once I graduated from High school she swept me up and taught me everything she knew. She retired last year. And now, Martins's Bridal and Planning is officially, my business. Sometimes I think Mere is jealous. Because she had to scrimp and save and work to make her way through college, and I didn’t really have to do much of anything. Knowing her, she's at home, or at the library slaving away at a desk writing on her thesis, or reading, or something. I wonder...I wonder how her date went. I realize I haven’t spoken to her in more than a day.

I wonder if he talked about me. No, I shouldn’t be acting this way. It was just a one night stand. I know better than to think like that. Well okay, maybe it was more than a one night stand. Yeah, it was more like spending a night in heaven. Oh God, can I just do him one more time? Can I just have one more romp on his kitchen floor, being held in those wonderfully strong arms of his, being looked at with those beautiful steely blue eyes?

Christ, I need to talk to Mere. I need to know the details of this little date that they had. I know it’s a nosy thing to do, but it’s not like anything happened between them, and all I want to know is if he talked about me. I plop down on my couch and take off my shoes, before reaching for the phone and dialing her familiar number

“I’m working on a paper,” she answers with a yawn. “Talking to you is only going to distract me.”

I roll my eyes. “Hi Mere I’m great how’re you?”

"I repeat. I'm working on a paper..."

“Fine,” I mutter. “Then I’ll make this short and sweet. What happened last night?”

"Nothing." She's quiet. And I know it’s not because she’s tired.

"Oh c'mon," I smile. "You can't tell me nothing happened. You didn't call me at all last night. That could only mean..."

“That could only mean nothing,” she snaps.

“Nothing?” I scoff. “Pssh…what happened? Come on, you can tell me Mere.”

She’s silent again. Now I really know something’s up. “Mere?”

“Courtney look, I gotta tell you something.”

I suck in a breath. “Okay.”

“You know…you know how you told me to go for it with him if I got the chance?”

I’m nauseous.

“I took it,” she whispers.

I’m pissed. I shouldn’t be. I’m a selfish bitch for it. But I still am. “Oh…”

“Shit Court,” she says. “I’m sorry.”

What’s going on? All of a sudden, Justin is her new love interest? What the hell? Geez, I’m such a bitter bitch. "So what? Did he kiss you or something? I mean, or are y’all going out this weekend?" This always happens to me. I always spot the guy first. I make the first move, I find out about him and then she comes in and knocks him off his feet. Hell, that’s how she met Chad. Except I never fucked Chad.

"Not actually. Look...Courtney..."

I cut her off. "I mean, I doubt he even said anything about me. Right?"

"Not…not at first. But after we..."

"After you what?" I blurt out.

I hear her sigh over the line. Then she says in a voice hardly above a whisper, "After we…we had sex."

That's bullshit. I know Meredith jokes around from time to time, but that's not funny. "That's funny."

"What?"

"C'mon Mere. You and I know that didn't happen."

"But it did."

It’s a lie. "Right..."

“C-court..."

She sounds like she's about to cry over the line. Dear God, don't tell me she's telling the truth. “Mere. You wouldn’t do that. I know you.”

"I know! I know that's not me. But, we had a couple glasses of wine and things...well they just got out of hand. I didn't plan on this."

She's not lying. She's really not. "I can't believe that you would do this."

"I can’t either. Please don’t hate me," she begs.

I can't answer her.

"Courtney, I'm sorry."

"Why? I mean, hey, it was just sex anyway. No biggie," I tell her.

"Please, please tell me you're not mad at me."

I roll my eyes and clench my teeth. I want to strangle her. "Shit, Mere! I wasn’t serious when I told you to go fuck him."

"Then why did you tell me to?” she asks.

“I didn’t actually think you’d go through with it! I mean, my god Mere! You don’t even know the guy.” I bite my tongue. I didn’t even know the guy.

“Oh and you did?” she laughs. “I think I knew him longer than you did.”

“That’s not the point…” I begin.

“Right, it’s not the point. The point is that it’s over and done with. He hates me, and I don’t want anything to do with him.”

My eyes widen. “Whoa…hold on. He hates you?”

She is silent for a moment. “So?”

I laugh. “So, then you aren’t together?”

I can hear the roll of her eyes. “No, Courtney we’re not. You can rest easy. Christ, you know, you can be so self-centered sometimes. Is that why you called? To find out if I stole any chance of you having him to yourself?”

“No,” I lie. “I just called…to see if…”

“Liar.”

I groan. Fine. You know, if she wants to know the truth, then she’s gonna get the truth. “You know, you’re right Mere. I am lying. I’m lying because for once I found a guy that I really really liked, and you had to go and sleep with him.”

“He’s not that special,” she grumbles.

“You’re only saying that because you had a problem. I mean, what happened between you two that was so bad anyway?”

“Nothing okay,” she whines. “It was just a mistake.”

“Mere,” I say. “There’s only two things that a woman can do to a man after sex, that can make him hate her. One, she can tell him he sucked. And two, she can walk out on him without an explanation. Now, I know he doesn’t suck…and you can’t tell me differently.”

“Uh-oh,” she gasps.

“Mere,” I frown. “What did you do?”

I hear her sob slightly. “I…I didn’t know what I was supposed to do!”

My mouth gapes. “You didn’t walk out on him. Mere, tell me you didn’t walk out on that gorgeous man.”

“No, I asked him to bring me home.”

“Mere!” I exclaim. “It’s the same thing.”

“Well I had never done anything like that before!”

“You disgust me,” I sneer.

“I was scared Courtney! Christ, I mean, I’m not the one who sleeps around all the time,” she says.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Sorry for not knowing what the hell to do after I fuck a guy I hardly know.”

I can‘t believe her. "Right. And I'm sorry that you're a prude!"

"I...I'm not a prude."

"Psshh." Alright, so I shouldn’t have gone that far. I have a tendency to say stupid things when I’m pissed. “And I’m not a whore, right?”

"You aren't," she whispers. "You just...you let guys walk over you."

I sigh. I don’t want her to get into this conversation with me again. "Mere....

“Please Courtney. I don’t want a stupid boy to make us fight."

I close my eyes, I know her. I know she must be freaked out about the whole situation and traumatized by sleeping with someone she's not in love with. Maybe, maybe she needs someone to get her mind off it more than me yelling at her. Sometimes I feel like the shittiest friend. "Neither do I."

"Courtney, please. I need to get out of my house. I didn’t even go to class today. I know it sounds stupid, but I need you right now. I just need to be silly with you,” she tells me.

I have to smile. “Wanna go to Target?”

"I love you," she says.

Holy Shit.

I can't believe it. They've got Diet Cokes for two fifty! Man, maybe I should go get a cart. Focus Justin, you gotta get your shit, get back and go to the gym. We ain't got time to fuck around. It's been...well, it's been an ok day. I had my first article published. It was some little shitty thing about some contaminated pond, but it's something. And I got three stories I'm working on for later in the week, so that's good news. But I spent all morning in a funk over last night. Man, that bitch really messed with my mind.

As soon as I dropped her off, I was on the phone with Mark. Yeah, I woke him up, and I didn’t realize until about an hour ago that that was a shitty thing to do. But I was pissed, I still am. He didn’t believe me at first and that made me feel sick. I mean, if she's just some bitch that likes to treat guys like shit then fine, then she's a bitch. But Mark made it seem like...like that's something she doesn’t do. So I stayed up the whole night, wondering if I should call Mark, get her number and call and apologize for fucking things up…again.

"Shaving cream," I say out loud. Too loud I guess, because the little old lady across the isle is looking at me like I'm some kind of stalker. I look down at my list again. Crap. I can't even act normal in a Target. That bitch. It's all her fault.

Here we go. Shaving Cream.

"Oh my god, do not tell me you are gonna use a coupon for tampons! It's only...It's only for 25 cents off!"

I know that voice.

"And that's 25 cents I can use elsewhere." Shit. I know that voice, too.

"Like on these babies?" I hear a laugh. Shit, I'm gonna have to hide. "Ooo, ribbed for her pleasure, Mere."

I look around for an aisle I can dart down, "Be a little louder, please? I'm going to get razor blades."

"You got a coupon for those, too?" I walk quickly to my right, but before I can get much further, there she is. Damned deer eyes.

"Shit." Yup, she said it.

"Geez girlie, wait up for-" I see Courtney come up beside her. Her eyes widen as she sees me then a bright smile spreads on her face. I wonder if she knows. I hope she doesn't know. God, this is awkward.

"Hey! How's it going Justin?"

Deep breath, be cool. Act like nothings wrong. Nothing is wrong. Everything's great. I get to see Courtney again. She looks cute today. Just ignore Meredith. Just forget she's even there. Don't let her fuck with your head, man. “Hey Court,” I say.

“Whatcha doin’?”

See, with her it’s so different. She’s so bubbly, and nice, and…ooo so sexy. I’ve forgotten all about her friend. Meredith? Who’s Meredith? “I came for shaving cream,” I tell her.

“Make sure you get the sensitive skin kind,” she smiles, pulling a can of cream off the shelf and planting it in my hand. “For that baby soft feeling.”

“You should be on television,” I chuckle. "So how's it going girl? How was the bridal business today?" She told me she was a wedding planner. She told me it was funny because she was the one that never settled down yet she planned out all these weddings. She talked about it for an hour the other night. It's cool to find someone that really loves what they do that much. Sometimes I feel like I’m the only person in the world that likes their job. I mean, Marks a lawyer. Lawyers are always miserable.

"Sucked ass. How's the Chronicle? I read your article today. Ya know, we use to go skinny dipping in that pond in high school." She winks at me. Shit, that's sexy. "Maybe that's why I'm such a weirdo."

“Toxic waste can do that to a person,” I smile. “But you seemed to be fine, if I remember correctly.”

"Yeah..." She smiles a shy smile. Damn, she really is something. She leans in close to me. “So, are you busy this weekend?"

Damn, I guess she never found out about last night. “Well, I haven’t made plans yet,” I glance at my shopping list. “But you better hurry,” I thrust the list in her face. “My list is getting pretty full.”

Courtney grabs the list out of my hand and starts to laugh. “Oh yes, so busy with Shaving Cream, Drinks, and batteries. Justin, it’s a little sad that you have to have a list for three things."

"Hey! I'm forgetful."

"You're so cute. So, really. You wanna go to a party this weekend?"

"Well, I don't really know anybody. I mean, I don't want to just crash somebody’s party like that."

"Oh please," she rolls her eyes. "One of the girls who works for me is throwing the party. Besides, you know me! And I know Marks going and Mer-me."

"You said that already," I laugh.

She glances around quickly like she just ran out of time with me. "Shit..." she whispers.

Maybe she needs to go. "You gotta go?"

"It's just...Mere. I came here with her."

I feel my body go numb. "Oh...Meredith?" I look up. She's over by the CD’s. I catch her eyes and she looks down, trying to make it look like she hadn't been watching us talk. But she had.

Courtney nods. “Yeah, I just…she's had a rough day. I think last night messed her up a little. I mean, nothing about you. She's just…she's just a dork sometimes."

I smile. She’s a horrible liar. But I’m not going to get mad at her. It’s not her fault that Meredith is the way she is. "Let me give you a call. I’ll let you know about the party."

“Do you have my number?”

I wink at her. “No. Let me write it on my list.” I smooth the paper out.

“You’re silly,” she says.

We exchange numbers, and I turn to leave.

“Wait. Come say hi at least,” she calls out to me.

I look over my shoulder. “Actually I’m late…”

“What a bunch of shit,” she scoffs.

"Come on Court, what am I supposed to do? She's the one that made it awkward."

"You should say hi to her," she persists. It's annoying the fuck out of me. I know she means well and all. But still...I'm not going to do that to myself again.

"Look, why don’t you just call me later about this weekend," I tell her. I need to get out of here fast.

"Justin..." I look down at her. She's looking at me like she's worried about something. "You're being an ass," she says quietly.

I sigh. This is not what I wanted to happen. I don’t want her hating me, too. "Can we talk about it later? Will you please call me? Or am I to much of an ass?”

“When you say shit like that it makes me think you are,” she says quietly. “She’s miserable Justin. I mean, I don’t know what you did…”

“I didn’t do anything!” I cut her off. “She walked out on me!”

“Girls don’t walk out on guys,” Courtney snickers.

“I’m sure you know from experience,” I shoot at her.

She flips me off. Ouch. She’s walking away now. Shit…shit…this is bad. No, I can’t let her walk away. Something is telling me this one is different. I want to get to know her. “Court…”

She doesn’t answer. I jog to catch up with her. “Courtney.”

“Asswipe.”

“Okay, I deserve that. I do.”

“I know,” she says, stopping in the CD section. “That’s why I called you an asswipe.”

I take a deep breath ready to beg for this woman's forgiveness, when I hear Meredith come up beside me and clear her throat. I swallow hard. She doesn’t acknowledge my presence. She looks at Courtney with that cute, mischievous smile on her face. "Don't look now, but Tyler Grissam is looking at Anime DVDs two aisles down."

Courtney ducks down and crouches in front of me, holding onto my arm for support. "Shit, hide me."

I look down and smirk, "Why?"

She narrows her eyes and whispers up to me, "To redeem yourself from the asswipe title."

"Tyler's this guy…" Meredith begins. I look up and see her looking directly at me. She's smiling. She looks like she did last night at Stix, relaxed, a light in her eyes, and grin on her face. She looks beautiful. "He's…well, he's not the most attractive, or thin, or cleanest man in the world. And since the ninth grade he's been in love with Courtney."

"He's a stalker!" I hear her say, trying to look around my legs.

"He can’t be that bad," I say. I mean come on. Cut the guy some slack.

“Oh...you apparently have not been in Bodine long enough. There's freaks in this town, Justin. Freaks." Meredith said my name. She said it without anger or malice.

I look over the aisle and see an overweight guy, with greasy hair, I think...braces and pretty bad skin walking this way. I laugh and look down at Courtney. "Looks like Mr. Grissam's radar is in check. He's headed this way."

"Mere!" Courtney turns and looks up at Meredith with a completely helpless look. I almost wonder how horrible this guy is. I kind of hope he comes over here so I can meet him.

I hear Meredith sigh and then say in a hushed tone, smiling down at Courtney, "Ok, ok! Look. I'm gonna go talk to him and try to distract him. When he's not looking, get out of here. Go check out. I'll try and stall him for five or ten minutes, and I'll meet you back at my car." I watch Meredith hand Courtney her keys.

"Mere, I love-"

She nods and walks past us. "Yeah, I know. And you're so taking me to Olive Garden when I get to the car." She looks over her shoulder and sticks her tongue out at Courtney, who stands up, still holding on to me and sticks out her tongue at Meredith.

Damn, they're cute. “Hey…look,” I point out. “He’s not watching.”

“Run!” She grabs my hand and rushes me out of the department. Once out of harms way she lets go of me, and smiles. “See that? Being around Mere wasn’t so bad right?”

I shrug. “I guess not.”

“Come out to Olive Garden,” she offers, trying to catch her breath. “They have all you can eat soup, salad, and breadsticks.”

“Thanks, but I really have to be going,” I laugh.

She glares at me. “Asswipe.”

“I thought I was redeemed from the Asswipe title after I saved you from Tyler the Terrible,” I say.

“More like Tyler the Greasy,” she rolls her eyes. “And I don’t know if I want to redeem you yet. You said a mean thing to me,” she pouts.

She’s so cute. “Aww, don’t pout.”

“Please come eat with us,” she begs. “Pretty please?”

I shake my head. “Courtney, I really don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Is it too awkward to be with the two girls that you-"

I cut her off. "Yeah, it is actually."

“Well you know,” she begins. “This is a pretty small town. If you date around enough, you might end up sleeping with all the girls in Bodine. Then you won’t be able to go out with any two girls at the same time. What’ll you do?”

“I won’t hang out with them,” I smile. “That’s what happened in the last town I lived in.”

"Damn..." Her eyes are wide. “And you're from Memphis."

"I get around." I wink.

"You're a nasty asswipe," she smirks.

"I’m redeemed, we established this. And you didn’t think I was so nasty the o-”

"Not here," she cuts me off. “I don’t want everybody to know I slept with the nasty ass…”

I kiss her. I don’t know why. All I know is that it feels so right.

She stares at me. “What…what was that for?”

“I gotta go,” I wink. I wave to her and walk off toward the registers. I don’t look back, but I know she’s probably still standing there wondering what the hell just happened.