Ignite Your Bones

As the night progressed, and came to ending, the words Courtney spoke were still in the back of Eric’s mind. I do absolutely nothing, and I have no idea what I want to do.

What was that supposed to mean, exactly? Halvo had so many questions. He didn’t know why, but he was so interested in finding out more of the situation.

It wasn’t the most awkward night, but it wasn’t the best night he had ever had. He had fun, he would admit that.

If this was any other girl, he would have probably not opened up as much as he did. There was something about Courtney that made him want to just keep talking. Maybe it was because he wanted the time to pass by quicker. Or maybe it was because he felt like he could trust her.

It was the next day after, and Halvo still had the whole night replaying in his mind. He was just so damn curious. He didn’t want to ask John, he wouldn’t know. Not only that, but he managed to convince himself that he didn’t care.

Even though deep down he wanted to know the back story to it all.

--

As another yawn came from Courtney’s mouth, she folded another messy shirt in the men’s section. It had been a long day of helping customers and folding, but she only had thirty minutes and she was free.

The date had been the night before, and for some odd reason, she couldn’t forget about it. There was just something about it that kept making her daydream about it. She shook the thoughts from her head. It was a simple pity date. It was nothing.

As she folded more clothes, she began to hear laughter and talking between two people. The voices sounded so familiar, almost too familiar. As she let her mind process what she was hearing, she realized who it was. Just to make sure, she took a couple steps to sneak a peek at the two.

There they were, fiddling through racks of clothes, a couple feet away from Courtney. She didn’t know why John and Eric were here, but she felt nervous for some reason that they were. Half of her wanted to walk up to the two and start conversation, while the other half wanted to hide away and hope to not be seen.

Courtney must have been standing there thinking to herself too long, because when she finally snapped back into reality, she saw John and Eric walking towards her, both waving slightly. She stiffened, and realized she couldn’t get out of the situation now. Deciding to make the best out of it, she smiled at the two.

“Uh, hey guys,” she spoke, folding the last shirt and putting it back where it belonged.

John smiled down at her. “Hey Court, I didn’t know you were working today,” The tone in John’s voice made Courtney think otherwise. The smirk that played along his lips proved that he didn’t in fact know, which confused Courtney extremely.

She decided to go along with his sentence and brush off his actions. “Yeah, I get off in about fifteen minutes, though,”

John smiled once more at her, and clapped his hands together. “Hey, I have an idea!” Courtney scrunched her eyebrows, as did Eric, and the two looked at John, waiting for him to speak his idea. “How about the three of us go to the pizzeria across from here after you get off?”

Courtney felt extremely uncomfortable now. She had never hung out with John without Andrea around.

As Courtney stood there, looking as uncomfortable as she really was, John caught on and realized what he had done. “I can call Drea, she can come too,”

Courtney didn’t know why John was so determined to go eat after she got off, but she knew he would win in the end anyways, so she nodded her head. “Sure, that sounds cool,”

Halvo coughed, and brought the two’s attention to him. He looked like he was about to say something, almost as if he was going to say he wasn’t going, but then he looked at Courtney. The uncomfortable feeling Courtney had felt just seconds before was coming back, so she looked down and began to refold clothes she had already folded to make herself busy.

She was just waiting for the words to untangle from his mouth. His excuse on why he wasn’t going. Courtney didn’t know why it bothered her, but it did. It wasn’t like the two were really even friends.

“Yeah, sounds cool, I’m in,” The words that slipped from Halvo’s mouth made Courtney’s head snap up, looking directly at him. Eric smiled at Courtney, and she felt a strange feeling in her stomach. She tried to brush it off, but as Eric continued to smile at her, the feeling grew and grew. It was butterflies.

John smiled at the two, digging into his front pocket to grab his cell phone. “I’ll go call Drea, I’ll be right back,” John walked away, his phone already to his ear, leaving Halvo and Courtney by the clothes.

Courtney searched for different things they could talk about. “Did you guys find anything you wanted to buy?” It was the only question she could come up with.

Shaking his head, Halvo replied, “No, John and I don’t even really shop here,” He looked around the store. “But he was so eager to come in here, so we did.”

Nodding her head, Courtney spoke, “Well, hey, if you guys ever want to buy something, I can give you a 10 percent family and friends discount.” She smiled at the end of her sentence, making Eric’s face break out in a grin.

Things were starting to feel more comfortable between the two, and Courtney couldn’t deny it; she liked it.

“I’ll keep that offer in mind,” he said, and John appeared next to the two once more.

The grin on his face showed Andrea had said yes, which Courtney knew she would, and he said, “Drea said she’ll be here soon,”

“I think I can clock out now,” Courtney said, pulling out her phone and looking at the time. “How about you guys go get a table and I’ll meet you there?”

The two nodded and began to walk towards the front of the store.

As Courtney clocked out, she felt the butterflies inside her stomach go insane. She didn’t know why. There was something about Eric that just made her extremely nervous and anxious.

The smile that was on her face was wide, and she walked to the pizzeria with the butterflies still going wild.