Status: Finished :)
Why Did You Wait So Long?
Why did you wait so long ?
“Court, I’ll only be gone for a little while; don’t worry, you’ll always be my best friend.” He whispered as he wrapped his arms around my petite frame. I felt him kiss the top of my head as I silently cried into his chest. “But what if you forget about me? What if I never see you again?” I ask my thirteen-year-old best friend. He pulled away and tucked a stray piece of my brown hair behind my ear. “Courtney Brigid Phelps, I promise you that there is no way that I would or could ever forget you.” He said in his most sincere voice, his hazel eyes staring into my blue ones. I tried to force a smile on my face. “Joshua Ryan Hutcherson, do you promise me that you will NEVER break that promise?” I ask him, never looking away from his eyes. He nods before my twelve-year-old self hugged him again. “And promise me that you will call, write, text, email whenever you can?” I asked as I pulled away quickly. He gave me that smile I loved and nodded once more. “I promise.” He replied softly as his eyes stared into mine once more.
“Josh! Honey, let’s go!” his mother called. This was it. The tears began to fall faster now. “Hey, gimme a smile.” He whispered, wiping my tears away with his thumb. I hugged him tight, not wanting to ever have to let go. “I love you Josh.” I whispered so softly, he probably didn’t hear me. He pulled back again, this time kissing my forehead. “This isn’t goodbye Court, only see you later.” He said, hugging me one last time before running to the car. I waved as he turned around to get one last look at me. I could swear that I saw a tear fall down his cheek as he waved back before getting into the car after his younger brother. As the Hutcherson’s pulled away Josh turned in the backseat, waving at me as they drove farther away from where I was standing. I felt my heart shatter as his eyes were still on me and I waved until the car disappeared from my sight.
Seven Years Later
I walked down the streets of my hometown, smiling as I passed the places I had hung out in during my childhood. I was home from school for spring break. I turn nineteen in a couple of weeks and am a second semester freshman at the University of Kentucky, majoring in public relations. I sighed as I remembered all the plans that Josh and I made when we were kids. “Court, one day, we’re both gonna be at UK and we’ll be best friends forever.” He’d say, and I would always agree. But unfortunately, plans change and so do people. Josh kept his promise to keep in touch for a while, maybe six or seven months? But soon after that, the phone calls, emails, and texts came less and less before they stopped completely. I guess I should’ve expected that, after all he was a big movie star now. And you can bet that I saw every one of his movies in theatres and owned them all on DVD. They were my only way of seeing him now.
Thinking of Josh as I walked down the streets of the neighborhood where we grew up and how we had grown apart after he left broke my heart. Josh was always more than just my best friend. Since the day we met, the day that Tyler Manning stepped on my sand castle in the playground and Josh pushed him for making me cry, I have been in love with Josh Hutcherson. At the time, I was five and Josh was six. I never told Josh how I felt; we were always too young. But now, I wish I had told him how I felt.
My life kind of went downhill after Josh stopped replying to emails, calls, and texts. My parents got divorced due to irreconcilable differences. About two years after that, my mom remarried. It’s not that I don’t like my mom’s husband, Kevin; I just wish that my parents were still married. We all still live in the same town and my parents are really good friends, but it’s just not the same. There were times when I felt so alone during the divorce when I wished that I had Josh with me but I knew that wasn’t possible. Soon, my feet led me to my house where my mom had all the Easter decorations up. My dad and Kevin were taking on the front porch. They got along really well and for that my mom was thankful. She wasn’t going to push my father out of mine and my sister’s lives now that she was remarried. Dad was actually there to spend Easter with all of us. He and Kevin, who knew about Josh through my mother, gave me worried glances as I walked up to them. “What?” I asked them, thinking they were acting extremely weird. When they didn’t answer I shrugged and walked into the house to bump into my older sister, Ashley and her fiancée Zayn (teehee , I had too xD). They blocked my way when I tried to walk past them to walk further into the house to get to the kitchen.
“Okay, what was that about?” I asked them, a bit pissed that they wouldn’t move out of my way. They both exchanged worried looks before looking back at me, not giving me an answer. “Why is everyone acting so weird today?” I ask, frustrated; first dad and Kevin, now Ashley and Zayn. What the hell is going on! “Zayn, if you don’t tell me what’s going on I am going to mess up your hair!” I said to him, knowing he hated it when people touched his hair. “Nothing’s going on.” Ashley replied before he could. “Yeah just don’t go into your living room.” Zayn slipped out before Ashley jabbed him in the stomach. “Ow!” he exclaimed as he partially doubled over, allowing me to slip past him. “Courtney wait!” Ashley called out as I ran into the living room, but it was too late. There he was, sitting with my mom, handsome as ever; Josh. I felt Ashley and Zayn walk up behind me, obviously worried. My heart dropped as Josh looked away from my mother and at the doorway of the living room, his eyes landing on me. “Courtney?” he said softly. That was all it took. I felt my eyes well up with tears and before I knew what was going on, I was running out of the house; Zayn and Ashley hot on my tail.
“Courtney, wait up!” they shouted before I came to a stop at the park where Josh and I first met, tears pouring down my face as I sat in the grass near the sandbox. Within seconds, Ashley and Zayn had taken a seat on either side of me. Ashley rubbed my back while Zayn held me in his arms, always the big brother to me. “When did he get here?” I whispered after a few minutes of silence. Ashley sighed. “He came to the house literally five minutes after you left for your walk.” She replied softly, stroking my hair out of my eyes. “Why is he here?” I asked. They both sighed this time. “I think that’s something you need to ask him yourself.” Zayn replied. I sighed as Ashley’s phone rang. “Hello?” she said as she stood while Zayn helped me up. “Yeah mom, she’s fine. We’ll be there soon.” I heard Ashley say to our mother before she hung up the phone, turning back to Zayn and I. “Mom said to come home, dinner’s ready.” She said to us. I nodded and the three of us began walking back to the house.
When we got there, we walked into the dining room to see my parents, Kevin, Mr. and Mrs. Hutcherson, Connor, and Josh all sitting at the dining room table. My eyes narrowed as they landed on Josh. “I’ll be eating in the kitchen.” I said to my mother before I made a plate for myself and walked into the kitchen, alone. I sat at the island in the middle of the kitchen, picking at the food on my plate. Normally, I could eat three plates of my mom’s cooking but the second I saw him, I lost my appetite. What was he doing here? After all these years he comes back? What did he expect my reaction to be? These are the questions I asked myself as I moved the food around my plate. If this situation had involved any other person, I probably wouldn’t have been as emotional; normally I’d just say forget about it and move on. If I wasn’t worth their time, they obviously aren’t worth mine. But Josh was always different. He was Josh and that was never going to change, no matter how much I wish I hated him after all this time.
Meanwhile…
Josh’s POV
When she walked into the house this afternoon, my breath got caught in my throat. She was even more beautiful than I remember. Granted, she was still just a petite twelve-year-old when I left seven years ago, but she had grown since I had last seen her. The minute I whispered her name, I saw the look in her eyes. The last time I had seen the amount of pain, hurt, and anger in Courtney’s eyes was when her grandfather died when she was five and I was six. We were young then, but that expression was unmistaken, I knew I was the reason that those beautiful green eyes held so much pain. When she ran from the house, Ashley and that dude Zayn chased after her. I probably should’ve too, but for some reason I stayed where I was.
When she came back from wherever she had gone to, she said she was going to eat dinner alone in the kitchen. She didn’t even look at me as she barely filled her plate and if I remember correctly, the Courtney I remember could eat more than I could any day of the week, especially if her mom was cooking. I watched her as she walked out of the room just as Ashley and her fiancée took two open seats across from me. Ashley stared me down, knowing exactly what she was doing to make me feel like crap. Ashley was older than me by two years, making her three years older than her sister. “Babe, stop staring.” Zayn whispered to her before she turned to him. “No Zayn. He broke her heart! How can he just sit here and pretend like nothing is wrong!” she said back, doing everything she could not to raise her voice at the table. “Ashley, please!” her mother said. “No, Mrs. Phelps; Ashley’s right. I need to speak to her, and set things right.” I replied before standing up and walking into the kitchen.
Courtney’s POV
I heard someone walk into the kitchen after about ten minutes. I had heard what my sister said to Josh and had laid my head on the counter, blocking out whatever else was said. When I looked up again, there he was standing in front of me. “What do you want?” I asked coldly, feeling all the built up hurt, pain, and anger overcome me. “Court, can I talk to you?” he asked softly, reaching his hand out to me. “It’s Courtney. And what could we possibly have to talk about?!” I said, nearly shouting. He looked at me and I could see the pain in his hazel eyes, those eyes that I had loved so much. He took a step closer to me. “Why I stopped writing, why I haven’t spoken to you in nearly seven years.” He replied softly. I scoffed.
“Josh, you left me here to pursue your dream! I supported that dream and I still do! But when you left, I never realized that I was no longer part of that dream. You stopped writing and my life went downhill. Where were you when my parents got divorced? Where were you when my uncle was diagnosed with cancer? Where were you all those times I needed my best friend to tell me that I was worth more than what any of the girls at my school had said about me? Oh that’s right! You weren’t there! You had let me out of your life and you didn’t even care to call to see how I was, to see if I was even still here! And now you come back and just expect me to forgive you? To just let you pull me into your arms and tell me everything is going to go back to normal?! Well I can’t do that Josh! I can’t do that because when you stopped writing, communicating, caring, my heart shattered into a million, no a billion pieces. I loved you so much and you just stopped caring.” I said, turning my back to him as I felt the tears pour down my face.
I felt his hand on my shoulder and I lost it. I turned around and into his arms, crying into his chest as he held me close. He rubbed my back as I sobbed, probably soaking the shirt he was wearing, but he obviously didn’t care. I felt something fall onto my head and I looked up to see that I wasn’t the only one crying. Josh had tears falling down his perfect face. “I’m so sorry Courtney.” He whispered as he cried. I looked up at him, the tears still falling down my face. “Why did you stop talking to me? Why did you stop?” I whispered, slightly raspy as my throat began to sting from sobbing. “Because I figured if I did that, I wouldn’t feel the ache in my heart that I couldn’t have you with me in LA.” He replied. “What do you mean Josh?” I asked softly, as he looked down at me. “I figured if I stopped talking to you, I’d fall out of love with you. I thought there was no way you’d ever want me as more than your friend. But I was wrong. Me not talking to you didn’t change how I felt one bit. Everywhere I went, something reminded me of you. That’s why I came back.” He replied.
“Why did you wait so long? Why did you wait so long to come back?” I asked, confused as to why he didn’t come back sooner if he had felt that way. “I was scared. Scared that you’d laugh in my face. Scared that you wouldn’t want to be my friend any more.” He replied. “I would never do that.” I reply, as I continued crying. Then he slowly leaned in, his eyes closing as his face came closer to mine. I leaned in slightly as well, closing my eyes just as my lips pressed against his. The feeling of his lips against mine sent chills down my back as his hand cupped my face. After what felt like a lifetime, he slowly pulled away as did I. I opened my eyes to see him looking back at me. “I love you Courtney, and I’m so sorry.” He said softly, tears falling from his eyes. I gave him a small smile as I raise my hand to his face, wiping his tears away with my thumb. “I forgive you, and I love you too.” I reply in a voice just above a whisper, causing him to look into my eyes again, this time a wide smile on his face as he kissed me again.
Thirteen Years Later (Still Courtney’s POV)
It’s been eleven years since Josh came back into my life, and I can say that things started to look up after that. Josh did have to return to filming his next movie, Catching Fire. But luckily, it was during the summer so I was able to be on set with him as an intern with the movie’s PR department. Josh took online courses at UK, majoring in business administration and sociology. Ashley and Zayn were married that year, just after thanksgiving and have been married for thirteen years. They have four children; Jackson Hunter (12), Daniel Philip (8), Cecelia Grace (5), and Lily Rose (6 months). Josh and I, of course started dating the day that he came back into my life. While we can’t always be together, that’s why we have skype. We dated for six years before he asked me to marry him, I was twenty-five, he was twenty-six. The following year we were married on a beach in South Carolina where we had spent the majority of our time while he filmed the last three movies of The Hunger Games series (the final film was split in two), he was twenty-seven and I was twenty-six. Now here we are, six years later living back in our hometown of Union with our children; Tyler James & Luke Joseph (4), and our little girl Leila Elizabeth (two weeks old). When Josh came back into my life that day, I had no idea that our lives would turn out like this.
“Josh! Honey, let’s go!” his mother called. This was it. The tears began to fall faster now. “Hey, gimme a smile.” He whispered, wiping my tears away with his thumb. I hugged him tight, not wanting to ever have to let go. “I love you Josh.” I whispered so softly, he probably didn’t hear me. He pulled back again, this time kissing my forehead. “This isn’t goodbye Court, only see you later.” He said, hugging me one last time before running to the car. I waved as he turned around to get one last look at me. I could swear that I saw a tear fall down his cheek as he waved back before getting into the car after his younger brother. As the Hutcherson’s pulled away Josh turned in the backseat, waving at me as they drove farther away from where I was standing. I felt my heart shatter as his eyes were still on me and I waved until the car disappeared from my sight.
Seven Years Later
I walked down the streets of my hometown, smiling as I passed the places I had hung out in during my childhood. I was home from school for spring break. I turn nineteen in a couple of weeks and am a second semester freshman at the University of Kentucky, majoring in public relations. I sighed as I remembered all the plans that Josh and I made when we were kids. “Court, one day, we’re both gonna be at UK and we’ll be best friends forever.” He’d say, and I would always agree. But unfortunately, plans change and so do people. Josh kept his promise to keep in touch for a while, maybe six or seven months? But soon after that, the phone calls, emails, and texts came less and less before they stopped completely. I guess I should’ve expected that, after all he was a big movie star now. And you can bet that I saw every one of his movies in theatres and owned them all on DVD. They were my only way of seeing him now.
Thinking of Josh as I walked down the streets of the neighborhood where we grew up and how we had grown apart after he left broke my heart. Josh was always more than just my best friend. Since the day we met, the day that Tyler Manning stepped on my sand castle in the playground and Josh pushed him for making me cry, I have been in love with Josh Hutcherson. At the time, I was five and Josh was six. I never told Josh how I felt; we were always too young. But now, I wish I had told him how I felt.
My life kind of went downhill after Josh stopped replying to emails, calls, and texts. My parents got divorced due to irreconcilable differences. About two years after that, my mom remarried. It’s not that I don’t like my mom’s husband, Kevin; I just wish that my parents were still married. We all still live in the same town and my parents are really good friends, but it’s just not the same. There were times when I felt so alone during the divorce when I wished that I had Josh with me but I knew that wasn’t possible. Soon, my feet led me to my house where my mom had all the Easter decorations up. My dad and Kevin were taking on the front porch. They got along really well and for that my mom was thankful. She wasn’t going to push my father out of mine and my sister’s lives now that she was remarried. Dad was actually there to spend Easter with all of us. He and Kevin, who knew about Josh through my mother, gave me worried glances as I walked up to them. “What?” I asked them, thinking they were acting extremely weird. When they didn’t answer I shrugged and walked into the house to bump into my older sister, Ashley and her fiancée Zayn (teehee , I had too xD). They blocked my way when I tried to walk past them to walk further into the house to get to the kitchen.
“Okay, what was that about?” I asked them, a bit pissed that they wouldn’t move out of my way. They both exchanged worried looks before looking back at me, not giving me an answer. “Why is everyone acting so weird today?” I ask, frustrated; first dad and Kevin, now Ashley and Zayn. What the hell is going on! “Zayn, if you don’t tell me what’s going on I am going to mess up your hair!” I said to him, knowing he hated it when people touched his hair. “Nothing’s going on.” Ashley replied before he could. “Yeah just don’t go into your living room.” Zayn slipped out before Ashley jabbed him in the stomach. “Ow!” he exclaimed as he partially doubled over, allowing me to slip past him. “Courtney wait!” Ashley called out as I ran into the living room, but it was too late. There he was, sitting with my mom, handsome as ever; Josh. I felt Ashley and Zayn walk up behind me, obviously worried. My heart dropped as Josh looked away from my mother and at the doorway of the living room, his eyes landing on me. “Courtney?” he said softly. That was all it took. I felt my eyes well up with tears and before I knew what was going on, I was running out of the house; Zayn and Ashley hot on my tail.
“Courtney, wait up!” they shouted before I came to a stop at the park where Josh and I first met, tears pouring down my face as I sat in the grass near the sandbox. Within seconds, Ashley and Zayn had taken a seat on either side of me. Ashley rubbed my back while Zayn held me in his arms, always the big brother to me. “When did he get here?” I whispered after a few minutes of silence. Ashley sighed. “He came to the house literally five minutes after you left for your walk.” She replied softly, stroking my hair out of my eyes. “Why is he here?” I asked. They both sighed this time. “I think that’s something you need to ask him yourself.” Zayn replied. I sighed as Ashley’s phone rang. “Hello?” she said as she stood while Zayn helped me up. “Yeah mom, she’s fine. We’ll be there soon.” I heard Ashley say to our mother before she hung up the phone, turning back to Zayn and I. “Mom said to come home, dinner’s ready.” She said to us. I nodded and the three of us began walking back to the house.
When we got there, we walked into the dining room to see my parents, Kevin, Mr. and Mrs. Hutcherson, Connor, and Josh all sitting at the dining room table. My eyes narrowed as they landed on Josh. “I’ll be eating in the kitchen.” I said to my mother before I made a plate for myself and walked into the kitchen, alone. I sat at the island in the middle of the kitchen, picking at the food on my plate. Normally, I could eat three plates of my mom’s cooking but the second I saw him, I lost my appetite. What was he doing here? After all these years he comes back? What did he expect my reaction to be? These are the questions I asked myself as I moved the food around my plate. If this situation had involved any other person, I probably wouldn’t have been as emotional; normally I’d just say forget about it and move on. If I wasn’t worth their time, they obviously aren’t worth mine. But Josh was always different. He was Josh and that was never going to change, no matter how much I wish I hated him after all this time.
Meanwhile…
Josh’s POV
When she walked into the house this afternoon, my breath got caught in my throat. She was even more beautiful than I remember. Granted, she was still just a petite twelve-year-old when I left seven years ago, but she had grown since I had last seen her. The minute I whispered her name, I saw the look in her eyes. The last time I had seen the amount of pain, hurt, and anger in Courtney’s eyes was when her grandfather died when she was five and I was six. We were young then, but that expression was unmistaken, I knew I was the reason that those beautiful green eyes held so much pain. When she ran from the house, Ashley and that dude Zayn chased after her. I probably should’ve too, but for some reason I stayed where I was.
When she came back from wherever she had gone to, she said she was going to eat dinner alone in the kitchen. She didn’t even look at me as she barely filled her plate and if I remember correctly, the Courtney I remember could eat more than I could any day of the week, especially if her mom was cooking. I watched her as she walked out of the room just as Ashley and her fiancée took two open seats across from me. Ashley stared me down, knowing exactly what she was doing to make me feel like crap. Ashley was older than me by two years, making her three years older than her sister. “Babe, stop staring.” Zayn whispered to her before she turned to him. “No Zayn. He broke her heart! How can he just sit here and pretend like nothing is wrong!” she said back, doing everything she could not to raise her voice at the table. “Ashley, please!” her mother said. “No, Mrs. Phelps; Ashley’s right. I need to speak to her, and set things right.” I replied before standing up and walking into the kitchen.
Courtney’s POV
I heard someone walk into the kitchen after about ten minutes. I had heard what my sister said to Josh and had laid my head on the counter, blocking out whatever else was said. When I looked up again, there he was standing in front of me. “What do you want?” I asked coldly, feeling all the built up hurt, pain, and anger overcome me. “Court, can I talk to you?” he asked softly, reaching his hand out to me. “It’s Courtney. And what could we possibly have to talk about?!” I said, nearly shouting. He looked at me and I could see the pain in his hazel eyes, those eyes that I had loved so much. He took a step closer to me. “Why I stopped writing, why I haven’t spoken to you in nearly seven years.” He replied softly. I scoffed.
“Josh, you left me here to pursue your dream! I supported that dream and I still do! But when you left, I never realized that I was no longer part of that dream. You stopped writing and my life went downhill. Where were you when my parents got divorced? Where were you when my uncle was diagnosed with cancer? Where were you all those times I needed my best friend to tell me that I was worth more than what any of the girls at my school had said about me? Oh that’s right! You weren’t there! You had let me out of your life and you didn’t even care to call to see how I was, to see if I was even still here! And now you come back and just expect me to forgive you? To just let you pull me into your arms and tell me everything is going to go back to normal?! Well I can’t do that Josh! I can’t do that because when you stopped writing, communicating, caring, my heart shattered into a million, no a billion pieces. I loved you so much and you just stopped caring.” I said, turning my back to him as I felt the tears pour down my face.
I felt his hand on my shoulder and I lost it. I turned around and into his arms, crying into his chest as he held me close. He rubbed my back as I sobbed, probably soaking the shirt he was wearing, but he obviously didn’t care. I felt something fall onto my head and I looked up to see that I wasn’t the only one crying. Josh had tears falling down his perfect face. “I’m so sorry Courtney.” He whispered as he cried. I looked up at him, the tears still falling down my face. “Why did you stop talking to me? Why did you stop?” I whispered, slightly raspy as my throat began to sting from sobbing. “Because I figured if I did that, I wouldn’t feel the ache in my heart that I couldn’t have you with me in LA.” He replied. “What do you mean Josh?” I asked softly, as he looked down at me. “I figured if I stopped talking to you, I’d fall out of love with you. I thought there was no way you’d ever want me as more than your friend. But I was wrong. Me not talking to you didn’t change how I felt one bit. Everywhere I went, something reminded me of you. That’s why I came back.” He replied.
“Why did you wait so long? Why did you wait so long to come back?” I asked, confused as to why he didn’t come back sooner if he had felt that way. “I was scared. Scared that you’d laugh in my face. Scared that you wouldn’t want to be my friend any more.” He replied. “I would never do that.” I reply, as I continued crying. Then he slowly leaned in, his eyes closing as his face came closer to mine. I leaned in slightly as well, closing my eyes just as my lips pressed against his. The feeling of his lips against mine sent chills down my back as his hand cupped my face. After what felt like a lifetime, he slowly pulled away as did I. I opened my eyes to see him looking back at me. “I love you Courtney, and I’m so sorry.” He said softly, tears falling from his eyes. I gave him a small smile as I raise my hand to his face, wiping his tears away with my thumb. “I forgive you, and I love you too.” I reply in a voice just above a whisper, causing him to look into my eyes again, this time a wide smile on his face as he kissed me again.
Thirteen Years Later (Still Courtney’s POV)
It’s been eleven years since Josh came back into my life, and I can say that things started to look up after that. Josh did have to return to filming his next movie, Catching Fire. But luckily, it was during the summer so I was able to be on set with him as an intern with the movie’s PR department. Josh took online courses at UK, majoring in business administration and sociology. Ashley and Zayn were married that year, just after thanksgiving and have been married for thirteen years. They have four children; Jackson Hunter (12), Daniel Philip (8), Cecelia Grace (5), and Lily Rose (6 months). Josh and I, of course started dating the day that he came back into my life. While we can’t always be together, that’s why we have skype. We dated for six years before he asked me to marry him, I was twenty-five, he was twenty-six. The following year we were married on a beach in South Carolina where we had spent the majority of our time while he filmed the last three movies of The Hunger Games series (the final film was split in two), he was twenty-seven and I was twenty-six. Now here we are, six years later living back in our hometown of Union with our children; Tyler James & Luke Joseph (4), and our little girl Leila Elizabeth (two weeks old). When Josh came back into my life that day, I had no idea that our lives would turn out like this.