What's next?

Parallel Conversations

Author’s Disclaimer: I’m trying something new. This chapter follows two POVs. 2nd person POV for Jay, and 3rd person POV for Brooke. Brooke’s portions will be in italics.

“Hey bro.” Chad greets you, as you make your way to the dining area of the suite.

“Oh! Hey, Chad. Good morning.” You greet him back.

“Oh, hey! Good morning, bro! Brooke wasn’t kidding you only need a few hours of sleep like her. Hope you’re still resting well though. You’re not gonna build muscle without proper sleep.” Chad greets you back.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” You reply with a polite smile, appreciating his fitness advice. “Also, Brooke’s already up? Where is she? We should all grab breakfast.” You add.

“Brooke and Courtney are talking right now, and it’s a good thing I caught you before we left. I need to talk to you about something too, bro.” Chad ominously tells you.

“Before you left? Why? Are you and Courtney leaving?” You ask him in shock, especially after Courtney bargained to stay longer yesterday.

“Why the fuck does it matter if we’re leaving early? Yesterday you didn’t even want me to stay here.” Courtney argues back to Brooke.

“Oh, come on Court, you know what you were asking for yesterday was out of the question. And I DID want you to stay. That’s why I asked you to stay. So don’t give me that nonsense. What’s this really about?” Brooke asks back.

“This is about me wanting to fuck Chad without having to put a hand over my mouth. Happy now? You all-up-in-other’s-business nosy hoe.” Courtney aggressively replies. If Brooke hasn’t lived with Courtney all these years, she would have missed the sarcasm in Courtney’s tone.

“No. I’m not happy. This is either one of two things, Court. I’ve known you long enough to figure that out. It’s either you’re trying to annoy me with a sarcastic answer, or you’re hiding what you really think. Which one is it this time?” Brooke replies.

“Option C. I want to fuck Chad as loudly as possible.” Courtney replies.

“That’s great, Chad.” You reply, after he tells you the reason why they’re leaving early.

“Right!? I’m so excited, bro! I got so hard yesterday hearing what you and Brooke did to her that we did the dirty over and over again! I’ve never been harder in my—” Chad excitedly expounds, and you cut him off before he finishes his last sentence.

“Like I said,” You say to cut him off and not hear more about his excitement. “That's great, Chad. Glad I could help.” You repeat, while giving him a thumbs up this time. “Anyway, if you and Courtney want more privacy today, I completely understand. Just tell me before you guys go so I can say goodbye to Courtney too.” You then tell him, before attempting to walk away, as you assume that his night with Courtney yesterday was what he wanted to talk to you about.

“Wait, bro. That’s not the part I wanted to talk to you about.” Chad stops you by tapping you on the shoulder.

“Oh?” You ask him, not at all surprised that the answer he gave you wasn’t the actual thing he wanted to talk about since, well, you’ve had enough interactions with Chad now, you know better than to expect him to be straight to the point.

“Courtney said she doesn’t want to be around you and Brooke anymore.”

“What the fuck does that mean!?” Brooke shouts in shock and anger, not understanding what Courtney just told her.

“It means I’m moving out of the apartment by the end of the day.” Courtney repeats, not breaking how seriously she means what she’s saying. “What part of that was hard to fucking understand?” Courtney asks aggressively, before trying to walk past Brooke to exit the room.

“THE WHY, COURT! WHY!?… Why are you moving out all of a sudden? That’s what I don’t understand!” Brooke shouts her question to Courtney, her confusion apparent, but her concern for her roommate’s sudden dramatic turn even moreso.

“I don’t understand what she meant too, but that’s what she said.” Chad answers your question, as you’re floored by Courtney’s assessment of you.

“She thinks I’m dangerous?” You repeat in disbelief what Chad told you.

“That’s what she said. Dangerous.” Chad concurs, bulging his eyes like he can’t believe you would ever pose a threat to anyone.

“What the fuck does she mean by that!?”

“Talk to me, Court. Come on.” Brooke encourages her, as she blocks the door to the master bedroom where Chad and Courtney stayed for the entirety of yesterday. “Stop giving me these short answers that obviously need more explanation. Please. What’s going on? What do you mean it’s for your sanity?” Brooke pleads with her roommate.

Courtney just sighs in annoyance, as she seems to concede that she won’t be able to overpower Brooke out of this room.

“Look, I’ve said more than enough of what I intended to say already. I just don’t want to rehash it alright? Just know that it’s not about you.” Courtney assures Brooke. “Can I just go and we’ll never have to talk about this?” Courtney asks in annoyance.

“No. You can’t just tell me it’s not about me when you suddenly go more drama queen than usual after—” Brooke starts to say before Courtney cuts her off.

“Drama queen!? More than usual!? That’s fucking rich coming from the biggest drama queen I know!” Courtney remarks.

“Let’s not start this alright? We’re both fucking drama queens. Can we both admit that? But the beauty of that is, after everything we’ve been through together… we’re always there for each other’s drama. Always. So I’m here now. I’m here to listen. Fucking talk to me instead of suddenly shutting me out. Not after yesterday. Not after I’m a hundred percent certain you genuinely have my back.” Brooke continues to plead with Courtney.

“I still don’t get how we would’ve caused that.” You reply in frustration.

“I don’t know why you’re surprised. You treat someone that roughly —” Chad starts to say, before you cut him off once more.

“What Brooke and I did with her wouldn’t cause her to toss and turn in her sleep and shout ‘NO’ over and over again! Are you kidding me!?” You finally react in an outburst, unable to hold back your emotions anymore. Unable to accept that you may have crossed the line with Courtney. Maybe, more accurately, unable to accept Courtney even has a line after her habitual line-stepping herself.

“Well, it could be because of her ‘thing’ too.” Chad suggests.

“What ‘thing’?” You ask, calming yourself down a bit.

“She told me she’s sorta like me too. Like, we both need something specific to get us going, you know? She said she was surprised A.F. about you figuring out hers so quickly.” Chad explains.

“Did she tell you what it was?” You ask out of curiosity.

“What ‘what’ was?” Chad crudely asks, not getting your question.

“Her… ‘thing’” You reply.

“Oh! Of course, bro. Babe and I are ride or die now. Of course she told me her thing.” Chad answers you proudly, without giving you the actual answer you were looking for.

“What was it?” You ask. “I mean, what’s her thing?” You quickly correct yourself, in case you confuse Chad again.

“Court… that’s…” Brooke says in horror, immediately hugging Courtney after hearing her reason for suddenly wanting distance from Brooke and Jay. Courtney tries to push Brooke away from the hug, but Brooke just hangs on much tighter.

“No, Court. I can’t let you go. I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.” Brooke tells Courtney, her tears beginning to flow down her cheeks. “I didn’t know.” Brooke adds, as she hugs Courtney tighter, while still trying to be as warm and as motherly as possible.

“I don’t want your pity.” Courtney tells Brooke, but the disgust in her tone is more with herself than with Brooke and with what Brooke’s doing. In fact, Courtney’s tearing up too.

“This is not ‘pity’, Court. The fact that you never needed anyone after what you just told me you’ve been through… If I’m feeling any pity, it’s for myself, for turning to you after every stupid break up or bad date. I’m a fucking weakling compared to you.” Brooke assures Courtney.

“You are.” Courtney jokingly replies to Brooke, getting both of them to do sniffling chuckles. “I’ve always told you you’re a fucking pussy.” Courtney adds, getting the two of them to laugh even more. Courtney finally gives in to her cathartic release and hides her tears on Brooke’s shoulder, and finally returns the hug that Brooke is giving her.

…

“Does Chad know?”

“I just know that you being rough with her yesterday triggered some old memories. She was fine before we went to bed, but she was screaming and flailing which woke me up, and that’s why I woke her up so her nightmare would stop.” Chad answers your question regarding why he thinks Courtney’s kink of getting choked and fucked roughly is the cause of her sudden need to get away from you.

“So you’re saying it brought up past trauma.” You conclude.

“Could be, bro. After she woke up, she just said she needed to get away from here, and that you were dangerous. I wanted her to talk to me some more, but she just kept promising to fuck my brains out if we left, so I agreed. I’m not gonna pass up that offer, bro! We could always talk after. I honestly feel like I could get hard from the story of what you guys did yesterday for like a week!” Chad answers your question. You’re getting used to interacting with him now, that the last part isn’t bothering you as much.

“Wait, if she was in a rush to leave because I’m ‘dangerous’ why are you guys still here?” You ask.

“I told her to take a shower to calm herself down a bit, and I went out to find Brooke since I know she wakes up early. I didn’t want to be rude and not say goodbye after everything you guys did for us.” Chad adds. “When Brooke found out we were leaving early, she said I should talk to you and tell you what Courtney told me, while she talked to her.” Chad informs you.

“I really hope Brooke doesn’t cock block me.” Chad crudely adds.

“Are you serious?” Courtney asks Brooke.

“I am.” Brooke replies sincerely. “Keep the apartment. I can stay with Viv, and I’ll cover my share of the rent until you can find someone new to room with.” Brooke reaffirms her suggestion to Courtney.

“I am not some fucking charity case! This is why I don’t fucking tell anybody my ancient history.” Courtney shouts at Brooke in offense.

“Did I say you were a charity case? Bitch, how many Saul Goodman schemes do you think you need to do to pay both our shares if I don’t pay my share?” Brooke replies, trying to make it sound as normal of an interaction with Courtney as it usually is, as she really is feeling guilty for triggering Courtney’s PTSD with what she manipulated her into doing yesterday.

“That’s why I said I’m the one who’s moving out!” Courtney argues.

“And stay where?” Brooke immediately retorts. “I got a place to stay without issue. Do you?” Brooke continues, trying to convince Courtney to just appease her own guilt by just accepting her guilty generosity.

“I can stay with Chad! As long as I fuck his brains out every single day, that’s free rent right there!” Courtney insincerely retorts.

“That’s your plan? Really? After everything you put yourself through for him you’re just going to treat him like just another one of your clients whose wallets you’ll bleed dry? Don’t fucking insult my intelligence, Court. I know you have a soft spot for him. More than you’d like to admit.” Brooke calls out Courtney’s bluff.

“I don’t know, okay!? I’m just sure that I can’t be around you and your boyfriend right now.” Courtney concedes.

“Then please, take the apartment. For me. If I’m the one who moves out, then he doesn’t need to come by to the apartment; and I’ll make sure the two of us will give you space to heal until you feel like you can talk to me again… and, eventually, maybe him too.”

“Why are you handling this so well? It’s so fucking annoying!” Courtney grunts out, before sighing in seeming concession to Brooke’s suggestion.

“This is a fucking headache.” You say, rubbing your forehead in frustration. “I still don’t get how it’s a kink that turns her on, but it’s also something traumatic that she can’t experience without getting nightmares. That just doesn’t make sense!” You say, obviously agitated.

“I know how you feel, bro.” Chad seems to take your stressed out response in stride. “Like I said, she seemed fine before we went to bed, but I guess that’s what nightmares do, you know?” Chad reiterates.

“Plus the ****.” Chad nonchalantly blurts out.

“Wait… WHAT!?”

“Like I was on ecstasy without the side effects. That’s the only way I could describe it.” Courtney recounts, as she and Brooke are now sitting on the bed, trying to figure out what could’ve caused her to remember her traumatic home life from what the three of them did yesterday. Brooke just nods at Courtney’s description, as she knows first hand what Courtney means.

“I don’t know why it felt that way… but it did.” Courtney admits. “I didn’t even notice it at first. Shit, I didn’t even notice it until I wasn’t feeling it anymore. So I know you didn’t **** me… but it was definitely different.” Courtney adds, as Brooke looks worried that Courtney might think they actually did do something like that.

“I thought, maybe it was just the feeling you get when you do something for somebody else; or it was just the added excitement of anticipating how happy Chad was going to be when I told him all the wild stuff that was happening with you, and with the phone call… I was excited to share that with him. That’s rare for me when it comes to sex.” Courtney recounts.

“Sex is a scam. Sex is a job. Sex is a quick way to lose two to fifteen minutes of my life. What it isn’t to me… is good.” Courtney continues, and Brooke can only nod in understanding after finding out what she grew up with.

“I’ve only ever orgasmed from two things — Fucking with MDMA in my system, or…” Courtney says, before getting a thousand yard stare that Brooke snaps her out of.

“Yeah. That.” Brooke says, just to tell Courtney she doesn’t need to say it out loud.

“So, yeah. Maybe it was the combination of feeling good from fucking again and being fucked roughly that fucked with my brain… or maybe I was just too happy for the first fucking time in my life and some asshole god needed to bring me back to the status quo when I fell asleep.” Courtney says despondently.

“I buried it deep, Brooke. DEEP. I haven’t thought about it in years. One fucking night with your boyfriend and it comes crashing back. I can’t… I can’t handle this shit right now.” Courtney breaks down, and Brooke gives her a hug to comfort her.

“After my nightmare, I just panicked. I needed to run. It felt like I needed to run. If Chad wasn’t awake and so sweet and calm when I told him, maybe I’d be halfway out of the city by now.” Courtney admits, as Brooke continues to hug her, and rub her back.

“You don’t need to run, Court. You said it yourself, you just panicked. If you think seeing my boyfriend is going to trigger you again, then we’ll separate you two for the time being. We’ll find a way to figure this out eventually.” Brooke assures her.

“I don’t know how… but we will.”

You finally opened the app to see what Courtney’s scores are, and what traits are recommended for her, as Chad says he told you everything Courtney told him already. You wanted to check for clues as to why she suddenly thought you were dangerous, hoping the app might give you a hint on how to address Courtney’s past trauma that you may have possibly triggered with your treatment of her in the bedroom.

What you see the app inform you of is both amazing… and scary.

Scary because it’s Courtney.

Amazing because something happened that you never even considered a possibility.