SILVER LINED DOUBT. [JESS MARIANO]

NINE.

(not even sure if any of y'all are awake but i needed to rip this out tonight. hope you don't mind the late time. enjoy! -mags)
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COURTNEY BURKE HADN'T had a great day.

She'd had a fight with her mother this morning, she had finally gotten her test back from her asshole of an Anatomy teacher to see her less than impressive grade circled in thick red marker in the top corner, and her younger sister had friends staying over and they hadn't stopped screaming since their pizzas had gotten here.

So, when she opened her door to find Marley standing there at eight at night with tears streaming down her face, a fire was immediately lit inside of Courtney. Marley could see it in her eyes as soon as her best friend saw her.

Courtney pulled her inside, taking her upstairs into her room and slamming the door shut. "Are you alright?" she asked. "What happened?"

Marley went to speak but found herself quickly clamping her hand over her mouth to stop herself from releasing a sob. She swallowed it, taking a deep breath before wiping at her tears. "Ryan broke up with me," she whispered.

"He what?" Courtney asked, crouching down in front of Marley. "What? What happened? Did you two get into a fight?"

Marley nodded slowly, jaw trembling. "He, uh--" She paused to swallow, laughing humorlessly under breath. "We'd been talking about... y'know... finally doing... it... And, I just, I wasn't ready."

"Marley, did he break up with you because you wouldn't fuck him?" Courtney's voice was a low, dangerous growl and Marley couldn't do anything but bow her head. That was all the answer Courtney needed for her to stand up, walk over to her closet and throw her jacket on.

Marley shot up from Courtney's bed and jumped in front of her, blocking her from the door. She put her hands on her shoulders. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm just gonna go talk to him," she said, wrapping a scarf around her neck.

"No, you're not."

"It's just going to be a quick chat. Probably just going to be about how his chances at a baseball career were ended in a minute by someone who's a foot shorter than he is."

"Courtney, no," Marley said. Courtney sighed when she heard the pleading in her voice. "Please. Don't. I don't want this to become something bigger than it is."

"Dude, this is a big deal," Courtney replied. "He broke up with you because you weren't ready to have sex. That's not okay."