Thirty

Part Two

Shayne was, frankly, quite happy not to meet Nat. He usually managed just fine with Courtney's boyfriends – he'd be civil, and deep down, he'd know she wasn't going to be staying with them particularly long (more often than not, because she admitted to him that she wasn't really feeling it). Something about Nat struck differently.

It's not like Courtney was fawning over her – quite the opposite, their relationship seemed calm, and well-paced, and mature. And, honestly, Shayne couldn't fault a thing he'd heard about Nat. He was just...

"Courtney's annoyed you aren't here. And Nat wants to meet you too, because you're the best friend she's heard so much about," Damien's text comes through close to 6pm as Shayne sits awkwardly on his sofa at home in his almost-decided-to-actually-go-but-chickened-out-at-the-last-minute outfit.

"Damien..." Shayne replies, not needing to say anymore.

"I know it's not easy, but you love Courtney, right? You want her to be happy? You owe it to her to either show up as her best friend, or to be honest with her as to why that's hard for you," Damien types back, firmly, and Shayne gives a frustrated sigh to himself. He knows Damien's right. And he knows there is absolutely no way he's being honest with Courtney, especially not when she's in a comfortable relationship he has no desire to disrespect.

"I'll be there in twenty," he texts back, shifting himself off the couch to go and put his shoes on and shove his phone in his pocket.

"Shayne!" Courtney greets him, enthusiastically, when he steps into her apartment the designated twenty minutes later, "good timing, the pizza is due in a few minutes."

"Perfect," Shayne laughs, letting her pull him into a brief hug before Damien does exactly the same.

"Proud of you," Damien mutters, near silent, Shayne giving an almost imperceptible nod in acknowledgement as he pulls back and turns to the girl close by Courtney's side.

"And you must be Nat?" he prompts, internally cringing at the cliché opening, but Nat and Courtney both seem to brush past it.

"Yeah! It's good to meet you, Shayne," Nat replies, smiling brightly at him.

"You too," Shayne answers, forcing himself to smile genuinely back at her as they move further into the apartment. Part of him would like to escape off to talk to Ian and Damien or something, but Nat seems genuinely interested to get to know him and he finds himself in an amicable conversation with both her and Courtney, continuing through as the pizzas arrive and they all settle on various surfaces throughout the apartment to eat their dinner.

It's Ian who first, post-dinner, gives the most unsubtle hint towards Courtney's TV and gaming consoles, moving over to grab one of her Switch controllers and waving it around in the air.

"Hey, anyone up for Smash Bros?" he calls out. Shane and Jackie are the first to Jump in, Shayne taking the fourth spot when no one else does. Some of the others crowd around the back of the couch to watch, although Nat, Olivia and Sam start the round deep in a conversation about food and food culture, sitting up at Courtney's small dining table. Courtney, for her part, keeps an eye on all parts of the room from where she leans against the side of the couch, near Shayne.

Shane is the clear winner in their onscreen brawls, although Jackie comes in a competitively close second. They give it a couple of rounds before turning to hand over to another set of players, the others having mingled around the couch and already decided who would be up next – Damien, Courtney, Nat and Sam.

"You gotta go easy on me, I have played this game literally once ever and it was here a week ago," Nat jokes, when they start selecting characters.