Milkshake Hearts

Chapter 142: Thirty

Shayne hasn't ever been one to celebrate his birthdays with much fanfare. Courtney had always been more than understanding of that: for his previous two birthdays since they'd been together, she'd simply gifted him a book he was interested in and spent the day quietly at home with him. His thirtieth, of course, was going to be a little different.

"Are you sure you actually want to do things for your birthday, babe? I know other people want to celebrate it with you, but it is your birthday. You can say no if you just want to stay home," Courtney had checked with him a few weeks out, a week before their disastrous weekend with her mother, but Shayne had simply nodded.

"Yeah, I'm okay to do things this year. It'll be good to go out, and I do actually like spending time with all these people," he confirms with a genuine smile.

His actual birthday is on a Tuesday, during a shoot week, so they choose to celebrate it a few days early on the Saturday before. He starts the day as if it is a normal day: he gets up early, gives the cats their breakfast, and heads out to the gym while Courtney does her own workout at home from a YouTube video, not feeling the vibes of the actual gym.

They start the birthday celebrations off quietly, too, travelling up to Thousand Oaks to meet Roger, Dianne and Rob for a relaxed, slow weekend brunch.

"Happy birthday honey!" Dianne enthuses when they arrive, standing up from the table she and Rob had reserved for them to pull him into a hug that he returns happily, although he blushes and brushes off the birthday wish.

"Thirty, hey, buddy? How's it feeling?" his Dad asks, in greeting, as Shayne takes a seat at the table to his side while Courtney hugs Dianne in greeting.

"I mean, it's not until Tuesday. And also, I get a day older every day, it's nothing special," he answers, with a shrug, hand instinctively reaching sideways to rest just above Courtney's knee when she sits in the seat beside him.

"You always have been so uninterested in birthdays. Or, well, when you were a kid and it meant presents you liked them, but..." Dianne trails off, with a grin, Shayne rolling his eyes playfully before their conversation is interrupted by Roger's arrival.

Much to Shayne's appreciation, there is little birthday talk through their late morning and early afternoon at the café. Instead, the five of them chat amicably about what they've been up to, and Dianne convinces Courtney to place her phone on the table so they can flick through all the photos she is amassing of Nutmeg and Mocha living their best lives across their apartment.

"That enclosure you've got for them outside looks great, they clearly love it," Roger comments, as Dianne grins at a video of the two cats running parkour-esque laps around it.

"Has it fixed Mocha's escape artists tendencies?" Rob asks.

"Mostly, she doesn't escape outside anymore, she just tries to open doors inside now," Courtney answers, giving and soft sigh, although they truly don't mind that much. It just means they lose her, sometimes, only to have a random meow come from somewhere unexpected a few hours later.

"It was a DIY project, right? From a kit?" Roger continues, gesturing back at the enclosure on the phone. Courtney and Shayne both nod in silent response.

"How did you guys go with that? Evidently you got there, was it all easy and things?" Dianne questions, Shayne immediately blushing as Courtney laughs lightly.

"Let's just say my hands are still stupid and I still suck at DIY. But Courtney doesn't, so we managed between us," he answers, eventually, both of his parents laughing lightly in response.

Much like Courtney's birthday a few months earlier, they move to a second gathering much later in the day, at a bar in West Hollywood. This time, however, the crowd is entirely different, a group of friends-and-their-partners that cheer loudly in their 'happy birthday's to Shayne and greet both of them in enthusiastic hugs.