Milkshake Hearts

Chapter 158: Shuffleboard

As much as the whole cast had been vibing well with Saige as their most recent addition, Courtney, particularly, found her a fun person to be around – and, given Saige apparently enjoyed her company too, they'd started hanging out more (especially after she and Damien had started dating).

"Hey, you ever get your nails professionally done?" Saige texts her, out of the blue, mid-week – they had a scripted-only shoot week, and she wasn't on call at all (plus, she was busy setting up for a new project on one of the Twitch channels she co-manages).

"Rarely, why?" Courtney answers, leaning back in the chair at her desk and tipping it back slightly as she does.

"Careful," Shayne mumbles, from beside her, and as much as she rolls her eyes at him, she leans forward enough that the chair legs sit flat on the floor again.

"Oh no pressure if you don't like getting nails done but I was gonna get mine done Saturday morning before we go out and was going to ask if you want to join me?" Saige answers, a moment later, and she hums lightly to herself in response.

"Sounds fun, I'm in," she texts back, after a moment, before adding, "but I know nothing about professional nails, so you gotta help me know what I want a bit – but I'm up for trying it."

"Awesome!! I know a great place, I'll book and let you know the deets! (Also, are you at work right now? Does Damien have his phone on him? Not urgent I just sent him dumb stuff but he hasn't replied)" she texts back, almost immediately, Courtney laughing lightly in response and glancing up across the table.

"Hey, Damien, your girlfriend is asking why you aren't replying to her texts," she tells him, pointedly, grinning as Damien scrambles to reach for his phone.

"Dammit, I forgot it was on silent, is she mad-" he starts, swiping across to open up Saige's message, Courtney shaking her head.

"Don't worry, dude, I was just texting her about weekend plans – the two of us are gonna hang out Saturday morning – and she asked if you had your phone on you or not," she reassures, setting her own phone aside before adding, as an afterthought, "did say it was dumb stuff."

"Not dumb, good memes," Damien defends, immediately, laughing to himself before he starts typing out something on his own phone with a soft smile that makes Shayne and Courtney both look at each other with a silent conversation. The vibes are great with these two of their friends getting together and, frankly, they're both really happy for them.

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"So does rarely getting your nails done actually mean never?" Saige asks Courtney, mid-morning Saturday as they sit beside each other, hands resting out on the benches in front of them as a nail technician starts prepping each of their nails.

"I've never had professional gels or anything like this done, but like, I got them professionally done for the wedding and whatever and I put fakes on myself a bunch for shoots – especially Brianna Boho ones," Courtney answers, shrugging.

"Is it weird that I'm kind of sad I didn't know you guys yet for your wedding? I haven't been to a wedding for a while, yours sounded fun. Although I'm guessing Damien was busy being best man?" she tilts her head.

"Our wedding was fun, or at least, I think it was. And I mean – yeah, partially he was busy with that stuff, but I think he spent most of the reception hanging out with our nephew Nathan," she laughs, shaking her head lightly, "are you guys going to Liv and Sam's wedding?"

"They invited us, but we don't know. I don't really know either of them, and Damien said he's never been super close to Olivia or Sam either," she muses, and she nods in understanding.