where are they now? (shourtney/damaige)

chapter 10: sunday spotted

Courtney raised her eyebrows.
"Together? As in together, together? As in you two in bed together, together?"
Saige hid her face in her hands and let out a sigh of frustration.
"Please don't make me repeat myself Courty, okay? And once again, all we did was sleep."
"Yeah sleep in bed, together. Wearing his clothes. In bed. With the man who you have had a crush on for five years. Yeah you're right, why would I make a big deal out of this? Silly me."
Courtney says, voice dripping in sarcasm.
"Court c'mon, be nice to me. I'm fragile."
They collectively burst into a fit of laughter.
"Okay okay, maybe that was a bit dramatic but seriously Court it was no big deal. We didn't even cuddle or anything."
"I mean of course you didn't, you don't make moves Saigey."
Saige huffed in offense.
"Woah, what is THAT supposed to mean?"
"C'mon Saige, you may be a bold gal in life but you are very shy about love. Which would explain why you have so many horrific dating stories. You don't go after the people you want because you convince yourself it won't work out and then you settle for these weirdos, who are nowhere near in your league, because you've somehow decided that's all you deserve. I've never met someone so effortlessly cool and beautiful who is also SO hard on themselves. You deserve good things bud. And you are a really special person that other cool people want to be around."
Saige felt overwhelmed. First by the absolute roast Courtney had given her and secondly by the sincerity and kindness. Saige grabbed Courtney's hand and gave it a squeeze in appreciation.
"That was both kind and brutal. Thanks Court."
Courtney gave her a squeeze back.
"No problem roomie."
Before they can say anything else Courtney's phone goes off with three consecutive dings.
"Wow who is texting you like crazy right now?"
Saige inquires. Courtney sees two texts from Kari and one from her brother's girlfriends, Hannah. Hannah's text just says,
How do you know Shayne Topp???
Kari's is a screenshot of a story from a gossip account on Instagram, duexmoi. It is a sneaky candid image someone took of the four of them from brunch earlier in the day, a text conversation explaining they spotted tv star Shayne Topp at brunch with friends, as well as a comparison image of Shayne wearing the flowery button down that Courtney borrowed. Another text implies that Courtney is a new mystery woman in his life because of the shirt. Kari's text accompanying the screenshot is more concise. She simply asks,
Explain????
"Uh oh."
There is an anxiety in Courtney's voice that Saige immediately zeros in on.
"What's wrong Court?"
"I think those girls from brunch took pictures of us and sent them to gossip sites."
Saige looked shocked and confused so Courtney handed her phone over. After seeing the screenshot her eyes widen.
"Ew, creeps. Really weird of them. I am sorry people are putting you on blast like this, LA truly sucks."
Courtney rubs her temples in frustration.
"I'm just gonna call Kari to explain real quick, I'll be back."
Courtney gets up off the couch and moves to her room to make the call. Saige decides to let her brother know and dials his number. After a beat of ringing a male voice answers but it's not Shayne's
"Hello Saige, Shayne's just grabbing us drinks from the kitchen what's up?"
It feels nice to hear his voice but she reminds herself to focus.
"Hey Dame, can you put me on speaker?"
"Gotcha, one sec."
Damien waves Shayne back over and hits speaker.
"Hey Saige we can both hear you now, what's up?"
She takes a deep breath.
"Those girls from brunch sent your picture into that instagram gossip page and they are implying you and Courtney are sleeping together because she's wearing your shirt."
Shayne is completely taken aback.
"What the fuck? Why are people so weird and invasive?"
Shayne exclaims exasperated. He runs a hand through his hair.
"Well thanks for letting me know, how's Courtney doing?"
"She a little ball of anxiety, rightfully so when people take your picture and make up weird theories about you on huge public platforms."
"Yeah 100%, tell her I'm sorry this happened. Hopefully it blows over and gets debunked quick."
"Will do, talk to you guys later."
The boys each tell her goodbye and she ends the call.
○○○
"I mean I am kind of friends with him but I didn't know that you knew him or dated him or whatever."
Kari was more confused than anything by the screenshot she received from Hannah that afternoon. What a weird way to spend a Sunday.
"I just met him last night, but he's actually my roommate's, Saige's, he's her brother. The birthday party we went to last night was at his place and we stayed over in the building so we got brunch and I borrowed a shirt for it. We are not dating, or sleeping together. Just very, very new friends."
Kari sighed in understanding.
"Okay, that makes me feel better. Not that I would care if you did sleep with him but I would be very offended if you didn't tell me about it. It is my right as your favorite sister."
Courtney tried to hold back laughter but it still bursts forward and she let out a snort.
"Kari, I've told you so many times, I have no favorites."
Kari shook her head in confident disagreement.
"You just keep telling Kat and Kami that."
Courtney shook her own head.
"I gotta go, love you weirdo."
"Love you back weirdo."
After ending the call, Courtney was feeling alot better about the whole situation. Was it invasive and weird to have their business publicized and scrutinized? Of course. But it would blow over pretty quickly. Once a Kardashian-Jenner or Beyonce posted a new instagram she would be old news. She crafted a quick explanation text to Hannah before rejoining Saige in the living room.