Easy

Chapter 2

Shayne manages to avoid Courtney for the rest of Monday, largely through the fact that the way they shoot the sketch in the afternoon keeps them in different parts of the building. He manages to avoid Damien's questions, too, although it doesn't entirely surprise him that Damien physically grabs his arm as he goes to leave in the late afternoon to stop him.

"Should I just follow you home now or come over later? Or you wanna come to our place?" he asks, and Shayne sighs.

Shelby had been more solutions-focussed than he'd expected. It'd still felt too raw to really talk through it openly, anyway, and he hadn't felt comfortable to be fully vulnerable with her. Maybe Damien would be different, and maybe he doesn't have the energy to fight it.

"I guess... just follow me home," he answers, after a moment, watching Damien nod.

He doesn't know how he'll feel, having to delve through all the shit he was trying to keep out of his mind all over again, but when Damien sits down into his sofa beside him he doesn't need to say a word for Shayne to break down into a rush of tears. He's embarrassed. He's tired and lost and holding down his hurt all day as she seemed to so carelessly slip into acting like it was fine and normal was too much.

He manages not to shrug off the hand Damien pats sympathetically against his lower back, and he lets himself talk it out – as much as his embarrassment will let him, anyway – as Damien sits beside him listening, and later, ordering shitty takeaway food for him.

Maybe Shelby was right, he shouldn't just let himself wallow in it, but there was also something to be said for letting all his fears and his twisting thoughts that this is somehow all his fault out of his mind into the world and to let someone else validate how shitty he feels.

"It's okay to be upset, Shayne. Like... I don't think this makes sense, either, that she has turned around and been like nothing has happened and you've always just been friends, because you weren't. And I'm sorry it hurts so much," Damien tells him.

Damien isn't much of a hugger, but when he awkwardly opens his arms towards him as he goes to leave later in the evening, Shayne lets himself settle into the hug for a moment.

As much as he'd shared with Damien, though, there were still things he held back – and he certainly didn't mention his abrupt decision earlier that day to quit Smosh. They hadn't talked about how he might move on, anyway.

Still, talking to his friend had helped. He certainly isn't anywhere near okay with anything that is happening, but when he goes to bed not long after Damien leaves, he does fall asleep. His sleep is disjointed and his subconscious betrays him with dreams of her, but amongst it all, he catches a few hours.

It's easier to get to work on Tuesday morning: he still very much doesn't want to be there, and he knows it will be another day of biting back tears, but at least he knows there's an endpoint. All he has to do is endure two weeks of trying to interact with her as little as possible and trying not to burst into tears in front of anyone else, and then it's over. Then he can actually try and move on, because he knows there's no way he can do that when he has to see her at work every day.

Courtney is already there and working at the cast table just near the writers when he arrives – alongside Kimmy and Damien – and when he notices, he immediately shifts direction to head back towards the spare desk with the art department. They're fun people to hang around with, anyway, and they'd said nothing of his weird presence in their part of the office and just looped him in to all their banter the previous afternoon, so it was nice.

"Hey Shania!" Courtney calls out a greeting to him, as he passes the table. The nickname shoots straight into his heart and he feels nausea immediately spin through his stomach as he abruptly turns back to face the others. Why is she doing this?