Talk to Me

Chapter 4

   Forest arrives on set, seeing Noah and Courtney standing near some of their video crew. She gets the rundown of what the video is going to be about and what they are going to have to eat.

   Of course it just had to be seafood, the one food Forest hates the absolute most. Since she was young, she always had a bad relationship with seafood, never again wanting to eat it.

   She groans but doesn't say anything as she doesn't want to cause a fuss. As the director tells them to get set, she sees Damien walk in, looking just as surprised as she was seeing him in the room. Forest smiles at him gently before returning her attention to the cameras.

   As Noah does the intro all Forest can think about is how horrible this is going to be, and now she has to do it infront of the cute new guy.

   Courtney brings out the first food on a platter, which was squid. It looked and smelled disgusting and nausea immediately formed in her stomach. She grimaces, "We couldn't have started it out easy?"

  "I guess not," Noah responds with a shrug, picking up one of the pieces. He didn't seem to care as much as she did.

   Forest reluctantly grabs one of the pieces waiting for the count down. As the crew around her counts down all they can think is 'Don't throw up. Don't throw up. Don't throw up'.

   When they reach the count of one, both Forest and Noah quickly bite the piece. Noah almost immediately spit it back up into the bucket of shame. Forest closes her eyes and keeps chewing, determined not to throw up on camera. Even as hard as it was, she was finally able to swallow the food.

   "Can I please get some water?" Forest requests, still trying not to gag as Noah rates the food.

   "Well what would you rate it Forest? You at least got it down." Noah asked, also looking disgusted.

   "Well Noah, I didn't know this was a seafood episode and I hate all seafood so my ratings are going to be bad for all of them" Forest confesses.

   He looked shocked. "Oh, well you're going to have fun for the rest of the episode." Noah chuckles lightly. Forest laughs back but knows he's right.

   The foods get worse by every round, but Forest is determined not to throw up on camera, especially not when Damien is right there. By the time they made it to the last food, Forest looked like they were going to throw up at any second, their face pale and hands shaking.

   They get the last food down and waits for Noah to finish the outro. As soon as the cameras turn off Forest runs to the bathroom as fast as she can. Everyone looks at each other nervously but no one goes after her... no one except Damien.

   Damien walks over to the bathroom, knocking on the door softly once he gets there. He stood still by the door, waiting to hear a response, but can hear that she was obviously sick from all the food.

   "Hey, are you ok?" Damien asks through the door, but knew the answer.

   "Yeah yeah I'm fine" Forest says before coughing and gagging again.

He shakes his head, dropping it. "Doesn't sound like it" Damien jokes nervously, not really sure how to handle the situation that was happening on the other side of the door.

   "I'm going to go grab you a water, I'll be right back." Damien says quickly, still talking through the locked door.

   Before waiting for a response, he turns and quickly walks to the kitchen area, grabbing water and some teddy grahams before walking back to the bathroom. He knocks on the door again to signal he was back.

   "It's unlocked, you can come in" Forest croaks out, their voice sounding horace from being sick.

   Damien slowly opens the door seeing Forest sitting on the floor with her back against the wall, taking deep breaths to try and make herself feel at least a little better. He walks over to her, handing her the water and food, then sitting in front of her.

   "Sorry you have to see me like this. I promise this doesn't usually happen" Forest says, embarrassed that the new guy was seeing her sick on the floor of an office bathroom.

   "Hey it's totally ok don't worry about it. Are you ok?" He says gently while softly resting a hand on her knee.

   "Yeah, I just really hate seafood" Forest tries to explain, dropping her head into her hands.

   "Well you made it through the video really well. I don't think I would've been able to." He smiles to try and lighten the situation.

   "Yeah, thank you" She laughs slightly, lifting her head back up. This is the first time since meeting him that Forest felt incredibly awkward with him which is what she expected when they first met, not now.

   As they are sitting there in awkward silence, they hear Shayne call for Damien. Damien looks at Forest almost asking for permission to leave her.

"Yeah go ahead I'll be fine" She nods at him.

  Damien smiles at her slightly before standing up off the floor and leaving the room, leaving Forest on the floor by herself. She buries her head back into her hands and thinks 'great, there goes any chance I had with him'. To make herself feel better, she decided to text Tosha who has become like her niece.

   "Hey tater, do you want to come over tonight?" She quickly sends the text before standing up and washing her face in the sink and rinsing out her mouth. By the time she wipes her face off, she sees a text back.

   "You know i'll always say yes, let me ask dad." Forest smiles at the text, knowing Laser never says no. She looks at herself in the mirror before walking out of the bathroom to find Tosha.