Talk to Me

Chapter 7

    Forest sighs as she walks in the door, setting her bag down and hanging her keys up on the hook. She pets her cat as she walks up toward her room, her cat following closely behind her almost as if he can feel something is wrong. She kicks her shoes off and changes into comfortable clothes before flopping in her bed.

   And as if this day couldn't get any worse, she gets a text from one of her best friends, Lasercorn, saying "Call me, I have bad news".

   Forest frantically calls him in a rushed manner, scared it was something about Tosha. Lasercorn immediately picks up and she can hear him take a deep breath almost like he was preparing for the news he was about to give.

   It took moments and moments of stammering before he finally bit the bullet and rushed out the words, "Today was my last day at smosh."

   Forest is at a loss for words, tears pricking at her eyes. This is the last thing she needed right now. For years he has been her saving grace with any issue she ever had, him always being a shoulder to cry on, and now he was leaving?

   "What?" she says in a pained voice, no longer being able to contain the tears that started to stream down her face.

    "I'm sorry Forest, I couldn't tell you to your face." Laser says, his voice sounding just as sad as she felt.

    Realization struck in her mind almost immediately. "Have you told Tosha yet?" Forest says, worrying for her niece.

   "No, I can't bring myself to do it." Laser responds truthfully.

   "Just.. give her the phone." She pauses for a moment, taking a deep breath and wiping the tears from her eyes. "I'll tell her."

   "Are you sure?" Laser asks not wanting to make her do this.

    Forest nods even though he can't see it. "Yeah, I got it." She wipes her eyes one more time as she hears the rustling of Lasercorn walking up the stairs and the phone getting handed to Tosha.

   "Hey, Aunt Dani! Dad said you have news?" Tosha responds happily not knowing the news to follow.

   "Yeah kiddo, I hate to tell you this but..." she pauses for a second trying to find the words. "Your dad is leaving smosh, and before you get mad at him just know it's for the best. You know your dad always has what's best in mind for you." Forest rambles, just wanting to get the hard part out of the way.

    "What?" Tosha has the same response Forest did. The sound of her voice breaking, she could tell tears were falling and it was breaking Forest's heart along with it.

    "It's gonna be ok Tater Tot, I promise. You know I'll always be here for you and nothing is going to change that." Forest responds with tears pricking her eyes yet again. It seemed although they wouldn't stop.

    "I love you Aunt Dani." Tosha says with a low and sad voice.

    "I love you too, kid. Now go give your dad a hug for me." Forest says before hanging up the phone, not wanting to hear the sounds of crying from the other end. It already broke her enough.

   Forest sets the phone down on her stomach as she stares at the ceiling thinking about everything that has happened today. She has confusing feelings, and her best friend is leaving Smosh, taking her niece with him.

    As she feels like she's about to cry again, she feels her cat slowly climb up on her stomach, curling up and purring softly. Forest smiles at the comfort from her pet, petting him softly. "You always have perfect timing binx."

    Forest plays music softly as she pets her cat, eventually the emotion taking over and she fell asleep. After what felt like 2 seconds of sleep her alarm sounded loudly. She groans loudly, reaching over to stop the sound.

   She does her morning routine, not looking forward to her day of work for the first time in a while. She tells her cat goodbye before begrudgingly grabbing her bag and walking out of the front door.

   Forest felt down the whole day at work and her coworkers noticed. Everyone knew Forest and Laser were close and that him leaving would be hard on her. A couple people checked up on her throughout the day but she always just brushed them off and said she was fine. That is until Damien walked up.

   "Hey I heard what happened. How are you doing?" Damien asks genuinely,  hoping for a genuine answer.

    "I'm fine" She says, trying to brush him off like all the others.

    "You and I both know that's not true."  Damien says,prompting her again to answer truthfully.

    She huffs out in slight annoyance. "Fine, I'm heartbroken. One of my best friends left and I lost the kid that is practically family at this point." Forest says, not exactly sure why she's opening up to him.

    Damien gently rests his hand on her shoulder, trying to give some comfort to the emotional girl in front of him. "You know you have so many people that love you here right? Plus you can always text Tosha." He says trying to cheer her up.

   Forest looks at his hand for a second causing Damien to pull it back thinking she was signaling her discomfort. For some reason the feeling of his hand lingered and Forest wanted nothing more than for him to put it back.

   "Yeah, it's just a lot all at once." She says a bit calmer now.

   He nods, trying to understand what she was feeling. "Well I'm always here if you need anything." Damien says genuinely.

    "Thank you, I really appreciate that" Forest says looking in his eyes.

    She truly doesn't know what this feeling is. She's never felt like this. Even when she was in a relationship she never felt like this. This safe and respected.

   Damien smiles at her once more before leaving, now Forest is stuck in her thoughts yet again. Since her last relationship, Forest hasn't trusted anyone. It changed her as a person. So why is this guy suddenly bringing something out in her. She shakes her head almost as if to shake the thoughts out of her head before continuing on with her day.