Talk to Me

(2) Chapter 2

     Forest wakes up the next morning to her phone blowing up. She checks through some of the notifications seeing all the positive and not so positive reactions to her album. She goes through and likes some, only the positive comments, before turning her phone off.

   Forest rolls out of bed and feeds her cat, petting him slightly as he runs to the bowl. Forest grabs a bowl and pours herself some cereal, taking it to the couch to eat. As she eats, she scrolls through her friends' instagram stories. All of them congratulating her on the album and telling people to go listen to it.

    Forest smiles at her phone, grateful to have all of her wonderful friends by her side during this hard time. Since she didn't have work today she decided to text her niece. "Hey just wondering if you wanted to come over?"

    Forest waits over thirty minutes checking her phone periodically. Finally she hears her phone ding, with a text back from Tosha. "Sorry, Forest. I have school work today."

    Reading that simple text causes her heart to break. She can't even remember the last time Tosha called her by her actual name but over the last year, they've drifted apart due to Lasercorn leaving Smosh. Forest has tried to reach out a couple times but hasn't had luck. Forest sets her phone back letting her mind clear before she tries to respond.

    After a couple minutes Forest grabs her phone again. She types a simple response trying not to let her emotions get the best of her. "Yeah ok tater tot. I miss you." Forest knows that Tosha is just a kid and she probably holds the fact Forest broke the news against her slightly.

    Forest checks her phone and sees that Tosha has read it but didn't respond. Forest sets her phone down grabbing a book to distract herself. She plays music softly on her TV and sits comfortably on her couch with a book.

    Forest spends the whole day reading her book.  Since she didn't feel like leaving her house, she got her lunch and dinner from Doordash. Forest finally closes her book once she starts to get tired.

    As she gets up from the couch, she feels her body ache. She's been sitting in pretty much the same position all day. She hears her back and knees pop as she stretches out. Forest lays her book on the table before walking towards her room.

    She flops on her bed and although most people would consider her to have wasted a day Forest has been trying to learn against that. Forest has decided to try to focus on doing what she enjoys whether it feels like a waste or not. As she drifts off to sleep, she thinks about how much her life has changed in just the past couple months.

    The next day Forest had to go back to filming. Ian decided they should do a musical type video telling the fans that Smosh is still alive and they aren't going anywhere. Forest quickly gets ready for work before grabbing her bag and keys. Since they didn't have their normal filming spaces, Forest had to take the longer drive to Ian's house.

    Once Forest arrives she sees a couple people standing outside. She gets out of her car, and walks up to Harper and Courtney, starting a short conversation about what they've been doing recently, the two girls congratulating Forest on her album release.

    As Forest walks in the house she sees something he never expected. There were streamers and balloons and all her friends popping out screaming "SURPRISE!" Forest stands in shock for a second trying to figure out what's happening until she sees Damien step up.

    Damien stands in front of all their friends looking at Forest with a proud smile on his face "We wanted to congratulate you on your album, Forest. We all know that's a huge step for you." He expresses happily taking a couple steps closer to Forest who is still standing at the door.

    Forest has never been so grateful for her friends, a bright smile appearing on her face. she immediately says thank you to everyone hugging some of her friends. Forest hugs Damien first whispering a thank you to him specifically. Forest enjoys the little party they threw before they had to film the video Forest originally showed up for.

    Once they are done filming, Forest thanks her friends once again before walking up to Damien. She fiddles with her sleeve nervously as she talks to him "Hey I just wanted to say thank you for planning all this." She says in a meek tone.

    Damien pauses for a second looking at her sweetly "You're welcome. I definitely had some help. We are all just so proud of you. Court was saying how you've been writing songs since highschool but you've never released any of them." Damien says, blowing off the compliment.

     Forest laughs nervously, still fidgeting with her shirt making a note to yell at Courtney as she responds. "Yeah, I have but ya know with all the job uncertainty, I thought it was finally time." She admits almost embarrassed of herself for being scared for this long.

    There's a beat of silence between the two, the same comfortable silence as always. Forest looks in his eyes for the first time since this conversation started. She feels like she could be trapped looking if she stares too long. As much as Forest wants to stay in this moment she knows she needs to get home.

    Forest thanks Damien one more time before going around thanking and hugging people for supporting her. When Forest gets to her car everything actually hits. She's going to be ok. Even if everything else fails she has the most amazing and supportive friends in the entire world.

    Once Forest gets home she decides to call Eloise to tell her what her brother did. As they talk she can swear she can hear the smile in Eloise's voice. "I can literally hear your smile. What are you so cheesy about?" Forest finally asks.

    Eloise laughs slightly, rolling her eyes as if Forest could see her "Are you really that oblivious?"

    Forest tries to figure out what she means, oblivious about what? Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she tries to figure out what her best friend is talking about. Does she know something Forest doesn't?

    The silence tells Eloise everything she needs to know. Eloise laughs at her friend again before speaking "I'm taking that as a yes, and I'm going to let you figure it out. Goodnight Forest, Love you."

    Even a bit confused, Forest mutters out a "Night El, I love you too." She hangs up the phone as she thinks about what Eloise said. Why is she oblivious? What is she oblivious about? Why wouldn't her best friend tell her? She continues to question until she drifts off to sleep.