The Line We Built

Best Yogurt Mom

A/N: Well, here it is! After writing Crossing The Line and its pretty solid reception, I felt the need to try and put out a little more Shourtney material. This story will serve to show how they got to where they are in Crossing The Line. Expect lots of fluff. This chapter is inspired by my girlfriend, who loved giving me little snacks in college when we were starting out.

Courtney remembered the first time she saw Shayne going to town on a cup of yogurt.

It must have been barely a week after her breakup, when days were bleak, and it took everything in her to put on a big smile for her friends and the camera. She'd come up with excuses on top of excuses to avoid joining them for lunch out, or snack breaks. That wasn't to say she didn't love her friends dearly and enjoy their company, and their earnest attempts at keeping her spirits up. On the contrary, her friends made the transition to singledom a lot easier to deal with.

But sometimes she just really needed a second to be alone, and that was one of those days. Olivia, Noah, and Keith went out to get some smoothies; it was a hot day, so she didn't blame them. Courtney just said she was still stuffed from lunch, and promptly resumed going over the script she was working on. Shayne on the other hand, said he got his afternoon snack covered. He came back from the pantry with a yogurt cup in one hand, spoon in the other. He dropped onto a vacant beanbag chair with a satisfied sigh.

Courtney peeked over the side of her monitor to look at her friend. Shayne tore the lid off and dug in with gusto, a small smile playing on his lips. It was... a little cute, if she were being honest with herself, to see him so enamored by this little cup of cultured milk. The whole squad loved to eat, and Shayne was no exception. But he really liked this thing. Which was strange, because for as long as she'd known him, he didn't like yogurt. He'd gone as far as calling it the devil's milk.

Yet here he sat. A smile plastered on his face, and a smidge of yogurt clinging to the corner of his lips.

"I thought you hated yogurt?" Courtney broke the silence after a few minutes of watching his contented snacking. Shayne's blue eyes shot up to look at her from across the room. He looked a little bit like a deer caught in headlights, like he hadn't expected her to notice. Well, to be fair, she'd been quiet all day and not very engaging outside of shoots.

He swallowed and shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"This is the first brand of yogurt that doesn't taste like unhappy milk," Shayne declared, taking another spoonful and swallowing before continuing, "A friend at the gym recommended it. Great bang for buck both money-wise, and for counting calories and protein."

Courtney nodded along and soon found Shayne's smile contagious. He was ridiculous. How good could a stupid cup of yogurt be to have him smiling that much?

"You want some? There's not much left, but I see the way you're looking at me, Miller," Shayne teased.

"Shut up!" Courtney laughed but nodded along. She stood up, ignoring the slight heat in her cheeks at being caught staring. She plopped down on the beanbag chair next to Shayne and was handed the cup and spoon. Courtney sized it up.

It was a single serving cup, branded Macrogurt. It was named as such because of its supposedly carefully calculated macronutrients per serving. The perfect snack for the health conscious or muscle-building person. Horrible name aside, it did look pretty good. There were numerous little strawberry chunks mixed into the thick yogurt. There were a couple spoonfuls left.

"It's not poisoned, Court, just get in there!" Shayne nudged her with his elbow after she took a moment too long looking at it. Courtney rolled her eyes but couldn't bite back the smile at his jab.