The Line We Built

Letting it Happen

Shayne remembered one thing clearly throughout the smoky haze of the Defy shutdown. The foggy cloud lasted nearly four months; the days blended into each other, and it got difficult keeping track of time. But through it all, he had one constant. The one anchor that stood out among all the rest and kept him sane. It was Courtney.

Shayne couldn't remember much from the day they got the email and subsequent meeting. He remembered he didn't grasp the gravity of the situation at first until it was plainly spelled out for him and the rest of his co-workers. They were given a formal sixty-day notice until being laid off. The steady clacking of keyboards ceased. The idle chatter between crew and cast stopped. It grew so quiet you could practically hear someone's breathing from across the room. Everyone was devastated. Nobody really knew what to do, how to take it, and simply... what now?

He drove home later that day with a certain numbness. It was all so impossible to take in. Everything they'd built together, all those people they worked with and got to know like family, all the fans they'd amassed under the Smosh banner. Was this the end of Smosh as they knew it? Was Defy going all the way under as well? Did that mean the rights for Smosh were up in the air if Defy was done for? Did they have to search for a new parent company? Shayne remembered pressing his forehead to the steering wheel in defeat for a moment at a traffic light.

Arriving home and settling into his evening routine was another blur. He had dinner. He tried (and failed) to sink his teeth into the latest book he was reading. He booted up his console to immerse himself in one video game world or another (and failed at that too). Eventually he gave up and went to bed. Unsurprisingly, he failed yet again. Shayne tossed and turned for what must have been hours. What he remembered crystal clear from that evening was his phone vibrating on the nightstand, and the message it contained.

His hand shot out to grab his phone; it was a welcome distraction from his tumultuous mind.

Cortknee: You up?

Seeing his contact name for Courtney never failed to make him snigger like the very mature boy he was.

Courtney was taking the layoff as badly as the rest of them. It was a cacophony of emotion. All the anger, sadness, and uncertainty balled up into one long stint of numbness that everyone shared in equal measure. It was difficult to process the emotions that the lay-off announcement conjured. They were expected to continue business as usual until early January while looking for new jobs, but how could they? The news broke them all.

Shayne saw Courtney sitting there across the room with that blank, shellshocked expression on her face. In that moment he wanted nothing more than to hold her like she held him in her dimly lit apartment like he was the only thing in the world that mattered. Of course, he was being ridiculous. That moment in her living room couldn't have possibly meant that much to Courtney. Not to mention it would have been a bit inappropriate at the moment. In spite of it all, he longed to console her. He hated seeing her like that.

Shayne: Yeah. Can't sleep.

Shayne held the phone to his chest and stared up at the ceiling as he waited for her reply. His mind went to Ian. Anyone could guess how he was taking it. Smosh was his and Anthony's brainchild. To suddenly have that taken away from you? Shayne blew out a raspberry. It was horrible. Ian would have a plan. If anyone would step up to face this crisis, Shayne knew it would be Ian.

Cortknee: Can Jango and I come over?

Shayne's heart flipped at the unexpected request. He could already feel her arms around him and his face buried in those damn gorgeous blonde locks. He was halfway through typing his reply when Courtney sent a swift follow up.