𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚 - 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐜

Chapter Nueve

Courtney's POV
Shayne was rushing around my apartment, trying to find where I'd flung his clothes. I still can't believe I did that. But either way he still reciprocated, before stopping me. Am I pleased with that? I don't know. Would I be ashamed if it would've happened? Also, I don't know. I was snapped out of my thoughts when Shayne threw my skirt and top at me, saying he'd found his jeans. I thanked him, rushed into my room and shut the door. I just threw my clothes on my bed and pulled out a pair of light blue jeans and a hoodie. I found a pair of white vans and threw them on my bed, next to my hurried outfit. We don't have time to look good, so no makeup today, apart from what's left on my face from yesterday. I rummaged through my drawers and found a pack of makeup wipes. Scrubbing my face, I finally got it all off and got changed. Just as I had finished pulling on my hoodie, I heard a voice from outside my door.
"Court, we have a problem..." I heard and uneasy Shayne say.
"Yeh, I know, we're late!" I half-chuckled, half-snapped, my anxiety kicking in.
"I know, but there's something else,"
"What?" I questioned, flinging open my door to Shayne stood at my coffee table, still shirtless, staring down at something.
"My shirt...it's covered in vodka," he nervously grinned, gesturing to a button up shirt in a pool of strong smelling alcohol.
"Oh no...you have your jacket right?" I suggested, running a hand through my hair.
"Uh huh, but I'll have to take it off at some point, could we stop at mine on the way?" he asked, checking his watch.
"No! We're already 20 minutes late Shayne, you'll have to find something in wardrobe," I said, slightly snapping at him, to which he looked shocked.
"Sorry, I'm just deathly nervous," I apologized, grabbing my backpack and laptop and striding to the door. He followed, retrieving his jacket from the kitchen counter.
"It's ok, we'll figure it out..." he smiled, squeezing my shoulder in reassurance, immediately calming me down.
"I'm really sorry about last night," I said, looking down at my shoes.
"Hey it's ok, we're best friends, right?" Shayne replied, taking my hand and rubbing my knuckles with his thumb. I saw slight hurt in his eyes at the word 'friends'.
"Of course, always," I grinned. He threw his jacket on, zipping it up all the way, grabbed my keys and his car keys and we walked out of the door in panic.
"I don't think I can drive," I muttered, getting a little dizzy from the sudden cold air. Shayne grabbed onto my waist to steady me.
"We can't turn up together though,"
"True, I can take an Uber,"
"No, I know how much you hate Ubers," Shayne said, smiling at me as if to say 'I'm not letting you take an Uber'.
"Guess we're turning up together then," I chuckled, letting him lead me to his car and open the door for me.
"Thank you," I sighed, looking at Shayne.
"Hey, no problem," he replied, slightly laughing.
"What's so funny, big guy?"
"You tried to bang me!" he exclaimed, loosing it and throwing his head back in laughter.
"No. No! I was drunk and just missing having a boyfriend I guess!" I defended myself, but laughing too.
"Sure, whatever floats your boat," he grinned, starting the car.
"I'm never gonna live this down, am I?" I said, slumping back in my seat and folding my arms.
"No way! But, I won't tell anyone, not a single soul. At least until we're 80," he laughed, pulling out of my apartment parking lot and speeding down the block.
"Good. At least I know I can trust you till we're gray and old," I grinned, getting evermore nervous about the literal impending doom of Ian and all our bosses...
Shayne's POV
We sped down the block, helping each other come up with excuses. They seemed pretty believable, and knowing Ian he probably wouldn't care too much, right? My heart was pounding as I pulled into the parking lot, praying no one saw Courtney in my car.
"Ok, I've just texted Liv, they're in the bigger studio, closest to wardrobe, luckily," Courtney said, clicking her phone off and unbuckling her seat belt.
"Good, so at some point I'll say I need to use the rest room but actually go find a shirt," I stuttered, the hangover really starting to kick in.
"We'll be ok, we've got our stories cut out and we're only 45 minutes late, we should be good," she smiled.
"Have you got any gum? Our breath smells like red wine, Sprite, Doritos and vodka, so very bad," I laughed.
"Yeah, it's in my pocket," Court replied, pulling out some spearmint gun and handing me a stick. She popped one in her own mouth and started to open her door.
"I'll go first, you follow after a few minutes," I volunteered, also stepping out of my side.
"Ok, remember your excuse, don't tell anyone anything that we haven't discussed, especially not the incident," Courtney ordered, smirking at the thought of last night but quickly
coughing to bring herself back to reality.
"See you in there," I breathed, turning around slowly.
"You've got this, but...see you in hell," she grinned. I made my way to the front doors and as I walked in, I got a knowing glare from the receptionist.
"Walk of shame?" he called out, laughing at himself.
"No, just woke up late," I awkwardly chuckled, hurrying to the elevator and practically punching the call button. After about 30 seconds of nervously tapping my foot, the elevator doors slid open. I got in, pushed the button and awaited my fate in hell. As the doors opened, I bolted down the corridor, arrived at the squad room and heard chatter from the open door across from the door to wardrobe. I decided to push my luck and slip in there before finally turning up. Quickly finding a fitting button up shirt, I unzipped my jacket and threw it on. Rushing to the door of the studio, I saw Courtney walking down the corridor, I waved her back and mouthed at her to wait. Striding into the studio, all eyes were on me. I immediately felt my face fill with color as Ian walked up to me with a look of pure hatred.
"Again! Really! Do you think this job is a fucking joke, Shayne?" Ian almost yelled.
"I'm really sorry, Ian. It's not like I'm doing this on purpose," I mumbled, looking down at my hands.
"Why are you late?" he asked, shifting his weight.
"My phone died. I left my charger in my car after the gym and my phone died. So, my alarm didn't go off," I recited, remembering exactly what Courtney and I had gone over.
"Pathetic excuse, but if that's what you're going with. Where's Courtney?" Ian sighed, looking past me to see if she was anywhere in the squad room.
"I haven't seen her or heard from her since...I dropped her off at the office after lunch," I said, seeing her in my peripherals standing just a little bit behind the open door.
"Well, we'll just have to wait for her," Ian snapped, clearly in a bad mood. After a minute of me just stood there, everyone else staring at me and Ian brooding, Courtney ran in behind me, fake out of breath.
"I'm-I'm here, we can do the shoot now," she breathed, moving past me and taking her place next to Olivia.
"Care to explain?" Ian asked mockingly, for some reason sarcastically sweeter with her.
"Umm, I'm err..." Court trailed off, as we practiced.
"I'm waiting," Ian said in a sing song tone, tapping his foot impatiently.
"I'm hungover..." she whispered, genuinely scared at this point, shrinking into her hoodie as everyone's mouths audibly dropped.
"What!" Olivia exclaimed, pushing Ian out of the way as he came over to Court. I moved forward a little bit, pretending to be surprised, but I was actually concerned.
"You got drunk on a work night!" Noah smiled, elbowing Keith in a knowing way.
"I didn't mean to...it started off as one drink and it kinda just escalated from there..." she muttered, clearly not enjoying the attention.
"So, who was it?" Olivia giggled. Courtney locked eyes with me for a second and then wandered over to a spare chair. We hadn't thought about that.
"It wasn't anyone, I was completely alone, bored and missing having someone," she sighed, casually glancing up at me.
"Sure..." Ian scoffed, suddenly all anger out the window.
"I swear, I didn't do anything, anyone, alright?" she retaliated, pushing her hair behind her ear and smirking, locking eyes with me once more. I smirked too, then looked down, knowing someone would be watching me, most likely Damien.
"Alright, we'll drop it for now, and actually film," Ian replied, smiling widely for some reason.
"Why are you smiling? Why is he smiling? Why are you all smiling?" Courtney asked hurriedly, standing up from her chair in panic.
"Today, Courtney, we'll be shooting T-Rex Majorettes, where one person at a time will be wearing an inflatable
dinosaur suit," Matt grinned, looking between Ian, Sarah and Tommy.
"And?" I asked, being hungover as well, but not saying anything about.
"The Majorettes part, you'll have to perform an improvised floor routine on the mats with some use of a baton," Tommy smirked, watching as Courtney and I's faces dropped.
"Gymnastics? You're kidding me..." Court sighed, rubbing her temple.
"Fuck..." I muttered under my breath, luckily no one hearing.
"Right, let's get started!" Ian said, clapping his hands once and turning to get in the right spot.
It. Was. Awful. I had to clamp my hand to my mouth to stop myself from throwing up and Courtney actually barfed twice. I feel so bad for her, but her performance was somehow perfect, miles better than Noah or Keith's. After the shoot, Court and I strolled to the squad room, talking quietly about our hangovers. Olivia and Damien followed behind us and we suddenly looked to them as we overheard their conversation.
"I don't buy it." Damien said, matter of factly.
"You know what, me neither," Olivia agreed.
"Excuse me?" Courtney and I said, snapping round, knowing that they meant our bogus excuses.
"Interrogation time, Detective Haas?" Olivia smiled, looking to Damien and holding out her hand.
"Interrogation time, Sergeant Sui," he confirmed, shaking her hand and smiling wildly at the both of us. Well shit.