When the Clock Ticks [Shourtney]

1. 5:06 P.M.

Hello there!

Again, really sorry for the delay of this chapter. I fell sick yesterday, and I still am, but I'm feeling much better, so I decided to update! Yay!

Also, thanks for these astounding reads!
- 100+ reads here
- 7k+ on Here's To Us
- 3k+ on Almost, But Not Quite

Much appreciated, my friends!

Anyway, let's get to it: Shayne's POV and see ya!

-/-/-

Courtney just straight up walks out of the backstage wearing everything she can find to put on her arms and legs, and somehow, it's a fan favorite.

"Ey!" she exclaims with a rough voice, face as serious as a stone as I try to keep my mouth shut. "It's the apocalypse now, huh? Gotta stay safe! Lemme introduce myself, my name is... Boneless...!"

Everyone is laughing at this point, and I'm just trying my best not to. When Courtney grabs a mannequin arm from the back of her shirt and says, "Extra arm, to make sure I have two to fight demons with and one to pet a nuclear dog," I lose it and just spit out all my water, laughing.

It's afternoons like these that I genuinely enjoy. Sitting down on the most sat-on stool in this office, slushing tap water in your mouth, and watching your friends make absolute fools of themselves on camera as a way of earning money. It was the perfect June afternoon, and it wasn't too hot yet in Burbank, which is a miracle for all of us here at Mythical Entertainment. I always say it out loud, but gosh darn it, I really love my job.

"Pet a nuclear dog?" I ask her as she dies of laughter on the floor.

"I don't know, man, I don't know!" she replies, smacking my back with the mannequin arm.

After the shoot, I planned on changing the course of my entire life. We were already past time-out, and everyone was starving, but I didn't have intentions to ask other people out to dinner. I only had my eye on asking my "second best friend" according to Damien out, to see if one dinner could change our relationship.

"So, you goin' out tonight?" I ask Courtney as she puts her stuff in her bag. "There's this new restaurant down the block."

"Oh, yeah, Fortune Tellers!" she exclaims happily. "Were you headed there? Can I come with? I'm so curious with what's in there, everyone says it's such a cool place."

"Yeah, I was gonna ask if you wanted to go there, so... yeah."

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

"Cool."

"Yeah."

"I'll just, uh, use the restroom real quick, and we'll head out," she tells me, awkwardly patting my shoulder and heading for the restroom.

For some reason, things have been weirdly awkward with me and Courtney since her birthday. I think everyone just assumed we were dating or whatever because I gave her that personalized journal as a gift, but we weren't dating. I mean, I wanted to date her, but it's just not gonna happen. Aside from office rules, another reason is that there's no going back to being friends if the relationship were to crumble. I didn't want to be a pessimist on that, but we were in the stage of life that everything was moving forward, and commitment is for soft introverts like Damien who wasn't interested in dating until the love of his life arrives on her own or for lovey-dovey star-crossed lovers like Olivia and Sam.

Whenever I look at Courtney, I try my best not to let it show that I liked her, especially on camera. It seems to be effective, but I know that moving on from someone you never even dated is probably the hardest thing to do. But hey, who knows? Maybe I'll meet her tonight in the astrology-themed restaurant we're headed.