When the Clock Ticks [Shourtney]

5. 1:01 P.M.

Hey there! How are you doing?

I'd like to apologize once again for the sudden hold of this story. Last week, I sprained my wrist and was only able to publish one chapter, but now it's all better and I can write long stuff again! Thank you guys so much for your never-ending understanding and support.

Also, thanks yet again for 800+ reads on this story, as well as 8k+ reads on Here's To Us! That's just awesome, you guys. I'm always astounded by how everyone here on the Smosh Wattpad is really really nice.

Anyway, let's begin, shall we? Shayne's POV and see ya!

-/-/-

I've never been to Arizona in such a long time, but I can still remember almost every path I've walked in here. It has changed in so many ways, yeah, but there are so many parts of it in my childhood that have remained, just like my childhood friends whom I now know just got married to their high school sweethearts and the diners that stayed open for specialties you wouldn't be able to get anywhere else. My mouth waters at the thought of my favorite dish, the lasagna at New Lark's Diner, which was a few blocks away from our old house.

"Here you go," Courtney says as she hands me a napkin. "Lasagna got you excited?"

"Totally," I reply, laughing as I wipe my chin. "It's so perfect, you know? The lasagna here is out of this world, and if I could marry that lasagna, I would, so I wouldn't end up dying alone maybe."

"Ha, if I could, I'd marry the honey-glazed chicken at Fortune Tellers," she tells me as she looks out of the window inside the train. "But hey, maybe I'll find the food-love of my life in here."

"New Lark's Diner has so many great stuff on their menu, you gotta take home at least some of them," I remark, and she laughs before putting her Airpods on and zoning out a little.

There were only three of us here: me, Courtney, and Kevin (aka the Shredditor). We wanted to have Sarah along with us, because she was always so casual with meeting people she didn't really know, but she had to shoot a Spelling Bee-kini Wax episode back at Mythical. Nonetheless, we were only going to be here for a couple of hours to do three things, and I check my phone for it.

AGENDA (July 13, 2020)
1. Meet the Hawthornes and shoot.
2. Get some lasagna.
3. Go home.

Maybe I didn't need to check my phone for that, but I still did.

It had been the longest few weeks of my life, but I was glad that we had finally accepted our fates. Courtney always seemed like she wanted to do something extraordinary, and honestly, she'd probably want to skydive next. Right now, it's mostly about just getting to do what we've always wanted to do and not solely the adventure things, like, you know, skydiving. It's on the list though.

We arrive probably an hour later at our old house, which was renovated and repainted by the new family after we left it. The Hawthornes, apparently, consisted of Jude, the architect dad, Therese, the interior designer mom, and their three kids: Josie, the PR manager, Tana, the college freshman, and Seth, the middle school finisher who's apparently into chess. They were kind enough to let us film inside the house too, so thanks for that.

"There's a part of me that's absolutely terrified that I remember the cringey parts of my childhood," I say to the camera as we stand in the middle of the street with Kevin filming. "But hey, that just goes to show how much I've improved as a person, right? That's right, Smosh is going from sketch comedy to wholesome content."

"Today, we're here in Arizona, and we're about to revisit Shayne's old home in here, take a look around, and meet the family who's been living here for the past ten years now," Courtney continues, smiling brightly at the camera. "What are you expecting to see anyway, aside from a family and new paint?"