Milkshake Hearts

Chapter 3: Friends Describe

"So, any chance I can follow you somewhere and make you gossip about what went down with Shayne over the weekend this evening?" Olivia corners Courtney as they leave the building late in the afternoon. Most of the cast had left shortly after the Mario Party shoot, only the main group hanging around for the rest of the afternoon.

"Okay, okay, you can just come to my place for a bit I guess," Courtney answers, with a shrug, "although there's not a whole lot to gossip about."

"Is there really nothing to gossip about? I'm guessing you slept together, right?" Olivia jumps straight back into their conversation as she sets herself down on Courtney's living room couch, having driven behind her back to her place after they left work.

"I mean, depends what you count as gossip. We didn't sleep together, though," Courtney confirms, watching Olivia raise her eyebrows.

"Really? That seems... unlike you."

"Look, we could have," Courtney admits, "honestly, the whole thing started with us making a bunch of jokes about fantasising about each other – there was context to that, it wasn't out of the blue – and yeah, that happened, there was some of that vibe there. But like – so, this happened sitting in the back of his Dad's truck up one of the mountains in a little clearing just off the road where we hung out for a while. It felt kind off for anything much to actually happen there, so we made an intentional decision not to."

"So there was that sexual context at least – is that what led to you getting together, then?" Olivia pushes again, and Courtney shrugs.

"Yes and no. Basically it was... a lot of jokes, but then we admitted we weren't actually joking. But deciding to get together wasn't along those lines, it was much more the emotional/romantic admissions that came after that stuff," she explains, carefully, not wanting to go into much further detail than she needs to.

"Okay, but do you fantasise about him for real? Because I mean, I know you've had a thing for him for a while, but you've never mentioned that," Olivia's question is almost teasing this time as she twists to sit sideways on the sofa and face Courtney.

"We really going to go there, are we?" Courtney responds, fighting the blush threatening to rise up in her cheeks although knowing it's already there.

"Yep. Let me be a nosy bitch," she answers, and Courtney laughs.

"Ugh, fine, yeah..."

She still manages to hold back most of the gritty detail, but she has to admit, she kind of enjoys finally telling Olivia how firmly Shayne has taken space in her mind and heart.

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Shayne himself is off work the following day with a Goldbergs shoot, and it's a much quieter day anyway, in contrast to their whole cast shoots the previous day. The morning is largely filled by computer work and a brief Instagram live where Ian runs around annoying everyone he possibly can for a while, and Courtney elects to take an early lunch before a badly timed 1pm pit shoot. Damien appears to make the same decision about early lunch, sliding into the chair across from her in the otherwise-empty break room a couple of minutes after she sits down.

"So, you and Shayne, huh?" he asks her, voice light but relatively quiet. She nods, carefully, not sure what to say. Damien doesn't continue, though, so she has to find something.

"You about to give me the best friend talk, are you?" she asks him, going for the joke, and he lets out a soft laugh and shakes his head.

"I know I've been Shayne's best friend for ages, but you're one of my best friends too, Courtney. It's actually been kind of hard for me to stand back and let you two work it out yourselves," he admits, and she grins.