Milkshake Hearts

Chapter 31: In Tune

There's no real reason for their visit to Chris and Julie's place the following day, after they check out of their Smosh-paid hotel and shift further into suburbia so they're nearer to the family. But still, they drive out to the address they've been given after lunch – "I haven't been here for a good two years," Shayne comments, when they pull up – and Chris answers the door, Nathan racing behind him to greet them. They settle into a relaxed afternoon, largely letting the two kids take their attention, as do Dianne and Rob.

Courtney ends up sitting down on the living room floor with Julie, Dianne, and the kids in the late afternoon, chatting with the adults as the kids play around them. Shayne sits with them for a while, before quietly excusing himself to go and sit at the table in the adjoined dining room with Chris and their Dad.

"Hey buddy," Chris greets him, and he nods in response, not saying much for a while as he lets them talk aimlessly about sport, his gaze staying fixed on the girls and the kids down on the floor.

"Can they hear us from here?" Shayne asks, voice low, a few minutes later during a pause in their conversation.

"Not if you stay that quiet, what's on your mind?" Chris prompts him, and he sighs, letting his eyes fall back to Courtney for a moment before they flick back to his conversational partners.

"When is too early to think about marriage? I mean, I know now is, I guess, but. We've talked about it. And I just... can't imagine my life without her," he admits, quietly, eyes sliding down as he crosses his arms in front of himself on the table.

"There really isn't an answer to that, Shayne. And now might not even be too early," his Dad answers, and he nods, although he doesn't speak.

"I think you gotta remember, dude, it's not like you met her 7 months ago. You met her, what, almost five years ago? You didn't start from zero," Chris says, and he nods again.

"Do you think you're still in an early-stage honeymoon period, or have you settled into this?" his Dad turns a question back on him.

"Settled, definitely. Any semblance of still being in some kind of abstract honeymoon period disappeared when we went public, but probably we settled into the reality of it quite a while before that. But also, because there is the whole public thing, I'm kind of like... I don't know. I think I gotta wait at least until a year," he admits.

"Yeah, you do gotta have an eye for the optics, as much as I know you don't like that," Chris replies, "but, look – if you know, you know, Shayne. You two are clearly in this for the long haul, it's really up to you when you decide to formalise that, because we all know it's when, not if."

"We've agreed it's going to happen sometime. We haven't talked about when, though, but... It's starting to feel like a closer and closer step," Shayne shrugs, "we only went public a couple months ago and moved in together formally a bit over three months ago, although truthfully we barely lived apart after we got together, and now we've kind of settled into the publicity side of it enough to be a little more open and less reserved in work things and whatever, so there's not really... any way that we aren't just all in on this left. I don't know. I'm just... so sure of everything with her. I love her so damn much."

"Maybe you need to talk to her about it, Shayne?" his Dad suggests, "I don't exactly follow your public side of things all the time, but even with the stuff that happened the other week, and then seeing you together these last couple days and the last few months – you're both clearly comfortable in this, it's clear she loves you just as much."

"We're so in tune that every big conversation we've had, I've kind of already known what she's going to say before it starts. Even when something at work pushed us to suddenly talk about going public for the first time – it took all of ten minutes of discussion to just reinforce that we were both on the same page and we wanted to go for it. And I think... it's the same here, in a way. I know what she'll say, and it's the same thing I think, but I just don't know how to start that conversation," he sighs, "sorry for this, I just... felt like I needed to talk to someone other than Damien about it, for once, given he's not exactly experienced in the serious relationships department."