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Shayne had given up. He was no longer going to try. He would just let people come to him and see what happened. But he was done with going to other people. Other people who never actually wanted to talk to him.
Maybe they could see whose true affection was for.
Maybe they could see that he had literally no interest in talking to them at all.
Regardless, he had given up, and he decided he was happy with that. Why wouldn’t he be happy with that? The stories always went that you found your soulmate when you least expected it. So, naturally, he needed to stop expecting it. It was literally the only explanation.
It definitely was not that he was in love with his best friend. Nope. Not at all. In fact, he never even really thought about her. She was just there. Another person in his life. Not anyone special.
Except that she was special. Quite possibly the most special person in the world to him. He was head over heels in love with her.
It felt like everyone he had grown up with had met their soulmates. Amanda and Angela had figured it out pretty early on, and Tommy and Spencer even earlier. (Their story was ridiculous.)
Amanda had cornered him one day at their annual block party. Asking when he was finally going to man up and ask Courtney out. He spluttered back at her and accused her of being ridiculous. Amanda just stared at him like she could read his soul. (Which she probably could- Amanda was neat like that.)
After a few minutes of Amanda staring into his soul, she sighed, patted him on the shoulder, and walked away. Shayne felt his body relax. He could still hide his feelings. He had been doing it for the past three years, and he could continue for the next eternity.
The block party continued without a hitch. Shayne was sipping a beer while watching everyone enjoying themselves at the party. Tommy and Spencer were attempting to play some cornhole, but neither was doing too well. And Amanda, Angela, and Courtney appeared to be in some deep conversation. In the end, Shayne decided to join Spencer and Tommy. They probably wouldn’t ask him any questions about his love life.
Shayne was wrong.
The second he walked up to them, they started asking him questions about Courtney and when was he going to finally man up and ask her. Spencer told him to grow a pair.
“If you need help, I can only give one to you. Will that finally be enough to ask her out?”
Shayne sighed, “Why does everyone care what I do with my life? Not everyone needs a soulmate to be happy. Just because you two, and Amanda and Angela, and Ian and Anthony, and Trevor with his girlfriend, and Arasha. Okay, fine, so you all are coupled up. That doesn’t mean I have to be.”
“No, it doesn’t. Not usually, but you know the person that you love. So seriously, grow a freaking pair and ask her out. Or I might do it instead.” Tommy said with a laugh. Shayne could not tell if he was being serious or not.
“I’m trying something new and not worrying about it. If it happens, it happens. I’ll let fate decide,” with that, Shayne walked away. He really did not want to hear any more soulmate talk.
Ever since he was young, Shayne had heard stories about soulmates. He had heard that everyone had one, and you would know immediately when they said your last name. Shayne had heard that it was a magical thing when a last name was said. Some people felt sparks, and some felt pain, and some felt both. But at the end of the day, everyone had a tattoo on them that would match their partners. Last names were precious. You were not to just give it out willy nilly. You were to keep your last name sacred until you felt like it was time. Saying each other’s last names was either guaranteeing a lifetime together or instant death to the relationship.
But to be quite honest, Shayne was getting tired of waiting around. He was about to just go to everybody that he knew the last name of and say it straight to their face. What harm could it do? Best case scenario, he finds his soulmate. Worst care scenario? He finds his soulmate.
Okay, so this plan did have a few problems. Mainly, the fact that it would rely on actually talking to almost everyone that he knew. And also putting them into a very uncomfortable position.
It would also suck because he was pretty sure he knew who his soulmate was. Actually, everyone in his friend group was pretty sure they knew who his soulmate was. But he was unwilling to make the move. Too scared of what would happen if they were not actually his soulmate. He would lose more than just a friend. He would be losing his best friend. Something that he never wanted to imagine. So, instead, he would adjust, chill out, and wait for something to happen. Not force anything.
So, he would continue hanging out at the block party and hoping that she would come talk to him. (Or he could go talk to her. They had been friends for years and years. But for some reason, it felt different today.)
Instead, Courtney approached him. Smiling and holding a drink.
“How are you doing?”
Instead of answering her back Shayne stood and stared at the drink in Courtney’s hand. Come on, just say something back to her.
Courtney looked down at Shayne’s hand and then back up at his face. A small smile appeared.
“You okay?”
Shayne shook his head and then looked back at her. “Yep! Doing great. Love this party. And the weather! So nice,”
Courntey gave a half laugh and patted him on the shoulder, “Okay, well, I’m glad you’re doing okay. I was worried for a second!”
Shayne stared back at Courtney’s drink.
“All right, big guy. Weird thing you’re doing with staring at my drink,” Courtney stared at her drink as well and without looking up asked, “Are you doing anything tomorrow? Would you like to go get breakfast tomorrow?”
Shayne snapped back to attention, “No, I’m not doing anything tomorrow. Breakfast sounds amazing. Do you want me to pick you up?”
“Yeah, that sounds great. 9 sound good?”
With confirmation that they would be going to breakfast at 9 am Courtney walked away after giving Shayne a soft smile.
Angela and Amanda suddenly appeared next to him, “So..” Angela started.
“What did you and Courtney talk about?” Amanda finished.
“Nothing much. We’re going to have breakfast tomorrow,”
“A date!” Angela yelled.
Shayne shushed her, “No, not a date. Just a fun breakfast hang out.”
Amanda gave him another look and another staring into his soul session, “Sure, just a fun breakfast hangout.”
The block party continued for a couple more hours and no one was asking Shayne anymore questions about his love life. He did overhear a few of his friends talking about a breakfast date but he decided to chalk that up to a coincidence. After all, he was too distracted to care about if they were talking about him. He got to have breakfast with Courtney tomorrow and everything was going to be right in the world again.
The next day arrived and Shayne was stressing about what to wear. Even though it wasn’t a date he still wanted to look good and make a good impression. Courntey was an important person in his life and he couldn’t just show up as a slob.
Shayne spent almost thirty minutes putting on different outfits before finally deciding on just jeans and a nice blue t-shirt. And because he spent 30 minutes deciding what to wear, he was about five minutes late to picking Courtney up.
As soon as Courtney got into the car, he immediately started apologizing and saying that he lost track of time and he was just so sorry and-
Courtney cut him off, “It’s fine. You were five minutes late. It’s not that big of a deal. Now, I’m hungry, so let's go get some breakfast!”
Shayne started driving and he and Courtney began having an easy conversation. Conversation was always easy with Courtney because she just got him and he just got her. They finally pulled up to the breakfast place and started to head inside.
They were immediately placed at a table, and the waitress brought over some water. Both gave their orders (this was a place they had been several times.)
Easy conversation continued between the two and both continued to make the other laugh. Conversation eventually stalled and after a beat of silence, Courntey began talking.
“You know we’re friends, right?” they asked.
Shayne gave Courtney a strange look, “Of course, we’re friends. You’re one of my favorite people to hang out with.”
Courtney nodded, “I just wanted to make sure that you knew what we were to each other.”
Conversation continued between the two after that, but Shayne had Courtney’s comments in the back of his head the whole time. What did Courtney mean by the friend's comment? Did she think that he hated her? That couldn’t be further from the truth. Shayne hoped that Courtney didn't think that he hated them.
At the end of their breakfast hangout, Shayne drove Courtney back to her place.
“I had a lot of fun with you today. I hope we can do more like this in the future,” and with that statement, Courtney exited the car and went to her house.
Shayne was at a loss of words as Courtney exited the car. He couldn’t understand what just happened. Why did Courtney make sure he knew they were just friends? Did she think that he hated her?
Before spinning himself into more of a spiral Shayne drove straight to Amanda’s and Angela’s place.
Without announcing that he was going over, Shayne marched up to the door and knocked four times. He was stressed and just wanted to help.
Amanda was the one who answered the door, “Shayne? Why are you here so early?”
“I need advice,” and with that, Shayne pushed in through the door and sat down on the couch.
“Sure, come in,” Amanda muttered while closing the door and facing Shayne, “What’s going on?”
“Courtney and I just went to breakfast-”
Amanda let out an excited shriek.
“And she asked me if I knew we were friends. Of course, we’re friends? What does she mean by that? Does she think I hate her? I don’t hate her!”
“No, you’re madly in love with her, and I think she’s in love with you too,”
Shayne fixed Amanda with a hard stare, “She literally just told me we were just friends. In what world does that mean that she likes me?”
“Sometimes people work in mysterious ways. Maybe Courtney is stressed because she thinks you don’t like her like that, so she wanted to get ahead of the curve,”
Shayne sighed and fell backwards on Amanda’s couch. All he wanted to do was curl up and forget Courtney existed. It would make his life so much easier. (Okay, he didn’t actually want to forget that Courtney existed. He loved her too much, but in his defense, this whole thing would be easier if they had never met.) (He was happy they met and wouldn’t change that for the world.)
Amanda, clearly noting the change in Shayne’s body, changed the subject, and the two spent the next few hours not talking about Courtney and how much Shayne was in love with her.
As Shayne was going to leave, Amanda said, “Just tell her you want to go on a date. You might be surprised where it takes you.”
Shayne just waved at Amanda and exited. He had a lot to think about now.
Shayne spent the night tossing and turning and trying to come up with different explanations about why Courtney would say that to him. Was Amanda correct? Was it because Courtney did actually like him, but she didn’t want to outright say it?
The next day was a Monday, and Shayne would have the opportunity to see Courtney at work. Maybe he could work up the courage to just ask her out there. Or maybe he would continue to fight himself in his head and just never do anything about it. Only time would tell.
Shayne was running a little behind and was late to work. Since he was late, he got to overhear something he probably should’ve never overheard. Courtney was talking with another person, someone who was new to the company, and explaining the different people to them.
“And then Shayne Topp-”
A sudden pain erupted on Shayne’s forearm. He immediately went to grab it and try to quell the pain. Courtney had said his last name. She didn’t know that he had heard her say his last name. Courtney was officially, for sure, his soulmate. But she didn’t know.
Shayne quickly rushed to the bathroom to see the tattoo that he had gotten. It was a digital camera. Courtney loved to take photos, and Shayne was one of her favorite subjects, so the tattoo made sense, but Shayne was still in such shock that Courtney had said his last name so freely.
Last names worked a bit differently in the workplace, and it was quite common that the people you worked with knew your last name. And, yes, of course, Courtney didn’t know that he could hear her. But still! She said his last name, and he did hear it, and now he knew they were soulmates. But Courtney didn’t know they were soulmates. And just yesterday, she had told him they were friends. Shayne spiraled for a bit before picking up his phone and searching ‘what to do when your soulmate says your last name, and you hear her, but she didn’t know you were there, so she doesn’t know that you guys are soulmates.’
Okay, so that was a little wordy and didn’t really give any good results. But in Shayne’s defense, he was a bit freaked out, and he felt like his world had been turned upside down.
Shayne called Spencer from the bathroom, not because he thought he’d have the best advice, but because he had gone to Amanda yesterday and couldn’t imagine going to her for advice again.
After Spencer listened to Shayne tell his story, he said, “But your world hasn’t been turned upside down. It’s Courtney. The person you were in love with yesterday and the person you’ll be in love with tomorrow. I don’t see why you can’t just tell her what happened. She’ll probably be overjoyed.”
“No, I can’t do that! Courtney has always talked about how she wants it to be a romantic thing when she finally says her soulmate's last name. Me just telling her would not be romantic, and she would hate that. I can’t take that away from her.”
“But you wouldn’t be taking that away from her. She’s in love with you, and the sooner you two admit it to each other, the better you are both going to be. Listen, Shayne, I like you, but at some point, you have to just tell her how you feel. You also now have proof that you two are soulmates, so there shouldn’t be any worry anymore. Please, just do it. Or I’ll have to, and I really do not want to do that,” and with that, Spencer hung up the phone and left Shayne to consider what he needed to do.
Okay, yes, Shayne had definite proof that Courtney more than likely liked him back. But on the other hand, he wouldn’t get to take Courtney out on a date where they could both find out they were soulmates at the same time.
He would be keeping a secret from her, and that did not seem like a very good way to start a relationship.
As Shayne was walking back to his desk, he, of course, ran into Courtney and instead of being a completely normal person and saying hi to her, he said, “‘Ello! What brings you here on this lovely day,” in a weird British accent.
Courtney, being the person she was, simply matched his energy and said back in a British accent, “I’m at work doing work. What about you, kind sir?”
Shayne laughed and tipped a fake top hat at Courtney, “Funny enough, I’m also at work!”
Courtney laughed and dropped the accent, “I love hanging out with you. You always know how to make me laugh.”
Shayne smiled back, “It’s fun to make people laugh.”
And with that statement, Courtney and Shayne parted ways to go to their separate desks in the office.
Okay, so that would’ve been a perfect place for Shayne to ask Courtney out somewhere, and then he could’ve told her about what happened. But instead, he chickened out, again, and just acted nervous. But, hey, at least he made her laugh. That was something, right?
When Shayne got to his desk, he leaned his head down and sighed into his hands. Why did he have to be so awkward? They had literally just gone out to breakfast the other day and could hang out with each other all the time. But now that there was confirmation that they were soulmates? Suddenly, Shayne acted like it was his first time meeting her and he needed to impress her.
At least he had made her laugh? Small victories, he guessed. But Shayne was still left with the overwhelming feeling of the secret. He was still at a loss of what to do. Should he take Spencer’s advice and just invite her out to dinner and tell her? Or should he do what his mind was telling him- which was ignore it until it became too big to ignore.
Some part of him knew that he couldn’t ignore it. That wouldn’t be fair to Courtney or himself. Knowing who your soulmate was and not acting on it was one of the worst things you could do. That still didn’t make asking Courtney to dinner any easier.
Shayne spent the rest of his work day completely distracted and was going to try and avoid Courtney on his way out. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), fate had a silly way of acting.
“Hey Shayne!” Courtney called. “How was your day at work?”
“Good, good,” Shayne replied, rubbing his hands on his pants. Now was his chance to ask Courtney out.
“That’s good. I had to keep dealing with people who didn’t know why they were calling or what they wanted. It was annoying!”
Shayne nodded and continued to rub his pants.
“You good there, bud?” Courtney asked.
“What? Oh yeah, I’m fine. Hey,” Shayne paused slightly, “Would you like to go get dinner tomorrow night?”
Courtney smiled, clapped their hands together, and said, “Yes! Of course. That sounds great!”
“Great!” Shayne said with a kind of a pained smile. He was still stressed out about what he had to tell Courtney, “We can just go after work tomorrow?”
“It’s a date!” Courtney confirmed and started walking away.
“It’s a what?” Shayne said, but Courtney was already too far away to hear him. She looked like she was excited with the way that she was bouncing away. Now, Shayne just had to figure out the best way to tell Courtney. That was going to be the biggest challenge.
Even though he had already bugged Amanda about his Courtney problem, he figured because there was a new development he was able to bug her again. So, right after Courtney told Shayne it was a date, he got into his car and drove to Amanda’s and Angela’s right away.
It was Angela who opened the door this time, “Courtney problems?” she guessed.
Shayne glared at her and then his gaze softened, “Yes, Courtney problems.”
Angela opened the door wider and Shayne walked in. He immediately sat on the couch and had a bit of a deja vu moment just two days ago.
“So, what sort of Courtney problems are we talking about?” Angela asked as Amanda walked into the living room.
“Pretty significant problems,”
“Care to elaborate? It’s hard to help if you give us absolutely nothing,” Amanda said, not unkindly, but straight to the point.
“I overheard Courtney say my name to a new coworker and,” Shayne lifted his sleeve to show Amanda and Angela his new tattoo.
Both women shrieked and congratulated him, “So, what’s the problem?” Amanda asked.
“Courtney doesn’t know that I heard her say my name. She doesn’t know that we are soulmates and I don’t know how to tell her. She has always dreamed about finding her soulmate and how they would each get to say their last names to each other. It just seems mean that I am taking that away from her.”
Amanda sat down next to Shayne and put her arm on his shoulder, “I know it feels like you are taking something away from her, but I genuinely think she’ll just be happy about the confirmation that you two are soulmates.”
“I just don’t know. We’re going to dinner tomorrow night and I hope I can just come clean then,”
“You will be able to tell her tomorrow. If nothing else, it will weigh too heavily on you if you don’t tell her. She deserves to know and you deserve to be free from this prison you’ve put yourself in. It’s not fair to either of you,” Amanda said.
Angela was behind Amanda, nodding animatedly. Both of them had the classic sort of soulmate story. In college, they saw each other and decided that the other was the most beautiful person they had seen. But, because both were kind of awkward, they had to wait until their friends had brought them together. From then on, the two of them had spent almost all their time together.
Finally, at a dinner, after they had basically been going out for one year, Amanda took the leap and said Angela’s name to her. Angela said it back, and they both got their tattoo a- sun.
Shayne was jealous of their love and how easy it seemed for the two of them to fall in love. That’s what he wanted. He wanted Courtney to know she was his soulmate so they could continue to hang out and hopefully fall more and more in love with each other.
Shayne spent the rest of his time with Amanda and Angela with a slight stomachache. He couldn’t tell if it was nerves or if he was just really hungry. At some point during their conversation (which had shifted all over the place- from work, to animals, to their favorite places to shop), Amanda suddenly gasped.
“I know how we can make this easier!” She exclaimed.
Shayne gave her a weary look, “How can we make telling Courtney she’s my soulmate easier?”
“We roleplay! Angela will be Shayne, and I can be Courtney. That way, you can have sort of an outside perspective,” Amanda explained.
“Ooh. I like that,” Angela said, getting up from her seat on the couch and standing next to Amanda.
“And you guys think this will work? You think this will help me feel better about tomorrow?”
“Hey, it’s worth a shot,” Angela said as she was working on pulling two chairs to face each other, “We might as well make this as realistic as we can.” she said while gesturing to the chairs.
Angela and Amanda sat down in the chairs and faced each other. Before they could start Amanda turned to Shayne, “Do you think this is correct? Like these would be the sides that you sit on?”
Shayne, who to be honest, was hoping this whole roleplaying thing would end soon just nodded his head.
“Great!” Amanda said and turned back to Angela gesturing for her to begin.
“Courtney, you look so beautiful tonight,” Angela said staring at Amanda.
“Thanks, Shayne! You look great, too. I’m so happy we could meet at this dinner together,” Amanda said while twirling her hair.
“I don’t think Courtney would do that,” Shayne interrupted.
Amanda glared at him, “We’re just giving you a possible scenario. We’re not saying it will go down exactly like this.”
“Fine, continue,” Shayne said, crossing his arms and falling back down on the couch.
“Courtney, I wanted to talk to you about something serious. The other day I overheard you say my name and I got a tattoo. We’re soulmates!” Angela said (probably much more peppy than Shayne ever would. He was going to be more nervous.)
“Oh my! I’m so excited. Can you say my name to me so we can confirm that we’re soulmates to each other?” Amanda said.
“Courtney Miller,”
Amanda reacted like she had her soulmark blazed onto her arm. Shayne continued to sit on the couch with his arms crossed and glaring at the two of them. He wasn’t sure this was actually helping. In fact, he was pretty sure this might actually be hurting his conversation. Because now he could see a way in which it could go great, but in the back of his mind was still the little voice telling him that Courtney didn’t like him back.
But then, he thought back to every interaction he had ever had with her. When they first met as tiny children and Courtney yelled at him because he wasn’t looking where he was going and ran smack into her. He thought about when they were both in the same kindergarten class and the teacher had placed them next to each other. For some reason, they were never in the same elementary class again. He thought about when they were in middle school and Courtney had just been dumped by the person she really liked. He thought about when they graduated high school and they hugged like it would be the last time they saw each other. He thought about how much he truly loved hanging out with her and how she was his favorite person. And when he thought about all of those things he realized that telling Courtney what had happened wouldn’t be so scary. They were always on each other’s side and they would continue to be on each other’s side.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Amanda asked, turning to Shayne.
“I’m not sure how much the role playing helped. But I just flashed through so many memories with Courtney and realized that nothing could go wrong. We’ve been by each other since we were four years old. She’s not about to kick me to the curb now,” Shayne said.
“Aww!” Angela exclaimed. At the same time Amanda bounded over to hug Shayne.
“You got this. You two were made for each other. I hope the dinner goes wonderful,” Amanda said as she hugged him tighter.
That evening Shayne replayed his first meeting with Courtney over and over again. He couldn’t believe that her yelling at him was the start of his most precious and prized friendship.
Shayne had just moved into the neighborhood. He was so excited that he had moved. His last place wasn’t very fun and the kids didn’t really like him for some reason. Also, his parents tended to treat him like he was younger than he was. He was four! Nearly old enough to go to school but they kept babying him no matter how many times he told them not to.
He was so excited that he was running up and down the sidewalk in front of his house. His arms were in the air and his mouth was hanging open. His eyes were closed, but he figured it would be fine. After all, he hadn’t seen anyone around.
He was wrong. He should have been looking where he was going. Because he ran straight into a little girl. Both fell backwards on their bottoms. Shayne was a little delayed in getting up but the little girl popped up and stood over him. She put one hand on her hip and one hand into a point and wagged her finger at him.
“You need to be watching where you are going!” Courtney said, still with her hand on her hip and finger in his face.
Shayne looked up at Courtney for the first time. Despite the scowl on her face, she looked really nice. Her blonde hair was in two ponytails. For the first time in his life Shayne thought she looks cute.
“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” This time both hands were on her hips and her foot was tapping.
“What’s your name?”
“That’s all you have to say? You're just asking me what my name is? Not even an apology?”
“I’m sorry that I wasn’t looking where I was going. My name is Shayne. What’s your name?”
Coutney’s shoulder relaxed and her face relaxed, “My name is Courtney. I haven’t seen you in the neighborhood before. Are you new?”
“Yes, I’m new. We just moved here. Can I play with you?”
“Yes. Do you want to be best friends?”
“Yes! Let’s go play in the backyard!” Shayne said and the two kids ran to the backyard together. They spent the rest of the day playing together and then they spent the rest of their lives hanging with each other.
Okay, well now they potentially would get to spend the rest of their lives hanging out together. Especially if Courtney agreed to let him say her name back to her.
As the night continued Shayne continued to feel butterflies in his stomach. He tossed and turned all night. But it was no longer nervous about Courtney not accepting. He was nervous about her accepting. What would their life look like after it was revealed they were soulmates? Would they begin dating right away? Or would Courtney be more on the slow route? These were questions that Shayne could not wait to find out the answer to.
That day at work, Shayne somehow missed Courtney at every opportunity. He wasn’t trying to avoid her, but it seemed like every connection they usually had just didn’t happen that day. Maybe the fates in charge decided they didn’t need to see each other until dinner that night.
So, they didn’t see each other. Until Shayne stepped out of his car at the restaurant they had agreed on. Shayne looked to his right and saw Courtney step out of her car as well.
Shayne decided it was a good thing he didn’t see her until this moment. She was dressed in a beautiful black dress and looked absolutely stunning. If he had seen her at work, he wouldn’t have been able to get anything done. He quickly looked down at his own wardrobe. While he was no slob, his outfit was not quite on par with Courtney’s.
“Shayne!” Courtney said and ran over to him with her arms outstretched to give him a big hug. Courtney was just about the only person that Shayne ever let hug him.
“Courtney!” Shayne said and wrapped his arms about her as well. Shayne took a step back and looked at her, “You look absolutely beautiful.”
“Thanks! You look beautiful too,” Courtney said. And with that they both headed into the restaurant.
Shayne was a half step behind Courtney and was thinking about all the ways the soulmate talk could go. Their greetings seemed to be a good indication that Courtney felt the same way he did and that there was nothing to worry about.
The hostesses let them to their table and they both sat down and started to look at he menus. Shayne could feel that the moment was almost here. It was almost time to tell Courtney what he heard until-
“Shayne Topp,” Courtney said his name to him straight away. There was no lead up conversation, nothing she just said it.
Shayne looked at Courtney with wide eyes and when he didn’t react like he had just gotten a tattoo, Courtney’s eyes welled with tears.
“I’m sorry! I thought-” Courtney cut herself off, the tears starting to stream down her face.
Shayne feeling absolute panic at this point, quickly rolled up his sleeve to reveal where the tattoo was.
“You already had a soulmate and you didn’t tell me? You were just going to lead me on?” Courtney hiccuping her words between sobs.
“What? No!” Shayne said, “I accidentally overheard you say my name at work. That’s why I didn’t react like I had gotten the tattoo,” Shayne tried explaining.
Courtney brought the napkin to her face and started drying off her tears, “Wait, what?”
“When that new person was starting at work and you were telling them about people. I overheard you say my name. I was going to tell you tonight at dinner, but it appears you got to me first, Courtney Miller.”
Courtney immediately grabs a hold of her arm and squeezes it, “Ow!”
After rubbing her arm a little bit Courtney looks at the tattoo that she just received. It matched Shayne’s exactly- a little camera. Shayne held his arm out against Courtney’s so they could both see the little design and how it looked the same.
“I love it,” Courtney said while poking her tattoo, “And I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Shayne said.
The waiter came around with their drinks at the point and threw off their vibe for a second. Both forgetting that they were at a fancy restaurant and that they would have to order actual food.
As soon as the waiter left, they continued to stare at each other and the tattoos. Neither one was too sure what to say at that moment.
“Why did you want to make sure we were just friends?” Shayne asked.
“I thought you thought I was being a bit weird and just didn’t want you to think I was that weird. But Arasha convinced me that I was being crazy, and she told me that when you invited me to this dinner, I had to just rush out and say your name before I chickened out.”
“Amanda and Angela tried to do a role playing thing for me to show how not scary this moment would be,” Shayne said, and Courtney laughed.
“That’s hilarious! Did it actually work?”
“Not really, but maybe? It was altogether just a weird experience.”
Their dinner continued with lighthearted conversation. They didn’t need to do all the big discussions. Those would come with time. For right now, they just get to enjoy each other’s company and the one they were meant to be with.
A few days later, after hanging out almost exclusively with each other, they went to Spencer and Tommy’s place for a little get together. They entered the room together and it was as if conversation had stopped. Everyone turned to look at them. It was the first time any of them had seen Shayne or Courtney in days. At the questioning look in everyone’s eyes, Courtney grabbed Shayne’s arm and lifted it up so everyone could see his tattoo. She lifted her arm up and showed everyone the same thing. The room erupted into cheers and whoops and hollers. Everyone coming up to hug the couple.
Shayne couldn’t think of a better way for his relationship to start. Even though it was hard, at the end of the day he got to be with Courtney at all times, and he got to talk to her at all times. He couldn’t wait for them to start the rest of their lives together. And he was glad that he hadn’t given up.