The Past Catches Up

Chapter 6

It had been roughly three hours since Melanie had completely moved out of Ian's life and he was still feeling conflicting emotions. She let him keep some of her paintings as mementos seeing as how they had become staples of the Smosh household over the years along with some of the more sentimental things they had exchanged as well. Ian looked at the clock, forgetting that he had to keep track of the time. He knew Anthony was coming back that evening to go over the footage he edited and give his final say on it as he always did. He just didn't know how to adjust back to their normal lives again or how they would even begin the conversation. He played out every possible scenario in his mind but quickly came to a halt when one on them ended up with seducing Anthony into sex.

God, what the hell is wrong with me? Maybe Anthony's right. I'm not normal.

He heard the sound of the garage opening along with Anthony's car pulling into the driveway and began to panic but before he had any time to dwell on the matter any further Anthony was already through the door and Ian was at a complete loss of what to say. He tried to busy himself with his work.

Figures he's busy Anthony though, since he assumed Ian was still angry at him from their last conversation. He remembered that Ian liked to focus on work more often when heavy emotions were involved. He guessed it helped keep his mind off them. He sighed, thinking of what to say but nothing came to Anthony's mind so he walked past him to his bedroom when something caught his eye, or rather, the lack of something.

"Ian?" He quietly asked.

Ian kept his focus on his screen.

He knew Anthony saw the empty room, formerly Melanie's room when she visited from the East Coast. He felt Anthony's presence approaching from behind. Ian waited for him to speak but to his surprise he just sat in the adjacent chair and sighed heavily. Ian clicked on another frame on the screen and adjusted the color. "I..." He barely heard Anthony say, as though he were clearing his throat. Ian stopped clicking and turned his head slightly but still not meeting his eyes. "I'm...sorry about earlier."

Ian bit his lower lip and sighed too, avoiding his eyes. "No… I'm the one who should be sorry. I fucking blew up at you for no reason. I guess I'm just under a lot of stress right now." Anthony looked down at his hands on his lap. Ian bit his tongue, trying to suppress what his mind wanted to ask next, but he asked it anyway. "You never answered my question."

Anthony's head quickly darted up. "What question?" He looked down at the table, then back at Anthony and swallowed.

"Did you ever regret our relationship in the past?"

"I..." Anthony felt himself unable to answer his question at first. He thought back to his session with Dr. Gibbard and how he blatantly expressed his stance on how he felt about Ian.

Ian knew it wasn't a subject Anthony was particularly fond of as well but he needed to know. There was an awkward moment of silence as Ian waited for his answer. "Well... I guess not," he finally replied. "I mean, if we hadn't been together I don't think we would've made Smosh as popular as it is now..."

Anthony immediately noticed the small look of dejection on Ian's face and quickly added "…but it's not really the popularity that I care about. I was just really glad that we stayed friends after all of that." Ian nodded and began to re-edit the completed video to distract himself. Anthony felt like Ian was somehow distancing himself from him and it started making him feel upset. "Ian?" he asked, as Ian clicked over to the next frame. "Can we just, not fight anymore and be friends again? This really sucks."

Ian's eyes looked down at the keyboard then wavered back to Anthony. "I think I'd like that." Anthony smiled auspiciously and patted his back before walking off to the fridge to get a soda. "Friends… nothing more," Ian said in a quiet tone. Before the thoughts from earlier could come back and hit him full force he decided to change the subject. "So how did your session with the psycho go?" He asked.

Anthony sighed loudly and slunk into the sofa, opening his can of soda. "I fuckin' hate therapy, dude. It sucks balls," he muttered, taking a swig from his drink. "Hopefully I can convince Kalel we don't need it so I don't have to drive all the way across town every other day." Ian wanted to ask what they talked about but decided it was better to wait. "Is it just gonna be you and her going or are you gonna go alone sometimes?" Ian asked curiously.

Anthony never really thought about it but the very idea of going alone was almost as unappealing as going at all. "Fuck that," he griped. "I'd rather sit at home filming myself pick fleas off the cat than go to another one of those stupid meetings." Ian smiled for the first time that day at his casual sarcasm. Anthony sighed, seemingly exasperated but wearily. "So what have ya got?" he asked turning his attention to the video on Ian's screen clearly wanting to get off that particular subject as well. Ian remembered he had finished editing and began to click into some windows on the screen.

"Here, tell me what you think," Ian said as he clicked the play button. The scene started out with Ian and Anthony sitting on their usual couch complaining about what was on the television before it started going into the skits they had shot weeks ago. Ian's mind was heavy with though, not really paying any attention at all as scene after scene played out earning a few scattered laughs from Anthony. When it was over Anthony looked content with the footage. "You actually did pretty good, man." Anthony's bad mood from before seemed to have lifted as he praised Ian for his editing. "You should edit the main videos more often. It would give me a break," he laughed. Ian's lips curved to a small smile. "Yeah, how 'bout we just keep it like it is and I let you do that."

Anthony shrugged. "Alright, whatever man. Just giving you a complement, that's all." Ian looked back to the footage. "So it's good? There's nothing you wanna change?" Anthony furrowed his brow and shook his head. "Nah, I think you pretty much nailed it. Good job." Ian suddenly found himself smiling wider. Something about Anthony's praise actually did make him feel better about himself but almost as quickly as he began to take pleasure in this feeling he though was lost his mind suddenly began thinking about Melanie and he frowned.

"So, hey," Ian asked as Anthony was beginning to do something on his phone. "Are you staying for a bit? We could hang out for a while now that we've gone over the video," Ian suggested. He smiled hopefully, knowing that with Anthony over, sometimes "work" meant staying over late playing video games until Kalel called wanting him home but Anthony gave him a disheartened look.

"Sorry dude. I promised Kalel we'd spend tonight working on some kind of scrapbooking thing. You know how she gets when she finds a new project. She has a stack of photos she wants to sort through though they're mainly just pictures of Kabuki," he smiled uneasily. "You understand, right?"

Ian scoffed and waved his hand. "Pssh! Oh yeah, totally. Womenfolk, huh?" he offhandedly smirked getting up from his chair to walk him to the door. Anthony then remembered Ian's situation with Melanie and began to feel regretful for bringing up his own girlfriend. He anxiously brought a hand up to the back of his neck and shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I don't …have to go right now, I guess," he said a little more doubtful he should leave Ian by himself. He probably wanted to talk about it. Anthony wasn't one to turn away from Ian when he needed him.

At least not since...

"No, no, go! I got lots of shit to move around in the garage anyway." Ian looked over to the direction of the garage door then back to Anthony. "It's getting way too cluttered in there and I wanna move some stuff into the… other room." Ian's smile faded a bit when the last part left his lips but then he grinned even wider. Anthony was beginning to feel a little more concerned but Ian was already trying to rush him out the door. "Come on, you don't wanna keep Kabuki waiting," he added. "A-Are you sure?" Anthony asked still feeling regretful he should go. Ian had already picked up Anthony's backpack and handed it to him, nodding. "Gotta clean out Charlie's cage too. That little British bastard must've had a party last night in there," Ian joked.

"Alright," he reluctantly replied. Anthony stepped into the garage where his car was and turned to give Ian one last look. "Ian," he said as he slung his backpack on his shoulder. He looked down at the cold concrete beneath his feet. "I just…" he couldn't find what he wanted to say.

"I'm okay," Ian finally said, knowing full well where Anthony was getting at. "We're done. She moved out and out of my life. We're done. I'm not…" he sighed. Anthony looked right into his eyes, concerned for his best friend, seeing nothing but turmoil and anguish beneath his forced smile. "I'm fine, really. Please, just… I need to clean out the garage. I'll see you tomorrow."

With that Ian had shut the door.