THIS LOVE | shayne topp

1.06

   THE NEXT FEW WEEKS consisted of Aaliyah and Eleanore constantly talking, but not really hanging out. Aaliyah was busy with work and Eleanore just couldn't bring herself to talk to anybody else even though she was supposed to talk to her brother weeks ago.

   Getting into big crowds has always been anxiety inducing for her, and it's especially worse now that the people she wants to meet, saw her for the first time in person crying in her brothers arms. Thats going to haunt her forever.

   Eleanore ended up getting Shayne's number from Aaliyah, and she has texted him and called him a few times throughout the week. But it always ended the same. 'You should talk to Damien, you know'. And Eleanore responding with 'I know', every single time.

   She appreciated the fact that he cared about both of them so much, but Eleanore also wished he would back off just a little bit. Shayne was always someone who cared so deeply about everyone close in his life, but this is something she needed to do on her own time.

   Right now, Eleanore was getting ready for the day, and to talk to Damien. She was sitting on the floor of her bedroom in front of the floor length mirror, her makeup bag sitting to her right.

   Her makeup was kept natural as usual, just accentuating her features. She did add a small wing to the outer corner of her eye with a brown eyeliner that matched her hair color, but that was all.

   Eleanore applied her sheer pink lip gloss, and then stood up to put on her shoes. Today her hair was down and on day two curls, almost fallen out completely. She wore brown shorts with a light blue tank top with a navy blue oversized soft button down shirt and her white converse.

   As she left the apartment, she got even more anxious than before. Eleanore was going to Damien's house, as he was pretty busy with work that day and just wanted to go straight home but still talk with his sister.

   Her car was parked not in her usual spot, which was on the same floor as the garage entrance, as it was a Friday night and some of their neighbors were having parties, which Eleanore recently found out is normal in their complex.

   She took the stairs up two levels, getting into her 2016 Honda Civic, and plugging her phone into the charger to connect to the carplay. Her phone automatically started playing 'tolerate it' by Taylor Swift, which reminded her that she shares a spotify with Alyssa.

   Alyssa had shared the account with Eleanore since they started spending a lot of time together when the brunette moved in, and they also have similar music taste. The two spend countless nights just blasting music and having dance parties in their living room.

   It was nice to have that after so long of being constricted in so many ways for years. Now Eleanore got to actually talk to the people she cared about for the first time in a long time.

   Which is now where she ended up, in front of Damien's house. Eleanore sighed out, grabbing her things and exiting her car. She adjusted her shorts, before locking her car and walking up to the front door.

   Her hand hovered over the door in a fist, getting ready to knock but the door opened before she could. "Sorry, I saw you got here. Didn't mean to scare you."

   "All good." Eleanore smiled at him, before noticing a black and white cat running up to her and stretching up on her leg. "Oh my god."

   She crouched down to pet the cat on the head, as she purred and pushed her head into Eleanore's hand. "I also have a little tuxedo cat. His name is Loki."

   "This is Zelda. I have another cat, Freyja, but she's hiding somewhere." Damien leaned down to pick up the bigger cat and signalled for his sister to come inside, which she did. He closed the door behind her and led the way to the kitchen.

   Eleanore noticed immediately the black wall with scattered picture frames on it. It was very Damien, and she honestly loved it. The couch was green, and there was the other cat, Freyja. She was definitely smaller than Zelda, and was sleeping soundly on the couch.

   Damien stood on the other side of the kitchen island while Eleanore sat on one of the stools. "Do you want water or anything?"

   "Yeah, sure. I'll take water. Thank you." Eleanore smiled at her brother who grabbed a glass out of one of the cabinets next to the refrigerator. He filled the glass up before setting it in front of the brunette.

   "Thanks." She took a sip of it, looking at her brother who began fidgeting with the hem of his shirt.

   She sniffled while setting the glass down, noticing his anxious movement. Damien continued to pull at his shirt collar, looking anywhere but at his sister. The awkwardness was going to be their for a while, she could just feel it from the tension between the siblings.

   "Um, I don't really know where to start." Eleanore laughed lightly. "Uh... I know you guys have a general idea of what happened, and I don't think mentally I can go through it again, but I'm so sorry."

   Damien shook his head, leaning forward onto the kitchen island. "You don't have to explain yourself. Down the line if you want, we can really talk about it, but only when you're ready. I'm just glad you're okay and that we're talking again."

   "Thank you. And me too."

   The siblings spent the next two hours sitting and talking about their lives over the past couple of years, including their jobs.

   Damien talked about some of the voice acting jobs hes had over the years and what Smosh was like since he joined in 2017 and how its changed over the years with Mythical owning it and now with Ian and Anthony buying it back.

   Eleanore talked about when she had met Laurie and Hunter and the two starting a podcast. She hadn't booked any acting jobs in a few years, only because she had too much going on to even worry about her acting career.

   The conversation wrapped up around seven p.m., and Eleanore had headed almost straight home, grabbing dinner for her and Alyssa because still, neither of them enjoyed cooking at all.

   The minute Eleanore got home, she ran into her room and facetimed Aaliyah, who was at one of the other Smosh cast members house, Angela, filling her in on everything not caring that the other girl was in the room hearing it all.

   Alyssa was laying on the couch with her girlfriend watching a movie as her dog, Sadie, laid on the floor right in front of the couch. The two barely noticed the way Eleanore booked it to her room.

   Aaliyah sat quietly while Eleanore continuously ranted on about everything that happened the past few hours, watching the girl with a smile on her face after laying everything out with one of her favorite people in the world, her brother.

   During all of this, Shayne was also texting Eleanore asking her to catch him up on what had happened and if everything was okay since he was also the one pushing for the siblings to talk.

   "So it sounds like everything went well?" Aaliyah asked with a smile while laying on Angela's bed on her stomach, one hand holding the phone and the other supporting her chin.

   Eleanore sighed out a breath of relief. "Yes! I'm just so happy that everything is ok now and that my life is more... freeing. You know?"

   Aaliyah's face dropped a little at what her friend said, but she picked it up immediately not wanting her to see. "Yeah. I'm happy that we're all able to go back to normal now. We missed you a lot, El."

   "I missed you guys, too. Okay, I love you so much but I have to clean the bathroom tonight. It's my week." Eleanore laughed, beginning to get out of bed.

   Aaliyah laughed along with her. "Okay. Love you too, bye!"