The Switch / Shourtney

Chapter Thirty-One: Perfect

May 28th, 2018

The hallway was silent as I waited with bated breath in front of her apartment, hand posed to knock again. But soon my heart sped up as I heard shuffling behind the door and then suddenly Courtney was pulling it open.

"Wahlid did you forget something?"

Her voice was a bit tense, as was the look on her face, but her expression quickly transformed into one of shock as she realized that it was me at her door and not Wahlid.

"Shayne! What, uh, what are you doing here?" She stuttered.

"Can I come in?" I asked nervously, and she nodded, opening the door and almost jumping out of the way so that I could get through. I walked through the threshold and turned back around to face her.

I could feel the tension in the air as Courtney shut the door behind me. We stood for a moment in the middle of her apartment in silence, and she fiddled with her hands as she waited for me to speak. I wasn't really sure where to start. My own hands were sweating slightly now.

"How are you?" I asked.

"Um, I'm ok I guess," She replied with an anxious half smile.

"I was worried when you didn't come into work today." I said, cringing at the vulnerability in my voice. "I thought that maybe you were upset with me."

Courtney's brow furrowed, "What? No Shayne, I wasn't. I- I just had stuff to take care of..."

She trailed off, crossing her arms over her chest. It was a defensive position but there was no bite behind it, and I decided to just jump right in.

"I ran into Wahlid downstairs"

"He came by the pick up his stuff."

"Ya, he mentioned that." I tried to hold her gaze but she was avoiding my eyes, biting at her nails nervously.

It was a habit she always complained to me about having. It was a telltale sign for me to know when she was feeling uneasy about something. To be honest, I wasn't doing so hot either. I had driven over here on an adrenaline high after reading her tweet but I was starting to over think things. She had just broken up with her boyfriend. I didn't know what that meant for us.

But I was tired of being a chicken. I reminded myself of my resolve to keep making it known to her that I am there, that I am an option. I cleared my throat and said;

"So you broke up with him."

"Yes. I did."

She answered my statement so mater-of-fact-ly. Her face was full of cautious sincerity and it somehow encouraged me to continue. Swallowing hard at her reply and I struggled forward, forcing out the words I was desperate to say.

"Courtney... look, I know things are complicated with us but-"

"Wait, let me talk" She interrupted me.

I nodded, nervous for what she was going to say. She had stopped biting at her nails and I noticed a change in her expression. She looked determined as she began to speak.

"It's been hard for me these past couple months with Wahlid. I wanted things to work out with him because I had this image of us happy together. But I was holding on to a memory. I wasn't happy with him, but I was happy whenever I was with you."

"You make me laugh even on my worst days. You challenge me, you push me to be better. You listen to me even when I'm being stupid and you always look out for what's best for me. And as I said, these past few months have been really hard because... I've realized that I love you."

My heart was hammering hard in my chest but I held her gaze as she continued speaking. Her words were coming out clearer now, as if with more confidence, and her eyes were glistening as they locked onto mine.

"It just snuck up on me, this feeling, but it also feels like it's always been there. I know we've always had this connection, I just had to realize it. I guess what I'm saying is, I love you Shayne Topp. I love you and I'm sorry it took me this long to tell you."

I surged forward as soon as she stopped speaking and pressed my lips against hers. Her hands came up to rest on the side of my face and I could feel her tears against my cheeks. This kiss was so different from the last one. It was slow, but powerful, I put everything I had been feeling for the past 6 months into it.

Finally, we broke apart, breathing hard, our foreheads resting against each other's.

"I love you too Courtney Miller."

I felt, rather than saw, her smile.

"But why didn't you tell me about this on Friday?" I questioned, "You made me think you were mad at me."

She groaned and grinned sheepishly, looking up at me from under her eye lashes.

"Sorry about that. I just didn't want to be that girl who dumps a guy and then immediately jumps onto another."

"I'm not complaining," I grinned back readjusting my arms to wrap around her waist. She shook her head at me and smiled in amusement.

"I probably shouldn't have let you hear about it through a tweet though, huh?"

I shrugged and nudged my knee against hers before leaning in and kissing her cheek.

"We can still eat Chillies every night of the week," I said when I pulled back and she laughed again, her eyes shining at me.

She grabbed onto either side of my face, still beaming.

"Have I mentioned that I love you?"

"Once or twice," I grinned back.

And then I was pulling her back towards me and we were kissing again. And It was as if everything had fallen into place. As I smiled into her lips, the world around us melted away, and all I could think was, 'Damn, I am so freaking lucky'.

Everything was perfect.

A/N: Tada! A huge, massive, freaking, gargantuan THANK YOU to each and every one of you guys for reading, commenting, and voting on this story!! I loved hearing your feedback and commentary and for the first time I really felt like I was really a part of a fandom.

This is the first fanfiction that I've ever written and actually published and I'm surprised as anyone that I actually followed through with it! (RIP my unfinished harry potter and supernatural fanfics lol). I really want to thank you all for the support!!! Writing is a huge creative outlet for me that's really helped me through the past few months and I would not have been able to continue writing if it wasn't for you guys. It boggles my mind that so many of you have read this story.

My intention for this fic was to write a semi-realistic story that had a timeline that actually could have potentially happened. I always planned on starting in June 2017 with Shayne's big break up, and ending in May 2018 with Courtney's. I'm not sure if I'm going to write a sequel or maybe just a short follow up or epilogue to this, but this chapter is the ending that I planned for this story from the very start.

However, I don't plan on going away! As some of you may have seen, I started a new story involving Shourtney and the Smosh (Defy) shutdown called 'Starting Over'. I'll be posting chapters for that story fairly regularly so give it a follow and I hope to see you all there!

Until then, All the love!

Kaitlyn