I instantly removed my hand from Shayne's thigh and scooted a few inches away from Shayne as I started to notice Anthony approaching our table. My heart couldn't stop beating at this point. I knew we were starting to get too public with this shit and this was our warning sign.
"Hey guys," Anthony said as he stood in front of our table. Shayne gave him a small wave and looked at me, but I was too focused on looking and smiling at Anthony.
"Hey... Ant," I said, but the way I said it was the way anyone would've said it; confused and surprised. He knew I was going out to breakfast with Tristan and he knew I would meet him at work. What is he doing? "What are you doing here?"
"Can't come see my girlfriend at breakfast?" he asked. Shayne kept his eyes towards Damien who was also looking at Anthony. "Damien, if you don't mi-"
"Oh, sorry Anthony," he said as he slid out of the booth to let Anthony in. I don't know why, but the way that Anthony told him to move, I didn't appreciate it and the funny thing is, he couldn't ask Shayne to move.
"You're fine, Damien," he said. "I just wanted to sit in front of Ronnie." I rolled my eyes as Anthony started sliding into the booth and Damien followed right after him. To know I was just talking good on Anthony earlier to Tristan and now he is acting like this? Was Tristan honestly right? Was he sucking up?
I glance over at Shayne who had the blankest expression on his face, but I knew well enough that he was pissed. "I thought you and Ian were going to set up the next Smosh is Bored," I said to him.
"We were, but Shayne wasn't at the office and we had an idea that involved him and Keith both," Anthony said to me. He looked at Shayne while Shayne slowly looked over at him. "We found this game that seems like a piece of shit, but I think it would be interesting to play it on the channel."
"Okay," Shayne said bluntly.
"What's the game?" I asked Anthony since Shayne wouldn't have asked.
"It's like Russian roulette, but it's a gun that holds a water balloon. Seems like a very cheap ass game, but I think it'll be fun. What do you say, Shayne?" Anthony asked him.
Shayne nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm down."
Anthony smiled, but looked at me instantly. "Hey, I thought you were going to breakfast with Tristan? Where's he at?" Anthony asked me. I bit my tongue and held back from shaking my head.
"He left just ten minutes after you got here," I responded. "Shayne and Damien came to hang out for a bit, but Tristan had to go." Anthony slightly nodded and leaned back into the seat while Damien had his arms on the table and looked away from all of us.
"What was the point of asking that, Anthony?" Shayne asked as he leaned towards the table. "If you don't mind me asking."
"I was just wondering since I hadn't seen him here," Anthony replied. "Any particular reason why you had asked that?"
"Well I was just wondering since you made it seem like it was wrong for her to just hang out with us when she's been friends with me for two years and is pretty good friends with Damien now," Shayne stated. It started getting tense, and Damien and I just kept making small glances at each other. I couldn't look at Anthony or even Shayne.
"That's not why I asked, Shayne. I'm obviously okay with her hanging out with other guys sinc-"
"Since you know them?" Shayne asked. "Well what if you didn't know them? Technically, you don't know Tristan that well since I've never seen you sit at a breakfast or lunch with Ronnie and hi-"
"But I came here to see her and Tristan both to hang out with them," Anthony interrupted to say. "Why else would I be here then, Shayne?"
"Because you don't trust Ronnie after that situation at the club. Because you have this grudge against me and that's why you hadn't asked me to move from sitting here because you knew it would've caused an argument," Shayne stated.
"What would you call this then?" Anthony asked.
"Guys, enough!" I said aloud. Shayne inhaled deeply and looked away from all of us. "This isn't getting anywhere. This little argument should be dead now since it happened a while ago and we are all good. Ant, if that's the reason why you came, that's messed up and Shayne, let the shit go with what happened last week. It's over with." Shayne and Anthony looked at one another and I heard Anthony sigh. "Can we just go a day without arguing and go to work in a good mood? Is that too much to ask?"
"Of course not," Anthony said.
"Then for the love of god, let's just stop it now," I said to them.
Shayne took a deep breath and looked over at me. "You're right. I'm sorry, Ronnie." Shayne looked at Anthony and said, "And I'm sorry, Anthony. I shouldn't have acted like that. I just don't want you thinking I'm trying to steal your girlfriend." I looked over at Shayne. "She's just been such a great friend for me since I joined and I just don't want you hating me for being friends with her. She's a great person to have around; a definite keeper." I smiled, but felt my heart start to break.
"I'm sorry too, Shayne," Anthony said. "I'll admit I did have a bit of a problem with how close you guys are." Anthony took a deep breath and looked at Shayne. "Remember that night that Veronica and I were arguing that kept everybody up during Winter Games? The one right after you guys finished playing Quiplash?"
I knew exactly where he was going with this and I didn't understand why he was bringing it up. We had argued about it over a week ago and now all of a sudden, it's okay to bring it up again to Shayne? Is Anthony really trying to do this sudden change for me? "Yeah, I sort of remember. Didn't Ronnie walk out of the bedroom and go out to the hot tub?" Shayne asked him.
My face went blank when I realized what he was talking about. I had slammed the door behind me which made everyone in the living room jump and I stormed out with a towel in my hand. Boze and I weren't as close at the time since she was still brand new, but she did tell me how she wanted to walk out there to me until somebody beat her too it.
Shayne Robert Topp.
When I was in that hot tub, he had walked out with just a tee shirt and shorts on. His Smosh beanie was on his head as well and I was very surprised he wasn't cold. He just looked at me in concern while I sat there with tears dried on my face and I couldn't stop sniffling. I hated when Anthony and I argued, and it was one of our first real arguments we'd ever had. He just made me feel like shit that night about me being "unprofessional" and that I need to be better at my job.
Great boyfriend, right?
Shayne was just kneeled beside me with his hand on the back of my head and I let it all out. I let all the tears fall down and I wasn't even able to tell him what happened. All he knew was that Anthony and I had a bad argument, and he just talked me through it. Shayne was really always there for me; why wasn't I able to see what him and I really had?
"Yeah," Anthony replied. "The argument I had with her wasn't the argument I wanted to have with her. I was just really upset that day after seeing how you were with her. When I saw you hug Ronnie and Mari took that photo and then you throwing her into the snow, it pissed me off and I couldn't hold back from arguing. I knew it would've caused a bigger argument between Ronnie and I if I had brought it up so I just decided to lie and argue about something that wasn't true."
"Where is this going, Anthony?" Shayne asked him.
"I just want to apologize," Anthony replied. "I've just always been jealous of you since you and Ronnie get along so well and..." he sighed and looked at him. "I'm just sorry, Shayne. I'm sorry for that and I'm sorry for flipping out on you at work because of the situation at the club."
I looked at Damien who was just as surprised as I was at Anthony's apology. Anthony wasn't really the type to apologize over something like that unless it would ruin a friendship or relationship with someone. "I accept your apology, Anthony," Shayne said to him. I was even more surprised for that.
Anthony nodded and took a deep breath. "Now we really need to get to work," he said to us. "Babe, did Tristan bring you here or did you drive?"
"I drove here," I replied. "I'll meet you at work. I gotta pay for my food anyway."
He smiled and nodded his head as he slid out of the booth. "See you guys in a bit."
We all waved and said bye to Anthony as he started walking away. "Well that was very awkward for someone who isn't involved in any of that drama," Damien stated with a high pitch giggle.
"It's because you're a good boy, Dames," I said to him with a chuckle.
"You never told me what he actually argued with you about," Shayne said to me.
"It was because I was so upset that night about it, I couldn't even speak," I admitted. "It was just about me being unprofessional and not doing my job right."
"Wait, unprofessional?" Shayne asked me. I nodded and he started laughing. "Because who in Smosh is fucking professional?" I started to chuckle and Damien had a smile on his face but shook his head a bit. "He made you cry, Ronnie."
"I was just upset that him and I were arguing, Shayne," I stated. "He didn't make me cry, the argument did."
"It's still the point," he said.
"We really should be going," I said to them. I slowly started pushing myself out of the booth and standing up in front of the table. I didn't want to talk about that night since it did mess me up and just to know I got upset over that when it wasn't even true upsets me more. Damien and Shayne both slid out of the booth, and stood beside me. Damien had started to walk away, but stopped as he saw Shayne not walking with him.
"Shayne, you coming?" Damien asked him.
Shayne looked at me and back to Damien. "No, I'm gonna hang back for a second. I'll meet you at work though."
Damien nodded and waved at me. "See you in a bit," he said as he started walking away. I started to go into my purse to find my wallet, but as I grabbed it, I look to see Shayne putting money down on the table and start walking away.
"Wait, hold up," I said as I started to speed up to catch up with him. How the fuck did he not catch up to Damien? They could've actually walked out together at this point since he is racing out this damn door and trying to avoid me. "Shayne, wait." We walked out the door and I grabbed his arm. "What the hell was that?"
"What the hell was what?" Shayne asked me.
"Paying for my food like that," I replied. "Shayne, you did not need to do that. That..."
"Veronica, can I just do something nice for you?" Shayne asked me. "I mean, fuck, I'm not just the guy you're..." he stopped and took a deep breath. "I like you a lot, okay? I do and now I have to hide it from Anthony even more now since him and I are on good terms."
"You chose that route," I told him.
"You didn't give me much of a choice," he stated.
"All I wanted was the arguing to stop," I said. "All I wanted was for everything to be normal. I didn't expect this to be even harder than it already is."
"Then stop it then," Shayne stated. "If it that hard, stop what you're doing and choose him."
"Please stop doing this to me, Shayne," I said as my voice started to crack. "I hate that I've put myself into this situation, but you both are making it harder on me. All you do is smile at me and I get these feelings, but Anthony does this whole rose thing for me last night and that gave me feelings. I don't know what to do, Shayne, okay?"
"Then I'll back off," he stated. My heart dropped and my face went completely blank. "I think it'll be better for both of us if I just back off. Better for you and Anthony to work your guys relationship out and better for my feelings to settle."
"Shayne..."
"I'll see you at work, Ronnie," he said to me. He started walking away and I could feel tears in my eyes.
"You made a fucking joke about how Anthony made me cry yet you're doing the same thing," I said. He stopped walking and looked back at me. People just kept walking by us when we were outside of the restaurant and not paying attention, but being loud about this still terrified me. We were a good few feet away from each other and I couldn't help but still have tears in my eyes. "You can't do this to me."
"It's what's best for right now, Ronnie," he said to me as he started walking back over to me. "I don't want to do it either, but all we are doing is playing with our emotions. Not to mention that all we are doing is fucking. That's all I'm u-"
"That's not what you are to me though," I said to him.
"Now you're finally admitting that?" Shayne asked me. "Veronica, what do you want?"
"I don't know, Shayne!" I yelled out. A few people looked at us, but they just kept walking. "I don't know what to do, okay?"
"So I'm gonna do something about it and back off, okay?"
"But..."
"It's the best choice right now, Ronnie," Shayne said. "Anthony is already jealous of our friendship. If we are around each other more at work, people are gonna get suspicious. I'm just gonna back off for a while." I just looked down, but he goes, "hey." I looked back up at him and he gave me a slight smile. "No hard feelings though, doll face."
I just stood there as he turned away from me and started walking away. It might be the best choice at the moment, but I can't say I'm happy about this choice. This hurt me in a way I couldn't explain and I hated to see how hurt he was by this choice too. He was just better at hiding it than I was. Were feelings for Shayne getting stronger?
Who knew sleeping with him would cause me to feel this way about him?