Right after I watched Shayne leave my driveway, I had walked back in to my mom on the phone and my dad on his cellphone checking his emails, but when my mom was on the phone, the annoyance on her face told me that she was on the phone with Mia. She was and she ended up leaving early since Mia had a project due tomorrow and she needed mom's help.
Typical Cruz sisters; we procrastinate on literally everything.
Dad, however, wanted to spend more time with me since he doesn't get the chance too because of work. I was fine with it, but I didn't want to hear anymore of a lecture about Anthony's decision to leave Smosh and how Anthony isn't providing for me. He suggested on going to lunch and I agreed with it and thankfully we drove separately because it would either be completely silent (since he doesn't listen to the radio) or he would in fact lecture me the whole ride.
It would be a lose/lose for me either way.
Dad didn't know where to go and I wasn't in the mood for anything fancy so we decided going to this diner since it was fairly close to us and they are known to having great burgers which is a plus for dad. Dad wasn't a picky eater; okay that might be a lie. Dad is picky when it comes to how his food is made and even though I've never been here before, at least we can both judge the food together if it is in fact not good.
I pulled up next to my dad who was leaned up on the side of his car and on the phone with god only knows who. I parked my car and took my keys out while looking at my passenger seat to see my phone lit up. A picture of Damien and I appeared on my phone since he was calling me, but I took a moment to study the photo I was looking at since it made me smile and remember how fun (and weird) that day was.
It was actually the first time I had met the Damien Haas that Shayne would mention around the office so much. It was rare for me to ever be behind the camera of Seriously Super Stupid Sleepover, but it was the one time I was free and I just really wanted to tease Shayne for wearing a Superman onesie. Because who would not want to see that? I didn't want to wait for the video to come out to see it; I had to see it in that moment.
Before they shot the video, I had met Damien right away and his personality was just like Shayne's only Damien was a bit sweeter than Shayne was. Damien would of course make jokes with Shayne that would sound rude, but it wasn't and it made me laugh to be around them to hear it. To know they've only known each other for six years surprised me since they had a friendship that made me think they would be friends for a longer period of time. They knew everything about each other and they had so many inside jokes.
Just like Tristan and myself, and we've been best friends for fifteen years.
I was sitting on the floor with Damien and Shayne since they weren't rolling the cameras yet and this was a photo I had posted on my Instagram story a while back with a caption that said "Made a new friend today!" with a bunch of random emojis. It was just of him and I, and I never knew after that day he would be one of the most important people in my life; the one person who checks up on me since all this mess has happened and the one person who will look out for me whenever. I appreciate Damien Haas.
I picked my phone up and clicked onto the miss call which instantly called him. I put it up to my ear and the first ring barely went off since Damien answered. "What up, Ronnie?" Damien asked in the most cheerful way possible.
"Shouldn't I be the one saying what's up?" I asked him.
"No, it's what up. There is no 's' in there. It's just what up as if there was two d's an-"
"Jesus Christ, Damien; why did you call me?" I asked him, but I couldn't help but to laugh at his stupidity. There's a reason him and Shayne were friends, but I still love it.
"Just wanted to check up on you, but I don't wanna say too much since I don't know who you're around," Damien admitted.
"You're sweet, hun," I said to him. "I'm in my jeep right now and about to have lunch with my father, but he is outside on the phone talking to..." I paused and chuckled. "Who even knows anymore. Anyway, I've been better. I'm just always putting myself in a rough decision and I honestly wish I can just choose Shayne and it would be simple."
"What's stopping you?" Damien asked me.
"Myself," I replied with a small chuckle. "My brain, my dignity-"
"What about your heart, Ronnie?" Damien asked me.
I sighed and leaned my head back on the seat. "It's telling me to be with Shayne. Because any minute I've been with Shayne Topp, it always seems to beat a little bit faster and I don't think it's every been like that with a guy before," I admitted. "But my mind keeps telling me to stay with Anthony and Tristan sa-"
"Remember what I've told you before, Veronica; no matter what any of us tell you, it's your choice at the end of the day," Damien reiterated. "And we will support any choice you make because if it makes you happy, we will be happy."
"I don't know what I would do without you, Damien Haas," I said with a smile on my face. I looked out my window to see my dad slipping his phone into his jacket and looking over at me. "Hey Dames, I gotta go. Thank you for checking up on me and thanks for letting me open up to you."
"Well of course, malady," Damien said with his giddy laugh. "I'll talk to you soon." I pulled my phone back from my ear and saw him hang the phone up. I smiled and locked it, then opening my door and getting out of the jeep. I shut the door behind me and I could tell my dad already wanted to judge the place. "Dad, we just got here, seriously?"
"What? I can't look at where we are going to eat?" Dad asked me. I chuckled and shook my head at him. "Why did you pick this place anyway? Didn't you even say you've never had it before?"
"Dad, I don't get out much," I stated. "I'm only in one area and one area only, but I thought it would be cool to do something different." I slipped my hands in my jacket pockets and shrugged at him. "Besides, I heard it has good burgers and I know how much my father likes a good burger."
"Yeah, when I make them myself," my dad corrected. I raised my eyebrow at him and he rolled his eyes. "Let's just go in." I giggled and followed him in. As we walked in, the AC hit us like a truck and it just smelled like greasy food, but it was a good type of smell and I was pretty excited to eat here. I meant it when I say I only eat around one area. Anthony was always the type to be adventurous and that's why we've been to so many different places around the world, but just not around Los Angeles.
He's been around this area, but never with me.
I was so mesmerized by the environment and deep in my thoughts that dad had to snap me out of it. He was waving his hand in front of my face and started following the waitress that was taking us to our table by the window. "Will this be okay for you two?" she asked us.
"Yeah, it'll be fine," dad said rather quickly.
"Dad..." I said slowly. We sat down and the girl gave us our menus.
"Can I start you guys off with drinks?" she asked.
"I'll just have water," my dad said. He looked over at me and I glanced up from looking at the menu. "What do you want?"
"Can I just get a-" I looked over at the girl and choked on my words. It couldn't be. "I'll take a coke, please," I managed to get out. She smiled and started writing it down on her pad. I looked over at the name tag and I can honestly say my mouth dropped and I was unable to comprehend any of it.
Frankie. The girl who broke Shayne's heart was standing in front of me and taking our order at this diner.
"Alright, I'll be back in a bit," she said to us. As she started to walk away, dad instantly started talking to me about how his business trip went, but all I could think about was who I just saw. My attention was on her as she was stopped by this girl that had light brown hair and makeup perfectly done, but I just kept looking at Frankie.
She wasn't who I imagined and I didn't mean that in a bad way. I'm not one to judge since I know I have my flaws, but I never imagined Shayne to ever date someone like her. Then again, Olivia is just as tiny as her and they're both beautiful and he loved them both. Still loves Olivia as his best friend, but loves Frankie more as a person than anything else.
She had long brown hair and these pretty bright blue eyes that reminded me of Shayne's. Now I know what caught Shayne's eyes. She didn't really have much in the chest area or in the back region, but she had a nice shape to her and her smile was brighter than the diner. She didn't have that much makeup on, but I could just tell she was naturally beautiful and I smiled about it.
It just makes me wonder why she would cheat on Shayne.
But makes me wonder why I would cheat on Anthony.
"And just like that," my dad said as it interrupted my thoughts. "Trevor fucked up my papers an-"
"Hey dad," I said to him. He stopped talking and looked at me. "Why did you bring up that old memory to Shayne?"
"What old memory?" Dad asked me.
"The old memory where I was listening to Mr. Brightside and dancing around the house," I said to him as Frankie started walking to us with our drinks.
"Come on, you dancing around the house with you being a fake goth chick was funny," dad stated with a laugh.
"Dad, it was embarrassing. It was my emo phase!" I said as Frankie sat my drink down in front of me.
"How old were you when you had your emo phase?" Frankie asked me.
"I was eleven and didn't know any better," I said with a chuckle.
"Me too, but mine was with Panic! At The Disco and my dad or my step dad use to have it on video since I was dressed up in a suit with a hat on and my makeup was terrible. Just eyeliner at the bottom of my eyes since I was too scared to poke myself in the eye."
"Sadly, that's exactly what I did," I said with a chuckle. Fuck, am I bonding with Shayne's ex?
"Sorry for joining in like that," she said. "Just can relate to something like that with a dad trying to embarrass me around people."
"Your dad did the same thing?" I asked her.
"Well use too," she said. Something told me her father isn't in her life anymore and made me regret asking that. "When I was younger, like maybe ten years old, I was with this group of friends and he decides to show all of them a video of me dancing to what I believe was Fall Out Boy and I was completely red as a tomato because it was just so embarrassing."
"Oh I can barely have my dad tell people about my phase; let alone him showing a video to people," I said. He chuckled and shrugged at me.
"Anyway, are you guys ready to order?" Frankie asked us. We told her what we wanted, but what kept clouding my mind was the type of person she was. She didn't know us and yet, she told us a little about herself and not to mention her bubbly ass personality. Shayne made it seem like she was this shy girl, and I don't think he lied about that, but you can just see this different girl he was talking about.
Maybe the breakup was a good thing for her.
"Alright, I'll be back in a few with your food," she said as she smiled, grabbed our menus and walked away from us. I looked at dad who sat his arms on the table and looked at me.
"What?" he asked me.
"Why did you tell Shayne that?" I asked him. "It's unlike you to just open up that way and to someone I'm not even dating, it's just weird, dad."
"Explain how that's weird, Veronica," he said to me.
"Dad, you told Shayne something about me that I forgot even happened and not to mention the fact that you told him to call you by your first name now. You have never done that and I don't even call you by your first name."
"Which needs to stay that way," he said with a small chuckle.
"Dad, what gives?" I asked him.
He sighed and looked at me. "You want the truth?" he asked me. I nodded my head. "Remember the day you were at the house and you asked me if I saw your future?"
"Yeah," I replied. I didn't know where he was going with this and quite frankly, I was scared.
"I've never imagined Anthony as that guy," my dad admitted. My eyes widen at that as well as my eyebrows raised up with it. "Anthony is a great guy, Veronica, but I always saw him as a guy who is just killing time until you find someone you want to be with."
"Oh my god, dad. What the hell?" I asked him.
"Just hear me out, Ronnie," dad said to me. "When you asked me that question that day, I hadn't imagined your husband being Anthony and it's not because I don't like him or anything. Anthony is great, but he has never been the guy I imagined you to be with for the rest of your life."
"Because he isn't going to provide for me?" I asked him.
"That's not what I meant earlier," dad stated. "Ronnie, you've always been this productive girl. At the age of fourteen, you went to school, then after school you would have cheerleading and/or soccer, and then would come home and have dinner and do your homework until bedtime while still managing to keep a really high GPA. Then on the weekends, you would spend the day hanging out with us and Tristen, and during the night, you would be babysitting our neighbors kids."
"What's your point, dad?" I asked him.
"Just the thought of Anthony being home the majority of the time isn't right to me," dad stated. "To know you're gonna come home every single night to a man sitting on your chair and struggling to think of ideas and wondering if being on his own is really worth it."
"So why is Shayne involved in all of this?" I asked him. At this point, I was getting annoyed with my father whose opinion was starting not to matter to me. "You literally have more respect for him than Anthony and you have to realize I'm not dating Shayne. I'm dating Anthony and he isn't even allowed to call you Jason. It's f-" I stopped myself and breathed. "It's messed up, dad."
"I'll admit that it is, but the reason why I have respect for Shayne is because of what Anthony did to you recently," dad admitted. I looked down at the table and sighed. "What he did was wrong and the fact he was making you feel bad over something little as dancing with someone at a club."
"It wasn't just someone though; it was Shayne and Anthony isn't the biggest fan of Shayne and I'd friendship an-"
"So jealousy comes between you and Anthony's relationship too?" Dad asked me. I put my elbows on the table and put my hands on my face. "You don't need to defend him and I'm not here to say to end things with the man you love." I removed my hands from my face and started playing with my fingernails. "If Anthony was to walk through that door right now and asked for my blessing to marry you, I wouldn't say no because if he makes you happy, then I am happy, but he's just not the guy I ever imagined you being with for the rest of your life."
"But Shayne is?" I asked him.
"Seeing him as a potential husband is more realistic than Anthony being your husband," dad stated. "There's something about Shayne that makes you respond differently."
"I respond to Shayne the same way I've responded to him since I first met him," I admitted. "He's one of my best friends, dad. It's nothing more than that."
"You definitely look at him differently," dad stated. "I can tell."
"Can mom tell?" I asked him. "She's definitely all about Anthony."
"Your mom thinks little on Shayne only because of what happened at that damn party, and she thinks so highly of Anthony because you guys have been together for long and she thinks you're the happiest girl with him," dad said. I sighed and looked down again. "I didn't tell your mom though about what Anthony did because you know if I did, she'd either defend him or would force you to end things, but it's not our choice. It's yours."
"You sound like Damien," I chuckled out. I sat up in my seat and slowly nodded. "But you're right."
"I just want what's best for you," dad admitted. I looked at my dad and he gave me a reassuring smile. "If Anthony is the guy for you, then stay with him. I'll be there for you and if you two do plan on marriage, I will still walk my daughter down the isle and give her to the man she loves." I smiled and nodded at him. "But if he ever does what he did before, I-"
"Dad, he won't," I said. "And trust me, I'm not thinking of marriage right now. Not after everything that Ant and I have gone through. I just wanna live in the moment right now."
Just after that, Frankie came back with out food and I couldn't stop thinking about what he was saying to me. It bothered me to know he chose Shayne more over Anthony, but he wasn't the only one. Tristan, Mia, Boze, and honestly, even Damien chooses Shayne over Anthony. But as Damien has said plenty of times, it's my choice at the end of the day.
Even if I don't know what that choice is yet.