"Damien get yo ass away from Shayne and let Court sit there." Ian mockingly yelled at Damien.
"Oh no. So sorry Court. Trust me, I am not trying to steal him from you." Damien teased Courtney while getting up.
This was a common scene in the office now. Jokes were being circulated that Shayne stole my best friend and Courtney stole Damien's. Even the fans were calling out to Damien about it.
Luckily I was still not a part of any other video and hence still oblivious to the community, otherwise i too would have had people asking me what am I doing now that my only friend is busy.
I was brought out my thoughts by Jacob entering the meeting room.
Jacob Evans.
What the hell is he doing here?
I could feel all the eyes turn towards me momentarily. I couldn't do anything to stop it, so I just studied my pen like it was the most interesting thing in the world till it passed away.
We waited for everyone to settle in around the conference table, so that 'the dude' could begin spewing poison at us.
"Everyone here? Can I start now?" his raspy voice hit my ears. That sudden rush of anger and fear returned as quickly as it always used to. Like a reflex.
"So, good job love birds, your little publicity stunt worked. The views are getting stronger." he said coldly.
Without thinking, I heard myself say "it's not a stunt. They genuinely are together."
Oh no. I did it again.
Why do I keep going against him? It was the right thing, no doubt. Somebody had to, but...
He looked at me and slowly lifted his head from his laptop.
A sly smile crept on his face, giving me goosebumps.
"Good. Good for them." he said maintaining that smile. I clenched my fist on hearing that, but then immediately felt a hand on my fist.
It is then that I noticed that Damien was sitting next to me.
His hand on mine was so comforting that all my tensed emotions relaxed.
I relaxed my fist and expected him to remove his hand too, but he didn't.
I am not complaining.
After an entire hour of wasting our time with him telling us where we are going wrong, I just wanted to get up and stab him with my pen.
"That reminds me.." he looked at me.
Wtf!!
"...the board has decided to allow you to get y/n on some games videos. But only some." he shifted his gaze to Ian saying this.
Oh sjit! Ian actually proposed that to the board!
Damien's hand lightly clenched mine and he slowly said "congo girl."
From the other side, I heard Spencer congratulate me too.
What the hell are they congratulating me for? This is nerve wracking.
The meeting ended and I ran away towards Smoffice as fast as I could. Can't handle being around that jerk anymore.
Back in the office Courtney, Shayne, Ian, Matt, everyone was congratulating me, and the more they were doing that the more I was freaking out. And this was just the squad office. The games office was still left, and I would go there, definitely.
Since Shourtney became a reality, I haven't been engaging Courtney a lot, because I don't want to be punched in face by the most buffed up person in the office. But this is waaaay too serious.
I break Courtney away from Shayne mid conversation and drag her to editors cave.
"What the hell am I supposed to do now?" I asked her.
"Don't worry. If he comes for you, we will kill him."
"What?" I asked. I don't think she is talking about the same thing as me.
"Jacob. You talked back to him for us, right? That was so sweet by the way." she said and hugged me.
"Aw. Don't mention. But i am not talking about that. I mean about me in videos." I cleared it.
"Oh. Hey, you are cool. People are going to love you. Don't worry." she fruitlessly tried to comfort me.
Our tennis of my tension and her comforting me went on for a while, after which she gave up and forcefully took me to games office.
"Why are we going there now?" I asked the moment I realized where she was taking me.
"For your shoot, silly."
"Wait, I have a shoot today?" I force stopped us.
"Yeah. Monday and Wednesday is games shoot day." she said.
I am still blank on the events that led to me sitting on the stool on the set, but there I was.
Courtney left the moment I sat down. I will deal with her later.
Tim came to the table, and explained the game to us. There was no need though. I was the one who edited the first video of 'We have got Crabs'.
I was partnered up with Damien, our tell being scratching our nose, but it counted only if it was followed by raking of hairs.
I looked at him, sitting across the table, talking to Wes.
"Damien." I called out, as low as I could.
He looked over.
"Dude I am freaking out."
"Relax y/n. You will be great."
"I am not even wearing presentable clothes. I look like a mess." I said.
"Girl," Boze, who was sitting next to me interrupted "you already look bomb. If you put on better clothes and any more makeup than this, nobody will focus on the game. All the viewers will see only you. So shut yo ass up." she said and everybody laughed, including me.
"Ok, we are rolling in 3... 2..."
Then Ryan put up his finger and camera started.
"Back by popular demand, we have with us 'You have got Crabs'. Apparently you guys want to see us blow our brains out, trying to figure out each other's signal. But we will do it." Joven introduced the video.
"The teams are as follows. Me and Mari, Boze and Wes, Damien and y/n." he said into the camera.
"Yes, we have y/n with us today. She is an editor on Smosh. You guys popularly know her as the 'summer saulting princess', but her name is million times better than that." Mari said.
I waved my hand towards the camera.
"Hi everyone. So happy to be here." I said.
I received a thumbs up from behind the camera. I couldn't see whose hand it was, but it means My voice is audible. Great.
"So shall we begin the game?" Wes asked and Joven dealt the cards.
I looked over to Damien. He to looked at me and we exchanged a quick smile.
Here it goes.
I looked at my cards. Two of same kind and rest two are solos.
I looked at Damien. He scratched his nose. I was about to call out, but then I remembered that he also had to rake his hair.
I waited but he didn't do that.
Geez, almost lost an unearned point there.
The game continued. By the third switch, I had three of a kind.
I looked at Mari and she was watching her nails. Could that be her tell?
Joven suddenly screamed " Mari has crabs."
Sure she did. That is her tell then.
Switch happened and I picked up a card.
Oh God. Four of a kind. I looked at Damien. Before I could do anything, he scratched his nose and immediately raked his hair. I smiled and called out "Damien has crabs."
"Yesss!" he yelled.
I bent over to pick up a crab and gave my signal.
I saw him and sure he didn't notice. Too busy in keeping away his cards. He looked over and I quickly gave my signal again.
"Uh.. um. Y/N HAS CRABS." he shouted.
I dabbed and picked up another crab. Everyone laughed.
"Wait so you both had crabs?" Joven asked. Salty.
"Yes buddy." Damien said.
After another three rounds, I noticed Mari looked at her nails again. I looked at Joven, but he wasn't noticing.
Should I call out. We did get an extra crab.
What the heck, just do it.
"Mari has crabs." I said out loud.
Everybody looked at me, but I was just waiting for her reaction.
"How did you know?" she yelled throwing her cards down.
Yess! She has crabs.
"Well, I caught your tell." I said, giving my best 'proud' impression.
"That's why we are on the same team." Damien said from across the table.
I laughed at that and we just gave each other an air five.
"Alright y/n and Damien, you both have made a rival team." Joven said.
"Yes, and among all this team war, we will win." Boze said, to which Wes cheered.
"Not happening folks." I said.
By near end of the game, I and Damien, and Mari and Joven were tied.
This was the last round. We just need another crab to win.
"Hey y/n," Mari called me.
Both me and Damien looked over.
She scratched her nose and raked her hairs.
Oh sjit! She figured out our tell.
I and Damien exchanged looks. He was surprised too.
"What are you gonna do now, rivals?" Mari said, unable to control her laugh. I could also hear joven laugh.
"We will improvise." I said looking Damien in eyes.
"Looks like we are going to win this Mari." Joven said out loud.
I chuckled and said "not happening folks." I don't wanna loose my first game.
Winning or losing doesn't matter here, but I have spoken a lot. We have to win.
The sides got switched, it was Damien's turn now. He and Wes fought over a card, which ultimately Wes took. Damien picked another card.
I wasn't looking at him directly, but I never lost him in my peripheral.
I felt him looking at me.
I turned and he lowered his gaze to his hands.
I followed his eyes.
He was clenching his one fist, and rubbing it lightly with another hand.
Like this morning in the conference room.
I felt my face heating up.
Is this the new tell? Did he actually use it?
I was so surprised I almost forgot to call out, until Boze called out. Sure Wes had a crab, but they still are far away.
I have to call out immediately.
I looked Damien in his eyes, but he was concentrating on his hand.
He was markedly red too.
There is no point in being angry or embarrassed about it.
On a lighter note, we are gaining a good thing out of a stressful situation of the morning, which is a crab.
Oh sjit! Call out immediately.
"Damien has crabs." I practically yelled.
The entire room got quiet.
Damien immediately smiled. I could see his tension physically melting away. He was too tensed about using that as tell. I will have to comfort him after the game.
"YESSSS!"
He threw his cards down.
We both stood up from our stools and high fived over the table.
"Oh nooooo!" Joven shouted.
"What the hell! How did THAT happen?" Wes yelled.
I shrugged. What else could i do?
"We improvised and then won the game." Damien said, bringing his head closer to Joven's already shocked face.
Everyone, including Joven and Mari laughed.
Glad this did not turn sore.
"So that was today's video you guys. Comment down how much did you like y/n playing with us on a scale of 1-10." Joven ended the video.
"Also which other games we should play?" I said.
That is always the question. Which game?
"And CUT." Ryan shouted.
"Hey Damien. You ok?" I asked Damien after shoot wrapped up.
"Yeah. Listen, I am so sorry. I just couldn't think of anything else. I just went head and toe with it." he said in the most apologetic way.
He is always so considerate about others. Why?
"Hey, it's ok. I came over to say it was really smart of you to pick that."
"Really?" his expression eased up a bit.
"Yeah. I mean, its practically us making fun of him. Earning crabs from something he gave us."
He smiled and nodded.
I bid him good bye and we both left.
I texted Spencer to edit that video, just so it is unbiased. He didn't see my point, but accepted it in exchange of a pit video.
TIME SKIP:
A WEEK LATER.
I entered my office as usual.
The squad was standing outside, as they were going on a squad vlog video today. Zoo, if I remember it correctly.
I saw Shayne and Courtney standing together, and decided not to disturb the love birds.
I opened my Instagram in the elevator.
I had about 3000 notifications. What the heck!
All follow requests.
I entered the editors room, and found Spencer already there.
"Hey y/n, did you go to see the video?" he asked me.
"Which one?"
"Crabs one. Matt uploaded it yesterday right?"
Oh yes, the video was uploaded yesterday. That must be the reason behind the massive follow requests.
"No, I haven't seen it yet. I will see it now." I told him.
Man, I wish Courtney was here. I need a hand to squeeze.
I read the comments while watching the video.
Good game guys. Really enjoyed the video.
The ending was soooooo good.
What was everyone's tell?
Is it just me or Damien and y/n look good together?
Wait what?!!!
It had over 250 upvotes. Some 50+ undercomments but I am not going there.
That was what was missing to make us more awkward near each other. Way to go guys.
I read the comments further more, and then decided to edit. Can't let it affect my work.
I later accepted all the requests, and just to avoid any stress on my account, I made my account public. Not that I have anything to hide.
How the hell am I suppose to talk normally to Damien now?
He must have gone to the comments too.
Oh God!