Hey, you guys! How are you guys doing?
Ahhh, to write these cute little author's notes at the start of every chapter again. I missed the feeling of getting to ask you guys how you're feeling today. If you're doing great, awesome! If not, you got a friend in me to lean on, alright?
Anyway, let's start, shall we? Courtney's POV and see ya!
-/-/-
I sit idly on one of the benches inside the emergency room, finding myself going through Twitter again. What's new anyway? Trump's still mad three months after losing the presidency seat. The virus is gone and hopefully for good. Karens? Still Karens. But the world is somehow a better place, and I don't have a fear of being in hospitals anymore.
"Courtney Miller?" a nurse says to me as she approaches me with a smile. "Your sister's doing alright now."
"Oh, thank you so much," I reply, sighing in relief as she leads me to Kari's bed.
"Hey, girly," Kari greets me with a half-smile and a hug. "Super glad you can make it."
"Well, it isn't every day my super flexible of a sister sprains her ankle now, is it?" I retort, sitting down next to her on a nearby chair. "How did this even happen? You sure you don't have any tears or anything?"
"None, of course," she answers. "It's just your usual dance injury. I think I'll be out of here in no time anyway, but I do need a lift home. Were you at work?"
"Yeah...," I mumble. "But it's cool. When I told Ian, he was on board with it."
"He's a great guy."
"No, no, no, no, he isn't asking you out again, is he?" I ask worriedly, and Kari laughs. "Thank God. I just can't imagine it. He's like an older brother to me, and you're literally my older sister. I don't think I can take it."
"Oh, relax," she assures me, grinning as I help her up and she stumbles through the emergency room with me. "Even if I did tell you we were dating, you would be happy, because we haven't found someone we liked in such a long time."
"Well... you guys aren't the only ones," I add, sighing as we wave goodbye to the nurse. "I attended an anniversary party like, two weeks ago. It was Shayne's grandparents, and I swear, too many couples."
"You were with Shayne though, so that counts."
"Very funny," I remark as I open my car door for her and she slides right into the seat. "He told me he needed a plus one to avoid all the marriage questions. Poor him, honestly, and thank God I'm still 25."
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but after your birthday this year, people are gonna start asking already," she replies as I get into my seat and start the engine.
"Well, they should ask better questions."
"Tell me about it."
I drive from Maryhurst to Kari's apartment, which was thankfully not too far from mine and from the office. I help her up from my car seat as soon as we arrive, and since her apartment was only on the second floor, we didn't have much of a problem with climbing the stairs. As soon as we reach her apartment, I sit her down on her couch and grab a glass of water. It was still pretty exhausting, not gonna lie.
"You're gonna go back to the office then?" Kari asks as I hand her a glass of her own water. "Sorry I took a bit of your time."
"Oh, please, it's not a problem," I reply, crossing my arms. "And Ian said it was alright. I'm only glad that you have enough cash on you to go to the hospital. If I were you, I'd just wait for it to heal up. Just a sprain after all."
She sighs and gets me to sit down next to her. "I haven't really told you, but I've been having a problem with my ankle lately," she tells me, surprising me. "I didn't tell you because it's totally easy to handle, but I did need a PT to help me out. She told me that, if something felt wrong, I should go to the hospital instead of waiting for it to heal up."
"Oh my God, really?" I say, worried. "I wouldn't have minded if you told me, dude. You helped me a shit ton with my own problems a couple of years back."
"It's fine," she assures me. "I was just worried this one time that something definitely went wrong, but it turns out it's just a usual sprain. Don't worry about it, and I got enough cash on me, like you said. I'm more worried about you though. If you're really planning to wait on your wound instead of spending money on it... I mean, it's kinda given that this country is in a pretty bad healthcare situation, but still."
"I'm doing fine," I retort, standing up. "I have enough money, I'm saving well, and I'm trying not to live from paycheck to paycheck. So far, it's okay, but long live America, right?"
"That's a paradox. You just said a paradox."
"Really, I'm doing alright," I reply. "Don't worry about me, okay? Worry about your silly little ankle."
But I had to admit, I was not doing that well. Sure, my job pays well, I have a roof over my head, pretty good food, and basically all my necessities. But Kari was right. After that whole cancer issue a couple of years ago, I decided to save up more money than usual, and it really did dawn on me that the ever-running fight with money and survival was a hard one to conquer. As I drive back to the office, I think about everything that Kari said, and I really did worry for myself more than for my sister whose ankle is acting up, which is stupid. I should be worried about her and not for myself.
From: Ian He Cooks
Are you still at the hospital? We just wrapped up a shoot.
From: Court Bourt
I'm actually on my way back.
From: Ian He Cooks
No need, you should go home. We're closing up for the day already.
From: Court Bourt
Someone's being a sweetie today! Must be love. Or My Favorite Coffee.
From: Ian He Cooks
Or both. Well, no. Just coffee.
So instead of driving back to the office, I take a U-turn and head home instead. Admittedly, I was even luckier with the fact that Ian was my boss. If we were still under Defy, I would have been earning way less. Thinking about all the money and the stress I was having because of it was definitely upsetting me, so I take a deep breath while driving and head home.
Upon getting home, I open the door to my apartment to the usual mail posted on my wall. Rent was still doing alright, so there aren't any reminders from my landlord. I see an envelope from a nearby university offering college programs, and I could only put it at the back of the envelopes I held. The last one was pink and scented, and I open it to see an invitation from a good friend of mine back in high school, Mike.
To: Courtney Miller
You are cordially invited to
Mike and Cassie's
wedding on March 28, 2021.
Attire:
Formal Wear
Colors:
Black for the gentlemen
Silver/gray for the ladies
We have reserved 2 seat/s for you. Please RSVP until two weeks before the ceremony. No RSVP would mean forfeiture of your seat/s.
"Great," I grumble, leaning against the back of my door as I look at Mike and Cassie's pre-nuptial pictures, both of them smiling brightly and as if they were so in love. "I am yet again reminded of my being single for how many years now...?"
I didn't want to go alone, obviously, because knowing Mike, there'd be a lot of his high school friends still there. And they'd be asking me out and all that, and I'm clearly not interested in dating someone from high school again. So of course, I call someone who owed me a favor when it came to weddings.
"Go for Shayne," Shayne responds after three rings. "That sounded nice, didn't it?"
"You sounded like one of those arrogant tech CEOs in the movies," I reply, laughing. "But not bad if you actually are a tech CEO."
"I could, if I had Spencer's and Tim's brains," he says before pausing momentarily. "No, Spencer. I don't want to eat your brains, I'm obviously not a zombie. Anyway, what's up? Ian told me you went home already."
"I did, because he said you guys are closing up."
"Yeah. But what's up?"
"So...," I begin, scratching the back of my head. "One of my high school friends is getting married in a month, and I swear, I love my high school friends, but some of their friends are really... yeah."
"I've read your middle school and high school diaries, so I know," he replies. "Wait, so... you're asking me to be your plus one to this wedding, aren't you?"
"If you aren't busy on the 28th, that is," I answer, sighing. "And besides, you owe me one for attending your grandparents' party a couple of weeks ago."
"Well, this just got interesting," he suddenly says, and I could hear his grin from here. "Yeah, so remember that night? You probably don't, you had too much to drink. I took you back to your hotel room, and you told me something that night. You said that we could make a job out of attending events as actors, and I wasn't really on board with it."
"I don't remember any bit of that," I say, raising my eyebrow. "But it does sound very like me."
"Yeah, so I kinda need some cash," he continues. "And you'd want some cash too, wouldn't you? Get this: what if we actually did that? Like, attending events as actors? I'm pretty sure many people in LA would bite into that."
I think about it. Not a bad idea for someone a bit drunk like me. "Well, yeah, but that's kinda weird."
"You started it."
"Okay, fine," I tell him, chuckling. "I don't remember it though, but if we are gonna do that, we need a pretty solid foundation. We can't just hand out flyers or whatever. We need to be legit, and we need advertising. We need tech. We need a lot of stuff, and we have to plan this."
"Hey, Spencer, wanna join our crew as tech head?" Shayne suddenly asks.
"Yeah, sure," Spencer audibly and quite nonchalantly answers in the background.
"Tech, checked," Shayne says to me. "Tommy, you wanna join our crew and be socials?"
"As long as Spencer and I are part on that cash," Tommy answers.
"Of course," Shayne replies. "Socials, checked. We're complete."
I shush him. "Dude, I don't think people at Smosh should know we're doing this. It's not only weird, it's also... really weird."
"Again, this was your idea," he retorts, laughing. "But hey, since it's a Friday, you guys wanna meet up tomorrow or something and we'll plan out? We need a name or something though. I don't think it'd be effective to brand ourselves as two Ss, T, and C."
"What?" I mumble, confused.
"Shayne, Spencer, Tommy, Courtney."
"Yeah, that's kinda sad," I remark, giggling. "But wow, we're really doing this for a bit of cash on the side now, aren't we?"
"You sound so worried. It's not against company policy, Courtney."
"Just making sure, dude," I reply. "Alright, see you guys tomorrow then, I guess."
"Wait!" he suddenly exclaims. "28th would be the only exception to this business, right?"
"Awww, you wanna be my plus one," I tease him, laughing.
"It's free dinner, screw you," he says. "And I'm pretty game for some free dinner. That's what you said to me too when we were at the hotel."
"That sounds oddly sexual," Tommy adds in the background. "You guys better act up as a pretty good couple then."
"Well, they've been doing that for years, so it should be a piece of cake," Spencer replies.
"And you guys should go home, it's getting late," Shayne tells them, making me laugh. "But yeah, see you guys tomorrow. See you... crew. Team. I dunno. I'm not leadership material."
"But you are plus one material, yet Tommy's right with the whole acting thing," I tell him. "Alright, after we finish planning tomorrow, we'll have to train on lines and all that, okay?"
"Yeah, duh. I'll see ya then."
"You too. And stay safe!"
When Shayne hangs up, I take a deep breath and smile. Surprisingly, I was a bit excited for everything that we planned on doing, even though it meant leaving work a bit later than usual and also getting less sleep to finish stuff, but it was some sort of a thrill. Not just the free dinner and the parties, but running an entire business on the premise of people's emotions and important dates?
Oh, capitalism. It's getting worse by the day.
-/-/-