THIS LOVE | shayne topp

1.19

   THERE SEEMED TO BE birthdays left and right during this time of year. Today was Saturday, two days before Aaliyah's twenty ninth actual birthday. But today was her birthday party.

   She was holding a small dinner at her house, then going bar hopping with her close friends from the Smosh cast. Afterwards, Eleanore was spending the night over at her house since she Aaliyah didn't want her taking an uber that late.

   Eleanore was excited since Aaliyah and Angela were cooking dinner for the party, and Eleanore has many memories of Aaliyah cooking dinner when they were teenagers and she has always made amazing food.

   She was aware of a few people who were going to the dinner party tonight, but not everyone. She knew that Courtney, Chanse, Arasha, Shayne, and obviously Angela were going to the dinner, but then a lot of people were going to meet them at the bar.

   Her and Alyssa had just gotten done watching Mamma Mia in the living room together, and now Alyssa was heading to the grocery store for snacks.

   A few weeks ago at Angela's birthday party, Eleanore had met who seemed to be Damien's girlfriend, Dakota and they got along amazing. She had no idea that her brother had a girlfriend but she was happy it was her.

   From the moment the two started talking, Eleanore knew that she was an amazing person. And she could tell that Dakota made her brother really happy which is what really mattered.

   The two girls exchanged numbers and now they were making plans to hang out. Dakota had actually thought her and Shayne were dating and asked to go on a double date.

   Eleanore's cheeks immediately turned red as she stammered out a response telling her that they were just friends. Her gaze immediately went to find Shayne, grateful he was sitting by the stage, laughing at Chanse and Angela singing karaoke together.

   Dakota immediately apologized feeling really bad, but now the two are just laughing over it. Eleanore had explained the whole story of the guy at the bar to her immediately after, and Dakota thought that was really funny.

   Eleanore's other new friends, Emmeline, had actually seen the whole thing go down. She was walking out to use the bathroom when she saw Shayne walk up to her and pull in her in close wrapping his arms around her lovingly. She had also thought the two were dating.

   The moment from the bar kept lingering in the back of Eleanore's mind. Sometimes she just thinks back on it, missing the embrace from him and the comfortable feeling from his hand on her waist.

   She honestly didn't mind the idea of people thinking they were dating. Obviously they weren't, and she just had to politely tell them the truth. But a part of her really enjoyed it.

   But the conversation between the three girls didn't last long, as Emmeline had disregarded it once she realized she had messed up in thinking they were together.

   Eleanore's phone started buzzing, and she looked down to see Shayne was calling. Her heart started beating just a little faster in her chest as her started to heat up. She smiled to herself before answering the phone, putting it on speaker, and setting it down on her vanity.

   "Hey, Shayne. What's up?" She asked, letting out a deep breath she didn't realize she was holding while continuing on her makeup.

   "I was wondering if you were going bar hopping after the dinner at Lia's place. I know we're meeting up with some other people from work." He said over the phone.

   Eleanore could tell he was driving from the way the phone sounded. She assumed he was on his way over to Aaliyah's place already since he used to always help her decorate for parties, wondering if he still did it.

   "Yeah, I am. I wasn't going to originally but she offered for me to stay the night at her house since I don't like taking Uber's at night." Eleanore laughed to herself while grabbing her mascara and opening the tube.

   Shayne chuckled on the other side of the phone. "I get that. I'm also staying the night and just leaving my car at her house. I'm heading over early to help out and then we're taking an Uber to the bars."

   And, she was right. "Oh yeah, she did tell me that. I'm pretty sure I'm tagging along for the ride. Do you know who all is gonna be at dinner?"

   "It's kind of small, at least in Aaliyah terms. I think close to fifteen? It's all of the Smosh cast and then some crew is meeting for drinks later." Shayne said.

   "Okay, cool. Well, I'll see you later. I'm leaving my apartment in like forty minutes. I have to order an Uber." Eleanore said sighing out. She still hadn't applied her mascara, just glancing between her phone and herself in the mirror every few seconds.

   "I can pick you up so you don't have to spend the money for an Uber."

   Eleanore nodded her head no, knowing he couldn't see it. "I mean if you're offering, but I'm sending you gas money."

   "El, you're not-"

   But she immediately cut him off. "Bye, Shayne! See you in a little bit." Eleanore hung up the phone, immediately opening up Venmo and sending him $10. And he was driving, so there was no way he was going to be able to respond to it.

   She continued to play her music as she finished getting ready. Eleanore just settled on her basic everyday makeup which was just a full face of makeup with some bronzer as eyeshadow and mascara. She put her hair in a half up half down with a small gold claw clip, then curling her curtain bangs.

   Aaliyah always had a dress code for her birthday parties, and this year it was semi-formal, and black and white since Aaliyah was wearing red. Eleanore settled on a black dress cap mesh sleeves and a tie connecting around her neck, pairing that with her black knee-high heeled boots.

   Looking in the mirror, she felt really good about herself. Eleanore felt really pretty, and was hoping that Shayne would agree. Not that she was dressing up for him of course, she wanted to feel good for herself.

   But the compliments from him wouldn't hurt.

   Later that night, Eleanore was definitely drunk and ready to go to bed as soon as she could. There were multiple times in the Uber where she would lay her head on Shayne's shoulder and almost fall asleep.

   Eleanore had always been a sleepy drunk, which is why she never drank much when she was out with friends. But she wanted to have fun tonight, and since everyone else was drinking, she knew she wanted to also.

   They had gotten back to Aaliyah's place, and the first thing Eleanore did was go to the kitchen and grab a glass of water, Shayne right behind her. Thanks to her heeled boots, she was easily able to grab two cups out of the cabinet.

   Shayne put a hand on her waist as he leaned over to grab both cups, and heading over to the fridge to fill them up with water from the dispenser. The second his hand left her waist, she almost reached out for it to place it right back where it was, but she was still sober enough to know not to do that.

   This is when it clicked in Eleanore's mind. There was only one spare bedroom. And both Shayne and Eleanore were staying the night.

   But before Eleanore could think anymore of this, of course Aaliyah had to make a grand gesture about her going to bed. She was standing on the coffee table when she yelled, "I'm going to bed! I love you all, goodnight!"

   This brought Eleanore out of her previous thoughts about the whole bed situation. Shayne mumbled something back to her, beginning to head up the stairs. Her eyes were getting really heavy, so she just followed him up.

   She grabbed onto Shayne's arm as she clambered up the stairs behind him, needing just a little bit of support. The glass in her hand was still full, so she was trying not to drop it.

   Finally, they made their way to the guest room, Eleanore still holding onto Shayne even though it was no longer needed. The second she saw that bed, she didn't even bother taking off her shoes as she climbed into it.

   Shayne laughed, unzipping her boots, and taking them off for her. "There you go, you're free."

   "Thanks." Eleanore put a thumbs up into the air before dropping her hand.

   And not long after Shayne drunkenly climbed into bed next to her, she was quickly asleep.