Shourtney - The Silent Girl

Bonus Chapter #5 - No Reconciliation

*Courtney*

My time at Smosh seemed to fly by almost instantaneously. Within a matter of months my life had been transformed from near-suicidal into the best situation imaginable. However, loose ends from the past still needed to be tied, and two of those remained prominent: Bethany and my family.

I wasn't prepared to forgive either of them, even though I saw myself as an understanding person. Shayne believed I was too good for them and I didn't need their problems. I'd escaped on my own. He was right, but there was still a tiny voice inside me, wondering whether they deserved forgiveness.

My family had recently made an effort to contact me for the first time in years, but I knew it was just because of my sudden appearance on Smosh, as well as the fact that I was talking again. Bethany however, was a different story. No one had heard from her, and she'd disappeared in the world of social media. I suspected she had started afresh somewhere else in the world, away from Shayne and myself. Honestly, I was pleased about that. Shayne was mine.

One day, however, things with my family took a turn for the worse, as they contacted me in person.

Shayne and I were working alongside one another in the Squad Office, jotting down ideas for future scripts, when all of a sudden I got a message from an anonymous number.

It simply read, "Come outside please."

I showed Shayne and he dismissed it as a fan trolling, but there wouldn't be a way for them to have my phone number, and so I replied, "Who is this?"

The response was brief, but when it came the sender became clear, "Just come here, Court."

"It's Kari," I said aloud.

Shayne turned to me with a shocked expression, "You're older sister?"

I nodded and felt tears sliding down my cheeks. Shayne hugged me.

"Do you want to confront them?"

"Y-Yeah, but can you come too?"

Shayne smiled as he kissed me forehead, "I'm always by your side, babe. Let's go."

With that, Shayne and I stepped outside into the dazzling sunlight. Regular L.A. background noise accompanied the seemingly cinematic scene. I was about to reunite with my family after years of separation, but it wasn't going to be a happy reunion, and I certainly wasn't ready to forgive them entirely.

Eventually they came into sight. Surprisingly, I didn't break down into tears. I didn't scream. I didn't freeze with anger and hurt. I just approached them, very slowly and very methodically. The only reason they were here was because of my new-found success alongside Shayne, and my internet 'fame.'

My mother, father, and six siblings did however all cry, but I remained adamant to maintain the high-ground in terms of morale.

"What are you all doing here?" I asked curtly.

Kari burst forward and wrapped her arms around me, sobbing into my neck. I didn't hug back, but I didn't push her away.

"I'm so sorry, sis! I'm so, so sorry!" Kari repeatedly weeped.

I sighed deeply, and this time I did push her away. She held a shaky hand up to her lips, seemingly confused at my rejection.

"You didn't answer my question," I pressed, staring deep into all of their eyes.

My dad spoke up, "We came to apologise, sweetie."

"Don't you dare call me 'sweetie!'" I growled, shocked at the venom in my own voice.

Members of my family stayed silent out of fear, and I continued, "You all abandoned me! At the age of seventeen! Why apologise after all these years? Is it because of my popularity on the internet? Or because I have Shayne? The man who saved my life and gave me hope and meaning. The man I live for. The man I love."

"Honey," my mom began, "We are forever in debt to that wonderful man alongside you-"

"Hell yeah you are!" I interjected.

My mom then sighed slightly and continued, "But we didn't come back for any of that. We genuinely came to apologise, and we understand if you aren't ready to forgive us, because what your father and I did is unforgivable. We were just afraid, and we acted out of impulse-"

"Impulse!?" I interrupted again, "You could have come back in the following weeks, but you didn't!"

"You're missing the point, Courtney. We're back now. If anything, you should forgive your siblings. They didn't make the decision to leave. We did," my mom exclaimed.

This time I did cry, and Shayne enveloped me in his protective embrace, "But they didn't make an effort to contact me, did they? They all had my number, my email, anything! They even could have sent letters, but they didn't. The only person ever-present in my life is Shayne, and I'm sorry, but he's all I care about anymore."

"You don't care about us?" Kari asked in a small voice, ignoring the tears streaming down her face.

I sighed, and with a cold expression I said, "I guess the feeling's mutual."

A/N: So guys, Courtney won't be forgiving her family after all. In real life they seem like lovely people, but for the sake of the story and continuity I had to take this turn. Realistically, if your family abandoned you after you had been diagnosed with cancer at the age of seventeen, you probably wouldn't be ready to forgive them. I didn't want to make it a stereotypical 'Let's all be friends again just because they apologised once' situation, as this story in itself isn't exactly the brightest.
Furthermore, I didn't want to reintroduce Bethany as she cheated on Shayne and also abandoned Courtney, so in my eyes she wasn't a good fit for the rest of the story.

I hope you understand my choice for the story, and thank you for reading.