Every night that week Shayne spent the night at Courtney's. They slept in each other's arms as the TV rolled round movie after movie.

They were both clearly very broken people at the moment and the comfort of the other person was gradually mending them.

There was never any implication that they were seeing one another or that it was romantic in anyway other than the fact they slept in each other's arms on the sofa.

Merely by coincidence though, they were simply too exhausted to make it through whatever film they watched every evening. But also because being held by the other person made them feel safe and it allowed an uninterrupted nights sleep, something neither Shayne or Courtney had been getting beforehand.

At the weekend Shayne disappeared. Courtney heard nothing from him, nor saw him. It became apparent now that sleeping in her bed was now impossible.

She'd go to bed exhausted and the minute her head hit the pillow she was wide away. Her mind was racing with ideas. Mainly she thought about Shayne, how their relationship had changed in the course of a week.

But then she thought, they'd been doing this since that night she broke up with her boyfriend, now it was just more frequently.

What were they? Really close friends or maybe something more?

Damned if she knew.

Monday was of course Shayne-less again with it being Goldberg's day. But he turned up at her house that evening and they fell asleep on the sofa together, yet again.

They were now each other's comfort blankets and moving out of that area was going to be very hard.

Tuesday was a normal day of filming and meetings and banter between the two but Shayne did not turn up at her door later that day.

She instantly worried about him, was he okay? Was he stressed out or lonely? They had this unspoken agreement that he would come over today and yet here she was laying in her bed wide awake at 2am worrying about her friend.

She could call or text, sure, but she didn't want to. It would be awkward.

Courtney didn't know how it would be awkward, she was just checking up on a friend, but somehow, it would still be weird.

The next day was just as odd as the day before. Shayne wasn't at work, yet, he turned up at her doorstep that evening with no warning.

She let him in and asked no questions about what was going on with him. His schedule was crazy, it was like she couldn't keep track of him anymore.

Some nights he'd turn up unannounced and some nights he'd leave her in the dark, alone in her bedroom. She much rather be asleep in his arms on the couch but that was clearly not in her control.

Fuck. She really had to sort this out. Soon.

The third time that week Shayne turned up looking the same way. Exhausted, bloodshot eyes, bags for a thousand people under his eyes and hardly even dressed and presentable.

Courtney half-promised herself she wouldn't say anything to him but it was three times now and she just couldn't ignore it.

"Shayne I know you don't want to talk about it... but maybe you need to." Courtney pleaded with him as the pad of her thumb ran across the bags under his eyes and down his cheek stopping at his chin.

"I'm fine." He shrugged it off.

"You're clearly not." Courtney snapped suddenly. "You're drained, physically, mentally, and I can't stand to see you like this anymore."

"I can't, Courtney." Shayne sighed.

Courtney stared at Shayne as they sat together on her couch. She saw how rough he looked and knew even though she didn't want to get into this now, she needed to.

"Who's Anna?" She suddenly spat a little annoyed with him. This woman's name had been rolling over in her head for days. Playing on her mind.

What if she was his girlfriend and all this time she'd been cuddling up to a taken man.

"What... Anna?" Shayne frowned.

"The Anna that phones you all the time and sends you into panic." Courtney sighed.

"Have you been looking at my phone?" He stood up and got defensive immediately.

"No, I saw her Called ID pop up Shayne... I wouldn't go through your phone. I'm not a crazy girlfriend... hell I'm not your girlfriend." She scoffed.

"Is it about that?" Shayne was clearly upset. "No, Anna isn't my girlfriend. If that's all you needed to know then there it is." He snapped at her.

"Brilliant. Not like I care anyway." Courtney groaned.

He walked over to his small dining table and slumped onto the chair. He'd do this some evenings, sit down and try and read his text books.

Shayne was almost finished with his college career and he was endlessly reading through the same text books over and over like the more he read the more they were engrained in his brain.

Courtney remained on the couch, eyes fixed on the TV that was rolled round endless episodes of Friends. Every now and then her eyes darted in his direction then before he could look up at her they locked back on the TV.

He sat there flicking through, reading, making notes and then a long sigh escaped his lips.

"Courtney... I'm sorry." Shayne breathed out another long sigh. "Look, I don't mean to shout at you, I really don't—"

He stood up and walked back over to the couch slamming the text book shut.

"I only ask because I want to know who is putting you under so much stress." Courtney managed a smile. "I didn't mean what I said about girlfriends... that's not what I meant, you know that..."

Shayne sat down next to her on the couch. In that moment the two of them fell silent and their eyes aligned with one another's. Shayne felt a sudden blush cover his entire body as he stared into her eyes. He was concerned she'd notice him turn bright red in front of her.

"I like you Court." Shayne admitted suddenly. "I think we both know that by now... I'm just, I don't think I'm ready for anything serious yet." Shayne hummed.

She didn't say anything. The silence was unbearable, it drove Shayne insane for the few minutes Courtney remained quiet, processing what he had said over and over in her mind.

"I like you too Shayne." Courtney hummed. "I agree though, we aren't ready for any kind of relationship. The state the both of us are in."

"I still want to be with you." He sighed.

"Me too." Courtney leaned closer to him closing the gap between them.

In that moment Shayne pressed a kiss to her lips and Courtney deepened it, pushing her lips to his in a passionate show of affection for one another.

"Can we just... keep this between us?" Shayne mumbled holding her cheek in his hand.

"Yes." She whispered.

"Just for a while." He whispered back. "Neither of us are ready for anything yet... but..."

Her lips crashed with his again and they kissed for what felt like hours, but was only a few minutes.

"It'll just be our little thing for now yeah?" Courtney smirked against his lips.

"Yeah." He smiled pressing a quick kiss again to her lips.

And that's how it stayed. A secret between the two of them, they'd never really do anything much more than kiss and make out and sleep beside one another, though they had now decided to sleep in Courtney's bed.

It was more of comfort thing than a relationship. They were each other's safety blankets and they both agreed that was okay. For now.
 
                                               *

Sorry this was a little short, but the next few chapters are quite long so it'll make up for it! Thanks for reading.