Chapter 16: Skipped a Beat
Amanda, Angela, and Arasha call, and Tommy makes an assumption.
Disclaimer: This is not meant to be a representation of those in Smosh, rather a fan made perspective on the characters they portray online. Remain respectful.
Arasha tapped the steering wheel of her car, waiting for the light to turn green. Her eyes glanced at the digital clock, doing some mental math on Angela’s apartment to the filming location. As the light turned green she drove straight ahead, turning into the parking lot of the familiar apartment complex. She parked at the nearest open available spot for guests, taking her phone out of the cup holder. Her fingers tapping on Angela’s contact, before the ringing sound filled the car. The sound was cut short before it beeped just before the call ended. She frowned at her phone, rolling her eyes, until a text came in shortly after.
‘Angela: Be out in a second’
Arasha replied to the text, scrolling through her instagram notifications afterwards. The sound of a door alerting her eyes forward. Angela walked towards her car, a phone to her ear as she continued talking to whoever was on the other side of the phone.
“I have to go,” Angela said, as she opened the car door. The phone briefly squeezed against her ear and shoulder as she put on her seat belt. “Bye. I’ll talk to you soon.”
“You don’t have to hang up,” Arasha immediately spoke. “I don’t mind.”
Angela paused. “Are you sure?” She asked, the phone pulled away from her ear as if the caller wasn’t a part of the conversation.
“Yeah, I’m sure,” she said. Arasha put her car back into drive, carefully maneuvering out of the parking lot. “It’s just a phone call.”
As Angela moved her phone closer to her, Arasha could make out the voice much more clearer.
She glanced at Angela from the corner of her eye. “You’re talking to Amanda?”
“Hey Amanda, it’s been a while,” Arasha smiled. Her smile not once feigned as Angela groaned.
“I should’ve just hung up,” Angela murmured.
“I feel like one of you is going to embarrass me,” Angela said, her eyes trained on Arasha as she spoke.
“Who do you take me for? You should just put me on speaker.”
“I agree, put Amanda on speaker,” Arasha interrupted. “I need to focus on the road.”
“More of a reason for me to hang up then,” Angela huffed. A few seconds passed, Amanda’s words being drowned out by the light traffic, before Angela put her on speaker.
“-call was cut short yesterday. I don’t want to stop talking-“
“You’re on speaker,” Angela interrupted. A light smile was on her face, her eyes obviously avoiding Arasha’s ever-so curious ones that’d glance at her.
There was a brief crackle and muffling of background noise. “Finally, I’m on speaker. Can’t believe she tried to stop us from talking to each other, Arasha.”
“I know right,” Arasha said. She bit her lip, stopping herself from making a joke about Angela wanting Amanda all to herself. She didn’t exactly know what she can and cannot joke about. “Angela hasn’t even told me that you guys have been calling.”
“Yes I have,” Angela defended. “I mentioned it.”
“Well, yeah, but I didn't know it was like a thing," Arasha said.
"It's not daily but we've been calling often," Amanda answered. "How have you been, Arasha?"
"I'm good. I got a callback for an audition yesterday." Arasha paused, glancing at Angela who was silently listening to the two converse, with a light smile on her face. "How about you?"
"Oh my god congratulations on that callback," Amanda cheered. "I'm doing great. I have an idea of when I'm going back to Cali, so I'm happy about that."
"What?" Angela immediately said. "Wait, you didn't tell me this. When?"
"I didn't?" Amanda asked, surprised. "I swear I told you yesterday. I wanted to make sure to tell you."
"It's fine," Angela shrugged. "You can tell me now."
"I don't know the exact date, but it'll be around the last week of July."
"Still a few weeks then.”
"Yeah," Amanda paused, a few seconds passing before she spoke. "I can't wait to see you." Her voice was airy yet so undeniably emotional. Arasha's eyes widened at the switch up, she glanced at Angela who's smile widened at the words. She couldn't even tell if she was third wheeling at this point. Even if she knew that was the farthest thing from both of their intentions.
"We'll have to schedule a meet up at some point then," Angela said.
"For sure," she agreed. "You're one of the highlights of my time here, so yeah, definitely." The compliment was said casually, yet borderline cheesy considering Angela isn't even in Canada with Amanda. An achievement on Angela's part maybe.
If Arasha could describe Amanda in one word based on this interaction alone it'd be soft. Almost as if anything Angela did would make Amanda crumble. That alone was enough to get enough Arasha's mind wandering.
"This is highschool all over again," Arasha jokes, a beat later. "I'm just witnessing two people make plans I'm not a part of."
"Wait!" Amanda said, just as Angela scrambled over an apology.
"We can all hang out, Arasha!" Amanda said. "I definitely do need to catch up with you sometime. I really want to do that."
"The more the merrier," Angela followed up. "Besides I talk to Amanda enough as is."
"Sorry," Angela apologized, her face broken out in a wide grin.
"I'm thinking dinner some time. It'll be on me," Amanda said.
"I'm so happy my plan worked," Arasha chuckled, despite clearly not having that intention at all. "All I'm hearing is free dinner."
Amanda sighed. "Well not anymore after that."
"Damn, guess I'm not getting free dinner either," Angela shrugged.
"That part was only extended to Arasha anyway," Amanda teased.
"Look," Arasha interrupted, having a feeling that playful bickering would go on for longer. "You two need to hang out properly. You're the ones reconnecting. The last thing I want to do is get in the middle of that.”
A second later, Arasha cleared her throat. "But I also do want to catch up with you sometime Amanda."
'I'm looking forward to it."
"Awww," Angela cooed. "I'm so glad I didn't hang up after all. I'm happy you two are talking."
"We never had a reason not to Ange," Arasha said. "I didn't have some reservations with her like you did." She said, glancing at Angela with a teasing smirk, before going back to facing the road.
"I knew you were going to embarrass me!" Angela practically yelled. "I fucking knew it!"
Amanda's laughter filled the air as she took in Angela's reaction. "God, I wish I was in the car."
It wasn’t long for the conversation to change topics, the three going from discussing traveling to shopping. As the destination neared Angela ended up rambling about her improv group, Arasha too focused on driving to give full responses aside from the occasional hum.
“Oh come on,” Angela said. "Are you even listening to me Amanda? I feel like I'm talking to an empty crowd.”
“Sorry, sorry,” Amanda chuckled. “I'll talk more. I just liked listening to you ramble.” She said softly in a raw voice that it completely caught Arasha off guard. She couldn’t help but do a look over Angela, gauging her reaction. There was the usual smile on her lips but she didn’t look surprised nor caught off guard. If anything, it was just a part of their new normal.
“Well, at least you're listening,” Angela said, pausing before she continued on. “And I don’t exactly want to count on Arasha fully listening when she’s driving.”
"I am listening," Arasha said. "We usually talk anyway when I'm driving so it's not exactly out of the ordinary.”
As Amanda and Angela lightly bicker back and forth, Arasha leaned back. She let her mind wander further, taking the train of thought she had before and delving into it. Yet, at the same time, she wasn’t exactly one to assume. Especially, when she didn’t exactly know Amanda, at least currently, that well. Angela acted how she normally would, as if she was finding herself as she talked to Amanda. There was only an occasional pause and shift of awkwardness and hesitance, though it was probably par for the course.
Meanwhile for Amanda, the part that more so brought her attention, was the differences. There was just something about the way she acted. The way she talked to Angela, and how her voice sounded with every word she spoke.
It was reminiscent of a lovesick Angela back in University. As soon as the thought hit her, she shook it away and pushed it aside. It was none of her business. The two are currently happy as they are. That’s all that matters.