I had a few days before I started the training classes, so Shawn took the time to coach me. Well, him and Trina. Surprisingly, she knew just as much or more than he did. They explained what I'd need to look for and debated with each other about whether it would be in that building or not. I ended up not getting an answer on it, but that was fine by me. All their bickering did was make me miss Kyle.

The night before I started training I couldn't take it anymore. I put on my favorite shirt over my best jeans and finger-combed my hair while I sat on the desk chair in my borrowed room. After a few rings, Kyle answered and his face filled the wall screen. He looked rather surprised to see me, but happy, too.

"Liz!" he said. "I was beginning to think I'd never hear from you." He blushed as he realized what he'd said.

I simply smiled back at him. "I missed you," I said simply.

He gave me a soft smile. "I missed you too." We sat there smiling at each other for a drawn-out moment. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

I shrugged. There was no way I could tell him that I'd been missing him ever since the siblings argued the other day and not come across as some sort of weird - even if it was the truth. So I settled on a shrug to accompany a 'missing you'. "I've been thinking about making my own video for our channel like I said I would," I said, trying to change the subject. "It's been a little bit."

He nodded. "Sounds good. We should keep our fans updated on our lives, and that's a good way to do that."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Each other, too." I sucked my lips into my mouth and looked away from him. I didn't want to tell him, but I knew I had to. "I told Fiona I'd go with her to Memphis."

Kyle was quiet. After a minute I began to worry what his reaction was and I turned to look at him. He was frowning deeply and looked rather dejected. His expression immediately changed when he realized I was now looking at him. "You'll like the change of scenery," he said.

Not what I expected. "I guess," I said slowly.

We looked at each other for a long moment. Finally, he sighed. "What do you want me to say, Liz? No, I'm not happy you're leaving me, but I also know it's the best option for Fiona. I'm just trying to accept that."

"I hope you know I'm not wanting to leave you."

He shook his head. "I do know that, but it's kind of hard to not feel at least a little bit that way, Liz. Especially after..." He trailed off but I knew exactly what he was talking about.

I averted my gaze, feeling guilty again. He told me he loved me, and I gave him nothing in return besides a show on hiatus. Now I was leaving. I swallowed before looking back at him. "I'm sorry, Kyle. I wish I could feel the same, but I can't."

He shook his head. "I heard you before, Liz." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he slowly released it. When he finally opened them he looked like he was trying to seem annoyed. "I don't know what you want from me. I'm trying to not be upset with you!"

Slightly taken aback at this outburst, I shook my head. "I'm just sorry, that's all. I don't want anything from you." After a moment of silence, I sighed deeply and put my head in my hands. I only wanted to make things okay, but I seemed to be messing everything up. I lifted my head and looked at Kyle. He appeared miserable. "What about our show? We were only putting it on hiatus, not canceling it," I said in a very somber voice.

He shrugged. "I don't really know. Maybe we could film one more? Like, you can come back here for one last time, film one with me and tell everyone our situation, and then I could come there and film one later on..." He trailed off.

I nodded. "That could work. Couldn't hurt to do that, anyway. Do you think I could still tell them that I'm moving to Memphis? I was going to do a 'life update' video when we hang up, but I can leave that out."

"No, go ahead. We should tell them soon, anyway. That way they won't be too surprised when we film our next video together."

I let his statement hang between us for a few minutes. "Do you think I should do a live or just do a prerecorded video?"

"Live would be better," he said quickly. "Makes them feel more like they're interacting with you than just listening to you."

"Okay." I checked the time. "I'll do it after dinner, then."

"That reminds me," he said quickly. "I've never met the people you're staying with. Can I meet them now?"

I glanced at my closed door. "I don't know. I'll go find out."

"Okay. Hurry back," he said with a smile.

I first went to find Trina, who happened to be downstairs playing a video game against her brother. At least they're together, I thought. I waited for the end of the round - which was only a couple of minutes - and stepped between them the the TV. "Kyle wants to meet you," I said, not giving them a chance to protest where I was standing.

Trina grinned. "Awesome! I'd love to!"

"Me, too," Shawn said with a smile.

"Great! He's on video chat upstairs." I turned and started walking away but Shawn reached out and grabbed my hand.

"Wait - right now?"

I glanced at the stairs and then back at Shawn. "Yeah. Why?"

He released my hand and shook his head. "No reason." He stood abruptly, making me stumble backwards a step. "Just wasn't expecting it," he mumbled under his breath as he pushed past me.

A couple of minutes later, I led them both into my borrowed room. Kyle was idly looking at his phone but looked up at the sound of our footsteps. He sat his phone down and smiled at us. "Okay, Kyle," I said. "This is Shawn and Trina - they're the brother and sister I'm staying with."

He nodded at them. "Nice to meet you."

Trina giggled a little. "Nice to meet you, too. My brother's a big fan of your show." She laughed when Shawn elbowed her.

Kyle's gaze shifted to Shawn, who smiled. "What she means is that I really enjoy watching the two of you debate topics that are very relevant," he said. Since I was behind him, I smiled and rolled my eyes at Kyle. "Anyway," he continued, "I'm glad to meet you. Liza has told us so much about you."

Kyle raised an eyebrow at me. "She has, has she? Funny. She never mentioned a word about you."

Shawn's mouth opened and closed a time or two before I cleared my throat. "That's because his sister is my friend - Shawn just happens to be here."

Kyle's lips pressed together briefly before they parted in one of his signature lazy grins. "Well, it's nice to meet you either way. Both of you." One glance at Kyle told me he was forcing all of this. He wanted them gone.

I clapped my hands together once, drawing everyone's eyes to me. "I need to say goodbye to my friend and get to filming," I told Shawn and Trina. Once I'd shuffled them out of the room I went up to the screen Kyle occupied. "I know what you're thinking - it's written all over your face."

He sighed. "Did you go there for Shawn?"

"No! I came here because Trina offered and I accepted. I didn't know he was her brother until I got here." I hoped he couldn't hear the partial lie.

He shook his head. "Okay."

We fell into an awkward silence, which was rare for us. I took a deep breath after a couple of minutes and excused myself by telling him I needed to get to filming, deciding not to do a live show and do a prerecorded one instead. Once we were off, I went through the familiar routine of setting up a camera and aiming it at the bed, ready to just sit and talk away to the camera, but once the red light was blinking I realized I had nothing to say.

---

The first day of training arrived and I overslept. To be honest, there's rarely a time I haven't done that when I needed to be up for something important, but I still hated it. I jumped out of bed at eight-thirty and ran around, getting dressed and stuffing my laptop and charger in my backpack, followed shortly by my wallet, a notebook, and assortment of pens.

I ran downstairs, sliding a little on the slick wooden floors. Trina was in the kitchen, eyes wide. "I was wondering what was going on," she said.

Slightly out of breath, I told her, "I'm late! I'm supposed to be there for nine!" She jumped up, grabbed her keys, and we ran out of the door. The whole ride over I mentally berated myself for not double-checking my alarm. When we got to the building, she pulled up to the front door and I hopped out before she'd come to a full stop, shouting a 'thank you' over my shoulder as the door slammed.

I raced to the information desk, pleasantly surprised to find I wasn't panting. "Can I help you?" asked the poor guy at the desk who'd just witnessed me literally jumping out of a moving car.

"I need to get to conference room 5," I told him in a soft, even voice.

He pointed down a hallway to my left. "Go down there, make a right at the first corridor, and it's the second door on the left."

I shot a glance at the hallway. "Thanks," I said with a smile before taking off at a dead run. Which I don't recommend doing, as at the first corner my shoe slipped and I fell on my laptop. The worst part was the crunch that came from my backpack.

A few moments later I barged into the room I was looking for. A table full of people turned to look at me, as did the instructor. My face felt like it was on fire as I discreetly sat in the first chair I came to.

The instructor, a young man probably only about 24, crossed his arms and smirked at me. "Ah, our last trainee," he said in a pleasant-sounding voice. "How nice of you to join us. Would you mind telling us who you are and where you're from? Maybe why you're here with us today?"

I swallowed hard. I'm not one who's good at talking to strangers, which I know is a weird thing when you consider what I do, so I felt completely awkward as I slid my backpack straps off. "I'm Liza Mercy, co-host of He Said She Said on Vitality. I worked doing customer service for Life Bar and I've been reassigned to a general virtual help desk, which is why they assigned me to be retrained for my job."

The instructor eyed me. "Nice to meet you, Miss Mercy. I'm Peter Welch." Another moment or so of awkward eye contact passed before he turned back to the white board he was writing on. Or drawing on, I should say. He appeared to be drawing a flow chart of departments. I unzipped my backpack and slid out my laptop. He glanced over his shoulder at the noise. "Sorry, electronics are currently not allowed," he said, sounding like an adult reprimanding a child.

I frowned as I saw dust fall out from my laptop. When he turned back around I opened it a tad. A large crack covered the screen. Great. This was going to be a lovely day.