Chapter Twenty-Three
Valerie
I had the music turned up loud and I was rocking out freely to the radio when I pulled into the driveway that led to Shawn’s mother’s house.
Of course, her car was nowhere to be seen. Go figure… I thought, but it was just as well. I didn’t need anything to ruin my good mood.
I made my way up the stairs and knocked on the door. I knew never to bother Shawn before ten, but it was almost eleven now and considering the news that I had to share with him, I was pretty certain he would be alright with me showing up.
I knocked on the door and bounced on my heels as I waited for him to open it. However, when he did, nothing about his appearance looked right to me. His hair was all messy and he looked beaten and angry.
He was also covering his cheek with an icepack and I wondered what had happened to him, but before I could say anything, he screamed, “What the hell do you want?” Then, as though he had just realized who it was, he stopped short. “Oh…it’s you.” He heaved a sigh from the depths of his chest and moved away from the door for me to come in.
I felt my heart begin to beat fast as I rushed to him and carefully placed my hands on his shoulders.
“What happened?” I asked, feeling fear course through me. Shawn was not the kind of man who would ever get into a fight. I had always thought that if backed into a corner, he would do all right, but I had never truly given much thought to him fighting. He just wasn’t that person and therefore, the sight of him having been hit, at least once very well was all the more disturbing.
“Dalilah…” he hissed as he broke away from me and shut the door. He moved over to the couch and flopped down.
“Oh God…” I said. “Let me see…” I moved closer to him and sat down. I carefully took his hand and the icepack away from his jaw and noticed that it was bruised and inflamed.
“This wasn’t just a slap…was it?” I felt slightly guilty now for slapping Zachary, but I was sure I had not done near as much damage.
He shook his head. “No. Go ahead and laugh. I got beat up by a girl.” He rolled his eyes.
“Why did she hit you? Did you have a fight?” I asked, for some reason seriously oblivious to the obvious.
“I guess you could say that,” Shawn answered and smiled. “But on the bright side, I’m single and taking applications.”
I gave him a teasing glare before it clicked. “Wait…did she find out?”
He winced, but I don’t think it had anything to do with the pain in his jaw. “Yeah…She did, but it’s okay. I made sure that she wouldn’t bother you.”
At this, I became extremely concerned. “Shawn, what is that supposed to mean?”
He shrugged. “If it’s all the same to you, I would rather not talk about it.”
“But…if she is going to do something to you…”
“She’s not! Her bark is bigger than her bite…” he grumbled.
I pointedly observed his jaw and answered, “Well, that’s still a pretty damn big bite.”
“Yeah…” He grew slightly angry as he added in a testy voice, “I said I don’t want to talk about it! Just drop it, okay?”
I thought for a moment, worried about him, simply because I had no doubt of what Dalilah was capable of. She was crazy and probably bipolar. She was manipulative and had a warped sense of reality. She stopped at nothing to get what she wanted, which was never a good thing. All she ever thought about or cared about was herself and now, poor Shawn was caught up in the middle of it.
However, before I could respond, he said, “So, what brings you here? I’m sure it had nothing to do with listening to me complain about my ex-girlfriend and her amazingly accurate and painful right hook.” He chuckled.
“No, but if I had known…” I answered, now feeling guilty for having such a wonderful, unexpected morning, while he suffered. I looked around and demanded, “So, where was your mother while all of this was going on?”
“Out,” he answered as his eyes lowered halfway into a look of contempt and disdain. He shook his head. “But I told you, Val, I don’t want to talk about me anymore. What’s up with you?”
“Well…” I answered, feeling my cheeks redden slightly with embarrassment. “I got an early birthday present.”
“Oh yeah?” he answered, trying to sound cheerful, even though I was sure that he was still in a lot of pain. Still, I appreciated the effort.
“I came to show you.”
“Well, where is it?” he asked, after making a point to look around.
“Umm…” I answered slowly, “It’s…”
He stopped me right there, with his eyes growing wide. “No…Really? A car?”
I nodded, unable to ignore the way the butterflies of excitement felt rustling around in my stomach. “Do you want to see it?”
“Yeah! Of course I want to see it!” he exclaimed as he got up and put the ice pack on the table in front of him. He smiled, but for a moment, I could have sworn it was forced. “Let’s go!”
I wanted to feel differently. I wanted to be humble, considering our parents completely ignored his countless birthday and Christmas requests for not only a car, but also, just help with a car, and the terrible morning he was having. I couldn’t imagine that hearing about and seeing my new car would make any of that easier to handle.
However, as we made our way out, he either feigned or was legitimately excited to see it; he hugged me tight. “This is awesome! You have to take me out! Come on! Let’s go!”
I looked over at him and saw the familiar sparkle of excitement that I remembered from growing up with him.
I had not seen this sparkle in his eye in a very long time and I was sure, since he likely didn’t even realize that he was doing it, that he couldn’t be faking this. For a moment, I saw the old Shawn, the friend that I had grown up with for all of those years.
This gave me a jolt of even more excitement.
“Yes!” I said. “I would love to! Where do you want to go?”
“Let’s go to breakfast. I’m starving!” He smiled at me and I just shook my head. For once, this really was the old Shawn.
I should have worked harder to break him and Dalilah up before, I thought as Shawn kissed me briefly, before running back into the house to get changed.
I hadn’t expected this and it stopped me in my tracks. The taste of him was still readily familiar on my lips from last night, but the fresh sensation was absolutely delightful. I couldn’t believe that I was feeling this way about him and us.
Everything was so new and so pleasant. When I was with him, especially with my new car and sense of having a truly unending supply of possibilities, I couldn’t wait to see what came next.
During breakfast, after testing out the car, we laughed and enjoyed our newfound relationship. In public, we were not really affectionate, because we didn’t want to get caught; but we both still knew what was going on, which was strange, but rewarding.
Instead of constantly wondering what was going on with what the other felt, we actually knew and felt the same way. It was a glorious experience, but extremely different than anything I had ever felt before.
However, even though he seemed pretty much back to his old self, I did notice that he kept bringing up the car. At first, it was in a pleasant way, but eventually, it didn’t seem so pleasant.
Shawn was just kidding, of course, but every time he said something, I wondered what he was really thinking.
Still, considering the highs and lows that had brought us to this moment, I considered that perhaps he had a right to insert a few jibes here and there. I did have a brand new convertible and all he received this morning was a sucker-punch to the face; and breakfast, because I felt like he needed it after the morning he had. Therefore, I didn’t think much about his comments.
Then, finally, he said, “You know, I’m just kidding with you. I know that the car has nothing to do with you and I am very happy for you. It runs great and it is absolutely gorgeous. I just can’t help getting my two cents in every once and awhile.”
I shrugged. “Give me your two cents to your heart’s content. I’m just happy about having the car.”
“As you should be. That’s awesome,” He sighed and I knew there was more to that comment, but he had chosen not to say it.
In a way, even though I tried to understand and was genuine in the understanding that I found, I was glad.