Runaway

Chapter 7

I squeeze Aunt Joyce one last time before backing away. She holds my face in her hand and wipes away my tear. Dave makes his way back over to us and grabs us into a big group hug. I hear Shawn and Lily in the kitchen clapping. We all laugh and attempt to make ourselves presentable again. I walk back to the kitchen to see that everything's basically done. "And viola! Now we just let it bake," Shawn finishes. Lily gasps in awe, completely impressed by Shawn's skills. He takes his knuckle and messes with her hair before turning to look at me.

"So, what do you think of my baking skills?"

"It was average at most," I tell him. His mouth drops and he lifts his hand to his chest as if he's offended. "Shut up," I roll my eyes at him. I put the banana bread in the oven and set the timer, before joining everyone on the couch. Lily tells Dave and Aunt Joyce about the supermarket and how Shawn came to our rescue with the baking. I scoff at the last part.

"Then Phil told Mai that he knows when two people like each other and Mai got really red!" Lily continues.

"Hahahahahaha! Funny funny Phil's just a funny guy...." I reply, holding a hand over Lily's mouth. "He was kidding obviously." Everyone stares at me with a blank face. "And obviously I didn't turn red it was just hot so I was red because of that..." I ramble.

"You know Phil is actually the one who set me and Dave up," Joyce speaks up, ignoring my rambling.

"She's right, he convinced me she was the one and we've been happily married ever since," Dave chimes in. I catch Shawn staring at me before we both awkwardly look away.

"Anyways," I change the subject, "I found a job today!"

"Oh wow that's great where is it?" Joyce asks.

"It's in the town center nearby it's that cute little coffee shop with vines everywhere," I explain, hoping they'll know what I'm talking about.

"Oh yeah Crepes Cafe right?" Shawn speaks up.

"Yeah that one!" I say pointing my finger at him. "I think I would really like it there," I continue. "I also met a girl who works there who's really nice, her name's Anna."

"Aww has Fuller made a friend," Shawn mocks me playfully.

"Haha," I tease him, "I don't do friends, remember?"

"You're never gonna let that go are you?" He looks back at me, smirking.

"No I won't," I reply, laughing.

Lily picks out a movie to watch while we wait for the banana bread to bake. I don't know what movie it is because honestly I'm not going to be watching the movie. My eyes keep wandering back to Shawn. He's next to Lily, talking about what's going to happen next, who's the best character, and what the plot-twist is going to be. His whole face lights up when he talks to her, and hers when she talks to him. It's so sweet how he is with her and Aunt Joyce too. I don't understand how people at school can call him weird or damaged, all I see is his beauty.

My thoughts are interrupted by the loud beep of the oven. Shawn serves everyone a slice of banana bread and Lily shows Aunt Joyce the flowers and card we got her. Everyone returns to the couch to finish the movie except Joyce and I, who sit at the breakfast table.

"You know something?" Aunt Joyce says, raising her eyebrows at me.

"What?"

"I didn't like the idea of you and Shawn being together," she continues. I feel another pit growing in my stomach when I hear those words. "You both have been through a lot... I wasn't sure how healthy a relationship between you would be.... But watching you now, I think you two could help each other."

"What do you mean?" I ask her.

"He's struggled a lot this past year," she explains, "he was still able to find happiness babysitting Lily and spending time with us, but never happiness like this." I look up at her, somewhat confused. "What do I know though?" She gets up from the table, laughing it off. "Just think about what I said okay?"

"Okay," I tell her as she walks over to the couch with everyone else. I think back to all the conversations Shawn and I had. I'm still not sure what those conversations really mean. I never had any crushes or boyfriends growing up, I barely knew what that felt like. But with Shawn, I was almost sure I felt something. Still, he was closed off from me. And still  I wanted to find out everything about him.

***

"Okay class," Ms. Berkley begins, "today we are going to do a partner paper. This is a new assignment for all of us, however, we wanted to try it out today. Basically, I'll assign you partners, and you'll work together to review and analyze the reading we've done in class...." her voice trails off as my attention span withers. Wait did she say partner paper? This is the perfect chance to spend more time with Shawn... "I'm going to read off your partners now..." Berkley continues.

"Please be Shawn," I whisper quietly to myself.

"Shawn Gates you'll be partnered with..." I hold my breath, "Kaitlynn Cook."WHAT. Kaitlynn and her group of friends giggle and clap for her. Ugh.

"Mai Fuller you're with London Collins." A tall, tanned skin guy walks over to my seat. He holds out his hand in front of me.

"Hi, I'm London," he says, "everyone calls me Collins though." I shake his hand and smile.

"Mai," I reply. His physique makes me think he plays basketball. His eyes are a deep brown and his lips are thin. He's definitely attractive. "So when are you free to work on this?" I ask him, breaking up the silence.

"I'm free whenever, it's up to you," he replies.

"Cool, tonight?" I ask him. He raises his eyebrows and nods in agreement. "You can come to mine." He agrees again and takes my phone to put in his number. I feel butterflies in my stomach as our fingers touch when he passes back my phone. He smirks at me, and for just a second, I completely forget about Shawn. Up until, I feel a set of dark green eyes fixated on me and turn to see Shawn staring back at me longingly.