he loves me, he loves me not

part three

"Hey," Shawn closes the locker Jezabel had just finished looking through for a notebook with no luck.
    "Hey yourself," Jezabel replies dryly.
    "Do you work today?" Shawn asks keeping up with Jezabel's pace as she heads to exit the suffocating school doors she'd been trapped in for the past 7 hours.
    "Nope, so if you want to steal the merchandise go nuts but I will not be blamed for it," She smiles up are her remark.
    "That's not why I was asking but thank you for the useful information I will definitely consider it," he pulls her arm practically dragging her through the school's parking lot. "Cmon,"
    "Where are you taking me, Shawn," she rolls her eyes. At some point, you have to learn to just deal with the way Shawn is. She could be totally getting kidnapped right now, but the bright burning smile on his face tells her that she's alright.
    "It's a surprise," he smiles as they stop at the front of his car. They hop it and the drive is full of Jezabel bugging Shawn and Shawn annoying Jezabel because he won't tell her where they're going.
    They're pulling up on the street they live on so Jezabel begins to wonder if they were going to his house because he wants to show her something there. But when they pass his house and keep driving off her mind runs completely blank as they start heading into the mountains of trees just behind where they live. She begins to fear that maybe she should question Shawn's actions and trust the judgment that maybe she was being kidnapped. Yet, it isn't until he parks his car just a little into a path that the fear she once had is replaced by tears welting up in her eyes.
    If you were walking through the trees to go hunting you probably wouldn't even notice the small treehouse that was molding. But to Jezabel, it was probably the most magical place when she was younger. When Jezabel and Shawn were about 7, they grew tired of hanging out at either Shawn's house or her house. She had begged and pleaded to her dad tirelessly that he build a treehouse for them to hang at. After a tough 2 weeks of annoying cries, Jezabel's dad caved and said he'd build one, but there weren't any trees in either one's backyard but there was a forest. So, he decided to build the treehouse not too far off their house where they could hang and close enough to where their parents could see they hadn't gone too far away.
    Jezabel and Shawn would spend almost every day after school there. The last time she remembers being there was just a little after her dad passed away. That was almost 8 years ago. It was so sudden when it happened but she was old enough to process her emotions and found out her dad died due to a cerebral hemorrhage whatever that was. She couldn't bring herself to go back there. After that, she and Shawn drifted apart and barely spoke to each other. She didn't mean to but everything just felt so empty after her dad died.
    "Why would you bring me here?" She questions going to turn the key in the ignition to drive back up but Shawn quickly grabs the key and puts it in his pocket. "Fine! I'll walk it I know how to get back anyways."
    "Just trust me, for once," Shawn pleads, forcing his gaze onto her. "Please,"
    She's hesitant but she steps out of the car anyways and lets Shawn lead her up to the treehouse they'd grown so distant from. A little reminder of what they once were and maybe what they would always be, great friends. "I don't want to be here." She says arms crossed sheepishly kicking the fallen red yellow leaves.
    "I know but you had to come back here at some point." He holds out his hand as a gesture for her to take it, which she eventually does. They walk up to the old oak tree where their little escape was. It wasn't that big but it was large enough for two 17-year-olds to fit in. Shawn goes first followed by Jezabel and once she climbs all the way in she is surprised to see a plaid blanket on the floor with a picnic basket in the middle.
    "Suprise!" Shawn exclaims stretching out his arms into a jazz hands position.
    "What is all this?" Jezabel asks absolutely astonished taking in everything. All the old memories came rushing back to her. The corner where Shawn stepped on a loose nail and tried to hide it until he almost died because he didn't have a tetanus shot. Or the small window where they would catapult Jezabel's Barbies out of.
    "You looked like you could use a break from the annoying chaotic world," Shawn suggests.
    "Then why are you still here?" Jezabel says half-jokingly as she tries her best to contain the laughter by holding her hand over her mouth.
    "Wow, so I try to do one nice thing for you and you attack me?!?!" He said half offended half-joking. He walks as if he's leaving the treehouse before Jezabel pulls his arms gesturing to not leave but she pulls a little too hard and he falls right on top of her. She feels her cheeks redden as he's just staring down at her.
    "It's really nice what you're doing," She says breaking the moment and he gets off of her.
    "No big deal, just being the great guy that I am," He shrugs.
    "And you ruined it," She rolls her eyes. "So what do you got, turkey and cheese sandwiches?"
    "Hey, who told you!" He says accusingly as he opens the basket and indeed pulls out a turkey and cheese sandwich cut into diagonal pieces for them to share. He also pulls out 2 pouches of pacific cooler caprisun. Jezabel immediately disregards the sandwich and goes straight for the caprisun.
    "Oh my God, no way you got my favorite flavor?!?!" She says with so much excitement that she struggles to poke a hole in the pouch.
    "I know you," he smiles down at her.
    They share the sandwich and chips that he brought. They play with whatever is left in the treehouse and find a slingshot and tried throwing rocks onto unsuspecting animals with no luck. Then they lay down and have a serious debate while watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on Shawn's IPhone and argue which Harry Potter movie is the best. Jezabel says Order of the Pheonix while Shawn says it's Goblet of Fire. They fall asleep toward the third act of the movie although Jezabel fell asleep far earlier than he did.
    Unbeknownst to Jezabel, Shawn pulled her in tight to keep her warm while sharing the picnic blanket Shawn brought. It was comfortable and if Jezabel hadn't been asleep she'd see how Shawn was just staring at her falling asleep so peacefully and beautifully.
    When Jezabel awoke, she was in between Shawn's arms, and instead of slipping away, she turned around so her face was snuggled into his chest and pulled herself in closer, and fell back asleep until some stranger walked over with a bag full of random items screaming at them to get out of there. Turns out, their treehouse was an attraction for homeless people to live. They quickly rushed out and Shawn drove her home both smiling and laughing at the situation.
    When she got back into her room, Jezabel couldn't help but thinking how comfortable it was wrapped around Shawns embrace. It felt warm and safe. It could be like this forever. If he was hers. She didn't let herself think that for long as she brushed away that ridiculous thought. Me and Shawn? A thing? Yeah right.