Just a Kiss

Chapter 18

    The guys exchanged glances, and Shane wiggled his eyebrows. "Sure, why not?" Shane answered for both of them. I saw Ryan whisper something in Ashley's ear and she giggled. Ew. "Okay, well..." I contemplated where we were all going to sleep. I stood on my tiptoes to whisper in Shane's ear. "Should we let the two lovebirds sleep down here?" I asked. Shane chuckled. "Sounds good," he replied, still laughing. Ashley and Ryan were both looking at us with one eyebrow raised, but we just waved them off. I pulled Shane into the entryway. "You picked a good," I made air quotes, ""date"  for Ashley," I credited him. "Why thank you, thank you very much," Shane lowered his voice to impersonate Elvis.

"Do me a favor Shane?"

"What?"

"Never do that again."  Shane laughed.

"You know I'll probably do it, just to annoy you?"

"Uh-huh," I replied grudingly. Of course he would.

"So if the two lovebirds are sleeping down here, where are we sleeping?" Shane asked.

"Umm..." Okay, new bridge to cross. "How about my room? I've got a pullout bed that I can sleep on, and you can sleep on my bed."

"Sure," Shane replied. Maybe he wsn't lying about making moves on me... but did I want him to? I involuntairly shuddered at the thought, but Shane mistook it for cold.

"Are you cold, Taylor?" he asked worridley. He quickly unzipped his jacket and put it around my shoulders. Since Shane was 5'6" and I was only 5'2" his jacket went down to about the end of my shorts; plus, Shane liked to wear long jackets, so it went down to about mid-thigh. I didn't think I was cold, but Shane's jacket was so warm that I decided not to give it back. When we walked back into the living room, Ryan's eyes widened at the sight of Shane without a jacket. I had to admit that it was pretty abnormal; he almost always had a jacket on. Shane rolled his eyes at him, and he waved a hand dismissivley. "Okay, Ryan and Ashley, you're sleeping down here," I instructed them. Ashley giggled a little bit. I sooo did not want to know what that was about.  "Ashley, you know where to get pillows right?" I asked her. 

"Yup," she replied.

"Okay, then Shane and I are goin' upstairs." Ashley wiggled her eyebrows. "Not a word," I told her. Shane and I started walking towards the staircase. "Have fun," I told them without looking back.  Shane stuck his head in, "Not too much fun." He narrowed his eyes at Ryan. All of us laughed. I grabbed Shane's hand and pulled him upstairs. "Okay, so you're sleeping on my actual bed," I told Shane as we walked into my bedroom. "Now I see why we watched Dear John," Shane muttered. I whacked his arm. "Shut up," I told him. I'll admit, my room was pretty girly. I had violet sheets, a lime green little fuzzy rug, two purple bean bag chairs, and I was burning vanilla incense. I gestured to my bed. "That's where you're sleeping." I walked to the edge of the bed and laid flat on my side in the floor. I pulled out a slightly smaller full size trundle bed. I pulled a comforter over from my closet and laid it on the bed. "You can just go change in there," I said pointing to my bathroom. He nodded and shut the door. A minute later, he came out with his shirt and jeans in hand, wearing only his boxers. "Wonderful," I muttered sarcastically.

"Hope this isn't too edgy for just friends," Shane commented.

"Whatever." I took off Shane's jacket and laid it with the rest of his clothes. I lifted up my comforter and crawled in. "Aren't you going to...?" Shane asked, gesturing to the lights.

"Just one sec," I told him. "Get in bed."

"Um... okay?" Shane replied. He crawled under the covers. I clapped my hands twice and the lights went off. "Ooh, fancy schmancy," Shane teased.

"For I think the third time tonight," I said, "shut up." I rolled onto my side so that my back was facing Shane. I heard his breathing getting deeper and slower so I knew he was already asleep. I flipped over so that I was facing him. His arm was hanging over the side of the bed with his forearm exposed. I traced my fingers up his hand and onto his forearm. On his forearm though, there was a bunch of little, raised bumps. I furrowed my eyebrows trying to decide what it could be. I opened my nightstand drawer silently and took out a tiny pen light. I flicked it on, and pointed it towards his arm. On his arm were probably a hundred cuts. The most recent still had a tiny bit of crusted blood on it. I clapped my hands and the lights turned on. I crawled into my bed next to Shane and shook his shoulder. "Shane," I whispered. "Shane!" I exclaimed in a normal volume of voice. Shane opened his eyes groggily. "Wha? Taylor?" he said. He sounded all confused. It was kinda cute. "Shane, would you like to explain," I asked taking his forearm into my hands and tracing the cuts, "what these are?" Shane quickly pulled his arm back like my hands were an open flame that was burning him. "Oh, those? Nothing." He replied quickly.

"Oh, c'mon Shane. I won't tell anybody, I swear!"

"They're nothing," he insisted.

"Shane," I said a warning tone in my voice. "Why do you cut?"  A few tears dropped from his eyes and he hastily wiped them away. "I cut," he said in a tiny voice, "for Tess."