Sophomore Year || Parenthood Series, Book One || WATTYS 2018

Chapter Twenty-Nine

SOUNDTRACK: "Nothing Else Matters" - Metallica

"Kate, I'm sorry I've gotta go," Jared said, taking his suitcase to the side door. "We're running late."

"I just - what am I supposed to do?" she asked, following him through the house.

"Shannon's gonna pick you up in an hour and you and the dog are staying over there until I get back," he told her.

"But why can't he come here?"

"I told you - the painters are coming over to paint everything because I listed the house and I need to get it ready to sell," he replied. "Pack your bag and take everything you'll need for the game, too. And for Vedder."

A car honked in the driveway and Kate followed him outside. Shayla was already putting her things into the car.

"Alright. Be good," he gave her a little hug. "Good luck in the game. Have fun. All that shit."

She sighed and crossed her arms as Shayla got into the car after Jared and they left. She went back into the house and started packing her things. Christmas was two and a half weeks away. In that span of time, she had final exams and the play and her schedule was insane. There was next to no time for sleeping and she really didn't need to be relocating houses to accommodate Jared's travel plans.

Shannon was surprisingly on time an hour later and he helped her load everything into his SUV. Vedder hopped into the back seat and they were gone several minutes later. The dog was initially apprehensive about Shannon, but came around quickly when he bribed him with a treat while they were stopped at a traffic light. When he pulled onto his street, Kate was surprised. The street was narrow and really just an alley with houses on both sides, a lot like the street the Compound was on. Shannon had a narrow driveway and a small two-car garage that barely fit his car. His motorcycle stood on the smaller side. A set of stairs led up and into the rest of the house.

"This is it," he said, opening the garage door and letting Vedder run into the fenced front yard.

The front of Shannon's house was well-maintained and a small patio area sat with several planters across the front, which the dog happily hiked his leg on. She followed him along a pathway of stairs toward the front door. He unlocked it and walked in ahead of her. She was immediately greeted with a view of a large red brick fireplace. A small sitting area with a white leather sofa faced the fireplace and she could see a small, modern kitchen around the other side of it. The entire room (and presumably the rest of the house) seemed to be decorated in a mid-century modern theme with wood tones and leather furniture, accented by blonde hard wood floors. It was exactly the way she imagined Shannon's house would be like: clean and simple, but warm enough to be homey.

"Welcome," he said, tossing his keys onto the glass triangle coffee table in front of the fireplace. "This is the living room/kitchen. There's a TV up there," he gestured to a loft space up a few stairs to their left where a tan colored leather sofa faced a large flat screen.

He led her around the fireplace to the kitchen and tapped the white counter top. "Kitchen's pretty self-explanatory. Eat whatever you want in the fridge. Don't mess with the espresso machine, though." Shannon pointed to a small area off of the kitchen with a four top table and mismatched, multicolored chairs. "You can eat over there."

Two well-worn leather armchairs stood guard on either side of an aged steamer trunk under a large modern piece of art. She looked at it closely, examining it, smiling when recognition hit.

"This is a DeLuca isn't it?" she asked.

Shannon blinked in surprise at her accurate guess. "I - yeah. Got it at one of his shows in Long Beach a few years ago. How did you know?"