Unpredictable (A Lashton Fanfic)

Chapter Forty-Five - Making Things Difficult.

When I walked downstairs a few hours later to meet Cody and Austin, I was surprised to find another shadowed figure standing with them. I thought Calum had said only Austin would be tagging along, why would Cody ask someone else to go to the beach with us without telling me?

As I approached them and the shadowed figure stepped into the light, I was even more surprised to find Shawn standing before me, a small scratch on his arm being the only hint as to the drama that had unfolded last night. As his eyes met mine, however, there was a sparkle in them that I had noticed earlier that was missing now, and I realized then that his pain must be strictly emotional. "Hi, Luke," he spoke first, which was a good thing because I wasn't sure what to say to him. "Austin invited me to come spend the day with you guys, is that okay?"

I inconspicuously glanced over at Austin, who was texting rapidly on the slide-out keyboard of his phone. "Uh, yeah. That's fine. Why wouldn't it be?"

Shawn shrugged and looked down at the intricately carved designs on the tiled floor below us. "I don't know. I just figured I'd ask."

"Well, we probably need to go ahead and get going," Cody announced after a few moments of us standing there in an awkward silence. "I hear Daytona Beach has the best waves this time of year, and I don't want to miss a single one." He smiled at us before grabbing a set of keys out of his pocket and leading us outside into the Florida sunshine, where a red Mercedes SUV was parked. Austin quickly ran and jumped into the passenger's seat, which means I was stuck in the back with Shawn.

"At least the weather's nice today," Austin commented, rolling down his window and adjusting the baseball cap he was wearing. "I was afraid it would rain like it has every other day we've been here."

Cody nodded, taking one hand off the steering wheel to turn up the reggae music that was blaring through the speakers.

I could feel Shawn's eyes on me, but I kept my head turned and remained silent. I felt like I need to talk to him about last night, but what exactly could I say? Plus, for some reason I still felt a slight attraction towards him, so the less we interacted the better off things would be.

Unfortunately, Shawn didn't feel the same way. "I'm sorry about last night, Luke."

"It's okay," I replied quietly. "You don't have anything to apologize for."

"Yes, I do," Shawn kept his voice low enough that Cody and Austin couldn't hear us even with their vampire senses, and for that I was glad. "Ashton was really mad and I just hope he didn't take any of his anger out on you."

I half-smiled. "He didn't. Don't worry. Ashton would never hurt me." I looked up, still not meeting his eyes, and picked at a strand on the black wristband I was wearing. "He didn't hurt you too badly, did he?"

Shawn shook his head. "No. Not even a fall from a five-story window can hurt me, and I guess that's the only thing I have to thank Nathan for." He carefully put his hand over mine, and I tried to ignore the shiver that went down my spine when his cool fingers touched my skin. "I'll apologize for everything else, Luke, but I'm not going to say I'm sorry for kissing you, because I'm not."

I looked up at him without even thinking, and I immediately knew it was a mistake because I found myself being captivated by those brown eyes of his. After about two seconds that felt more like two hours I took a deep breath and turned my head again, nervously running a hand through my hair. "Cody, aren't you worried about what happened last time you went surfing?" I asked, changing the subject in order to spare myself from any more unwanted feelings.

"No," Cody said matter-of-factly, smiling at me in the rear view mirror. "I've been a surfer for almost all of my life, I'm not going to let one little shark attack keep me away from the ocean. Surfing is a part of me and so is the sea; there's no animal in the world that could change that. Plus, I'm a vampire, which means I highly doubt a shark is going to be brave enough to mess with me now."