Spark in the Dark

Chapter 44

At Cara Cara the next day, Shawn couldn't stop feeling anxious. Juice said he'd call when he got back and she couldn't wait to hear from him. That afternoon, he finally called her.

"You back?" Shawn answered her phone.

"Yea, can you do me a favor? Meet me at your place?" Juice asked.

"Jeez, you can't wait til tonight? I'm on break, but I don't have that much time."

"It's not that. I really do need a favor."

"Oh, ok. I'll be there in a few, ok?"

They hung up and Shawn let Luanne know she was leaving and would be back soon. She drove home, but Juice wasn't there, yet. She went inside to wait for him and heard a bike pull up in the front. Shawn looked out the window to see a girl getting off the back of Juice's bike.

"What the fuck?" Shawn said, feeling pissed off. She took a deep breath before letting them in the front door. She raised her eyebrow at Juice as he passed her.

"It's not like that," he told her and then introduced them. "Shawn, this is Cherry. Cherry, Shawn."

"Hi," Cherry said to Shawn in an unfriendly voice while looking around Shawn's house.

"Pleasure," Shawn said back and then looked at Juice. "What is this?"

"Can she stay here for, like, a day or two?"

"Are you serious?"

"Please, Shawn."

"Why? Where did she come from?"

"She's a tribe hang around. She hitched a ride off me up here and Clay's pissed about it. She just needs somewhere to lay low until she figures something else out."

"Why is Clay pissed?

"Your old lady asks a lot of questions," Cherry told Juice.

"I'm not-"

"She's not-" Juice and Shawn spoke at the same time and both stopped when they heard the other.

Cherry looked amused for a second. "Hey, you got a bathroom?"

"Upstairs at the end of the hall."

They waited until Cherry went upstairs and listened for the sound of her bathroom door closing.

"Listen-," Juice started.

"Shut up and kiss me," Shawn told him.

Juice smiled and did as he was told.

"Please, babe. This would really help me out," Juice said when he pulled away.

"Fine," Shawn relented with a sigh. "But you owe me."

"Trust me, I'm looking forward to paying you back." They could hear the water running in the bathroom and knew Cherry would be coming out soon. "I have to get back. You'll be ok?"

"Yea, I'm fine. Go."

Juice left and Cherry came downstairs.

"He leave?" Cherry asked Shawn.

"Yea. TV is right there. I have to make a phone call."

Shawn went into the kitchen to give Luanne a call. There was no way she was going to leave Cherry in her house alone and she didn't want to bring her to the studio. That would raise a lot of questions from the Cara Cara girls. After filling Luanne in a bit on the situation and why she wouldn't be back at work that day, Shawn sat in a chair in the living room to watch TV.

"I don't need a babysitter," Cherry informed her. Shawn looked at her. "I accidently overheard your phone call."

"You listened in on my phone call on purpose," Shawn corrected her. "I'm not leaving you alone in my house."

"I'm not going to steal anything," Cherry sounded offended.

"I don't know that," Shawn argued.

They sat in silence for awhile. Shawn tried to watch TV, but Cherry had put some trash talk show on that was painful for her to pay attention to.

"So," Cherry said during a commercial, "if you're not his old lady, what are you? Sweetbutt?"

"Excuse me?" Shawn asked.

"Oh, wait, what do you call yourselves around here? Cro Eaters?"

"I am not a Cro Eater," Shawn defended herself.

"Hey, it's nothing to be ashamed of," Cherry said.

"Well, I'm not one, ok?"

"Sorry," Cherry said and looked her up and down. "It's just the way you're dressed. You come off as one, that's all."

"If you have a problem with the way I'm dressed, you can leave." Cherry rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I work in a porn studio. Everyone there dresses like this. And before you ask, no, I am not a porn star. I'm a producer."

"Don't you normally have to work your way up to that?"

"I did. I started off as an assistant to the woman who owns the studio and she promoted me."

"Wonder how the other girls feel about that," Cherry pondered out loud.

"No one's complained."

"Well, not to your face at least."

"You know what? Let's go somewhere," Shawn suggested.

"Yea?"

"Let me change my clothes and we'll go." Shawn went upstairs and pulled on a pair of jeans and a v-neck tee. When she went back downstairs she led Cherry out to her car and they left. Cherry tried to make small talk with her, but most of it came out as bitchy remarks. Shawn drove back to TM and Cherry looked at her.

"What the hell are we doing here?"

"Oh, there's no way you're staying with me," Shawn informed her. Some of the guys were standing outside, Jax and Juice included. Jax gave her a curious look. "Returning Cherry pie here while she's still in one piece."

"Whatever. I'm out of here," Cherry said and stormed off.

"Sorry," Shawn said to Juice. "It was either this or murder her."

"It's fine," Juice said.

"Well, I will leave you guys to do... whatever it is you're doing."

"Trying to think of a good way to sneak some shit out of here with no one seeing," Jax informed her.

Shawn glanced at the large septic truck that was in the lot. "Isn't that what's that's for? Taking out the shit?"

Jax's eyes grew wide. He grabbed Shawn's face and kissed her forehead. "You're a genius."

"I was kidding!" Shawn called to Jax has he jogged away. Then she turned back to the others, who looked less than amused. Shawn started to laugh and covered her mouth to hide it. "I was kidding. I'm so sorry."

"You look sorry," Chibs told her sarcastically.

"I'm just going to go," Shawn said and started backing away.

"See ya later, darling," Chibs said and headed in the direction Jax went.

Shawn mouthed an apology to Juice, again, before getting back in her car. She debated on going back to work, but decided to just go home instead. She had caused enough trouble for one day.