Unexpected // sm

Chapter 52

        I blinked slowly at Nash, awaiting his reaction through the rearview mirror. I felt a sense of pride, that Shawn had stood up for me. Nash bit his lip, and kept his eyes on the road. He obviously knew Shawn would not let an argument go. He always had to be the winner. Elizabeth had a hand cupped over her mouth, but she let it drop slowly. I looked up at Shawn in the darkness and saw his jaw relax. He looked down at me and smiled.

        He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “You’re perfect. Don’t let anyone ever tell you any different.” For some reason, the way he said it made me believe it. I leaned into him and he wrapped his left arm around my hip. His hand rested on my side and he set the other one on my cheek. I wanted to shrink away at this, it was too fast and it was happening so fast, I couldn’t. I just couldn’t back away from him. He brushed his thumb across my lips gently. I knew he wanted to kiss them but I wasn’t quite ready for it. Not right now. I grabbed his hand and kissed it before it dropped to his lap. He leaned down again, “I’m not leaving again. Just remember that.” Shawn’s breath tickled my ear before he leaned back and set his head against the car window, his eyes set on the side of the road.

        Closing my eyes, I tried to picture a place where nothing and changed between us. Where we were still the perfect couple. We might not ever get back to that, and that scared me. 

         Shawn had an old pick up truck he had when he worked for a tool shop. He quit after sophomore year, after he started earning money from singing. He earned the majority of it from MAGCON. He kept the truck though. He made money very quickly his junior and senior year, yet he kept the truck. He told me all of this, but he never told me why. I thought at first that maybe he was too busy to worry about the paperwork and such of another vehicle. Maybe his parents wouldn’t allow it. Maybe he just didn’t care. It never made much sense to me but I didn’t ever give it a second thought. It was just something we didn’t ever speak of after it was brought up once. He had drove all the way to Kansas City for MAGCON, and he drove that old red truck. I’m pretty sure it was older than him, but he didn't seem to mind. One day, he came and picked me up to go out. I walked outside the hotel to see the truck. I thought at first, there was no way it could be him. He had plenty of money, he could have bought a better vehicle. 

        Then he opened the door and walked out, smiling at me. He was dressed in a plain white shirt and a pair of blue jeans. I remember it perfectly. He looked good, but he stood out compared to the truck. I thought maybe it was his parents’ vehicle, or a friends. He just didn’t seem like the kind of guy to drive something so old. Then I got in, and we drove around for hours, talking about the truck, school, and everything in between. I learned more about him that day than I ever did the rest of our relationship. All because of a old truck. I guess that’s why I always thought he was different. He didn’t care what car or truck he had. He was Shawn, and he didn’t have to have the best vehicle possible. It wasn’t important to him and that astonished me. He had kept it, even as he became famous.  Maybe that’s why I was so happy when he told me that his truck was at Elizabeth’s so he could take it to the airport in the morning. He still hadn’t change.

         We pulled up in front of Elizabeth’s house, and even with my eyes closed, I knew there were no lights streaming from the house at all. Her voice broke the awkward air, “My parents are in Florida for the rest of the week. So, it’s just us. Carbin moved out a month ago.” Her door opened, and I assumed that meant she was not open for discussion. Carbin is her older brother, but she never wanted people to know. He had been adopted a year ago and had been living there since. He was a nice guy but very shy, which is probably why I only met him twice. I had heard that he was going to move out soon, but I never thought he would. He had just turned 18 a couples months ago I think. Her parents adopted him because his parents had died in a freak car accident and he had no other family. He would of been left on the streets. Luckily, the Gearhart’s knew his parents. It a large act of kindness done for all the right reasons. Elizabeth just couldn’t deal with the fact of another person in the house. They had a huge house but that wasn’t the problem. She just didn’t like competition, I guess.