Chapter 5

Shane opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was Destiny sleeping in the bed across from him. He looked at the clock. It was 6:30. He decided to let her sleep while he took a quick shower, then they could go get something to eat.

He was still in the shower when his cell phone rang. Destiny woke up and saw it sitting on the table between the beds. She heard the water running and knew he was in the shower. Figuring it was the bus station she answered it.

"Hello?" She said sleepily

"Hello? Who is this?" She heard a female voice on the other end.

"This is Shane Helms' cell phone...Can I help you?"

"This is Mandy, Where is Shane?"

Destiny had a bad feeling "Uh, Shane's in the shower. Can I have him call you?"

"You damn well better! Who are you? Some ring rat?"

"A what?" Destiny was getting more and more worried by the minute.

"I'm just a friend of Shane's..." she didn't know what else to say.

"Look bitch, Shane may sleep around but he is still mine so don't get too used to him warming your bed!"

"I don't know who you are but we are not sleeping together! I'll tell Shane you called." Destiny hung up the phone.

Shane walked out of the bathroom in nothing but a pair of jeans, little droplets of water still glistening on his chest. Destiny swallowed hard, he had an incredible body.

He saw the phone in her hand, "Did the bus station call?" He grabbed a t-shirt out of his bag and pulled it over his head.

"No it was Mandy."

"Mandy? What the hell did she want?"

"You apparently, after calling me a bitch and a ring rat. What the hell is a ring rat anyway?"

Shane sighed as he sat down to pull on his socks and shoes. "That is what we call the girls who follow us around and will screw any of the guys who'll have them. Just so they can say they have been with one of us. And I know you are at least curious. Mandy is my ex-girlfriend. I don't know how she got my new number. Guess I'll have to change it again!"

"It's none of my business Shane."

"You want to get a shower?"

"I took one before I went to sleep. I just need to change."

"Tell ya what, I'll go talk to the desk clerk, find a good place to eat around here, you can change while I'm gone, there isn't much room in the bathroom, then we'll head out."

"Sounds good Just Shane!" He smiled and shook his head. He was glad Mandy hadn't gotten to her.

He left and she changed into a pair of black jeans, a red t-shirt and black boots. She sat and brushed out her hair. He knocked and she yelled it was safe to come in.

He sat on the bed and said "I got bad news and good news... which do you want first?

"What's up?"

"While we were blissfully sleeping Mother Nature dumped 15 inches of snow on this county! We aren't going anywhere until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. The good news is, there is a diner just up the street we can walk to. The desk clerk called to see if they were open and they are. We are lucky we already had this room. The desk clerk turned away 3 people while I was down there, people are stranded everywhere."

"Wonderful! I'm sorry Shane, I'm in no big hurry, but I know you wanted to get home for your vacation."

He shrugged his shoulders, "When you live on planes and in cars and hotel rooms you learn to roll with the punches." He smiled at her, "At least I have company. I'd be nuts if I didn't have someone to be around."

"You know what Shane Helms? I'm glad I met you. You are a great guy!"

"Thanks Destiny. I'm glad I hate to sit alone." He grinned at her.

"Grab your jacket and let's go." She stood up and Shane couldn't help but notice the tight jeans, or the way she filled out the t-shirt she was wearing.

"Wow" was all he could think.

They walked to the diner, Shane grabbed her hand when she slipped on the ice as they crossed the street. Narrow paths had been shoveled across the sidewalks. This was obviously a place used to being snowed in. Destiny, a West Coast girl, marveled at the glistening snow. The artist in her saw the ice covered tree branches as beautiful.

"This really is beautiful." She said.

"Yeah it is." He gripped her hand tighter as they carefully made their way across another street.

They ate at the diner, it was crowded and noisy, and all the other stranded travelers must have been there too. They decided to stop at the little grocery store they had seen to get munchies for later. They had both slept all day so they figured they would be up most of the night. The hotel had VCR's and a video library for its guests. They picked up all kinds of junk food. Popcorn, chips, pop, candy. Destiny picked up a package of Skittles and threw them to Shane. "I still want to hear THAT story!" She laughed.

They went back to the hotel. Shane went down to pick out some movies after inquiring as to what she liked. He came back with Face Off, Braveheart, The Sixth Sense and It Could Happen To You. Destiny was standing at the window, looking down into the well-lit courtyard below, it almost looked like a little park with shrubs and trees and benches. She could see the moonlight glistening off of the trees making the ice shine like diamonds.

"Shane I want to go down and take some pictures. Go ahead and start without me."

"I'll go with ya. If you don't mind..."

"Not at all." She pulled her Nikon out of the case and loaded the film tucking a couple of extra rolls in her jeans pocket. She slung the case over her shoulder.

"That's a lot of fancy equipment..."

"Actually by profession I am a Photojournalist."

"You are just full of surprises aren't you?"

"You have no idea!" She smiled at him