Suddenly a light bulb went off in my head and I go to stop her walking away.
"Are you busy?" I ask directly.
Suddenly her face changes from frustrated to seductive. She knows what I'm after.
*Shelby's POV*
"Busy?" I ask, almost trying to get my head around what he's asking me. "Not for you," I say, my face lighting up at the prospect of finally getting what I want.
"Cause you know, you're new around here and all… I could show you around," he says, mimicking the lines I used on him. I racked my brain to remember that brief conversation when it suddenly struck me.
"Well, I've seen everything around here," I point out.
His voice drops. "Not everything."
Next thing I know, I'm leading him to the cabin. It worked out well that I snuck out after bed checks (as always) and that he returned from dinner past lights out. I would think it was fate if believed in it. I pull out my ever-present key from a chain around my neck and open the door. I choose to ignore the intrigued expression on his face.
The second the door closes, his hands are all over me. It doesn't bother me. Right off the bat, he starts majorly making out with me. Wow, he's a good kisser!
We moved over to the bed, and things progressed naturally.
****************************************************************************************************************
Creak
Shit! Why did this cabin have to be made out of wood? Right, cabin… gotcha. Good, he didn't move. He has to be asleep by now, it's been half an hour that he hasn't moved.
I creep open the door…s…l…o…w…l…y… and hear a noise. It must be the door. Wait, there it goes again.
I turn around to find him violently, disturbingly tossing and turning, his hands flailing in front of his face. What. The. Fuck. I stare transfixed for a couple of seconds when suddenly the audio was added.
"Get off, slut! Get out!" Shit. He's obviously having a nightmare, and it obviously has something to do with his past. God! Why does everyone here have to be so fucked up?
I run over to him and start shaking him. "Scott! Wake up! Scott!" I practically yell. If Peter's anywhere on the premises, he will hear us.
"Elaine!" he screams, his eyes flying open. He's now looking dazedly, trying to wake up properly.
"No, Shelby," I say enunciating slowly.
"Shelby?" he asks, still drowsy. "Shelby!" he states, waking up fully and taking in his surroundings.
"Yes… uh, who's Elaine?" I ask, sitting down on the bed as he sits up.
"No one," he says, shaking the dream out of his head. "No one," he repeats.
"Wow, for no one, she sounded like a pretty big slut," I say, shrugging.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you said it in your sleep."
"Said? What else did I say?" he asks, getting scared.
"Oh, pretty much everything. By the way, that sucks."
"Okay, you don't understand! It wasn't my fault, I didn't do it. She's my step-mom… I didn't want to do it."
"Your step-mom? Shit!" I say, the situation dawning on me.
"You said you knew," he says, getting angry.
"I lied," I reply. "Wow, I had no idea."
"Yeah, you have no idea," he says, really angry now. I bitterly laugh at that. "What's that supposed to mean?" Oh, shit, he's getting close. I avert my eyes. "What, were you abused by your step-mom?" he jokes.
"I gotta go," I say, getting up.
"What? Your step-dad?" he asks, suddenly sounding concerned. I pause for a second while gathering all my stuff, but then continue. "I'm right aren't I?" I reach for the door. "Shit, I thought I had it bad."
"You really have no idea," I say amusedly. What an understatement.
He sits down cross-legged on the bed, and looks up at me inquisitively. "What does that mean?"
"Nothing," I say quickly.
"O-kay, about as much as Elaine is no one, huh?"
"Let's just say I have an Elaine. In the form of...Walt."
"Walt?"
"Step-dad," I don't know why I 'm telling him this, but I can't seem to stop myself. I guess it's true what they say, it's feels good to get if off your chest. And he just seems so...cool about it, like he's not shocked.
"Hmmm." He looks like he's thinking hard. "What did you do?"
"What do you mean, what did I do? I came here, duh!"
"Oh," he looks embarrassed. I feel bad, lying through my teeth like that, and making him think that he asked a dumb question when he really assumed the right thing. It's weird - I actually kind of want to tell him the truth. I need to tell someone, right?
"Actually…" I sit down on the bed across from him. "I kinda made a pit stop before coming here."
"Really?" He raises his eyebrows at me. "Where?"
"Um...the streets," I said in a small voice.
"What business did you have there?" he said playfully.
"Well, I dabbled in a few things….panhandling…some drug-usage….and….some selling of services." As the last words come out of my mouth, I'm afraid to look him in the eye.
"Services? Do you mean -?"
"Yah."
"Oh." Oh? Is that all he has to say? Oh?
"So yah…I better go…" but this time, I don't want to go.
"I suppose panhandling doesn't get you very far, does it? I mean, if you need to survive…"
"Yah, no, it doesn't." Wait, how did he know that? Does he actually understand? This is trippy. Suddenly I feel a yawn escaping me, and his eyes suddenly turned into concerned slits.
"Tired?" I shake my head, but he raises his eyebrows at me disbelievingly. "You know, we are sitting on a bed, so…" he says, hinting at sleep. I lie down on the bed, and suddenly feel my eyelids get heavy. I close my eyes, and feel the bed sink beside me. Next thing I know, I'm drifting off…
****************************************************************************************************************
As the sun rose, and the birds started twittering, Juliette's eyes fluttered open. Ah, a new day, she thought as she got up and went for a walk to clear her mind. I hate that my mom lives in my head, she thought. Juliette always enjoyed early morning walks when no one was around and ground were still clean.
As she was walking along the edge of the forest, it started to rain heavily. Actually, it was more like a downpour. She looked around frantically for shelter, and saw the cabin, a short distance away. She ran to it, and opened the door to get in.
Her eyes flew open in shock at the sight before her. There lay Scott and Shelby, together. Scott's arms laying protectively around Shelby, and her head comfortably snuggled into his chest.
Juliette could not believe it. What the hell was going on? Racking her brains, she couldn't come up with a time in which she'd seen them even speak. Now they were….were….Juliette didn't want to think about what they may have been doing. She just backed away quickly and quietly and ran back to the dorms, confronting the rain.
*Shelby's POV*
Where am I? This isn't the dorm… who's arm is this? I can't have…no! I didn't stay here, did I? Did I? Holy fuck-amoly. Why did I do this? Now he's gonna get ideas… well, I sure get myself into fun situations. Oh. My. god! It's all coming back to me now. I told him my past… he told me his… he knows. He knows! Why????? Why did I do that?
Whatever, I've gotta go. It's morning, Sophie will be coming to wake us up soon. It will not be cool if she can tell I wasn't out running. I've gotta get out of here.
"Shelby," I hear him call my name as I leave the cabin. I turn around and he's standing there, outside the cabin, in his boxers.
"Shit! What are you doing? Get back inside and put some clothes on!" I say, completely surprised that he would actually leave the cabin like that.
"Come back in, I need to talk to you." I sigh. Whatever, probably something about keeping his secret. As if he needs to tell me that. I follow him back in the cabin.
"What's there to say?"
"Apart from the obvious --"
"Don't worry, I won't tell your story," I reply, rolling my eyes.
"Yeah, thanks. It's just, I feel like, I dunno, we understand each other - maybe we could -"
"I don't do boyfriends, Scott,"
"Right, right - why again?" he says the last two words confusedly.
"Look, I'm not really in the right place right now…"
"Shel, I know you're past, I think the least you could do is continue to be honest with me."
I hesitate. How'd he do that? "Fine." I breathe. "After all the crap I've been through, I don't wanna….put my…well-being in the hands of a guy. I don't trust them, and I don't believe it ever ends well, so what's the point?" I can see he doesn't know what to say to this, and he looks hurt. "Scott, you're really nice, a good guy. And someday you'll find someone and make them happy - but it's not me."
"Why can't I make you happy?"
"Scott, I don't really think I can be happy." I didn't mean it to come out so eloquent, and suddenly I have the urge to ball my eyes out. I have to get out of here. I turn around, and leave the cabin.
****************************************************************************************************************
Juliette sat in the corner of the caf, watching as her fellow students entered. Daisy, David, Auggie…no Scot yet. Or Shelby. Her mind raced as the possibilities to explain their absences popped up - some were more graphic than others, and all made Juliette's skin crawl.
Suddenly, Scott. Alone. Thank God, she thought. But something was off; he looked dejected, forlorn - not that he was a regular ray of sunshine all the time, but there was something…active about his expression, like there was something more immediate behind it.
She approached him on his way to the lunch line, and steered him away from the greedy student eyes to properly interrogate him.
"So, Funny story," she started, not letting him get in a word edge-wise. "So I go for a walk this morning, and it starts raining, so I duck into the cabin, and guess what I saw?"
"Shit," he muttered.
"You and that…slut in - I can't even say it - bed - together."
"Ok, Jules - "
"Scott, do you have something to tell me?" she cut him off.
"Okay, breathe Jules. It's not a big deal."
At this she exploded. "Not a big deal? How can it not be? I didn't even know you knew her!"
"I didn't."
"WHAT!!!!!" She took in a breath, calming herself so as to not have an aneurysm. "Okay, Scott, please explain to me so that I can actually understand. Did you fall into bed with her?"
"Not exactly. Um…we kinda, did it."
"Well, that explains a lot. Okay, let's move on - why…the fuck?"
"Jules, don't swear! You don't swear!"
"That's so off-topic I'm not even gonna respond to it! Why did you sleep with her?"
"Well…you know how my dad and Elaine came last night?" She nodded. "Well, it was about ten times worse than you'd think, and I was in major need of some…mindless entertainment."
"Well, she is pretty mindless." Juliette said quietly, not able to decide what to respond to first.
Scott responded. "Jules, don't look so shocked. It's not a big deal, I swear. Just forget it, ok?" To himself, "I have to."
"Ok, I guess. Well, breakfast, anyone?" she said happily, but with an undertone of malice that startled Scott. He obeyed, thankful the awkward conversation was over.
****************************************************************************************************************
Shelby and Daisy sat at another side of the caf, having a conversation parallel to Scott and Jules.
Daisy raised an eyebrow at her smirking companion. "Scott, huh? Didn't think he was the type."
Shelby's smirk turned to a full-fledged grin. "He's not. That's the point."
"Oh, my mistake. SO, how was he?"
" Dais! A lady does not kiss and tell."
"Exactly, that's why I thought I'd get all the details!"
"Oh, that's harsh. You've positively wounded me." Her voice dripped with sarcasm, while Daisy's face smiled.
"I bet. Now, about this kissing and telling…"
"I don't think so…"
"Why not?" Daisy didn't really care about the details, she was more curious about the secretiveness.
"no reason. So, how's David?"
"Uninteresting. What aren't you telling me?" Daisy focused her eyes in on Shelby, making her squirm.
"It's more what he did tell me."
Daisy cocked an eyebrow. "You mean his 'story'?" she nodded. "Wow. Um, no offense or anything, but that's not exactly your usual practice is it? Screwing then sharing?"
"Clever. And no. Things didn't really follow the...beaten path. I even stayed all night! In his arms!"
"Shit! That's so - "
"Cute?" Shelby said sharply.
"I was gonna say out of character." Daisy eyes flit up to the sky, lit up, and settled back on Shelby. "You know, I predict you two will fall madly in love." she said wistfully.
"Excuse me?" she growled. "That's not funny! Why would you say something like that?" Daisy was taken aback by her severely forthright tone.
"Well, all other precedents are being broken," she quipped. Pointedly, she said, "Why do you even care?"
"I don't!" Daisy thought she saw a faint blush, but it was gone before it could register. "Anyways…"
