Chapter 15 - Not Listening

Shawn spent most of the weekend away from the apartment. He said he had a lot of catching up to do, and Jon believed it. The kid had as much of a social life as Jon himself had had in high school, which was saying something.

Jon had been making excuses to Debra, the bartender he'd gone out with a couple of weeks before, about why he couldn't go out. He didn't exactly want to tell her he had a kid at home, so instead he spun a story about his mom being sick. Shawn had walked in on him talking to her at one point. Jon thought he might make a comment about the lying, but Shawn had just said, "Hey. It's what I would do," and moved on to the fridge.

He went out with her on Saturday, though, since Shawn was out, and he made plans with her for Monday evening, also. He let Shawn know on Monday morning, after he came back from the gym— he had learned that the best time to go was when the kid was still asleep. Shawn was sitting on the couch with a tattered old notepad, scribbling away.

"Homework?" Jon asked.

"No, journaling. My therapist told me to."

Jon couldn't have said he wasn't surprised. The kid had to be begged to do his homework for class; Jon wouldn't expect him to do his therapy homework without even being asked. "Does it help?"

"Yeah, I kind of like it."

"I can get you a better journal."

"It's better like this. I don't feel any pressure to write anything good, and I can tear out pages if I want."

Jon nodded. "Well, hey, Hunter, I'm going to be out this evening. Date with Debra."

Shawn breathed in like he was going to say something, but then he stopped himself. "Okay."

"Get your homework done."

"Maybe." Shawn set the journal aside. "It's Monday morning."

"Oh, right." Jon took out his wallet; all he had was a twenty and a few ones. "Uh, after school, OK? I gotta hit the ATM."

Shawn shrugged. "Okay."

Jon grabbed his jacket, his bag, and the motorcycle helmets. "Ready to go?"

Shawn smiled. They didn't take the bike every day, which meant it could still put the kid in a better mood.

It was a pretty normal school day. Of course, the day always passed slowly when Jon had something to look forward to the end of the day. When all he had to look forward to was Shawn sulking at home, his classes flew by. Of course, it didn't help that he had to review grammar rules today; he would have loved to stick to literature, but most of his students weren't ready to be done with the basics.

Normally, he would have stayed an hour after school to work on grading, but he wanted to start prepping for his date; he could grade extra on another day. He left only shortly after the school day ended, and he was surprised to see Shawn waiting for him at the apartment. He stood from the couch when Jon walked in, and he pushed his hair back and shifted his weight.

Those were nervous habits for him. "Everything okay?"

He scoffed dramatically. "With me? Yeah, sure! Totally fine. Don't know why you would…"

Jon just raised his eyebrows.

Shawn winced and knelt down to unzip his backpack. He stood up and held out a note. "Here. Sign this."

Jon stared at Shawn a moment longer, then he looked down at the note.

Mr. Turner,

As per his usual, Shawn was making jokes and being a disruption during science class today. I spoke to him after class, and he told me, and I quote, "shove off and mind your own business." Seeing as you are currently acting as his guardian, I thought you would want to be informed.

Sincerely,

Ms. Pierre

Jon turned to Shawn, crossing his arms.

Shawn laughed nervously. "So… Better sign that thing so you can get going on your date."

"Sit down."

Shawn sat, looking miserable.

Jon went over to the counter, pulling out a pen and writing a reply.

Dear Ms. Pierre,

You have my sincerest apologies for my ward's behavior. Please keep me informed about any future problems. Rest assured, there will be consequences at home.

Sincerely,

Mr. Turner

"There. Give that to your science teacher."

Shawn took the note and read it. He grimaced. "Jon…"

"Don't Jon me. I gotta go cancel my date."

"You could ground me tomorrow instead."

"It doesn't work that way, kid." Jon looked away. "Running out of excuses, Debra's gonna think I'm avoiding her."

Shawn set his jaw and stomped over to the phone.

"Hey, where are you going? I'm not finished with you."

But Shawn was already dialing. He held the phone to his ear.

"Who do you think you're calling?" The answer was pretty obvious; Jon was pretty sure he only had one phone number memorized, but he didn't understand how calling Cory would help.

"Hi, Mrs. Matthews? Yeah, it's Shawn. Are you and Mr. Matthews home this evening?"

"You're not going over there," Jon said.

"You are? Great. Hey, listen, I was being a jerk at school today, I got in trouble with one of my teachers, and Jon wants to ground me tonight, only I just finished being grounded for two weeks, and he has a date tonight, so I was wondering if you could come stay with me at the apartment this evening."

Jon reached for the phone. "What do you think you're doing?"

"You will? Great." Shawn pulled away into a corner, hunching down so the phone was out of reach. "Yeah, he's not leaving for at least an hour, he takes a long time to get ready."

"Hunter…"

"Yeah, I understand. Thanks, Mrs. Matthews. He owes you one." Shawn straightened up and hung up the phone. He turned to Jon and smiled sarcastically. "There you go. Have fun on your date."

"Call her back. Right now."

"Come on, man. This way, you won't have to lie to Debra."

Jon's voice caught.

"Go get ready for your date."

Jon shook his head. "This conversation isn't over." But he left the room. He wasn't sure exactly what to do, and at least this way, he would get some time to cool off.

Amy arrived about an hour later. Jon went to answer the door for her, and he gave her his best apologetic look. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for Shawn to call you."

"I'm just sorry this is the first time. I can't even imagine what it must be like, being a single parent, especially to someone who's been through as much as Shawn has."

"It hasn't been easy," Jon said quietly.

"Well, why don't you send him over to spend the night at our place once a week?"

"Oh, no, I couldn't possibly—"

"The boys will love it."

Jon couldn't deny that. He wanted to offer to take Cory every other week, but there really just wasn't much room in the apartment.

She grinned. "It's settled then. Now, don't you have a date to run off to?"

"Right." He tugged at his shirt. "Thanks again."

"No problem." He grabbed his helmet and headed out.

After that, he tried to take his mind off what was happening at home. He managed while they were on the bike and he could feel Debra's legs gripping his sides and her arms around him, pressing her chest into his back, and while they flirted over dinner, and for the half of the movie they spent making out—she was a great kisser, one of the best he'd ever dated.

But for the period of time they spent actually watching the movie, and on the ride to pick her up, Jon worried. He suspected he would have been worrying on the way back home, but he was busy lamenting the fact that he had had to turn down Debra's invitation to spend the night at her apartment. She'd gotten rid of her roommates and everything.

By the time Jon arrived back home, he was pretty sure he knew what was going on. He had learned enough about how Shawn operated to have a handle on things. Jon's first mistake had been forgetting about movie Monday; the week before, he had told Shawn they could go to Blockbuster together and pick out a movie and some snacks. Second, he had promised Shawn an allowance every Monday morning, and Jon had forgotten to hit the ATM. But more than anything, he had failed to connect with the kid. He had given him attention and care when he was grounded, then he had ignored him as soon as he was free. This was bound to happen.

The apartment was quiet when Jon arrived. Amy was sitting on the couch, reading a magazine. She smiled at him. "Hey, Jonathan. How was your date?"

"It was good. How was he?"

"About like you'd expect. He's unhappy."

"Was he disrespectful to you?"

"No, not at all. Although... there was a little disagreement."

"What was that?"

"Well, he told me that he was still allowed to use his Walkman when he was grounded."

"Oh." He really, really should have gone over rules with Amy; he knew that was probably unusual.

"That didn't sound right to me, but he didn't try to argue about the TV or anything, so I didn't take it away from him. I just told him I would talk to you when you got back, and he would be in more trouble if he found out he lied."

"No, he's not lying. I gave that to him for his birthday. Given his history… I just wanted him to have something that wouldn't be taken away." He gave her a sheepish look. "Maybe that's wrong?"

"No, I think that's a good idea. He needs some stability."

"That's what I was thinking."

"He wouldn't talk to me about what happened at school, just said his teacher wrote a note home and he was in trouble. I'm guessing you two had a talk?"

"Yeah. Well, not exactly."

She frowned.

He sighed. "He was mouthing off to his science teacher."

"Do you have any idea why?"

"Who knows what goes on in that kid's head?"

"Well, I think you would, if you asked him. He trusts you more than you think, Jonathan."

"He would've just made excuses."

"Well, I'm sure you gave him a chance to explain himself before you grounded him. What did he say?"

"...Oh." Jon winced.

"You didn't ask what happened?" She crossed her arms. "How long did you ground him for?"

"Uh... Well..."

She patted him on the shoulder. "He's still awake. Go talk to him."

"Thanks, Mrs. Matthews."

"Amy," she corrected, and she headed out.

He smiled to himself, then he took a deep breath and started up the stairs.

Shawn lay on his bed, headphones on.

"Can we talk?"

He slipped off his headphones and sat up to look at Jon. It occurred to Jon that that was progress; it was a sign of respect.

"Shawn, I'm sorry for not giving you a chance to explain yourself."

"It's OK, Jon. I don't have anything to say."

Jon nodded slowly. "I also didn't tell you how long you were grounded."

"Yeah. How long?"

"It's been a while since you've been disrespectful at school, so...two days. Today and tomorrow. But if it happens again..."

"Yeah, I get it."

Jon nodded. "Uh. Here." He took out his wallet and handed over two fives.

Shawn took it, his eyebrows drawn together. "I don't get allowance when I'm grounded."

"You weren't grounded this morning, when I owed you."

"Oh, right. Thanks," Shawn said numbly, staring at the money.

"Movie night tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Wait, no. Could we wait til Wednesday, so I can go to Blockbuster with you?"

Jon smiled. "Sure."

"Great." Shawn got up. "I'm gonna get ready for bed."

"Good. Me too."

Shawn straightened up suddenly, an impish grin spreading across his face. "So, how was your date?"

Jon rolled his eyes. "Good night, Shawn."