Ch. 9- Dinnertime Woes

The second that Shannon found out that Boone was bringing a girl over for dinner, she put on another layer of lip gloss, changed into her favorite bikini, and walked across the street to the beach to find herself a guy. Because Shannon wasn't the type of girl to wallow in self- pity – she liked to take charge. Or maybe she just preferred to think that.

Upon arriving, she flipped up her Coco Chanel sunglasses and surveyed the scene. Bright Malibu sun, kids building sandcastles, jock wannabes throwing around footballs, surfers… surfers. There was one, she noticed, a little of the way up the beach, who had dusty blonde hair and looked like he was about twenty-five. She watched him walk back to where he was sitting, and, in turn, Shannon set up her towel near his. "Is anyone sitting here?" She asked.

"Nope," said the guy, grinning.

"So, do you surf a lot?" She asked.

"How'd you know I was a surfer?" Ah, perfect opportunity to compliment him.

"Well – you have a great tan, first of all, and your hair is bleached from being in the sun a lot." She paused. "And – there's the ever obvious clue that you're sitting next to a surfboard."

"Ah," he said, laughing, "That would do it, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah," she said. "What's your name?"

"Oh – I'm Andy," said the guy. "And you are –"

"Shannon." She said. This was going to be so easy.

"So what brings you here alone on such a nice day?"

"What brings you here alone on such a nice day?" She retorted. She took off her shirt and shorts to expose her black and pink bikini, stretching languidly. She could feel his eyes looking her up and down. "What?" She said, faux-stupid.

"Oh – nothing." He blushed. Shannon always thought it was cute when guys blushed. Boone blushed too. Shut up, she mentally chastised herself.

"Want to go get something to eat at the Snack Bar?" He asked.

"Sure!" She answered.

A few minutes later, as they walked back with two smoothies, Shannon asked, "So – is surfing like your hobby or your job?"

"Well, my parents wanted me to go to college, be a lawyer, and all that shit. But I really didn't want to, I wanted to be a surfer… right now I'm being sponsored, so, life is pretty good."

"What did your parents do?"

"Oh, they're okay about it now, they even bought me a house just a few blocks from here." Money – check. "What about you? What do you do?"

"Um…" she took a deep breath, "It's kind of a long story, but somehow I didn't end up finishing high school because I had to – find something for myself, so right now I'm in summer school to finish. After that? I don't know, really. I don't really know what I'm good at."

"What does your family think?"

"Well, my mom and dad are dead –"

"I'm so sorry." He immediately said.

"It's fine," she dismissed. "My evil stepmother doesn't give a shit, she just wants me out of her hair because she runs this stupid company and… well, you don't want to hear this…" She trailed off.

"Yes, I do," he said as they sat down on their beach towels.

"Well, my step mom wants me out of the house after summer school, and my brother wants me to go to college, get a job… he thinks I should be a lawyer." She smiled in spite of herself. "Because I'm good at arguing."

"Huh," he answered. "Well, I've only known you for ten minutes, but you seem like one of those girls that can do whatever they want. That's a good thing."

"Thanks."

"How old are you?"

"Eighteen," she said. "You?"

"I'm twenty-four."

"Oh. So do you have any siblings?"

"Yeah – I've got a sister, she's thirty-one… getting married. She thinks she's too young, but I think 31 is a little old. I always thought I'd get married really young, but young is almost over."

"Yeah," she said honestly. "Me too." But when Shannon thought of the future, she thought of her and Boone, with two little kids and another one on the way – maybe with a dog and a big white house with a pool … but that would never happen.

That night, Andy invited Shannon to a party, and by the end of it, he was drunk as hell, Shannon only slightly drunk, and making out in his car. When they got to her house, she invited him in, but right before they were about to dispense of the remainder of their clothes, something in Shannon's mind clicked. What was she doing? She wanted a friggin' boyfriend, not a one-night-stand! "Um," she said, "Andy? Don't you think this is a little fast?"

"What?"

"I think we should stop," she insisted.

"You can't just lead a guy on an' leave him hanging'?"

"Yeah, I can. So how abut you go home, drink some coffee, and call me tomorrow and we'll have a real date then?"

"What?" he said angrily. But five minutes later he was gone.

And… he called her the next morning to apologize for his behavior and ask her to breakfast and Shannon happily accepted. Shannon gave one thing to Andy; he really knew how to impress a girl. He took her to a fancy restaurant, and they sat outside and he complimented her constantly. At the end, they shared a tender kiss and that was that. Shannon thought she might actually be developing a crush on him.

That evening, Shannon was primping by the mirror when the doorbell rang. She had been so distracted in trying to impress Andy that she had forgotten about Boone and his new girlfriend coming for dinner. Fuck. She so did not want to do this. She considered pretending to be sick, but then realized that Boone would see right through that. Maybe she would be nice to her and then turn it around and be totally awful to her. Yes, that should be fun. She smiled to the mirror and scampered down the stairs.

"Hi… Emily?" She said breathlessly to the girl, who Boone had his arm around. Not jealous, not jealous, not jealous… "Hi," she said to him quietly. He gave her that special smile that he reserved only for her. "Sabrina's in the kitchen, yelling at Karen or something!" She said brightly. She looked at Emily – yup, she was blonde, tall and looked ridiculously smiley.

"I'm Shannon, by the way."

"Yeah, I know! Boone told me all about you!" Great, she was an exclamation-point girl. "I think it's so cute how you guys are so close!" Shannon wondered if the idea of them fucking was so cute (!) too. She noticed he was blushing.

"Yeah!" Shannon exclaimed. "I haven't even really said hello, yet!" Hell, if Emily was going to be an exclamation-point girl, Shannon could, too. Without further ado, she gave Boone a big hug and a kiss on the cheek, just to bother him, and then she gave Emily a little squeeze too. Yeah, she could totally do phony.

"Oh, hello," said Sabrina, finally arriving. "Sorry for the delay, Karen was overcooking the lobster." Boone and Shannon smiled at each other. Emily didn't seem to understand the joke, and Shannon loved that.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Carlyle, I really wanted to because you designed my sister's wedding dress! Also, how did you know lobster is like, my favorite food!"

"Nice to meet you, too, Emily. I guess we'll all go ahead and sit down." Shannon sat next to Boone, who sat across from Emily, and Sabrina sat at the end of the table. This was going to be so awkward.

While Sabrina, Emily, and Boone engaged in small talk, Shannon just stared at him, desperate for his reaction. Finally, he looked back, smiled a "stop-that-right-now" smile, and went back to Emily, who was telling Sabrina a dumb story about some cute (!) thing she did in first grade. After a few minutes, Shannon got bored and tapped her foot against Boone's. He kicked it away, but Shannon took this as a response and dug her toe into his calf, climbing her foot higher and higher up his pant leg. He tried to slap it away, but a few seconds later, he was running his foot up and down her leg, too.

"So! Shannon!" Squeaked Emily. "How's your summer!"

"Um…" she started, distracted by the rather R- rated placement of her foot. "Okay. I'm almost done with Summer School," she rolled her eyes. "But I did meet this really –" she dug her foot deeper… "cute – " again, but harder… "Guy yesterday!" She smiled, but to people who knew her better it was more of a smirk. Boone glared at her. "He's a surfer!"

"Oh my god! How cool!"

"I know!" Shannon squealed enthusiastically.

"Well, I met a really cute guy this summer too!" Exclaimed Emily. Shannon laughed exaggeratedly. "And I," Oh god… "Am in…" Shit… "Love!" Fuck you!

"Ha!" She giggled rather menacingly. "Oh look, you embarrassed him!" Please, Emily hadn't embarrassed him, Shannon had her foot jammed into his... Anyway! After they were done eating, Emily asked if she could help with the dishes. Dishes? Please.

"Nonsense, sweetheart, Rosita will do the dishes! I need to catch up with my son, why don't you and Shannon go girl-talk upstairs or something?" Oh! Great!

"Yeah, you should come upstairs, I'll show you this great new hair stuff I just got!"

"Okay!" Damn her and her exclamation points. "Tell me more about your boyfriend!"

"Well… I don't know if he's my boyfriend yet…" They walked up the stairs and into Shannon's room. Emily sat on the bed as Shannon tried to locate said hair stuff.

"We made out," continued Shannon, "But it's not like we're an official couple yet."

"Oh."

"You're not one of those no-sex people, right?" Asked Shannon, "You sound offended."

"Oh no – I was just thinking… no, definitely not a no-sex person!" She laughed. Translation - total slut." Just between you and me, though?"

"Of course." Now she was going to get some good blackmail.

"He is like – "Emily lowered her voice, "So good!" Shannon resisted the urge to say "I know" and instead wrinkled up her nose and said, "Didn't need to know that!"

"Sorry! But he seems to think I'm good, too, he –" Well, thought Shannon, I'll keep that in mind if I ever want to do group.

"Um," said Shannon, "ew." Long, awkward pause. "So, here's this hair stuff. It's for blondes, so I thought you – "

"Hey, Em?" Boone called from the stairs. "My mom is sort of kicking us out,"

Emily giggled. "Okay! Hang on, let me go to the bathroom first!" Emily gave Shannon a little wave and scampered down the stairs.

Walking into Shannon's room, Boone whispered, "I can't believe you!"

Shannon smiled innocently. "Why?"

"You – you…" he blushed and lowered his voice more. " You made me hard at the dinner table!"

"I didn't make you do anything."

"God, you're such a bitch," he shook his head, smiling in spite of himself.

"You love it," Shannon said, stepping a little closer.

"You made me hard at the dinner table!" He sputtered again.

"I could do it again if you'd like," she said seductively, running her hand down his arm.

"Are you drunk?"

"No, I'm not drunk! I'm just – "

"Pathetically horny? You want to do your brother when he's here with a committed, serious relationship – are you that desperate to get laid?"

"No! I – "

"I should go. I'll see you." He attempted to kiss her on the cheek, but then moved his lips towards her lips, and then they were kissing in a way that was a little more than friendly. He pulled back, looking a little ashamed. "I've got to go."

"Me too. I'm meeting Andy for dessert." Boone rolled his eyes. "You are a boyfriend's worst nightmare."

"But I hear I make a pretty decent wet dr – "

"You are unbelievable, you know that?" He started leaving, and as he departed, Shannon said, "Hey, Boone?" He looked back dubiously. "You love it."