Chapter 35 – Moving On?

Shannon watched as Sun scampered out to the beach in a blue bikini. She seemed perfectly content, holding a towel absently in her hand, when suddenly, Jin came out of nowhere and started screaming at her in Korean. She had no idea what he was saying, but according to the expression on Sun's face, it wasn't anything especially nice.

Most men liked to see women in skimpy clothing (American men, anyway), so Shannon was rather confused why Jin would be so upset about her outfit. Apparently, so was Michael, who just had to butt in and usual. He began yelling as well, but Shannon wasn't paying attention. She was recalling how Boone used to react when Shannon would walk outside to the lawn chair and lie on a towel in her skimpiest swimsuit, the one with the neckline that swooped across ample cleavage that she knew he liked best, and stretch out onto her back. When the temperature hit 90, or when Sabrina left the house, whichever came first, Boone would come outside and sit on the chair next to her with some lemonade for himself and Diet iced tea for her that she had requested, and then he would lean over, tickling the sides of her stomach absently. She would flip up her sunglasses, giggling uncontrollably (it so sucked to be the ticklish one), grabbing his wrists to stop him. But he was rather persistent, and one time, she ended up pushing him into the pool, and his body hitting the water made a satisfying splash. Since her arm was latched onto his wrist, she toppled in after him, and she shot out of the water moments later, gasping for air, as he followed suit.

"I hate you," she panted, pressing him into the concrete of the pool wall. Entwining her legs with his, she hoisted herself up against him, his clothes soaking wet, and started to heartily kiss him.

He smirked, not seeming to notice that his hundred and fifty dollar designer jeans (he probably didn't even know they were designer, his fucking mother still shopped for him) were drenched in chlorine, kissing her more, and switching their directions so that he was pushing her against the wall.

Shannon smiled at the memory, more of a wistful smile than one of amusement, and, as she saw someone walking by with a tarp, she decided that the one way to distract herself from thinking about Boone was to do something else – like build herself a shelter, finally.

She walked quickly towards the person, a rather ugly man who resembled some sort of pig. "Hi," she smiled. The man looked at her, frowning, giving her a strange look. "What?" Shannon kept the smile pasted on her face.

"You mean you haven't heard the rumors?" He asked her.

"What rumors?" Her smile began to wan.

"The rumors," he wrinkled his nose. "About you, and him." He nodded towards Boone, who was currently walking across the beach with Locke.

"That's crazy," she laughed, but her mind was circling with obscenities. "He's my brother."

"I'll tell Jessica, then, but she won't believe me."

Shannon decided not to ask who this Jessica was, her mind lingering on his profession of "rumors" and instead got to the point. "What do you want for that tarp?" The man shrugged. "You want some sunscreen? Or how about my dinner?"

"It's alright, you can just have it," he almost threw it in her face and dashed off, like he was afraid of her or something. She folded the tarp in her hands, frowning uncertainly. Then she realized that she needed some sort of platform to tie the tarp to. She wasn't really thinking about that, though – her mind was still wondering what those people had heard, and if they would spread the rumor to the rest of the people on the island, like Sayid, for example. But what was bothering most was that the rumors were true, she thought, as she let her mind wander again…

"Boone," she moaned, running her fingers through his wet hair.

"Do you want me to stop?"

"What kind of stupid question is that?" She had sneered.

"Well, sorry, I just – "

She covered his lips with her hand. "Just shut up and feel me up, okay?" But he couldn't answer because she had already started making out with him again.

"Can I just take this off?" He asked, regarding the minimal swimsuit top. She nodded a little too eagerly, accidentally bumping into his nose with her chin. "Damnit," he laughed. "Shit, that hurt."

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "Want a kiss to make it better?"

"Dear god, no." He joked in mock-horror.

"What do you want then?" She asked suggestively. Without further ado, he pulled her flush against him and started untying the halter straps of her swimsuit. She buried her head in his neck, licking and biting his ear.

"What the hell is it with you and my ear?" She heard him say.

"I don't know," she said breezily. "For some reason it just really turns me on." She nodded matter-of-factly. "Your ear, this one, actually – " she nibbled on his right ear, "is like, my favorite part of your body. Well, one of them, anyway." She kicked him in the crotch.

"Ow!" He pushed her away. "You're so violent!"

Shannon laughed. "That's what you get for tickling me."

Later that day, after successfully finding a platform to tie the tarp to, she was trying to figure out how to tie it. Brian had once tried to teach her to tie up a boat to the dock, but she was having trouble remembering. Just then, Sayid materialized behind her, breathing annoyingly in her ear. She laughed uncomfortably, stepping away from him.

"I tied this side down, do you think it's going to hold?" She asked him.

"Do you have a past in the Navy you neglected to tell me about?" Oh, ha ha, she thought, very funny. She rolled her eyes, almost laughing at his stupidity, but as usual, he misinterpreted it.

"Why?"

"How does a woman like you learn how to tie a perfect bolen knot?" Okay, so what did he mean by "a woman like you", anyway? She smiled though, she could use the company now that Boone was… whatever.

"By dating guys with sailboats?" She thought of the unbelievably gigantic Brian.

"Since you bring it up, I've been worried since I first met you that you might end up an old spinster." Okay… what the fuck? She imagined she and Boone making fun of him later for saying that. Only, that obviously wasn't going to happen. So instead, she thought, if Boone had said that, what would have she said back?

"Spending my Saturday nights alone, tying knots?" She laughed uncomfortably again.

"Perhaps with an overweight Aunt? It's a very sad image." Again, what the bloody fuck was he talking about? She couldn't help it, she laughed at him. He closed his eyes part way, chuckling hilariously in an unflattering way. She wished she had a camera so that she could show the expression on his face to Boone later, and he would laugh about it with her. What would she say if this were Boone?

"Maybe we should get some rope, spend a Saturday night alone together, and see what happens." She looked back at Sayid, realizing in fear that it actually was Sayid, not Boone, and now she had sort of asked him out and sort of suggested doing him as well. Fuck!

Sayid smiled in a perverted way. "I have a feeling we might not just be tying rope to rope." Ew, he liked S&M! Disgusting! Okay, so maybe he didn't mean it that way, but… now it was too late, as Shannon was cracking up uncontrollably. "Shannon?" He asked in a confused voice. "I'm going to go get some lunch. Do you want me to get you anything?"

"God, no." She blurted out, but then she smiled sweetly and said, "No, thank you."

The next day, Shannon was working on her shelter again, and Sayid walked by right as her tarp started to fly off of the platform again. But when she asked him for help, he refused, totally blowing her off, and that was when Shannon knew that Boone was responsible. Now, not only was she hopelessly in love with him, but she was pissed. How dare he be such a hypocrite, pushing her away from him like she was a disease, and then butting in when she tried to move on! So she did the only thing she knew how to do – she went looking for him, and of course as she walked towards the jungle, trying to find Boone or at least Locke, she thought more about that day when they had fallen into the pool.

She swam up to him again. "I think that's enough punishment for now. You wanna finish what you – " She gestured to her straying swimsuit straps. He untied them with ease, and she removed the top completely, pressing her bare breasts into his soaked t-shirt. "Aren't you feeling a little hot wearing all those clothes?" She asked, unbuckling his belt and quickly unzipping the fly on his pants, dragging them down. Then she expertly dunked her head under the water and did what she wanted, pulling his boxers back up as she came up for air. She snickered at the expression of awe pasted on his face. They switched places again, so that she was against the wall, and kissed down her cleavage. She sighed in satisfaction, reaching up to match her lips and tongue with his again. She didn't know how long they had been making out when suddenly Boone pulled away.

"Shit," He suddenly said.

"What?" She giggled, her face nearing his again.

"No, seriously, put your swimsuit back on. You hear that?"

"Hear what?" She rolled her eyes. "Is it one of those birds you studied at that birdwatcher thing you and your stupid uncle – " He gave her a glare of death.

"My mother is getting out of her car, actually." Shannon heard the beep-beep noise of the BMW locking, and she quickly moved herself from the wall, tying her swimsuit on and returning to her position in front of him.

"Shit!" She exclaimed, a little louder than what was necessary. What could she say, she rather enjoyed pissing off Sabrina. But Boone wasn't amused as he wrestled Shannon away from him, and tried to put his pants back on, and saw Sabrina's shadow appearing next to the fence.

"What's going on?" She heard her stepmother's tinny voice from outside the gate.

"Boone pushed me into the fucking pool," Shannon swore as Sabrina approached. Sabrina looked at Shannon and Boone judgmentally.

"Shannon, don't use that kind of lang – what do you mean, Boone pushed you into the pool?"

"Well, I was just sitting here, minding my own business," she started in an innocent voice, "When all of the sudden, Boone comes up, and pushes me into the pool." Sabrina looked at Boone questionably. "And then, I pulled him in with me because he deserved it."

"Boone wouldn't just push you into the pool for no reason," Sabrina responded lightly. "Honestly Shannon, grow up, you're embarrassing me – I've got clients here. And Boone, sweetheart," she smiled at Boone, who clearly thought he was off the hook. "You owe me a hundred and fifty dollars if those jeans get ruined." Just then, an earthy looking woman and a man with a large nose entered the yard behind Sabrina. Sabrina gave them her signature "don't you dare embarrass me" look, so of course Shannon was inclined to do just so.

"Hi," she said loudly to the people. "I'm Shannon, and this is my evil stepbrother, Boone. I presume you've already met the evil stepmother." She smiled cheekily.

"Hey," the earthy woman smiled. "Are you the rebellious kid? I was the rebellious kid."

Shannon grinned. "Yep, that would be me." She stepped out of the pool, wrapping herself in a towel, ignoring Sabrina's expression of disdain regarding Shannon's swimsuit, one that she would later proclaim "suited for a whore". She tiptoed across the burning patio and into the house, and then Boone totally felt her up in the shower.

When Shannon found Locke, he was sitting on a stump peacefully gutting rats. God, the guy was a freak! "Oh, gross," she blurted out.

"Gross to you, dinner to me." He calmly answered, like he didn't know what had happened a few nights ago.

"Boone, where is he?" She asked.

"Don't know." He said simply.

"What do you mean you don't know? You guys are like jungle pals."

"Sorry, I haven't seen him."

"Well, if you do see him, tell him to keep his stupid mouth shut. And if he does have something to say, he can leave Sayid out of it, and come say it to my face." This wasn't actually at all what she meant, she really wanted him to come say something to her face.

"Should I be writing this down?" He quipped.

"Just tell him to stay out of my business." Or in my business, she thought, just not both.

"Do you like him?"

"What?" She asked in fear.

"Sayid?" Shannon breathed a sigh of relief.

"Are you serious?" Fuck, no, she didn't like Sayid.

"Because if you do, like him, what's it got to do with your brother? You're a grown woman. Sure, you can yell at Boone 'til you're blue in the face, but all you're doing is giving him what he wants." What did that mean? Wasn't Boone like, over her?

"Yeah, what's that?" She asked.

"Your attention. Everyone gets a new life on this island. Maybe it's time to start yours." Or maybe it was time to make Boone really fucking jealous, she thought.

So, she recycled Locke's words, using them in explanation of kissing Sayid, even though she didn't even believe herself when she said them. Because when they kissed, she wasn't thinking about him. She was thinking about how Boone had pressed her into the tiles of the shower, crashing his lips into hers as if their lives depended on it.

Damn, that sucked, didn't it? I know I'm cheap for desperately trying to convince myself that Shannon never liked Sayid, but you know, I had to… dilute it. But I'm glad I'm done with that part. Except now I have to live through the whole making out thing in Do No Harm. And I have to write Do No Harm! Noooooo! Do you think that the smutty flashbacks are stupid, or good? Please review, thanks!