~Chapter Two~
Juliet held the ice bucket with a firm hand as she closed the door with the other, rolled her eyes back into her head, and sighed. It had been a very long two weeks and, somehow, ever since they had gotten off the plane, she and Shawn had managed to avoid each other. The plane ride itself was fifty-seven different flavors of awkward, however.
In her fancy Italian hotel slippers, she crept along down the hall with her free hand occasionally gliding on her forehead to the little side room with the vending and ice machines. Under her ratty old terrycloth bathrobe, she wore a limp pink t-shirt and fabric softener-drenched black sweatpants. Her long blond hair was still damp from the shower she had taken earlier.
She turned the corner and her eyes filled with green as her nose filled with pineapple.
"Shawn!" she exclaimed quietly, nearly dropping the ice bucket.
His soft brown hair snapped up with the rest of his head, freezing the rest of his body in its current position (trying to force a dollar into the vending machine).
"Jules, hey," he greeted almost half-heartedly.
She displayed a genuine smile at that. For the past two weeks she had been called nothing but "Juliet". Not that she didn't like her name, but being called "Jules" was definitely something that brightened her day. Even more so since she was only called "Jules" by one man. But that was also part of the problem.
"Just...getting some ice," she stated awkwardly, slightly rattling the bucket clenched in her hand.
Shawn showed off his smile with a slight nod, and Juliet almost lost the support of her legs. She bit the inside of her lip as she maneuvered around him to the ice machine, trying to make as little eye contact as possible, but still being polite. The less she looked in his eyes, the longer she would last. The longer she wouldn't break down.
But as she passed him, the shoulder of her bathrobe ran against the shoulder of his green pajama top. Juliet bit her lip harder, and nearly punched the ice button.
"Uh, you do realize you'll have to catch that, don't you?" Shawn inquired, with a hint of tension the blond didn't pick up on.
For the first time, she actually looked at the machine, and let out a shrill cry of shock. She had forgotten to put the bucket under the dispenser, and now an avalanche of ice cubes was bouncing off the grate and onto the carpeted floor.
Plink! Crattle!
Plink! Crattle!
Plink! Crattle!
Juliet bend down and frantically started tossing the ice into her bucket, though it was coming out faster.
Shawn forgot about his Butterfinger and took a few steps to the left, pounding on the avalanche machine with his fist until the loud whirring ceased and the ice stopped tumbling. He then dropped to his knees and aided Juliet with the collection.
Their hands passed over the same ice cluster at the same time, and it was like someone pressed the pause button, keeping their hands in the same place. Both Shawn and Juliet refused to look at each other's eyes and just stared at their contact. Eventually, though, their hands began to numb from the cold, and they had to retract. Juliet closed her eyes and breathed slowly through her nose.
"Thank you," she whispered simply and tossed the remainder of the ice quickly into the bucket. She then got up to dump it down the grate and get some non-carpet flavored ice.
After a moment, Shawn got up too, and faced the blond at an angle.
"Jules?"
She failed to show any form of response.
"Jules, look at me," he said more firmly, but still just as gentle. "Forget the kiss for a moment."
At this, Juliet looked him dead in the eyes. This was a Serious-Shawn moment.
(A/N: Short, I know. But trust me, it's for the better.)