Only the Curious Have Something to Find

Chapter 8

Note: Sorry this is a little late, guys. The school year is coming to an end, and they have been loading the shit down hard. I only have two weeks left (and next week is only 4 days!) but then after that I have exams until the 23rd, its only five days worth, but its spread across three weeks for some retarded regents reason, so updates are gonna be a little slow. I'm really sorry guys, but exams do need to come first –depressed sigh–

Ahem, anyway! ENJOY!

--

The car pulled into the drive way hesitantly, as if its driver didn't want to be there. Inside Carlton Lassiter tightened his grip on the wheel a little before turning to his passenger, Shawn Spencer, who was staring at his with a strange, dreamy look in his eye.

The two just stared at each other for a long moment, words not needed. For once the silence wasn't this crushing, paralyzing, awkward quiet. It was…

"Perfection." Shawn spoke aloud.

Lassiter's lips quirked up a bit, "Excuse me?"

"This night. It was…"

"Perfection." They said at once, soft, almost embarrassed smiles creeping across their lips.

"Its definitely something I want to do again."

"Me too, definitely."

There was another moment of the tender silence, before Shawn leaned forward and kissed Lassiter on the cheek. "I had a really good time." He said quietly, before pulling back fully.

A blush found its way into Lassiter's cheeks, "Me too, Shawn." He said equally quiet.

Shawn smiled and opened his car door. "I'll call you later…night, Lassie."

"Night, Shawn." He said back as the door shut. He sat in the driveway, watching as Shawn walked slowly to the front door, as if he didn't want to leave. When he finally unlocked the door and opened it he turned and gave Lassiter a heartwarming smile and a half wave. Lassiter returned the half wave and Shawn disappeared into the dark inside of his home.

Lassiter gently touched his cheek, a warmness creeping through his whole body from that one spot. "Good night, Shawn." He whispered again, his eyes drifting up to Shawn's bedroom window, where the had just turned on, before he put the car in reverse and pulled away, not so unaware of the figure that watched him from that same window.

--

Shawn watched Lassiter pull away from his bedroom window, the smile still on his face. He stayed there, leaning on the windowsill like some clichéd movie heroine. He continued to watch long after the taillights went out of view. Only when he heard a voice from the doorway did he tear his eyes away.

"Have a good time?" The amused voice of his father asked.

Shawn turned and smiled dreamily at his father, who stood holding a half-drunk, half-cold coffee mug.

"You could say that."

Walking to his bed Shawn let himself fall onto it, lying on his back and looking upside-down at his father. Henry had a pleased look on his face, his eyes filled with happiness for Shawn. "I'm glad, son." He said, his voice conveying the joy in his eyes.

Shawn didn't bother to reply, his smile just widened and he closed his eyes, drifting off. Henry shook his head, the fond smile still on his face, before reaching onto the wall and flicking the lights off.

"G'night, lover boy."

--

It was only until eight AM that Gus could hold himself from calling. Shawn lazily reached and answered the phone beside his bed. "H'llo?"

"So, how was it??"

"Hmm?"

"How was last night??"

"Gus it's like two AM."

"It's eight, Shawn."

"Same thing. I'm gonna hang up and you can call me later." Shawn actually had no intention of doing that, he was now fully awake and ready to relay the previous nights events to his best friend. He just liked to make Gus squirm.

"If you hang up I'm just gonna come to your house and smack you until you tell me every detail."

"That's kinky and creepy…too bad you're like a brother to me. Incest isn't really a turn on-"

"Shawn."

"All right, all right, fine." Shawn sat up, trying to remember how he'd gotten out of his jeans and under the covers as he did so, before clearing his throat theatrically to begin. He relayed everything, the flower, the shock of Lassiter putting his arm around him, the holding hands, the diner, the kiss on the cheek. Gus didn't interrupt, except a few 'No way!'s here and a gasp 'Aww, really??' there. Shawn finally concluded with, "It was…I mean, I don't even know what to say, Gus."

"Wow, that's a first."

"Seriously! I mean, no words can describe this kind of perfection."

"I'm sure there's several you just don't know."

"Stuff it, big boy."

Gus just snorted, "So there was no kiss? Like on the lips?"

"A girl does not kiss and tell, Gus."

"But you did kiss, and you did tell."

"That's on the cheek, it doesn't count."

"So a kiss on the cheek isn't a kiss?"

"Of course it is."

"You just contradicted yourself."

"You just contradicted your mom."

"Wow, that was mature."

"Can we get back to the topic of my date, please?!"

"Right. Sorry…so you didn't kiss kiss him, eh?"

"No. I felt like he would think I was easy if I did."

"Shawn, anyone who's spent five seconds with you knows that you're not easy in any sense of the word."

"Thank you, Gus!" Shawn said, sounding genuinely grateful, "…I think."

Gus snorted and shook his head. "I can't believe he brought you a flower that's so…for lack of a better word, cute."

"I know, right?! I couldn't stop myself from jumping on him when he did that, I mean it was so…heart warming. I couldn't help it."

"Oh my God, that's adorable." Gus paused for a second before saying, "You do realize we sound like total girls right now, don't you?"

"Hey, I'm gay. What's your excuse?"

--

"You gave him a flower?!" Juliet squealed into the phone, making Lassiter jump and pull the phone from his ear – giving him an intense sense of déjà vu.

"Well, yea…"

"Oh my God, Carlton, that is the cutest thing ever!!" He could just see Juliet bouncing with excitement, "You've got to be the most amazing boyfriend ever to grace mankind."

"I–ha, I'm not his boyfriend."

"Oh please, you totally are. I mean he freaking kissed you!"

"On the cheek."

"That's still a kiss!"

"I know…"

"Oh my God. This is so cute…I literally have no words for this. Oh my God, Carlton…"

"God's probably annoyed that you keep saying his name." Lassiter joked.

"Oh hush, you. Do not interrupt me while I'm praising you're adorable-ness!"

"I am a Lassiter and if there's one thing we Lassiters are not it is adorable."

"Oh please, if there's one thing you Lassiter men are it's ridiculous." Came Claudia Lassiter's voice from the doorway. The teen turned to see his mother standing there, wearing a thin, light pink robe over he long nightgown, smirk on her face.

"Hey, Juliet, can I call you back? My mom has that 'I want to talk to you really, really badly but I'm trying as best as I can to suppress it' look on her face."

"What?" Claudia laughed.

"Oh, I know that look. Go, chat with her. But you damn well better call me as the second you are done chatting!!"

"I will, later Jules." It wasn't until after he hung up that he realized he'd used Shawn's nickname for Juliet.

"So," Claudia said, taking her son from his thoughts, as she came and sat on the edge of his bed that he lay on. "I was already asleep when you got home last night…how was it?" She seemed to be suppressing a girlish excitement similar to Juliet's.

"It was…amazing." Lassiter said, blushing a little as his mom laughed excitedly. He felt like a teenage girl chatting with her mother about whatever girls talked about. He was almost waiting for something about the monthly cycle would pop up, if it did he knew he would be permanently scarred.

And yet, he loved talking to his mother like this. He did it all the time. Ever since he was a little boy, an awkward, quiet little boy, his mother had always been his best friend. He always knew he could talk to her about something, anything.

And Shawn was definitely something.

"He loved the flower." He laughed a little, "Thanks for letting me take on, again."

"Oh please, that is damn near one of the cutest things I've ever heard. How could I say no to my baby boy trying to impress his little boyfriend?" She said in a gushy baby-talk voice as she patted him on his cheeks. Lassiter swatted her hands away.

"He hugged me as soon as I handed it to him." Claudia let out a loud 'Aww!!' and the teen shook his head. "You and Juliet are one in the same, I swear. She had all the same reactions in all the same places."

Claudia snorted and shook her head. "So, what else? Did anything else happen? A kiss maybe??"

Lassiter looked away and, blushing deeply, said "He kissed me on the cheek before he left." Claudia let out another loud profession of her excitement.

"What's all this noise about?" The two turned to see George standing in the doorway, a steaming coffee mug in hand.

"Carlton's just telling me how his little date went last night."

"Mom!"

"You went on a date last night?"

"Yes, honey, didn't you notice when Juliet was here and picking out an outfit for him?"

"Mom!"

"Oh, sweetie, calm down."

"Who'd you go out with? That boy we went to dinner with…uh, Shawn?"

Lassiter could remember when he came out to his parents. Well, his father. His mother had actually told him he was gay before he got to courage to tell her. He was a little nervous about his dad, and when he finally got the balls to do it he stood next to his mother, looked his father in the eye and said, 'Dad, I'm gay.'

He'd been prepared for rage, for tears, for any extreme emotion. What he was not prepared for was the blank stare. 'So…you're happy, so what?'

George Lassiter could be so clueless sometimes.

That particular statement literally made Claudia burst into tears she was laughing so hard. It wasn't until she'd caught her breath that she'd explained her husband's error in thinking. His only response to that had been, 'Ooh…so you like men, so what?' Lassiter was beyond happy that his father had reacted that way, but George still had yet to live that night down.

"Yes, I took Shawn to the movies."

"Aww, well isn't that sweet!" George said in a high-pitched imitation of Claudia. In retaliation she threw a t-shirt, which had been neatly sitting on the chair near Lassiter's bed, at her husband hitting him right on the head were it sat until he pulled it off.

"Mature, Clauds."

"Don't provoke me and I won't throw things at you, dear."

"So you gonna do it again?"

"Throw a t-shirt at you?"

"I was talking to our son, dear."

Lassiter laughed aloud and shook his head at his parents. On the outside the Lassiter parents seemed like no-nonsense, strict, well-to-do parents, and sometimes they were, but when it was just them in the house…lord, they were like two school children. Cutting in before his mother could say another childish comment, Lassiter responded, "Go on another date? Yea. We both agreed its something we want to do again. He said he'd call me."

"Code for don't go for the phone if it rings because you may lose an arm." George called behind him as he walked down the hallway. Claudia laughed and stood to follow her husband.

Before leaving she turned to Lassiter and kissed him tenderly on the forehead, "I'm happy for you baby, you deserve each other."

Lassiter smiled and his mother walked out. He sat there for a moment, just contemplating everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. He was pulled from his thoughts when the phone rang. He leaned over and checked the caller ID to see it was a certain best friend of his. He picked the phone up.

"Jesus, Juliet, are you watching me through the window or something?!"

--

Hehe, that made me smile. :D And wow, there was a lot of dialog in this chapter…eh, whatever. Hope you enjoyed it, and sorry it took longer than intended!

Thanks for reading!!

-claire