Painkiller (BoyxBoy)

7. Blue Dream

Shane

He had to admit to himself that talking to Jeremy helped take his mind off a lot of the things that had been bothering him. Meghan was one of those things but after she snapped at him, Shane found himself thinking about his sister and what she was up to and that was not a topic he needed clogging up his mind when he was working on his homework.

He had managed to finish up his homework while he listened to Jeremy describe what his day had been like. And while the older boy hadn't done anything people would deem exciting that day, Shane still found himself focusing on him and giving him his rapt attention, until his parents came home from their trip and once he was done helping them, he did not hesitate to call the boy again. 

Come Monday morning, Shane couldn't be happier. Now that the two boys knew what classes they shared, he was excited to see Jeremy again.

Shane carpooled with Dave, Tris, and Meghan to school. His girlfriend had almost refused to sit in the same car as Shane but after a few compromises and a promise to be a better boyfriend, she sat in the back next to him. It was awkward, especially for Dave and Tris. Shane was aware that Meghan had told her friend what happened over the weekend and now Dave was aware too. Meghan being so angry with Shane didn't do much to help the situation. She didn't acknowledge him the entire car ride which made it incredibly awkward for him since she looked away whenever he tried to make conversation with her.

What else could he do except say sorry?

When they got to school, he tried his luck and linked his fingers with Meghan's, eyes widening in surprise when she didn't resist him. On the way to the building, Shane noticed Lizbeth, the girl that Meghan and Tris had tried to set up with Ethan, talking to Max who was the captain of the football team.

"How did things go between Ethan and Liz?" He asked his friends when they got to their lockers.

"I'm honestly not sure," Meghan answered. "It's as if he likes her one day and can't tolerate her the next."

"Yeah, which makes it incredibly awkward for both her and us," Tris added. "I'm not sure he actually likes her romantically so we may as well stop now."

"It would be cool if they got together though," Meghan sighed dreamily. "Then we all could hang out on dates."

Shane grimaced as she said that. If there was one thing he disliked about Meghan, it was how she always made up dreamy fantasies in her mind with the hope that they'd come through. He knew that once her fantasies were squashed with a dose of reality, she'd be sad and moody which wasn't something he wanted to deal with.

Ethan had arrived then and as soon as he was near them, Shane couldn't help himself. He wanted to get it out in the open sooner than later.

"So, about Liz," he started and Ethan glanced at him, holding his gaze. Shane wanted to understand from Ethan's perspective if there was anything remotely serious between him and Liz and if there was, he thought his friend deserved to know what she was doing with Max.

"What is it this time?" Ethan asked with an eye-roll, sounding almost annoyed to hear about Liz again.

"I heard she's dating Max," said Tris, who then grumbled to herself, "I saw them kiss too."

Ethan frowned when Tris said that, which made Shane curious. Shane wondered if something had actually happened between the two and he became even more concerned when his friend just shrugged like it did not matter to him.

"What?" Ethan questioned when the group wouldn't stop looking at him.

Meghan cleared her throat. "Well, don't you like her? I mean, you guys were hitting it off a couple of weeks ago, right?" She asked and Ethan chuckled.