Spark in the Dark

Chapter 4

Shawn walked into her front door and ran up the steps. Work had run late and she had just enough time to change out of her skimpy black dress and leopard print heels she considered to be work clothes and into a blue sundress. She pulled on her leather jacket and black converse to go with it. Just as she finished tying her shoes, the door bell rang. Shawn checked herself out in her full length mirror quickly and then skipped down the steps.

After taking a deep breath, she opened the front door and smiled at Brent. She met him a couple of weeks before while out with some of the Cara Cara girls. He was cute so she let him buy her a drink when he offered and gave him her number before leaving. They had texted back and forth a few times and then he asked her to dinner.

"Hey," she greeted him as she gave him a quick once over. He was wearing khakis and a tucked in button down shirt. He had his sleeves rolled up and, thankfully, wasn't wearing a tie. He was, however, wearing a very expensive looking watch.

"Wow, you look great," he told her.

"Thank you. You, too."

"Shall we?"

"Yes, let's." He led her down the sidewalk where his black BMW was parked on the street. "Nice ride."

"Thanks. I must admit I got it washed for our date," he said as he opened her car door for her.

"Trying to impress me?"

"Maybe."

He closed her door for her and went around to the driver's side. They made small talk on the way to a restaurant in Stockton that Brent had made a reservation for. After they arrived and were seated at their table Brent began to tell her about himself, mostly about his work as a CPA. He talked. And talked. And talked. Shawn slyly took a peak at her watch, wondering if he'd ever shut up.

"So, enough about me. What do you do?" Dean asked her. Shawn was only half paying attention at that point and almost missed his question entirely.

"I'm a producer." Shawn answered. Brent waited for her to elaborate.

"Of?" He asked when she didn't.

"Short films."

"Oh? Anything I would have seen?"

"You spend a lot of time in the back room of the movie rental place?" She mumbled.

"I'm sorry?"

"No, probably not," she said and drank a large mouthful of wine.

Brent looked confused, but nodded. "Any family?"

"Yea, my dad and two half sisters."

"You guys close?"

"I'm tight with my dad, but my sisters kind of do their own thing."

Their food came and they ate. Shawn tried to navigate the conversation so she didn't have to answer personal questions, which turned out not to be too hard. It turned out that he really liked to talk about himself. She felt like she was being a jerk, but she just wasn't as into him as she thought she would be. They finished eating and Shawn tried to split the bill, but he insisted he pay for dinner.

"Would you perhaps like to go get a drink with me?" Brent asked as they left the restaurant.

"Oh, I can't. I work tomorrow morning and I'm not a morning person as it is," she told him, which wasn't a lie.

Brent agreed to drive her home. They pulled up in front of her house and Brent leaned in and kissed her before she could react. Shawn had to admit, he may have been boring at dinner, but damn, was he a good kisser. She pulled away after a moment and he let her go.

"Well, goodnight," Shawn told him.

"Goodnight, Shawn."

She got out of the car and walked to her front door. She unlocked it and gave him a small wave and he drove away as she shut the door. The date hadn't been a total disaster. He was a perfect gentleman really. If Shawn was being honest with herself, she was the problem. He was too... normal. There was nothing wrong with normal. It's just that Shawn was never going to be the girl next door he could take home to meet his mom.

Shawn climbed the stairs slowly. She ducked into the bathroom to run herself a bath and then continued down the hall to her bedroom to get undressed. She opened to purse to pull out her phone so she could listen to music as she soaked and grabbed a piece of paper instead. Pulling it out to take a look, Shawn saw it was the note from Juice. She smiled while looking at his signature. Juice was cute. Even cuter than Brent. And there was no way she could ever accuse anyone in SAMCRO of being too normal. But Tig would probably kill him if he so much as touched her. Shawn sighed and dropped the note on her dresser before heading into the bathroom.