Butterflies || Shawn Hunter

Chapter 2: More Than Nice

Shawn and I walked in complete silence to the movie theater, his hands in his pockets as we strolled along the sidewalk. After we got our tickets I gravitated over to the concession stand, him just following me as he brushed his hair back.

"Do you want to share a popcorn," I suggested, knowing how pricey the menu was.

"I can pay for my own," he stated.

"No, I just meant, I thought we might as well share, so that... Okay," I agreed after tripping over my words, us just doing separate orders. Even though I was headed for one of the middle rows, Shawn had already found one in the back, propping his shoes against the back of the seat in front of him.

"Cory and I always sit back here. That way we don't get in trouble when we're loud."

"Why would you be loud," I slowly asked.

"Have you heard him talk about Topanga? He never shuts up about her. I swear he talks about her more than he's with her," he almost laughed, touching his hair before diving his hand into his large popcorn. I just timidly ate my small order, taking a sip of my Pepsi in the same size. "So, do you know if this movie's any good?"

I looked at him like he had grown two heads, the music over the speakers still playing as people waited or arrived for the motion picture. "It's the number one movie in the world right now. It's like set to make 2 billion dollars in the box office."

"Yeah, but is it good?"

"Of course it's good! It has Leonardo DiCaprio in it."

"Okay, okay." He held his hands up slightly in surrender, ignoring me as he stared at the black screen before us.

"I'm sorry. I'm horrible at being social, so if I said anything to make you upset..."

Before Shawn could react the previews had started, the noise blasting through the speakers as I sighed softly. It was weird being in a dark room with Shawn for at least three hours, him yawning about halfway through the movie as he kept eating. I thought I would finally be able to handle it, but during the end scene tears streamed down my face like it had been the first time I saw it. Eventually the film was over, and Shawn led the way as he discarded his empty containers, me doing the same even though I still had some popcorn and pop left.

"Hey, are you crying," he asked, noticing the traces of black mascara below my eyes as I sniffled. We were now in the cool night, the wind lightly ruffling our hair as we stood by a thin tree in the sidewalk.

"I couldn't help it. It has such a sad ending," I spoke, him just looking at me. "I'm sorry. I probably look like a mess right now."

"You don't look that bad," he quietly said, giving me a weak smile as I did the same.

"Thanks."

"So, do you want me to walk you home? It's pretty dark now."

"That would be nice. Thank you." We gently padded across the cement, street lamps illuminating our path. "What time is it?"

"I have no idea," he admitted as dogs barked in the distance.

"We have that test in Mr. Feeny's class tomorrow. I hope it's not too hard."

"Really? You're worried about it? You get the right answers even when you're not paying attention."

"Well, that was just a lucky guess last time," I blushed, looking anywhere but at him. "To be honest I can't study too much or I get stressed and I do worse."

"You're kidding. So, you don't study and you still get A's?" He squinted his eyes at me as I felt the heat rising to my cheeks.

"Well, yeah..."

He shook his head as he gazed into the night ahead of us, it seeming to get colder as the wind picked up occasionally.

"I hate school though. I have since the first day of kindergarten."

"No kidding? But you're smart, and you probably know where you're going in life."

"I have no idea, Shawn," I calmly interrupted. "Most of the time I'm just trying to get through the week."

Silence followed as he turned his head, briefly biting his lower lip as our pace seemed to keep becoming slower as we conversed. "You're a lot different than I thought you would be. Not like that's a bad thing," he added, almost laughing.

"This is my stop."

"What?" He looked directly at me as I checked out my house right next to us.

"This is where I live."

"Nice place." He chewed his lower lip before just staring at it, his mouth open a tiny bit.

"Not really. I mean, it's only one floor and it needs a lot of work done."

"But it's in one place, and let me guess, you have a mom and a dad."

"Yeah."

"Then it's more than nice." I actually locked eyes with his as it seemed that we were sharing a moment, it getting shattered fairly quickly since I broke our eye contact.

"Um, I'll see you at school tomorrow? I mean, is it okay if I keep hanging out with you guys?"

He looked at me cluelessly with his mouth still open a little before reacting. "Oh. Yeah, with all three of us. Why would we care?" He scrunched his face briefly as I gave him a warm smile.

"You know, I would give anything to have friends like you do."

"Now you do," he stated, giving me a nice smile as I felt a warmth in my tummy.

"Goodnight, Shawn."

"Yeah, goodnight," he echoed, watching me as I jogged up my front porch steps, only leaving after I had been inside for a short while. I peeked through the curtains until he officially left, my heart bursting with happiness.

A/N: Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I love writing for Shawn so much! Please remember to comment, vote, and follow. Thank you so much! <3