Forever & Always

Chapter 28

I woke up first the next morning, and went downstairs to make some breakfast, since I knew Shane was going to need to eat something. I mixed up some batter and made some pancakes, which I had just finished up making when I heard Shane start coming down the stairs. He sat down at the island, looking a little worse for wear, but better than he could've looked, I'm sure. 

"Hey," I said, turning around and sticking a plate of pancakes in front of him. 

"Hey," he mumbled in surprise. "Did you make these?"

I nodded. "I figured after the night you had, you were probably going to need them," I answered with a small chuckle. 

He smirked, bringing back that classic Shane that I remembered. "How are you feeling?" I asked, handing him a knife to cut the pancakes up. 

"I could be worse," he said, with a slight laugh himself. "Thanks for helping me, really." 

He was looking at me with those eyes again. God dammit. 

"Look, Riley, I'm sorry that I showed up here last night," he said. "I shouldn't have come here, and definitely not drunk. I just was drinking out of emotion last night, which is something I don't do unless I'm at a party or something, and I didn't know what to do." He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "I guess I got it in my head that if I came over here, we would be able to fix this. I didn't take into consideration half of us here would be plastered beyond belief." 

I chuckled slightly. "Well it was my turn to be plastered, but you did it really well, so I'll let it pass." 

He laughed too and there we were again, feeling like ourselves. It was strange and different somehow, though. I turned back to the stove and put some pancakes on a plate for me. Shane was eating too so all was quiet. 

"I got a job yesterday," I mentioned randomly. I didn't even mean for it to come out of my mouth, it just kind of did. 

"Wow, that's great," Shane said. "Where at?" 

"The diner," I replied, putting another piece of pancake in my mouth to hopefully stop more words coming out. 

"Wow, that's really great," Shane said with a tired smile. "I'm really happy for you."

Then, again, silence. Shane finished his pancakes and slid the empty plate away from him. I hated how awkward the whole thing felt and I didn't like that I now had had two mornings of awkward encounters with him. It was like I couldn't escape the whole thing. 

After about five minutes of what felt like unending silence, Shane sighed and stood up. 

"I guess I should be going," he said in a exhausted and disgruntled tone. 

He put his hands into his pockets, not remembering that I had taken his keys. I set my plate down, went into the dining room and then returned to the kitchen with his keys. 

"I didn't want you to try driving home in the state you were in," I explained to him and he gave me a grateful smile. 

I almost didn't want him to leave. I wanted to go back to the way we were so badly. I just couldn't unsee what I had walked in on at the party and I didn't know why it was tattooed into my memory the way it was. It was frustrating. 

Shane started to walk towards the door, but stopped with his hand on the knob. He turned around and looked at me strangely for a minute. Then, he walked over to me and, without warning, wrapped his arms around me again. I was surprised at first, but I put my hands around him too. 

"I meant it," he said into my ear as he held me close. "I miss this, and I miss us, together."

I closed my eyes, pretending this was all okay again. I know, I keep saying all of these things about how I wish things were different, and yet I was the only thing standing in the way of us getting back together.