F*ck Fate! (Book 3)

Chapter Twenty-Two: Falling the Wrong Way

Andy

I was on my way to the dining hall when my phone started ringing in my pocket. I fished it out, and when seeing his name on my screen, smiled.

"Hey Shawn," I said into the phone's speaker. "What's up?"

I never expected him to be the one calling me. But then again, after our dinner together the other night, we had left things in a better place than where we started.

"I have an hour to kill and I'm by your campus. You busy?"

I smiled wider. "I was actually just about to get some lunch. Do you want to join? I'll buy you food, since I have a meal plan."

He moaned. "That would be amazing. I haven't eaten anything all day. I'm starving!"

I chuckled. "Great. How soon can you meet me at the dining hall?"

"I don't know, how about we race?"

To my surprise, his voice came from behind me, not through the phone. I turned, ending the call, to see Shawn leaning against a wall. There was a little grin on his face. It looked good there.

"Race?" I asked. "First off, do you even know where it is? And second, you'd win either way, since you can take stairs and I can't."

Shawn pushed himself off the wall and started walking towards me. "Or... you'd win because even though I can take stairs, I'll probably end up going up the wrong ones."

Without waiting for a reply, he took off. I hurried after him, since he obviously was going in the wrong direction. If we were going to have lunch together, he was actually going to be there with me.

I stopped at the bottom of a staircase Shawn was climbing. "You're going to wrong way," I called up to him.

He stopped and turned around. "Is this the turtle and the bunny kinda thing going on? But backwards, I guess. I'm faster, but you're the one stopping to give me directions."

I shook my head. He never seizes to amaze me by what comes out of his mouth sometimes. "Just get down here, will you?"

With a sigh, Shawn hopped down a step. I watched as his foot missed and he fell. He slid all the way down the stairs until he stopped next to me.

"Are you okay?" I asked, panicked. That looked like it hurt.

Shawn laughed a bit, getting to his feet. "Well, I guess that's the last running I'm doing today. Maybe the week..."

"Are you sure you're okay, though?"

He nodded. "Yeah, of course. Let's go eat."

Shawn took one step before he grabbed hold of the armrest on my chair. One foot was up in the air and he was gasping in pain. "Fuck," he whispered.

I put my hand on his arm, saying the only thing that came to mind in the moment. "You're going to hate this, but sit on my lap."

He looked at me, aghast. "Are you crazy? I'm fine. Let's just go."

I knew he wasn't fine, but I doubted he'd accept any kind of help. I probably came on too strong by telling him to sit on me. I mean, I would love to have him do that, although in a very different context...

"Fine," I said, then cleared my throat. I shouldn't be thinking that about him, especially not here. "Lead the way, hobbles."

Shawn glared at me, but slowly lowered his foot and took his hand off my chair. I watched him as he started walking, limping a little bit. I let him take a few steps before I spoke up.

"You know, you are still going the wrong way."

He sighed at sat down on the bottom step of the staircase. "Just... go have lunch without me. I'm sorry I even bothered you. I'm sure you have a ton of other people to hang out with that's not me anyway."

Well that took a turn I wasn't expecting. I wheeled over to him. "Shawn, what's wrong? Honestly. You can talk to me if you need to."

He shook his head, looking down at the ground. At first, he didn't say anything and I didn't push him too. Eventually, he lifted his gaze to mine and started talking.

"I thought today was going to be a good day. I got my dad out of the house in the first time in I don't know how long. He's seeing a therapist right now, actually. But what if it doesn't help him? What if he never gets better? What if I'm stuck taking care of him and Ivy forever? How can I do that if I can't even walk down stairs properly?"

"Shawn..." I sighed, not exactly knowing what to say to him to make him feel better. "Your dad isn't going to get better with one hour of therapy. It'll take some time, but he will get better. You need to believe that. As far as your klutziness, take it from me - stairs are a very difficult challenge. Be proud of all the times you've gone up and down them without falling."

That got a bit of a smile back on his face. "Yeah, I guess."

"How's your ankle?" I asked.

Shawn shrugged. "It's probably just twisted. I just need to walk it off."

"Are you sure? The campus clinic is right there if you need it looked at."

He rolled his eyes at me. "I'm fine, Andy. Now are we getting lunch or what? I am so hungry."

I chuckled and offered my hand to help him stand up. He took it, pulling himself to his feet. He kept holding on just a second longer than I expected him to and his words from the other day popped into my head. I didn't feel anything special.

It was hard to believe he was telling the truth sometimes. Then again, maybe he was serious. I couldn't expect every guy I liked to like me back. That was a an absurd expectation.

Shawn felt different, though. I wanted him to feel that too, but maybe he just needs more time to figure it out for himself. I just wished he wouldn't look so cute in the meantime.

"Come on," I said. "I'll lead this time."

He nodded with a small smile. We headed towards the dining hall side-by-side. I kept glancing over to make sure Shawn was walking okay, and by the time we reached our destination, he was barely limping anymore. I guess he was right and it only needed to be walked off.

I hoped that his other problems could be overcome just as easily. It was getting increasingly harder to just be friends with Shawn. I desperately wanted more.