Chapter Ten
Shannon woke to the feel of her phone vibrating in her pocket. “Ya,” she mumbled into the receiver, not moving her head from Jordan’s shoulder.
“Where are you?” Harrison roared.
“A party,” she whispered.
“At five in the morning?”
Shannon swore and hung up the phone. She looked down the cave and saw that most of the water had retreated. She could see the pink morning sky above her and shook her friends awake.
“Wha…” Joanie muttered jolting awake.
“The tide is almost out,” Shannon told her, pointing to the cave. “We’ve got to go.”
Joanie sat up and looked around the cave that was filled with sleeping teenagers. “Shit,” she whispered and scrambled off the ledge and towards the boat. She reached under the seat and pulled out an air horn and didn’t hesitate to let loose.
The blaring noise echoed through the cave and woke half the kids in the cave. They all turned to glare at the wielder of the horn and cursed at her.
Joanie blew off the insults. “What fucker was supposed to wake us up half an hour ago?” She yelled into the cave. The others turned and pointed to a kid with a Mohawk and snorkel on his head. He ducked when the crowed all tossed empty cups at the boy.
The teenagers, even the severely hung over ones, got up and began cleaning the cave. Shannon was stunned.
“Do they always do this?” She asked Jordan who had dropped off the ledge and picking up trash from the ground.
“It’s the rules,” he explained and tossed Shannon a garbage bag. “If anyone finds even one cup in the ocean the cops will stop us from coming here.”
“Fair enough,” Shannon conceded.
When the cave was clean, the subdued group walked from the cave and back along the beach. The sun was rising above the horizon, sending bright light over the beach and sensitive eyes, eliciting groans from the group.
Shannon and Ben led Jordan, Flick and Joanie up the hill and along Hill View Drive towards Shannon’s house.
Shannon flinched when she saw a very angry looking Harrison standing on the front porch, his arms crossed on his chest.
“Run,” Shannon hissed under her breath to her friends who crossed the street and walked quickly up Ben’s driveway.
“Good morning Father,” Shannon greeted, a forced smile on her face.
“Shannon,” Harrison began, his frowned deepened. “You promised me you would stop this behaviour. After you were arrested you promised.”
“Dad,” Shannon held her hands out in front of her, like she was approaching a wild animal. Which she was, kind of, Harrison was livid. “It wasn’t like that I swear.”
“Please, tell me what it was like!”
“It was just a party, we were all safe. Hell, the cops even knew we were there. It was nothing.” Shannon defended. Not for the first time Shannon wished that she had never met Jess. One girl ruined a lifetime of trust and respect between her and her father, and she hated it. Sometimes it felt like it used to, but at others Shannon felt just like she did when her father came to pick her up from the police station. The disappointment was so thick in the air around them. Just a year ago Harrison wouldn’t have batted an eyelash.
“I apologise if your word doesn’t mean much to me anymore.”
Tears welled in Shannon’s eyes and a sneer formed on her face. She crossed her arms and shoved passed her father and into the house. She stormed up the stairs and passed an apologetic Fiona. Shannon dropped the frown as she passed her and let the tears fall as she slammed her bedroom door behind her.
Shannon tore her clothes of and walked into her bathroom. She paused when she saw a semi-translucent Reggie staring at herself in the warped mirror.
Reggie turned at the sound of light footsteps on the tile floor. She gasped when she saw Shannon standing bare before her. She was perfect.
Reggie couldn’t take her eyes off her. Shannon’s rounded hips and tiny waist gave her a figure that Reggie would love to run her hands over. She took a step closer, lost in fantasies of Shannon’s body.
Then it all came back.
Every kick, every punch, every harsh word that came the last time Reggie got this close to a woman. The feel of her bones breaking and her skin splitting stopped her in her tracks.
Seeing the appreciation in Reggie’s eyes, Shannon wasn’t embarrassed. No one had ever seen her likes this before, and she was glad Reggie was the first.
Seeing the hunger in Reggie’s gaze, in the way her eyes raked over Shannon’s body, Shannon made a decision. Whatever the consequences, they would be worth it. Shannon was going to do whatever she could to give Reggie back her life, a life that should never have been taken in the first place.
When Reggie paused Shannon frowned. The lust and love on her face disappeared and was replaced with fear.
“Reggie?” Shannon whispered in an attempt to pull her back from where ever she went in her head. Before she approached the blonde, Shannon wrapped a towel around her body. “Are you okay?”
Shannon watched her eyes wide as Reggie flickered in and out of the room. She had never been more terrified in her life, was Reggie going to be around much longer? What about that whole Ghost Whisperer-walk-into-the-light thing? The thought of Reggie not being here anymore, not being able to see her anymore was unbearable.
Shannon’s bare feet slapping on the cold floor echoed through the bathroom as she approached the love of her life.
“Regina, look at me,” Shannon said. She raised her hands to cup Reggie’s face, covering Reggie’s hands where she was clutching her face. Shannon’s hands hovered just over Reggie’s elegant hands, unwilling to sink her hands into Reggie’s ice cold incorporeal body in case she disappeared and never came back. “Baby, what’s wrong? What is running through your head right now? Please tell me.”
Reggie’s eyes met hers but the relief Shannon felt at the contact was short lived at the words that left Reggie’s lips.
“I,” Reggie began her breath hitching. “I shouldn’t feel this way. It’s not right.”
Her voice was so low and pained that Shannon barely heard her. “It’s love Reggie, it’s perfect.”
Reggie shook her head, “but the bible…”
“That’s bullshit,” Shannon hissed cutting Reggie off. “It wasn’t written by God or Jesus or anyone who knew them. It was written by men who probably thought the earth was flat. They were pious twats who didn’t know shit and just wanted to tell a good story.”
“But…”
Shannon moved closer to Reggie, so close that she could see her breath send waves through Regina’s form. “No buts,” her voice was soft and forceful, sending an unfamiliar wave of desire down Reggie’s body. “I’m always right; you’d do well to remember that.”
“You love me?” Reggie whispered.
The question caught Shannon off guard, she really wasn’t expecting it, although she had to admit whenever Reggie said “love”, no matter the subject, it caught her attention.
“Yeah I love you,” she said a sly grin on her face. Shannon stepped back from Reggie and dropped the fluffy pink towel swathing her body to the floor, exposing herself to Reggie fully and intentionally.
She turned the shower on and stepped under the tepid water, leaving the shower curtain open. She smirked upon hearing the appreciative breathy moan escape Reggie’s mouth.
“You’re a tease,” Reggie said.
“Yeah I am,” Shannon replied and continued to wash the salt and sand from her body while Reggie watched on.
“We have to take my car,” Ben argued. “It’s way faster.”
“But’s so tiny,” Shannon rebutted. “Five of us can’t fit in that thing.” She waved her hand at the tiny car parked in Ben’s drive across the cul de sac.
“Yours is a two door as well.”
“Ben, your car isn’t a two door,” Flick told her boyfriend. “It’s a two seater.”
Ben grimaced at Shannon’s car that was parked on the street. “So I have to spend five hours in a Honda?”
“If you say that like it’s a dirty word you’ll hurt Rupert’s feelings,” Shannon said patting the car’s roof.
“Rupert?” Joanie questioned, interrupting the argument.
Shannon crossed her arms and looked up at the red head defiantly. “Like Giles from Buffy,” she defended the name of her car. “He may walk and talk like a librarian, but when the situation calls for it he’ll kick ass.”
“Where will we put the snacks?’ Jordan asked peering into the minimal space in the back seat.
“I don’t care,” Shannon told the boy, her microscopic patience wearing thin. “Just get in the car.”
Joanie and Ben sprinted for the car and Joanie shouted “shotgun” at the top of her lungs, probably waking up Shannon’s siblings.
Shannon watched the pair argue and shove at each other, but she didn’t put up with it long.
“Joanie called it first, Ben,” she told them. “You get the back with Flick and Jordan.
“But I’m tall and need the space,” he whined.
Joanie shoved him. “I’m just as tall as you are, you ass.”
“Get in the car,” Shannon said slowly, her jaw clenched.
They all shut up and crawled obediently into Shannon’s car. The ride was quiet for the first twenty minutes until Shannon drove past a McDonalds.
“Please can we stop, I want a McMuffin,” Jordan asked excitedly, “I’m never up early enough. Please.”
Shannon shook her head.
“Please Shannon,” Ben whined.
“Yeah Shannon,” Joanie joined.
The car filled with pleas to stop at McDonalds and Shannon finally relented.
She pulled into the parking lot, looking around Shannon was surprised to see only one other car parked in the lot. Shannon took a second look at the black sedan, a feeling a deja vu sweeping through her. She shook the feeling off and trailed behind her friends into the restaurant.
“Hash brown and orange juice,” Shannon said and slid into a booth and dropped her head down on the table with a groan.
Ben nodded and they walked to the counter where a sullen, pimple faced girl stood to take their orders.
Shannon took a deep calming breath. She was pissed at her dad and herself, but she knew she shouldn’t take it out on her friends. This was supposed to be fun and she was making her friends suffer like she was. God I’m a bitch.
The bathroom door slammed behind Shannon, but she didn’t turn around, she guessed it was the owner of the familiar looking black car. Shannon got the biggest shock of her life when the person crossed in front of her. She suddenly remembered where she knew that car from.
“Well, look-y here,” a teasing voice said. At the sound Shannon wanted to cover her ears, although the last time she heard it she did kind of have the upper hand. “If it isn’t Shannon king, it’s been a while.”
Shannon looked up into the hazel eyes of the first girl she thought she loved, the first girl who broke her heart and the girl that ruined her perfect relationship she had with her father. Jessica Granger.
Shannon tried to school her face into a look of indifference, like the mere sight of her didn’t bring back the painful memories of having her heart torn to shreds by the girl she trusted with all her secrets. She didn’t think it worked.
The smug grin on Jess’s face grew wider as Shannon brooded in silence and Shannon couldn’t help but compare it to Reggie’s smile. That half assed attempt didn’t even compare to the radiance of Reggie when she smiled.
Picturing Reggie in her mind helped and Shannon was able to meet Jess’s eyes. “I wouldn’t act so smug if I were you, last I remember things weren’t looking so hot for you,” Shannon drawled. She had her hands clasped beneath the table to stop them from trembling… visibly at least.
Jess’s eyes widened. “The way I remember it you were sitting in a jail cell, arrested for assault.”
Shannon sucked in a breath. “Yeah, assault of you. I could kick your ass if I wanted to.”
“And then you would go to prison.”
“Seventeen,” Shannon said, pointing at her chest. “So that would be juvie.”
“You’d still be somebody’s bitch,” Jess sneered. “Oh, I forgot, you’d probably enjoy it. Dyke.”
The boy who the car belonged to, the same boy who Jess made the bet with snickered from his position lurking behind her.
Jess’s head whipped around when she felt someone shove her from behind. Shannon saw her gulp when she looked up at the red head towering over her.
“What did you say?” Joanie growled.
Jess raised her chin and stomped out of the McDonalds in a huff.
“Your ex?” Ben asked as he sat down and dumped a tray laden with crap on the table in front of them.
“Yeah,” Shannon said picking up her orange juice and taking a sip. She turned to Joanie who was about to take the seat beside her. “I was handling it fine; you didn’t need to step in.”
Joanie scowled at her friend. “I don’t know what the hell happened this morning after you got home, but you need to stop being such a bitch.” She said. “Build a bridge; eat your hash brown, I don’t care. Just get the hell over it. What that bitch did to you isn’t worth losing your friends or your ghost girl over.”
Tears dripped down Shannon’s cheeks. For the first time she cried for the betrayal she felt and the knowledge that the love she felt was a lie. That was probably the worst thing. She had so much fun and was so happy with Jess, right up till the end when everything fell apart, but every happy memory was tainted by the fact that the girl she loved didn’t exist and none of it was real. Every moment hurt to remember, there was nothing good there.
“Okay.”
Ben took a huge, unattractive bite from his McMuffin. “Sooo,” he said dragging out the word. “Do you think Jordan could have taken her?”
Shannon snorted, almost spitting her food out.
“She’s a lesbian,” Joanie said, “so I would say no. Those girls are pretty butch. No offense Shan.”
“Some taken,” Shannon grumbled after swallowing her food. “But she’s straight so I’d vote yes.”
Flick glanced at Shannon and frowned. “But…”
“It was a game,” Shannon explained. “She made a bet that she could get anyone to fall in love with her. They picked me.”
“Bitch,” Jordan mumbled through a mouthful of McMuffin.
“Hear hear,” Joanie said raising her coffee.
“So,” Ben began, “do you think Jordan could take Ellen DeGeneres?”
“Hell no,” they chorused.
“Hey!”
“Meerkat.”
“Tarantula.”
“Aardvark.”
“Kangaroo.”
“Ostrich.”
“Horse.”
“Elephant.”
“Tortoise.”
“Emu.”
Shannon bit her lip uncertainly, “… unicorn?”
The others conferred with a glance. “Acceptable,” Joanie decided.
“Nightingale.”
“Elk.”
“Koala.”
“Armadillo.”
“Suck it bitches,” Jordan cried from the back seat, “ox! I win, you lose. Bask in the glow of my awesomeness.”
“Bands this time?” Flick suggested.
“Hell no,” Joanie said. “Jordan is way too good at that game.”
“Don’t hate the player.”
“Shut your mouth,” Joanie told him and turned around to smack him in the arm.
“It doesn’t matter,” Shannon told them as she pulled into the retirement village her grandmother lived in. “We are here.”
“Finally.”