This Loneliness Is Killing Me

“Dude.” Mason started as I lied upside down on his couch.

“What?” I asked absentmindedly.

“It’s noon, don’t you need to pick up Shaun in, like, an hour?” He replied bluntly, causing me to shoot up off of his couch.

“Already?” I asked shocked as to where the past three weeks had gone.

Don’t get me wrong; I was pumped to see Shaun again for the first time in three weeks, it’s just, generally the time seemed to go by so slowly. This time it just went by so quickly, especially with all the interviews and training I had done to keep my mind off of it, just to come home disappointed to find no one waiting for me.

“Yes, you need to pick him up from the airport at one, Alison. I thought you’d know this.” Mason laughed.

“I thought I was picking him up next week, excuse me.” I replied as I grabbed my sweater off his couch and slipped it on.

“Why did you think it was next week?” Kevin laughed.

Kevin had definitely become a new friend of mine, along with the rest of the Frends crew… well for the most part. Even though Kevin had called me a whore all those years ago, Mason had explained Shaun and I’s relationship to him and the moment we met for the first time at a competition he apologized and we just became friends. Although he himself wasn’t competing due to his brain injury, he was cheering on Mason and the rest of the Frends crew who I was later introduced to thanks to Mason and Scotty.

Luckily our friendship later on caused them to become closer friends with Shaun and less brutal towards him, which was nice. I knew they had this kind of hatred towards him, well some of the crew weren’t fond of him, so it was nice that it no longer existed, well it existed still with Danny, I mean, he didn’t even like me because, according to him I was the ‘Shaun White of women’s snowboarding’. I took that as a compliment.

“I don’t know; I’ve been keeping myself distracted.” I laughed.

“Well, you best be on your way then, traffic’s going to be a bitch if you don’t leave now.” Kevin smiled.

“I know, I know, I’m going.” I replied as I made my way towards the door.

“We’ll meet up with you guys at your place at around three thirty, ya?” Mason asked.

“What for?” Kevin asked.

“To surf dude, to surf.” I laughed as I exited Mason’s house and made my way to my car before making my way to the LAX.

I was more than ecstatic to see Shaun again. I missed him a lot, and this was going to be the first time in a long time in which we’d be able to spend a month together without being separated for certain periods of time.

Luckily the airport was only half an hour away; unfortunately I was stuck in traffic for half an hour so by the time I made it to the airport Shaun had already gotten off the plane and was waiting for me. Of course the paparazzi where everywhere, snapping pictures.

The second I saw him I ran up to him and hugged him tightly; making this in opportune moment for more pictures.

“I missed you too.” He laughed as he hugged me just as tightly.

“Sorry I was late, traffics a bitch.” I joked before I kissed him lightly.

“It’s L.A., there’s not much you can do about that.” He laughed as we pulled away from our hug.

“I guess.” I shrugged, “How was Japan?” I asked as he picked up his luggage and we made our way out of the airport.

“It was Japanese like.” He joked, “Nah, it was cool. The snow was really icy this time though, so that was lame, but it was still nice. Would’ve been better if you were there though.”

I smiled lightly at him as I unlocked my car, “I know, but I had stuff to do here that I didn’t want to do in comparison to spending three weeks in Japan with you.”

“It couldn’t have been that bad.” He replied as he put his stuff in the trunk of my car.

“It is when every interview has a good set of questions where they’re asking about our relationship.” I sighed.

“What were they asking? We already said we weren’t breaking up, like, a month ago.” He asked, a bit confused.

“Well, clearly you haven’t been reading the tabloids.” I smiled as we got into the car.

“I’m truly sorry that in Japan they aren’t up to date on celebrity gossip.” Shaun replied sarcastically.

“Well, unfortunately in the U.S. they are, and recently, because we’ve been miles apart for three weeks, they’re saying we’re on the verge of breaking up soon because I’m always spotted around town without you.”

“So, if we’re not found together in town, we’re just not a couple anymore?” He asked, slightly confused.

“It appears so. So I had to do interviews with all these people and had to deny everything and say that you were off in Japan filming while I stayed behind to train and stuff.”

“Bummer.”

“You’re telling me. Anyway, Mason and everyone are going to be stopping by at around three thirty to go surfing.” I replied, trying to lighten the mood and direct the conversation away from the tabloids.

“Alright.”

“Unless you wanna just chill or sleep or whatever, jet lag’s a bitch so we could always do that, like next week.”

“Nah, I missed the dudes too, I can sleep later, plus I slept all throughout the plane ride home.” He smiled.

“Alright.”

“How’s Kevin doing anyway?”

“He’s good, still can’t board really, the doctor’s want to keep him away from that for a while longer, he hates it though, so he surfs instead to make up for the lack of boarding.” I laughed.

Shaun shrugged and laughed, “I guess that’s Kevin for you, won’t listen to the doctors.”

The rest of the car ride home was filled with mindless chatter and a few comfortable silences where the only sound was the faint music from the radio.

I pulled into the driveway, making it home a lot faster than it took for me to make it to the airport.

I unlocked the door as Shaun grabbed his luggage from the back of the car.

“You need any help with that?” I laughed.

“Dude, I’m the dude, you do not carry my luggage for me, I carry yours.” He smiled.

“Alright.” I laughed as I held up my hands defensively, holding the door open for him.

“It may be the 21st century, but it doesn’t mean I can’t be slightly chivalrous.” He replied as he set his luggage by the door before closing the front door behind him.

“And I thought chivalry was dead.” I joked.

“That’s just a myth.” He replied before he walked over towards me and threw me over his shoulder.

“What are you doing? Put me down, I can walk.” I laughed as I hit his back, hoping that he’d put me down.

“I’m not going to put you down because you’re hitting me.” He replied as he made his way upstairs.

“Where are you taking me, Shaun?”

“To the bedroom.”

“Why?” I asked, clearly knowing why he was taking me there as he opened the door.

“To get laid.” He replied bluntly as he set me down.

“There goes chivalry.” I joked as I rolled my eyes.

“I may be chivalrous, but I’m still a dude.” He replied as he took off his shirt and kissed me roughly.

“What if I don’t want to have sex right now?” I asked, raising an eyebrow once he pulled away.

“Ya right.” He scoffed as he took off my shirt, “You’re a chick, but you still have the mindset of a dude… for the most part.” He replied as he set his hands on my bare waist and kissed me once again as he pushed me onto the bed.

“You just know me inside and out, don’t you?”

“More than you know.” He smirked before kissing me once again.