The Movies Make It Look Easy

Chapter 11

Shannon’s P.O.V:

We stared at eachother for a couple of seconds in silence.
I could feel myself chewing my bottom lip nervously but I couldn’t seem to make myself stop. I looked away from him; I couldn’t stare into those eyes anymore. They seemed to see right through me.
‘I’m just going to make some tea, would you like some?’ I asked weakly, glancing up at him before looking back at the floor.
Silence.
‘No’ he answered eventually.
‘Umm...k, I’ll just go...ye...’ I trailed off pathetically as I practically ran from the room.

As the kettle boiled, I stood gripping the counter with my eyes shut, taking deep breaths as I tried to remember if I’d done anything to offend him lately.
Deep down I knew the fear I was feeling was irrational and I knew I hadn’t done anything – it’s hard to offend someone when you barely spend two minutes in the same room as them - but I couldn’t make my heart stop racing.
Please God don’t let this turn into an argument, I prayed.
We hadn’t exactly been getting along lately but we hadn’t been fighting either. We’d silently come to an uneasy sort of truce and I didn’t want that to change.
I slowly poured the boiling water on top the teabag in my cup – had it really only been a week since I got here? I sighed; it felt like so much longer.

When the tea was ready I turned with the cup in one hand to head back to the living room.
I jumped, startled when I saw Nick standing in the doorway watching me.
I hadn’t heard him coming in.
His carefully blank face instantly turned worried as I stared at him in confusion.
It was only then that I noticed that I’d spilt half my tea down my front when I jumped.
It turns out that boiling water hurts – quite a bit actually.
‘Umm, oww!’ I said quietly.
I couldn’t seem to make myself move, I just stared dumbly down at the spreading stain covering my white top.
There were splatters of liquid on my arms and the floor but the majority of it had landed across my chest.
Tears pricked my eyes from the pain.

It seemed like I’d been standing staring at that stain for hours as it spread, but it had only been seconds.
Nick reacted almost instantly, grabbing a clean cloth from the counter before he stood in front of me attempting to mop me up.
He deftly removed my belt, and I barely had time to wonder if he’d had a lot of practice before I felt him tugging my top up.
‘What are you doing?’ I gasped trying to pull the hem back down.
He wouldn’t let me, rolling his eyes he continued to tug the flimsy material up exposing more of my stomach with each pull.
‘I have to take this off and see if the water burnt you badly or not’
He smiled tightly but it didn’t reach his eyes
‘Don’t worry, I won’t try anything’
I relaxed a little and raised my arms to allow him to pull my t-shirt completely off.

I felt like I was 5 again, standing there quietly as he inspected the pink skin on my chest.
It stung slightly but it seemed alright.
I looked up to find Nick staring at me, his jaw clenched.

I suddenly realised that I was standing in front of him in just a bra and my face immediately began to heat up.
Most of the worry I’d seen on his face was gone but he still seemed concerned. He lowered his eyes to my chest and slowly reached out a hand to touch the painful skin in a...caress?
He stopped abruptly, pulling his hand back and turning to face the sink.
I could see the tension in his shoulders as he soaked the now dirty cloth in the sink.
I wonder why he’s so tense?
I wondered as I watched him wring the excess water out of the cloth. I didn’t have time to dwell on it however because he turned to face me holding out the damp cloth to me while he kept his gaze firmly fixed on the wall above my head. Ignoring the fact that he was clearly trying to avoid looking at me I took the proffered cloth gratefully and pressed the cool material soothingly against my hot skin.
At this point I didn’t know whether the heat was caused by the scalding tea or by my close proximity to a certain handsome roommate of mine.
I reckoned it was probably a mixture of the two.
‘I think you should probably go get changed and then we can talk’.
He addressed the wall even though the comment was aimed at me.
Rolling my eyes I turned and left the room, feeling his gaze on me as I walked away, the cloth still pressed to my chest in one hand and my dirty top in the other.
It was probably ruined I thought sadly.

Shouldering my bedroom door open, I kicked it closed behind me with my foot.
I collapsed backwards onto my bed so I was lying flat on my back with my legs dangling over the edge.
I closed my eyes and thought about The Talk.
Truthfully, I’d forgotten all about it until Nick mentioned it again.
My fears from earlier washed over me.
Surely if he was annoyed with me he wouldn’t have helped me when I spilt the tea down myself, I reasoned and he’d definitely seemed worried that I might have badly burnt myself.
I was lucky I didn’t spill much, I thought wearily, or I could have seriously hurt myself.
Sighing, I sat up and trudged into my bathroom.
After cleaning myself up, I changed into comfy clothes.

I hesitated at the door, but steeling myself I marched back into the living room where Nick was sitting on the couch waiting.
I sat down in the armchair across from him and we sat there awkwardly for a couple of minutes before Nick seemed to get the courage to start.
Taking a deep breath he looked into my eyes
‘I wanted to apologise’
My heartbeat quickened, it had never crossed my mind that he’d want to apologise
‘For?’
‘For how I’ve been acting, to be honest I’ve treated you like crap...right from the beginning’
He paused and I held my breath in anticipation
‘I never really gave you a chance, I just insulted you’
At that he winced as if the memory was painful somehow.
‘And I just stormed to my room even though you hadn’t really done anything’ ‘Dramaqueen’ ,he raised an eyebrow
‘Sorry...it, uh, slipped out...go on?’ I smiled sweetly at him
‘Anyway’ he said smiling slightly at me before continuing
‘I hadn’t really thought about how I’d been acting...hadn’t let myself think’ he corrected
‘until Mark and Jay had a go at me for being an ass...and they hadn’t even seen the worst of it and it made me realise how bad I’d been acting, so basically what I’m trying to say is I’m sorry and can you forgive me?’ he summed up in a rush, giving me puppy dog eyes.
I could tell he was nervous from the way he kept fidgeting.
A smile had started to grow on my face as he spoke, he was being so sweet!
‘Oh and Mark and Jay really like you’ he added.
I laughed ‘I like them too’
‘so...friends?’ my smile slipped off my face.

That word was like a dagger in my heart, even if I didn’t know why it cut so deep. I’d never really thought he could like me, despite the fleeting flickers in his eyes which I’d secretly hoped showed that he cared about me, even when we were fighting.
It was hard to have to listen to the fact that he saw me as only a friend – and barely that – all in one little word...
“Friends”.
I looked at him patiently waiting for my answer with a hopeful look on his face; he could never know how much it hurt.
‘Sure’ I smiled weakly but he didn’t seem to notice that it slipped away again after only a couple of seconds.
He just chattered away like a little boy
‘So what were you up to? I could tell from how you were dressed that you were out?’
Pushing aside my sudden bad mood and the urge to go to my room, I focused my attention on Nick.
I didn’t want to ruin our friendship so soon after he’d apologised.
I knew it would hurt him to pull away now, just when we’d made progress, so I began to tell him about my night, telling him that I’d gone out with some new friends.

We stayed up late, chatting and getting to know eachother.
I soon forgot about my bad mood.
We had quite a lot in common though we got into some heated arguments over the things we disagreed on.
Nothing like a good argument as far as I’m concerned.
Eventually, my eyes began to drop, feeling scratchy and heavy.

The last thing I remember was a warm body leaning over me and whispering ‘Goodnight’ before I fell asleep.