The Movies Make It Look Easy

Chapter 24

Shannon’s P.O.V:

I was having the strangest dream.
I was surrounded by shadowy figures but I couldn’t tell who they were or even whether they were male or female.
Low snickers were echoing around the circle but I couldn’t tell where the sounds were coming from. I stood there listening to the sound of laughter and low voices and suddenly something hit me in the face.
It dropped into my hand and I stared at it in confusion.
It looked like a balled up piece of paper?

I started to open my eyes but the light blinded me. I squeezed them tightly shut and burrowed my head further underneath the blanket.
I registered a couple of different things at once – I could still hear laughing and whispering beyond the barrier of the blanket over my head. The other thing I noticed was the warm body lying next to mine. Nick’s arms were tightly around me, his chest against my back, leaving no space between us. His head was buried against the back of my neck and our legs were intertwined.
Slowly, I pulled the blanket down, squinting as the light hit my eyes again. Before me I saw Mark sitting in the armchair beside the couch with Jay perching on the arm.
They both had handfuls of ripped up pieces of paper which they’d obviously been throwing at us judging by the pieces of paper in my hair.
I glared at them as they continued to laugh quietly and whisper to eachother.
Eventually they noticed I was awake.
‘Ah, Sleeping Beauty you’re awake!’ Jay grinned.
I just glared, mentally hoping that they’d burst into flames if I stared long enough and I could go back to sleep.
‘You ok Sweetcheeks? You have a weird look on your face’
I sighed; they obviously weren’t going to burst into flames.
I could feel Nick’s deep breathing on the back of my neck; he was still asleep – probably because I was blocking him from being hit with most of the guy’s missiles.
‘Why are you here?’
My voice was icy – hey I never said I was a morning person! –
‘It’s like the crack of freaking dawn.’ I said, squinting at the light flooding the room.
‘Its eleven Sweetcheeks’ Mark said kindly as if I was retarded.
‘Go away’
I turned around, making Nick grunt quietly before going back to sleep.
‘No’ they chorused.
I felt pieces of paper being pelted at the back of my head.

I frowned at the expanse of skin touching my nose and felt my bare legs – I was wearing shorts – linked with equally bare legs.
What the hell?
Surely he’d had more than boxers on when I turned out the light last night?
Finally his eyes opened a slit.
He looked down at me,
‘Nick we really need to start locking our front door’
He looked confused,
‘Any sort of vermin can walk right in’
He looked up when Mark and Jay spoke up;
‘Hey!’
‘You know I take offense to that’
There was a deluge of fresh paper and Nick and I both ducked our heads under the blanket.
‘Go away’ he groaned
‘Nope’
‘We’re going to sit here and annoy you until you get up or do you need some privacy to put your clothes on?’ Mark smirked.

Peeking out at the room, I noticed Nick’s black t-shirt, jeans and socks strewn across the floor.
I sat up, revealing that I at least wore clothes.
They looked disappointed but I wasn’t sure if it was because it was evidence that nothing had happened between me and Nick or because they’d missed a chance to catch me sans clothes.
I looked at Nick before pointedly looking to where his hands were clasped around my waist, preventing me from moving.
He removed his hands, murmuring a ‘sorry’.
‘So what have you kids been up to, nothing too kinky I hope?’
‘Shut up Mark’.
That conversation seemed years ago.
‘Hmm, temper temper’ he smirked.
I glared at him, standing up and stretching my arms high above my head, loosening my joints.
A couch isn’t my favourite place to spend the night.

I was walking towards my room when I heard a whistle behind me.
I froze.
‘Mark’ Nick warned.
I whipped around to face them,
‘I had such a really crappy day yesterday, Mark’. I inhaled,
‘And I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t put me in a worse mood’ I gritted out. He frowned,
‘What happened?’
Nick and I glanced at eachother,
‘You tell them’ I told him, ‘while I have a shower’.

Mark’s P.O.V:

The three of us watched as Shannon disappeared into her room.
When the door was closed, Nick flopped back on the couch, the green blanket resting at his waist.
‘I officially hate you two’ he said as he covered his face with his hands.
Jay and I stayed silent as he slowly removed his hands again.
‘You just had to put your foot in it didn’t you?’ he groaned glancing at me.
‘What did I do?’ I asked.
I guessed it had something to do with him abruptly ending our phone conversation yesterday.
‘I’m seriously thinking of killing your roommate’ he said, staring at the ceiling. ‘What did he do?’ I sighed; I knew it must have been bad because I could clearly see Nick’s anger.

He sat up and turned to face us. Jay looked as confused as I felt. He took a deep breath, raking his fingers through his hair.
He rested his elbows on his knees and dropped his head into his hands. He slowly told us everything that had happened when Lee came over.
Anger rose up and I clenched my fists in an effort to contain it when he told us that Lee had called Shannon a common slut – twice!
I could see that both Jay and Nick were doing the same. I just wanted to go find Lee and hit him – very hard – over and over.
Shannon didn’t deserve to be treated like that – no one did.
It was easier for the other two because they didn’t have to see him everyday and live with him.
I had a short temper and I wasn’t looking forward to the next time I saw him because I knew it would be a struggle to contain myself.
‘So what are we going to do?’ Jay piped up when Nick fell silent.
I was surprised – Jay was the peacemaker in our little trio and was more into breaking up fights than starting them.
‘Do?’ Nick asked.
‘Well he can’t get away with this’
Nick rubbed his eyes tiredly, ‘I told Shannon I’d only do something if he came near her again’
I nodded.
‘It’ll only make it worse for her’ I agreed,
‘But’ I allowed the anger I was feeling to show in my voice,
‘If he goes within ten feet of her, I will...’ I corrected myself ‘we will have a little chat with him’
Everyone nodded in agreement and a heavy silence fell.

A little while later Shannon wandered out of her room wearing a long blue and white t-shirt over leggings and slouchy boots.
The t-shirt hugged her curves and she looked effortlessly beautiful.
Her still damp hair was swept up into a messy bun and was held in place with a HB pencil.
She had her phone in front of her and was texting furiously with a secretive smile on her face.
I looked to Nick next. His eyes were glued to Shannon, with an adoring look on his face.
I smiled with satisfaction, he was a lucky guy. I knew they weren’t officially together but as far as I was concerned it was only a matter of time – as long as Nick didn’t take her for granted.
She eventually put away her phone and looked at each of us in turn.
‘What happened here? You can practically cut the tension with a knife’.
I spoke up, ‘sorry for what I...uh said earlier’
She looked at me with her bright green eyes.
Her whole face lit up with a smile, her eyes sparkling as she came over and plonked herself on my lap, throwing her legs over the arm of the chair. Jay had moved to sit next to Nick on the couch.
‘It’s ok, you didn’t know’

Her phone buzzed and she pulled it out of her pocket.
When she opened the message, I just managed to read the end of it;
‘Luv U hun xxx’, before she hit reply.
I know I was being nosey but I didn’t care – who was she texting?
‘Who’re you texting Sweetcheeks?’ I asked keeping my voice nonchalant.
‘Just an old friend’ she glanced at me giving me a quick smile.
I’d seen the smile on her face when she came into the room and the snippet of message I’d read seemed as if it came from a guy.
‘What’s his name?’
She didn’t seem to notice my specific use of the word “his”.
‘Conor’ she replied absently.
I didn’t push it any further.
Nick looked at me quizzically but I just shook my head my head. He’d just get worked up over what was probably nothing.

When she finally sent her reply, she checked the time and kissing me quickly on the cheek, she stood up.
She grabbed her bag which was on the table and quickly pecked both Jay and Nick on the cheek before making her way to the door. The three of us exchanged uneasy glances.
‘Where are you going?’ Nick asked.
She didn’t stop.
‘Class, some of us are actually trying to get an education you know’ she teased.
To be honest I’d completely forgotten about class...I hadn’t been in a while...
‘Do you want one of us to walk you?’
I think I voiced what all of us were thinking.
‘I don’t need babysitters thanks’
The rich sound of her laughter washed over us as she walked out the door,

‘Adios Amigos!’ she called and with the soft snap of the door closing, she was gone.