Here Comes Your Man

Shaun woke up the next morning with a smile on his face.

His date with Pyper had been perfect, to say the very least. They had gone to a little seafood place right on the water and had been the only ones who opted to sit outside on the deck, giving them their own privacy and amazing view of the ocean.

The conversation flowed perfectly and there was never an awkward moment between them. They talked about everything, from pets (his beloved bulldog ‘Rambo’ & her iguana ‘Mark’, who, they decided, would get along great) to weird obsessions (she was addicted to board games while he couldn’t go a day without green tea). Pyper was the most fascinatinggirl person Shaun had ever met and he literally could not get enough. He could only hope she felt the same.

As he walked out the back door and onto the beach he spotted someone at the house next door. Hoping it was Pyper, he took quick steps towards the house but as he got closer he recognized the figure to be Pyper’s best friend and roommate Reagan, and she looked to be struggling with something.

She spotted him as he walked into their pool area.
“Oh thank god. It’s Shaun, right?” She asked, relief evident in her voice as he nodded. “Could you help me load up this stuff into that truck” She said as she pointed to an F-250 parked not too far away.

“Sure” Shaun agreed before he completely took in the sight before him. Filling the girls’ pool was surfboards, wind boards, and sails of all shapes and sizes. Shaun gave her a strange look and Reagan just shrugged. “Don’t ask me, this is Pyper’s shit. Apparently some tourists rented all this stuff for the week and Pyper so kindly volunteered my truck for the delivery” She said sarcastically as she lifted up a board and loaded it into the truck bed.

Shaun just smiled as he reached for a sail that floated by. Since he was here with the person who probably knew Pyper the best, he thought he’d take full advantage of it and get some info on the girl who had constantly filled his thoughts for the past 3 days.

“So…” He started, not really sure how to continue. Reagan just looked up at him, an expectant look on her face.

“Yes?”

“Well, um, what’s the deal with Pyper? Does she like, have a boyfriend or anything?” Shaun asked, trying to make it sound casual, even though it was clearly evident that there was a motive behind it.

“Nope” She replied simply and continued fishing things out of the pool.
“Why not?” He asked, wanting more information then Reagan was giving.

Reagan shrugged, ‘I don’t know, whenever the topic comes up she just says that she doesn’t want a boyfriend right now”

Shaun contemplated this for a second. “So what does that mean?”

Reagan laughed, “She’s just not into guys right now”

“Oh…OH…” Shaun said in a voice of realization “You mean she, uh, bats for the other team?”

Reagan gave him a blank stare, clearly not catching on to what he was implying and continued loading the equipment into the truck bed.

Shaun continued, “Like, Katy Perry style. She kissed a girl and she liked it. She REALLY liked it”

It took Reagan a few seconds before she got it.

“Oh god Shaun, are you serious? Just because a girl’s not begging to be your girlfriend, you think she’s a lesbian? I really did not peg you as the conceited type” She replied, shaking her head as she loaded up the last few boards and hopped into the driver’s seat

“I didn’t mean it like that, it’s just…”

“Look” She said, putting her hand up to cut him off “I like you Shaun, I really do, and I know that you like Pyper…” This revelation threw Shaun off a little bit. Was he really that obvious? He wondered as Reagan continued.

“But she’s just not looking for a guy right now. I know you don’t get it, I can’t say that I do either, but that’s just how Pyper is. Maybe you should just be happy by becoming friends with her first, that in itself would be farther than most guys get.“ She said with a laugh as she revved the engine of the truck, placing her black Oakley’s on her face and looking back at Shaun “I better go. I’ll see ya later White. Thanks for the help, and remember what I said!”
She yelled out the window as she threw him a ‘peace out’ sign as she drove off.

Shaun laughed and waved as the truck drove further down the sand and around the corner, leaving him to ponder over his thoughts. Though he respected Reagan’s opinion about Pyper, he refused to believe that he was the only one who felt something between them. But then on the other hand, maybe he was. Pyper had never actually confirmed nor denied having any feelings for him whatsoever, at least to his face.

What if she was just stringing him along? Or what if she had tried to get rid of him but he had ignored the signs? Questions of this sort flew through Shaun’s mind like bullets as he marched to the surf shop, determined to get some answers.

I deserve some freakin’ answers, dammit! He thought, getting more worked up about it with each step. Who does she think she is being all cute and fun?! She thinks she can just make me do anything she wants with a blink of one of her pretty little eyelashes? And her hair! How can a person’s hair smell that permanently good? It’s not natural! I’m gonna tell her how it is, I’m gonna lay down the law and tell her that she either likes me or she doesn’t and if she doesn’t, well then sayonara sister…”

All these thoughts were immediately forgotten when Shaun rounded the corner and saw Pyper washing her jeep. Wearing this.

She hadn’t seen him yet so he decided he’d surprise her. He crept behind the back of the car as she was washing the right side. As he got closer to the edge he could faintly hear her humming the tune of ‘I want you to want me’ by Cheap Trick. Gah! Could this girl be any more perfect? He wondered as he took a minute to listen before seizing the opportunity and jumping out from behind the car with a “Boo!”

“Ahhh!” Pyper screamed as she instinctively went to protect herself and spray the antagonist with the water hose. Before Shaun could even enjoy the perfect execution of his plan, he was being drowned with a hard, steady stream of water in his face and it took Pyper about 5 seconds to fully comprehend the situation.

“Shaun! You jerk! You scared me!” She said as she playfully shoved his shoulder.

“Yeah well I think you got me back” He said, looking down at his now soaked form. Pyper looked at him and started cracking up.

“Yep, that’s it, laugh it up” Shaun said in a flat tone as he tried to wipe his eyes with his shirt which didn’t help much considering it was sopping wet too. This action exposed his well-toned abs and Pyper could not fight the urge to take a peek; An ‘I know I shouldn’t be so obvious about it, but I can’t seem to tear my eyes away’ peek. A peek that Shaun caught.
A cocky smiled planted itself on his face and suddenly the fact that he was all wet didn’t seem to bother him so much.

“Like what you see?”

Pyper looked up, shaken out of her daze as a deep blush grew on her cheeks.

“What? No, I wasn’t...” She replied lamely, not coming up with a plausible excuse in time before Shaun cut her off.

“Uh-huh sure” He said sarcastically “Well, you’re welcome to look anytime” He said with a wink causing the pink gracing her cheeks to go crimson and him to smile. Though he was just teasing, he did love the fact that he could make her blush like that.

Pyper turned her attention back to the car and started washing it in a hurry, dropping the sponge in the process. “Dammit!”

Shaun laughed. Pyper was clearly flustered and it was all because of him.

“Can I help? I’m pro at getting bugs out of the grill”

Pyper chuckled and looked up at him, knowing that she should say no, if only for her sanity’s sake, but decided to let her heart take this one.

“Of course” She said as she threw him an extra sponge.

“Cool”

Pyper watched as he took off his shirt and threw it on the ground behind him before picking up the sponge and heading to the front of the car.

As he went, she could have sworn him singing Cheap Trick…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Well, I think we did a phenomenal job, if I do say so myself” Pyper said as she took a sip of her mango smoothie, looking to Shaun who sat next to her on a curb outside of the shop.

“Hell yeah, we did!” He said as they looked at the shiny, red Jeep in front of them “You could eat shrimp off that grill!”

Pyper laughed as they fell into a comfortable silence. Before Shaun decided to break it.

“So you want to do something tonight? Like get some dinner or go for a night swim or something?” The confidence from the little ab fiasco was still lingering in Shaun’s system and he decided to go for it.

“I can’t, I already have plans”

And there went that confidence…

“Oh…alright” He said slowly, trying to act as if it didn’t affect him in the slightest, though they both knew differently.

Noticing his change of voice and attitude, Pyper immediately realized her mistake.God, she was so bad at this flirting stuff! Where was Reagan when you needed her?

“I mean, I totally would, but I have this bachelorette party to go to for my friend Hannah.” She said, trying to explain herself “I’m one of the bridesmaids so it’s kind of mandatory that I go” She said apologetically.

“Oh, it’s all good” Shaun replied, immediately put in a better mood now that he knew she’d be hanging out with a bunch of girls instead of the other scenarios that had been floating around in his mind.

“But maybe tomorrow night?” Pyper asked shyly, both of them being taken back by her words.

“Yeah, definitely” Shaun said looking back at her, completely aware of the vulnerability in her eyes.

“Great!” She said happily, “I can’t wait!”

And for once, she truly meant it.