For the Best

..::Shannon’s P.O.V::..

I had been in a deep sleep when my phone started going off. My hand almost froze completely as I reached my hand out from under the many thick blankets Jimmy and I had over ourselves. I quickly grabbed the phone, and retreated under the blanket. The best part about being in a deep sleep in not being able to feel just how fucking cold it was here in Russia. Altitude; North Pole. I didn’t look at the name on the caller ID, but my eyes went straight to where it said that it was four in the morning where I was.

“Hello,” I said into the phone, aggravated, and praying to god that whoever was on the other end of the line was about to tell me something really important, or I was going to release absolute hell on the Earth.

“Shannon,” I heard Saylee’s voice say through the receiver. It wasn’t stable, and had a slight quiver.

“Saylee? Oh my god, where the fuck have you been? I haven’t heard a word from you in forever,” I said, getting a little bit excited, knowing that I hadn’t talked to her in the longest time, and that I missed her. Jimmy turned around, groggily, and I could see the whites of his eyes appear as they fluttered open.

“Who’s on the phone,” he asked groggily.

“Saylee,” I said, and he closed his eyes again, and put an arm around my waist, burrowing his head into my neck.

“Fuckin’ midget,” he muttered, and I could tell he fell back asleep, and a small giggle left my mouth.

“Jimmy says ‘hi, midget’,” I told her, not repeating the words exactly how he had said them.

“Well that’s comforting,” she muttered, and I could tell that I had been right and there was something wrong.

“Hey, are you alright,” I asked, adopting a serious tone, and she was silent for a minute or so, which worried me.

“One second,” she said, and I could hear the clatter of her putting the phone down on some type of counter, and then her throwing up in the background. I pulled the phone away from my ear a few inches so I wouldn’t have to hear it. I had a bad gag reflex, and I’d be throwing up soon myself If I listened. I heard the noise of her picking the phone back up, so I talked before she was able to.

“Saylee, are you okay?” I asked, seriously wanting to know what was going on. She was calling me to tell me something, something wrong, and was throwing up. It couldn’t be what I thought it was, so I shoved that idea to the back of my head. Maybe she was just really sick, and lonely, and wanted somebody to talk to.

“First of all, before I say anything, about two weeks ago I slept with Zacky, and a night later I slept with Matt,” she said, and I couldn’t gather her words enough to reply before she continued, “Yea, I know, don’t even begin. But Matt knows about it, and he was okay with it because it’s never going to happen again had, and it was in the past and it happened during a time that Matt was kind of out of the picture.”

I can’t say I really understood why she was calling me if she had everything sorted out, and nothing was wrong anymore, “So you interrupted-“

“That’s not all,” she said, cutting me off, and I couldn’t possibly think of what more there could be, and the idea popped back up in my head, but I once again shoved it back, and tried to understand what she was telling me.

“So what, you’re in love with Zacky and Matt now and you’re all conflicted over who will treat you better?” I asked. I can’t say I was completely okay with what she had told me, because I was close to Matt, and friends with Zacky, “I think you should leave Zack the hell alone before you break Matt’s heart for g-”

“No, that’s not it,” she cut me off again, and she swallowed hard enough that I could hear. Something was seriously wrong, “I’m,” No, Saylee. Don’t say it, please don’t say it, “Pregnant.” I couldn’t gather enough words, it was like my mouth had gone numb, or frozen from how fucking cold it was in the room. I focused again after a minute, being able to hear Saylee say my name over again, trying to get my attention.

“So you’re telling me you’re pregnant,” I asked.

“Yes,” she said shortly.

“With a baby,” I continued.

“With what else?” She asked rhetorically, and I rolled my eyes.

“And you don’t know whose it is, do you?” I finished, and I heard her sigh.

“I’d like to say it’s Matt’s, but when Zacky and I fucked, we didn’t use a condom. It just happened,” she admitted, and I groaned.

“I hate to say this, Saylee, but you really fucked up,” I told her.

“I know. I have a tenancy of fucking a lot of things up, and usually I know how to fix them…but I don’t know what to do. I’m almost seventeen years old, I’m still a teenager-“

“And you got yourself knocked up,” I finished her sentence for her, “I’ll try and figure this out with you, okay?”

“Thanks,” she said, and I could almost hear tears in her voice.

“You need to talk to Matt. You’ve got to tell him you’re pregnant. He’s not stupid, so since you told him about you and Zacky, he’ll put the puzzle pieces together, and get the idea that it may be Zacky’s, too. You have to tell Zacky. And as much as I hate to say this, you have to talk to your parents. After all, they are you’re parents, so you need to try and fix your relationship with them if you haven’t already,” I told her, “and how’s your relationship with Benji,” I asked.

“He fucking hates me. He hates Zacky. He hates Brian,” she told me, and I shook my head.

“You should just give him some space for a little bit, then do something big to show him how sorry you are. Tell him he was right, go fishing with him, etcetera,” I said.

“Thanks, Shannon,” she said, her voice small.

“I try to help as much as I can, I wish I could be there,” I told her.

“I wish you could, too. Are you ever coming back?” she asked, hopeful.

“Probably in five or ten years. The voices haven’t come back, except in minor ways, and Jimmy’s here to help me. Jimmy wasn’t that bad to begin with. It’s not his fault he was gifted with being an evil genius,” I said, and she giggled. It was fake and forced, I had no doubt about it.

“I can’t wait until then. I’m pretty excited, as long as you refrain from killing me,” she was trying to make this conversation cheery, and I appreciated her attempt.

“I think that will be highly possible,” I smiled, missing all of the conversations we used to have.

“Well I know it’s really early there, and you were probably sleeping, so I’m going to let you go. I have more throwing up to do, after all,” she said, and I was thankful, because I was near falling asleep on the phone with her.

“Alright. You try and fix things up as best as you can, and don’t hesitate to call me if you need. I know how physically attracted you are to my voice,” I joked.

“Yeah, sure. Also, Shannon? Can you not tell anybody about this? I mean, it’s okay if you tell Jimmy, but just as long as it doesn’t leave you two,” she pleaded, “if I’m going to fix this, I need to do it on my own.”

“Sure thing,” I promised her, “but seriously, call me soon, I really miss you.”

“I will. Now go to sleep,” she ordered.

“I’m already there, Say,” we said our goodbyes, and we hung up. I quickly put my phone back on the nightstand, and nuzzled up to Jimmy, making sure I was warm before I fell asleep. So much shit was going on over there with Saylee, Matt, Brian, and Zacky. I was almost happy I was away from it, across the Pacific Ocean, and in another country. Being on the run wasn’t as bad as it seemed. Jimmy and I lived here, with normal lives. We were learning Russian, we had internet, everything was the same as it was back home, before the mental facility.

And I was with the man that I loved.

I got to spend every day with him, telling him how much he meant to me, and listen to him tell me how much he loved me in return. I was living the perfect life. We didn’t have a lot of money, of course, but I didn’t even care about that. Though I wouldn’t mind having the money to pay for heating in my house. We even talked about having a child of our own sometime in the future, but when we were more financially stable.

I let my thoughts carry me off to sleep, like I had never been woken up in the first place.

..::--------::..

I woke up with the bright light of the sun blinding my eyes. Getting up and closing the blinds wasn’t worth it, because then I’d be awake for sure, but I couldn’t sleep with the sun beating down on me like that. It’s a wonder that it’s still cold here in the day. I looked at the empty side of the bed, seeing that Jimmy was already awake. I jumped out of bed, my feet warm against the carpet, one of the few warm things in the house, and started my journey down the stairs. I saw Jimmy at his desk with a mug of coffee on standby, he was probably working on lyrics.

I walked up behind him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders, and kissing him on the side of his face, “Whatcha doin,” I asked him, resting my chin on his shoulder.

“Working on lyrics, and some music,” he told me, just as I had thought, “what was that call about at four in the morning. Is Saylee dying or something,” he asked, and I giggled.

“No, but she’s pregnant,” I told him.

“Great, we’ll gave a third midget. On the other hand way to go Matt,” he cheered, setting his pen down and getting up, probably about to go call him.

“Matt….or Zacky,” I corrected, and he stopped in his tracks and looked at me.

“No,” he stated, “you’re fucking with me.”

“I’m not, Jimmy, I promise. Saylee and Zacky had sort of a run in when Matt and her were on hold. I mean, Matt knows about it, according to Saylee. But now she’s pregnant, and she called me freaking out, she didn’t know what to do, and her uncle hates her,” I said, quickly, and then remembered something else to add, “and you can not tell anybody about this. She wants to fix everything on her own,” I said, and he nodded, signaling that he understood.

“Fine, I won’t tell anybody. But if it’s a boy, she better fucking name it after me,” he joked, and wrapped his arms around my shoulders.

“Good, because she’d hunt me down, cut me up, burn me, and spread my ashes in separate countries,” I told him, and his chest moved as she chuckled.

“Short but deadly,” he said, “so any plans for today?”

“I didn’t really want to leave today,” I told him, and he smiled, “I didn’t really want to be in these awful clothes, either,” I added on, smirking up at him seductively.

“I’m right there with you,” he said, picking me up bridal style, and carrying me up the steps, back up to the bed.

..::--------::..

“Shannon,” Jimmy said my name softly, and I looked back up at him as he traced circles on my bare arms.

“Hmm?” I said, rubbing my nose gently against his cheek.

“What would you say if I asked you to marry me?” His voice was quite, but his words were bold in my mind, and I lifted myself onto an elbow as I looked at him.

“I’d say yes,” I said, smiling at him.

“I’ll keep that in mind when I go to get a ring,” he said, closing his eyes, and I crawled back into his side, letting my own eyes close, but my mind wandered.

©Shannon.