Home for Christmas

As she pulled into Shannon's driveway, she had the momentary thought that she probably should have called first to see where he was. Then she noticed that there was a car in the driveway that she didn't recognize. She almost turned around, thinking maybe he was busy. But something in her gut told her to go to the door anyway, so she did. She knocked and it took him a full minute to appear before her, swinging the door open wide and then closing it a little when he realized who it was.

"Zane. Hi," he mumbled, casting a glance over his shoulder.

"Hi..." she trailed off, looking at him questioningly. "Are you... busy?"

"No. I just... I had to take care of something," he told her, sounding more suspicious than she'd ever heard anyone sound.

"Shannon," she said his name, looking at him with fire in her eyes. "What's going on?"

"Shan?" a female voice asked from somewhere behind him. Zane's eyes grew wide as she stared at him.

"No..." she whispered, and he started to say something, but she cut him off. "Is there... a girl in there? Another girl?"

A tall blonde appeared beside him, looking at Zane like she owned the place. The blonde looked her over and seemed to come to an unsatisfactory conclusion. She snaked her arm over Shannon's shoulders and looked at Zane smugly.

Zane turned instantly and made her way back to her motorcycle, forcing herself not to cry. Shannon called after her, but she didn't turn. She shoved her helmet on roughly and peeled out of the driveway, surely leaving some of the rental's tire rubber behind her.

She drove. No destination in mind, not even really thinking about where she was going. She couldn't believe it. She knew if he had started something up with someone else, she couldn't really be mad at him for it. After all, it was her fault. She was the one that had been so stupid, the one had been unsure when he'd been so sure. She didn't know what she had expected when she'd shown up at his door, but it definitely hadn't been that. She wasn't even sure what she'd gone there to tell him. Maybe she was going to tell him she loved him? She didn't really know. Mostly she'd just wanted to be with him, to see his face, to hear his voice. The more she thought about it, the more she knew she had gone to tell him she loved him, and the more the smug long on that blonde girl's face cut into her heart.

She drove until she came to a hiking trail that she and Jared used to climb all the time when they were younger. She dismounted the bike and pulled her phone out of her pocket to see that Shannon had called her three times. She ignored it. She wasn't sure she even wanted the explanation from him. He didn't owe her an explanation. After all, she was the one that had been too scared to follow her heart. He'd given her plenty of chances and she'd screwed it all up. She'd missed her chance, and it was all her own fault. 

She climbed to the very top of the trail and planted her butt in the dirt on the ground as she stared out to the view around her. She felt like the whole city was underneath her; bustling and minding their own business, no knowledge at all of the heartbroken girl looking down on them. Her phone rang in her pocket again. She pulled it out and saw Jared's name flashing across the screen, a silly photo of him puffing his cheeks out at her.

"Hi, Jay," she said into the phone reluctantly. She knew that if she didn't answer, both of them would just keep trying until she did.

"Call him," Jared told her simply, his tone severe.

"I don't want to."

"I don't fucking care. Call him."

"Why?"

"Because you need to. Just do it, Zane."

"Fine."

"Thank you," he said, and a moment later the line clicked dead. She looked at the phone, annoyed.

"Fuckin' Letos," she mumbled to herself, punching Shannon's contact on her screen.

"Zane?" Shannon answered on the first ring, his tone borderline frantic. She could hear him shut his motorcycle off.

"Hi."

"I need to explain."

"You don't have to explain anything. I said I wasn't ready. You obviously were, and if it had to be with someone else, that's my fault. No harm done," she said, doing her best to keep her voice cool. The last thing she wanted was for him to know how absolutely devastated she found herself.

"No. You've got it wrong. I swear. Where are you?"

"Why?"

"Because I want to tell you in person."

She told him where she was hesitantly. He told her he'd be there as fast as he could and they hung up. She sat there while she waited for him, still forcing herself not to cry.