Home for Christmas

A few days passed before she heard from either of the Letos again. She assumed it was probably because Shannon was mad at her, so by extension Jared might be too. If they were, she would have completely understood. She'd been shitty to Shannon and the worst part was that she wasn't even sure why anymore.

A few days after she got the hotel room, a single rose was delivered to her. There was a note attached and she pulled it off the stem of the flower carefully.

"Zane-

Hope you weren't trying to hide from me. Found you. I told you I wouldn't give up.

-Shan"

A minute after the flower was delivered, there was a knock at the door. She looked through the peephole and wasn't surprised at all to see that it was Shannon. She let him in hesitantly, quickly checking her appearance in the mirror beside the door and then silently cursing herself for doing so.

"Hi, Freckles," he whispered, looking at her with bright eyes. "Can I come in?" She nodded and moved to the side. He looked around the room, his nose scrunched up in what seemed to be disapproval. "This is where you're staying?"

"Not everyone is living on a rock-star salary," she said, looking around the small shabby room. It was pretty awful. Truth be told, she probably could have found something at least a little better if she'd tried. She'd kind of just booked into the first place she'd seen.

"What are you doing here, Shannon?" she asked him, looking at him in question.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine."

"You don't seem fine."

"I'm not feeling vulnerable enough to let you into my pants," she said, the words tumbling out of her mouth before she really meant for them to. She knew it was a low blow as soon as she said it. As soon as she looked up at him she knew she'd hit a nerve.

"Fuck you, Zane," he said in a low growl. "Why is it so hard for you to believe that maybe I just give a shit? That I've always given a shit?"

"Because you didn't before, okay! You didn't. All those years ago, you deserted me. You left me in the dust while you went off and did bigger and better things, while I was sitting there alone. You were such an ass that your brother sympathy-friended me! Do you get that? That's how pathetic you made me. All these fucking years, I've sat around wondering what I did so wrong. Why you couldn't look at me and see something other than a target for your friends to practice on. I know it's been years and I know I'm being fucking ridiculous but you hurt me! You fucked me up forever. I haven't trusted a single guy my entire life other than my father and your brother because of you!" Zane exploded, words pouring out of her mouth faster than she could control them. When she stopped at the end of her spiel, she realized that tears were pouring down her cheeks. Shannon stared at her slack-jawed. She could tell he was searching his brain for something to say to her, but he didn't seem to be able to formulate anything.

"Zane, I-" he began finally, but she cut him off.

"Don't. Don't fucking apologize to me again, Shannon," she said, taking a step towards him.

"What... what do you want me to say, then?"

"Nothing," she whispered, standing right in front of him now. He looked at her with wide eyes as she reached for him. He watched as her hand landed flat on his chest.

Before she could think enough to stop herself, she kissed him. She went in gently at first, just to see if he'd kiss back. When he did, she got faster and hungrier, wrapping her arms around his neck. He leaned into her, his arms around her waist.

"Shannon," she whispered into his lips, moving away just slightly so that she could see his eyes.

"Mm?" he questioned, his eyes full of obvious lust.

"Make love to me," she whispered, kissing him again.

He did as she asked. When they were done, they lay together on her crappy hotel bed, wrapped up in sheets and each other. They lay there silently for a long time, just listening to each other breathe.

"I can't believe we just did that," Zane said abruptly, like a light switch had just turned on in her mind.

"Zane..." Shannon trailed off, sitting up and looking at her.

"No. No, fuck. I can't believe... you need to go," she told him, and he scoffed at her, a confused look on his face.

"Really?" he asked, standing and pulling on his pants.

"Really. Please," she said, turning away so that he couldn't see the tears in her eyes.

"Zane."

"Go, Shannon," she said again, pointing behind her towards the door.

"Zane, please look at me," he said, reaching out and touching her shoulder. His tone broke hear heart. She could tell she was hurting him with every word she said.

"Go, please," she insisted, still refusing to turn to him.

"Fine," he whispered, removing his hand from her shoulder. She heard his retreating footsteps and sobbed as he slammed the door.