Chapter 29
While Shannon was upstairs getting ready, Chris was downstairs on the phone talking to Jessica. "Hey Jess, I’m coming along tonight if you don’t mind. Oh why? Well, Shannon doesn’t want any guys picking her up so I am going as her date kind of." Jessica sounded annoyed when he told her that, "She needs to find a man who will treat her right, and who knows, she might find him tonight!" Chris himself was getting irritated as well, "She can’t find him in one night. Look, she doesn’t even want to go, but I talked her into it for you. And another reason why I am going, is because I want to make sure that she doesn’t end up with anyone she doesn’t want to be with." "Don’t you think that is for her to decide, Chris?" Chris let out a sigh, "Yes, but she doesn’t need to get hurt again. I am going to protect her. To make sure she doesn’t. Well, I have to go now, bye." And before Jess could say anymore, Chris hung up the phone. Chris had already been dressed and ready by the time Shannon came downstairs. She looked like the old Shannon, and she had put on her happy face for him. He smiled at her and gave her a hug, "Are you sure you want to go?" She bit her bottom lip when he asked, thinking, "Not really. But I don’t have any other choice." "I tell you what. We can go for a little bit. If you feel uncomfortable, we can leave at any time, but at least make an appearance that way Jess and Mandi won’t get on my case." Shannon sort of twisted her face when he said that, "Your case? Why yours? Wouldn’t it be mine?" Chris let out a small laugh, "Actually, no. I just got off the phone with Jess. She’s a little upset with me as it is." Shannon looked confused, "Why? What did you say to her?" "I told her I was coming along as your date." Shannon raised a brow, "And she got mad?" "Yeah, she thinks that you should meet a guy that you don’t know, and all the good stuff like that." Shannon let out a sigh, "She’s crazy. I’d much rather spend time with you than some loser I would pick up at a stupid club."
On the way to the club, Shannon decided that she hardly wanted to be there at all. She looked over at Chris, who was staring intently at the road. "Hey Chris, can we just go in and tell them that I am not feeling well?" He took his gaze away from the road and looked at her, "Why? Aren’t you feeling well?" She smiled at him, "I feel fine, I just want to spend some time alone with you." Chris laughed, "We spend time alone together almost every day!" Shannon let out a small smile, "Yeah, but I mean, maybe we could get a bite to eat or something. Or maybe we could just go to the park and relax." "I have a better idea," he said, winking at her. He pulled off into a store parking lot and picked up his cell phone. He dialed a number, but Shannon wouldn’t tell whose it was. He looked over at her as he started to talk, "Hey Jace, this is Chris. Shannon and I won’t be able to make it tonight. Oh, she doesn’t feel well. Okay, I’ll be sure to tell her. Bye!" Shannon raised a brow again, giving him a funny look. "JC said to feel better. I could hear Jess in the background bitching, but she’ll get over it. How about we head towards the park now?" Shannon frowned a bit, "Okay, but I’m hungry. How about we get something to eat and take it with us?" Chris smiled and started the car back up and headed towards Taco Bell.
Once at the park, they sat down at a picnic table and ate their food. "It has been a long time since I have come to a park this late at night," Shannon told him, looking all around in the darkness. "Really? When was the last time you did?," he asked her in between bites. "When I still lived at home. I would always go out with my two friends and go to a playground in Franklin, up near another friends house. We would go at all different times of the night. One time we were there at 1 in the morning." "Wow, and you never got in trouble?," he asked her. "Nope, but I got clawed by my friend that night. She liked the guy we were with and I told him." Chris laughed, "Sounds crazy. You still talk to them much?" Shannon shook her head, "I still talk to Angel a lot, but Mike, nope. A couple months after that night, he decided that I wasn’t good enough for him anymore, and started hating me for a stupid reason." They had finished eating and they went over and sat on the swings. "Why did he start hating you?" Shannon let out a laugh, "You really want to know?" "Of course!" Shannon laughed as she told him N Sync. "He hated you because of us? That’s silly!" "Yeah, I know, but he wasn’t worth my time anyways. He couldn’t accept the fact that I was different from him. I was upset at first, but now, I don’t really care."
They sat on the swings in silence, gently swinging themselves a little bit, but not too high. Shannon decided to be like a kid again and swing really high and then jump off. Chris just watched her and she flew through the air, landing on her feet. She sat down at the picnic table again after she was done and looked up at the stars. Chris walked over towards her and sat down, putting his arm around her. He held her close to his body, warming her up since she was a little bit chilly. They sat there in silence and looked at each other straight in the eye. Slowly, Chris leaned into her and gave her a small peck on the lips, followed by a more serious kiss. Shannon thought in her mind that it was wrong to be kissing him, but she felt so comfortable that she couldn’t stop. Just as the kiss started to get more serious, a pair of headlights shone on them, causing them to break away from each other. They looked at the vehicle, afraid of who it would be, and who caught them together.
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