Mandy tapped her foot to an imaginary beat as she ate her Honey Nut Cheerios. It was the morning after her and Shane’s decision to begin a relationship, and her lips were still tingling from the way they sealed the deal. She smiled slightly and she ate another spoonful. Suddenly, the phone rang.
“Hello?” Mandy dropped her spoon into her empty bowl and took it to the sink.
“Mandy!” her best friend’s angry voice filled her ears.
“Bon? What’s wrong?”
“Yesterday afternoon—when Wilmer called—you never called me back!”
Mandy smacked her forehead. “That’s right! I’m sorry Bonnie, Shane was here and…and I just forgot.”
“Oh?” Bonnie’s anger vanished and was replaced by an intense curiousity that only a best friend could have. “And what was Shane doing there that made you forget?”
“Well, we decided we were going to be just friends,” Mandy informed her. She could practically hear Bonnie’s jaw drop to the floor.
“Whaaaat!?” she screeched. Mandy pulled the phone from her ear, and she could still hear her friend screaming at her. “How could you decide that? You guys are so great together! Can’t you see that! Ahh! You’re so dumb, what’re you doing!?”
“Bonnie,” Mandy said calmly.
“I can’t believe you—”
“Bonnie.”
“You’re so—”
“Bonnie!” Mandy was getting sick of her friend’s ramblings.
“Yes?” She was breathless.
“Yesterday afternoon, Shane and I decided we were going to be just friends. Last night, we went out to dinner with my parents. By the end of it, we were more than friends.”
There was silence on the other end. Then: “How did that happen?”
“It involved a lot of kissing,” Mandy admitted, blushing.
Bonnie gasped. “You little whore!”
“Bonnie!” Mandy cried out.
“Mands, I’m joking, you know I’m joking.”
“Yeah, yeah…” Mandy laughed.
“Ohhhh shit, my mom’s at the door. She’s doing her monthly ‘check up’ to make sure there are no boys or dirt. I’ll call you later, okay?”
Mandy laughed. “Sure. I gotta go pick up the dogs from the kennel, but I’ll be home later.”
“Okay, bye hun. Oh, and YAAAY!” Mandy just laughed again.
“Bye…” She waited for the click on the other end, before hanging up. She stared at the phone for a second and then looked at the clock. 11:45. He should be awake… she thought. She turned on the phone and dialled the number.
“Yeah?” he answered groggily.
“Oh, Shane, did I wake you up?” Mandy asked, concerned.
“Mandy?” She could hear him sitting up. “Ye—No, it’s okay, don’t worry about it. What’s up?”
“I have to go pick up Winston and Oliver from the kennel today…would you want to come with me?”
“Yeah, sure, of course I would. Gimme ten minutes. We’ll take my car?”
“Sure! So are you gonna come here?”
“Yup, ten minutes.”
“Okay, see you then.” They said their goodbyes and then hung up. Mandy looked down at her pyjama-clad body. “Ahh! Gotta change!” With that, she jetted into her room.
*
The drive from Mandy’s house to the kennel took a good ten minutes. The car ride started off in a comfortable silence, although Mandy was hyper and didn’t feel like being quiet. So she started singing.
“Look at this stuff…isn’t it neat? Wouldn’t you think my, collection’s complete?” Shane slowly turned and looked at her.
“What?”
“Wouldn’t you think I’m the girl…the girl who has…everything! Look at this trove, treasures untold. How many wonders can one cavern hold?”
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Shane muttered, chuckling.
“Lookin’ around here, you’d think, ‘Sure, she’s got everything’. I’ve got gadgets and gizmos aplenty I've got whozits and whatzits galore. You want thingamabobs? I got twenty. But who cares? No big deal. I want moooooore!”
“That’s funny,” Shane interrupted. “I want ‘Moore’ too.” Mandy abruptly stopped singing and looked at him, laughing.
“Very punny,” she noted.
“Thank you, I try.” She grinned at him and he grinned back, before taking her hand.
The rest of the car ride was in the same comfortable silence it started off with. Mandy didn’t mind this time.
*
They arrived at the kennel within the designated time and went to the front to speak to the owner. She wasn’t there, but her daughter was.
The owner’s daughter, a slim, tom-boyish girl with “Christine” on her name tag, was listening to headphones and tossing a baseball up in the air, her ratty sneakers resting on the desk. Blink-182 could be heard through the headphones, it being on so loud.
Despite the fact that Shane had Mandy, he was still a guy, and couldn’t help admire this girl. She wore no make-up, but didn’t need any, and her light brown hair was pulled back in a careless ponytail. She was wearing a light blue tank top and faded jeans, today being one of the hotter days in L.A.
Suddenly, she noticed them standing at the door and got up abruptly, dropping her headphones so they rested around her neck.
“Oh hey, sorry about that!” she apologized, smiling. She extended a hand. “I’m Christine. You’re Mandy, right?”
“Yeah, that would be me!” Mandy confirmed, smiling back.
“Great! Okay, well, your puppies are—Are you Shane West?” Christine looked at Shane curiously.
“Uh, yes. Yes, I am…” Shane gave her a lopsided smile. Christine turned back to Mandy, and recognition dawned in her eyes.
“And you’re Mandy Moore!” she exclaimed.
Mandy chuckled. “That’s right, I am.”
“Shane West.” She pointed to Shane. “And Mandy Moore.” She pointed to Mandy. Both of them looked at each other and chuckled. Christine snapped out of her daze.
“Sorry!” she said, chuckling as well. “I’m not usually this slow. So your puppies are Winston and Oliver right?” She started leading them towards the kennels, motioning for them to follow.
“Yup, that’s right.”
“Oh, honestly, I loved those two the most. They were so friendly and sweet. They got along with everyone, people and animals. And there’s no rivalry between them, they love each other just as much. I swear, if I didn’t already have four dogs and three cats, I’d get dogs just like yours,” Christine rambled. AHHHH!!!! she screamed mentally. Shane West is two feet behind me, oh my God, oh my God.
‘Four dogs and three cats?’ Shane mouthed incredulously to Mandy, who shrugged.
“Oh, here they are.” Christine bent down and let them out of their roomy confinements. The dogs barked excitedly and jumped up and down, tails wagging. Oliver immediately took a liking to Shane, jumping up and down in front of him, trying to lick his hands. Winston, on the other hand, was more apprehensive. He sniffed at Shane’s leg and then growled slightly, before looking up at Mandy, as if to say, “Who’s the jerk?”
“I don’t think he likes me!” Shane noted.
“He’s just protective of me. Aren’t you boy?” Mandy picked him up and he happily licked her face. “Aww…ew. Doggy slobber.”
“If you can just sign these release forms…” Christine handed them to Mandy with a pen. Mandy quickly scribbled her name on the forms, while juggling Winston. Shane was carrying a hyperactive Oliver. “Thanks.” Christine took the forms back and filed them away. “Okay, then you’re all set to go!”
“Thanks very much Christine,” Mandy said, graciously. “I’m glad you took good care of my babies. Isn’t that right?” Mandy cooed to the puppy in her hand, who barked happily.
“Hey, it was my pleasure.” Christine shrugged modestly. “And can I just say, that I loved ‘A Walk to Remember’, and you guys were sooo good in it. Honestly, afterwards, me and my friends were just like, ‘Aw, I want a Landon!’” Shane laughed. “Listen, if it’s not too much trouble, can I take a picture with you guys?” Mandy and Shane looked at each other.
“Sure, why not?” Mandy spoke up. She put the puppies in their separate carriers. The first picture was of Mandy and Shane together. The second was Christine and Mandy (Shane took it). And the third was Christine—who was trying not to hyperventilate—and Shane (Mandy took it).
“Thanks so, so much you guys. It was great meeting you!” Mandy and Shane returned the compliments, and then left. What until the guys at the ‘A Walk to Remember’ message board get a load of this! Christine couldn’t help thinking excitedly.
*
Once they were at Mandy’s house, she let the dogs run free and they happily made themselves at home. Shane did the same, sitting down on the couch and watching TV. She quickly filled the dogs bowls with food and water and they scrambled over each other to bury their faces in them, before walking over and flopping down beside Shane. He unconsciously draped his arm over her shoulder and pulled her closer. She nestled into his shoulder and they watched TV together in contented silence.
“What do you wanna do tonight?” he mumbled in her hair, after turning around and kissing it.
“Mmm…maybe movies?”
Shane was about to agree, when the phone rang. (A.N. the phone does that a lot in this story, doesn’t it? *hehe*) Mandy reached over and picked it up. “Hello?”
“Mandy. It’s Jon. And do I have news for you!”
*
“Are you excited?” Shane wondered as Mandy threw her fifth outfit into the bed.
“Yes! But, ahh! Nervous!” She held up a sixth outfit, but crinkled her nose and quickly discarded that one too.
“So when exactly are these auditions?”
Mandy glanced at the clock. “In half an hour.”
“What’s the movie called?”
“Umm…” Mandy pulled a seventh outfit out. “What do you think of this?”
“Try those pants,” he suggested, pointing to the jeans she was holding. “With that shirt.” He pointed to a shirt on the bed.
“This one?” She held up a pale yellow sleeveless peasant blouse.
“Yeah.” She nodded, satisfied, and went into the bathroom to change. “What did you ask?” she called out a few minutes later.
“The movie. What’s it called?”
“Oh, uh…ugh, Jon told me, hang on, lemme think…Seventeen-something? Oh, oh, ‘Try Seventeen’. Yeah, that’s it.” She grunted and Shane heard something crash.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I tripped over my jeans. Ow…”
He chuckled. “So, who’s in it?”
“Um…that guy. You know, from that movie…” she attempted to explain.
“Right, right. The guy. From the movie. I’m good friends with that guy.”
“You are?”
“No, Mandy. In fact, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Mandy laughed. “Sorry sweetie! I’m talking about the kid from, um…that movie with the comet hitting the earth?”
“Ben Affleck?”
“No, the other comet.”
“Oh, the kid from ‘The Lord of the Rings.’”
“Yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah, him! What’s his name?”
“Wood. Something Wood.”
“Elijah!” she cried, triumphantly as she emerged from the bathroom.
“Gesundheit,” Shane teased. “You look great,” he noted, looking her up and down.
“Thank ya dahhhhling,” she drawled comically, digging through her earrings. Choosing a pair of silver hoops from the pile, she put them on and padded back into the bathroom. “I’m just putting on my make up. Honey, do you think you could drive me?” Mandy asked from inside the bathroom.
“Yeah, of course. Do you know where it is.”
“Yeah, it’s down…well, you have to go up…um, turn right when you get to…Nevermind, I’ll point it out when we’re driving, okay?”
“As long as you know.”
“I do. Ow!”
“What happened?”
“I poked myself in the eye with my eyeliner. Ow…”
Shane laughed. “Aww…”
She came back out. “Do I have lipstick on my teeth?” She bared her teeth for him.
He moved closer and pointed to her front tooth. “Yeah, you have something right—” Catching her off guard, he leaned in and closed her lips with his. “—There.”
She smirked at him. “There was nothing on my teeth, was there?” He just grinned at her. “Oh, Shane, whatever am I going to do with you?” she wondered aloud, as he put his fingers through the belt loops on her jeans and pulled her closer.
“Mmm…” he said softly, pretending to think. “How about…kiss me?”
“Hmm. Maybe I will. Maaaybe I will…” She smiled at him and kissed him softly, barely brushing his lips with hers. Quickly, she pulled back. “Then again, maybe I won’t!” His mouth dropped open.
“You tease!” he accused.
“I know, I’m horrible,” she agreed.
Chuckling, he gave her hips a little squeeze before releasing her. “You wanna get going?”
“Yup!” she grabbed her purse and tossed in her wallet, cell phone, and lip gloss. “Let’s go.”
*
“Okay, here we are. Call me when it’s done?” Shane questioned as he let Mandy out.
“Of course I will.” She leaned forward and kissed him. “Wish me luck!”
“Good luck baby.”
She closed the door and gave him one last grin before walking up the stairs into the studio.
He watched her go, concentrating on the one area that most men would concentrate on (the one that swings side-to-side in the most hypnotic manner), until she was out of sight. Now what to do? he couldn’t help but wonder.
*
“Guy, I swear, you are fuckin’ lucky. I mean, it’s MANDY MOORE. Pop princess herself.” Ben Gould happily punched Shane in the arm. “Count your blessings dude.”
“Oh, I do,” Shane assured his friend, taking a swig of beer. “Honestly, I am lucky. Like, I swear to God, how I ended up with her is beyond me.”
“Beyond us too, man!” Jerry Fitzgerald piped up, laughing. He didn’t talk much, but when he did he really stuck it to them, no matter who was talking.
They were all gathered in Ben’s basement—the usual hangout for the group. It was where all their instruments and stuff were, so they usual hung out, wrote something, and played it to see if it sounded good. Today they were just hanging around, not really stressing about songs or music. Some “male-bonding” was in order. Shane, according to Ben, was “hanging around chicks so much, [he’s] starting to become one.”
“Mandy Moore…” Ben scoffed. “I swear, even I don’t believe it.” He pulled out his pack of Marlboro’s and took one out, lighting it. He didn’t offer one to Jerry, because he knew Jerry had never smoked, and tossed them straight to Shane…who promptly tossed them back.
“Man, I gotta fight it!” Shane chuckled. “Mandy doesn’t like that shit.”
“Who gives a fuck, you gotta be yourself, guy!” Ben threw them back at Shane.
“I don’t want to make her uncomfortable. She saw me once on the set and…I dunno man, she didn’t like it. And I like the fact that she’s willing to tell me that to my face, instead of bullshitting around it, or even fuckin’ asking for one, and then choking on it when they light it.” He tossed them back at Ben, who put them in his back pocket.
“I gotta hand it to ya man, you’re more respectful than me, that’s for sure.”
“Yeah, but, we always knew that Ben,” Jerry piped up. Shane laughed as he watched his friend get up and headlock his other friend until he screamed mercy. Sure, they were grubby, swearing, unrespectable dirt bags…but they were his grubby, swearing, unrespectable dirt bags.
The chapter should’ve ended on that note, but the author felt the need to ramble on incessantly.
In the middle of Ben and Jerry’s (Cherry Garcia, mmm…) fighting, Shane’s cell phone rang.
“Hello?” he answered.
“Shane?” he was greeted by a breathy female voice.
“Yeah…?”
“Don’t you know who this is?” she continued.
“No…?” Ben and Jerry looked at him quizzically, mid-headlocks.
“It’s Mandy, you dolt!” His girlfriend giggled, gleefully. Ooh, girlfriend. I like the sound of that!
“Mandy!” he exclaimed, laughing out loud. “What’re you doing, you crazy kid?”
“I wanted to see if you’d be like, ‘Oh hey…blah blah, whatever your ex-girlfriend’s name is’,” she admitted, laughing.
He just laughed, “Oh-kay there Mandy. Have you taken your medication?”
“The blue pill or the red pill?” she questioned innocently. Shane laughed some more. His friends were looking at him like he had grown a third head.
“I’m thinking of leaving you at the studio…” he warned her.
“Oh that’s okay, Elijah’s driving me home. Right, darling?” Shane chuckled nervously, unable to tell if she was serious or not. Then he heard a: “Go home, Mandy” from the other end and breathed an inaudible sigh of relief.
“Maybe not…” Shane filled in for her.
“Hmm…so I guess that just leaves you, huh?” Mandy deduced.
Shane mock-sighed deeply. “I guess so!” Ben cocked his head and raised an eyebrow at his friend. Shane’s conversations with old girlfriends usually consisted of: “Hey babe. Call me later, we’ll chill. Peace.” And then a hang-up. This Mandy chick was changing him. Not in a bad way…just different. Like that whole no smoking thing. What was up with that?
Mandy giggled. “So are you coming to pick me up or what?”
“I’m on my way as we speak,” Shane lied.
“You’re lying,” Mandy informed him.
“You caught me,” Shane admitted. He grabbed his coat. “Now I’m really going.”
“Okay, see you soon.”
“Yup, bye.” He hung up. “`Kay guys, I gotta go!” Ben made a whipping sound, implying Shane was ‘whipped’. Jerry laughed, and Shane gave his friend a Look. “You’re hilarious. Bye guys.” Shane gave a little wave and left to the sounds of Ben making whipping noises.
“JEALOUS!” Shane got the final word as he left the house.