Shawn

    My phone was ringing. I hit the silent button and closed my eyes again; I didn't even bother looking at the time. It was still dark out, so it was still too early for me to be on the phone. But when I heard my ring-tone again a few seconds later, I rubbed my eyes and glanced at the caller ID. It was Jordan. "Hello?" I mumbled.
    "Rebecca?" A girl's voice.
    I sat up straight. "Mrs. Donnelly?" I asked quickly.
    "Guess again," the voice sing-songed.
    I looked at my clock; it was 4:30 in the morning. My brain worked slowly, but finally a valid answer came to mind. "Missy?"
    A soft laugh came through. "Ding ding ding! I just figured I would give you a call because you're about to get a picture message, and I wanted to be on the phone with you when you opened it."
    "What are you talking about?" I demanded. As I finished my sentence, my phone alerted me to an incoming text. From Jordan. "What did you send me?"
    "Open it and find out," Missy replied in a cold voice.
    My heart was pounding, and I didn't want to give her the satisfaction, but the curiosity was killing me. When the picture arrived, I opened the attachment and waited impatiently while the picture loaded. It was Jordan laying in bed. Missy was laying on his chest and his arms were around her. He was smiling up at the camera. I felt nauseous.
    "Oooh, did you open it?" Missy asked when I didn't say anything. At my continued silence, she squealed. "You did!" Her voice was barely above a whisper. "I hope you liked it. That's what happens when you leave your boyfriend unattended around me. Did you really think I wouldn't get him back? Let me tell you, Beckie, we did it all night. And now, I'm going to go lay back down and cuddle with him for a bit. I'll see you around." The call disconnected.
    Tears welled up in my eyes. He cheated on me, I realized. With her. I wasn't thinking clearly, but I opened my cell phone again and dialed in Shawn's number. He answered immediately with a groggy hello that sounded similar to my earlier one. "Shawn, it's me. I need you. Are you around?"
    "Beckie? What's wrong? What happened? Is your father okay? Are you hurt?" He spat his questions out too quickly for me to answer. "Never mind. I'll be there in ten minutes. Don't go anywhere."
    He hung up, and I climbed out of bed and walked to my bathroom. I wiped the tears away and went downstairs to wait for Shawn. Ten minutes later, exactly, headlights pulled into my driveway. I quietly slipped out the front door just as Shawn climbed out of the car. We met halfway and he pulled me into his arms. I started crying all over again. "Shhh, it's okay. Come on, let's go for a drive."
    We got into the car and he turned and gave me a look. "Jordan's ex-girlfriend is staying with him. His mom and his ex's mom are still really good friends, so she wanted to come see them. And she insisted on bringing Missy-- that's his ex's name, Missy-- with her. And we kinda butted heads the day we met, and she made it really clear that she wasn't over Jordan and still wanted to be with him. And for the past couple of weeks, his mom's been making plans for day trips for just the five of them, cos he's got a little sister too, and Jordan really hasn't had the choice but to agree and go along. And just a little while ago, I got a call from Jordan's cell phone, but it wasn't Jordan on the phone. It was Missy. And she sent me a picture of the two of them laying in bed, and he had his arms around her and he was smiling at the camera." We had stopped driving and were parked down near a river. "Here look." I pulled out my phone and showed him the picture. "You see that necklace? I got him that. There's no way this is an old picture. He cheated on me. He slept with her! Shawn, I don't know what to do," I said, my voice cracking.
    Shawn opened his door and came around to open mine. He took my hand and led me to the grass, where we sat down. He held me like he had back in 8th grade when my mother had died, and just like then, when he held my hand, I let him. He was still in love with me, but like last time, I needed the intimacy.
    "There has to be some way to explain it, Rebecca," Shawn said soothingly
    "Yeah, I'm stupid to have thought that I could compete against her! That's the explanation. This girl is beautiful, and clearly their only reason for breaking up was because he moved. It's not like they fell out of love, Shawn. I mean, I just... I'm gonna have to end it with him."
    There was silence, and I knew Shawn was struggling with what to say. I looked up at him and saw the look on his face that said he was thinking. And suddenly it hit me just how much Shawn cared about me. Now would have been the perfect time for him to trash Jordan and tell me I was better off without him, but depiste being in love with me, he wouldn't say that because he knew how I felt about Jordan. Without thinking, I leaned up and kissed Shawn. And without hesitation, he kissed me back. Before I realized what was happening, I was laying on my back and Shawn was putting his hands up my shirt. I arched my back to make it easier for him. We had sex, and when we were finished, Shawn leaned his forehead against mine and kissed me gently before retrieving a towel from his car. He handed it to me wordlessly and turned away while I cleaned off and redressed myself. As we walked back to the car, he took my hand and instinct told me to pull away. I realized what I had just done and starting to feel nauseous again. "Rebecca?" Shawn said as we reached the car. I closed my eyes. "We need to talk about this."
    "No, we don't. Can you just bring me home? I just want to go home," I stated, my voice cracking on the last word.
    "I'll bring you home, but we have to talk about this."
    We climbed into the car and when we got back to my house, I got out. Shawn drove away wordlessly, and by the time I crawled under my covers, it was already 5:45 AM. I cried myself to sleep.