30-Something Reality

Aftermath....

SHANNON's P.O.V.

Jeanette and I had finally slept off the booze and I had gotten up, showered, changed into a white muscle shirt and gray board shorts. I had already started coffee, so when I stopped at Connie's nursery and just stared... My heart ached. I had to fix this.... 

"Here, Sarah told me how you like your coffee... I brought us up a cup..." Jeanette brushed the back of her hand along my left bicep. 

"Siren loved to trace my rib tattoos to wake me up and snuggle..." I laughed. "How are we going to fix this for both of us and them? I know they are going to screwing around.... It kills me!" I punched the wall in my hallway. I left an imprint of my fist in the drywall.. 

"Hey!" Jeanette yelled and grabbed my hand... She had finally put on some clothes she kept in the car after a shower... "You think they are going to do something stupid? Like Jared was awefully pushy about getting serious with her when I was with her. She wasn't this pissed last time.... This isn't like when Sondra and her got together.... She was pissed off at me... First it was Jackson, I was fucking him behind her back, he asked me to marry him out of the blue, and I told him I was in love with Sarah.... He left and Sondra and her had been friends for a while... but her mom and her had gotten into a fight and her mom was drunk and went to go get smokes, Sondra's mom wasn't paying attention... " 

Jeanette took a sip of her coffee... "Siren said she asked Sondra to marry her!"  I asked... "How did that come about?"

"After Joshua was killed, she and I split because it was just too painful for either of us to be around each other knowing what had happened was because we wanted to be together so bad we were sneaking out of state to go get married so I could adopt Joshua... That is when Allan found us." Jeanette sighed and we went down stairs to check on the breakfast she had started for us... "Sondra was her best friend besides me and they had always like each other... Sondra just had never told anyone about herself. We had to tell our parents after she got pregnant.... They weren't happy because we were step sisters... but they found out we had been together since before our parents had gotten together.... So they couldn't argue with us... Sondra was revenge... She just jumped with her and they ran off to get married... Sondra got cold feet and backed out. That is when Siren came into full effect.... She had enough! She just molded herself into another person entirely to get away from the past."

"That explains SO MUCH about her now!" I had no idea she had been that lost... "She was so afraid when she first met us...." I laughed... "The morning we met she almost had a panic attack when she realized it was ACTUALLY us... She never lost her cool though. She called us BOTH out on our shit..." I laughed and sat at the counter top bar on the island stove. Jeanette had baked homemade from scratch pecan cinnamon sticky buns... "I see that you both can come up with some pretty interesting recipes. I have always loved the different things she has came up with and cooked."

"She taught me how to cook actually, and bake. Sarah was always trying to come up with something different, She's a really picky eater, so she would come up with different stuff that everyone could eat and she would like too... So we got to know different things we could make that were good and still semi healthy but really bad at the same time!" Jeanette laughed.

"Did Jared ever make you his vegan pancakes?" I smiled... "I love my brother, but I have had him set the smoke alram off more than once trying to cook!" 

"He can cook though... It was sweet, one night he...." She just stopped there... "So, not that I haven't enjoyed the ummmm..."

"Jeanette," I stopped her and took her hand. I pulled around to me on the bar stool and slid her into my arms, "I'm not going to pounce on you like some crazed bear or something!" We just hugged. She pulled back in my arms and we just looked at each other... I finally broke the silence, "It happened, I'm not going to appologize for it, you heard her yourself, she slept with him. I'll be honest, If she knocks on my door, I'm going to beg her to take me back!" Jeanette put her head down and looked away... I lifted her head by the chin with my fight index finger and maker look at me, "Jared and her failed once, they aren't meant to be together... YOU and him are... They will see it... HE will see it...." I took a deep breath, "I just pray she does...."

This time Jeanette touched my face and for some reason I felt the same pull between us as the night before... It didn't make sense, this time we were sober! "She'll figure it out Shannon... But can I ask you something?" Her green eyes, her long blond hair that just curled down the sides of her face... She looked like a porcelain doll... 

"Yes, I love her, more than life itself..." I could feel the pull getting stronger... I cradled Jeanette's face in my hands, "But, yeah, I care... Things wouldn't have gotten as far as they did last night if I didn't care about you Jean."

"Okay... So I'm not the only one who feels it?" She bit her bottom lip, looked down at my lips, and then back into my eyes...

I almost buckled right there... "No, I feel it.... That is the only reason I can't hate her for fucking my brother... Cause I'm going to keep you until this shit gets worked out..." And with out another word at all, I kissed Jeanette for the first time, sober.