You & I [Kier/Shane]

Chapter Eight - Kier

Kier’s POV

As I left Shane’s room I wandered downstairs and entered the living room, grinning as I saw Laurence and dropped down on the sofa beside him.

“How did it go?” I heard him mumble, eyes trained on his laptop screen.

“Really well.” I beamed in his direction, cuddling into his side. Shane seemed to be coming out of his shell more around me, thankfully; I just hope he feels comfortable enough while in my presence. 

“Really?” Laurence looked down at me, eyebrows raised. I merely nodded, grinning as I thought of possible ways to get Shane to open up more; A gig would be the perfect place the start. Surely the sight of hundreds of people screaming and jumping around would help him break down a few barriers. The tapping sound of Laurence returning to his laptop helped the cogs in my mind run smoothly, chewing the inside of my lip as I rummaged through my knowledge of whether any good bands were in town. 

“Hey, Laur?” I asked, drawing out the syllable while my hand crept across to reach out for his laptop, only to have him slap my hand away.

“No.” He grumbled, continuing to type away. “Use your phone.” 

“I have no data left this month.” I whined in response, reaching out for the laptop again and receiving the same violent reply.

“Connect to the WiFi, Dumbass.” 

“You don’t have WiFi, Dipshit.” I retorted, rolling my eyes. “You steal from your neighbour.” 

“Well, use that WiFi.” 

I groaned, snatching his laptop from him and running from the room, squealing as I heard Laurence’s booming voice - mostly growled profanity. I sped up the stairs, our heavy footsteps and my laughter alerting Drew but I ignored him, hurrying into the bathroom and locking the door.

“I fuckin’ swear, Kemp, I’ll kill you!” I heard Laurence’s cries as I sat myself down cross-legged on the fluffy rug, the beloved gadget on my lap as I brought up the internet. 

“Calm down, Darling,” I replied, typing in ‘Ticketmaster’ and finding our location. “I’ll save your precious fanfiction.” 

“It’s not fanfiction!”  I heard him cry back, thumbing his fist against the door but I took no notice, scrolling through the bands playing within the next week before finding one I was a little familiar with. They weren’t that well known, giving me a more likely chance of purchasing tickets and a less chance of making Shane uncomfortable. 

Once I thought I’d finished I unlocked the room, thrusting the laptop into Laurence’s desperate arms and walking down the hall and into my bedroom. As I shut the door behind me a small “The doesn’t mean you’re in the clear, Kemp, You Thief!” was heard from Laurence’s loud mouth, causing me to reply with a simple, loving slam of my door. Just like old times.

Sitting on my bed I spent the next few hours with my Guitar, fiddling about with different old songs of mine. It was just a little hobby I had, nothing that could actually go anywhere because my heart wasn’t into it. I liked modelling, regardless of the pressures that came with it. Yes, it was stressful and somewhat damaging, but it was something I had wanted to do since I was a child. That didn’t mean I was egotistical or arrogant; just visionary. I followed my dream and reached it.

The sound of someone gently knocking on my door pulled me away from the instrument, causing me to return it to it’s home in the corner and announce to the person on the other side to enter. Drew grinned as he slipped through the open door, shutting it quietly behind him before joining me on the bed. He sat cross-legged, his florescent ‘Marvel’ socks sticking out from underneath his clothed knees as he played with his hands. He looked troubled, his friendly grin dropping almost immediately as he sat down. I mirrored his position, looking over at him with raised eyebrows. 

“S-So.. Umm..” Drew began, not looking up from his thumbs that looked as if they were in the middle of a thumb war. “I’ve heard you’ve been getting along with Shane.” 

I nodded stiffly, unsure whether going ahead with the truth was the right answer; Drew‘s actions were making me uneasy. “Y-Yeah, He’s a lovely guy.” 

Drew nodded, giggling softly yet still refusing to meet my gaze. “He really is.” 

Silence fell amongst the room, my hand raising to scratch the back of my neck as I continued to stare at the timid blond. I had no idea what to do, or say, and it seemed like Drew didn’t know either. 

“L-Listen… I’m going to get straight to the point here.” He eventually piped up, his head rising to give me a small smile and a sigh. “Shane’s kind of freaking out so, as always, I’ve got to sort it out.” His tone made him seem slightly annoyed with his friend, but I could tell from his pained expression that this was something very important to the both of them, causing anxiety to bubble inside of me. 

“Have I done something?” I asked gently, my eyes dilating as I thought through every possibility that I could fathom in my mind of how I could have upset him. Maybe I was talking to him too much? 

“No, It’s nothing like that.” Drew replied, a gentle, comforting hand settling on my knee. 

“Then what?” 

He took a deep sigh. “Shane doesn’t go out much; He’s never been the type… Well, for as long as I’ve known him he hasn’t.” He paused, appearing to think through every word that fell from his lips. “If you haven’t noticed he’s a little reserved; he doesn’t like to talk about himself much and keeps himself to himself-” 

I knew it. It was me. Shane doesn’t want anything to do with me.

“-He’s a little worried about this gig you want to take him to.” 

Oh. “R-Really?” I replied in slight bewilderment. “He should have said.” 

“He didn’t want to upset you is all.” Drew replied, quietly. “He seems to like you a lot.” 

My heart warmed as I looked over at Drew, a smile forming on my lips. “I like him too.” I knew Drew must have meant that he liked me platonically, but I couldn’t help it; He still liked me. 

“Great.” The blond replied, a little too emotionless for my liking but I didn’t have a chance to reply as he stood and made he way towards the door. “Just don’t push him, okay?” He mumbled, looking over at me with his hands stuffed into his pockets. “He doesn’t need that.” With those final words Drew left, leaving me to mumble out a small “I won’t” to no one.