Convergence {ON HOLD}

Chapter Three

*2 Weeks Later*

"Okay guys! Partner up! Preferably with someone who is here for a different reason than you!" The lead counselor said.

Shannon made eye contact with Emily. Emily gave a small nod and Shannon walked over to the petite brunette.

"Now that you are partnered up, I want you to explore the city. I want you to test your self-control. At the end of the day, you all will take a drug and alcohol test. If you fail, there will be consequences. Good luck and have fun!" She waved everyone off.

"Let's go to the beach." Shannon said and led the way to the beach.

Emily hasn't been to the beach in over 3 years. The last time was with her son Dustin and her ex-boyfriend, Josh.

"Let's go into the ocean!" Josh yelled.

"Can we mommy?" Dustin looked up at him mom and gave her his best puppy dog eyes.

"Alright, but only for a little bit. It's getting dark." Emily agreed.

"Yay! Let's go mommy!" Dustin pulled his mother's arm into the ocean.

"Josh! Can we go? It's getting late!" Emily called out to her boyfriend. She was only knee-deep in the salty ocean, but that was a far as she could go.

"Come on Em! Let's stay awhile, it'll be fun!" Josh pleaded.

"Only a little bit, Dustin's bedtime is in an hour." The protective mother said.

"It's Friday night! Loosen up, god! Let Dustin live a little!" Josh said back harshly.

Emily felt like she was smacked in the face. He had never criticized her parenting before.

But over the course of 45 minutes, Josh had gotten wasted while Emily made a sandcastle with her sun, trying to keep him from seeing the asshole Josh decided to become.

And that was the last time she saw Josh and the beach.

"Do you like the water?" Shannon asked.

Emily shook her head. The thought of fish and mud and seaweed touching up against her grossed her out.

Shannon stopped dead in his tracks.

"I didn't even ask you if you wanted to go to the beach. I just assumed..." Shannon trailed off.

Emily gave him a smile. She found it comforting to know that Shannon cared about her and tried to make things right.

Emily nodded and pointed to the beach. She wanted to go, she wasn't goings to go into the water or take her shoes off, but she still wanted to see the beautiful California waves crash onto the beach.

"We don't have to go to the beach, we can go get coffee instead," Shannon loved his coffee. He wouldn't mind missing an opportunity to go to the beach when he could drink coffee with Emily instead.

The brunette shook her head no to his suggestion and started walking ahead of the drummer, leading the way to the beach.

***

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Shannon marveled as he pointed at the crystal clear waves crashing onto the shore.

It was beautiful, it was more than beautiful.

Emily nodded.

They were sitting on a towel, careful not to get sand onto it and far enough that they wouldn't get wet, but close enough to where they could smell the salty ocean.

Shannon had his legs stretched out and his favorite pair of hightop sneakers beside him. Because the entire rehab were on a "field trip" they were allowed to wear normal street clothes, to fit in. Shannon fashioned a Pink Floyd muscle tank, showing off his tattoos.

Emily was fascinated by the drummer's tattoos. Especially his shoulder tattoo, it was very intricate and colorful. Shannon also had symbols tattooed on his inner forearm that Emily didn't know the meaning behind. She hoped he would someday tell her. The non-tatted brunette also noticed a triangle with a line through it tattooed behind his ear. It was another symbol she didn't know the meaning of.

Emily had always dreamed of getting a tattoo, but now with her OCD she shuddered at just the idea of walking into a tattoo parlor, without even thinking about the needles and the required touching needed in order to successfully do the tattoo.

Shannon stood up and took a couple steps back from Emily, he brushed sand off of his pants and slid back into the comfort of his beloved shoes. Emily stood back while Shannon picked up the towel and shook it off before returning it to the rental shack.

"Do you want to get coffee now?" Shannon asked her as they started walking down the sidewalk.

Emily shook her head no. She wasn't a very big coffee drinker and she did not want to walk into the coffee shop and touch the dirty coffee mugs and tables.

Shannon was a little disappointed, as he hasn't had any good coffee in over 2 weeks. But he thought about how Emily went to the beach with him and sat down with all of the sand next to her. In his eyes, she had conquered something big. So instead, Shannon smiled and said, "Maybe next time, let's head back to the bus."

While they walked to the bus in silence, Emily thought about Shannon. She thought about how he didn't think of her as a girl with a disorder. He didn't complain about her not touching things or going places. He didn't question why she didn't talk. Shannon treated her like a human. Not a fucked up weirdo.

She was grateful.

A/N: I UPDATED! WOW, HOLY SHIT IT'S BEEN A WHILE. You all probably hate me for not updating in like forever. I'm so sorry. My life has been so busy with school and homework and other things. I also just haven't been in the right mindset to sit down and write a chapter or two. I really want to try and update on a more regular basis. Possibly 2-3 times a week. But I can't make any promises. I am also writing another book, "The Race" (Check that out if you haven't already) so it's just been hard.

I still love you all!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE VOTE AND SHARE!!!!!

LET THIS SHANFIC BE KNOWN ACROSS THE INTERENT!!