FicWad

A BEAUTIFUL LIE

CHAPTER FIVE

“Skyla! Skyla, come back!” Shannon yelled after her. He ran through the house until he found her, crying in the sunroom. “Skyla...”

“I haven't told Jared I loved him because I never thought I could. And I couldn't tell him I was sorry because he kicked me out.” Skyla wiped her eyes, but fresh tears quickly replaced the old ones. “And now stupid Geoff wants me to marry him again and he doesn't believe I ended the engagement and I didn't even get to tell him about Jared!”

Shannon wrapped his arms around her. “I have a crazy idea, but it just might work. But I'm supposed to be gone to the store right now, and if I don't return with a few grocery bags Jared will freak.”

“Just tell him you had to get some stuff for the beach house because it all ruined when the power went out,” Skyla told him.

Shannon's brain was cooking up an idea. “You stay here. I'll be back.” He walked back into the house and called Jared. “I need you to go to the store with me.”

“Why? I don't need anything.” asks Jared. It was obvious he didn't want to be bothered at that moment. But Shannon needed him to come along, just to see if his idea would work.

“Just because I need you to! I need to get some things for the beach house.” As he went to hang up the phone, Shannon was aggravated. He wanted Jared to go to the store with him, come back to the beach house, and hopefully that will give Skyla the chance to apologize to him face to face. But then he realized that he might see through that plan. He stayed on the phone.

“Okay, fine, I'll go. I need to find Skyla anyways.”

What? Shannon felt a sudden jerk, like all his insides were being twisted in knots. “Why?” he asked Jared.

“You might be right; I might have gone overboard when Skyla mentioned that guy. It was last year and she called off the engagement and I didn't believe her. She even tried to apologize to me and I thought she was lying to me about that, too. It's just all a huge bombshell that she dropped on us, and I just...” Jared groaned on the other end.

“Overreacted?” Shannon asked him. “Listen, be ready and I'll pick you up in a few minutes, okay?”

“Okay. Hey, do you know where Skyla went?” Jared asked him hopefully.

Shannon scratched his nose. He didn't know what to say. “Nope. Haven't seen her since she left.” Let Jared be surprised to see her here!

“Oh.”

Before Shannon left, Skyla came back in from the sunroom. “Who was that?” she asked him.

Shannon looked at her and grabbed her. He quickly explained everything. “That was Jared. He admits that he might have gone overboard and he might want to see you. He admitted I was right so we got a chance!”

“But what are you going to do?” Skyla asked him.

“Isn't it simple? I'm going to drag him to the store with me and when I swing back by here, he can say what he needs to and you can too!” Shannon told her.

Skyla hugged him. “Thank you! You better go.”

“Right. Bye, I'll see you later.” He waved bye to her and walked to Jared's car.

After he left, Skyla ran upstairs to take a quick shower. She was so upset over Jared kicking her out, she didn't even take a shower that day. She ran some shampoo through her hair and gently worked the tangles out, then put some body wash on a wash rag and washed over her body twice, making sure to get behind her ears. She grabbed her razor and shaved, since she felt the stubble and it was annoying her. When she finished, she checked her teeth in the mirror and decided to do a once-over on her teeth with her toothbrush. She fixed her hair and went upstairs to the widow's walk to wait.

As Shannon pulled up to pick up Jared, he saw him coming toward him as he got out of his car. He leaned against it as Jared walked up to him. “What's up?”

“Let's hurry and get this over with,” Jared said grumpily. He climbed in the passenger seat. “And you are absolutely sure you don't know where Skyla is?”

“No.” Shannon got back in the car. “I just have to pick up some groceries for the beach house and I'll take them by there on our way back,” he told him.

Jared was silent. He had a feeling Shannon knew where Skyla was, and he was going to keep springing the question on him until he told him where she was. “Okay. And it wouldn't hurt for me to get some blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries.”

“Making a fruit salad?” Shannon asked him.

“No. I just want to eat them.”

Shannon shrugged and kept driving. When they reached the store, Shannon replenished everything that was in both the refrigerator and the shelves, and Jared got his berries and some whipped cream to go with them.

“I thought you weren't making a fruit salad,” Shannon told him sarcastically.

“I'm not.”

“Then why all the berries?”

“I'm going to eat them, like I told you!” Jared was frustrated. He wanted to hurry and leave the store, and maybe get his car back from Shannon so he could look for Skyla.

As they drove up the road past the beach house, Shannon noticed Skyla had moved his Jeep inside the garage. He pulled into the driveway and stopped, grabbing a few bags to carry in. “Jared? A little help, please?”

Jared got out and grabbed a few bags and followed Shannon inside. He had only been here once, but it was still an amazing place. As he set the bags on the floor, he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up like he was being watched. He turned and saw Skyla standing there with a bag of bread. He felt overwhelmed by the sight of her, but maintained his composure. “Skyla.” It took all his willpower to not let his jaw drop, since he hadn't seen her in a few days.

“Jared,” Skyla answered. She laid the bread on the counter and walked away. Jared gritted his teeth and ran to find Shannon.

“I see my plan worked,” he said, nonchalantly. “What Skyla carried in was the last of everything; just grab your stuff and stay here.”

“Good, because I see something happening between us in the very close future!” Jared got his things out of his car and carried them in, but not before asking Shannon, “Care to exchange vehicles?”

“Sure. Be good to her, okay?”

“Okay, alright. As long as she's good to me!”

As Jared walked back into the beach house, he waved goodbye to Shannon and then locked the door behind him. He went over and sat down on the couch as he waited on Skyla to come back downstairs; after about thirty minutes of waiting, he decided to go and find her instead.