Not So Romeo

6

Shawn ** Friday

I woke up this morning, overly happy. I don't understand why. It's 7:15 am and I'm just about to leave to pick up Tatum. I've picked her up every day since Tuesday, and each morning puts me in a great mood. I shrug on my blazer, I have to wear it because of the stupid uniform requirements, then grab my school bag. My mother kisses me goodbye and I'm out the door.

After a few minutes, I pull into the big roundabout drive way outside of Tatum's house. I walk to the door and before I can even knock, the door is opened and a pair of small arms is wrapped around me. I laugh and wrap my arms around Tatum's small body.

"Hey." she breathes out.

"Hey to you. Are you okay?" I question because this is quite an unusual greeting from her, not that I'm complaining or anything.

She nods her head against my chest. "Yeah. I'm fine. It's just that my parents will be home tomorrow. They'll only be here until Monday night, but I'm not looking forward to it."

"Ahh. I understand how you feel. I can't wait for my parents to leave again." I sigh. She lets go of me and smiles. I return it. She then grabs my large hand in her tiny one and pulls me towards the kitchen. "Hey Ty. Sup Gray."

"Hey Andrews." Ty replies not looking up from his phone.

"Shawn! What's up bro?" Gray says, stuffing a muffin into his mouth.

Tatum groans in annoyance. "Grayson Lucas Chance! Stop eating all of my food!"

"Why would I do that? It tastes so good."

She just glares at the boy, who is now stuffing another muffin into his mouth, just to annoy her. I chuckle at her expression. "Has anyone ever told you that you look like a kitten when you're mad?" she turns her glare on me, not saying a word. "Hey, I'll buy you a muffin when we get our coffee. But we gotta leave now if you want to get either of those."

"Okay!" she chirps. "Bye big brother. Bye big brother's i***t bestfriend." Tyler and I laugh as Grayson shouts profanities at the little cutie who is already out the door.

Like every morning, I order our chai teas and this morning I get Tatum the muffin she was promised. She tried to pay, but I refused to take her money. I promised that muffin to her, so I'm the one who is paying for it. It only makes sense.

"So when do your parents leave?" she inquires as we drive down the road on our way to the school.

"Not until next month," I sigh. "But as soon as they leave, you're coming over."

"Sounds like a plan." she giggles. I smile at the sound. She's just too damn cute. No I don't like her in a romantic way, I just think she's cute. I mean maybe later on, I could see her as a potential love interest, but that's not likely. I see her becoming more like a little sister to me, although, it's still too soon to tell. I mean we haven't even been friends for a full week.

We pull into the school parking lot and we both sigh. I think we can both agree that the drive is way too short. We walk into the building side by side, and almost as soon as we enter, we are bombarded by her little herd of friends.

"Tatum!" the twins squeal and hug her.

"Hey Shawn." the twin I recognize as Bailey says sweetly. "Been treating my girl well?"

I smile, "of course."

"Ooh! White Zombie!" Tatum's friend Adelaide steals my cup from my hand.

"Sure you can have some." I say sarcastically. She smiles at me sheepishly and hands my cup back.

"So, you two coming to watch me tonight?" Bailey questions.

Tatum just shakes her head, "nope. Not after the last game I went to." the girls all laugh and I just stand there confused.

"Ladies! Shawn!" Tyler greets us as he walks up behind the giggling girls. Grayson is with him (no surprise there) along with another one of their friends, Jaiden, I think his name is.

The five girls say hello and I nod in acknowledgement. "Hey Adelaide." Grayson smiles at the younger girl and she smiles back. She's a freshman, making her the youngest out of all of us, other than Jaiden, the other freshman of the group. She's also Grayson's cousin, so it makes sense why she would just steal my drink from out of my hand.

"Tyler! Courtney! Stop it!" Tatum shrieks, drawing my attention back to her. She has a completely disgusted look on her face, and I notice Bailey has the same. I'm confused until I look towards their siblings, who are making out. Courtney's hand on Tyler's chest and Ty's hands placed firmly on Courtney's ass.

Bailey suddenly groans in annoyance and I then notice Marley and Jaiden are also playing tonsil hockey. I chuckle at the girls' disgusted looks. The bell rings and Bailey is the first to dash down the hall.

Tatum walks back to my side and I put my arm around her shoulders. I walk her to her classroom and bid her goodbye.

Like everyday, school went by painfully slow. I ditched the last three periods, as usual, and made my way back into the school about a minute before school got out.

I wait at Tatum's locker and smile when I see her. She smiles back. We're not meeting with any of her friends before we leave because they're all getting ready for the game so as soon as she stuffs her books into her locker, we head out the door.

"How was your day?" She asks as we get into my car.

"Long, boring. The usual. Yours?"

She chuckles, "honestly same."

"Well you ready to have some fun tonight?"

"Of course I am!" she says, giddy. "What are we going to do?"

I smirk at her, "you'll see." I pull up to her house. "I'll pick you up around 5. Text you when I'm on my way." I tell her. Its 4 right now so that gives me some time to shower and change.

"Okie dokie!" she giggles.

"Later weirdo."

"Bye" she waves before skipping up to her front door and walking in. I pull out and go to my own house to get ready.

Tatum

As soon as I entered my house, after Shawn dropped me off, I head to my room and drop my bag. I then go into my ensuite and shower. After I get out, I realise that I have no idea what I should wear. I text Shawn and he replies almost immediately.

Shawn:

Wear any thing you'd like. I'd go with something comfortable though.

Shawn:

Or nothing at all ;)

Tatum: haha. Very funny -_-

Shawn: I try XD

I roll my eyes and set my phone on my bed. I go through my dresser and decide on an oversized Nirvana tee and some black leggings. I still have a little bit of time to spare so I decide to put my hair up in two fishtail braids. I slip on my ballet flats and grab my phone the head down stairs to wait for Shawn. He texted me saying he'd be here soon.

About ten minutes pass and he finally shows up. I open the door as he's walking up to the door. "Hey. You ready to go?" he asks as I shut the door and lock it.

"Yup. You gonna tell me where we're going?" I look at him expectantly but he just smirks and opens the passenger door for me. "Thanks."

When he enters the car he looks at me. "I was thinking we could get something to eat before the fun begins. Where would you like to eat?"

"Can we go to Ezra's?" I look at him hopeful that he agrees with my choice. Ezra's is a small burger joint on the outskirts of town. It's not very well known but they have the best food I've ever tasted.

"Of course. I haven't been there in forever." he smiles at me before pulling out of my driveway and heading into town.

When we finish our meals, Shawn drives back into the city and stops at Vic's Arcade. It surprises me because I would've never taken Shawn as a gamer.

We meet at the front of the car and he puts his arm around me. I unconsciously lean into him as we walk through the entrance of the huge arcade. We play every game, which takes us a few hours, both of us being extremely competitive. My favorites were skee ball and the dancing game.

We earned so many tickets that we were able to get a couple of the biggest prizes. Shawn decided to put our tickets together and we ended up getting one of the giant teddy bears. You know, the ones that are like six feet tall. But instead of it being a bear, it's a giant monkey. It's really cute. Tonight has turned out to be a blast.

"You have fun?" Shawn asks as we walk to his car.

"So much! Did you?"

He smiles, "I did. But our night's not over yet."

"It's not?" I question, excitement lacing my voice.

Shawn shakes his head, once again opening my door for me. "We're just gonna go for a drive. Nothing too exciting."

"I don't mind. I like being around you." I reply once he's in the car.

"And I you." he answers.

The drive was a lot of fun, to be honest. We just talked and jammed out to the radio. To my disappointment, it ended too soon.

Shawn grabs my monkey from the back and walks with me into my house. When we enter I hear a bunch of laughing and shouting.

"Tate!" Alex yells and hugs me tightly. I can smell alcohol and weed on his breath. I then look up to see my brother and our friends all looking extremely intoxicated. Tons of alcoholic beverages and a couple bongs and joints are on the kitchen counter.

"I take it you guys won."

The group of intoxicated teens cheer. I roll my eyes and turn to go up to my room, Shawn right behind me.

"Looks like they've been having fun." Shawn chuckles, lying down on my bed. I sigh and lay next to him.

"Yeah, but it'll be me taking care of their hungover asses tomorrow." I turn towards him. "I hate it here. I hate this town and I hate being the one who has to take care of my older brother and our stupid friends when they decide to get f****d up. I want to run away. I don't want all the responsibility that's been put on me."

"I get it, I do. But you have me now. I'll help you in any way I can." he pulls me into his side.

I roll around so my head is on his chest. "Thank you. And it's the same for you. If you need anything, I'm here for you. No matter what."

"I know." he whispers into my hair. I start to drift off to sleep and right before I'm completely out I hear Shawn murmur, "goodnight princess."