Chapter 16

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Okay, so this chapter is a little cheesy and sappy, but it needed it ????? Lol, I don't know. You were warned. Oh and the next chapter's probably gonna be, too, but oh well...

~•~•~•~

"Hey, Shannon!" Cody yelled.

I ran over and gave him a hug. "Cody!"

He hugged me back.

"I missed you," He kissed the top of my head.

I looked to see if Alli had come. She and Meredith were already chatting away.

"Hey, Shannon," Alli said.

"Hey, girl!" I have her a hug.

"Well, let's get going to our house," Angie politely interrupted.

When we stepped outside, I thought it was beautiful and warm. Iowa was still pretty cold, so I loved this California weather.

We walked to the SUV out front of the airport doors and got in.

Cody and I sat in the far back, Alli and Meredith in the row of seats in front of us, my mom in the passengers seat, and Angie driving.

I looked at my phone it was 12:37pm.

"Traffic's pretty bad around the airport, so it'll take a little longer to get home," Cody informed me.

"Yeah, that's alright though. I'm here with my favorite people," I shrugged.

Cody smiled. "Me, too."

We reached their house in about thirty minutes.

We pulled into their driveway. Their house is beautiful.

"Okay, we're here," Cody told me.

We all got out of the car.

I went to the trunk to get my suitcase.

"Here, I'll get," Cody grabbed my suitcase out.

"Well, thank you," I smiled.

He smiled back.

"Come on, Shannon, I'll show you in our house," Alli gestured to me.

I walked over to her and Meredith. We went inside.

It was beautiful, nice and open. It was all white, but it worked in their house. It made it look clean and simple.

"Wow! Your home's beautiful," Meredith sighed taking this all in.

"Yeah," I agreed.

"Thanks," Alli said. "Oh, let's go upstairs!"

Meredith and Alli went upstairs. I stayed behind.

"I'll be up in bit!" I yelled to them.

Cody came in with all the luggage.

"Here let me help you. I'm gonna go upstairs with Alli and Meredith, so I'll take it up with me," I told Cody.

"Alright," Cody said.

I tried to grab one from his hands.

The suitcases wobbled and fell down, so did Cody and I.

Cody broke my fall. Cody, the suitcases, and I were all tangled together.

I let out a laugh and so did Cody.

"Whoa, what happened here?" Angie walked in with my mom.

"Oh, we, uh, fell," I said looking at Cody.

"Okay, sure," She said picking up some of the suitcases. "Come upstairs, I'll show you your room," She said to my mom.

My mom gladly followed her.

I looked back at Cody. I stared at his eyes, but not for too long. His eyes made me weak; they are beautiful. "Oh, well I should probably go upstairs." I slowly stood up.

"Oh," Cody paused. "Yeah."

I picked up my suitcase and Meredith's suitcase.

"I'll show you upstairs," Cody smiled and went to the stairs.

I followed him.

We walked down a long hallway and picked a door on the right.

"Shannon!" Meredith shouted. "There you are."

"Hey," I smiled. "Here's your stuff."

"Thank you!" Meredith said grabbing her suitcase. "Hey, Cody," Meredith waved to him. He stood behind me in the door frame.

"Hey," Cody waved.

I walked into the room and put my stuff next to Meredith's. I sat down on the bed with her and Alli.

"So what were you guys doing?" I asked.

"Well, Meredith and I were just talking," Alli said.

"Okay, well, what do you want to do?" Cody rephrased.

"Here's a crazy idea, could you teach me how to longboard?" I thought out of nowhere.

"Yeah, I can teach you," Cody smiled.

"Oh! Teach me, too!" Meredith exclaimed.

"Don't people in Iowa know how to longboard?" Cody jokingly asked.

"Aha! It's all cornfields. Where would we even skate to in Iowa? Corn?" I jokingly said back.

Meredith laughed, too.

~•~•~•~

"Okay," Cody placed the longboard on the pavement outside. "Put your left foot on the board."

I did as told. "Easy."

"Then, you push off with your right foot," He explained. "Here, let me come closer, so you won't fall."

I pushed off slowly with my right foot and Cody was right along side me. I put my right foot on the board and slowly drifted down the street, but didn't make it very far.

"There ya go," He said.

"Yay!"

"Alright, go a little faster now," Cody said.

I pushed off with my right foot again, Cody slowly jogging next to me. I fell a bit.

I shrieked.

"Whoa," Cody said as I fell into his arms.

I stepped forward off the longboard, still in Cody's arms.

I looked up at Cody. "Thanks."

We looked at each other.

"Hey, guys," Meredith yelled. Cody and I separated quickly and awkwardly. "I think I got it!"

I gave her a 'thumbs up' sign.

I got back on the longboard and started slowly again.

I started to get a little better and went faster.

I went a little too fast and fell over. Cody was there and I landed on him.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" I immediately said.

Cody winced and looked at his elbow.

"Cody, your elbow!" I shouted. "Let's-"

"Nah, I'm fine. Don't worry about it," Cody assured me.

"But we needa go get something on that," I told him.

I moved off of him and sat on the pavement. Cody sat up.

Meredith an Alli walked over.

"Hey-" Meredith began then stopped. "Whoa. What happened?"

We told them.

"Uh," Meredith half laughed. "Okay." She winked.

I rolled my eyes at her. "Come on, Cody," I stood up. "Let's go wrap your elbow up."

He stood up, too.

We were walking toward the front door. I heard Meredith say, "They so like each other."

"It's so obvious," Alli laughed.

Yeah, I like Cody, but he's too busy to have a girlfriend. Well, let alone a girlfriend in a completely different state from where he lives. I can't let him stress about me. I'm totally fine being friends.

~•~•~•~

We were in the bathroom. I found some disinfectant and a big band-aid.

"I find it funny that I was worried about you getting hurt and I did," He half laughed.

I laughed, too. "Yeah, sorry about that."

"Nah, it's fine," He winced as I applied the disinfectant.

I put the band-aid on his elbow.

We stood there in the tiny bathroom, not wanting to move. For a second I thought Cody wanted to kiss me.

"Well, I guess we should go back outside," I broke the silence. I slid past Cody and walked back outside.

~•~•~•~

CODY'S P.O.V.

I'm so stupid. I should've kissed her. It was so perfect, she's so perfect. It almost seemed like she didn't want to kiss me, like she didn't want to fall for me. Why? She's the exact opposite of what I want. I want someone that looks like Miranda Kerr. Shannon's so different, but maybe that's why I like her so much. I can't fall for her though. I'm too busy with tours. She lives in another state, too. I can't have a long distance relationship. It won't work. Can we just be friends?

I slammed my hand on the counter. I was confused and angry. What am I going to do?

~•~•~•~

SHANNON'S P.O.V.

"Shannon, what happened?" Meredith asked. "You look mad or something."

"I'm not mad," I shook my head and smiled.

"Okaayy," Alli said. "If you need to tell us something, we'll listen."

I ignored her, grabbed the longboard, got on and drifted down the street.

Cody walked out of his house at some point. "You're getting the hang of it."

I nodded at him. I stopped the longboard and picked it up.

I looked over at Meredith. She was doing really well, too.

I walked over to Cody and sat down on the steps to the front door. I put the longboard on the ground next to me. Cody came and sat down on the step, too. I tried not to stare into his beautiful ocean blue eyes.

Meredith and Alli walked over.

"What's up?" I asked them.

"I don't know. What does everyone wanna do?" Meredith asked.

"Ooo! Let's watch a movie," Alli suggested.

Cody and I got up. We all walked in the house and sat down on the couch. Cody sat next to me, Meredith sat to my left, and Alli sat next to Meredith. Alli picked the movie.

We fast-forwarded through the previews. Alli had picked 'Pitch Perfect'. I haven't seen it yet, but a lot of people had said they loved it.

~•~•~•~

The movie was really good. I'm pretty sure it's officially my new favorite movie.

Cody put his arm on the couch behind me.

I laughed. "Oh, so you're gonna pull that?"

"What?" Cody half laughed.

"The arm thing," I told him.

"Oh, you mean this?" He put his arm on my shoulder and pulled me closer to him.

"Yes, that!" I giggled.

Meredith and Alli started to chant, "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

"Guys, stop!" I laughed.

"Oh, Come on! The sexual tension is killing us!" Meredith said.

"The sexual tension?" I breathed a laugh.

"Yes, sexual tension," Alli replied.

Angie and my mom came in.

Cody and I separated so it wasn't awkward.

"Hey, we are gonna eat, okay?" Angie said.

We all nodded.

I looked at my phone to see the time. It was 5:47pm already.

Tom and Brad also came downstairs.

~•~•~•~

We finished dinner around 7:00pm. Angie, my mom, Brad, and Tom went off to do their own things.

Before Angie left to do something, Alli asked, "Hey, mom? Can we have a campfire?"

"Yeah, sure, but be careful," Angie told her.

Alli nodded.

"Okay, guys, let's get this campfire started," Alli said.

We gathered everything we needed to start the fire and took them outside. I, of course, grabbed the essentials for any campfire, stuff to make s'mores.

It got fairly cooler outside since this afternoon.

Cody started the fire.

We all sat down around it in lawn chairs.

"Cody, you should get your guitar," I suggested.

"Okay, yeah," He got up and went back into the house.

He returned with his acoustic guitar.

"Do you play?" He asked me.

"No, but I want to learn," I told him.

"Come here," He said.

He had me sit on his lap. He put the guitar in front of me.

"Do you play any instrument at all?" He asked me.

"Nope, I've tried piano, but I'm not good at all. I can sing a little, though," I told him.

He showed me various cords."Okay, those are some cords to 'I'm Yours' by Jason Mraz."

"Are we gonna sing it now?" I asked.

He nodded then sung, "Well you done done me and you bet I felt it

I tried to be chill but you're so hot that I melted

I fell right through the cracks." As he sung I played the cords G, D, and Em.

"Now I'm trying to get back," I sang with him and played the cord C.

Cody stopped singing. "Wow."

"What?" I asked him.

"Shannon, you're incredible!" Meredith shrieked.

"Yeah, Shannon. Do you take vocal lessons or anything?" Alli asked in awe.

"No, none at all," I told her.

"She's not even in school chorus." Meredith noted. "Although, she should be."

"Your voice is beautiful," Cody whisphered in my ear. "Sing more."

It made me smile. "Before the cool done run out I'll be giving it my bestest

And nothing's gonna stop me but divine intervention

I reckon it's again my turn to win some or learn some." Cody played the guitar while I sung.

"But I won't hesitate no more, no more

It cannot wait, I'm yours," Cody joined in and sung with me.

"Alright, I'm just gonna say you guys are so good together," Meredith cut in.

"Yeah, like seriously, record a song," Alli agreed.

This made me blush, good thing it was getting darker out, so no one could really see it.

Cody started to play a new song. He sung, "You-ou-ou-ou-ou, got me good

I-I-I-I-I, you-ou-ou-ou-ou

I like this right here

Word on the street is that you're single so

So baby have you heard my single?

It goes la di da and it hits like a cymbal

I drew a heart with my finger on your window." He was singing his song 'Got Me Good'.

Cody continued. "What's up?

Even with your hair up

Girl, what's up?

Even in your sweat pants

Girl, what's up?

Even when you wake up without any make-up, I'm in love

I jumped in, "Cause I'm

So tired of the same old things

I'ma need something new in my life, yeah

So tired of the same old games

Yeah it's time I started feeling right

Cause you-ou-ou-ou-ou, got me good girl

I-I-I-I-I, feel so good girl

You-ou-ou-ou-ou, got me good

And you know that I need you so bad."

Cody stopped and smiled at me. I smiled back.

I shivered.

"Are you cold?" Cody noticed.

I nodded.

Cody set his guitar down. "Here, get up."

I stood up.

Cody went in and grabbed a blanket.

"Aww, Cody. Thank you," I told him.

"Yeah, no problem, but you're still gonna have to sit on my lap, alright?" Cody smiled.

"Aha, okay," I agreed.

He sat down in the chair and I sat down on his lap. He wrapped the blanket around us. I snuggled up against him. He smelled so good. He put his arms around me.

"Naww, Shody," Meredith said mixing our names together. She started making a s'more.

Honestly, I didn't mind it. Being in Cody's arms is wonderful.

Cody kissed the top of my head.

"Alright, if that's the kiss we wanted early that's sad," Alli said. She was roasting a marshmallow.

"Be quiet," Cody snapped. I could feel his chest vibrate when he talked.

"Don't make us chant again," Meredith tempted.

"Fine, chant all you want," I told her.

"Alright," she looked at Alli.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" Alli and Meredith shouted.

"Just do it," I whisphered to him giving in.

He didn't hesitate. He gently kissed me.

Alli and Meredith were giddy.

"Finally!" Meredith exclaimed.

"Naww, it's like we're watching a love story," Alli said.

I quickly and gently kissed Cody again.

We sat in silence, mesmerized by the flames of the fire.

Cody played with my hair.

I got up.

"Where are you going?" Cody asked worried.

"Here," I handed him a graham cracker and chocolate. "Hold this."

I got a marshmallow and a stick to roast it. Once the marshmallow was golden brown, I took it out of the fire and held it in front of Cody. He took the chocolate and graham cracker and mushed them in with the marshmallow.

I set the stick down and sat back down on his lap.

"Here, open," He smiled holding the s'more.

I opened my mouth and took a bite. Cody took a bite out of it, too.

"Aww, now they're sharing food. Alli look they're sharing food," Meredith gushed.

"Aww, they're just so cute," Alli said.

Meredith and Alli continued talking.

I was getting sleepy. From California to Iowa there's a two hour time difference. Iowa is two hours ahead of California. I got out my phone and checked the time. It was 8:43pm. I tried to stay up a little longer. Meredith was looking tired.

Meredith fell asleep first. She usually does. I fell asleep right after her.

~•~•~•~

CODY'S P.O.V.

She fell asleep on my shoulder. She's so cute when she sleeps. I ran my fingers through her hair.

"You like her, don't you?" Alli spoke.

"Yeah, a lot," I admitted.

"But you're afraid, aren't you?" She asked. Alli knows me so well.

"Very," I confessed.

"Long distance relationships are hard, but it'll work out," Alli comforted me.

"Thanks, little sis, but I don't know if I want to be in a relationship," I told her.

"She's a lovely girl. I'm sure you'll do the right thing. If you're friends, you're friends. If she's your girlfriend, so be it," Alli responded. Ah, the wise words of advice from Alli.

I didn't want to wake Shannon. She was so comfy. I decided to just fall asleep outside with her in the chair.

Princess Alli, of course, didn't want to sleep outside. She brought out a blanket for Meredith and put it on her.

She put out the fire, grabbed my guitar, and headed up to her room."Good night," She said before leaving.

"Good night," I responded.

I fell asleep soon after Alli left.

~•~•~•~

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

See, I told you it was cheesy and sappy. Aha! :)