Just Friends?

Chapter Eight
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When the doorbell rang merrily, Shawn got up from the couch where he had been watching Will and Grace, a genuine smile forming on his face. She'd come back! Jeanne was always doing cute things like this, pretending she was going away then coming back, and he swung open the door invitingly ready to kiss the breath out of her, but the smile froze on his face when he saw Renee.

She had her hip pressed to the doorway in a manner she probably thought was seductive, slanted in a way so that Shawn could see directly down her skimpy green top. Her jewel-shaded eyes were viewing him through her heavily mascara-ed eyes, and the bright red lips were pursed at him in a catlike smile. He was almost shocked to find that he wasn'taroused at all by this blatant display of sexuality, but he wasn't. More like disgusted by the overt amount of makeup that had been applied to her face.

"Shawn, aren't you going to invite me in?" Renee pushed past him without invitation, and Shawn just stood there.

"What are you doing here?" he said rudely. Quite simply, Shawn didn't want her here. He didn't want to threaten the tenuous relationship he had just restarted with Jeanne. Nothing could make him break that as-of-yet fragile bond, Shawn realized, and a smile briefly skimmed across his lips before dissolving.

Renee slithered back over to him, until she was a mere breath away from him. "I've missed you," she whispered into his ear, her cold hands sliding over his shirt to entangle themselves around his neck. He pushed her from him, repulsed at her touch.

"Don't touch me again," he said coldly. "I suggest you leave now."

"I'm sorry for whatever I've done in the past... I know you're upset."

"I honestly do not care what you do anymore. You may have hurt me in the past, but that only made me realize what I actually want and need in my life- and it's not you," Shawn said bluntly. He noticed with dispassion the crocodile tears forming in the lashes of her huge green eyes.

"I love you, Shawn. I figured out you were the only man I want," she said.

"You only want things when you can't have them, Renee," Shawn responded wearily, dragging a hand through his messy blond hair. "I'll be honest with you. I'm in love with someone else, someone much better than you could ever dream to be. She's honest, kind, sweet, smart, and beautiful... I want to spend the rest of my life with her."

Renee's face pinched together into a mask of pure hatred, disfiguring her features until they were hideously ugly. "That little whore is NOTHING. Jeanne's a fucking ugly little shit, and you compare HER to ME?" she laughed harshly, not noticing the look of shock on Shawn's face as he registered what she had said. How did Renee know it was Jeanne? Had she been stalking him all along? His gaze hardened on her as she continued. "I'm going to kill her. I'm going to bring her in all tied up, have her raped before your very eyes, then I'll gut her like an animal. She'll have your name on her lips as she dies," Renee's face was growing more deranged by the minute. Shawn felt his heart stop at the words she said, and then consuming anger replaced the fear.

"You get the fuck out of my house, you insane bitch," he said through clenched teeth. "Get out."

Her laughter was mocking as she complied. "I'll get you and your ugly little whore," Renee sang, as the door closed behind her. Shawn locked the doors, and his legs gave out in front of his bedroom, sweat trickling down his face as he replayed the scene in his mind, unable to forget the threats made at the woman he loved.

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Ellen Darrell was waiting at the porch of the two story Victorian house, an anxious expression on her face. When she saw her daughter walking slowly up the street, she was overcome with relief and the anger that comes after worry.

"Where have you been, Jeanne Darrell?" she scolded, but taking in the tired expression, the woman ceased her tirade, and instead talked of having made mashed potatoes with chicken, her daughter's favorite meal. The girl brightened at her words, and she smiled gratefully at her mother.

The older woman had been assessing her daughter all week, and she had been more than usually aware of the young woman Jeanne was becoming. It seemed as though a new knowledge had filled the girl. One day, Jeanne had come in with a look of unbelievable pain and suffering, a look that hadn't faded for the past few days. Although concerned, Ellen hadn't pressed the matter, knowing it wouldn't solve whatever was ailing the girl.

Now, as she ravenously devoured the food in front of her, her mother saw there was a light radiating from her, a new happiness coupled with doubts and at the same time, faith. Only one thing could inspire such reactions on someone- love.