Shawn and Kendall Ch. 13

Chapter 13: The Rules

Marcey covered her mouth with her hands in utter shock. She and Grace stared at each other uncomfortably as this new information sank in.

“Okay- whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on!” Marcey demanded as Grace started the car and began pulling out of the driveway, “what exactly did you see?”

“So I went upstairs to use her bathroom,” Grace began, “and I didn’t see anything shady at first. But then, while I was peeing, I saw this weird second toothbrush on her sink.”

Marcey stared at her in suspense as Grace explained what she saw.

“You know me,” Grace continued, “of course I snooped. So I went to Shawn’s room and, conveniently, couldn’t find his toothbrush anywhere.”

Marcey gasped quietly, imagining following Grace’s steps in her head.

“Oh yeah,” Grace made a dramatic face, “found the package for the same toothbrush in his garbage can and everything. But it gets worse.”

“What!?” Marcey shrieked in disbelief.

“After confirming it was Shawn’s toothbrush in her bathroom, I saw clothes on the ground in front of his shower.”

Marcey listened in silence as their drive continued.

“Kendall’s clothes,” Grace glanced at her.

Marcey covered her mouth with her hands again, unable to believe what she heard.

“They shower together too!?” Marcey yelled, completely disturbed.

“Oh, they’re doing more than showering together, Marce,” Grace scoffed.

“Wait, what are you talking about?” Marcey asked with a concerned tone.

Grace looked at her with a painfully cynical face.

“Oh my God, the birth control!” Marcey jolted forward in her seat, “you don’t mean…”

“I asked her if she was letting whoever she’s sleeping with do that thing she likes,” Grace answered, “you should’ve seen the look on her face.”

Marcey’s eyes widened, and her jaw dropped to the floor as she leaned toward Grace.

“Her own brother,” Grace shook her head, “she’s letting her own brother-”

“Stop, no!” Marcey interrupted, clutching the sides of her face at the thought of such a vile act.

“I didn’t wanna believe it either,” Grace sighed, keeping her eyes on the road, “but we saw it last night. You saw it! There’s definitely something going on with them.”

“Oh, fuck, Kendall…” Marcey groaned, leaning on her elbow and looking out the window with a disgusted face.

Their drive became awkwardly silent as both let their minds circle this disturbing development. Reflecting on years of poking at Kendall about her brother’s “crush” on her suddenly spawned new realizations and confirmations that made their skin crawl. All those times Shawn and Kendall seemed a bit too close were adding up.

“The question is, what do we do?” Grace asked.

“Um… Nothing?” Marcey responded, shaking her head, “I didn’t think you would actually come back with proof. It’s disgusting, but it’s not our business, Grace.”

“She’s our best friend, Marce!” Grace yelled.

Marcey looked over at her from staring out the window.

“What kind of mental state must she be in to do something like this,” Grace went on, “what if the breakup ruined her completely, and Shawn twisted her while she was vulnerable? I knew we should have checked on her more. We have to confront her on this.”

“Do we?” Marcey asked doubtfully, “yeah, it’s fucked up and gross, but it’s none of our business who she sleeps with.”

“Are you listening to yourself?” Grace demanded, “that’s her fucking brother, Marcey! We owe it to her to call her out. It’s not normal!”

Marcey stared at Grace, unable to find the courage to answer. She loved Kendall dearly, and her heart wanted no part in this sick game of exposing her. Yet, somewhere inside, Marcey was not entirely against their relationship, knowing what Kendall had been through and how close Shawn was to her. Grace could not fathom the concept of a deep sibling bond, but Marcey had a younger brother she cared for greatly, and her mind pondered what she would do to protect him if he had a dark secret like Kendall. Little by little, she slowly began empathizing with Shawn and Kendall’s situation, realizing she didn’t have it in her to play into Grace’s plot. Even if they were sleeping together, Shawn was not the villain Grace painted him to be, and Marcey knew that. Her gut told her that their relationship had every bit as much to do with what Kendall wanted.

“I don’t care…” Marcey suddenly grumbled.

Her response yanked Grace’s gaze from the road.

“What…?” Grace asked in disbelief.

“I said I don’t care,” Marcey stressed, “a lot of stuff we do isn’t normal either. So let’s drop it.”

“Would you fuck your brother!?” Grace asked furiously.

“No, Grace! I wouldn’t!” Marcey fired back with an attitude, “I know I don’t say the nicest things about him either, but… I still love my brother. And I wouldn’t let somebody do to him what you want to do to Kendall. Sorry.”

Grace returned her gaze to the road, unable to believe she was the only one so bothered by all of this. She scoffed, shaking her head, disappointed that Marcey wouldn’t buy into her game. And so, in the dark of her mind, she began formulating a new plot. One way or another, Grace wanted proof. She could feel her curiosity growing into an obsession as she stared at the road before her. But who else could Grace call upon? Who else would care as much as she did?

“Can we please just drop it?” Marcey’s stressed-out voice broke Grace’s train of thought.

Grace looked over at her, noticing the severe expression on her face. She silently resolved to continue this game on her own in secret now that Marcey was out.

“Yeah, you’re right,” she forced a fake smile, “it’s not worth risking our friendship with her. We’ve been through too much together to let some drama ruin everything.”

Marcey deflated with relief, thankful that Grace had given up so easily.

“Exactly,” Marcey answered, “what she does is her own business. All we can do is be her friends. And besides! We don’t know that they’re fucking. Maybe it just looks like it from the outside.”

“Maybe,” Grace mumbled, already calculating her next move.

It was time to call upon old faces, enemy or not.

Shawn and Kendall sat on the couch and let their nerves unwind from Grace’s sudden intrusion. They were both relieved that she was finally gone.

“Okay,” Kendall chirped, clapping her hands together, “we’re going to need to establish some rules if we want to keep doing this.”

“Not a bad idea,” Shawn agreed, sitting on his leg to face her on the couch.

Her eyes wandered from his face to his body, admiring his good looks.

“I hate that you’re my brother,” Kendall shook her head, looking him up and down.

“Why?” Shawn chuckled.

“Because you’re hot!” Kendall snapped at him with a smile, “and you’re kind of amazing. I don’t want anyone else to have you.”

“Oh, stop,” Shawn brushed her off, looking away, “I’m not that special.”

“To me, you are,” Kendall responded quietly, her hands starting to fidget in her lap.

Shawn returned his gaze to her after hearing her tone, looking into her eyes. They had seriousness in them, piercing through him. Shawn knew he was important to Kendall and didn’t want his lack of confidence to invalidate her feelings. They were risking it all to be together. And so, he felt a larger sense of weight behind his words for the first time, not wanting to say anything to make her feel as if her love wasn’t enough. Kendall was worth more to him than the cosmos, and her affection was all he ever wanted.

“Well- anyways. Rules!” Shawn motioned her to continue.

“Okay, rule number one,” Kendall said, holding her finger up, “no touching, kissing, or anything inappropriate in public.”

“Fair,” Shawn nodded.

“Because we don’t know who’s watching. Clearly…” Kendall added.

“No PDA. Got it,” Shawn retorted.

“Rule number two,” Kendall continued with two fingers up, “no dirty texting or anything with a digital trail.”

“What!? Come on!” Shawn objected, “what if I wanna get you all riled up at work so we can go at it when you come home?”

Kendall’s face scrunched up, struggling to stop the giant grin from forming. She loved how invested Shawn was in their new situation, and it made her heart sing that he had already been thinking about doing such scandalous things. The feeling of being treated like his girlfriend was electrifying.

“Can’t I send you something spicy here and there?” Shawn asked, shrugging with a raised eyebrow.

Kendall chewed her lip, listening to his enthusiasm, scaling him with her eyes. She couldn’t believe how attracted to him she was. Thoughts of Shawn sending her inappropriate things at work turned her on immensely.

“Okay, but…” Kendall closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to keep her thoughts straight, “what if one of our phones gets compromised? You know how bad that would be?”

“See this?” Shawn asked, holding his phone in Kendall’s face.

“Yeah…?” She responded awkwardly, looking past it.

“You’re not getting in this unless you cut my thumb off, torcher me for my password, or somehow find answers to three security questions on my account. Trust me. I’m not worried about it.”

“Jeez,” Kendall mumbled, “Riley sure did a number on you, huh?”

“You can’t be too careful,” he answered, lowering his phone and rolling his eyes, “she taught me that.”

Kendall recalled how ugly Shawn and Riley’s breakup was as they sat together. They only dated for about a year, but Kendall knew Riley was unsuitable for him upon meeting her. Riley’s temperament was snippy and short, and she was jealous of Kendall. Riley hated that Kendall was prettier and never liked how close Shawn was to her, causing her insecurities to burn their relationship to the ground. When Riley found Shawn’s incest porn collection, she tore into him about how creepy it was and accused him of wanting to have sex with Kendall. It left Shawn feeling uncertain about relationships, and he never dated again. Shawn never told Kendall what Riley found on his laptop. All Kendal knew was that Riley invaded his privacy, and they had broken up the next day.

“I guess I could make my password a little harder to guess,” Kendall said, admittedly loving the idea of dirty texting with Shawn.