Chapter Three

After a few moments, the kiss ended, leaving both Joey and Shannon breathless.

“Pay no attention to the man in the kitchen with the cheese doodles!” A voice called out, startling them both. Shannon looked in confusion at Joey.

“Do you live with someone?”

“Well … no, but I have a pretty good idea who that is,” Joey replied, frustration evident in his voice. “I’ll be right back.” He rose from the couch and headed towards the kitchen, his annoyance growing with each step. Rounding the corner, he bumped right into Chris, who was busy helping himself to a large bag of cheese doodles and a bottle of Dr. Pepper.

“Oh, hey Joey.” Chris said, grinning broadly. “What are you up to?”

“You know very well! What are you doing here? Don’t you ever eat your food?” Joey asked, shutting the door that separated the kitchen from the living room.

“Yes, I just wanted to see what she looks like. She’s pretty … I’m impressed!” Chris teased, Joey growing more and more aggravated with him by the second.

“Will you please leave? We’re trying to work on this project -”

“I could see that you were working pretty hard.” Chris laughed at Joey’s obvious embarrassment.

“Okay, so we weren’t working on it at that moment, but man, I don’t bother you when you’re with Amy,” Joey pointed out.

“So the paper clips and gummy bears magically appeared in our hair while we were sleeping on the bus last month?” Chris argued, making Joey giggle.

“That was Justin’s idea, but that’s besides the point,” he tried to look stern. “Please, will you just go? I promise I’ll talk to you later.”

“Sure, I'll go … after I say hi!” Chris pushed past Joey into the living room, jumping onto the couch next to Shannon, who was more than a little surprised.

“Shannon, this is Chris Kirkpatrick, my hyperactive best friend. Chris, Shannon McFadden, my classmate.” Joey smiled softly at her, making her blush.

“Classmate, huh?” Chris smirked evilly, his eyes glittering with mirth.

“Yeah, she’s my new best friend, and you’ve been replaced. Now will you please go?” Joey begged, giving Chris a look.

“Yeah, I’m going. It was nice meeting you, Shannon. I’m sure we’ll see each other again, since you were all Joey talked about this afternoon.” Chris cast a sidelong glance at Joey to see his reaction. Joey just shook his head, vowing silently to kill Chris when he had the chance.

“It was nice meeting you too, Chris.” Shannon smiled at him, amused by his antics. She could tell they were close, despite Joey's anger. While Joey walked Chris to the door, Shannon leaned back against the couch cushions, reflecting on what had just happened between Joey and her. Although she hadn’t known him long, she was already falling for Joey … hard. She was giddy with the memory of his lips on hers, and she could still feel where his fingers had traced her jawbone.  

Joey closed the front door behind Chris, sighing with relief. As much as he loved Chris as a brother, there were times he wanted to throttle him too. He walked slowly back to the living room, a smile coming to his lips as he thought of the kiss he had just shared with Shannon. He really liked her a lot, more than he had liked anyone in a long time. And he trusted her, too, which was important - it had been so long since he had felt he could trust anyone who wasn’t affiliated with *N SYNC or his four best friends. Taking a deep breath, he reentered the living room, his heart fluttering when Shannon smiled at him.

“Sorry about that. Chris sometimes gets a little carried away, but he means well.” Joey apologized, shaking his head.

“Don’t worry about it, it was nice meeting him. He seems really nice,” Shannon grinned.

“Why don’t we try singing those songs now?” Joey suggested, moving towards the stereo. “What do you want to sing first?”

Shannon perused over the list of songs she had made. “A Little Fall of Rain”. I can work up to “Phantom”, so I can hit the aria at the end.” Joey looked at her with awe.

“You mean … you can hit those notes?” Shannon laughed at his surprised look.

“Yeah, Joey, I can. I guess you have quite a bit to learn about me.”

************

A few hours later, after singing through every song, they had finally decided on the title song from The Phantom of the Opera.

“In all your fantasies, you always knew
That man and mystery …” Joey’s rich baritone sang, followed by Shannon’s strong soprano. “… were both in you.”
“And in this labyrinth where night is blind
The Phantom of the Opera is there/here
Inside your/my mind …” Their voices blended together perfectly, complimenting each other.

As Shannon finished the aria one last time, Joey pulled her into a hug, spinning her around.

“Wow! You are going to blow that teacher away next week!” Joey’s face shone with pride.  “Why aren’t you singing professionally?”

“Well, I don’t know. I love singing … I just think of it as a hobby, I guess.” Shannon shrugged. Joey stopped grinning and looked at her seriously.

“Shannon, you’re good. I mean … wow. I honestly am so excited about singing with you for the rest of the semester, I really love hearing our voices together.” Joey complimented.

“Thanks,” she blushed. “I do too.”

“I hate to do this, cause I’m having a great time, but it’s almost 2 a.m. - I’d better get you home.” Joey said, reluctantly.

“Is it really?”  Shannon stretched, yawning.

“What are you doing tomorrow night?”

“Nothing, really. Meaghan and I have girl stuff during the day, but we didn’t plan anything for tomorrow night.” Shannon began gathering her things together.

“Would you like to go out with me? I could show you around, we could maybe have dinner …” Joey looked at her face to gauge her reaction.

“That sounds wonderful,” Shannon smiled brightly.

*************

Joey walked Shannon to the apartment door, waiting for her to unlock it and go inside.

“Thanks for the great time, tonight, Joey. I really had an amazing time.” Shannon grinned. She shivered in the cool night air.

“Are you cold?” Joey rubbed his hands up and down her arms, moving closer to her. “Is that better?”

Shannon found herself lost in the depths of his warm hazel brown eyes. “Yes …”

Joey couldn’t take his eyes off of her. His heart began to beat faster as he placed his lips on hers, pulling her closer when he felt her arms wrap around his neck.

“Ahem!” The sudden noise made them both jump apart, and they turned to see Meaghan standing in front of them, two bags of groceries in her arms.

“Don’t mind me,” Meaghan grinned. “I’d just like to get into the apartment, and you guys were kind of blocking the door.”  Joey pulled the bags from her arms, and carried them inside.

 “Meaghan … why were you out getting groceries at 2 a.m.?” he questioned as he set them down in the kitchen.

“I had a sudden urge to make salsa,” Meaghan replied, ignoring his confused look.

“Meaghan often gets ‘sudden urges’ to make salsa at odd hours. Don’t worry about it,” Shannon laughed at Joey’s expression.  "Date went that badly, huh?"  She asked Meaghan.

"Don't even ask," Meaghan made a face, and started putting groceries away.

“Okay … I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?” Joey asked Shannon.

“Sounds great.” Shannon walked him to the door, surprising him by kissing him softly on the lips. “Thank you for tonight.”

“No, thank you.” Joey smiled at her sweetly. He kissed her again before shutting the door behind him. Shannon let out a sigh of contentment and leaned against the door, smiling broadly to herself.

“Okay … are you gonna let me die of curiosity or what?” Meaghan asked from the kitchen.

“Yup,” Shannon grinned evilly as she waltzed to her bedroom.

“I hate it when you do that!” Meaghan called after her, the only response Shannon’s laughter.