(SHAWN'S POV)

A little over a year ago-

It was complete chaos and panic in my mind. I couldn't differentiate one thing from the other. Everything had blended and merged together into one huge disarrayed mess that I couldn't begin to comprehend. Everything that I had once known about this world was falling apart, disintegrating into a million pieces.

My mother was dead. She's gone, and no matter what I do, she's never coming back.

I wanted to scream. Say something, or do anything, but I couldn't. All my systems seemed to have shut down, everything blank and empty. I couldn't feel anything at all.

I looked at my mother's lifeless body on the hospital bed in front of me. Her eyes closed; fingers loosely wrapped around mine from where she had held it. She looked so peaceful, almost like she was sleeping. Except she wasn't.

Without warning, a streak of pain ripped across my chest. I felt like my heart had been yanked out of my body and smashed on the floor. I gasped, suddenly unable to breathe. I fell onto my knees, holding my hand against my collar bone, with no air reaching my lungs.

I don't think I had ever been more scared in my life. I felt like my entire body was on fire, suffocating all my senses. I wanted to yell for help, do anything, but my voice didn't seem to work. The doctors had left to give us a moment alone, and my dad had disappeared. Ran off to god knows where.

I collapsed completely, my body no longer obeying my brain. The overwhelming pain hit me all at once like a destructive tornado. My throat was completely dry, but so were my eyes. I couldn't move, and there was no one around.

Absolutely no one at all.

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

(ALEX'S POV)

It had been an hour and I still hadn't fallen asleep. I don't why my stupid brain refused to let me rest. It was driving me crazy.

I turned to my left to see the darkened, huddled up figure of Shawn, flat on his back on the other bed, blanket crumpled up and one hand beneath his pillow. He looked peaceful with his eyes closed. His messy hair was falling a little over his eyes, his chest rising and falling from his even breaths. The idiot had decided to sleep shirtless despite my protests, and I could see every defined line of his abs since the blanket was at his waist. His bicep was flexed since his hand was behind the pillow, and his jawline looked like an exact damn L shape.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer."

I yelped, startled at him suddenly speaking up. He smirked and opened his eyes, looking at me with a mischievous glint in them. I wanted to slap that idiotic look off his face.

"What the fuck, Shawn? You almost gave me a heart attack."

"You're the one creepily staring at me."

"No, I'm not."

"Right."

Neither of us said anything for a while after that. I just stared at the ceiling, making sure I didn't look at Shawn again. "I'm cold." He said abruptly.

"Wear a shirt dumbass."

"I can't sleep with a shirt on."

I didn't reply, and I heard him shuffling after a few minutes, and the trudge of his feet as he lowered himself onto my bed.

"What on earth do you think you're doing?"

"I want body warmth."

"No way, get out."

He ignored everything I said and got under the blanket next to me, hugging me to his bare chest. I struggled to get him off me, but he was too freaking strong. Seriously, it's like the guy's on steroids. He just grunted and impossibly pulled me closer to him, and I sighed in defeat.

I didn't like to admit that was the best sleep I had gotten in a while.

I woke up the next morning to the sunlight streaming through the window, hitting me right in the eyes. I groaned and tried to move, only to realize Shawn's arms were still snaked around my waist. Woah, I had forgotten that he had crawled into my damn bed last night. I tried to slowly lift his arm off me so I could get up, but he just grumbled in his sleep and squeezed me tighter. I tried to pry myself away again, and this time it woke him up.

"Would you stop moving? I'm trying to sleep."

"Well, I-"

I stopped when I realized something hard was literally poking my ass. I was confused for a second and jumped out of bed when I realised what it was.

"Ew! Gross, no!"

Shawn finally rubbed his eyes groggily and looked at me standing over the bed, screeching like an idiot. He tried to figure out what I was freaking out about, and he just rolled his eyes when he did.

"That's not on me. It's just a guy thing."

"Yeah, I don't care. I'm going to go brush my teeth."

I ran into the bathroom like as if someone was chasing me and slammed the door shut. Holy crap, that was strange. Why was this guy so damn two faced? I could never understand what was going on in that stupid head of his. I washed my face and brushed my teeth, walking out of the bathroom cautiously. Shawn was still lying down on my damn bed, and got up and walked into the bathroom behind me, without a word.

I quickly went downstairs, but no one was up yet, so it was just me. I went to the kitchen and made myself some coffee, going outside to enjoy the view. It was freezing cold though, so I came back inside and just sat in the chair with the small table by the huge glass window. It was still nice.

I had finished about half of my coffee when Tyler and Veronica walked into the living room from where their room was. Tyler had a huge grin on his face, and it looked like he was teasing his girlfriend, whose face was red. The two of them walked into the kitchen, still arguing comically.

Once I was done, I got up and went to keep my mug in the kitchen. Veronica was trying to make breakfast while Tyler hovered around her and offered unhelpful suggestions. "Hey Ronnie, need any help?" I asked.

"Yes please, can you take my stupid boyfriend out of here."

Tyler pouted as I grinned and grabbed him by the arm, dragging him out of the kitchen and into the living room. We just talked about random stuff on the couch until Ezra and Megan came downstairs, plopping down next to us. It was pleasant, just talking and not worrying about school, work or basketball for a second.

Veronica came in and placed some delicious smelling bacon, eggs and toast on the dining table. It tased heavenly, and we all finished eating in under fifteen minutes.

After breakfast, we all went out for a walk in the woods, and Veronica was taking us to some cliff place that she claimed looked beautiful. Shawn walked ahead with Veronica, while I hung back with Tyler.

"So, enjoying the trip so far?"

"Yeah. I'm not too enthusiastic about my roommate though."

"Shawn? He seems like a good dude. I mean, besides the fact that he cheated on Kayla. Or supposedly he didn't exactly cheat? I don't know."

"That's a pretty big besides."

Tyler frowned, rubbing his chin like how they do over dramatically in kids shows. "Wait, don't tell me you have a thing for him."

"What?! No. Why does everyone keep asking that?"

"You complain about him constantly. Like, literally all the time."

"No, I don't."

Before Tyler could open his mouth to retort, Veronica called out saying we had reached the place. I navigated through the low branches and came out into the clearing of the cliff, which was really as beautiful as she has promised.

Beyond the cliff, you could see beautiful mountains, full of lush greenery. The clouds made mystical patterns, and the only sounds you heard was the birds and insects. The fragrance was also amazing; you could never smell such fresh air inside the city.

"Holy crap, it really is awesome." Ezra spoke, looking around in awe. Everything seemed to glisten in the afternoon sun, reflecting shadows over the bright green grass, still crisp and fresh. I walked over and stood with everyone else, setting my backpack down on a rock. Veronica took out some lunch she had bought so we could have a picnic, and spread it out on a blanket. She had really outdone herself.

Bread, cheese, pizza and barbeque. It was like a fancy feast, which tasted super good as usual. She had even brought a pie for us to share as dessert. The pizza had been brought from a restaurant we had passed on the way to the house, but everything else had been made by Veronica. She really was a great chef.

"Ronnie, this is amazing." Tyler said, as he stuffed cheese into his mouth, and it melted all over his fingers. Veronica rolled her eyes and handed him a napkin.

We sat there for the next hour or so, just laughing and talking without any awkward silences. We really had a completely different group dynamic now, and everyone was comfortable with each other. I had to say, it was pretty fun.

We packed up and headed back to the house, walking back up the same path we had come through. Once we reached, I went upstairs to the room and changed out of my combat boots and track pants, into simple jeans and a hoodie.

Megan walked in, smirking at me like she knew something that I didn't. I stared at her in confusion until she spoke. "So... how's it going with Shawn?"

"Terrible, thanks for asking."

"I just spoke to Tyler."

I groaned, stuffing a pillow into my bed. "Seriously? Is everyone in on this now?"

"Relax. I just want you to have a boyfriend! You're the only single one here."

"I don't want a boyfriend, Meg."

"Yeah, you do. Come on, let's go downstairs."

Grumbling to myself, I followed her to the living room. After hanging around for a bit we all decided to swim in the pool, which was super fun. Veronica played music from the speakers and Ezra bartended some drinks, since his dad worked in a huge beer company and he knew all this stuff. He handed me a bright pink and orange drink with an umbrella in it, urging me to have it. I took a sip and it was really good.

Shawn walked in from inside the house and pulled off his shirt, getting ready to jump into the pool. I noticed he had gotten some more tattoos when he did so. There was one down near his hip, one on his collarbone, and another on the opposite arm of where his B4L tattoo was, closer to his shoulder. I hated to admit, that it actually looked really good on him.

He grinned and jumped into the pool, scaring Veronica out of her skin. After a while I pulled myself out, since it was starting to get a little cold. I went upstairs and took a shower, changing into warmer clothes. I finally picked up my phone after what seemed like forever, deciding to take some pictures.

As I went outside, the cell service seemed to be a little better, and my phone started ringing with a call from Nick. Wondering what on earth he could be calling me about, I picked it up.

"Hey bro, miss me already?"

Silence.

"Nick? Can you hear me?"

There was slight static, and he let out a whisper. "About time you picked up your phone. It's been out of service forever."

"Well yeah, I'm in the woods."

"Things are really bad here... you have to... mom and dad..."

I struggled to understand what he was saying, since the cell service was that bad. "Nick, slow down. What happened?"

"It's mom and dad again. It's... epically worse."

"Shit. I'll be back tomorrow, okay? Just hang on till then.

I couldn't hear his response as I lost service completely, the call cutting out with a beep. I sighed and put my phone back in my pocket. Maybe it was a bad idea to come on the trip. I have no clue why my parents agreed to let me go, but I probably should have looked at the bigger picture.

Well, this is great.