Shawn and Belle Fan Fiction. 
"Letting Down the Walls"
Chapter Eighteen

    The girls joined them on the porch again and the four of them made their way back down to the towels and stretched out to let their food settle.  Eric looked up at some point and saw his mom and John walking down to them.
"Hey guys, what's going on?" he asked, sitting up.
"Nothing much, you guys having fun down here?" John asked.  They all nodded in agreement.  "We had to ask you guys something" he continued.
"John got called on a business dinner about an hour down the coast" Marlena said.  "He and I are going to be leaving in about an hour.  We wanted to tell you guys that if you want to come along, you can".
"Greta and I can stay here, that's ok" Eric sakd.
"Belle, you can come, but I'm afraid it will be long and boring" John said.  "And you'll probably be the only young person there.  But Bo and Hope said you can come along on whatever they do for dinner".  Belle looked over at Shawn, who was watching her for her answer.  Belle smiled.
"I think I'll stay here, if that's ok" she finally said.
"That's fine" John said.  "I wish I could stay too-but work beckons.  So we'll catch up with you guys later.  Have fun!"   With that, they went back up to the house.  Bo and Hope came down a few minutes later.
"Hey guys, what's shacking?" Bo asked.  Belle laughed and Shawn shook his head at his dad.
"Nothing, what's going on with you guys?" he answered.
"Your mom and I were just going to take a walk down the beach" Bo said.  "But first, we wanted to ask you guys something".
"Ok, what?" Shawn asked.
"We knew your parents were going to be out on a business dinner so we wanted to see if you wanted to join us for dinner" Hope said, nodding to Belle.
"I didn't want to intrude, I just figured I'd make myself a sandwich or something" Belle said.
"No, no, we wanted to all go out-including you and Greta" Bo said.
"Like Belle said, we wouldn't want to be a bother" Eric said.
"Not at all!  It'll be fun" Hope said.  "Please come.  We heard about a great little seafood restuarant and we wanted to check it out-but we knew that your parents aren't too into seafood so we thought we could go tonight".
"We'd love to go, as long as we won't be in the way" Greta said.  "I mean, I don't want to intrude on a family dinner"
"No, not at all" Hope said.  "Belle, are you coming?"  Shawn waited for her answer.
"Sure" Belle said.
"Great" Bo said.  "We're going to walk and then go in and get ready.  We want to leave here around 5:30 and it's close to 3 now".
"We'll get cleaned up and everything on time, you guys go enjoy yourself" Shawn said. 
"Ok, catch up with you all later" Hope said, taking Bo's hand.  They started down the beach together.
"That's so nice of your parents to invite us" Greta said, as she stretched out on her blanket again.
"They like you guys a lot so I'm not surprised" Shawn said.  "Besides, it'll be fun.  Right, Belle?" he asked.  She was staring off into space so he elbowed her lightly.
"Hmm?" she asked, coming back to reality.
"You were just a million miles away, what were you thinking about?" he asked.
"Oh!  Nothing" she said, rolling over to her back.
"We're going to go cool off in the water" Eric said, climbing to his feet and pulling Greta up next to him.
"Ok" Shawn said, not taking his eyes off Belle.  They left and Shawn rolled over onto his side next to her.  "Are you going to answer me?" he asked, once they were gone.
"Shawn, I was just daydreaming" she said.
"About?" he prompted.  She laughed.
"A girl needs a few secrets" she said.
"I didn't know we kept secrets from each other" he said.  His eyes caught some movement behind them and he saw the guys from the next house watching them intently.
"You're making a big deal out of nothing" Belle said.
"Ok, fine" Shawn said.  He tugged on a strand of her hair lightly.  "What kind of hairstyle are we going to see tonight?" he joked.  Belle threw her hand out to shove him as she laughed.
"Shawn!" she said.  He caught her hand in his and held it.
"I'm just kidding" he said.
"You better be" she said, smiling.
"Oh, is that supposed to scare me?" he said.  "I think you should be the one worried"
"And why's that?" she asked.
"Cause I know where you're ticklish" he said, poking her side.  She laughed and rolled away from him.  He followed her and tried agian but she laughingly pushed him away.
"Shawn, don't it's too hot" she whined.
"Ok, sorry" he said, pulling himself back to his towel.  Belle stretched out on her stomach and closed her eyes.

"Belle, wake up" she heard someone say later.  She opened her eyes and squinted up into the sunlight to see Eric.  "We have to get ready for dinner".  Belle sat up and stretched.  She tried to wake up as she watched everyone gather their things.
"C'mon, sleeping beauty" Shawn said, taking her arm and pulling her to her feet.  She took the stack of towels he was holding out to her and they went up to the house.  Greta headed downstairs to shower and Eric went to his room.
"Shawn, I just might stay here" she said, at the entrance to her room.
"What? Why?" he asked.
"I'm so tired, I don't know if I'll be able to enjoy myself" she said, with a yawn.
"Go shower and see if that wakes you up" he said.  "But try to go, it'll be fun"
:"Shawn..." she started.  He took her arm and led her into the bathroom.
"Hurry and shower" he said, shutting the door behind him.  Belle sighed and started up the water in the shower.  It did wake her up and she felt a lot better when she got out.  She went into her room and sat down in her towel to brush out her hair.  The door to her room opened.
"Everyone decent?" he asked, not looking in.
"As good as it's going to be" she said, pulling her towel up higher.  He came in her room.
"Are you coming?" he asked.
"I guess so" she said.
"You guess so?" he said.  "That's it?  Like, it's an honor to go out with you tonight?"
"Yup" she said, laughing.  Shawn shook his head.
"Whatever works" he said.  He let himself out again and Belle heard the shower start.  She went to her closet and took out a little summer dress and picked out shoes and jewelry.  She went back to the vanity and groaned when she saw that the heat was making her hair wavy.  She knew that trying to straighten it would make it frizzy so she just put some gel in it and let it dry naturally.  She pulled on her dress and tied on her sandals.  She ran the hairdryer for a few minutes to finish drying her hair and then braided pieces near the front of her face and connected them on the back of her head.  She finished up her make-up and went to put on some perfume.  She was doing that when there was a knock at the door.
"Come in" she yelled.  The door opened and Shawn let himself in.  She turned to look at him.
"Wow..." was all he said, with a grin spreading across his face.

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