Shannon Time!

I couldn't get out of bed today. It was so hard. Even now I wanna crawl back under the covers and sleep my day away.

That's why today's update is later than normal.


It had been a few weeks since the start of the semester. Shannon was still not used to having Jeremy sitting nearby her in class. She was becoming acutely aware of how distracting he was to her.

Aberdine was, of course, relishing the entire ordeal. She'd often invite Jeremy into their conversations on a whim. At first Amanda would join in on the torment and laugh at how quiet and nervous Shannon would get. But after the fourth or fifth time she got annoyed.

"You have to start talking to him! If you keep getting shy and nervous around him he won't be interested!" Amanda chastised.

"Maybe he likes shy girls?" Shannon offered hopefully.

"Guys like a girl with confidence! With vibrance! A certain, je ne sais pas!"

"What do you know about what guys like? You don't have a boyfriend." Shannon retorted. Amanda remained quiet after that.

Shannon was feeling more than defensive about the whole situation. She was out of her comfort zone completely and didn't like it. She just wanted to take this slowly; get used to the idea of talking to Jeremy.

"You're just nervous. Once you talk to him you'll see he's just some guy." Aberdine advised.

"Easy for you to say, you don't have a crush on him." Shannon sulked in her desk before class.

"Yes and because I don't have a crush on him I can look at this subjectively and tell you he's just a regular dude. You have nothing to worry about." Aberdine gently coaxed.

"I might look stupid in front of him."

"You already look stupid in front of him." Aberdine jibed. Shannon gave her a death glare. "Besides, some guys like the girl to play dumb. Makes them feel like a bigger man!"

"What do you know about what guys like. The only guy I've seen you talk to is Eddie and he hates you." Shannon retorted.

"Oh darn, and I thought Eddie and I were getting along so well. There goes all my wedding plans." Aberdine replied feigning drama.

Shannon's friends seemed to be teaming up on her about this Jeremy issue. She decided it was time to enlist some help.

Late at night she knocked on Eddie's open door.

"What's up, Shannon?" Eddie asked without looking up from his text book.

"Hey, Eddie. Can I ask you a weird question?" Shannon played with her fingers nervously, unsure how to broach the subject.

"How weird?" Eddie asked.

"Not that weird. I just want to know what guys like."

Eddie stopped for a moment. He shut his text book with a thud and turned to face Shannon. "Why do you want to know?"

"Well," Shannon sat down on his bed, "Amanda and Aberdine are trying to help me start dating Jeremy. They keep telling me all sorts of things about what guys like, sometimes it's pretty contradictory. Like, this one thing, Aberdine said playing hard to get gets guys interested. Said they like mystery, but then Amanda told me guys hate when girls play too aloof. But then I thought, neither of them have a boyfriend so how would they know? Right?"

"They're both right."

"Even on the contradictory points?" asked Shannon.

"Especially on the contradictory points."

"That doesn't make sense!" Shannon pouted and folded her arms.

Eddie sighed and leaned back in his chair. "You're thinking about this too scientifically. Guys are all different. You can't just find what one guy likes and expect every guy to like it." Eddie stopped for a moment to gather his thoughts before continuing. "It's like, you know how Amanda likes sports, and Aberdine doesn't?"

Shannon nodded.

"Some guys like sports, some guys don't." Eddied smiled triumphantly at his comparison.

"But then how do I make Jeremy like me?" Shannon was starting to feel like this whole thing was hopeless.

"Look. I'm not the best person to come to for relationship advice. All I can say is just be yourself. He'll either say "Hey! She's cool, I like her." Or he'll ignore you. In which case your better off." Eddie went back to studying his science text.

Shannon just sat on Eddies bed for a bit absorbing the information. Why did this have to be so complicated?