Shawn sat in his room, drawing random pictures in his notebook. A Stones cassette was playing, helping to drain out the voices of his shouting parents. He had no idea what they were arguing about and he didn’t really care. After what had seemed like the hundredth argument he had really stopped caring.

            As he worked on the details of his best friend being chased by a dog with a pineapple in its mouth he heard his name being called.

            “Shawn, Shawn Anthony Spencer, answer me now.” It was his mom and had to have done something because she used his full name. He couldn’t remember what he may have done though; he hadn’t really acted up in school, at least not enough to get called home on. He’d been on time with coming home. There wasn’t really anything he could think of that would warrant her to be angry with him.

            “Yeah, Mom!” he yelled back.

           “Turn that danged music down, you’re father and I are having a discussion.” She said.

            “Fine.” “Discussion my butt.” He muttered to himself as he got up off the bed and actually turned the player off. After grabbing his jacket he tore a piece of paper out of his notebook and wrote a note saying he would be at Gus’ and that he would be staying the night. He then crawled out his bedroom window.

            Shawn walked along the street, pulling his jean jacket around to him to keep off the chill of the autumn air. He loved his parents, more than anything, but at times like these, and they were often, he just wanted to scream at them, to tell them to just shut the heck up. He was fifteen and the yelling and screaming was something he had grown up with. He chuckled to himself as he realized he should probably just be used to it, he wasn’t though, didn’t think he ever would be.

            He kept on walking until he reached a house he considered to be his second home. It was the Guster’s home, home of his best friend. He knocked on the door and was happy to see Mrs. Guster answer it.

            “Hi, Shawn, what brings you here? It’s late.” She said and he knew she hadn’t missed that he was in his sweat pants, obviously ready to relax and possibly go to sleep at some point.

            “Just thought I could hang out here tonight. Gus home?”

            “Yeah, come on in. He’s in his room so you can just go up.” She told him as she ushered him in.

            “Thanks, Mrs. Guster.” He said before heading up. In a way she was like the mother he never had. He of coursed loved his mom, but she wasn’t always there for him, heck his dad was there more.

            “Hey, there, Gus.” He said as he sauntered into his best friend’s room.

            “Shawn. It’s ten, what’re you doing here?” Gus demanded from he sat reclined on his bed, looking at a comic book.

            “What I can’t come hang with my best friend?” Shawn asked as he pulled the chair out from Gus’ desk and sat down.

            “Uh, yeah, but again it’s ten at night. Did you walk here?” he asked, suddenly noticing that Shawn had his jacket on. He knew that Shawn never wore his jacket if he was riding in the car, unless it was winter or he was forced to wear his jacket.

            “Yeah, good exercise. Plus, why bother my parents to drive me here, you live so close.” Shawn said as he found a pencil to amuse himself with.

            “They’re fighting again aren’t they?”

            “Yeah, but whatever, they’ve been doing it since I was six. So, wanna do something interesting, maybe see if we can stay up super late and watch movies downstairs?” Shawn said and Gus knew he was trying to avoid the topic, because he knew that his parents arguing really did bug him.

            “Maybe, but NO horror movies.” Gus said

            “Sure, yeah, yeah. Come on.” Shawn said as he got up and put the chair back. He walked out the room with Gus in tow. To be honest he didn’t care what they watched, well, as long as it wasn’t a documentary or chick flick, but in any case, he didn’t seriously care. All he wanted was just to have his mind on something else. He had a strong idea about what the future was going to be and that was a one-parent household. He didn’t want to think about that though, not tonight. He wanted to get lost in lives of others and not care. So that’s what he and Gus ended up doing and not once did the phone ring telling him to come home. Saying that the note had been found his dad probably convinced his mom to just let him be. He understood that Shawn needed to get away and that he was safe with the Gusters, his mom was never truly happy with Shawn’s relationship and he never knew why. Tonight though, all those thoughts were thrown out the window as he and Gus watched Tom Cruise flying for the Navy and Patrick Swayze try to raise Rob Lowe and C. Thomas Howell as his brothers. They fell asleep after that one. The night turned out good.

The End