Through The Grapevine: A BWWM Romance

by Sherie Keys

  "Okay. How could I turn down barbecue?" Shannon said, with conviction.

  They headed over to Colby's house, stopping by Tiffany's so she could pick up one of her newest swimsuits and then they were on their way again.

  Shannon bit her lip and tried to sound as nonchalant as possible. "Um... Tiffany, if you want Ron so much, why are you even marrying Colby? Why wouldn't you go after the guy you really like?"

  Tiffany looked over the top of dark reflective sunglasses at Shannon as though she had just asked the stupidest question in the world.

  "You're kidding, right? I get to have a big white wedding! How fun is that! I'm the talk of all our friends, everyone is fascinated with me and what I'm doing, and weddings are so pretty and fun. I want to have a big fancy wedding. I want a big house up in the hills here, and a hot car, and tons of money to go shopping with anytime I feel like it.

  Ron is hot as hell in the sack, but he's a personal trainer and he doesn't make that much money.

  Colby is super smart and he makes tons of money already, and he's just starting out in his career. He'll wind up being a billionaire in no time; probably less than ten years. Why wouldn't I marry him? Duh!" She rolled her eyes and then started singing along with the pop song on the radio as she drove further and further up into the hills of Los Angeles.

  Shannon tilted her head and looked at her doubtfully. "Do you love him?"

  Tiffany looked at her and turned the radio down. "What?"

  "I said, do you love him at all?" Shannon asked as sweetly as she could, trying her best to make it sound like girl talk.

  Tiffany nodded, "Of course I love him, he's sweet and he spoils me rotten. He treats me like a queen, and I deserve that. What's not to love?" she shook her head at Shannon's idiotic questioning, and cranked the music back up to sing to it again.

  Shannon looked out at the enormous mansions half hidden from the street as they flew along, wondering why she had ever thought to question Tiffany's motives. Who wouldn't want to marry Colby, indeed? Obviously, love wasn't a huge factor for Tiffany, but being worshiped was.

  Maybe she thought that was love. Shannon didn't know, but the day had begun to show her aspects of her friend that she had never seen before and that she thought may very well mar their close friendship.

  She loved Tiffany and thought of her as a close confidant and sister, but Tiffany's recent treatment of Colby was abominable. It was a darker side of Tiffany that Shannon had never seen. She knew that everyone has dark sides, and those were just part of loving people; taking them for the good and the bad, but the side of Tiffany that she had discovered this day was eating away at her and it hurt her heart a great deal.

  She wasn't sure how she could love a friend so dearly who treated someone else so wretchedly, especially if that person was someone she also loved. She found herself in a strange triangle,

  They turned off the main road and drove up a long and winding driveway that eventually led to an enormous house, which overlooked the entire city, all the way out to the sea. Tiffany parked the car and hopped out, grabbing her bag and looking at Shannon.

  "Well, here we are!" she bubbled.

  Shannon followed her to the front door, and waited with her until the butler came and opened the door for them, inviting them in and advising them that everyone was in the back of the house by the gardens and pool.

  Tiffany led the way and Shannon followed her through the massive home, looking around at it in wonder. Colby's father was a billionaire, even if Colby wasn't yet, and it showed in everything about their lives. It seemed ostentatious to Shannon, and she wondered how it had been that Colby had turned out so down to earth and simple, because he was nowhere near as showy as his father was.

  They stepped out of the back of the house and it wasn't a full minute before people were crowding around the beautiful blonde goddess who had joined them. Everyone was congratulating Tiffany on her wedding and asking her how things were going, anxious to hear all of the latest news of her big event.

  Colby appeared out of almost nowhere, and stood before Tiffany, looking at her with adoring eyes and a wide smile. "You made it!" he said, his soft deep voice filled with joy at her arrival. "I'm so glad you're here. I was starting to get worried about you." He gazed at her as if she was a shining drop of sunlight that had landed right in the palm of his hand.

  "Oh, well, we had a few stops to make along the way." She said simply, waving her hand as if it was nothing at all. Shannon realized that they had made a late entrance, and she suddenly felt embarrassed.

  "What time were we supposed to be here?" she asked Tiffany, in a quiet tone.

  Colby heard her and turned his head away from Tiffany to look at her. He gave her the sweet, charming smile that he always gave her, because of all Tiffany's friends, he liked Shannon the most.

  Shannon's heart flipped in her chest and she had to tell herself not to swoon under his hypnotic blue gaze and endearing grin.

  “Oh, the party started a couple of hours ago, but it's no big deal. You're here now and that's what matters most!" he said, looking back at Tiffany. She leaned up and kissed his lips softly, and then smiled at him and said lightly, "We're going to go put our suits on. We'll be back."

  She turned and sashayed away and he watched her go as if she was the setting sun and if he blinked, he might miss the best part of her.

  Shannon's heart twisted in her and she smiled through it and followed Tiffany to the pool house. They changed into their suits and headed out to the pool. Most of the people at this party looked incredible in their swimwear; physical beauty being a standard in Los Angeles, but few of them looked the way Tiffany did as she padded around the pool, showing off her scantily clad body to all of them.

  Colby watched her as if the entire world had faded away, and Shannon tried her best not to noticeably watch Colby. Tiffany went like a social butterfly from small group to small group, and Colby sat quietly at a corner of the pool in his t-shirt and shorts, just watching her.

  She was incredible to him; beautiful and lithe, vivacious and fun; all the things that he thought he wasn't. It made him feel like he was more whole to have her around him, as though the parts of him that didn't shine so brightly were scintillating in her, and that together their two halves made a whole. He supposed that that was what people meant when they talked about soul mates.

  Shannon watched him a short while, but she couldn't stand to see him by himself and in minutes, she went over to him to talk with him.

  "Hey, is this seat taken?" She started looking around him and pretending that it was crowded.

  He laughed at her and shook his head. "Well, if you can budge in somehow, you're welcome to sit by me; there's one spot left and it's all yours if you can get to it!" he teased. He was glad she had come over.

  He had found it easier to talk with her than just about anyone else; she listened when he spoke and she was genuinely interested in what he had to say. He could feel it when she looked into his eyes, and it made him feel like she valued him; a trait that he did not find with most people.

  Shannon found it amazing that more people didn't know what a delight Colby really was. She supposed it was his shyness.

  She sat beside him and put her feet in the pool. "I'm sorry we were late. I didn't even know about it until just before we showed up. I could have lit a fire under her and we could have been on time if I had known she was supposed to be here."

  He shrugged. "It's no big deal. This party is really more about my father making a big splash about the wedding," he said, kicking his foot. The spraying droplets of water arced across the pool.

  She nodded. "He's pretty excited, then?" she asked him.

  Colby shrugged. "Well, he's mostly happy that I'm happy. My father is always looking out for me. He just wants the best for me, and he loves seeing me in such a good spot, so he's celebrating that. It's important to him." Colby smiled across the large pool to where his dad stood talking to four other people.

  Shannon
nodded. "That's a good dad. You're a lucky guy, Colby."

  They were quiet for a moment, and then Colby said softly, "Shannon, can I ask you for an opinion?"

  She looked at him and smiled, delighted that he had any interest at all in what she thought. "Of course, Colby, ask me anything, any time you want to." Shannon nodded at him encouragingly.

  He paused a moment and then looked at her, his blue eyes locking on to hers. "I was wondering what to get Tiffany for a wedding gift, and I thought you might be able to help me. I was thinking of something a bit big, like a house. What do you think? Would she like that?"

  Shannon recalled her earlier conversation with Tiffany. "I think it would be a good idea to wait and let her choose a house later on. She has some pretty specific ideas about where she wants to live." Shannon paused a moment and then looked at him in confusion.

  "Haven't you guys talked about this already? Didn't you have the 'where are we going to live and what kind of house do you want' discussion?"

  Colby frowned a little. "Well, kind of, but it's hard to get her to talk to me sometimes. She is fine with moving in here with dad after we get married, just until we get our own place, but every time I try to talk to her about it, she asks if we can talk about it later. She's a really busy lady, so she hasn't had a lot of time to discuss housing yet."

  Shannon was incredulous. Tiffany hadn't made any time to figure out where they were going to live after they got married. She hadn't been out scouring the neighborhoods already, looking for a house. What on earth was she waiting for?

  "Well," Shannon said with a smile at him, "I'm sure she'll find time for it soon."

  Colby nodded and smiled back at her. He felt comfortable around Shannon; she didn't put any pressure on him and she always made the conversations they had easy going. He liked that about her.

  "She has been really busy with the wedding preparations. I'll think of something else." He mused as he gazed at her while she laughed and talked with other people. "I just want to get her something really special," he said offhandedly. "Something to show her just how much she means to me.

  You know, sort of a way to help her see how much I love her, so I can be sure she knows. Does that sound strange?" he asked, his eyes staying on his fiancé. He felt like his heart didn't weigh anything when he looked at her, as if it might float off into space if he didn't hold tightly to it.

  Shannon watched him as he spoke, knowing exactly what he meant and wishing that there were some way that she could give him some token that would show him how much she cared about him.

  "I know exactly what you mean." She said it softly, her eyes on his chiseled face.

  He turned and looked at her, flashing his dimpled grin at her, "You always do. You're such a good friend, Shannon. I'm lucky that we got to know each other. I thank Tiffany for that, because you're a keeper, Shannon, and I wouldn't have known you without her."

  She wished he knew how much of a keeper she really was. It made her sick to think of him trying to find some lavish and expensive gift to give to Tiffany, while she was having a tawdry affair behind his back. How anyone could hurt such a sweet and thoughtful person was beyond her.

  He looked at Shannon and said, "Well, I better go see if I can get a little time with her before someone else steals her away!"

  Shannon looked after him, thinking that he had already missed that boat. She watched him walk away towards Tiffany and her heart went right along with him. She had fallen for him almost as soon as she met him. At first, she wasn't sure about him because of his shyness, but she took the time to get to know him and he was so kind, intelligent, compassionate and down to earth that by the time she realized she was falling for him, it was too late.

  Shannon felt awful about wanting her best friend's boyfriend, and then when he proposed to Tiffany and she accepted, Shannon had felt as if it was almost the end of the world. But she stayed loyal to them both, allowing herself small amounts of time with him when it came up; like their brief visit by the pool just then. She was afraid that too much time with him would take her over the edge of her love for him and she might not ever be able to get back from it.

  He had been comfortable becoming friends with her, and his shyness had melted away quickly when he was in her company. Under the gauzy facade of his social inhibition was a brilliant, funny, thoughtful man who was usually able to make people love him fiercely; at least, everyone but his fiancé. Unfortunately, he didn't know that.

  Shannon watched him walking behind Tiffany as she flitted around the party, and she could almost hear the nearly non-existent conversation between them; him trying to talk with her, her waving him off with a smile or a little kiss, and then focusing on what she wanted to talk about with more vocal and interesting people.

  Shannon had had enough of all of it for one day, and decided it was time to go home. She lifted herself from the pool and walked over to them.

  Tiffany didn't acknowledge her right away; she was in the middle of an anecdote that held her small cluster of listeners rapt, but Colby saw her coming, and watched her walking toward them, smiling at her as she came. She realized it as she was part way to them and it made her feel supremely self-conscious about every aspect of herself; how her swimsuit fit her, how she was walking, what the expression was on her face.

  At first she felt overwhelmed at the realization that he was watching her, but then it hit her... he was watching her, and the knowledge of that fact rippled through her like sunlight over water. She let it warm her and she reveled in the momentary wonder of being the center of his attention for just a few moments.

  She reached them and he leaned over and smiled sweetly, saying, "That suit looks so cute on you! I didn't know if anyone told you, but it's perfect for you." He nodded and smiled, and she grinned back at him.

  "Thanks, Colby! That's really nice of you to say." She felt her cheeks growing warm and she couldn't help batting her eyes at him just a little. It was an automatic reaction to his compliment.

  His diverted attention garnered Tiffany's focus almost immediately. "Oh! Shannon, what are you up to? I haven't seen you in a while and I wasn't even sure if you were still here!" she laughed lightly.

  Shannon resisted the impulse to mention the fact that Tiffany had practically ignored both her and Colby that night, and instead she said with a worn voice, "I'm a little tired and I was thinking it would be a good time to head home. Do you know when you'll be ready to go?"

  Tiffany bit her lip and tilted her head. "Well, actually, I still have to talk to Colby." She looked up at him with a sorrowful pout. "Col, I have to go on a business trip for my dad for about a week or so, maybe a week and a half, depending on how good things go, so I'll be gone from the day after tomorrow for a while."

  Colby looked nearly panic stricken. "Your father is sending you on a business trip three weeks before your wedding? Why would he do that?"

  She shook her head slightly. "Look, it's really important. I just can't say no to the guy; he calls me when he wants me and I go." She shot Shannon a sly wink. "Isn't that true, Shannon?"

  Shannon thought she might throw up. "I guess it must be," she answered, not wanting to be part of Tiffany's lie and infidelity.

  Colby looked crestfallen, and his shoulders slumped. "You have so much to do to get ready for the wedding; I am just so surprised that he would ask you to do that right now. The timing could hardly be worse!"

  Tiffany shrugged. "He just really needs me, and I want to help him in any way I can."

  It did not escape Shannon's attention that all of Tiffany's answers were about Ron, rather than her father, but the way she was saying them made them truthful lies; the difference was that Colby thought she was talking about her father, and almost everything she was saying was about Ron.

  There was a wicked gleam in her eye that made Shannon turn away from her, but somehow, Colby missed it. Shannon was sure that it was because he was blinded by trust and love, and it broke her heart.

  "You won't be ab
le to contact me while I'm gone," she continued, pouting more dramatically for him. "I'll be in some remote regions and I won't have any way for you to reach me."

  He stared at her. "No cell phone service and no Internet?" he asked in amazement.

  She shook her head and smiled sadly. "I'm afraid not. Sorry, baby. I'll be back before you know it though, and then you and I will meet in the church and we'll have a great big beautiful wedding and live happily ever after, okay?" she wiggled for him and his eyes roamed over her shimmying curves and back up to her lovely face. She grinned at him and leaned up to him, kissing him quickly on the mouth.

  "Thanks for understanding, baby. I just knew you would!" She leaned in against him, pressing her body to his and lifting her chin to give him a far more intimate kiss than she had all night.