run of the mill.

35th

Shawn opened Beyonce's front door and threw his keys on the table like he did every other time he came over. It was completely dark inside with the exception of faint light coming from down the hall. He walked over to the couch and sat down numbly, tired from dealing with all of that shit. He put his head back and just enjoyed the dark silence. It was very peaceful and he hadn't had a peaceful moment in a really long time. Shawn was ready to admit that he was only peacefully calm when he was asleep.

The moment was short lived. The lamp next to him flicked on and Beyonce came into view next to him, already glaring. It was late so aside from the fact that she loathed him with the very air she breathed, she had obviously been in bed before he showed up. He already had two things working against him. Well three if he counted his rude outburst at his place when she saved his life. "What are you doing here Shawn?" she asked yawning.

Shawn lifted his head and shrugged honestly. He had the look of a defeated man and his answer was no better. And the fact that it was almost two in the morning made him especially dumb. "I don't know."

"You don't know?"

He sighed and blinked his eyes slowly, letting them take a lap around the spotless apartment. As usual nothing was out of place and everything was perfectly clean. Everything except a big binder sitting on the coffee table. "I thought I should come over and speak to you. About today."

"What about it, Shawn?" She said shifting her weight and crossing her arms. It was obvious she was tired. Her voice had that raspy sound she always had when she first woke up. Shawn remembered the first time he heard it, the first time they had sex, in his dorm room, the night of the Halloween party. It had been etched in his brain. He just barely got use to not hearing it when he woke up in the morning.

"I'm sorry," he breathed, tired of saying the words to her. He sat up and opened the binder, looking at the pages but not focusing on them. He apologized to Beyonce so much he was use to it in normal conversation. "You were just trying to help. Thanks."

"Yeah."

That was it. Her only reply for saving his life and doing it selflessly. Shawn smirked. "Did you know that peanuts and meat are in the same category on the food pyramid?" he asked still flipping through the pages. His mind was so tired. He could have left, he heard the finality in Beyonce's 'yeah' but he was just too tired to care. Too tired to give a damn. Even as he flipped the pages, he could only think about one thing.

"What?" Beyonce said to the random fact.

"Yeah," Shawn nodded sullenly. "And since Selita's a vegetarian, she found this weird recipe that added peanuts to a casserole as a substitute for meat."

"Shawn, it's two in the morning."

Shawn acted as though he hadn't heard her. He acted so well, he forgot that she'd even spoken to him seconds after she had. "You know, when I brought her to your place the very first time, it wasn't to piss you off your make you jealous." He put the binder down and looked into his palms, or through them actually. "I thought I knew her... I told myself that if you were really ready to just be through with me, that was the woman that I would be with."

"Shawn why are you telling me this? I don't care."

Again her words fell on death ears. One would wonder why she even bothered to talk. Shawn had yet to even look at her. "She's the exact opposite of you. My way of starting fresh."

"Are you drunk?"

"This whole time I thought I knew her. This whole time I thought she was the only woman I would ever love after you... and she almost killed me today. It was an accident of course. She cried and whined and whaled over it. But," his face contorted into a confused expression and he continued. "She doesn't know me. I don't know her."