Thick & Thin

Chapter Five; Good Man

A hint of sunlight crept through the blinds in Shawn's bedroom; stirring Beyoncé in her sleep. Instead of taking her straight home the night before, Shawn thought it'd be best to keep an eye on her. He just knew if he left her alone, she'd put a search out on Aaron's girlfriend and have her seriously hurt, if that was even possible. She had already taken care of that herself at the club; walking away with just a tiny scratch on her left cheek.
Awakening from her slumber; Beyoncé slid her arm over the sheets- in hope of coming in contact with Shawn's muscular frame. When she didn't feel anything there, her eyelids shot open and she sat up; inhaling the strong scent of bacon and pancakes.
Shawn had been up for more than an hour and was downstairs cooking breakfast. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and looked around; trying to remember where she laid her purse. Her mother was going to kill her. She was suppose to pick up Brendan last night after the party, but due to her drunken state- she completely forgot.
Re-tracing her steps, she finally came across her tiny clutch and retrieved her cell phone, seeing that she had 5 missed calls. Four from her mother and one from Terrell. After the fit Shawn threw over Aaron calling her, she put her phone on silent pushing aside the thought that someone more important may call. Sighing heavily, she dialed her mother's number and sat down on the bed waiting for her to answer.
"Where the hell are you!!?" Tina's hostile voice came through clearly after the first ring.
"Ma! Listen.." she started to explain but could barely get a word in. Her mother was obviously waiting by the phone; on edge.
"No!! You were suppose to come pick Brendan up after Chelle's party..knowing how that girl is- I know the party DID NOT JUST end. Now considering, he's my grandson, I had no problems with him spending the night but the least you could have done was called and told me you weren't coming. You had me worried sick, thinking something had happened to you!"
"I know Mommy! And I'm really sorry, I got a little caught up." Beyoncé replied, innocently. She had made sure to leave out certain details. She knew she'd only get judged in the act.
"Caught up with what Beyoncé ? Nothing should be more important to you than this little boy. You don't even know it but you're definitely on the verge of ruining his life if you keep on acting the way you do." she scoffed. "I have never met anyone so damn self centered B." Tina retorted; angrily but not even phasing her daughter. Beyoncé had heard it all before.
"Okay Ma look.." she decided to speak up before her mother could continue and looked at the clock. It was nearing 10:30am. "I'll be over there around 1 to pick him up, okay?"
"mmhm, whatever B, just call me if you're going to be late."
"k. love you ma!" Beyoncé pleaded hoping, she'd give up with giving her the cold shoulder. Knowing her mother though, she'd forget all about this little mishap by the time the day was over.
She placed her phone back in her purse and stood up; eyeing her clothing. She was wearing one of Shawn's t-shirts. She walked into the bathroom to find the extra toothbrush he had just for her. Even though, she wasn't his girlfriend he sure did treat her like one, she never complained until he had something to say about her other male friends. Even though he never came out and said it, she knew how he felt about her and for some reason couldn't bring herself to separate from him before she ended up hurting his feelings or breaking his heart. Deep down inside, she had some serious feelings for him too; part of the reason why he was still around.
Once she finished brushing her teeth, she made her way downstairs and found Shawn in the kitchen. He had already eaten and was standing at the sink in his boxers, washing the dishes he had messed up.
"Well good morning!" She greeted him happily and hugged him from behind.
"Hey." his response was nothing like the enthusiastic persona she carried; just dry.
He rinsed off a plate and set it in the dishwasher; barely paying her any attention.
Brushing off his bitter mood, she grabbed a piece of bacon and started chewing on it. "How long have you been up?"
"Since eight!" he replied, still with short answers. She just shrugged it off and started fixing herself a plate. She put it in the microwave and grabbed a fork before focusing her attention back on him. He still refused to look at her for some reason.
Then it hit her.
"Please don't tell me you're still bitter about Aaron calling me last night." she chuckled in disbelief.
She could never understand why he took it so hard in the first place. Like he didn't know she was seeing other people. Literally was, she had made a mental note to end all ties with Aaron after coming in contact with his lunatic girlfriend last night. She knew from the jump he had a girl, but that obviously didn't stop them from talking to each other. So as of now, Shawn was the only guy in the picture..if you exclude Terrell. Humph. He wasn't going anywhere, unfortunately.
He didn't respond, so that right there was basically her answer. He was.
Ignoring the beeping sound from the microwave; announcing that her food was done and thoroughly heated, she set her fork down on the counter and walked up beside him.
"Can you stop being difficult for one second Shawn. Damn!" She removed the plate from his hand and put it in the dishwasher. "If you got something to say, then say. Don't just give me the silent treatment, like I'm suppose to know what you're thinking!"
"I'm being difficult?" he folded his arms over his bare chest and glared at her.
"What the hell is that suppose to mean?" she lifted her eyebrows; confused. She could tell by the tone in his voice that he was blatantly speaking the obvious. She was the one being difficult.
"Exactly, what it sounds like and hell yea I'm still angry about last night. How would you feel if I got into a fight with some dude over another woman, while you were right there!?"
"First of all, I was not the one fighting over a guy. She threw the first punch. A weak one at that. It was just the simple fact that she disrespected me and I don't know how some other chicks are, but if a hoe comes up to me talking out the ass and trying to hit me, I'm gonna give her what she asks for. That's just how I am." Beyoncé explained as she removed her plate from the microwave and sat down at the table.
He knew exactly how she was and it was the main reason why he was so attracted to her. She knew how to take care of herself, but unfortunately reacted in the worst ways possible.
"The only reason she hit you first is because you decided to spill your drink on her."
"BECAUSE, she was talkin shit. Humph. I can't believe you're actually takin up for her raggedy ass." she mumbled the last part before taking another bite of her bacon.
"You just don't get it do you?" he shook his head, a tad bit disgusted by her nonchalant attitude. "You are too old to be runnin around here actin like that. You have a seven year old son, B. How.."
"Oh here we go with this bullshit.." she dropped her fork- cutting him off mid-sentence.
"That's another one of your in problems, every time somebody tries to help you out and show some kind of hint that they actually care about your ignorant ass you wanna get all hostile and push them away!" That was it, Shawn was heated and wanted to make sure she knew it.
How many times am I gonna hear this mess? B was obviously annoyed by the fact that everyone thought she was a bad mother, the worst thing was hearing it more than once in one hour. She knew she wasn't the ideal, happy-go-lucky soccer mom, but she tried her best. Or so she thought. Anytime Brendan was in her presence, she made sure to make him feel like the king of the world; praising him with complements and gifts. Anything he asked for she bought him, but unfortunately, material things don't make up for how you feel inside.
"You're so caught up in living your life you don't even care about anybody else." he stated; throwing her over the edge. How dare he?
"Who the fuck are you to tell me how I feel about my family?" she huffed and leaned back in the chair.
"Cause I see the shit B. Everybody does."
"Well, fuck you and everybody else then, because it's obvious nobody else but me knows how much I love my baby and as long as we're happy, that's all that matters."
"You're not happy B!" he replied, completely convinced that she was lying. If she was happy then she wouldn't behave the way she did.
Fed up, she rolled her eyes and stood up, dumping her food in the trashcan, along with the plate and utensils. "I don't even have an appetite anymore!" she hissed and started walking out of the kitchen.
Letting the fact that she had just thrown away some of his good silverware and a plate along with her food, roll off of his back, he ran his hands over his face and caught up to her before she got to the staircase.
"B, listen. I'm only telling you all of this because I care about you." Shawn grabbed her arm and turned her around.
Beyoncé was never one to cry about anything and when she did, it was usually when she was alone and in the privacy of her own self. It was completely evident that she was bewildered by Shawn's sudden bombard of questions and statements, and it honestly hurt. She was trying her best to hold back the tears.
"Can you just drop me off at Kelly's so I can get my car!" she maneuvered her wrist to get free of his grasp.
"See, this is exactly what I was talking about. I tell you I'm doing this for your sake and you blow me off. I'm trying to help you because, I love you B! You got a good man right here that wants to take care of you but you're too in scorned from something some other trifling mother fucker did to you that you won't even allow yourself to have true genuine feelings for someone else." Shawn was definitely stating the facts and Beyoncé wasn't ready to hear the truth. She knew he cared about her, but love?
She was so jilted by those three words she could barely comprehend anything else he had said.
With Shawn, hot on her heels, she walked into his bedroom in the process of getting her stuff together. Her mind was such a wreck, she didn't even realize that she had started crying. She wiped away the stray tear rolling down her left cheek forcefully and continued scanning the floor for her belongings. "Where the fuck is my shoe?" she mumbled blocking out all of Shawn's testimonies. Unwillingly, she had already heard most of it.
"Come here." Shawn stated softly, noticing the tears welling up in her eyes. He grabbed her hand and pulled her into a hug. The last thing she wanted right now was for him looking at her. She turned her head and moved away from him; nervously. "Shawn, just please take me to get my car!! That's all I'm asking you to do."
Seeing that she was terrified of talking to him about the points he had brought up, he decided to leave it alone and give her some time.
"Aight, man." he sighed and proceeded to do as she asked.