Their Story (Only Up To Chapter 15)

Who Needs Sleep?

He greets her eagerly, the caffine kicking in, along with his general enthusiasm for this, causing him to speak with the speed of an auctioneer, "hey Abigail! You look nice with your hair all curled like that. How's your day been? How have you been? Have a seat!"

Shawn smiles as Abigail sits by him, typing on his phone eagerly as Abigail inquires, "so how you been?"

"Quite well," Shawn replies, still speaking rapidly, "just writing and coffee. Coffee all day!"

"How many coffees have you had?" Abigail inquires, slightly concerned.

"That'd be his ninth," Hoppy explains, "and I'm cutting him off at that one."

"Oh come on Hoppy," Shawn pleads.

"Nope enough is enough," Hoppy shakes her head, "what about you? Iced coffee?"

"With milk please," Abigail replies.

"I don't get how you guys stay awake all day," Shawn proceeds, "with no caffine in your system."

"I get a good amount of sleep," Abigail replies, "don't you?"

"Nope!" Shawn exclaims, "who has time for that?"

It's only then, looking at the jumpy young man before her that Abigail notices the bags under his bloodshot eyes.

"When was the last time you slept?" She inquires.

"Haven't slept since we met!" Shawn exclaims rapidly, each word a burst of energy, "just doubled down on caffine so I could keep working! When I saw you smile reading the story Abigail I decided to update it more frequently, but sleep cut into that so I gave up on sleep. Just coffee now."

"Shawn," Hoppy shakes her head, "don't tell me you're going all obsessive on me again kiddo."

"Nonsense," Shawn smiles, "what's staying awake for days on end to write?"

"A death wish," Abigail interjects, shocked by Shawn's honestly, but at this point he's to sleep deprived to be able to think clearly enough to keep his mouth shut about all this. "Is that what's with all the soda?"

"Nah I drink soda a lot all the time," Shawn explains, "I've just increased how much."

"Well I think it's time to stop," Abigail replies, "you need to sleep."

"But then I won't get the entry done," Shawn explains, "and they'll notice the signs. They'll figure out my secret."

"Shawn I wanna spend time with you," Abiagil sighs, "but I'm not gonna watch you destory yourself."

"OK OK we'll compromise," Shawn suggests, "we get coffee as we planned, then I sleep."

"Why not sleep now?" Abigail inquires.

"That'd be rude," Shawn shrugs.

Hoppy leans in and whispers, "it may not look it but him suggesting that is way better than normal. Just agree to it. How did you even get him to do that?"

Abigail shrugs and replies to Shawn, "alright. Sounds fair."

"So tell me about your poems," Shawn requests, "what are they about?"

"Oh," Abigail replies, "I write about some personal stuff, to get it out of my system whenever it comes up. I write raise awareness for stuff."

"That's awesome!" Shawn exclaims, eager as a puppy when it hears a tennis ball bounce, "I love books that are for a good cause! I bet they're great poems!"

"Aw thanks," Abigail smiles, "means a lot."

"What else you do?" Shawn inquires eagerly in his energetic state.

"I run on the track team," Abigail explains, "that's actually how Lucy and I became friends."

"That's awesome," Shawn replies, now yawning softly, "what's that like?"

"You do know you can just sleep now right?" Abigail inquires.

"Nah," Shawn smiles, the caffine no longer enough as he speaks to Abigail. Abigail's kind smile and soft voice, like sweet chocolate drizzle over ice cream, calms his obsessive, compulsive nature when it comes to his tales, "that would be rude."

Abigail chuckles, finding Shawn's considerate words charming and cute, but also taking note that when she speaks, Shawn seems to be calmer and more sleepy. It's almost as if he's calmed by her voice.

"I have one poem," Abigail continues, "about someone who passed recently, it's a very personal poem."

Shawn lays his head down as he smiles, listening to Abigail as she goes on, "I've only written a little of it but I think it's good."

"I had something I wrote," Shawn replies half asleep now, "it was pretty personal. Wanna hear a story?"

"Sure," Abigail smiles, holding Shawn's hand now with a chuckle, as he peacefully begins to drift off to sleep.

His eyes slowly closing Shawn begins his tale, "there was once a young man who met a beautiful and kind girl. He wanted to get to know her better but wasn't really sure how. One day he managed to get her to agree to what was kinda a date but kinda causal. Frankly, he made a big deal of it when it wasn't really a date. He thought it was, but he realized he wasn't comfortable with going so fast."

"Not really a date?" Abiagil mutters to herself, disappointed by this. She was hoping this was going somewhere, but it looks like it's to soon for this to be real. She sees through the story, Shawn does seem to like her, but really, this wasn't a date. More of a pre date.

"She was very kind," Shawn tries to hold his eyes open, "he wanted to hold her hand. She made him happy, and made him calm down when he would get to obsessive or energetic. She was pretty popular at the school too, which was surprising considering she'd only be around for a week."

Shawn grips her hand tighter, causing her to blush and continues, "not only did he exaggerate the gravity of the arrangement, but he really messed it up by falling asleep. He threw away his one shot. His one shot..."

Shawn's eyes close and he drifts into peaceful slumber. Abiagil finds him adorable in this peaceful state and smiles, "sleep well Shawn. Your one shot wasn't for nothing." With a kiss to his cheek she gets up, sipping an ice coffee Hoppy offers her.

"Well that went well I guess," Johnny shrugs, revealing himself.

"What are you doing here dude?" Abigail inquires.

"Uhhhh..." Johnny lies, "studying."

Abigail knows something's screwy here but decides it's not worth it to pry as she shrugs, "alright. Well, I'll let this cutie sleep. Can someone keep an eye on him?"

"I'll handle it," Hoppy volunteers.

"Great," Johnny smiles, "I'll pay for the coffee Abigail, you head on back. Sorry things didn't go better."

"Eh," Abigail shrugs, "could've gone worse. Have a good one Johnny, Hoppy."

The two wave goodbye as Abigail leaves, a smile on her face. She is happy that she now knows Shawn likes her, but disappointed things didn't go better. However, she has no regrets about coming today, and looks back at the coffee shop with a smile, eager to see Shawn again as she turns and walks off with her coffee in her hand, and a smile on her face.