Desire | Shawn Mendes

FIFTY EIGHT

Shawn's View

Song of the Chapter: Anne With an E - The Pains Of Being Pure at Heart

"Lets go out tonight / And do something that's wrong. / Cause I don't feel alright / When disasters gone..."

- s -

The alarm goes off and vibrates against the dresser next to the bed. I grab my phone to stop the alarm before looking at the time - 5:45. Today was the fight and I was nervous for two reasons. But with the current dream I had, I was nervous for two things, and certain for one thing.

I sit up and see Jasmine's naked body lying next to me as she sleeps peacefully. Her chest, covered by the sheets, rises up and down and I stroke her cheek gently before getting up from the bed and then getting ready for a morning run.

Morning runs always helped me to prepare for a fight. They always did. It helped me to focus and clear my mind and think of one thing and one thing only - the opponent. But this time would be different. Instead of having my opponent on my mind I had other things as well.

I grabbed my phone, AirPods, wallet and keys before heading out with my hoodie on as I began to stretch, then jog. My jog consisted of occasionally stopping to take pictures with some people who recognized me and even stopping to have some conversations with people.

"Hey man, you better kick the shit out of Caiman, I got mad money on you." A drunk man says to me as he's with his friends.

"I promise I'll kick his ass." I tell him. "Go home and sober up so you can drink some more watching me fight."

"Alright, deal." He shakes my hand before getting into a cab and I continue on with the rest of my run before slowly coming to a halt as I realize where I'm by.

"When you have the idea in mind, just come down. I don't care what time it is, as long as you have the design, I'll do it."

I stop running and begin to walk instead and catch my breath as I walk over to the house of a friend who I'd grown to know and trust over the past four years. On drunken nights he would come over or let me come over and he would tattoo me and sometimes I would tattoo him. He gave me Mia's drawing recently, and when I mentioned a new one I wanted to do, he told me to come to him when I had the design in mind.

Fifteen minutes later I arrived at his apartment and pressed every buzzer until someone let me in. Finally when someone let me in, I walked up to the seventh floor and knocked at his door.

"P!" I say as I knock. "You up?" I knock again and the door opens up to reveal a woman in an oversized hoodie.

"He went to get coffee. He'll be back in five minutes. Come in." She says to me before standing back and allowing me in.

"Thank you." I say to her as I step in and she closes and locks the door after I step in. "I'm Shawn, by the way."

"Yeah, he said you might be coming some time soon." She nods as she yawns. "I'm Tabatha."

"Nice to meet you." I tell her.

"Don't worry about it, I'm just a one night stand." She waves off.

"If you're a one night stand why are you still at his place?"

"He promised me coffee and I couldn't turn that down. Also his bed is really comfortable."

The door rattles and then opens, revealing my good friend, P. He smiles wide, revealing his missing tooth, the result of a bar fight that happened six years ago. In the years we've known each other, he told me how he never planned to fix it because it's always a fun story to tell. "Saw some guy picking on these girls in a club and he wouldn't leave them alone so I fucked him up. Lost the tooth when I lost my balance throwing a punch."