Hate {s.m}

3

Sienna.
"Hey, love," Shawn smiled from behind the counter, handing me an already made coffee.

"Hey, thank you." I smiled as I sat down at the counter. "How was work?" I asked. He shrugged and thanked an elderly man for the change.

"Fine, I guess. Nothing new," he said. I nodded and looked down at the table. "You?" He returned while grabbing a cloth from behind him.

"It was good, I finally gave my boss those files he's been on my ass about for the past two months." I chuckle.

"Oh, which files?" He asked. I stopped laughing and shook my head.

"Never mind." I muttered. He shrugged and cleaned the few empty tables left. I sat in silence for a while and tapped my fingers on the mug.

"Do you want anything to eat?" He asked me.

"No, thank you. I just ate a brownie earlier." I explained. He nodded and we both returned to the silence.

"Mendes!" A familiar voice yelled from behind us. I silently thanked Jack for walking in and interrupting the silence between us both. "And Matthews! Two for one, am I right?" He smirked and wrapped an arm around me.

"Hey, Jack." I smiled. He greeted Shawn and sighed, leaning on the counter.

"Fix me up a chocolate milkshake, will you?" He asked Shawn. He looked at Jack with concern; Jack only ever ordered a chocolate milkshake when he needed cheering up.

"What's wrong, man?" Shawn asked while cleaning a few dishes.

"There's this promotion going on in my work office. It's a pretty big deal," he told us.

"That's good news!" I said. He shrugged then shook his head.

"It's really difficult to get. The whole office is trying for it, which is like.." he started counting on his fingers. "I don't know but it's a lot." I chuckled and placed a hand on his back.

"I'm sure you'll be fine, Jack. You said so yourself; you're the best at what you do." I smirked. He laughed and looked down.

"If we're going to get technical here, my boss said it. I just repeated it." He mumbled. Shawn excused himself from the conversation and went into the back room.

"What's wrong with him?" Jack asked.

"I don't know," I answered. "But don't worry about him, I'm sure you'll do great." I smiled reassuringly. He thanked me and took a sip of my coffee before pulling a face.

"That's disgusting - no sugar or creamer?" He spat in disgust.

"Hey! No one forced you to drink that," I said in defence. He rolled his eyes and checked the time on his phone.

"I better be going now," he said and put his phone back in his pocket.

"You've only been here 5 minutes." I stated in confusion.

"Yeah, well, I want to be back for that promotion announcement." He chuckled nervously. I could tell he was lying, but when I opened my mouth to interrogate him, he had picked up his coat and made his way out of the cafe. Strange boy.

I'd been sitting here for around 10 minutes and was about to leave until Shawn reappeared from the back room.

"Where did you run off to?" I asked. He shrugged and walked over to another customer. I furrowed my eyebrows and watched as he forced a smile and a happy voice.

"Shawn? What's wrong?" I asked as he passed me to get to the brownies.

"Nothing, Sienna," he muttered. He put a brownie on a plate and handed it to the customer.

"Just tell me," I quietly mumbled to him.

"Now is not the time," he muttered back.

"So there is something?"

"I'll talk to you later," he said before turning around and leaving. I sat there, shocked at the way he was reacting. I sighed and stood up, exiting the cafe.

=

"What happened earlier?" I asked as I entered our apartment and saw him flicking through the TV channels. He paused the TV and turned to face me.

"I just didn't want to be in the conversation, alright?" He said, annoyance in his voice. He walked past me and into the kitchen.

"Why not? Jack was worrying about a promotion and instead of supporting him, you just walk away," I said as calmly as possible.

"He was worrying for nothing. Of course he's going to get it," he muttered.

"You don't know that," I shot back. He turned to face me and placed his hands on the island in the centre of the kitchen.

"Of course I do. We all do. You know it, he knows it, his boss knows it. He's going to get that promotion and he'll throw a stupid party where everyone spends an unnecessary amount of money," his voice grew louder. I furrowed my eyebrows and folded my arms.

"Shawn, where is this all coming from?" I asked, almost laughing at his panic.

"Just forget it, I wouldn't expect you to understand." He scoffed.

"Why are you mad at me now?" I groaned. "This is so ridiculous, you're making no sense and I don't want to be dragged into another stupid argument."

"Fine, forget I even said anything." He shrugged and walked out of the kitchen. I watched as he stormed into the bedroom, slamming the door behind him.

What the fuck just happened?