- shawn -
I lock the car and quicken my pace to catch up to Jasmine as we walk through the lot and towards the store. "Could you not be stubborn for two fucking seconds?" I ask her as I place my hand at her elbow. The automatic doors open and we walk into the store.
"I'm not being stubborn," Jasmine says as she turns and begins heading to the aisle she's looking for. "I just want to put it on pause."
"Jasmine, that's being stubborn." I reply.
"No. I just don't want to fight."
"How are we going to fight again?"
"You asked if I thought you were going to hit me. If I answer any way, you are not going to believe me. Shawn I don't wanna fight no more. This is a big day for you and I just want to ignore the elephant that keeps following us around." She says with a shrug.
"Oh, my... just tell me if you thought I was or wasn't! It's not that hard, Jay."
She stops and turns to me. "Did you just give me a little nickname? That's cute, I like it."
"Don't change the topic here. Did you think I was going to hit you or not?"
"Why do I need to answer, Shawn? Just let it go. It's no big deal."
"It's a big deal because it means that you're afraid of me. I don't want you to be afraid of me." I say.
Jasmine sighs and turns to me. "What do you want from me? What do you want right now?"
"I want you to answer me and then I'll drop it. I'll drop this whole damn thing right now."
"Yes." She nods.
"Yes what?"
"Yes, I was afraid because you have a temper and I thought for a split second that you would hit me or something. Is that what you want to hear? Happy?" She rolls her eyes and walks away to the next aisle. I curl my hands and sigh, following her to the next aisle as she grabs Tide to Go and I look at her.
"I'm trying not to be mad at you Jasmine, but your dress is too damn tight and it's making me sexually frustrated."
"Thanks for sharing that information that I don't need." She says. "I got what I need. What about you?"
"Jasmine, for two seconds, un-pause." I say as I walk closer to her. "For two seconds, don't be the stubborn person that you are when you're mad. Don't be the girl that overthinks things to unnecessary outcomes. For two seconds, just listen to me. Please."
Jasmine looks at me and she has the same look on her face as when I spoke to her at the party in the beginning of the summer.
"I'm sorry that you thought I was going to hit you last night. We're both going to be busy today and I think that it'd be best that in this magical world of Pause Land, we both try our absolute hardest to not be stubborn or mad or whatever."
"So what do you want me to do? Pretend to be happy and supportive of you when you're just going to leave halfway through a dance and I'm left in the middle of the floor watching you leave? Do you have any idea how hard Pause Land is going to be for me?" Jasmine says. "This things happened twelve hours ago and no matter how hard we try to get over this, I know for a damn fact that you're not going to let this die down."
"I'm proposing the idea of putting this fight on pause! For the sake of tonight and for the sake of us! But you keep being stubborn and refuse to let that even happen!"
"The wedding is in twenty minutes. I'm ready to pay." Jasmine says as she walks out the aisle and towards the register where I follow her. She reaches into her wallet but I pay for the item and then grab the change and we head out to the car.
