Mr. Mendes | shawn mendes

fifty-three.

"You're cheating!"

"Jules! I told you, you can't cheat in Uno!"

"Yes you can, Chase! You're doing it now!"

"Oh yeah? How?"

"I... don't know, but you are!" I shrieked, laughing as I playfully glared at his two cards while I help ten cards.

"Are we interrupting?" Caroline chimed, holding a coffee cup in one hand and a brown bag in the other as Jack grinned behind her. "I brought you breakfast."

"My hero," I sighed dramatically, holding my hands out before glancing at Chase. "We'll continue this later."

"How're you feeling?" Caroline asked, setting the items down before giving me a gentle hug and kissing my cheeks.

"They just gave me my pain killers, so it's not too bad." I nodded, leaving my arms open to hug Jack.

"You look better." He hummed, kissing my head in a brotherly fashion before he and Caroline sat in the empty seats next to the hospital bed.

"It's barely been like, twelve hours since you saw me." I replied, raising a brow at Jack.

"Hey, there's a difference!"

"He's right." Caroline nodded, drinking from her own coffee. "You're finally getting some color back; you aren't so pale anymore."

"Told you."

Reaching inside the bag, I pulled out a muffin happily, offering it to Caroline and Jack, who declined, before I split the muffin in half for Chase and I.

"When are you getting out of here?" Chase asked, pushing some of the muffin into his mouth.

"Hopefully within the next week. They need to make sure I'm physically at my strongest before I can go home."

A knock on the door tore my gaze from my friends, my heart sinking lower in my chest as I made eye contact with one of the police officers, an apologetic smile on her face.

"Miss Ange, I'm officer Gonzalez. Is now a bad time?"

"There's not going to be a better time," I shrugged, feeling anxious about having to talk about what happened with Johnson. "Come in."

"I'm gonna have to ask your friends to leave while we do this, ma'am."

I nodded, watching the three of them get up and wave to me as they walked towards the door.

"We'll be outside, okay? You've got this." Caroline smiled, nodding at me before shutting the door.

"Miss Ange, can you tell me everything you remember?"

"Julianna is fine," I mumbled, glancing up at her before I cleared my throat and began to retell the events.

She listened closely, nodding and writing notes on an iPad, offering a small smile each time I had to pause to calm myself down.

"Julianna, have you thought about therapy for this?" She asked, a concern frown on her face.

"I'm fine, I think. I'm not like... having any sort of traumatic flashbacks or anything."

"You aren't now, but you may have some in the future. If you do, therapy is an option."

"I'll think more about it if I get to that point, I guess." I shrugged, looking down at my hands. "What's going to happen to Johnson? Jack, I mean."

"Well, he's in our custody right now. We're arranging a court date, though all the evidence of him is there, so he'll most likely come out guilty."