Shawn sighed through his nose, his expression going tense for a fraction of a second before he regained his usual amiable smile. Flirting wasn't what it used to be. "Jules," he said with forced pleasantry. "Why do we keep this up?" He leaned against a nearby support beam and crossed his arms over his chest.
Juliet smiled, rather sincerely, at Shawn. "Keep what up, Shawn?" Her tone was flat, like she was trying to hide the fact that she actually wanted to talk to Shawn, and she wasn't just humouring him.
Shawn kept the grin on his lips. "Oh, Jules, stop playing dumb. It's so tiring. Exhausting, really." Juliet raised an eyebrow, unaware of what Shawn was talking about. He ducked his head down, his eyes shut and his lips curling into a I-don't-want-to-smile-but-I-can't-help-it smile. "Why do we keep pretending like we aren't madly in love, just dying to run off into the sunset together - possibly riding white horses."
Juliet's smile grew and she rested her cheek on her hand. "The horses are a little much, don't you think?"
Shawn chuckled lightly, running a hand through his hair. "You could be right." He opened his mouth to expand, but Lassiter walked by and Shawn forgot what he was talking about. "Lassie!"
Lassiter narrowed his eyes, but Shawn could see the softness he was trying to hide. "Spencer," he greeted tersely. The agitation sounded so real.
Shawn smiled and he wanted it to be genuine, he knew it should be genuine, but he couldn't help the bitterness that was crawling around in his stomach.
Lassiter's mouth remained a tight line. "Where's you're little minion," he hissed, gesturing vaguely to the space next to Shawn.
Shawn cocked his head. "My minion? Is that how you see Gus?"
Lassiter frowned. He was so good at looking uncaring. "Answer my question, Spencer."
"If you must know, Gus is on a retreat for the weekend." Shawn raised his head so that if his eyes were open, which they were not, he would be looking down his nose at Lassiter. "Something...work related, I think. They seem to do this quite often."
Lassiter made some sort of accepting remark, his mouth open in a half-sneer. He turned to Juliet, his expression much more pointed and at ease. "O'Hara, we need to talk. Preferably without this lunatic around." He nodded his head at Shawn.
Shawn's smile lost it's unendingly-happy luster and his gaze fell. He hated this, he really, truly despised it. "Lassie, can we talk outside?" he asked quietly, his gaze still drifting around the floor. Lassiter furrowed his eyebrows and peered down at Shawn.
"...yeah, sure," he agreed, his expression growing worried. He quickly pushed impatience on top of the worry and grabbed Shawn's arm, leading him gruffly out the door.
When they were safely outside, Lassiter's shoulders dropped and his eyes scanned Shawn frantically. He brought a hand up to touch Shawn's cheek gingerly. "Shawn, is something wrong?" He asked, staring into Shawn's eyes with a pinched face.
Shawn swallowed the lump in his throat and brought his gaze up to Lassiter. "Yes, Carlton. Something is wrong." He took Lassiter's hand in his own, drawing it away from his face. "I hate this," he snarled, dropping Lassiter's hand. He grabbed his head and started pacing. "I hate this so much. I hate flirting with Juliet like nothing has changed. I hate looking in your eyes and seeing malice. I hate being so damn lonely all the time." He pinched the bridge of his nose, his eyes squeezed shut.
Lassiter was caught off guard. He didn't know what to say. He stayed quiet, looking at Shawn with a small, very sad frown. Shawn kept his gaze low and to the left. He didn't want to see Lassiter right now. He didn't want to look at those blue eyes and wonder why he was doing this.
"I'm going home," Shawn said, his voice barely audible. He turned and stalked off, refusing to look back at Lassiter.
Lassiter didn't call out to Shawn. His shoulders sagged and his expression twisted into flat, disheveled sadness. He shuffled back inside, texting Shawn, "Be careful."
Shawn gave the text one, swift look and shoved his phone back into his pocket, refusing to respond. He was too angry. He clambered onto his bike and drove off.
"What was that about?" Juliet asked, obviously more concerned than she had the right to be. Lassiter tried to look unaffected.
"Spencer isn't confident without Gus around or something, so he left."
Juliet didn't look convinced. "And he had to tell you that...outside?"
Lassiter sighed. "Look O'Hara, I don't understand it any better than you do. If you want to know why the idiot does what he does, ask him yourself." Juliet couldn't respond before Lassiter walked away, shutting himself in his office.