Money, Power, Glory || Shawmila [Completed]

6. Garden party

On that warm late summer afternoon, the sun shone high in the sky and the light breeze helped withstand the warm Californian temperatures. The big garden of the Mendes villa was filled with men in suits accompanied by uptight ladies who played the role of trophy wives. The light dresses they wore were mostly paired with their husbands' expensive suits and on the necks of each of those women a row of pearls could be found as a tacit symbol of their social status. Shawn looked around and couldn't help but think he was surrounded by clones. Each of those rich bastards was acting as the master of the world, gesticulating theatrically and sipping some expensive liquor on crystal glasses, while their wives flanked them and didn't miss the opportunity to worship them as if they were a God on earth.

Shawn had secluded himself in a shady corner of the garden and peered at that very familiar scene, trying to drown his boredom in a glass of bourbon. The tie he had around his neck was hard to bear with the sweltering temperatures of that afternoon, but he was grateful he at least wasn't forced to wear the jacket his mother had "strongly advised" him to wear. That woman had repeated to him endless recommendations on how to behave and what to say, as if it hadn't been the same refrain repeated to him since he was a boy. That was certainly not the first party in honor of his father that he had been forced to attend and unfortunately for him it would not even be the last. That day Richard Mendes had officially kicked off his umpteenth election campaign and for Shawn this involved an endless list of events that he could not miss.

«I hope our mother doesn't catch you with that bored grimace on your face» Chloe joined him by his side with the clear intention of annoying him, but she didn't know that Shawn actually liked his sister's company. The girl always had some stunt to tell him or some sarcastic comment about one of the many buffoons invited to those parties, for which Shawn secretly laughed. But even if the complicity he had always shared with his sister improved the situation, he would never admit it out loud. With Chloe it had always been like this: they both appreciated each other's company, but neither of them had ever clearly confessed it.

Shawn looked down on his sister. «You're still not legal to drink» he said after ignoring Chloe's comment.

She rolled her eyes. «Come on, Shawn! I am nineteen years old and you know very well that this is not the first time I'm having a drink». This was undeniable. Shawn certainly hadn't forget that time when, in the middle of the night, he had to leave the house without being noticed by his parents to go and retrieve his sister who had fainted at a party. From what one of the girl's friends had told him, Chloe had one too many shot, and had lost her senses as soon as she sat down. And that wasn't the only time the 19-year-old had gone into some kind of trouble, but luckily their parents had never heard of anything - thanks in part to Shawn's intervention.

«I wash my hands of it, Chloe. But then don't come crying to me when Mr and Mrs Perfection lock you in your room for the rest of the year»

The girl sighed and poured the entire contents of her glass into her brother's, without worrying about whether it was the same drink... not that this mattered to Shawn. «How are you doing, big brother? How are you, all alone in your off-campus apartment?» Chloe always pointed out that her brother was given the opportunity to move away from his parents to attend university, an opportunity that had been denied to the girl. Their parents were convinced that it was not appropriate for a young girl to live alone at such a young age. And that's why they were described by her as old Puritans. Shawn agreed with her.

The boy wanted to tell her how not alone he really was in that apartment, since Camila had kept him company almost every night that week. But if he let that comment slip, then he would also have had to explain what kind of relationship he had engaged with his classmate, and that was a detail he wanted to avoid. «As usual, Chloe. My days are divided between studying and sleeping. What about you?»