Crowded Room

6. Subway Meeting

Shawn made sure to take the subway to his father’s apartment instead of his car. The traffic was crazy most of the time in New York, but especially on the weekends. It was a Saturday and Lucy, the housekeeper that worked for his father since Shawn still lived with him, had called him to say she found some stuff that belonged to his mother. She didn’t get to know his mother, but she knew Shawn missed her and always made sure to call him whenever she found anything. His father would kill him if he knew, he always made sure that Shawn had as little as he could from his mother, and that’s why he was going there now. His father was at an important meeting according to his secretary, so Shawn took that Saturday morning to collect his mother’s belongings.

 The subway was crowded that morning, but it was worth it in order not to get stuck in traffic. He still had a key to the apartment and the doorman was a friend, so he wouldn’t tell his dad he was there. It was a small box that Lucy left in a corner of his old room, which Shawn took a quick look through the items before putting it inside his backpack. There were a few pictures of his mother, five or six, one of them with him as a baby. There was also an old NYU shirt, a reminder that his mother had attended the same university he chose for himself, and an envelope with a bunch of documents he would have to sit down later to read through. He’s not sure where these documents were, but he hopes Lucy doesn’t get in trouble because of it.

 It doesn’t even take him ten minutes to be out of the apartment and walking back to the subway station, finding it yet again crowded. He stands with his back against the wall close to the door, watching people get in and out as he waits for the station he wants. That’s when he sees her. Camila. Or 'little freshman' as he likes to tease her. She was on the other side of the car, directly across from him and he smiled when he first saw her, but then he noticed she had quite an uncomfortable expression on her face.

 He started making his way to where she was, not caring about all the people complaining about him moving in between them. When he reached Camila, he realized there was a man standing too close to her, but she had nowhere to move to even if she wanted.

 “ Excuse me, sir?” Shawn said, walking in front of the guy and blocking Camila away from him.

 Camila looked up at him and he could see the relief in her eyes when she saw him there. The man gave Shawn an unpleasant look, but instead of saying anything, Shawn just moved his hand over Camila's shoulders and pulled her closer to him. He had seen this type of situations too many times to know the guy would just back off if he thought Shawn was her boyfriend or something.

 “ Are you okay?” He whispers to her and nods her head.

 “ Thank you.” She tells him, leaning more into him and wrapping her arms around his waist, hugging him.

 He could feel her hands shaking slightly against him and held her tighter to him with his free arm. He thought she was just pretending because of the guy at first, but she was actually hugging him for real. He moved his hand to her hair and almost felt guilty that he was liking this too much. She was visibly shaken by the situation, so he just tried to comfort her the best he could. When they see the guy walking out at the next station, Camila seems to relax again.

 “ What are you doing on the subway?” She asks, looking up at him, still using him as a support so she wouldn’t fall. “ You have a car.”

 “ I’m sure you noticed this already, but traffic in New York sucks.” He says with a chuckle.

 “ Right.” She smiles at him.

 “ What about you? Exploring the city by yourself already?” He asks with curiosity.

 “ Hailee was supposed to come with me, but Niall invited her to watch one of his baseball training sessions.”

 “ Of course he did.” Shawn laughs, knowing his best friend too well.

 “ I just wanted to take a walk I guess, then I ended up at the subway station and thought why not?” She told him. “ I can always call Taylor if I get lost.”

 “ Just to clarify, I’m the one who was raised here. Taylor wouldn’t know how to rescue you if you got lost. You should just call me instead if that ever happens.”

 “ How am I supposed to call you if I don’t have your number?” Camila asks without looking into his eyes. 

 “ Fair enough.” He chuckles.

This girl was quite a mystery to him, sometimes she was extra shy, then the next minute she was just so bold. He knows he told himself he wouldn’t sleep with a freshman girl again, but there was just something about her. Maybe that was a good thing though, she seemed too innocent for him to mess with, but they could definitely be friends.

 He decided to get off on the same station as her, it was still really close to his apartment, so they walked side by side up the stairs. Camila holds onto his arm when a group of people rush next to her, almost knocking her out and Shawn guides her into the park in front of them. He watches as she quickly removes her hand from his arm, like she did it without realizing it.

 “ Shawn!” They both turn their heads when they hear Taylor’s voice, finding her sitting down on a bench with a notepad and a pen in hands. It looked like she was writing a song. Shawn was used to it by now, Taylor had those items with her all the time. She was always writing songs, while he could only write when he was alone, far away from people. “ Baby C?” He can see Taylor’s confusion as he and Camila walk to her.

 “ Hi.” Camila says, smiling at their friend when they’re standing in front of her.

 “ Hey.” Taylor replies, looking from one to the other, like she was trying to figure out if her suspicions were correct.

 “ We just ran into each other on the subway.” Camila explains.

 “ I see.” The blonde says, clearly not buying it.

 “ Look, I have to go.” Shawn says, his hands going to the back of his neck nervously as he was about to do something he didn’t want to do in front of Taylor. 

 He reaches for Camila’s back pocket and takes her phone from it. She looks at him in surprise at first, but unlocks it when he asks her for it. He types down his number and saves it, giving her the phone back.

 “ My number.” He tells her. “ In case you get lost one day.”

 “ Right.” She smiles as he starts walking away from them. “ Shawn?”

 He turns around and looks at her again when she calls his name.

 “ Thank you again.” She says seriously, clearly referring to the man on the subway.

 He nods his head and smiles at her before making his way out of the park, sighing and thinking what was he supposed to do with this girl. He didn’t even had sex with her and she was messing with his head. There was clearly something wrong with him.