Crowded Room

10. Good Different

Camila looks at the professor at the front of the class impatiently, thinking he was supposed to have stopped talking twenty minutes ago. She’s going to be late for her first day working on her solo for the play with Shawn if this man doesn't stop talking. She could just walk out and ask someone else for notes on the part she didn’t hear, but Hailee wasn’t in this class with her and she still didn’t feel confident to ask a stranger for notes.

 When she thought she was about to scream in frustration, the professor finally ended the class and she gathered her things quickly before running out of the room. She crosses the hallway in the direction of the stairs, knowing there will be a line in the elevator, which would only delay her even more. The good thing is that the rehearsal is on the building across the street, so she won’t have to run that much.

 “ I’m here.” She announces, entering the room where Shawn is by himself sitting behind the piano with a bunch of sheets of paper in front of him.

 “ You’re late.” He says without looking up.

 “ I’m sorry.” She says out of breath, placing her backpack on a chair close to him. “ The professor wouldn’t stop talking and-”

 “ I’m just messing with you, Camila.” He laughs, looking up at her with a smirk. “ You’re just on time.”

 Camila rolls her eyes, smiling at the fact that he called her by her name instead of his usual nickname for her. She liked that, it sounded different on his voice, but a good different.

 “ Come here.” He says, mentioning for her to sit next to him behind the piano. “ I’m trying to change this melody here. Can you sing the lyrics for me?”

 She takes a look at the sheet of paper he’s pointing at as she takes the seat next to him, their thighs touching in the process and making her face flush. He clears his throat before letting his fingers play the melody, hearing Camila follow him with her voice, singing the lyrics Taylor had written. They do that a few times as he keeps changing a few details, until the song suddenly seems even more perfect than before.

 “ Wow.” Camila whispers when they finish. “ You're really good at this.”

 “ I know.” He smiles at her proudly and she looks at him like he just said the wrong thing. “ It’s not arrogant to recognize your own qualities. It’s called confidence. You could use some of that.”

 “ You don’t think I’m confident enough?” She asks.

 “ You know you’re a good singer, I can tell that, but you get shy the second someone compliments you. It’s like you don’t believe in it the second someone else says it.” He explains, looking into her eyes. “ You’re really good, Camila. You don’t have to act like you don’t deserve to be where you are.”

 Camila stays in silence, not knowing exactly how to respond to that. She knows he’s right and wonders if it’s just him that sees it or if she’s just that easy to read. He doesn’t say anything else and they go back to work on her solo songs for the musical, him making sure to ask for her opinion on almost everything. He let her tell him what she thought about the lyrics and arrangements, making sure to change things to make her feel more comfortable in the songs. This is the type of thing that made him so easy to be around, she felt heard when she was with him and that was an amazing feeling.

 “ Oh my god, it’s getting late.” Camila says when they are finished, noticing it’s already dark outside.

 “ Come on, I’ll walk you to your dorm.” Shawn says as they leave the room, walking to the elevator down the hallway.

 The elevator ride is filled by silence and even though there’s clearly some tension in the air, she never felt so comfortable next to anyone. She involuntarily looks up at him, just to find out he was already observing her. His cheeks turn red as he smiles at her and Camila can’t believe she just made Shawn Mendes blush. She had to be imagining that.

 She walks out first and he opens the door of the building for her as they step into the sidewalk. The street is filled by cars and people and she feels Shawn’s hand rest on her back as he makes sure he doesn’t lose sight of her. They walk a few blocks still in silence until Camila decides she might as well use this time with him to get to know him better.

 “ Did you always want to make music?” She asks, looking up at him.

 “ I don’t know.” He sighs. “ I always liked playing instruments, but it took me awhile to find out I could make my own music.”

 “ So you’ve been playing for a long time?”

 “ Yes, my mom started teaching me piano when I was five and I eventually picked the guitar by myself.” He explains.

 “ That must be cool.” Camila says. “ Knowing how to play instruments.”

 “ You don’t play anything?” He asks curiously.

 “ No, I guess my voice has always been my instrument.” She reflects with a small laugh.

 “ I could teach you someday.” Shawn says after a moment in silence. “ I mean, if you ever want to.”

 “ I would love that.” She smiles at him.

•☆•☆•☆•

 Shawn sighs and closes his eyes as a cute brunette girl steps out of his bathroom and puts her clothes back on. He was relieved he didn’t even have to ask her to leave, she seemed to get the message and know exactly what had happened between them: a one time thing. He opens his eyes and watches as the girl walks out of his bedroom, hearing the front door as she leaves his apartment. It was no coincidence she looked a little a bit like a certain someone.

 Camila wouldn’t leave his mind and it was getting worse every time, to a point where he found a girl that had similar features to her to sleep with. That only made things worse though. He felt guilty, not for using the girl since she knew exactly what was happening between them, but for having sex with someone else. He hadn’t slept with anyone since the party when he first met Camila, so he thought the only way to get her out of his system was going back to his usual habits. But now he felt like he had somehow cheated on her, which didn’t make any sense. He never even kissed her and they were just friends, so why was he feeling like shit after what he just did?

 Everytime he touched and kissed the other girl, he thought about what it would be like to do those things to Camila. He grabs a pillow and covers his face with it, screaming into it in frustration. The second he stopped, his phone vibrated from the nightstand. He reached for it, only to see a text from Camila asking him what time was she supposed to meet him the next day. It has been three days since he last saw her and he hated to admit that he was dying to see her smile and hear her voice again. Fuck! What was so special about her that he couldn’t even control his thoughts? It was like she had put some kind of spell on him and he was drowning trying to get out of it.