Crowded Room

15. Vulnerable

Camila smiles as she walks out of the building where her last class of the day had taken place, her eyes spotting Shawn waiting for her with his back rested against the wall. He was staring at the street in front of him, several cars stuck in traffic as he threw his car keys in the air and caught them again in seconds. It was already dark and the wind blew Camila’s hair as she walked to him, making her arms shiver.

 “ Hey.” She smiles as he looks at her with a big smile.

 “ Ready?” He asks, closing the space between them and stopping in front of her.

 Camila nods her head and Shawn starts guiding her to where he parked his car, but he suddenly stops in his tracks and takes off his gray hoodie and hands it to her.

 “ You don’t have to.” Camila shakes her head, but deep down she thought it was really sweet that he noticed she was cold.

 “ Just take it, Camila.” He rolls his eyes and smiles at her. “ I already took it off and you’re obviously cold.”

 “ Okay.” She whispers, taking his hoodie and putting it on. It looks huge on her, reaching her knees, but it smells like him and it warms her up. “ Thank you.”

 Camila feels her heart beating really fast when Shawn takes her hand in his as they walk to his car. What did that mean? If it wasn’t enough for her to keep replaying the kiss they shared at the party over and over in her head, now he had to do things like hold her hand and give her his hoodie.

 Shawn had asked her if they could work on the musical at his apartment and she agreed to it, so he promised he would pick her up from her last class of the day. He drove them to his building as they listened to pop songs on the radio and Camila would still blush anytime he complimented her voice while she sang along. They spent most of the ride stuck in traffic before they were finally in his apartment, sitting down by his piano working on the songs. Shawn recorded on his phone Camila singing a few parts of the song, so she could hear each part she still had to work on. It was a great idea and it helped her a lot.

 “ Can you send me that?” Camila asked, referring to the voice notes on his phone.

 “ Sure.” Shawn said, unlocking his phone and handing it to her. “ Just take the ones you want.”

 Camila selected which voice notes she wanted as Shawn played a few chords on the piano, her fingers stopping over the screen of his phone when she saw her name in his contacts list. It read ‘little freshman’ with a sunflower emoji next to it.

 “ I think we’re past the stage of you calling me ‘little freshman’, don’t you think?” She asks with a laugh.

 Shawn looks up from the piano keys and sees what she’s talking about, so he takes his phone and a minute later gives it back to her.

 “ Better?” He asks with a smirk.

 “ Perfect.” Camila laughs when she reads her name now as ‘Camilita’ on his phone, the sunflower emoji still there. He never called her that before, but she wouldn’t mind if he did. She liked it. “ Why the sunflower?”

 “ It was what you sent me that first day when I gave you my number.” Shawn says. “ I think it suits you.”

 “ I don’t know how to tell you this, but your name has the pile of poo emoji next to it on my phone.” Camila tells him as she finishes sending the voice notes to her phone.

 “ Ouch.” Shawn laughs. “ Please, don’t tell me it suits me.”

 “ I think I might change.” Camila says. “ It doesn’t suit you at all.”