Crowded Room

30. Misunderstanding

Shawn watches his father and a bunch of old men in suits and their wives talking about the most boring things he ever heard, wishing he could have Camila by his side or at least run away from that place and meet her. Unfortunately she was miles away visiting her grandparents and his father had dragged him back into the restaurant after he spent almost half an hour talking to her outside on the phone. He noticed something was off in her voice and even if she did tell him it was because being at the house she grew up in brought back too many memories of her mom, he could sense that was not all. There was something else bothering her, but he didn’t know what it was or what to do to make her feel better.

 The next day he talked to her on the phone again and even though she seemed happier, he could still feel something off in her voice. He asked her about it and she brushed it off, so he decided to give her some time. Maybe she would tell him when she came back to New York in a day. The thing is, that was stuck in his head, so he texted Taylor that he needed to talk to her. She was at Joe and Niall’s place, so he drove there and the blonde could see the concern in his face.

 “ What happened?” Taylor asked when he entered the kitchen and rested his back against the counter. She was baking cookies with Joe’s help, but Niall wasn’t home.

 “ Camila is acting weird.” Shawn told her.

 “ I thought she was flying back tomorrow? Is she here already?” The blonde asked without looking at him, focusing on the cookie recipe.

 “ No, she’s not here yet.” Shawn sighs before walking to take a seat in one of the stools by the bar. “ We talked on the phone and I know there’s something bothering her, but she won’t tell me. Has she mentioned anything to you?”

 “ No, we texted last night, but she didn’t mention anything.” Taylor says, this time looking at him with concern too. “ Let me text Hailee and see if she knows anything.”

 Shawn nervously watched as Taylor texted Camila’s roommate, who seemed to give her an answer that made Taylor look at him like he was the problem.

 “ What?” Shawn asks, clearly confused.

 “ You’re an idiot!” Taylor says, slapping him on the head.

 “ Ouch!” Shawn complanied, still confused.

 “ Hailee called her this morning and she confessed she was upset because you still haven't asked her to be your girlfriend.” Taylor glared at him with disapproval in her eyes.

 Shawn stared at her like she had just told him the most crazy thing ever, trying to process the information. He could see Joe in the back looking at him like he had really fucked up and he knew Taylor was about to kill him.

 “ I didn’t know I had to.” He whispers in shock. “ I mean, we’re together. Doesn’t that make her my girlfriend?”

 “ Oh my god, Shawn!” Taylor says clearly pissed at him. “ She was probably waiting for you to ask all this time. I can’t believe you didn’t.”

 “ I didn’t think I had to.” He repeats and the blonde sighs.

 “ Okay, but now you do.” She says. “ So just talk to her tomorrow when she comes back. She’s probably overthinking everything right now.”

 “ Fuck.” Shawn sighs and rests his face on his hands before standing up and leaving.

 He paces his apartment several times, trying to think about the perfect way to ask her. Maybe he should just tell her the truth though, because by now it’s just too late. He took too long, but he doesn’t want her to think he only did it because Taylor told him he needed to. To be honest, she was already his girlfriend in his mind, but he can’t blame her for wanting some type of affirmation. Fuck! How didn’t he notice that? He truly couldn’t remember her ever sounding disappointed about something like that or giving any hints that she wanted him to ask her officially. He thought the second they made it public she had become his girlfriend, but apparently that’s not how it works and he got everything wrong.

 He sat down by the piano and started nervously playing some chords until suddenly he was playing his unfinished song about her. It actually already had lyrics, but he kept thinking there was something missing for it to be perfect. His eyes landed on his acoustic guitar in the corner of the room and it was like a light had switched in his mind. He stood up and took the guitar in his hands, sitting on his couch and playing those same chords, singing the lyrics he already had and adding some more as he wrote it down on his notepad. He had been trying to figure out how to tell her the way he was feeling and the song was just perfect for that. It would be his way to both assure her she had been his girlfriend for a while now even if she didn’t explicitly know it and also reveal to her just how deeply he felt for her.