Crowded Room

39. The Secretary

Camila’s eyes meet Shawn’s through the huge mirror in front of them and confirm to her what she already knows: he’s nervous. She squeezes his hand as they wait for the slow elevator ride to be over, and once it does, the door opens directly into the apartment. They walk in and Camila is in shock at first. Sure, the apartment Shawn lives in is definitely expensive, but this one is on another level. It occupies the whole top floor of the building and the view of the city is ridiculous. She can’t believe Shawn grew up in a place like this, but then she’s immediately reminded his childhood wasn't exactly the happiest.

 “ Is that her?” Camila whispers when a blonde woman that seems to be in her late thirties starts walking to them. She has a beautiful yet classy red dress on, her blonde hair up in a ponytail, and her blue eyes shining even from a distance.

 “ I hope not.” Shawn says under his breath, making Camila slightly confused, but when the woman approaches them, it’s pretty obvious Shawn already knows her.

 “ Shawn!” The woman says excitedly. “ Look at you! You’re all grown up.”

 “ Amy.” Shawn doesn’t sound as excited as she does, more like he was finally putting something together in his mind.

 Before he can introduce Camila, they both notice his father walking to where they are with a glass of red wine in his hand. He has a fitting black suit on and the same arrogant look on his face Camila remembers from Halloween. When his eyes stop on her next to Shawn, he seems surprised that they’re still together.

 “ Shawn!” His father exclaims, placing his free hand on the woman’s lower back. “ You remember Amy, right?”

 “ Yes, I do.” Shawn smiles, but Camila can tell he’s faking it. “ It’s been a while, but it’s nice to see you, Amy.”

 “ And who’s this beautiful lady you brought with you?” Amy sounds really genuine and it’s quite confusing for Camila the contrast between her and Shawn’s father. They don’t fit at all and it’s disconcerting to see them together.

 “ This is Camila, my girlfriend.” Shawn squeezes her hand a little tighter before letting go so she can hug Amy, who seems really excited to meet her as well.

 In a few minutes, both his father and new girlfriend are distracted by the other guests and Shawn excuses himself to use the restroom. Camila spends a few minutes talking to Charli, who introduces her to her mother, Shawn’s aunt, but after a while, she decides she needs to go looking for Shawn.

There must be around twenty people in the apartment, but she still finds it hard to find Shawn. He seemed really tense and nervous since they got there, so she adventures herself in the huge unknown apartment to find him. It’s not like him to just leave her there by herself for such a long time.

 Camila can’t help noticing the pictures still hanging on the walls, mostly Shawn as a kid with both his parents. To anyone that doesn’t know the story behind it, they would look like a happy family. It’s almost like his father decided to leave those pictures up around the house so no one would know how much he actually didn’t care. Camila walks down the hallway, looking at the pictures until she notices the door at the end half-open, seeing a glimpse of Shawn sitting down at the edge of the bed.

 “ Hey, I was looking for you.” She speaks, stopping by the door as he looks up to see her.

 “ Sorry.” He says quietly. “ I think I lost track of time.”

 “ This was your bedroom?” She asks curiously, walking in and closing the door behind her. Shawn nods as her eyes take in the space around them, clearly a teenage boy’s room.

 “ She’s his secretary.” His voice takes her by surprise, making her look away from the posters on the wall in front of her and walk to where he is. “ Amy has been his secretary for years.”

 Camila takes a seat next to him and lets her hand go to his hair, trying to calm him down a little.

 “ You've known her since you were a kid?” Camila asks with hesitation.

 “ Yes.” He smiles and it’s clear to her Shawn actually likes Amy. “ She knew my mom and they actually became friends around the time she got sick. She was so nice to me after my mom passed.”

 “ If she was friends with your mom she must know.” Camila whispers.

 “ I think so too.” He looks at her like he finally figured something out. “ I knew he was cheating on my mom back then, but now it all makes a lot more sense.”

 “ You think he’s been with Amy all these years?”

 “ I know he was. I saw them together a few times over the years, but I never thought it was something serious.”

 “ She seems like a really nice person.” Camila says, making him look at her.

 “ She is, but I’ll never understand why she’s with him.” Shawn now sounded more worried than anything. “ I guess I could say the same about my mom.”

 Camila tried to comfort him the best she could and in a few minutes Amy showed up to tell them dinner was about to be served. The food was amazing, but Camila couldn’t really focus on that when her boyfriend was clearly not happy to be there.

They were able to leave after dessert with Charli so they could all meet the rest of their friends at Times Square and on the way, Camila got a text from a friend she made at the Carrie production, who confirmed she had gotten the part she auditioned for. The good news seemed to lighten Shawn’s mood and when they were squeezed between hundreds of people at midnight, he made sure to kiss her in a way that thanked her for being there for him all night. It was a slow passionate kiss that made her feel loved and appreciated, his way of telling her they had not only the new year ahead of them, but many to come.

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A/N: Sorry I disappeared, but I was sick (again) and also feeling uninspired to write 😭