Crowded Room

43. You're Not Like Him

Camila is sitting down on Shawn’s couch with her phone on her ear, tears rolling down her face as she tries to contact him.

 “ He’s still not picking up.” She says quietly as more tears escape her eyes.

 “ He’s not with Joe or Niall. Charli hasn’t seen him either.” Taylor says with concern.

 Camila starts sobbing again, worried something might have happened to him. It was already dark outside and she hadn’t seen him since he overhead her that morning talking with Taylor. No one seemed to know where he was and while she went to his apartment hoping he would show up there, Hailee was in their dorm in case he went looking for her there. She was about to look for him at his father’s house when her phone started ringing. She picked it up in a second, thinking it was him.

 “ Mila, he’s here.” Hailee says from the other side of the line.

 “ I’m on my way.” Camila stands up and Taylor goes after her as she walks out the front door of his apartment. “ Is he okay?”

 “ He won’t talk to me.” Hailee said in a low tone of voice, like she didn’t want him to hear her. “ He just asked me to come in and passed out in your bed when I told him you weren’t here.”

 “ He’s drunk?” Camila asks as they walk out of the building, hurrying up on the sidewalk with Taylor right behind her, not caring if she was bumping into random people.

 “ Doesn’t look like it.” Hailee says and she sighs in relief. “ But he’s been crying for sure.”

 Camila is not sure at which point she started running, but it doesn’t take long for her to reach the dorm and run up the stairs, ignoring the elevator that has a line to get in. Taylor is not there anymore, she must have given up running and decided to walk. When Camila reaches her floor she’s out of breath, finding Hailee at the door waiting for her. She sends her friend a thankful look before entering their room and finding her boyfriend laying down on her bed.

 “ Baby, what happened?” Camila sits down next to him and he immediately opens his eyes, making it clear he wasn't asleep as Hailee thought.

 “ I’m sorry.” He whispers, sitting up and hugging her tightly. Camila lets her hands run up and down his back, trying to comfort him because he’s obviously upset. “ I’m sorry he threaded you.”

 “ That’s not your fault, Shawn.” Camila holds his face and makes him look at her. “ Don’t ever apologize for the things your father does.”

 Shawn nods his head before hugging her again, leaving a few kisses on the side of her head.

 “ I’m the one who should be apologizing.” Camila speaks again. “ I’m sorry I didn’t tell you right away and I’m sorry I avoided you.”

 “ Just promise me if anything like that happens again you’ll tell me, okay?” There’s something in his voice that lets her know something else is bothering him.

 “ I promise.” She says, taking his hands in hers and squeezing them. When she looks down, she notices his hand is hurt, dried blood over his knuckles. “ Oh my god, what happened to your hands?”

 “ It’s nothing.” He brushes it off, but Camila won’t let it go.

 “ Did he try to hurt you?” She asked. “ Your dad. You talked to him, right? Did he hurt you?”

 “ Yes, we talked.” He sighs and closes his eyes. “ But I was the one who hurt him.”

 “ I’m sure you had a good reason.” She places a kiss on his cheek before standing up and walking to the common area to get him some ice for his hands. She finds Taylor and Hailee on the couch with worried expressions.

 “ Is he okay?” Taylor stands up quickly.

 “ He will be, Tay.” Camila confirms as she takes the ice from the small fridge at the corner of the room. “ Is it okay if he stays the night?” She asks, looking at Hailee.

 “ Sure, I can stay at Niall’s.” Hailee says and a few minutes later both girls are leaving.

 Camila walks back into her room and finds Shawn laying down again, staring at the ceiling. He looks at her when she sits down next to him and puts the ice on his hands.

 “ What if I’m just like him?” He asks in a whisper.

 “ Shawn, you’re nothing like him.” Camila says in a serious tone of voice.

 “ You didn’t see what I did to him, Camila. It was pretty bad.”

 “ Hey, look at me.” She said, holding his face. “ You’re not like your father, Shawn. You were just angry at him and you had a good reason for that, but you’re the nicest person I’ve ever met. Your father would be lucky to have even one percent of your kindness.”

 She lies down next to him and he holds her like his life depends on it, her lips leaving sweet kisses on his head. They stay like that for what feels like hours until Camila speaks again.

 “ Where were you all day?” She asks with concern.

 “ Just wandering around.” He confesses. “ I was scared of talking to you after what I did to him.”

 “ I would never break up with you over that.” She whispers. “ I love you.”

 “ He said he would cut me off, didn’t he?” He asks, but by his tone of voice he doesn’t even need an answer.

 “ Yes.”

 “ You’re more important to me. I hope you know that.”

 “ I do.” She smiles, feeling his lips over hers in a kiss.

 “ I love you.” He whispers back before pulling away and looking into her eyes. She could tell he was about to tell her something important. “ He was lying.”

 “ About?”

 “ My apartment.” Shawn says. “ My mom left it for me. He never told me that. He made me believe he was the one paying for it, but he’s not.”

 “ He told you that?” She asks in surprise.

 “ No.” He shakes his head. “ Remember that document he was after when he appeared there? When you had stayed over a few months ago, before we were even together?”

 “ Yeah, I remember.” Camila says. “ It was about the apartment?”

 “ Yes, he didn’t want me to know the apartment was actually mine.” Shawn takes a deep breath before his next words. “ He also didn’t want me to know that my mom had a savings account in my name that I’m only allowed to access when I turn twenty-one. He wants me to take over part of the label with him and this money my mom left me would get in the way. I wouldn’t work with him either way, but it’s nice to know my mom did this before she passed.”

 “ You turn twenty-one in five months.” Camila sits up and looks at him with a smile. “ Your mom knew your father would do something like this. That’s why she did this.”

 “ I can’t believe she actually thought about this.”

 “ She loved you and she made sure to help you even years after her death.” Camila wipes a tear from his face and leans down, hugging him.