The One After [SHAWN MENDES]

Chapter 70

"Our brunches were in my dream," I told the girls after we'd been served our food at The Morning After. I was having a big stack of pancakes and a side of bacon, which I loved to dip in maple syrup.

Fallon laughed. "We visited you on a Sunday and talked about how we'd celebrate you waking up over brunch once it happened."

"I told her how our convos impacted your dream," Briya explained to me.

"This is probably nuts, but I wrote down some other things and I'm curious to know if it was stuff you talked about." I pulled out my phone and opened up my notes. "Did you discuss Shawn's dog, Tarzan?"

"After we talked with him in the hospital, we scrolled through his IG and discussed a lot of his pics. I'm sure the dog came up more than once. Was there anything in your dream about him being shirtless? Because Bri made at least a hundred dirty comments about his body," Fallon said.

"His bod was featured in the dream repeatedly." My cheeks turned red as I recalled his physique. I looked at my list again. "What about the VMAs?"

"That's so weirdly specific, but yeah, we found an article analyzing his VMA outfits after the 2021 show. I'm starting to feel a little embarrassed by how badly we cyber-stalked him, but after hanging out together, we wanted info. I swear we're not weirdos," Briya asserted.

"I'm not judging because this explains a lot of stuff. For the first couple weeks after my coma, I was haunted by how much I knew about Shawn. It was confusing since I'd never been that into him."

"Liar. Remember when you had that crush after his Calvin Klein ad campaign? You had his underwear pics up in your dorm room!" Fallon asserted.

"No, that was my roommate, Keely. I definitely enjoyed looking at them, but she was the obsessed one. I bet her constant babbling about him resulted in other facts being buried in my memories."

"Now that you say that, I do remember her being crazy about him," Fallon said. "Didn't she go to the airport a few times to try to get a photo?"

"Yep. She never met him, though. She posted on Instagram a couple months ago that she's pregnant. Her boyfriend slightly resembles Shawn, which is funny."

Briya cackled. "I bet Keely pissed herself when she read that he saved your life. Did she reach out to you about it?"

"We don't talk." There'd been a falling out over her repeatedly borrowing my clothes and returning them dirty. We parted ways after freshman year, though we didn't cut our ties on social media.

I asked a few more questions and additional things were brought to light. Between the chats and conversations with Shawn by my hospital bed, Keely's obsession, and things I probably saw on my phone or in the news, there was a logical explanation for almost everything, and probably the other stuff was just made up in my mind.

"Should we talk about the Vegas trip?" I suggested before taking a sip of my mimosa.

"Yes!" Briya said excitedly. "When are we going?"

Fallon frowned. "I'm not doing it unless you let me contribute something."

"Bullshit," I said firmly. "This is important to me and I'm forbidding you from paying a penny. The money came from the cruise owner and you deserve to benefit, too, given how much time you put in with that job. Besides, you're my girls and I adore you."

"Okay, but I'm buying drinks when we're there. My weekends are open, but Bri, you have your restaurant job. Can you afford time off?" Fallon asked.

She smiled. "Yup! I'll pick up weekday shifts. I still think we should go for the hero's Vegas show since he was so amazing last month. Maybe it was in the dream because it's meant to happen in real life."

I wasn't planning to tell them I'd been out with him until I knew where things were headed, but perhaps it was time. "I saw him recently."

"No fucking way!" Bri squealed, causing the older couple at the next table to shoot her dirty looks.

"He stayed in town after his concerts to give a deposition for my case, and we met for coffee and dinner."

"And?" Fallon pushed.

"And it was nice, but nothing happened other than him giving me a kiss on the cheek. I think he might be seeing someone." I then relayed the incident with shower-girl. I left out that we were supposed to get backstage passes at the concert, because they'd push even harder to go to Vegas when he was there if they thought we might get the VIP treatment.

"Someone as hot as him probably hooks up a lot," Bri theorized. "That doesn't mean he might not be into you."

I sighed. "I know. We've talked quite a bit, and he's mentioned that he feels a connection to me because he saved my life, but I'm not sure if there's anything beyond that. Mostly it feels like we're becoming good friends."

Not good enough to warrant an invite to his birthday party, though. Photos surfaced after his big day and it stung a little to see him drunk and happy with everyone he loved. Camila wasn't there, and there were no incriminating pics with anyone else, which made me feel slightly better. I'd sent him a text on the morning of August 8th and he'd responded with a thank you, but that was the extent of our discussion about the day.

"I bet being friends is hard given what you had in your dream," Fallon said sympathetically.

"It is, but when it comes down to it, the dream means nothing. No matter how vivid and real it felt, it was just my mind having some fun while I was unconscious. It would be very unhealthy of me to try to recreate it in reality." I'd spoken with an online therapist the week before and this had been something we focused on. "That's why I don't want to go to Las Vegas for his show."

We took out our phones and after a few minutes of deliberation, we decided on Labour Day weekend so that we could extend the getaway into Monday. I opened a travel app and booked our flights and hotel. The girls wouldn't let me spring for first class seats, but they agreed to staying at Bellagio, though they insisted they'd be just as happy at a less expensive location.

After brunch I went to the bakery and helped my dad for a couple hours. He was slowly relaxing around me, which I appreciated. I understood that I'd given him a huge scare, but right now I needed life to return to normal. He filled me in on the latest family gossip. My cousin Max got busted in the act with his girlfriend, which wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't his younger brother who walked in on him. Apparently they were under a blanket, but it was still embarrassing for the teen couple and poor Marco.

When I'd gotten my fill of kneading bread and decorating cupcakes, I went home and changed into workout clothes. One of my post-coma resolutions was to get into better shape, so I went for a long run through the streets of my neighborhood. Eventually I was completely out of breath and had to sit down on a park bench. I took a pic of my beet red face and posted it on Instagram, since increasing my social media activity was another goal.

Day one of exercising. Not sure I like it.

Shawn commented immediately, which made me smile.

It gets better!

I sat there a few minutes more, hoping he'd text or call to follow up, but he didn't. And that was okay. I had to patiently wait to see how things played out.

I was too pooped to run any further, so I walked back to my apartment building and took a quick shower. Then I gathered up my laundry and went to my laundromat, where I sat listening to songs by people other than Shawn Mendes.