The One After [SHAWN MENDES]

Chapter 79

I was in bed talking to Shawn on the phone after his rescheduled Oklahoma City show. The groin strain wasn't as bad as it could have been, but unfortunately the two concerts following Denver had to be moved to open dates in October. He'd explained during our last conversation how hard the logistics of this had been and that it was sheer luck there were days that the arenas had free which also worked with the gaps in his schedule. Unfortunately, not every fan could make the new dates work so there were many empty seats, which literally added insult to injury.

"How's the ol' groin feeling tonight?" I asked.

"It's sore, but it's getting better. I hope I'll be able to jump again before this leg of the tour ends."

"You shouldn't tempt fate. Remember what Miranda said after your MRI. The strain could have been a tear and that would have meant canceling the rest of the shows."

The morning after the Denver show, he'd woken up in extreme pain, so the second day of my mini-vacay was spent at Denver Health while Shawn underwent various tests and exams. He kept apologizing to me for ruining our plans, which was very sweet yet completely unnecessary. I knew better than most people that life could throw an unexpected curveball.

He groaned. "I don't even like thinking about that. Did I tell you I have anti-slip things on the bottom of my shoes now? I'm officially an old man."

"But you're the cutest grandpa ever!" I loved poking fun of him over this nickname.

"I just realized that I don't know when your birthday is or if you are older or younger than me. Not that it matters."

"Younger, but only by a few months."

"Oh right! Your dad told me it was around Halloween."

"Yep. It's in November," I replied, hoping we'd get off this topic quickly.

"You're going to have to give me more than that, Lulu. What day?"

I sighed. "It's the 5th, but you need to know something about me. I don't celebrate my birthday."

"That was another thing your dad mentioned. It's because of your mom, right?"

"She died between Halloween and my birthday and now both things are ruined for me." We'd recently talked about how traumatic the loss was for me, so I hoped he understood why I felt this way.

"I'm so sorry, baby," he said sympathetically.

"Just one of my many quirks."

"When you say you don't celebrate it, what exactly does that mean?"

"I prefer for no one to call attention to it. No cards, presents, flowers, balloons, warm wishes, parties, etcetera," I explained.

"You don't do anything special?"

"I have dinner with my family because I'd never hear the end of it if I didn't, but that's all."

"I'll be home then. Am I supposed to act like it's any other day?" His tone indicated how hard it was to understand this.

"Preferably. If you see me, you can say 'happy birthday' but that's it."

"What do I have to do to score an invite to the family dinner? I want in on it since you're not letting me do anything else."

"You don't want that, believe me. My family is crazy," I warned him, though my real reason for discouraging him was because it felt wrong to purposefully recreate events from the dream.

"I met some of them at the hospital and they were great. If you don't want me there, it's cool. I'm sorry I didn't invite you to my party in August, but it felt too soon."