Admit It

24; good for you

Shawn tossed the microphone remote toward Lila and whispered, "Thanks again," as he and Camila walked out. Lila mouthed back, "No problem," and Shawn silently closed the door behind them, running the two of them out the door.

It was the last day of class before winter break and almost all clubs were let out of school early, except for drama club. Drama was going to have a performance that coming Sunday evening, so they were holding all of the drama students up in that crowded school theatre. Except them.

They walked quietly through the quiet hallways until they passed the second door to the theatre, when they started sprinting down the hallway and through the wooden doors to the parking lot. Shawn breathed heavily as they broke through the doors, laughing at the exhilaration and smiling at the sound of her laugh in harmony with his. She tried to catch her breath as she leaned against his side, but just to make it harder for her, he pulled her into him and kissed her hard.

"Get off me, you psychopath!" she laughed, pushing him off of her while he started laughing harder.

"You're the one who decided to sneak out of drama club today!"

"Shut the hell up, Shawn Mendes."

He smirked, pulling her into his body by her arm. "Make me."

The beep of the old white car unlocking sounded behind them as Camila reached behind them and pulled the back door wide open. He stumbled through the snow from her light push, raising an eyebrow at her before he realized what she was thinking, and allowed her to push them all the way in the backseat and close the door. Giggling, she kissed him softly, holding herself up with her hands on his shoulders, only once or twice and as light as snowflakes on his lips.

"You know, I thought that was going to be a lot more dramatic than it ended up being," he said, and she shrugged.

"You shut up very quickly around me, Shawn," she giggled. He opened his mouth to protest, but she was entirely right. Sometimes he felt like he didn't need to do much more than stare at her to hold entire silent conversations in their eyes.

"Maybe you're right," he whispered, touching her face and smiling. "But if this was a book, I think it'd be very anticlimactic. So, may I?"

She whispered back, "Forever and always," and let his lips promise her things that they'd never say out loud.

✧✦✧

"When are you coming?" Camila asked from the 3rd floor of the outdoor stairwell in her apartment building, looking out at the glowing city buildings and blinking traffic lights in the nighttime skyline. The city looked just a little too surreal at nighttime, and felt a little too surreal at daytime.

"I should be there in 2 minutes. Aaliyah, say hi to Camila," Shawn said from his car, turning the corner onto the street that led directly to her building. He held the phone out behind him and Aaliyah excitedly said hello, practically jumping out of her seat. "Camila says hi. We'll be at her apartment in just a bit."

"I know!" Aaliyah said. It was her 13th birthday that winter day.

"I'll see you in a second, sweetheart," Shawn said, taking back his phone. "I love you."

Heart stopping every time as if it was the first, she smiled uncontrollably and whispered, "I love you too. See you in a sec."

He hung up the phone, turned into the parking lot, and tuned out his little sister as she made fun of her brother for falling for that girl as he did.

Camila ran down from the third floor with the badly wrapped gift in her hand as soon as she saw the headlights light up the now-ice that covered the parking lot. Aaliyah opened the car door before he even turned off the engine and went to wave at Camila, who tried her best not to trip down the ice and hit Aaliyah in the face with the gift. They were hardcover, not paperback, a very deadly weapon.