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"And?" Aaliyah looks at me curiously.

I shake my head, and she makes a "Sniff"-Sound. "Okay." She looks at Karen. "Mu-um? Do you know what's up with Shawn?"

Her mum looks at her questioning. "Surely he'll come down when he smells the dinner." To my mum, she says: "Please excuse my son, he's momentarily extremely involved in writing new songs. At least that's what I guess."

"So, I suppose we shouldn't call the press and tell them, that Shawn Mendes will probably release some new music?" My mother jokes.

Now, I'm getting red, again. "Mum! Don't say things like that! At the end someone really believes that stuff you're talking." I look apologetically at Aaliyah.

She only smiles. "No problem, Mandy, I have the good feeling that your mother and you are very trustworthy."

I grin. "You sure? – I now surely have enough information for a whole letter just about the way, Shawn Mendes' family is hosting dinner."

Karen laughs. "Yeah, go ahead. That's really interesting. Please make sure, you're not forgetting to mention the blue teacups and the not-anymore-eatable ice-cream in the frizzer."

"I'm gonna describe all the details," I say with a more or less serious face. "But I promise, I won't mention that Shawn is writing lovesongs in his old bedroom."

"What?" A voice is interrupting our joking, and my heart makes a bump.

I whirl around – and there he stands, right in the door, leaning against the wall, the face intransparently. "I –"
I have no idea what to say. The truth is: I didn't expect him to sneak in so casual. Somehow, he's still always a bit 'the great Shawn Mendes' (*a little screaming*), the great singer-songwriter, I admire. At least, he'll always be, even though he doesn't like me. And he definitely doesn't likes me. Any sign of politeness or friendliness he may showed yesterday when he gave Aaliyah his pullover for me is gone now. This little spark, I may have seen then in his eyes? – Today, it's not existable.

"What do you mean, you're gonna describe all the details, but not me writing new songs in my old bedroom?" He looks at me extremely suspiciously.

The temperature in the room is falling around ten degrees. It's as frosty, as someone took the ice-cream outside of the fridge and didn't close it.

Karen and my mum exchange irritated looks, and for a second, everybody looks from me to Shawn and back.

"It was a joke, darling," Karen says finally.

"A joke, huh?" He raises his eyebrows.

"Yeah." I cross my possibly shaking fingers and look back at him. Again a staring-duel.

Aaliyah is the one who saves the situation (and the evening, I guess). "So, guys, if you can now stop flirting. It's getting hot inside here. And I'm gonna throw up, if you don't stop."
It's like she's breaking the ice. Karen laughs and my mum too, and I look just at the wall right behind Shawn.

"We weren't flirting," Shawn says, but not that impulsively, I thought he would do.

I nod supportively. "Yeah, Shawn and I... we know each other only barely."

"Very barely," he says, and for a second, I have the feeling, I am back in the elevator. Breathing is getting hard when he looks at me that way. The same way, he looked at me back then, when I couldn't breath and think anymore.

I take a deep breath of air and then nod. "Very barely."

"Okay, so what isn't can be," Karen says, and my mum adds with a smile: "May I introduce myself to you? I'm Jillian, Mandy's mum. I'm really happy to meet you – I like your music, even though, I may not be the total cliché of a fan. I guess, they are normally between fourteen and thirty." She laughs, and everybody laughs with her.

I look at Shawn.

And there, it is: A little grin that's getting brighter. My mum did what I couldn't do: Making Shawn smile. "Thanks, Jillian. You're absolutely right, my classical fanbase is probably this age. – But you can't be much older."

My gosh, he's speaking with my mum – a forty-seven year old! Okay, she's really good looking and eventually she looks quite young for her age, but yeah, it doesn't need much, and he's saying: "You could be her sister!"

Nice conversation.

"Well, here he is!" Karen says, as the door opens, and a real living snow-man steps in. It's Manuel, Shawn's and Aliayah's father.

I don't know him, but my mum apparently does, cause she smiles at Manuel and says: "Hi Manu. How are you?"

"I'm fine, thanks, Jillian. It's really nice to see you."
He looks at Shawn. "Shawn, I don't know if you'll be able to get to that show on Tuesday. It's damn cold outside, and the snow is getting more and more. They've said in the radio that the streets to Toronto are closed."

Shawn's face darkens, but I am distracted by his father, who's smiling at me, with a quite familiar similarity to Shawn's smile: "And you must be Jillian's daughter. Very nice to meet you."

I smile back. "Nice to meet you too, Sir."

He laughs loudly. "Manu! Only Manu, please. If you're a business partner, then Manuel, but as long as you have nothing to sell, I am just Manu."

"Nice to meet you, Manu," I reply his smile.

"So," he looks at Karen. "I'm sorry that I couldn't help you darling. The streets got worse and worse and so did the traffic. I am glad I got home for dinner in time."

"Dinner! That's our keyword," Aaliyah smiles shiny, and shows us all with a bright gesture the way to the dining room.

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