"You're cute," I had said, "can I keep you?" The lull of my voice sat in the air while Shawn looked at me seriously. "Will you keep me?" He cuddled me closer, and cupped my face gently with his large hands. "I want to keep you forever, always have wanted to keep you. I just never thought I could, never thought it would be right for me to be that selfish."
"I guess this is the one time no one is going to yell at you for being selfish."
"Your fans would."
"I love my fans, but you're one too, right? So I tell them I fell in love with one of my fans; my biggest fan."
"Fell-" I choked on my words, " fell in love with me?" I was incredulous. Not that it shocked me, but the words felt so beautiful and foreign. I had been waiting a lifetime to hear that, like every girl wished for. I was one of the lucky ones; my wishes had come true.
"Yes, Athalia, I want you to keep me. You have my heart and always have. I have fallen in love with you."
"And I am in love with you."
We picked out a movie and sat in silence as it played. About half way through I said, "I still remember the first time I fell asleep in your arms."
"On your birthday," Shawn's voice was deeper than usual; he was obviously getting sleepy.
"Yeah. It was - well - I didn't expect to feel so at home in your arms. And every time you held me after that i only felt more at home."
"Then I won't ever let go."
I just snuggled into his shoulder and felt both of us relaxing, drifting off to sleep.
The next day I woke up to the smell of something burning. Worried and alone, I texted Shawn. "Where are you and what's burning?!?"
He texted back a moment later, "In the kitchen and eggs."
All i could think was, Oh no. And I sat up. Noticing a note on the foot table in front of me, I picked it up.
Good morning, Beautiful!
I could feel my cheeks turning red. I took a picture of it and posted it to my snapchat story under the caption: "best way to wake up."
Touched, I walked back to the shelves of books and movies. Taking down the movie "Safe Harbor" I tucked the note inside it and snapped it shut. I strolled back over to the couch and sat down, bringing my legs up and folding them cross-cross-apple-sauce and covering them with a blanket.
Shawn shuffled down the stairs carrying a plate of steaming eggs and some toast. He carried the jar of jam in the other hand. After sharing the meal and many smiles together, he asked me, "What do you wanna do today?"
I thought about it for a moment, "Be with you," I tried to be flirtatious.
"Well I'm going wherever you're going, I'm staying with you until Aaron gets back. Now tell me what else you'd like to do today."
"No, really, I just want to be with you. Just you."
So for the rest of that day, he brought me food and entertained me. We played games and watched movies. He got out the Wii and he and I played Mario Cart and things like that on there. After he beat me it was his turn to be embarrassed, so I crawled over to the Wii machine and put in the disc of Just Dance. I took the microphone and cuddled into the couch. I shoved Shawn up and we picked out songs. This time, I sang and for my enjoyment he danced. He was very awkward and I laughed until I got sick.
Pulling my hair back as he bent over me and I bent over the toilet, he stayed there with me. He helped me clean up my face and handed me a toothbrush.
He made me drink more water and Gatorade after that and about an hour later he made me eat a little. We watched another movie.
When we got bored again, I suggested games, so we turned on some good music and played cards for a while. When we played poker the bet was a massage. I won fair and square by some lucky draw.
So he turned on a station on Spotify called "Deep Focus" With no lyrics, it was soothing. I laid out on the couch and Shawn relaxed every muscle in my body. He was so gentle and it felt so good. I don't remember what happened next exactly because I fell asleep. When I woke up, Shawn was clomping down the stairs with bags of food in his hands.
"I didn't know what you would be in the mood for," he announced, "so I got some Chinese, IHOP, McDonalds, and Max and Erma's. Whadda ya want?"
"Did you get the cinnamon apples from Max and Erma's?" I asked.
"Of course."
"Good, they're my favorite," I smiled cuz I have a real sweet spot for those. All the food sounded okay, but Max and Erma's sounded best because it tasted homemade and that was always easier on your stomach. He also got only lightly seasoned bug mostly plain Chinese noodles, just the way I like them. So noodles and apples and green beans were my dinner. And I kept it down okay.
When we were both full, we were wondering what to do. Shawn noticed some boxes in the corner. Puzzles. Aunt Ellie liked doing puzzles. "Let's do one," he suggested. So we made the edge but the middle was along so long we gave up.
So if anyone remembers my dog the my sister and Julie gave me, Emmalie, then you might wonder why I never spoke of her. Aaron and I had ended up sharing her because I was great at taking care of her, but I wasn't always in the mood. And Aaron was super cute with my baby.
The little cocker spaniel was loyal. But when I went to live with my sister, I decided to leave the dog with my siblings because they loved her a lot. In the end, I missed the heck out of that dog.
There was a knock on the door. Shawn and I looked confused at each other. He helped me up and we walked up to the door. The doorbell rang when we were on our way up. Shawn opened the door and responded.
In the man's hand was a crate. I felt to my knees right away and nearly screamed, "Emmalie!!!" Sticking my fingers through the cage, she licked them. Her tail was wagging furiously and she was panting in excitement. "Did you know anything about this?" I craned my neck to Shawn.
"No, nothing," he shrugged his shoulders. Along the crate from the guy, he asked for a signature and Shawn signed as I let Emmalie out. She jumped into my arms, shaking. Her tongue soaked my face in doggie kisses and I tried to wipe them away.
The guy left and Shawn and I walked back down to the basement where we played around and cuddled with Emmalie until she got tired. Together we snuggled to watch the classic Safe Haven.
The next morning Shawn and I slept late. We went to the store to get stuff for Emmalie and breakfast.
Shawn's POV:
While we were shopping, I got a sudden craving for pretzels. Not the hard pretzels you can just pick up, but soft pretzels like the ones at Auntie Anne's.
I told Athalia, and she looked up a knock off recipe for Aunt Anne's Pretzels and we bought those items as well. When we got home, we fed Emmalie real dog food and did tricks with her for treats. By that time, it was almost lunch.
Athalia slaved around with me in the kitchen, teaching me and learning again somewhat for herself how to bake them. We twisted the dough into the classic shape, and Athalia looked like a professional. My pretzels were very much mine because they looked more like a blob. Her's looked like the real deal.
We waited for them and feasted. Even though mine were ugly, they tasted amazing. She asked for a taste of mine, and I fed it to her and she smirked, "Mine are better."
"What? No way!"
She swallowed and I kissed her. "By the way," I smiled, "good morning, Beautiful."
"It's after 12."
"Oh well, baby."
We spent the day entertaining Emmalie, well, and ourselves.
