Crookedly in Love {a Shawn Mendes Fan Fiction}

11. Done Talking

The tour day had arrived. It was starting, and the buses were leaving in an hour. I hastily double-checked if I had everything before departing to the arranged pick up time. I couldn't believe this. This was like a scene out of a movie—getting to go on tour and meeting so many different people.

And all I had to do was write songs with Shawn.

Oh boy, Shawn. As suspected, the next time I heard from him was when he told me what time and the place we were leaving. It sucked because in any other situation, he and I would've been on the phone every day talking about how excited we were.

I walked out the door and Shawn's mom had offered to pick me up before we went to the bus loading station.

Shawn was sitting in the front seat on his phone. I took in a deep breath, unsure how to act around him. Should I ask him to talk before the tour buses left so we could clear the air? Should we address this issue?

I opened the door and said, "Hey guys."

Shawn lifted his head and said, "Hey kid."

And that was it. Those were the two words that he said, and he turned back to his phone.

We got to the tour buses, and I could recognize The Vamps right away. They were chatting with one another, all of them: Brad, Connor, James and Tristan.

Andrew was there to greet us and introduce us to everyone.

We honestly didn't have a spare moment. We said hi to Fifth Harmony—they were all super nice and ecstatic to meet us.

"Your songs are awesome," Camilla piped up, smiling widely. She was a pretty, petite girl and I could see Shawn already perk up.

He stayed behind to talk to the girls for a bit longer, but I could see the Vamps looking over to see who was new. I smiled towards them, and they wandered over.

"Hey, I'm Brad," a curly-haired boy said with sparkling, mischievous eyes.

"Hi," I said, grinning. "I'm Julia."

"Tristan!"

"James!"

"Connor!"

We all shook hands after the introductions, and I liked them already. They just seemed fun and easygoing.

"So you're the songwriter?" Connor wondered.

"Yeah, Shawn and I write songs together, so his label asked for me to come along to write his album on the tour."

"And can you sing?" Tristan wondered.

I shrugged.

"Oh, she can sing," Brad said, laughing. "It's always the modest ones that have the pipes."

I laughed out loud.

"Maybe we can all try writing a song together on tour then?" James asked, and I nodded vigorously.

"Yeah, oh my God, I would love that," I continued on. "I brought my guitar so –"

"And you play guitar? God, you should just be our songwriter too," Tristan joked.

At this moment, I feel like I would've preferred that because it would have been way less awkward.

"What kind of guitar you got?" Brad wondered.

"Uh, a Norman," I said, hesitantly. "It's a Canadian brand, I don't think you really know it."

"Very native," he replied, grinning cheekily. I liked him. I knew that instantly—in what capacity, I had no clue. But he seemed like my type, and he would be really fun to get to know.

"Well, I had to show my roots somehow," I teased back. He chuckled.

All of a sudden I felt hands on my shoulders. I looked up to see Shawn behind me, smiling at the new band.

"Hey guys, how's it going?" Shawn asked. "I'm Shawn."

Further introductions ensued. I carefully looked over at Shawn, who was not making eye contact with me.

"So, I saw the dating rumours," Tristan said. "Man, you're already getting press all over you."

Shawn chuckled.

"Any truth?" Brad wondered. I looked over at him.

"Well – "

"No," I said, with certainty. We're not dating because we're barely friends.

"No?" Shawn asked, and my head snapped towards him as quickly as it could. What is he doing?

He just nudged me, winking, and walked away.

I felt mildly embarrassed because I don't know what he was trying to prove with that weird statement. I wanted to go follow him and talk to him, but he seemed preoccupied with Fifth Harmony.

I couldn't just pull him away. I didn't know what he was up to, but I had a weird feeling about all of this.

The Vamps rolled over the awkward moment, but I was still thinking about it by the time we loaded the buses. We would be at our hotel by nightfall, so we divvied the Vamps, Shawn, and I into one bus and Austin Mahone with Fifth Harmony in the other one.

I walked up the steps, and I caught Shawn's arm. He looked at me and gave a small smile.

"Shawn, can we talk?"

"Not now," he said, shrugging me off.

What the hell is he trying to do? He was shutting me out but making weird and questionable comments to others about us. What the hell was going on through his mind?

I just let him go, and we rode the bus in silence for a little while. I decided to go over and talk to Brad a little more.

"So, are, like, Canadian accents different than American?" he asked.

"I guess they're a bit milder," I answered.

"Can you do a good British accent?"

I laughed. "All I can do is, 'I'm Hermione Granger'."

He widened his eyes. "That's hilarious! You're a Harry Potter fan, eh?"

"Big time," I said.

"You'd be Hermione, huh?"

He nudged me softly, and I could feel my stomach churn. He made me excited, and I don't know why. But, he was very endearing, very friendly. I wanted to know him.

"Jules, you wanted to talk?" Shawn came over conveniently.

I looked up at him, and then back at Brad. I wanted to continue my conversation with Brad, but I didn't know when Shawn would give me another time to talk. So I just took this opportunity.

"Yeah, I did. I'll be back," I said to Brad.

We walked over to the back section and closed the curtains of the tour bus.

"Shawn, can we just clear the air?"

He shrugged. "There's nothing to clear."

"What? Do you remember our last conversation?"

"Yeah, but why keep thinking about it?"

"Because it was unsettled?"

"Was it?"

He was frustrating me to no end.

"What the hell is your problem?" I whispered, so that no one could hear us having an argument already.

"Nothing."

"Shawn, you've been giving me a cold shoulder ever since I've seen you. But then you intervene when I'm talking to other people and make it seem like we're dating. What is that about? I don't understand!"

"I'm not acting any differently than I would!"

"Yes you are!"

"Are you done talking about this?"

I shook my head furiously. "No, I'm not –"

"Good."

And he walked off, leaving me more confused than ever.