Patience ➳ Shawn Mendes

Chapter 23

Shawn's POV

The whole car ride, I could clearly see that Charlotte was nervous and to be honest, I was too. 

This would be the first date in a long time for me and according to her mother, this would be the first ever date for her and I wanted to make it memorable for her. 

At first I wanted to go all out and take her to this fancy restaurant and go to a concert that was sold out quite quickly but being me, I had contacts so if I wanted I could get tickets and backstage passes. 

But I knew that that would not impress Charlotte at all. I knew that she was a simple girl and if our trip to Orlando was any indication, Charlotte was very uncomfortable in a fancy restaurant. She never knew what to do and would actually look at the prices only to get the cheapest- as long as it wasn't a salad. 

So instead of a fancy restaurant, I chose to take her to a simple diner where we could have a burger and fries with a milkshake. It was a typical American dish and even though we were in Canada, I actually liked it as well- as long as there weren't any tomatoes involved. The diner I would take her to knew that I hated tomatoes so they never put them on my plate. 

Charlotte's family told me that she had never had the dish before. Sure, she has had a burger with fries but not like they made it here in Canada but they also made it the same in America. 

I had been so nervous for this date that I started having cold feet when it came closer. I was worrying that it was a mistake to do this. 

My career was only starting up and soon I would be spending a lot of time out of country and investing a lot of time in my career. This was my dream, to become a famous singer and go around the world to spread my voice and my music. Charlotte knew this and has been supporting me for the past couple of months that I have known her but it would mean that I could not invest myself fully into this relationship like I knew she deserved. 

Yet I knew and was sure that I could give her what she deserved and more. I knew that I could give her what she deserved and could give her support in this time where she needed it most. I could stand by her side as she'd stand by mine. 

I could see this working out. 

Her phone kept alerting her of messages and from the brief looks of it, she's texting with Ian. 

"I'm so sorry." She apologized after putting her phone away. "Ian is keeping me posted about the carnival. He didn't know we were on a date but he told us to have fun, he won't text us anymore unless something is really wrong." 

"Okay." I said, parking in front of the diner. "Are you ready?" 

"Yes." She said with a big smile. "Could we just sit here for a while, I just want to make some things clear though." 

"Okay." 

"What are we doing?" She asked, looking at me. "Because I love you and I want to be with you, I really do, I'd love nothing more than to be able to just walk up to you, kiss you and tell you I love you. But we have to be realistic, your career is just starting up and I'm still working on myself. My problems are the least of my worries now but I don't want to be in the way of your career here. I can see how much you love doing what you do and I don't want to hold you back from that." 

"You won't." I assured her. "Charlotte, I love you with all my heart and I really want to be with you. I know we can make this work between us if we work for it. I'm willing to, what about you?" 

"Of course I'm willing to work on us." She told me. 

"Then it's settled. We just follow our feelings and be together." I said. "Are you ready to go and have our date now?" 

"Yes." Her smile broadend. 

I got out of the car and walked to her side where she was already getting out. I felt a little bumped because I really wanted to open her door and act all gentlemanly but she got ahead of me. 

I felt a soft hand on my cheek. "Don't worry, I'll let you open the door for me next time." 

"Was I that obvious?" I asked her as we walked to the diner. Like she said, she let me open the door for her. "C'mon. I already ordered for us." 

"Wh- How?" 

I winked. "What can I say? I'm Shawn Mendes? Ha! No, I'm just known here and I am friends with the family that owns this place and just called ahead for us. A little birdy told me that you always have wanted to get a burger with fries and a strawberry milkshake." 

"What? We're eating that!" She asked, the excitement that could easily be heard in her voice was also clear in her eyes. 

"Yes, I love it myself so I thought I could do it for our first date. Is it to your liking?" I asked, being polite but I was sure she liked it. Nadia assured me she would be. 

"Very much so." Charlotte agreed. "This place is so cozy, I can't believe I haven't been here yet." 

"If you love it so much, I'll be sure to bring you here more often." I told her. 

"Oh, you don't have to do that." 

"I don't have to but I want to." 

She put her hand over mine and it was like those movie moments where you just drown in each others eyes. I could always do that with her. Her eyes were so deep, they held so many secrets, so many thoughts. They were very open to me now while before, I'd actually have to search and look deep for what she was thinking about and what she was feeling. 

I prided myself on being someone she feels comfortable enough with to do that. 

That evening was one I'd never forget. It was the best date I'd ever been on. We talked freely with each other and truly enjoyed each other's presence. We stayed at the diner for about an hour before we went to the carnival and spent our night there. I had won a couple of bears for her, one of them looking like Leo. 

Yet again I tried to convince her to sing with me on a video and this time she said she'd think about it instead of immediately dismissing it. 

I was making progress. 

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There are no pictures nor translations now. I don't think you'll see any translations passing any time soon.