Travel // Shawn Mendes

nineteen

"Thirteen days."

"Why'd you do it?"

"I don't know, I was in first grade! Imagine how bad it must be for people to hear about you being suspended for two weeks in first grade."

I was laughing loudly now, and it seemed that every time a smile was on my face, Aidan's grin would only widen.

It was about midnight, and we had left the tower- Amazing, by the way, and totally worth the line- then going back to our bench and sitting down, filling the air with humorous conversation.

I've got to admit, I did not expect my time with Aidan to be this good. I was waiting for constant and disappointing flirting, but the moment he tried and I laughed at the attempt, he had quit the whole act and began to tell stories that he seemed to know would get me to smile. Despite me telling him that I was fine when I first saw him here, he was still trying to get me to laugh, as if he knew I wasn't all too happy.

"Not to bash your artistic streak or anything, but that wasn't even an original move. The whole lizard-in-a-glass thing happened in Matilda." I say, before wishing I had taken it back. What if he hadn't seen Matilda? He would have no idea what I was talking about.

Instead, though, he laughed, flashing his perfectly aligned teeth at me momentarily before speaking again.

"That's where I got it from. Opal had brought her pet lizard to school, and I just wanted to make people laugh when I did it. Plus, Mrs.Salmony was a witch."

"Harsh." I joke, and he shakes his head, as if I didn't have a clue what he meant.

"No, I mean a literal witch. It's rumored she has a voodoo doll of me, and if that doesn't explain the sharp pains I get in my leg every once in a while, I don't know what will." His voice lowers, as if he was sharing a secret and didn't want to get caught by the teacher herself, but the smile was still on his face, and I grinned again.

"But you must have taken credit in it. A suspension could really give you the kind of reputation that first grade girls love."

"Oh, yeah, I lived for it. If any girl was looking for a bad boy, she would look no further after seeing me. But applying to colleges was pretty interesting when your permanent record shows that you were suspended at age seven."

This information shocked me a bit. "You're going to college?"

"Well, yeah. I can't rely on Lolah's money to pay my bills. Although she'd probably pay for the first few months, then yell at me to get my fat ass up and at least try to be the better twin." He smirks while saying this, and I adjust my position on the bench we were sitting on, noticing the pressure marks on my leg as I do.

Aidan saw it the same time as me, and suggested sitting on the ground. The area barely had any people near us, so I agreed, knowing my chances of getting trampled would be slightly smaller than average.

"I've heard and know so much about Lolah from you, and I haven't even met her." I confess without even thinking about what I was saying, and Aidan gives me a sly grin.

"Well, that'll have to change. I need the girl in my life to have good ties with my family, you know?"

I laugh again, shaking my head in disbelief. "Oo, that was smooth. I've heard better, but that was good too."

That made his smile stretch a bit, which I felt strangely proud for causing.

"I had to try one more time, sorry. Just want to get to second base before Shawn is up to bat." He joked with me, and I rolled my eyes at him.

Shawn. I hadn't even thought of him since the moment Aidan and I entered the Eiffel Tower, which was a while ago. It was more clear than ever that the guy had ditched me, and that stung just a bit more than I thought it would have. Aidan, however, knew nothing of Shawn's arrival, - or lack of- and I didn't want to dampen the mood we were currently both in by bringing it up. He didn't want to be alone, and I clearly needed some company, so I guess it all worked out.

Plus, it was insane that I had seen him here. My luck overseas was next level, and I could only imagine what my night would be like if Aidan hadn't came up and spoken to me.

While in my thoughts, I realized that I was just staring at Aidan, completely silent, and he seemed to be loving it, a smirk appearing on his face when I snapped out of it.

"Shut up. I was thinking."

"Would I love the hear those thoughts, or should we keep it for some place more private?" He said suggestively, but I could tell that the only reason this left his mouth was to mess with me, and not actually because he was trying.

"Oh my God, Aidan, you are a fuckboy." I admit my thoughts about him, and instead of taking it personally and getting offended, he only howls with laughter, as if my jokes couldn't get any funnier. This only causes my face to heat, and I push myself up from the ground, wiping my pants off for a split second before walking away, and hearing his quick footsteps following right after.

"Noraaa." He dragged my name out as he called for me, like a little kid who hadn't gotten what he wanted and was upset.

Before I can turn, two hands are engulfing me in a hug from behind, and I don't need to take a second to think about who it was.

"Get off." I say, and even though I tried to make my voice sound serious, there was obvious amusement laced in my words, as if you could tell I was smiling just by hearing me, which only tightened Aidan's grip.

"Afraid you'll catch cooties?" He asks, and while still in his arms I swiftly turn to face him, taking in the fact he was holding back a smile.

"Are fuckboy cooties a thing?"

"Oh, definitely. You want them?" He seemed to know where he was going with this, so to throw him off, I said yes.

"Oh, of course. It's been my dream." The sarcasm dripped from my voice, but the smile never left my face, even when remembering how close our faces were.

"Well, I have good news, and even better news. Good news is that I'll give it to you for free. Better news is that it travels like mono, so I guess we'll have to do what we have to do."

Okay, smooth. I didn't see that coming, and if there was enough space between us, I would clap for him. However before I could retort something back, and debate on pulling away from him in case he thought second base was an option, we're interrupted by a close voice, that neither of us realized had came by until we heard them.

"So my brother ditches me to the paparazzi for hours, just to make out with a French girl?"

We both push apart from each other, like we were caught in a serious crime, and I turn to the owner of the voice.

"No- we weren't- I mean-" I start, stuttering for absolutely no reason.

"Oh, not a French girl?" She looks surprised, and makes eye contact with Aidan.

The girl extends her hand towards me in greeting, and when I grab onto it, she introduces herself, even though I knew exactly who she was.

"I'm Lolah."

"Nice to meet you." I told her, but she didn't say it back, probably because she thought that my tongue was down her brother's throats just a second ago.

"Glad to see Aidan has found a friend." She starts, staring at him as she says it almost in a warning, before looking back at me with a sad smile.

"Have to warn you though, Aidan is a total fuckboy."

wait, is this actually an update for travel? what? someone call 911!

how are we all no I'm not dead but school is making me want to be, rlly sorry for not updating but I gotta keep the honors roll grind up! <3