Halos & Duets (A Shawn Mendes Fan Fiction)

Chapter 15- The Gym

Everything I just said to Shawn sounded so rude and insensitive. But it wasn't supposed to come out like that.

As I walked, I couldn't help but ask myself why he reacted the way he did. He was so hurt. I don't blame him for being mad. But why was he so hurt?

This made me think about when I was little, and I was at my grandpa's house. We were sitting on the porch, my grandpa in a rocking chair, me on one of the steps painting a picture. I don't quite remember what I was painting, but it had something to do with nature. Shawn and I were both 7 at the time and he wasn't talking to me because of an argument we got into the day before. Shawn had given me his favorite toy for my birthday. It was a Batman action figure. I asked him why he was giving me his favorite toy. He said he was giving it to me because it was special and that I needed to take very good care of it. He also said he would see it when he came over to my house anyways. Well the next day, I lost it and Shawn got upset. He said he never wanted to speak to me again, and hearing that from your best friend at 7 years old was heart wrenching. So I talked to my grandpa about it. I asked him why Shawn reacted the way he did. I didn't understand why he was so upset if he had given the toy to me. The way I saw it was the toy was mine, so why did Shawn care if I lost it. Being the old wise person he is, my grandpa told me, "If you don't understand why people do things, put yourself in their shoes. Then you'll understand."

I put myself in Shawn's shoes. What if Shawn told me that we shouldn't sing together in public anymore? I imagined it for a second. Shawn saying to me exactly what I said to him.

I realized if I were him, I would've started crying. I also realized that I didn't really get to explain myself. He just thinks that I don't wanna sing in public with him anymore. He probably thinks I'm embarrassed of him.

Before I knew it, I was outside of Shawn's hotel room, hesitating to knock on the door. I kept moving my hand up to knock, but I was nervous.

"Marie, it's easy. Just put your fist to the door", I heard a sarcastic voice say from
behind me.

I turned around. Taylor. I wasn't in the mood to respond with a comeback, so I just sighed and gave him a half meaningful smile.

"What's wrong?" he asked stepping closer to me.

"Umm... Nothing, I-" I stuttered. "I just need to fix something between Shawn and I."

I could tell that Taylor didn't really know what to say.

His hand flew to the back of his neck. "Oh, well if you need something, you know where to find me."

"Thanks", I said slightly smiling.

He nodded and went towards his room.

I turned back towards Shawn's door. I pondered on whether I should talk to him now, or give him some time alone first. But I decided it was now or never.

I raised my fist up to knock, but before I could, the door flew open to reveal a smiling Matt.

"Oh hey, Marie. I was just going to get some lunch, wanna come with?" he asked.

"Um, no thanks. I need to talk to Shawn", I told him.

"Oh, where is he?" he asked.

"I thought he was in the room."

"Nope", he replied.

"Oh", was all I said.

Where could he be? After Matt left, I checked the other 2 rooms and he wasn't in either.

I pulled out my phone.

To: Shawn
Where are you?

After a few seconds, my phone showed me he had read my message, but he didn't respond.

I though for a second. He's probably somewhere thinking. Where does he go to think?

I walked around the hotel in search of him. I first walked to the food places. Maybe he was hungry? He wasn't there. I walked to the pool. He wasn't there. After about 10 minutes of walking around the hotel, I went back up to the rooms just to check. He wasn't there.

"Where the hell could he be?" I asked myself. I thought a little bit harder. "Where does Shawn go to think?"

Then it hit me.

"The gym!"

Of course! How could I not think of that before?!

I took the elevator back down to the first floor and ran to the gym. I opened the double doors in search of Shawn. I looked around at everyone, but I didn't see Shawn. I walked across the small but crowded gym, bumping into sweaty people and almost tripping over some of the equipment.

I walked to the very back, to where the punching bags were and I saw him. His bear back was facing towards me.

With every punch and every swing, his arms flexed. His perfect, smooth skin was glistening in sweat. His black basketball shorts that fit him perfectly at the waist fell right at his knees. He stopped for a second and his hands flew to the back of his neck, making his back muscled contract. Scratching the back of his head, he slowly turned around and was soon facing me, but hadn't noticed I was there. His beautiful 8 pack abs were exposed, the light of the gym hitting them perfectly, making my knees go week. He bent down, grabbed his water bottle, and unscrewed the top. I stood there and watched him in deep concentration, as his eyes shut closed while he drank almost the whole bottle of water. When he put the top back on the bottle, that's when he noticed me.

Our eyes locked. I stared intensely into his gorgeous brown eyes, that no longer contained the beautiful sparkle they once had. For a moment, a very brief moment, I could've sworn I saw happiness wash over his face at the sight of me, only to be replaced by hurt and anger once again. After a few seconds, he broke the intense gaze by looking down and grabbing his towel.

I slowly made my way over to him. "Shawn", I said trying to get him to look up at me, but it came out as more of a soft plea.

He didn't look up, he just started putting stuff in his duffel bag.

"Shawn", I said a little louder.

He dropped his water bottle into the bag and looked up at me. "What?" he asked, trying not to lose his temper.

"I just wanna talk", I said softly.

"Talk about what? There's nothing left for you to say!" he paused for a second, then continued. "I love singing, it's what I want to do for the rest of my life, and I love you! Even though I'm only 15, I already know that I want to be with you for the rest of my life. And singing with you is the best feeling in the world to me. There's nothing that I'd rather do, and I want to share it with everyone. I want our fans to hear us! And I thought you felt the same way. I thought that you wanted us to be more than a vine account, that's what you told me. But you don't even want that. You don't want people to hear us together at all, and that freaking hurts! It might not seem like a big deal to you, but it is to me! You made me think, you made me believe that was what you wanted, for us to be a duo. But you're too damn caught up in what everybody else thinks to give a damn about how I feel! Look, I understand that hate can get to you, but you can't let it run your life. If you believe everything people say to you or about you, especially the bad stuff, it's gonna hurt you. And it could possibly end up hurting other people to. Marie, I love you. And I would never do anything to purposely hurt you, but at times like this, sometimes we need somebody to set our asses straight. So I hope you take everything I just said into consideration." And with those words said, he left with his duffel bag.

I sat there on the bench, not even caring that people were staring at me because of Shawn's loud speech.

His words did sting a little, but I know I would've said the same to him. I will definitely take everything he said into consideration and make this right between us. I have to.

I abruptly stood up and made my way towards the double doors of the small but crowded gym.