A Mendes Christmas // Shawn Mendes

part five

december 17th 

When I woke up, the only sound that I could hear was the outwards drill of the construction workers out in the street below my apartment. Even though it was snowing and nearly Christmas, they always found a way to work in the busiest of times.

I rolled over and threw a pillow over my head to stop the sound of drilling in my ears and tried to fall back to sleep.

It was near impossible for me to sleep after being woken up, so I moved over to the couch where I sat for a few moments and stared outside at the snow falling on my window sill. Sometimes I wish I had a balcony so that I could climb outside and experience the snow, but I knew that was too expensive for my liking.

There was a soft knock on my door, which happened to be a regular occurrence this past week.

I climbed to my feet and opened the door to Shawn, who was as chirpy as always.

He had a smug smile on his face.

"Hi!" he smiled.

"Hello?" I half asked, realizing that the door of the elevator was open and his two security guards were standing between the open doors.

I looked perplexed past his shoulder as he stood in the way of my view.

"Close your eyes for me," he softly demanded, and led me over to the couch beside the window in my apartment.

"What are you doing?" I asked cautiously.

"Close your eyes!" he yelled, pointing at me. I closed my eyes as I could hear him leave the apartment, but there was no door shutting sound.

For a few seconds, there was silence. It was until I heard the whispers of his security guards that I knew something was up.

"Keep them closed Chloe!" he laughed, but I could hear he was out of breath.

I stood with my eyes closed for what felt like forever looking like an idiot.

I heard two sets of footsteps leave the room, which I presumed was his security guards. They then loudly closed the door behind themselves.

"Open!" he said.

I opened my eyes, at first not knowing what I was looking at. I was facing the door of my apartment when he pulled me around to be face to face with an eight foot tall, dark green Christmas tree that covered most of my window.

"Oh my god!" I exclaimed. I reached out to touch the branches expecting them to be fake, but only to be surprised when they felt real.

"How much did this cost you?" I gasped, running to my wallet. I knew I couldn't pay him back but it gave the illusion that I was in fact searching for money.

"Don't worry about it love, seriously. This is my gift to you."

"You didn't have to... I can only imagine how much this cost you!"

"It seriously doesn't matter. I just wanted to see you happy. I know how little that small tree did for your Christmas spirit. Hopefully this one will make you feel a little more at home," he grinned. I left my spot in the kitchen to quickly walk over to him, where I left a quick peck on his lips. He was truly beautiful in so many ways.

"Now, you just have to decorate it," he laughed.

I cuddled into his chest as he ran his hands down my arms. It gave me some sort of homely feel. I didn't feel homesick like I typically did.

His hand raced down to link with mine. I pushed off his chest and looked into his eyes, smiling at the man before me.

"Oh. Lucky for you, I just happened to have Christmas decorations in my apartment," he smiled. He let go of my hand to quickly go back to his apartment. He returned moments later with a cardboard box filled with fairy lights and small baubles.

I connected my phone to the speaker and played the first Christmas playlist I could find on Spotify.

We momentarily would glimpse at each other for a few seconds before both of us looked away blushing.

We spent the rest of the morning giggling together and decorating my newly found Christmas tree as we danced along to the Christmas carols. Every time he opened his mouth to sing along to the song, his voice gave me goosebumps.

**********

I woke up when it was dark.

I shuffled in Shawn's lap on the couch, looking down to find I was tangled in Christmas lights. When I looked up towards him, I noticed he too was asleep. His mouth was slightly open as he let out soft breaths.

His arm was draped over my stomach as I was lying in his lap, and when I moved the slightest his grip would tighten in his sleep.

I slowly got up, slightly shaking Shawn so that he would softly wake up too. I unwrapped the lights from my torso and tossed them over the bottom of the tree where we had stopped earlier. I turned them on at the power point, only to see them turn into a light gold set of lights, as if they were out of a movie.

Shawn yawned behind me and I turned to find him checking his watch.

"You don't have to go you know..." I whined, running my hands through his hair.

He gave me a look as if he felt bad for staying.

"Shawn seriously, the apartment gets cold at night. I could use a cuddle buddy," I giggled.

He laughed back and got up from the couch. He stretched out his torso before wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Are you sure you're okay with me staying? I mean if you want to kick me out it's totally fine. It's not like I live far away," he challenged.

"Shawn, it's fine honestly. It's not like you're going to murder me in my sleep," I laughed. When he didn't laugh, we both made eye contact and ended up laughing even more.

I yawned into my hand and disconnected my phone from the speaker. We both hadn't really eaten much all day, but I was content with going back to sleep at the moment.

He followed me to my bed, and as we both got under the covers I suddenly felt a sense of warmness. The apartment was no longer cold. It was almost as if Shawn had warmed up the whole room when he walked in.

I rested my head on his chest and cuddled into the duvet. His hand rested around my body as we lay there in silence. His left hand traced shapes on my arm as I fell in and out of sleep.

As much as I wanted to stay awake, I knew that as soon as I got warm I would be out like a light.

"Goodnight Shawn, thank you so much for everything," I whispered, softly kissing his lips for a few moments.

His hand reached for the back of my neck and softly pulled me in closer, deepening the kiss.

"You're welcome, goodnight Chloe," he whispered back, his breath feeling warm on my cheek. His lips softly kissed my cheek before I went back to laying on his chest.

I don't remember much after that, but I fell asleep to the feeling of him softly running his hands through my hair as both of our chests fell and rose in unison.