Travel // Shawn Mendes

twenty-four

Inviting Caleb might have been the worst decision of my life.

Not that he was a total dick or anything, but I don't think third wheeling could have been any more painful.

We decided to go out for salads, since Shelby said the place was amazing. And since I had been eating my own weight these past weeks, I thought a salad would be a good idea.

At first, I didn't truly feel the third wheeling take its full effect. I noticed something for sure when after meeting Caleb, he wanted to sit in the back with Jen, causing me to sit shotgun. But I didn't think too much of it. Plus, this way I would get to know Jen's manager, since we had only had brief conversations before.

When walking inside of the restaurant, I kept a good eye on Caleb, watching him hold the door for Jen but noticing that he didn't for either Shelby or I. We did, however, walk in first, so I didn't hold it against him.

"So, Nora, you came from where?" Caleb asks, trying to start conversation as we wait for our food.

"Paris. I spent around a week there," I respond, taking a sip of my water.

"And you're only staying at London for four days?" His look of confusion tells me that no one informed him on the change of plans.

"Well, that wasn't the original idea. But Jen invited me for the other two foreign stops before we were supposed to meet up in America."

"I told you this, Caleb," Shelby says from beside me, although by the way she said it, it looked like she didn't expect him to have remembered it.

"My bad. I'm not too good at remembering things," he informs me, and Jen nods her head in agreement.

"Oh, yeah. He didn't even remember I was part of The Zone! How do two weeks erase from your mind completely? Two weeks!" Jen shakes her head in disbelief, and I laugh instead of telling her that even I forgot we were going to The Zone.

It was basically a competition for famous people that was broadcasted on TV. Jen was offered the chance to compete, and she thought it would boost her image. As if she needed it, since two girls had stopped us before we even got inside for a picture with my best friend.

I wasn't a part of this, since only the truest of Jen's fans recognized me, and so I instead would be spending my two weeks in California tanning, learning to surf, and hanging out with Jen when she wasn't recording. And since I knew nothing about this show, I didn't mind not being a part of it.

"Alright, we get it, you're smarter than me," Caleb jokingly tells Jen, and I'm sucked out of my thoughts to join the conversation again.

"As if. You're a total genius," Jen points out, looking to me for back up on this statement.

I give her a bewildered shrug in response. Uh, I just met him today, remember?

The salads come our way finally, and I take only a bite before Caleb opens his mouth.

"Please, Jenny. People don't like you just for your looks."

I choked.

No, I mean it. My salad was only half way down my throat before he spoke, and by the end of the sentence it was trying to resurface.

As I begin a coughing fit, my mind starts screaming.

First off, Jenny? Who the HELL calls her Jenny? How well do these two know each other?

Okay, calm down. Jen would tell you if anything had gone on between them.

Would she? Or is that more of something Jenny would do?

After I'm no longer a danger to my health and I can breathe again, I excuse myself, and Shelby points out to the woman's restroom.

As I begin to make my way towards it, I see the back of a familiar figure, and my eyes widen. The figure was wearing black jeans and a hoodie, though his hair wasn't covered, and I could see the slight curls.

Shut the fuck up.

I walk closer and reach out to tap him, more confused than ever. My finger taps his shoulder the moment I call his name.

"Shawn?"

The figure turns around, and I immediately step back. Wow, I was an idiot.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I-uh, I thought you were somebody else," I quickly pace to the bathroom and push the door open, hoping my face wasn't as red as I thought it was.

Seriously? What kind of crackhead are you, Nora?

I was an idiot if I thought I would see Shawn Mendes again. Besides Jen constantly joking about him being a contestant on The Zone, I didn't see him in my near future at all. Kind of disappointing too, though I would never admit it.

As I stared into one of the bathroom's mirrors, fixing my hair before I had to go back to the table, the door pushes open and Jen enters.

"Are you okay?" She asks, and before I even answer Jen speaks again.

"Okay, first off, I'm so sorry Nora. I'm literally the worst best friend in the entire world. I should have told you about Caleb. No, nothing has happened between us, but he's kind of cute, and I don't know," my friend rambles on and pauses, waiting for my response.

After a while, I speak. "I'm not mad. You have your reasons to not have told me yet, and that's fine. But kind of cute?"

Jen's eyes light up in excitement, and she shakes her head.

"Okay, more than that. He's hot as fuck!"

We both laugh and after a moment walk back to the table, where Shelby and Caleb were in a heated discussion.

"What are we talking about?" Jen intrudes while we both sit, and her manager rolls her eyes.

"This boy is an absolute idiot," her fork stabs the salad bowl, and I raise an eyebrow in interest.

"Jenny will be on my side. She knows all about me," he says, giving her a look that I could only pray I had imagined, and for a moment I wonder if Shelby could stab that fork into my eyes next so that I wouldn't have to witness this.

Shelby clearly saw what was happening here too, and she gives me a playful eye roll that I try my best not to laugh at.

For the rest of the lunch, Caleb and Jen do nothing but flirt with each other. I realized that I had been counting the minutes before we would leave and say goodbye to Caleb, and tried my best to stop. It wasn't that I didn't like him. But I was so clueless on where there relationship stood, and I knew that once he left Jen would tell me all the details.

And wow, were there a lot of details.

ok, would u guys rather have a story from me that is:

teen fiction
Or
dystopian
OR
thriller

!!!! AND ALL IN FAVOR FOR SOMETHING THAT HAS TO DO WITH MURDER, SAY YAY. ALL NOT IN FAVOR, PLEASE PLEASE SAY NAY. I NEED EVERY VOTE OUT HERE