Travel // Shawn Mendes

thirty-four

My time in New York flew by quickly, and I was a little more than unhappy to be leaving Shawn. The next time we would see each other was in two weeks. In those weeks, Jen and I hit a straight line of states, visiting places like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and my hometown in Wisconsin (and for the record, nobody there recognized me, so I guess I truly had changed from my Dora days).

While I Facetimed Shawn most nights, it wasn't the same as seeing him in person. Which is why when we were through with Arkansas and onto Tennessee, I was beyond thrilled. I would be seeing Shawn the next day, which was more exciting than I cared to admit.

And here I am, in my room, getting dressed for Shawn to come over.

Okay, technically, it's not my room. It's Jen's aunt's guest room (yes, Jen is a Tennessee girl at heart. But remind her of it and she'll probably flick you off).

Jen's aunt, Bailey, was so excited to see Jen you'd think it was the last thing on her bucket list. They hadn't seen each other since our freshman year, though it wasn't Jen's fault. Bailey was from her dad's side of the family, and after Jen's parents got divorced and her dad packed his bags to go get married in California and have two sons, Jen's mom never took her back down to Tennessee. Not like she has a reason to, either, since she's an only child and her parents passed away. Traveling down to Tennessee just to see your ex-husband's family was just a little out of Jen's mom's comfort zone, and Jen completely understood.

Still, that didn't mean Jen wasn't absolutely ecstatic to see her aunts, uncles, and cousins. The only thing that bothered Jen was that these people were extremely country. As in, almost all her uncles owned a farm, and they rode horses on the daily.

Speaking of, this was exactly how I got "ride a horse" off of my wishlist. I came down during spring break to visit with Jen's family my freshman year, and had the chance to ride Indigo. A very exhilarating time.

"Nora! Look what I have!" Jen hollers from downstairs, and I open the door to peer down, my jaw dropping at the sight.

"No," I tell her, but Jen waves the cowgirl boots frantically, practically jumping up and down.

"Please! I have a pair too. And Aunt Bailey said they were all yours! Oh my gosh, Nora, please," she gets all the begging out now, knowing how much it would take me to wear those.

"I'm already dressed in a flannel and jeans, Jen," I point out.

"And? So am I! Please! You did this last time you came here!"

"Yeah, and I also wore neon sketchers last time I came here."

"Nora, seriously. You only live once! It's not going to kill you to wear boots!" Jen pleads, and I know that there was no way she was going to give this up. Plus, I'm sure I could at least try to rock cowgirl boots.

"Fine," I mumble, walking down the stairs to grab them, and Jen pulls me in a hug.

"You're the best friend ever, you know that?" She says this every time I bend to her will.

"I know."

As I put on the boots, Jen blows a kiss and walks out to the back, where her family was currently barbecuing. Bailey's backyard was bigger than you would think, with a large patio that everyone sat at, a fireplace, and a whole chunk of land that had been concreted, made for the purpose of line dancing.