The Free Pass

Chapter 10

Mallory

Both of my classes felt especially long. That was probably because I was physically and emotionally exhausted. I willed myself to stay awake during a particularly dry history lecture. I wondered if my professor knew that he could sell recordings of his voice as sleep aids.

When both classes were done, I drove to a deli and bought a roast beef sandwich and some kettle chips. My whole life I'd enjoyed food as much as the next guy. These days, food was my life. I drove home eager to eat and crawl into bed for a nap.

I walked in the apartment and my roommate, Kris, gave me a funny look from her seat on our reclining chair.

"There's someone in your room. He said he'd wait there for you," she said in an excited but hushed voice.

"Oh. Okay," I said as I set my dinner on the counter. I was bummed I couldn't dig into my sandwich.

And the heck was going on? Who was in my room? My dad?

"Who is it?" I asked, preferring not to be surprised.

"I'm not telling, but you have some explaining to do," she said, wagging a finger at me.

I was pretty sure who it was after that statement.

I went to my room and opened the door. Shawn was sitting on the edge of my bed. He gave me a big smile. It was the kind of smile that made my heart race.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. "Did you miss your flight?"

He stood up and walked over to me. He then bent down and kissed me. "I rescheduled it."

"Why?" I asked, thoroughly confused, but also incredibly happy that he was still here.

"I had one of those things. What's it called? An epiphany!"

"You had an epiphany?"

"Yeah. And I had to see you. Can we go back to my hotel to talk? We can eat dinner there."

He seemed happy enough, so I wasn't too worried about what he wanted to talk about. It was very strange that he'd changed his plans.

"Um, yes, of course. When do you fly back to Toronto?"

"Sunday."

Today was Friday. He was really extending his stay. What had come over him?

"Should I pack a bag?" I asked. I didn't want to be presumptuous, but I knew I'd probably stay with him.

"That would be a good idea, hun. I want us to spend the whole weekend together."

None of this made any sense to me, but I didn't want to say much with my roommate just outside the door. I certainly wasn't going to mention the baby.

I packed a small bag and made sure to grab my prenatal vitamins that I kept hidden in a drawer.

As we walked through the living room, we stopped to talk to Kris, because she'd kill me later if I hadn't.

"This is Shawn," I said. "Shawn, this is my roommate, Kris."

She grinned. "I know who Shawn Mendes is, Mallory. What I want to know is what he's doing here. Spill it."

I sighed. I'd hoped we could escape quickly. I sat down on the couch and Shawn joined me. I was about to speak when he started talking.

"Mallory and I met in September at the music festival."

Kris's jaw dropped. "He's who you hooked up with?" she asked me.

I nodded.

Shawn continued, "We've been seeing each other ever since. It would be great if you could keep this quiet until Mal and I go public."

That wasn't exactly the truth, but the story made sense.

"I promise to keep it to myself. Cross my heart," Kris said, and to emphasize that she crossed her heart with her finger twice.

"You can tell Vera," I said, "but just make sure she knows to keep it on the down low."

Vera was our other roommate. I loved these girls, but I hadn't told them for a reason. They had big mouths and loved spilling stuff on social media. In fact, as Kris sat across from us, I was pretty sure she was taking our picture.

Shawn and I stood up and headed towards the door. I saw my bag from the deli sitting on the counter.

I turned back to my roommate. "Hey Kris, feel free to eat the sandwich on the counter. It's delicious."

"Thanks, Mallory. Be safe," she said with a wink.

I almost laughed out loud. We were long past being safe.

We got to my car and got in. I turned to Shawn before starting it up.

"You know they might open their mouths about us, right?" I said.

"I figured. It is going to get out soon anyway. Maybe it's better this way. In fact, maybe we should go out to dinner tonight and risk getting spotted together."

"You sure? Do you want to talk to Andrew first?"

He put his hand on my thigh. "I already talked to him for an hour today. This will be fine."

"You hungry now?" I asked.

He smirked. "Yeah. And I could use some food, too."

Damn. He had no idea what it did to me when he said things like that. Or maybe he did, and that's why he'd said it. I fucking loved it when he was flirty and sexy with me. It gave me hope.

I drove us to a Greek place right off campus. I parked and looked at him.

"Here we go. You are sure you don't mind us being seen or photographed together?"

"I think it's time."

As I suspected, we were noticed. I was extremely self-conscious of my bump, though no one stared at it or anything. Hopefully my hoodie was doing the trick of concealing it. During dinner, Shawn was approached several times. I could see people sniping pics of us. This was it. We were public. This was step one. The baby announcement was step two, but that was probably going to be delayed a bit.

We ate dinner and talked about things other than the baby. I loved hearing Shawn talk about his career. His passion for music was inspirational, and it made me glad that the baby was going to have him as a father.

After dinner, Shawn was stopped a couple more times as we walked to the car. He posed for pics and signed autographs.

"That was nuts," I said as we got in the car.

We'd been out in public before, of course, but in my rinky-dink hometown, no one noticed or cared. Shawn always wore a ball cap and sunglasses when we went to the doctor appointments, and so far, that had worked. We hadn't gone anywhere public in Toronto, and now I understood why.

We got back to the hotel and I immediately flopped down on the bed. "I'm pooped."

"No sleeping yet," Shawn said, sitting beside me. "We need to talk."

I sat up. "Is that why you stayed?"

"It is," he said, taking my hand in his.

"Then let's talk."

An hour later we were tangled in the sheets, our bodies sweaty, our hair mussed, and our souls content.

Oh, and I had a diamond ring on my finger.