boundaries [s.m]

chapter sixteen

The flowers still are blooming, the leaves will turn again, but time will be frozen for us - Sabrina Claudio, frozen
-
aria slipped on her heels, nervousness filling her mind, swooping around her thoughts, and making her figure tremble softly. her black, barely there, heels click over the laminate flooring of shawn and hers shared hotel room, trying to find the silver bracelet her mother gave her to wear today, along with the silver chain shawn purchased yesterday for her.

"my stunning girl," shawn mumbles, pressing his lips gently to her cheek, making her blush softly underneath her layers of makeup.

"my handsome man," she responds, flattening her hands over the collar of his suit and shirt, pressing her lips onto his jawline. "shawn, you look so good."

"not as good as you, though," he responds, making her cheeks flush once more. "aria, you look so beautiful."

"thank you," she replies, smiling softly at him. "can you put my chain on for me?" she asks, holding out the cartier chain for shawn to put on.

"i'd love to," he says gently, holding the chain in his hands, delicately, before walking behind aria, and placing it gently over her neck, doing it up. "i knew it would look incredible on you."

"i'm still mad at you for spending that much on me," she teases, hitting his arm softly. "but i love it."

"good, because-"

"come on kids!" andrew calms from the main room of the suite, making the two young adults sigh simultaneously, before chuckling to each other. "we don't have all day!"

"ready?" he asks her gently, completely settling her nerves.

"let's do this," she says, kissing his cheek, before grabbing her clutch, and following shawn out of the bedroom, into the main room, where andrew, geoff, and jake are all waiting.

"matching outfits, nice touch," andrew grins. "you guys are definitely gonna get some attention now."

"so what's the plan exactly?" shawn asks nervously, clutching onto arias hand, as the walk down to the lobby of the hotel. "like are we just gonna get there and kiss? or like more?"

"you will go onto the carpet first, take a couple photos, before you call aria to join you. she'll get out of the car, walk up, and both of you will take some photos, showing some affection. kiss preferably, but it's okay if you don't. aria make sure to kiss his cheek or something before he goes to the interviews, so he gets asked and can confirm it," andrew explains to the two of them, as they nod understandingly. "other than that, just have a good time, and relax. the more you worry, the more scripted it will look, and we don't want fake rumours coming up, especially since this is a very much real relationship."

"oh god," aria and shawn both mumble at the same time, climbing into the car. "i didn't realise it would be that tiring," aria groans, making shawn laugh.

"love, it's walking around and answering questions, it's not tiring," he says, placing his hand on her thigh. "as soon as it's over you can go to sleep, i promise."

"good," she says softly. "school has completely exhausted me over the last week. i hate exams."

"you're gonna get straight A's anyway, why are you so worried?" shawn chuckles again, squeezing her thigh softly.

"shut up," she mutters, folding her arms against her chest, making shawn grin, and laugh again. "i'm pretty sure i failed my calc exam, but you know what? that's besides the point. it's not like i'm gonna be doing maths in uni."

"exactly, so please hunny, don't worry," he chuckles, as she smiles sadly, pressing her lips to his cheek gently.

the car eventually comes to a stop, in the middle of screaming fans, a screaming crowd of people, swarming around to get a picture with their favourites. aria feels suddenly nervous. she's never been to these things with shawn, and she should probably get used to it. she didn't know what to do; how to act, so she simply followed shawn, and did exactly what he was doing, which was moving to the doorway of the car.