Damage Control (Shawn Mendes)

Protection From Him

I curiously looked around his huge house. I wasn't surprised or impressed though. Once you've seen a huge house, you've seen them all.

"You want something to eat or drink?" Shawn sighed, looking around in his fridge.

"Water please." I said, sitting down on the huge sofa.

I stared at the humongous black tv in boredom. This was going to be so painfully awkward, I just know it.

"Here." He placed the cup of water in front of me.

"Thanks." I replied, taking it from his grasp. I sipped it silently while Shawn sat next to me. A little closely I might add. It's not like this sofa was small, he could afford to move about five feet further away from me.

He turned on the screen, and started flipping through the channels. After a while, he finally decided on what to watch without asking me. Thank God I liked Friends.

"Do you want pizza or something?" He asked me, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"Um, sure." I never say no to pizza.

He nodded and took out his phone.

"What kind so you want?"

"Pepperoni."

He said nothing as he started typing furiously on his phone. A few minutes later, he set his phone down and stared at the tv.

"They'll be here in thirty."

"Okay." I said silently. We watched the remainder of the show in silence -which was only about fifteen minutes. He went on changing the channels in boredom.

I was drinking the rest of my water, when he landed on a stupid celebrity gossip show. I choked on the water when a familiar picture was on the screen. Shawn immediately started patting my back, as I went on a small coughing rage.

When I finally calmed down, I could finally hear what they were saying.

"Shawn Mendes and Jasmine Jackson, were spotted heading out of their label, hand and hand." The red head spoke with a fake cheeriness in her voice.

They showed a picture of us from earlier. Our glasses on, heads down, hands grasped together; trying to get through the crowd.

But that's not the picture that made me choke.

After a few seconds later, the lady came back on screen.

"Does this mean their official?" She asked, hate could be seen in her eyes. "Has Jasmine, finally moved on from her ex Ashton?"

The picture from earlier reappeared, making me tighten my grip around my water glass.

It was a picture taken last year. We were at Coachella, having the time of our lives -or my life at least.

I remember, it was such a nice day. The weather was just right. The music was marvelous. And I was high on happiness. I thought nothing or no one could ever touch us. That's how high on happiness I was -and no, it's not some code word for drugs. I was genuinely happy.

We had already been dating for a few months. Everything was beautiful. He was funny, charming and sweet. Always knew how to make me feel better, when I was getting too into my head. Always there when I needed someone. He was my best friend.

I looked at the picture with hate. I hated the way I was smiling with so much happiness. I hated the way he was looking at me; like I was the best thing in the world. I hated that he had his arms wrapped about me, as if he was protecting me from the big bad world. If only I knew then, what I know now, I would've ran as fast as I could. I didn't need any protection from the big bad world.

I needed protection from him.