boundaries [s.m]

chapter thirty-four

all these precious moments that we carved in stone - memories, shawn mendes
-
aria and hailey both sit at a table in a korean barbecue restaurant. they were chatting about the situation between shawn and her quietly, but still catching up with each other and enjoying each other's company.

"he called me earlier," hailey tells her. arias eyes go wide, as she puts her glass down from her lips. "you had a pregnancy scare?"

"sort of," she shrugs. "i don't want to think about it anymore, it'll just pose as more problems for shawn and i and i don't want that to happen," she sighs, taking another sip of her drink.

"aria, he sounded broken and confused," hailey admits, not wanting to offend aria. "he's so utterly confused."

"and i'm not?" she shoots back. "hailey, shawn literally confuses me all the god damn time, and if i'm completely honest, i'm getting freaking sick and tired of it."

hailey sighs gently, reaching over the table, and holding onto both of aria's hands. "he's frightened, aria," she tells her, making aria look down at the table. "he just wants you to hear his side of things."

"i left him, and he didn't say a word to me," aria admits. "he looked like he was debating everything, and i couldn't bring myself to talk to him then, so i just said i'll see you later," she bites down on her lower lip, as one of the servers hands them the bill. hailey quietly thanks the young boy, before getting her credit card out. "hails i can pay-"

"shh, i'm paying," she says quickly, putting her card on the little leather book. "talk to him tonight, and if things go wrong, you have my hotel address."

"god hailey, i'm so glad i have you as a friend," aria breathes out, letting go of her hands, and shakily wiping them on her jeans.

"hey, i'm here for you," she says gently, reminding aria again. "seriously, don't worry. you have me to help with things."

"thanks hails," aria smiles weakly at her, as the server comes back over, letting hailey pay with her card, before the two girls quickly leave the restaurant, immediately being faced by paparazzi.

"shit," aria and hailey both mumble, before looking down, and walking back to haileys car.

"can we go to where we picked aria up from?" hailey asks her driver, as aria shuts the car door, leaning back in her seat, and letting out a small sigh.

"i'm never gonna get used to this," aria mumbles, whilst the driver starts up the car, driving off into the distance.

"don't worry, you will," hailey says to her. "just look down, smile, and walk."
-
"shawn? i'm home!" aria yells, closing the front door behind her. silence. "shawn?" she asks again, putting her bag and keys down, slipping off her shoes, and taking her phone out of her jacket pocket. "shawn?" she places her phone on the dining table, walking around the main part of the condo, seeing shawn lying down on the sofa, fast asleep, a polaroid photo in his hands. arias face softens slightly, before she goes to perch herself on the couch next to shawns sleeping body, taking the photo from his hands.

august 8th 2018, 20th birthday.
aria smiles gently, seeing the photo of shawn and her, both slightly tipsy, and smiling at the camera, shawns arm wrapped loosely around her arms. that was the night everything happened. she turns round the polaroid, seeing more words written down.

finally got the girl, august 9th 2018.
aria breathes out a small laugh, shaking her head lightly, before sighing, and placing the photo back into shawns hands. she leans down, pressing a delicate kiss onto his forehead, running her fingers through his hair, and whispering a small i love you. she smiles sadly, standing up, and walking into their bedroom, changing into a pair of sweats and a bralette. she puts a white t-shirt over that, before tying her hair up into a bun, and sitting at the desk in their bedroom, looking at the framed photos of the two of them.

she smiles, picking up the black frame that holds a picture that the two of them were forced into. it was a few years ago, when aria practically hated shawn, and their parents had made them take a photo. as a present for arias birthday that year, shawn got it framed and gave it to her, hence how the photo is now in their bedroom.

a chuckle leaves her lips, as she sees the picture of shawn pouting at the camera, holding an empty bottle of wine, and aria drinking the last glass from the bottle. that picture was taken last year, a few weeks after they got together, a week before they went to barcelona. shawn held a small get together at his place, and aria stole the bottle of wine, filling up her glass before shawn could finish it. karen quickly snapped a picture of the two of them, and sent it to aria immediately, who quickly got it framed, and gave it to shawn.

"oh hey," shawn says, stumbling into the bedroom, seeing aria sitting at the desk, and glancing at the photos. "how was lunch?"

"good," aria nods. "have you eaten yet?"

"yeah, i made a sandwich earlier," he nods, scratching the back of his head nervously, as he strolls over to the desk, looking at what aria was looking at. "that was a fun day," he says, seeing the photo of the wine bottle and the two of them in arias hands.

"it's my favourite picture of us," aria says gently, placing it back down, as shawn smiles sadly, remembering the day vividly. "remember when i later smashed that glass?"

"and how the contents almost stained my couch? yeah," shawn chuckles, sitting on the arm rest of the chair, as aria leans back, letting out a small snigger with shawn. "don't worry, you weren't the one who puked on the couch," he says, referring to ian.

"how are the boys?" aria asks, not having seen them for a while, for obvious reasons.

"they're great, i guess i should meet up with them soon."

"invite them round tomorrow, i'll go to my parents place," aria says to him, placing her hand delicately on his thigh.

"i'll invite them, but you're staying here," shawn says. "it's about time they got over us being together."

aria stays silent, as shawn joins their hands together, resting them on his thigh. he lets out a small puff of air, placing the polaroid down on the table. "you remember that day?" shawn asks cheekily, a faint blush at his cheeks.

"do i?" aria grins, looking up at him. "i'll never forget it."

"aria i-" shawn cuts himself off, his smile faltering into a serious frown. "if it was positive today, what would we have done?"

aria looks down, her own smile turning into a somber look, as she breathes out a small breath of air, squeezing shawns hand. "we would have gotten through it," she says to him firmly. "maybe we would have cried for a bit, but we would have gotten through it." shawn sighs, getting up from the arm rest, and leaning against their dresser next to the desk. aria stands up, moving to stand in front of him, in between his legs. "shawn," she whispers, cupping his cheek gently, as he looks down, trailing his eyes up only, connecting his gaze with hers. "tell me what's wrong."

shawns eyes fill with tears immediately, and aria notices, her face softening, as she scans over his face, worried.

"hey, shawn," she whispers again, shushing him. "it's okay."

"no it's not," he breathes out shakily, letting a few tears spill out of his eyes. "aria, you could've been pregnant. we could've been expecting a baby."

"is this what it's all about?"

"no," he admits, as aria quickly wipes away his tears.

"then what is it, shawn?"

"is this the end of us?"