NO ANGEL ★彡 S. MENDES

𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄.

eleanor anne kavinsky.

class was one way to describe her, with her dress of blue velvet and her hair curled into gentle waves. diamonds dripped from her neck and her lips were a perfect red and her beautiful brown eyes were glistening from the ring lights around her. all around her were screams of "here! eleanor, here!" and of course, she obliged. what else would she do?

she put her black heeled foot forward as she stepped down the red carpet and smiled brightly for the thousands of flashes admitted from the cameras. her job was to stand there and look pretty and she was doing it to a standard that was above and beyond.

she looked down the carpet briefly to see who else was ahead. no one special. just a couple of b-listers she had never met but probably followed on twitter ("remember your branding is: sweet, lovable and innocent," chris would always say to her - oh, how she despised it!) so she kept walking down, trying to get to the end of the line so she could take off her heels that were actually killing her feet.

as she reached the end, she quickly ran off to a rubbish bin that was quite closet to the carpet but far enough for no one to notice her brief disappearance. eleanor slipped off her black jimmy choos and placed them behind the bin and used a crumpled chinese takeaway bag to cover them up so they wouldn't get taken. she then opened her shiny black clutch and fished around to find her pills. she wasn't exactly sure as to what they were, but ariana grande gave her a small packet about a month ago and said that they really helped with her anxiety and made her a lot more relaxed. eleanor remembered laughing at that and saying "so, just like weed?" and ariana would chuckle, "yeah, just like weed."

after chewing a couple of the mystery pills, she threw the little bag back in her clutch and found a pair of socks and slipped those on. her dress was long enough to conceal her feet so no reporter could expose her for wearing socks with a twelve thousand dollar dress instead of expensive heels. eleanor wasn't exactly in the mood to be dealing with a scandal at that moment.

eleanor ran back towards the main crowd and immediately smiled to start to blend in. "hi!" she greeted someone she had no idea of but seemed famous.

after that interaction, she moved along - standing on her top toes at points so she could see over the crowd. she walked along, squeezing between tiny gaps to get forward quickly.

once she made it into the building, she was greeted by a lady in red who was holding a tray full of champagne glasses and eleanor grabbed one and took a large gulp, savouring the bitter taste. out of nowhere, someone grabbed her arm and eleanor immediately looked in that direction to see if she needed to punch them in the face or not but luckily - it was just chris.

"two seconds in and you're already drinking? come on, e," chris said, disappointment dripping off his words as eleanor shrugged.

"it makes these events a little more bearable."

"not so loud!" chris hushed, pulling eleanor closet, "there are reporters everywhere that have no problem with listening to every conversation you have and they're desperate for another scandal - and it's even better for them if it's from someone like you! so watch what you say. i thought you would've known this by now! five years in and i thought you would've known to at least watch what you say!"

"well, maybe i don't care anymore-"

"eleanor, please! just this one party and i'll try and get you a break. it's just the label wants so much from you and i'm trying to get it so that it's manageable for you. you know that, right?"

eleanor nodded.

"anyway, remember where you are. you're at the release party for your billboard cover with shawn mendes. hey - maybe you could go and make friends with the guy. it'll look good and maybe he might even be good enough for a possible collab-"

"okay big guy, don't push it," eleanor rolled her eyes, "i don't really want to talk to him. you know after the cover shoot and we were talking and i stormed out? he was there. i think he heard us - do you think he knows..?"

"e, don't worry. he probably didn't and if he did that's even more of a reason to make friends with him: so he doesn't spill it to anyone," chris reasoned.

"chris! eleanor!" exclaimed an unfamiliar voice.

chris and eleanor hastily turned their heads in that direction and saw a man with glasses and a minuscule beard along with - shawn mendes?

"hi, andrew!" chris smiled, who seemed to recognise the man, "eleanor, this is andrew gertler - shawn's manager."

"hi, andrew," eleanor said politely, a smile quickly appearing on her face.

"so, it's impressive - the party. well, when you've got shawn mendes and eleanor kavinsky on the cover of the same magazine i guess you've got to go big, right?!" andrew laughed.

"i guess, but sometimes smaller parties are nicer. it's more intimate and it's easier to talk to people and all of that. but of course, i haven't been to a part since my career started!" eleanor smiled.

"yeah i guess," andrew said, "anyway, chris! i want you to meet someone. i'll leave you two alone," he said signalling towards shawn and eleanor.

"so," shawn said after an awkward pause, "how are you? really, not any of the fake stuff."

eleanor was taken aback by his sudden concern for her. the pair had only known each other for a few days and their previous interactions weren't enough to grant him access to her personal life.

"why the sudden interest?" eleanor found that answering with questions was the most effective way to avoid revealing actual information about herself and changing the subject. she was positive that her clever tactic would work but she was wrong.

"i like getting to know people," shawn shrugged, the little curl drooping on his forehead bouncing up and down.

"okay, well how are you?" eleanor came back at him - he was good.

"i'm great. i'm at a party where people want to celebrate my achievements and get to know me and laugh with me and that's a pretty awesome feeling."

"ditto," eleanor replied simply, failing to show any kind of emotion on her face, making shawn a little skeptical.

"really?" shawn asked, suspicious of her.

"yes," she said shortly.

"okay, well it was nice meeting you - properly this time," shawn said.

"you too," eleanor replied, putting her hand forward for a handshake.

just as shawn put his hand in hers they both heard the click of a camera and the words, "shawn mendes and eleanor kavinsky? an item? who would've thought."

a/n — ok for the ariana bit, i'm not saying that she does drugs or anything but for the sake of the story she does. also sorry for the late update but i hope you like this! it's a little longer and took some effort but it's chapter five and they finally had a proper conversation! i'm so happy and remember to vote if you enjoyed <3