Professional Publicity Stunt » Shawn Mendes✔️

seven: never be alone.

A/N: lol this chapter made me cry while I was writing it, so there's that. I've had a rough few weeks (rough life if we're being honest) so I'm either overly emotional or this is emotional and you need tissues. You decide. Happy reading.

Once I'm sure I've got myself together, I step back out into the lobby, finding Shawn waiting for me by Andrew and his security. And bless him, the concern on his face softens when he sees me, though it's still present as he asks if I'm okay.

I nod, smiling. "I'm okay. I ended up calling my friend and catching up with her while she was on a break."

"Oh, okay," he nods. "How is she?"

"She's good," I reply. "So, are we getting some food? I'm kind of starving."

Shawn accepts the subject change, nodding in agreement. "Me too. Where're we going?"

"We'll find something," Andrew promises.

We pile back into the car, Shawn and I taking the back seat. Most of the fans are gone, but a few are lingering. Shawn surprisingly doesn't grab my hand, though he does walk close to me. So close that our shoulders kept knocking into one another.

I really need to get a grip on myself.

We find a restaurant as we drive around, a place that no doubt turns into a full-on bar when the sun goes down. But it's close to iHeart Radio, so we go in anyway.

"Hey," I tap Andrew's shoulder without thinking, "would you mind if Shawn and I ate at a separate table? We need to talk about some stuff."

He nods, without questioning it, and asks for two separate tables. If anything, to paparazzi it'll look like we wanted a private lunch together. Thankfully Shawn doesn't question it either, just grabs my hand and leads me over to our table. He pulls my chair out for me, prompting me to thank him...and he presses a kiss to my forehead.

Shawn. You're making this so hard.

He sits across from me again, thanking the host as he hands us our menus before leaving us alone. Shawn takes the menu and opens it, leaving me no choice but to reach across the table and place my hand on it, tugging it away from his face.

"Hey you."

He chuckles. "Yes?"

"We need to talk."

He nods, lifting his menu again. "Yeah, I know."

"Shawn."

"What?"

"I just need to know where you really stand," I murmur, lowering my voice. "You know this isn't real, so do you want me to meet your fans?"

"I don't know."

He's stubborn.

But then he sighs, keeping his volume low. "I know it's not real," he finally looks at me, "but I would want my real girlfriend to meet my fans."

"But do you want to explicitly say I'm your girlfriend?"

"Am I not supposed to?"

I sigh. "I told you. You don't have to do anything that you're not comfortable with." I thought you didn't want to. Are you really changing your mind now after one day of this?

"Okay," he pauses, leaning forward. "We'll—We'll figure it out later. I just wanna have lunch with my girlfriend right now."

"But I'm not your real girlfriend!" I want to scream, but instead, I nod. I say, "Okay," even though I know he is going to be hurt when my contract is over. I can see it on his face. I feel it every damn time he goes to hold my hand. He wants this to be real. And it is going to hurt like hell when I leave and he realizes that it's not.