DREAM KINGS (Shawn Mendes x Harry Styles)

C h a p t e r [148]

I didn't react to what he just called me. We rode the car and it began to move, the buildings, trees, people and things flashes the windows as Sam steps on the acceleration pedal.

"So, Shawn, about that girl.." Tippy says, "You said you were trying to avoid her. Why?"

Shawn breathes in deeply and along with breathing out, he says, "Okay. Last April—"

"This April?" Sam asks, assuring the detail.

"Yes. This year's April. After just a few hours after my concert, my dad told one of my assistants that there's something important he needs to tell me and I need to get back to Canada as soon as possible. Since.. I have no other choice, I flew back to Canada immediately, but I won't lie, that tour was exhausting, tiring, stressful and depressing.. but.. yeah," he nods, "it was fun. To see people yelling your name, sing along with your music, and appreciate your works is just.. amazing."

"Why have all those people when you already had May? Duh! And I'm pretty sure May's the first one to appreciate all of those works you're talking about." Tippy cuts his magical story with her frank manner.

Shawn wets his lips, "Of course she is.." he runs his hand to his chest like he's trying to reach for something beneath his shirt, "She's actually the one who inspired me, motivated me to show everyone what I can do. She helped me with everything and we may be physically away.." he turns his head to me, "..but your presence.. your love.. your care and all the things you taught me, to remind me.. they're always with me."

I traced all the way up to his neck and he was actually referring to the necklace I gave him. Signifying that I'm still with him even though we've lost all the connections we had to connect with each other. Sadly, the bracelet he gave me's not clothing my wrist anymore. That bracelet meant a lot to me, reminded me to smile everyday but is now kept away. Locked and hidden somewhere in my room, sworn not to be opened, ever.

The muscles on my face somehow seems to have a mind in their own, automatically moving after he gave me that smile because I dumbly smiled back.

"Then? What happened next, man?" Sam asks.

"Oh," he clears his throat, "..yeah, so to continue, while I was at the airport, there's a lot of people, waiting for me. And to tell you, that girl's there with her friends. I usually go and meet my fans, greet them whenever I'm at the airport or somewhere because.. you know? Surely they waited for hours to see you and it would be rude if you'd just leave the place without even giving them the slightest appreciation for all of that waiting. So yeah, basically, I went to them and gave them hugs and pictures and did some chitchatting for a while. Soon, little by little, they went on their ways and people got fewer and fewer in the line I asked them to make. Then I was left alone with that girl and her friends." He sighs, "After they took pictures with me and hugs and all, that girl came to me and said.. that the unreleased songs in the album was leaked."

"What? That's too much! Who would leak?—!" I immediately stopped talking, realizing I'm still that girl who was left by her lover without a trace but with anger and sadness, it helped her to somehow forget, but now that he's back, I'm all concerned and worried; like that is pathetic, but still, he looked at me.

He twitches his cheeks, making a slight smile, but you can see the memory of that trauma that girl brought him, "Yeah. I was really REALLY getting into it and it feels like I'm drowning, thinking how I'm going to solve the problem but I know I can't make those people who already heard them un-hear it. I felt everything I did was worthless at that moment, all of my efforts to keep those tracks secret for a short moment for my fans were wasted until.. they told me it's just a prank."

"WHAT?!?! WHAT. THE. FUCK!" Tippy angrily said, "THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THAT BITCH?!"

"Maybe they thought it was a funny prank." Sam replied.

"Yeah. But seriously, that is messed up." I added.

"And that's not the last time she did something, there's another encounter. A scene at the airport, again.. and this was just a few months ago, I wasn't feeling well because of this fever and as I was heading out, I froze the moment I saw her, not because of gladness or anything but because I still have that memory of her scaring me about my songs leaking like oil in water."

"She's fucking dumb." Tippy continues to rant, "Damn, she's damn lucky we weren't there or I'm not you 'cause if someone does that to me, I would punch them in the face and I'll make sure they bleed!"

"Tippy!"

"What May? Aren't you gonna do the same?"

"No. Definitely not. That's barbaric."

"Yeah. Like WHOAH! But honestly you're just gonna slap them instead in the face and pull their hairs off, I guess?"

"Well.."

"So? On with the story Shawn." Sam interferes.

"Still, not to be rude to other fans, I still went out to say hi and take pictures with them. And again, she and her friends were the last ones. They honestly preferred to be the last people to take pictures and that girl preferred to fuck things up for me. So yeah, she asked me if I was feeling okay and I, being so soggy from all of those days out touring and that stupid fever, answered frankly and said 'No,' but she still took a picture with me which is not big of a deal because yeah, I understand her completely. She's probably there outside for hours, waiting for my plane to land and for me to get out.. but the next thing she said to me just.. it made me feel so sad."

"What did she say?" Tippy asks.

"She's actually complaining why I'm not following this.. I don't remember the username she told me but yeah, she's like 'Oh, also, you know this blah blah blah, you're not following her on twitter.' Honestly, it made me feel even more sadder."

"That's stupid. Why would she say that? As if it's mandatory, like UGH!" Tippy reacted.

I remained quiet. Besides, I don't know what to say. My emotions know but my words? I can't pull it out of my mouth, specially that my tongue is holding it back.

"I mean, I would follow that username she asked me to, only if she asked nicely. ONLY. It's not a problem. It's just an account with millions of followers but still, it's just an account."

"Dude, it's just an account? LET ME HAVE IT." Sam joked.

"Sure, tell my producers, manager and everyone in my team that you wanna have it."

"I'm kidding. I might probably just end up in jail or your fans might protest in front of our house."

Shawn chuckles, "They probably would. I can't clearly remember what her friends called her when I was about to leave after that prank they made me believe. They're blaming her because I got mad after they pulled that crap."

"I would be mad too.." I mumble, "That's just.. too much."

"Yeah. I knew you would. Wait. Wait—I think I remember.. it's Diervas. Yes, it is Diervas."

"Well, fuck her!" Tippy screams, "Fuck her and her stupidity."

"Tippy! Why do you always—"

"We're getting closer y'all!" Sam interrupts.

We look out the window and the view from miles away became closer. Mountains and trees, we're getting whole new sceneries.