Broken Doll // Shawn Mendes

LXVI. Real Life

Coppélia giggled a bit as Shawn held her bridal style in the elevator to Amanda and Chris' apartment. He had insisted on carrying her from her hospital room to the car and from the car to the apartment. "You know, I'm not paralyzed. The doctor said I can walk on my own two feet." She pointed out.

"No, he said to be careful on them for the next few weeks." Shawn corrected. "This is simply my definition of careful." 

She snorted a laugh and shook her head, resting it in the crook of his shoulder. "I love you, Shawn."

He tightened his grip on her. "I love you too, Coppélia."

They finally made it to the apartment and Shawn froze when he saw an older couple sitting on the couch with Amanda. "See? I told you he'd bring her." She gestured to Coppélia in Shawn's arms.

Shawn looked to his girlfriend in confusion as she gently jumped down from his arms. "Mom, dad, what are you doing here?" She questioned and Shawn stiffened slightly.

Grace rushed to hug her daughter. "Oh, my sweet little doll." She said, checking over Coppélia's bandaged hand. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, mama." She responded. "The stitches came out okay and there may be some scarring but the doctor said I should heal fine. And I'll be back on pointe in a few weeks." 

Ken kissed Coppélia's head before turning to Shawn. "Thank you so much for helping her through this." He said. Shawn nodded in acknowledgment.

"Are you kidding?" Grace snapped. Coppélia couldn't help but wince at her mother's tone. "He shouldn't be in the same room as her! It's his fault she was in the hospital in the first place!"

"That's not true!" Amanda all but yelled. Coppélia's hands started to shake and she pulled away from Grace to take Shawn's hand. He put the hand against his neck so she could feel his pulse as he spoke quietly to her, ignoring Grace's glare at the action. "The only person to blame here is the damned media. If they hadn't warped Shawn simply hanging out with someone of the opposite gender, who by the way is engaged herself, then Coppélia wouldn't have ended up in the hospital!"

"Is that the line he fed you, Lia?" Grace questioned. Coppélia flinched lightly and Shawn tightened his grip on her hand. "That he and that Baldwin girl are 'just friends'? How long has it been since you've seen him, Lia?" Coppélia's whole body was shaking and her breathing started to quicken. "And how many countries has he been in? You expect an international superstar with fans chasing after him to remain faithful to you?"

Shawn clenched his jaw. "Amanda, get Lia out of here. She's going into an attack." Amanda nodded and quickly rushed over to take Coppélia but the girl simply gripped Shawn tighter. He cupped her cheek. "Doll face, I promise I'll be with you in a little bit. Go with Mandy and calm down and after I finish telling your parents something, I'll show you a new song I've been working on."

Coppélia's eyes lit up at the prospect of hearing him sing and she nodded with a small smile on her face. He kissed her gently and allowed Amanda to take her to her room. "Knock some sense into her." Amanda nodded towards Grace. Shawn merely nodded.

Before Grace could even get a word in, Shawn cut her off, "I'm going to say this once and only once: never ever insinuate that I would even think of cheating on Coppélia because I would rather strangle myself with my own vocal cords than hurt her in any way." He took a breath, calming himself down slightly. "Look, Mrs. Nichols, I want to have a good relationship with you. I know that Coppélia loves you both beyond belief and you obviously both love her the same. But you need to realize that I love her with everything I have in me.

"So, I'm going to lay it out all on the table right now." He started counting off on his fingers. "I drink, I swear, I'm sometimes a complete idiot and do stupid shit, and yes, with the career I'm lucky enough to have I'm going to be gone a lot. I'm a flawed human being and Coppélia knows that. She has the drunk texts and embarrassing videos to prove it. But she loves me despite all that and I love her. Which is why I'm taking her on tour with me."

Both their eyes widened. Ken stepped forward. "Shawn, I support you and Lia but even I'm on the edge about that. She has a job here and she can't just leave for who knows how long."

"He's already taken care of that." A new voice said. They turned to see Amanda coming to stand beside Shawn. "The studio knows that if they don't give her her job back after she comes back, they'll have to find a new dance team. We'll all stand by her and she won't have to pay for anything on the trip." She turned to Shawn. "She's... calmer. But I think you need to be in there with her."

Shawn nodded and turned to Grace and Ken. "I respect you both. You raised the most incredible daughter two parents could hope for. But I love her and want to see her treated like she deserves. If it takes the rest of my life to prove that, I'll do it." Without another word, he turned and left for Coppélia's room.

Grace let out a sigh. Mason had never spoken that passionately about Coppélia. And he had been with her for a year without any complaints or concerns from Amanda or anyone else. She twisted her fingers nervously. Maybe she was wrong about this Shawn Mendes boy. "Amanda..." She started.

Amanda sharply shushed her, looking down the hall towards Coppélia's room. She gestured for them to follow her and to be quiet. They came up to Coppélia's room and she pointed to the slightly open door. "Watch." She whispered.