Travel // Shawn Mendes

forty-one: epilogue part two

Shawn and I had a lot to talk about when we came home from my abuela's house. A lot.

We took turns in sharing what we both knew, and Shawn had known a lot more than me. When he left Hotel Midnight (the first time) he remembered everything, but thought it was just some weird dream. He woke up in his friend's Jeep, took a few seconds to digest the dream, and then forgot about it. That is, until later that day, when he went to the beach with his friends.

"I hit this girl in the head and ran over to her to see if she was okay, and there she was- there you were. I was so freaked out, and then when I said your name I started to think that maybe it wasn't a dream," Shawn explained at my hotel room.

I remembered this day well, since it had completely freaked me out. After I asked if I knew him, Shawn had froze before one of his friends called his name, and by then both of us were walking away from each other in confusion.

"I forgot about it, I thought the whole thing was just a weird dream. Then when I saw you again in Spain, well, I thought it was you, but I didn't know. You looked different. And when you told me your name something in me clicked, and then my friend pulled me away from you again and I just prayed I would see you again."

"And you did," I said.

"Yeah," Shawn smirks, "but that didn't go to well either, if you remember. I was trying really hard to pretend to be normal, since it didn't look like you remembered me from, well, besides the dance. And when I said your name, I thought I blew it," Shawn admitted.

"I thought you pretended you forgot my name so it would make you seem cooler?"

"Yeah, that was a lie. I just didn't want you to think I was a creep, I guess. Then I forgot to ask for your number and I felt like a complete idiot," he says, and I laugh. We were both sitting on my bed, staring at each other intensely as I soak up the information he finally shared.

"If it makes you feel any better, I also felt like a complete idiot for not getting your number that day," I inform him, and he kisses me lightly before continuing.

"That's sweet, but I'm pretty sure you hated me. Which terrified me, because I didn't want to blow it and then I just felt it all go downhill from the moment I saw you again."

I look at the hotel clock, realizing that we had been sharing our new memories for over two hours. We had covered everything from the moment each of us walked into Hotel Midnight for the first time, up to the coffee shop in Spain by now, though we bounced back and forth through timelines.

"I wouldn't say hate, but I did start to regret ever liking you," I joke, grabbing his hand and playing with the ring on his finger.

"Funny. Anyways, when I woke up in Hotel Midnight the second time I didn't remember anyone," he says, and I nod my head. "Then I left the hotel room and saw Sam and all of a sudden it was like I knew exactly who he was all along. He told me I had ten minutes to get out before midnight and I just left, didn't even catch up with him."

"Same for me," I tell Shawn. "Except I forgot which way to go and you got me to the lobby."

"Yeah, then you collapsed on the floor and I thought, 'this girl is having an asthma attack'. But then when I looked at you in the eyes everything came back to me, from the moment we met in the Hotel to that very point. It was so weird, I thought I was imagining you," Shawn explained, and I told him the same had happened to me. I start to stare at the floorboard of the hotel, imagining the journal I had hidden for the next person to occupy my room.

"But you seemed so confused, and I thought I had lost you again. Shit, I don't know what I would have done if you'd forgotten me," he laughs airily, and I look to see his hand covering his eyes. Gently, I pull his hand away, tilting his head towards me as he opens his eyes.

"I didn't, though. And shit, Shawn, after all we've been through, I don't think anything could make me forget you," I confess, and he brings me in to a gentle kiss.

"But wait, why did you even walk into the hotel? Didn't it look familiar?" I ask, referring to when we pulled over to it for a bathroom break.

"I didn't even recognize it, I don't know how. Maybe I was tired? But it was like the hotel was pulling me in. If I had known where we were headed I wouldn't have let either of us go in."

"But if you hadn't, then I wouldn't have remembered anything," I point out.

We discussed everything we did and didn't remember, and I didn't have much to compete with. I only kind of knew what had happened to me the first time I had entered Hotel Midnight, but Shawn said he would fill me in on everything I forgot. As for the second time I visited, I remembered everything about it, from the moment I woke up and saw Sam sitting on my bed to the point where I had passed out in the lobby.

"Well, at least Romeo and Juliet have nothing compared to us," Shawn jokes, and I smile. That was true.

Jen and Aidan walked into the hotel about twenty minutes later, interrupting Shawn and I (I'd like to pretend we were still talking about everything that had happened, but somehow we had taken a break from that).

"You better have not been smashing on that hotel bed," Aidan jokes, and I groan, putting my shirt back on.

"No, we weren't, not that it's any of your business."

"It is, because Jen and I plan on using both of the beds later tonight." Jen slaps Aidan on the back of his head.

"Anyways, Aidan and I wanted to know if you're both down to go out tonight. Ky is throwing a party for the semi-finalists in The Zone, and I think we all need something to really boost our moods," Jen suggests, and I shrug, looking at Shawn for a response before answering.

"Sure."

"Oh, forgot to ask, what did Nora's grandma think of you, Shawn?" Jen asks, interested.

"She probably felt a lot of disappointment seeing that this was who Nora brought home," Aidan jokes, and Shawn smiles.

"Actually, she called us soul mates, so the joke is on you." Aidan laughs at the term, telling us that he would be using it later.

"The joke will be on him when he goes to NYU in the fall and meets my mom," Jen says, laughing already. That's true. Jen's mom would eat Aidan up and spit him back out.

"Only one laughing will be me, but it's going to be so hard to live my daily life when both a mom and a daughter are in love with me," Aidan fans himself, and Jen rolls her eyes.

"You think everyone is in love with you."

"Everyone is."

A few hours later and we're at Ky's party, everyone holding a drink in their hand except for me (for the record, I think Sprite is just as reasonable a drink as beer, but whatever). Shawn wraps an arm around my waist, and Aidan raises his cup, clinking it with everyone else's.

"Cheers to soul mates," he says, still laughing at what Shawn had said.

Shawn takes a look at me and smiles, raising his cup with me but never losing eye contact.

"Cheers," he says, and I kiss him, faintly tasting alcohol.

"Cheers."

___
the end.

Thank you so much for reading this!! It means so much to me, and make sure to stick around because I'm thinking of writing a lil sum sum new during the summertime (that way I can actually update and not keep you guys waiting for months) so make sure to follow me in order to hear more ab that!

I answered a bunch of questions with this chapter but kept some unanswered, just to stress you guys out ;)

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xoxo, livemendes