Professional Publicity Stunt » Shawn Mendes✔️

twenty-eight: you said there was nothing in the world that could stop it.

A/N: Alright...I know this is short. But something is about to come up and this story is about end quickly. I think that's why I've been avoiding writing it because I don't want it to end :( But here's this. Brownie points to whoever can guess what the surprise is about toward the end ;)

"Well that's great, right?"

"What's great?"

"That he asked you to stay!"

"God," I rub my forehead. "No, it makes things worse."

"How?"

I glance back at the beach house, seeing Shawn still pacing the balcony while on the phone with Andrew. "It makes everything so complicated now. I don't even know if I'm going to stay, and—"

"But you want to."

"I don't know if I can," I fire back. "Or if I'd actually want to."

"What are you even talking about?" I can practically see the look of incredulity on her face. "Do you hear yourself?"

"Yes, I can hear perfectly fine."

"Good, because for a second I thought you weren't hearing what you were saying to me. Like it was some version of you I hadn't met yet or something. Like you can't actually hear the words coming out of your mouth."

"...are you done?"

"Yeah, I'm done."

"Good."

But she's not really done. "Come on! You have been absolutely head over heels for Shawn—"

"No, I have not!"

"Fine, you've had feelings for him this entire time, correct?" My silence is enough of an answer for her. "And you've talked to me before about not knowing how he felt about this. But now he's told you. He wants you to stay. That's confirmation. What's stopping you now from staying?"

I open my mouth to give her an answer, but I don't have one. There isn't anything specific, I guess. I don't know why I'm so reluctant.

I do know. But it's too much of a story to even begin explaining to her.

I glance back at the house, seeing Shawn coming down the steps now. "I gotta go. Love you."

"Love you," she replies, in that tone I recognize well because it means we'll finish this conversation later.

Shawn jogs across the sand, meeting me where I'm halfway to the water.

"Hey," I smile, stuffing my phone in my pocket. "What's Andrew up to?"

"Well," he chuckles. "It was about what we're up to."

I raise my eyebrows, immediately thinking the worst. So far, we've run from paparazzi three times, and went to a karaoke bar last night. Shawn has taken some pictures with fans, though, so that balances everything back out. "Oh?"

"Yeah, he's just wondering if we can cut this vacation short a little and fly back to L.A. tomorrow."

Oh, okay. "Tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'm performing on the Ellen show soon, and he just wants us back a day in advance. He worries."

"To be fair, we've been late quite a few times," I laugh. So he does have good reason to worry about us. "But that's okay. Is he booking the flights?"