We landed in New York and went directly to a car waiting 100 feet from the landing pad.
"I arranged to see a few listing before we go to the hotel." Shawn yelled over the helicopter blades chopping the air.
"Really?"
He nodded his head yes, opening the car door. I had never gotten to make a big decision like this. I was going to pick out a place to start a new life! I got to choose everything!
"The realtor is meeting us there." he replied, sliding into the car next to me.
You have no idea how exciting this was. It felt like I was dreaming. The driver took up into the city and pulled up to a large, lavish building.
"Here we are." Shawn exclaimed, opening the door.
New York buzzed as I stepped out onto the street. In my entire lifetime, I don't think DC had even been this busy. The sound of people yelling and cars honking echoed across the entire city. Shawn grabbed my hand and led me inside.
"Mr. Mendes, I'm Veronika, I'll be showing you some units today." a woman said, greeting Shawn and shaking his hand.
She oddly completely ignored me and proceeded to talk to Shawn about all the features the building had.
"This building has a weight room and indoor/outdoor pool for it's tenants. It also has a 24/7 staff with great security. The unit I'll be showing you is on the 4th floor."
I looked at Shawn. The 4th floor? We were going to pick ourselves up and move to NYC to live in an apartment with a view of the next building? We rode the elevator up as the woman kept talking about the place. It was 1,270 square feet, had a modern type feel and a small terrace.
We exited the elevator and we to the . She opened the door and let us inside. The place was nice. Very modern and felt kinda dead. I left go of Shawn's hand and wandered off on my own as Shawn stood and listen to the woman more.
"What do you think?" he called to me.
I looked around the living room once more.
"No."
Shawn shrugged his shoulders.
"What's next?" he asked, turning to Veronika.
She took us next to a Brooklyn with stunning views. The rest of the place was boring and lacked that homey feeling I wanted. After that we checked out . Like the last one, it had amazing views and an even better bathroom.
"How about this one?" Shawn asked.
"It's boring."
I could tell by now that Veronica was getting nervous.
"There are two more places that are available today." she said, faking a smile.
The next places views were breathtaking. The entire house was sleek and clean.
"I really like this place." Shawn said, hugging me from behind as we stood looking out the window.
"I could see us living ." I replied, still unsure.
"Should I make an offer?"
I honestly could see myself living here now but in 5 years, what if we wanted to start a family? Where would they play? I would be too afraid of something breaking or the glass being smudged. I also didn't want to pick up and move if we did have kids.
"What if..." I started.
"What if what?" he asked.
"Nevermind, I'm getting ahead of myself."
"What did you want to say?" he asked, turning me towards him.
"What if we wanted to start a family? This isn't a place to raise kids."
He chuckled, smiled and kissed my forehead.
"Keep this place in mind. We'll go look at the last place then we can talk and decide over dinner." he said, hugging me tightly. "Are you trying to tell me you're pregnant or something?"
"Stop that!" I said, playfully hitting his arm.
Veronika took us to the last place across town. She opened the door and her phone started ringing.
"Please look around and I'll be right back." she said, gesturing for us to go inside.
I walked into the kitchen with Shawn close behind.
"." I whispered to myself.
I continued to walk around the rest of the house, slowly falling in love with each room.
"So what do you think?" Veronika asked, meeting us back in the kitchen.
I looked at Shawn and smiled. This was it. This place made me excited to start over. I could see myself with Shawn in this apartment.
"Oh, did you see the pool?" Veronika asked.
"A pool?"
She scurried to a door and walked outside. This place had its own private pool and terraces.
"This is it!" I said, wrapping one arm around Shawn's waist.
An hour later, the seller of the house accepted Shawn's offer. $22 million dollars!
"That's a lot of money Shawn." I said, biting my nail.
"It's chump change baby." he replied, chuckling.
The deal was finalized 20 minutes later. Veronika shook both of our hands and told us that it was take 3 days to process. After that, a key would be delivered and we could move in. It was rather simple.
We left our new apartment and headed to the hotel. We had spent most of the day looking at houses and I was extremely tired.
"I can't believe we just did that!" I squealed.
Shawn laughed, helping me get out of the car.
"Welcome to the Plaza." the doorman greeted, tipping his hat to the both of us.
I had only seen this hotel on tv. I was in complete awe.
"Anything for my queen." Shawn whispered in my ear, sending shivers down my spine.
Shawn did the whole checking in process as I sat patiently on the couch.
"Mellie Hutson? Is that really you?" a girl asked, running up to me. "Can I please take a picture with you? I'm a huge fan!"
I was taken back. The last time someone ran up to me like this, she wasn't so friendly.
"Um... I-" I started but was cut off by her abruptly pulling me off the couch.
"Just one selfie!" she shrieked.
She proceeded to take out her phone and fumble with the camera.
"That's enough." Shawn demanded, causing the girl to spin around. "She's not some exhibit you can just take pictures of."
"Oh my god! Can I get a picture with you too?"
"Hell no. Do you not realize that we are humans too? If we we're out in public then sure, we would love to take pictures with you but we are just about to check in." Shawn replied.
"I don't see why it's a big deal." she whined.
"A hotel is a home away from home. Most people expect privacy and not to be bombarded by strangers asking for pictures." he said as anger formed behind his eyes.
He started to get in the girl's face.
I placed my hand on his chest, attempting to calm him down.
"Please just let it go." I said, trying to deescalate the situation.
The girl kept begging for a photo which was making Shawn furious. She clearly didn't know anything about person space or boundaries. I get that she just wanted a picture but like Shawn said, most people expect privacy while staying at a hotel. Just because we were in the news didn't mean we weren't people. We did have feelings.
"Let's go." I said while grabbing Shawn's hand and leading him to the elevator.
We got into the elevator. I hoped that the girl would just leave us alone for the rest of our stay but I couldn't expect her to.
"That pisses me off to no end." he growled, stomping down the hall to our .
I followed quietly behind, trying not to say or do anything that would upset him anymore. He opened the room and stormed inside, kicking off his shoes and throwing his jacket on the ground. He marched over to another room and slammed the door. I guess he had been here before.
I bent down and picked up his jacket and moved his shoes out of the way. The bellhop had brought our bags up and put them in the bedroom. I took my shoes and jacket off nicely and put them away. I slipped out my jeans and folded them nicely. Searching my bag for something else to wear, I hummed to myself. I changed into my nightshirt.
You've come a long way Mellie. Look at you now, you're in NYC! You finally are starting to grow up and be your own person. I started up packing our suitcases. My phone buzzed on the bed.
"I miss you tons! -Nat 9:56pm"
"What are you doing tomorrow? -Mel 9:57pm"
"Nothing. Why? -Nat 9:57 pm"
"I have a surprise coming for you at noon so be ready! -Mel 10:00pm"
I smiled and put my phone down. I wanted to surprise her and spent the day with her. I hadn't seen her in almost 7 months. Natasha and I usually got to spend the summers together but as we grew older, we had more and more things to do.
So that it wasn't completely silent, I turned on the tv and went back to unpacking.
The tv went on and on about Kendall and Shawn's breakup. It finally switched to some other celebrity news.
"Take your clothes off." Shawn said, standing in the doorway.
"W-what?" I asked, spinning around clutching a shirt of Shawn's.
I had completely lost my train of thought.
"You heard me." he replied harshly while stepping towards me.
He had a glass of some sort of alcohol in his hand and his eyes were slightly droopy.
"You're drunk." I replied, turning back to the suitcase.
"Oi! Don't you fucking turn away from me."
"I think we both need to go to bed." I said, pulling the now empty suitcase off of the bed.
He stepped closer to me.
"I just bought you a fucking house." he growled. "Take your clothes of, now."
"I just want to go to bed. It's been a long day and you're-" I started.
He and smirked.
"You're much prettier when you don't talk as much."
I pushed him away.
"Stop trying to hurt my feelings!" I yelled back.
"Baby, I'm sorry." he apologized, stepping towards me.
"You can't be a dick one minute and expect me to just forgive you the next!"
back by his chest, I ran to the bathroom, making sure to lock the door behind me.
"I'm sorry Melody!" he yelled, banging on the door. "I love you!"
I sat on the toilet and burst into tears.
"Open the door baby." he pleaded.
"Go away!" I yelled, wiping my eyes.
"Melody, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!"
"Then why did you say it?" I cried.
Shawn went silent and walked away from the door. I could hear him undressing and getting into bed. He clicked off the tv and the sounds of the city filled the room. The light shining under the door quickly disappeared as Shawn turned off the light.
I put my face in my hands and let out a big sign. When he went into the other room when we got back, something else must have happened that made him snap. The girl from the lobby, whatever went on plus alcohol made one angry Shawn.
Slowly, I approached the door and unlocked it. I cracked it open so that I was able to see out into the room. Shawn was laying on his stomach on the far side of the bed, slightly snoring.
Shutting off the bathroom light, I creeped out into the room. A single tear ran down my face as I stood staring at the bed.
"Mel?" Shawn asked in a quiet voice.
I took a step back, hoping he still wasn't angry.
"Melody." he repeated, turning his face towards me.
I wrapped my arms around myself and attempted to calm down. My heart felt like it was going to explode and it was nearly impossible to breathe. My vision got hazy and the room started spinning.
"Melody?" Shawn asked, shooting out of bed, catching me before I could touch the ground.
Fuck. Not this again.
