I Choose You (A Shawn Mendes Fanfiction)

Chapter 3

When the talent show ends, Marisol and I follow a large group of obnoxiously loud teenagers, assuming they're going to the Lion's Den for the after party. We end up in front of an enormous red building with a fountain in which Leo the Lion is squirting water from his mouth.

Damn, dad. How much did sending me to this place cost?

"This is definitely the Den," Marisol says in awe. "You ready to go in?"

I shake my head no, causing Marisol to laugh at me before pulling me inside. Here we go El. Your first ever party.

The second we enter the Den, my nose is greeted by the smell of weed, vomit, and sweat. This is exactly why I don't go to parties. Well, that and I don't get invited to them. Marisol pulls me to the kitchen where the drinks are. She grabs herself a beer before handing me one.

"Thanks, but no thanks," I say placing the drink back on the counter top. She rolls her eyes at me before smiling.

"You really aren't the party type," she says, pulling me in some other direction. We end up in the backyard where a  cute boy in khaki shorts, a polo shirt, and a backwards visor is shouting, asking for two people to join him and his friend in a game of beer pong.

"We will play!" Marisol shouts, raising her hand so the boy can see us. I glare at Marisol before reminding her I don't drink, but she shrugs me off and pulls me to our opponent.

"Hey! I'm Dan," shouts the boy over the thunder of music.

"I'm Marisol and this is my friend Lavender," she says gesturing to me. "Lead the way, Dan."

We follow him in the direction of the corner of the backyard where it is much more quiet. It looks as though his friend is just finishing setting up the game. As we walk closer, my heart freezes. It's him. Shawn.

As we approach the beer pong table, Shawn looks up at us and smiles. Ugh, his smile is so perfect.

"Hey man," says Dan as he gives Shawn a bro-shake. "This is my friend Shawn."

Shawn waves at us and smiles.

"Shawn, here we've got Marisol and Lavender, and they are ready to lose."

"No way," Marisol corrects Dan. "I never lose."

"Then prove it," he says winking at her.

I can't help but look down and smirk at their obvious flirting. Looks like Marisol already found herself a man. When I look up, my eyes meet Shawn's and he immediately looks down awkwardly. Was he staring at me? Probably not. Just wishful thinking, I guess.

"Ladies first," Shawn says, making me extremely nervous.

I've never played this game before and I don't drink. How is this even going to work out for me? I'm just going to end up embarrassing myself.

Marisol goes first, but she misses.

"This is going to be so easy," Dan says, earning himself a glare from Marisol.

I take a ping pong ball and wish for the best as I aim for one of the middle cups. To my surprise, it goes in. Dan looks shocked and Shawn smirks at his reaction. Marisol jumps up and down clapping excitedly, and I laugh at how over the top she is being.

"I don't know Dan," says Shawn as Dan drinks whatever was in that cup. "I think you might have met your match. Lavender has some pretty good form." He smiles at me.

"I did play basketball back in my day," I say.

"Me too," says Shawn enthusiastically. "What position did you play?"

"Point guard. I guess I was too short to play anything else." I laugh and so does he. "How about you?"

"Center," he responds. "I guess I was too tall to play anything else." I smirk at his words and Dan coughs loudly, interrupting our conversation.

"Are we here to talk, or are we here to play? Ball me, Shawn," Dan says, holding out his hand.

Shawn laughs, shaking his head disapprovingly at Dan's choice of words as he hands him a ping pong ball. Dan pretends to stretch and crack his neck before taking position. We all laugh. He throws the ball and to his satisfaction, it goes right in.

"Pay back time. Drink up, Lavender," Dan says, rubbing his hands together like some type of cheesy villain. I awkwardly scratch the back of my neck before trying to explain myself.

"I actually don't drink," I say, embarrassed by my need to always play life safe. "Marisol is going to have to drink for me."

"That, I don't mind," says Marisol reaching for the cup in which Dan's ping pong ball landed.

"Oh, come on Lavender. It's more fun if you play the right way. A couple of drinks isn't going to kill you," Dan pushes.

"I don't know," I say. "I really don't think it's a good idea."

"Drink it, drink it, drink it," Dan begins to chant.

"Dude, stop!" Shawn says, hitting Dan on the shoulder. "If she doesn't want to drink, then she doesn't have to."

"Okay, bro. Chill. I didn't mean to make her uncomfortable or anything."

I smile at Shawn as a way of silently thanking him and he smiles back.

***

30 minutes later, the boys become the beer pong champions, leaving me with nothing but a deflated ego and a drunk Marisol.

"What do you say guys? Round 2?" Dan asks. I shake my head no.

"I don't think so. I better get Marisol back to our suite." Dan nods his head, understanding why.

"I don't want to leave yet," Marisol whines, but I don't listen to her.

"Bye guys!" I shout. "See you around, I guess."

"Bye Lavender. See you around," responds Shawn, while Dan just waves. I begin to walk away but stop in my tracks. I turn around, and my eyes meet Shawn's.

"Oh, uhm- you can call me El," I tell him. "That's what my friends call me."

Shawn smiles at me before saying "See you around, El," and I feel the butterflies in my stomach awaken from their slumber. I wave goodbye before walking away with Marisol.

***

After struggling to get Marisol back to our suite, I'm grateful to find myself in the comfort of my cupcake pajamas and fuzzy socks. Marisol is passed out in her party attire, but by the drool on her pillow, I can tell she doesn't mind and is plenty comfortable.

I lay down on my unnecessarily large bed and think about my day. Maybe my dad was right. Maybe this place will be good for me. However, that doesn't change the fact that the real reason he sent me here is so he doesn't have to worry about taking care of me all summer. Wouldn't want to overwhelm him by making him do his job as a father. I sigh, not wanting to lay here and think about my dad. Instead, I want to think about the perfect, curly-headed boy that sings like an angel. I feel silly swooning over a guy I barely know, but I can't help it. Shawn is sweet, funny, talented and handsome. He has it all. I frown, realizing that a guy who has it all, wouldn't want anything to do with a girl like me. I'm being ridiculous. I need to focus on something else. I grab Jane Eyre, or as Marisol likes to call it, "my bible," and I read until I find myself begin to drift off.