Dream Big (Sequel to Dreamer)

Chapter Twenty

Tia's POV

I sat in the chair, talking quietly with a nervous Shawn. We were waiting on Andrew, but we weren't worried. We had been early, so we didn't expect him yet. "Tia, I need to tell you something..." Shawn starts, but in walks Andrew. "Hello, everyone, I see that you're early. Thank you meeting with me prior to having Destiny here." He tells us, and we sit up straight before we answer. Andrew and I make introductions, and shake hands politely. "So, the first order of business, Shawn, I'll let you decide first. Shall we talk about who Tia is to you, that mystery girl you still won't tell us who you kissed at that airport in L.A., or about the big elephant in the room?" He asks Shawn, and he gulps. "Let's talk about the first two..." Andrew leans foreword, waiting for Shawn to start. "Well, the mystery girl... that's Tia. I kissed her. She's my girlfriend." Shawn tells him, and I sit quietly. "Your girlfriend? Shawn, how old is she? She looks twelve!" Andrew asks, getting a bit angry. "Excuse you! I'm older than I look! I thought Canadians had manners." I pipe up, irritated by the fact I was being talked about. "I'm from Illinois, sweetheart." He corrects me, ignoring my comment. "Seventeen." I tell him, and he looks at me confused. "You asked how old I was. I'm seventeen. I'm not a small child, I can talk for myself. If you have questions about me, don't ask Shawn, ask me." I tell Andrew, standing up. "Last I checked, you aren't my boss. I can do what ever I want, I don't have to follow your orders." Andrew tells me, and I scoff. "You wanna know something?" I ask him, crossing my arms. "What's that?" He asks me, thinking I'm about to say something stupid more than likely. "That's the most childish thing I've ever heard someone say." I chuckle, and he goes red in the face. "You wanna talk about childish?" He asks me, raising his voice. "You're standing here, acting all whiny and bratty over a stupid question!" He yells, and so I yell back. "I spoke up because I was being talked about, right there in front of me! I am not five! I can answer any questions you have about me! I don't need anybody to answer questions for me! I'm not going to just sit there and let someone else do that! That's how rumors and false information gets spread!" "You are a child! You are a minor! And judging by your accent, you aren't even from Canada! Definitely not L.A.! I bet you're here on your parents' money!" Andrew taunts, and I laugh in his face. "I'm emancipated, and not just that, I saved my own money for months to get here! My parents have zero to do with my financial success to being able to get here. I did all the paperwork. I paid for every ticket. I had the extra cash for emergencies. Don't call me a child when the only thing Shawn did was pay for the phone and provide a place to live when I got here." I yell, and then our heads snap towards the slowly opening door. The yelling immediately stops, and we all look at her. "Oh, Destiny, you're early." Andrew comments, and she gingerly nods. "D-Do I need t-to come b-back?" I hear her ask, and they shake their heads. Shawn and I began to whisper back and forth, glancing at the girl. She hid her hearing aids, and I felt bad because I knew she thought I was judging her. I told Shawn I knew who she was, but he was trying to explain to me who Destiny was. She walks in, shutting the door behind her. "Sh-Shawn, the t-twins are doing g-great. Th-Their their nurse said that th-they could be w-well enough to be r-re-released by the end of th-the week." Destiny tells him, embarrassed by her stutter. "That's great!" Shawn says cheerfully, although it seems strained. "Twins?" I whisper. "We have a lot to talk about when we get home." I state, figuring out that those kids weren't just a friend's babies, grabbing a black leather backpack purse thing. Shawn grabs the strap, and a look of panic crosses my face. Flash backs of when was mugged flash through my mind, causing panic to rise in my chest. I turn back, ready to swing, but relaxing when I sees that it's just Shawn. "You know not to do that." I snap at Shawn, snatching the bag from him before opening the door and taking a few steps out. "We need to talk, Tia, this meeting isn't over." Andrew says, and I storm back in. "Now, everyone, please take a seat." Andrew finished, and I sat to Andrew's left, and Shawn's right. Destiny sat directly across from me, her awkwardness and discomfort showing profusely. "Alright, we need to discuss a few things. For starters, we need to introduce Tia to Destiny. In the spotlight, Tia is Shawn's nanny, but behind the scenes, Tia is Shawn's girlfriend, against my better judgement." Andrew introduces, and I saw Destiny instinctively nod. I saw her give me a weak smile, trying to be nice, diffuse some tension I suppose. "Next, we need to discuss the twins." Andrew says, and I tried and failed to hide a wince. "What are their names?" I ask, and Andrew and Destiny looked at me in surprise. "I know, bad girlfriend, don't know her boyfriend's kids' names. It's just... this is the first time I'm hearing of them." I say, giving Shawn a death glare at the end. "Kai Canta Mendes and Melody Faith Mendes." Shawn tells her in a strained voice, but I saw Destiny whisper their names as though she had said it before, and it hurt to know that nobody could see the love she had for them. That must've been the aunt Shawn was talking about so many weeks ago. I should've put that together already. "Melody Faith and Kai Canta..." I whispered with a nod. "Beautiful names." I finish, and then Andrew shifts. "Are we going to mention..." Andrew starts, but he pauses for a moment. "Are we going to mention Angel?" He asks, and I give a confused look, again. "I don't want her to be forgotten." Shawn states, his face turning red. "Shawn, are you r-ready for that?" I ask, my stutter at a minimum. "Angel Grace Mendes will not be forgotten." Shawn states again, but you could tell that, despite the power behind the statement, he was struggling not to cry. I put a hand on his back, rubbing up and down as I gulped back a sob. I wanted to say something, but I didn't know what to say. The baby that died... no wonder he was so distraught...Destiny just mouthed at me the word later. I shut my mouth and nodded. We both hugged Shawn, and he pushed us both away. I sat down, staring at my fingers as I twiddled them in my lap. Once Shawn calmed down, Andrew hesitated for a second. "Before you say anything, I think we should tell everyone that the mother is dead, but we shouldn't release her name yet. I'm not... I'm not ready for that." Shawn tells Andrew, and he nods. "Next order of business, how are you going to introduce them? There's the typical social media announcement, everyone loves when you work with James Corden, everyone loves Ellen, as well." Andrew mentions, and I pipe up. "Why not all three?" And I receive a look as though I were Cerberus. "No, seriously. Shawn does a segment with James Corden, and it's all about how a lot of the Mendes Army calls him..." I start, pausing for a moment because obviously I'm uncomfortable with the next word, and gulp. "Daddy..." I say, cringing, "they basically make fun of it. Do a bunch of kid related games, sing kids songs, get little kids involved to show how great he is with kids." I start, and then shifts in my chair. "Actually, scratch the daddy kink idea." I switch into planning mode. "Have it about getting the younger fans more involved. That way it can't bite him in the butt." I nod, talking like I was almost thinking out loud. I saw Andrew writing things down, nodding. "With Ellen, have her talk to Shawn about James Corden and the show they did together. Maybe surprise a fan, have her talk about how much she loves Shawn, and ask her if she wants to meet the Mendes family. Then have Shawn come out with a double stroller. Don't let the world get a good look at their faces. Save that for social media. Have him mention any details he wants to release that day. A few days after the episode airs post a picture of Shawn and the twins. Share any details left out in the show that you're okay with sharing. In a separate post I would mention Angel and whoever their mother is, give whatever details you're okay with." I finish, and Andrew stops jotting down notes. "That sounds like a solid plan." Andrew comments, and I smile shyly. "Have you ever considered working at a record label? As a publicity manager?" Andrew asks curiously, and I just shake my head no. "I think I'll stick to babysitting and writing. I prefer tiny humans and fictional characters over real people." I chuckle, then turn red as the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic theme song starts playing. I turn my phone off, and the music stops. The lyrics left off at the end of Twilight's first part, so Destiny picked up. "Big adventure, tons of fun, a beautiful heart, faithful and strong, sharing kindness..." I smile, joining in with her singing, "It's an easy feat, and magic makes it all complete! Yeah, my little pony, don't you know you're all my very best friends?" We finish together, and then notice Shawn and Andrew staring at us in confusion. "Gotta stay up to date with cartoons if you're gonna be a good babysitter." I state, crossing my arms. We give each other a look, and we both know we're pegasisters. "Anyways... Shawn, do you agree with Tia's plan?" Andrew asks, and Shawn nods. "Okay... Now, Destiny, it's come time to release the album in two weeks. You sang Camila's part when the song went live. Do you want to be on Shawn's album? Because Camila can't sing her part on tour, and Shawn is insisting that you take over her part." Andrew explains everything, and I saw her sit there for a few seconds. "A-Are you sure? I-I mean... I-I'm not the best s-singer..." She asks, panicking. "I'm sure." Shawn insists gently, and I saw her nod. "O-Okay..." She sighs shakily, trembling lightly. Shawn cheered, jumping up to hug her. I watched her hug back, nervously glancing at me. I smiled at her, genuinely happy for her. She hesitates, but smiles back at me. I look over at Andrew. He's digging through a stack of papers, and he appears to find what he's looking for. He hands her a single sheet, and he explains everything on it as she read it. The gist of it? They basically are saying that Shawn and her own the song, this is her part, she gets 45% of the earnings off of it, and they only can control what she does if it deals with the song until it is released of the album. I watched her sign it, date it, and slide it back over to Andrew. "Welcome to the music industry, Destiny." Andrew tells her, and I smile with her. "Thank you." She states, smiling happily.