Restoration [Shawn Mendes] AU

Chapter 23

New Year's Eve had arrived and Shawn was getting dressed to go to a party at his friend Geoff's house. Geoff was a few years older, had a decent job and hung out with a different crowd than the one that had been at Brian's party a couple of weeks before, thus the appeal of going to Geoff's party. The chance of running into Stacey was somewhere between slim and none. She was part of Brian's uni crowd and they were having their own party somewhere in Toronto.

As he finished buttoning and tucking in his black collarless dress shirt in his black dress pants and rolling up the sleeves, his thoughts once again turned to Michelle, wondering what she was doing at that exact moment. He was sure her New Year's Eve was going to be quiet and as low-key as it possibly could be. She had said she would prefer to just sleep through the entire week of holidays to avoid feeling depressed. The thought of her alone or lying in bed crying at her parents' house, trying to not think about how much her life had changed in the last 6 months hurt his heart. Going to a party just seemed rather frivolous in comparison, but he needed to get out and mingle with people, see friends he hadn't been in contact with for awhile and keep his mind occupied with something else other than Michelle.

He came downstairs and put on his new black leather jacket he'd received as a Christmas present, then grabbed his mother's car keys. "Ok, so I'm taking off, not sure when I'll be back but since I won't be here at midnight I'll just tell you now, Happy New Year!" he laughed as he hugged his mum who had just taken a casserole dish out of the oven.

"Happy New Year babe! Now do not be drinking and driving and for God's sake don't be texting while you're driving either, do you hear me? We don't need any phone calls telling us you've been in some horrible accident," she warned.

"I know, I know, I don't drive if I'm drunk and I stopped texting while driving quite awhile ago. Stop worrying so much," he grinned as he gave her another hug and a kiss on her cheek.

"That's what mother's do...we worry. It doesn't matter how old you are."

"Shawn! Wait up!" Aaliyah called as she came running down the stairs.

"What's wrong?" he turned around to see her standing in the doorway to the kitchen putting on her coat, a red duffel bag on the floor by her feet.

"I need you to drop me off at my friend Olivia's house on the way to your party. Pleeeease?" she asked with a cheesy grin.

"Where does she live? Is it even on the way to Geoff's neighborhood? How are you getting home?" he peppered her with questions.

"Yes, she lives a few blocks away from where you're going. And I'm not coming home until tomorrow because Olivia's having a New Year's party and then a sleepover with just us girls after the party is over," she explained.

"What?" he looked at his mother with an unbelieving look. "You're letting her go to a party that's turning into a sleepover? And there's gonna be a bunch of horny teenage boys, who you know will be trying to sneak back into the house after the party. That's just how these things work."