Señorita

Chapter 3

"Dear passengers, as we're about to land, please fasten your seatbelts, straighten your seats, open your window blinds and close your tables. Thank you." The voice of the pilot woke Shawn up from his beauty sleep. The flight was long. 9 hours and 40 minutes . He didn't get bored though. He watched some movies, watched the beautiful view from his window, tried to write some lyrics but unfortunately he was unsuccessful.  He was all alone in the plane, at least there wasn't anyone sitting where he was sitting. The advantage of that was that he could play his guitar without interrupting anyone else.

This was his first time in Turkey. He had said in a few Q&As that he was going to come but he never did.
The airport was full of people rushing to their gate. It was pretty hard for him to walk around without hitting anyone. Luckily, it was Wednesday early in the morning so there weren't much fans around. He walked through the airport following the signs hanging from the ceiling. He didn't have the smallest clue where he was going nor where he had to go. He suddenly saw this guy, with a purple t-shirt and a bulb, printed on it.
"Excuse me, can you please help me?" He asked the young man.
"Of course. Where do you want to go sir?"
"I can't find the exit and I also need a taxi to take me to the Port of Mersin. And I think I'll go to Tenedos from there."
"Ah, ok. That's the best way to go there." Shawn nodded slowly since he didn't have anything to say.
"Please follow me sir," the man called Ibrahim said. Shawn didn't ask for his name though. He just read it on his name tag. He was too busy trying to understand how he'd pronounce his name when he had to said thank you when the man called him;
"We're here sir," he smiled. Shawn almost bumped into him since he was looking at the grey floor playing with his fingers.
"Ah yeah, ermm, thank you Abraham," the man could barely hold back his laughters.
"I pronounced it wrong, didn't I?" Shawn said going through his hair with his fingers.
"Yeah but that's fine sir."
"How do you pronounce it?"
"Ibrahim."
"Ok. Thank you Ibrahim, have a nice day." He said and with that excited the airport. There was along line of orange taxis waiting for their customers on the tarmac road like little bees. A few drivers were carrying their customers' luggages to the baggage.
A few taxis drove away like that. But finally one stopped in front of him and said something in Turkish that of course, Shawn didn't understand. So he spoke in English.
"The Port of Mersin please." The man nodded slowly and opened the door for him. The black leather seats weren't as comfortable as the seats in his own car but he was fine with it. He rested his head on the cool window and looked at his phone. 4:57am which meant 8:57 in Canada. He assumed that Jess would be still asleep but she wasn't. If only he knew that. He finally decided to text her and tell her that he had arrived.

-hi babe, i just wanted to tell you that I'm in the taxi rn and I've already missed you so so so much 🥺❤️

Jessica's phone which was on her nightstand, vibrated which caused her to immediately reach for it and open the messages. The butterflies in her stomach went wild as soon as she read them. Instead of replying to them by text, she called him.
Since Shawn's eyes were on his phone, he answered the call before even waiting for it to ring.
"Babe?"
"Shawn?"
"I thought that you were sleeping! Why aren't you asleep?"
"Well, first of all, I couldn't sleep. Your side of the bed is empty," she replied sorrowfully. Shawn sighed softly.
"and secondly, God Shawn! It's nine o'clock ! Why would I be sleeping?" Shawn laughed.
But Jess knew this wasn't his usual laugh. This wasn't his laugh filled with joy, love and sparkles. It was a laugh let out just to try and make Jessica believe he was fine with it. But they both knew he wasn't.
"Shawn don't call me."
Suddenly Shawn felt like someone hit him in the guts.
"What?!" He yelled louder thank he imagined which caused the driver to turn around.
"What?!" He repeated but not that loud this time.
"You heard me Shawn. Don't call me. We sent you there to relax and clear up your mind. If you call me 24/7 , what would the difference be between you being here with me and you being there and me being here?" It took Shawn a few seconds to process all the things Jessica had just said but finally gave in.
"Ok. I won't call you." He sighed.
Jessica frowned on the other side of the call. They were both clearly surprised.
"Really?"
"Yeah, I mean you're right and," Shawn stopped.
"And?"
"And nothing."
"Ok." There was an awkward silence for a few minutes between them.
"Ok then see you when I come back Jess. And by the way, I love you. More than you can ever imagine."
"I love you too Shawn," Jessica whispered.
"See you in a few months.
"Bye." And as soon as they ended the call, a few tears rolled down their cheek that they were trying to hold back.
The rest of the drive was silent for Shawn. Only the music that he didn't even understand was playing in the background. He was observing the view from his blurred taxi window.
Street vendors were everywhere.
They were selling tissues, water and some bagels. The man suddenly stopped. He was pointing out of the window.
"Are we there?"
The man nodded and his hanging wrinkled cheeks rocked. Shawn thanked him, handed the money and got out of the taxi. He watched the yellow bee disappear and took out the card Andrew gave him. The salty smell of the sea was something he had missed. There was a man's name on the card and a boat's picture. He started looking for the boat named "Damla". Walking for good ten minutes, he finally found the boat. It was just like the one on the photo. A luxurious, small, cozy boat.
He walked towards the man standing in front of it. He assumed that he didn't know English like the taxi driver so he tried to communicate with sign language. The man laughed.
"I know English." He said with a strange accent that he came across the whole journey.
"Oh, ok. Well, my manager Andrew called you, I guess yesterday?"
"Ah yeah! I guess you are," he looked at the little post-it in his pocket.
"Shawn Mendes?"
"Yup that's me."
"And you're going to Tenedos?"
"Yup."
"Ok then, let's go."