There's No Way

Yellow

We pulled into the parking lot of our office, hands still intertwined as I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding. He gave my hand one last gentle squeeze before we both stepped out of his car. I looked up at the suddenly intimidating office building and mustered up every ounce of courage in my body to begin slowly walking towards it. I felt a strong arm wrap around my shoulders comfortingly; I couldn't help but smile. When I said that Shawn made me feel safe, I meant it. I couldn't exactly put my finger on it, but something about Shawn's mere presence made me feel like I could take on the world.

I pushed all of my internal hesitation aside as we approached the door, placing my small hand on the handle of the door and pulling it open. My emotional stability surprised me as we walked our way over to my desk, however despite said emotional stability I still managed to find myself unable to fully step inside my small cubicle. So much had happened in such a short span of time that I didn't even fully process the fact that it hadn't even been 48 hours since everything had happened. I tried once more to step into my cubicle but my body remained frozen in place. Maybe Shawn was right, maybe it was still too soon for this. A strong hand was gently placed onto my shoulder, interrupting me from my thoughts.

"You're safe," he said, barely above a whisper. I swallowed the lump in my throat and turned to look at him before responding.

"You're sure he's not coming back?" I weakly whispered.

"He emptied his desk, Camila. You're safe – I promise," he stated once again. I nodded before mustering up all the strength I had to step into my cubicle and sit down at my desk. I felt Shawn gently place his hand on my back before leaning down and pressing a quick yet tender kiss to my cheek.

"You've got this. If you need anything at all, you know where I sit. I'm here for you," he said. And that was enough. Somehow I managed to make it through the entire day without any type of mental breakdown, although I'd be lying if I said I wasn't on the edge of one at a few points. Shawn was right, though. I was safe. As long as he was there with me, I knew I had nothing to fear.

——

The remainder of the work week went fairly smoothly. Obviously there were a few hiccups here and there, but nothing I couldn't handle. But now it was Friday, which meant it was officially time to start the process of moving in with Shawn. I had spent several evenings during the week cleaning out and purging my apartment, putting a good majority of my stuff into a storage unit I had rented knowing I wouldn't be able to take everything with me moving into Shawn's. We both spent the rest of the day on Friday at my apartment boxing things up. I heard Shawn laugh behind me, I turned around – curious to see what it was that he found so amusing.

"What is this?" He questioned, holding up a poorly drawn picture of a little boy. I chuckled, realizing that it did probably seem like a strange thing for me to have.

"The family who used to live in the apartment below me, they had a little boy. His name was Silas. He was such a sweetheart, he always called me his best friend. Before they moved, he drew this picture of himself for me so I 'wouldn't forget him', he even colored the background yellow because he knew it was my favorite color,"  I smiled as I recalled the memory.

"Well that's the cutest shit I've ever heard," Shawn stated. He took the piece of paper over and placed it on the counter dramatically slow, as if it were a priceless piece of fine art. "We're definitely gonna have to frame it and hang it up or something, you don't just own art like this and not display it," he spoke. I chuckled and shook my head at his playful antics.

Around 7 pm, everything was packed and ready to go. We somehow managed to fit all of the boxes into both of our vehicles, so luckily we only had to make one trip. Shawn left in his car, stopping to get takeout for our dinner on the way, as I stayed behind to say a final goodbye to my sweet apartment before heading to my new home.

We were both starving, so we opted to eat our Chinese takeout first before bringing any of the boxes into the house. After our we finished our dinner (and a couple more episodes of Friends), we finally started moving my things into the spare room. The room was about as empty as it could get – spotless wood floors complimented by stark white walls and a large bay window that was sure to bathe the room in natural daylight when the sun was out.

"Sorry, I know it's pretty plain – you can paint the walls if you'd like," Shawn said, placing the boxes he was carrying down on the floor.

"No it's okay, the white is perfect!" I responded, flashing a smile at him. He gave me a confused look, as if my answer wasn't convincing him.

"Everything I own is so colorful, no matter what color I paint the walls something will clash with it. But white, white works well with every color!" I stated confidently. He shook his head and chuckled at me.

"Whatever you say, Cabello." He quickly turned around and started to head back out to grab some more boxes from both of our vehicles as I began unpacking what we had brought in so far. Once all of the boxes were brought in, he offered to put my bed together for me so I would actually have a place to sleep tonight. I wasn't sure whether he offered because he genuinely wanted to help or because he was eager to finally be able to sleep in his own bed again – probably a mixture of both. Either way, it didn't matter to me. As I watched him connect the pieces of my bed frame, I couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude. He had no reason to help me other than the fact that he genuinely cared for me and wanted to help me. My attention was quickly drawn from my thoughts when he spoke up from behind the wooden headboard.

"Everything okay?" he asked. I wasn't sure how long I had been doing it, but he had clearly caught me staring at him.

"Yeah," I responded with a soft smile, "thank you, Shawn," I said. He shrugged and looked back up at me.

"It's a pretty simple bed frame, it's really nothing..." he said before looking back down at what he was doing, clearly misunderstanding what I meant.

"Not just for the bed frame, though I do appreciate your help with that too..." he looked back up at me as I finished my sentence, "thank you for everything, for being there for me...I mean seriously, you really didn't have to do any of this and honestly, I'm not sure what I did to deserve someone as kind as you in my life, but I really appreciate you." He smiled wide before standing up and walking over to me. He cupped my face in his hands before softly speaking.

"You're one of the most incredible people I've ever met, Camila. I care about you so much..." He pulled me into a hug before quietly whispering into my ear. "I've got your back always, okay?"

"Okay" I quietly replied, squeezing him into the hug a little tighter.