There's No Way

Milkshake

[Shawn's POV]

I couldn't help but smile when I walked in the front door of our house and once again heard soft piano music coming from the back room. I quietly walked back into my bedroom to change out of my gym clothes, being sure to not make my presence known. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that she felt more comfortable playing when she thought no one was listening. I enjoyed her melody as I got cleaned up, did some minor tidying around the house, and made myself a cup of coffee to sip on while I responded to some emails. Soon enough, the door to her room was gently pushed open and she stepped out – looking up at me in surprise.

"I didn't know you were home, when did you get back?" she asked as she eyed me curiously.

"About 45 minutes ago, why?" She seemed nervous upon hearing my question.

"Oh, um...n-no reason. I just...why didn't you tell me you were home?" she mumbled.

"Because if I would've told you, you would've stopped playing," I stated plainly. Her cheeks flushed with various hues of pink as she looked down at her feet in embarrassment. "You don't have to be embarrassed or nervous about me hearing you play, okay? I really enjoy listening to you, you're extremely talented," I said as I stood up and made my way over to her. She looked up at me with a shy smile, still clearly feeling a bit uncomfortable about how much of her song I had heard.

"S-sorry, I know it's a weird thing to be embarrassed of – I guess I just...I don't know," she said, shaking her head.

"Yes you do," I stated bluntly. She held my gaze for a moment before taking a deep breath and beginning to speak.

"W-whenever I'm feeling anxious or scared or sad, I uh- I hum random melodies to myself in an attempt to calm down," she explained. "I guess it's just something I've always done, taking those melodies I hum and turning them into an actual piano piece is just my way of reminding myself that sometimes really tough situations can still end up to be something beautiful, I guess..." her voice trailed off at the end.

"So...that piece you were just playing, was that one of those songs?" I asked. She nodded timidly. The question of which moment that song was based on was burning in my mind. I hesitated briefly before asking her what I so desperately wanted to know. "C-can I ask...which moment that song was based on?" I cautiously asked. She cleared her throat of her emotions before responding.

"I um, I wrote it the night that he-" she paused, not being able to finish her sentence. "...the first night I stayed here...I couldn't sleep because of everything that happened so..." she anxiously muttered. I reached forward and took her hand in mine, intertwining our fingers.

"Would you mind playing it for me again?" I asked. She didn't say anything, instead she turned on her heel and led us back into her room and over to the bench sitting in front of the keyboard. I sat down next to her as she closed her eyes and began playing the song once more. It was heartbreakingly beautiful; just as she had explained, it conveyed the brokenness she felt when it happened – but it had become something beautiful. She had taken her agony and turned it into art. I watched her in amazement as she poured herself into the melody. Her fingers stilled as her song came to a close, her eyes softly opening once more. I reached over and took her hands in one of mine, using the other to turn her face to look at me.

"You're right, that was beautiful...you're beautiful," I leaned in and grazed her cheek with my lips. "...and so, so strong. I'm so proud of you," I whispered into her ear. She smiled as she leaned herself closer to me, whispering a quiet 'I love you' in return.

----

[Camila's POV]

Later that night, we had found ourselves at this ridiculously fancy restaurant downtown. Shawn had insisted on taking me on another extravagant date and I wasn't about to turn down pasta & wine.

"So, what do you want to do for your birthday?" Shawn asked. I'll admit, the question caught me off guard. I wasn't even 100% sure he knew when my birthday was, so I definitely wasn't expecting him to put together any type of celebration for me.

"Babe, I really don't need anything special. Just getting to spend the day with you is more than enough," I replied honestly.

"We do that everyday – come on, we have to do something special for your birthday..." he pouted.

"That's really not necessary," I responded plainly. He gave me a smug look before leaning back in his chair and shrugging his shoulders.

"Well then, you leave me no choice. I guess it'll just have to be a surprise," he said with a wink.

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" I joked as I rolled my eyes.

"It's my specialty," he retorted with a smirk.

After dinner Shawn suggested getting ice cream, which I happily agreed to. There was this new super trendy & modern ice cream parlor that had just opened up down the street, so we went to check it out.

We decided to split a rainbow chip brownie milkshake – which we were unable to finish, even with the two of us sharing it.

I laughed as Shawn somehow managed to get whipped cream on his lips despite using a straw.

"Don't laugh at me! It's a messy milkshake! I'm trying my best..." he exclaimed as I continued my giggle fest. His hand reached to get a napkin to clean up the mess but I grabbed his wrist before he could get any further, leaning in and kissing the stray whipped cream off of his lips. He looked at me with wide eyes as I pulled away.

"You know, I always thought the whole 'kissing stray food off of your significant other's lips' move was kind of cheesy and cliché, but after experiencing it – I totally see the appeal," he stated before leaning back in for another deeper kiss. "Wanna head home?" he huskily whispered into my ear.

"Jesus, is that really all it takes?" I chuckled.

"Apparently..." he said as he shook his head and shrugged in disbelief, both of us laughing. We wasted no time in gathering our stuff and heading back to the house, where we quickly found ourselves completely entangled in each other for the rest of the night.

A/N: Great. Now it's 10 AM and I'm craving a milkshake. Why do I do this to myself?