Shawn looked up at me. He did a double-take, and soon enough his cheeks were reddening and a smirk spread across his face.
"What?" I asked him, worrying that I put my shirt on inside out or something else to embarrass myself. He shook his head.
"Pl...
After our picnic, Shawn and I leisurely waltzed our way back to our house. Shawn convinced me to put on my new pajamas considering we had decided on spending our afternoon watching Harry Potter movies.
"Well aren't you just the cutest thing in the world!" he exclaimed as I walked out of the bedroom in my new outfit - complete with fuzzy socks. He handed me a bottle of soda and small bowl of popcorn. "Try not to spill them this time," he said with a wink. His reference to our last attempt at watching movies didn't go unnoticed by me.
"Yeah yeah - whatever," I said with my sassiest eye roll as I strolled over to the couch. I couldn't see him, but the little chuckle I heard him emit still made my cheeks flush.
----
We were halfway through the second movie when Shawn picked his phone up off of the coffee table and checked the time.
"We're gonna have to end this movie date a little early if we want to make our dinner reservations," he said casually. I looked up at him and cocked my eyebrow in questioning.
"Dinner reservations? Where are we going?" I asked. He just have me a smug smile before responding.
"You'll see."
----
Our dinner date was magnificent. Shawn had taken me to the same lavish Italian restaurant that we went to on our first official date, we even both ordered the same dishes that we had last time. Also similar to last time, Shawn continued to repeat how pretty I looked. I never got used to hearing him say it, and honestly I secretly hoped I never would. Every time, without fail, the butterflies in my stomach would take flight and my cheeks would immediately turn pink and hot. After we finished our entrées, our waiter brought out the most delicious looking piece of tiramisu I'd ever seen with a lit sparkler sticking out of it - the words 'Happy Birthday' were painted on the plate in chocolate sauce.
When we got home, Shawn walked into the kitchen and grabbed two wine glasses out of the cabinet.
"I almost forgot about this surprise," he said as he pulled a bottle of my favorite wine out of a brown paper bag.
"I'm surprised you were able to find a bottle!" I exclaimed excitedly.
"Honestly, me too." He poured us each a glass. We clinked them together before bringing the glasses up to our lips to take a drink. "It is a damn good wine, though," he said as he reached his hand out for me. "Ready for your big surprise?" I grabbed his hand and nodded. My confusion grew as he led me out into the garage. He let go of my hand only to pull down the wooden step-ladder that leads up to the attic. "Come on," he said as he took my hand in his once more, leading me up into the attic.
"Shawn, what are we doing up here?" I asked, utterly confused at this point. He had his hand over my eyes so I couldn't get any sneak peeks. Instead of answering my previous question, he simply removed his hand and whispered a quiet "surprise". My jaw nearly fell on the floor. The small attic was lit with hanging strings of lights and a small fireplace in the corner. The wood floors and exposed brick made the room feel extremely cozy. The corner with the fireplace was surrounded with floor pillows, woven rugs, candles & small plants.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
In the other corner, the entire wall had been turned into a bookshelf which was housing all of my favorite books and then some; my guitar had been taken out of storage and hung on the wall next to my new library. The main star was in the middle of the room, however. Right in the middle of the room was the most beautiful baby grand piano I had ever seen, completely covered in lit candles.
"Holy shit..." I muttered under my breath.
"Does that mean you like it?" Shawn asked, already knowing my answer.
"Shawn, what the hell is this?" I asked, still completely in disbelief.
"When we were talking the other day about how you use music to work through your emotions and things you're going through...I don't know I just felt inspired to give you a place where you could escape to and...find peace, I guess..." he said shyly. "If you don't like it you can redecorate it-" I cut him off before he could finish his sentence by pressing my lips against his.
"Shawn, this is...I don't even know what to say. This is incredible. Nobody has ever put this much effort into something for me...ever, honestly..." I said as tears began to roll down my cheeks. "Thank you, I don't know what I did to deserve this." He shook his head and brushed the tears off of my cheek with his thumb.
"You deserve it just by being you. Happy Birthday, baby," he said as he placed another kiss to my lips. "Come on, sit!" He excitedly led me over to the piano bench, sitting down and patting the spot next to him. I sat down on the bench next to him, my fingers lightly brushing over the ivory keys. My fingers stilled as I exhaled deeply.
"Shawn, this is too much." The words came out of my mouth as a broken whisper. He tenderly cupped my face in his hands, carefully turning my head so I was looking at him.
"Camila, I need you to know that you deserve good things. You deserve to be happy, okay?" he said sweetly. It was still something I had a hard time coming to terms with, but I was slowly beginning to let myself be loved. "I am so in love with you," he whispered as his lips lightly brushed against mine.
"I'm so in love with you too, thank you for making me feel loved," I responded before fully connecting our lips. Kissing him was always a magical experience, but something about this kiss felt earth-shattering. We were both still sat on the piano bench, tangled at the mouth, yet somehow I felt like I was floating - like gravity had released us from its confines and we were drifting off into the galaxy together. Just then, Shawn pulled away - bringing me back to earth. We both just stared at each other breathlessly. In that moment, it had never been clearer to me that he was the one my heart was always meant to find.
I stood up from the piano bench, reaching my hand out to him and guiding him over in front of the fireplace. We laid on the floor, completely wrapped up in each other. I let out a satisfied hum as his tongue began to explore my mouth, his hands gently grazing my body. I slowly ran my hands up and down the toned muscles of his back, pulling him down so that he was pressed flush against me. His lips made their way to my neck eliciting a needy moan from me. I needed him to be as close to me as possible; I needed to feel as much of him as possible; I needed to be connected to him - fully. He brought his face back up to mine, lightly grazing his lips against mine once more. I looked at him, and I'm fairly certain he knew exactly what I was thinking - but I said it aloud anyway.
