NANNY FOR MENDES.

Twenty-six

𝗦𝗢𝗣𝗛𝗜𝗔'𝗦 𝗣𝗢𝗩

Shawn left an hour ago. It's only 10 AM. Bear won't be here for a while. And probably Shawn too.
So, I'll tidy the house, clean it if necessary.

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𝓣𝔀𝓸 𝓗𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓼 𝓛𝓪𝓽𝓮𝓻....

I tidied Bear's room, but cleaned 𝘢𝘯𝘥 the kitchen, the bathrooms, the living room, the bedrooms. Even the dining room. It was dusty as hell. Apparently it hasn't been touched in a long time. I only left Shawn's room, because it would have been really privacy-invading.

I get a phone call. I take my phone out of my pocket to answer it. It's Shawn.

"Hey. Miss me?" Shawn says, teasing me.

"You have no idea." I tease back, laughing. "Where are you?"

"I went for a drink with Noah."

"So I get it you guys made up?"

"Yeah, we did."

"Hey, Soph!" That's Noah.

"Noah! Hey! I missed you!"

"Me too! So Pizza tonight, huh? And 𝗒𝗈𝗎 are making it. Wow."

"Oh yeah."

"I'd have totally come over even if Shawn hadn't invited me."

"You're welcome here anytime, Noah. Despite what Shawn says."

He laughs. "Oh yeah, I know. Despite what this asshole says."

"You talking about me?" Shawn asks, taking over the call.

"Oh yeah."

"Good things I hope."

"Very good things." I tease.

"Bear called me. He said he'd leave Christina's at 4:00. He should probably be home at 5:00."

"Very well. I'll talk to you later."

"Okay. You need anything for me to bring before I come back?"

"No thanks."

"Okay, bye."

I spray some lavender air freshener, as a final step.

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An hour later, Shawn walks through the door.

"It smells nice."

And then, realization hit him. He looks at his apartment, eyeing it.

"Wait a minute. Did you clean the house?"

"I did. It needed to. And besides, I had plenty of time."

He shakes his head, smiling.

"I said before and will say it again. I don't deserve you. You're a great friend, Soph."

I smile at his sweet words.

He heads for his bedroom, to change obviously.

I call Mom. I left her a message, telling her I was leaving early.

"Hey Mom."

"Hey Soph. Where are you?"

"Shawn's apartement."

She laughs.

"What?" I ask her, confused.

"It just sounds weird."

I consider for a second. And yes. It does sound weird.

"Bear's coming today, Mom. I had to go there."

"You went there way too early. You told me the boy would come at the afternoon, evening possibly."

"Mom." I sigh. "Look, not now. I'll talk to you later."

I had to hang up because Shawn just got out of his room. I definitely don't want him to listen to us talking about him. That's where our conversation was headed.

He changed from the pair of jeans and shift he was wearing, looking all sexy, wearing a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt.

"Call Noah. Tell him to come early. Bear would absolutely love the homemade-pizza-making with Noah around. I thought he'd come with you."

"He's coming. But one of us has to be in the company. But I'll call him to see if he could finish early."

"Okay."

"I bet with all the cleaning you did, you didn't have lunch. Come on, we'll go out. La Palette?"

"Okay."

"Speaking of cleaning, you didn't clean my room, did you?"

Thank God, I didn't. He would've been angry, had I cleaned it.

"No. Of course not. Cleaning your room means invading your privacy. Which is very annoying."

"I wouldn't have had any problem. You can get into my room."

He never stops amazing me with the unexpected replies.

"Still, Shawn."

He shakes his head, laughing.

"What?" I ask him.

"Nothing."

"I'm glad I amuse you."

"Did I upset you when I laughed?" He asks, cupping my chin and tilting my head.

Butterflies are all over my stomach. Not just my stomach, actually.

"No, Shawn. Not at all." I say, putting my hand over his and taking it off my chain.

He actually needed comfort that I wasn't upset. He looked genuinely worried.

"Tell me, please if I upset you. I can be mean sometimes."

"Shawn, it's fine really." I say, rubbing his arm.

"Let's go."

He took my hand in his, walking us through the door and out the apartment.

He realized what he just did and left my hand.

"Sorry. I... don't know wh—"

"It's okay. Leave it." I cut him off, taking his hand.

This is intimate. And we're not even dating.

We finally make it to his car and drive to La Palette.

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Shawn called Noah in the car while driving to La Palette.
Noah met us there and we had lunch. We had a really good time, talking and laughing. It's like we're our own group of friends. Noah is a really cool guy. And Shawn.... well Shawn is..... Shawn.

Before we even knew, it was 4:00 and Raul called Shawn telling him he was coming. He called me then and asked to meet him at the house.

We all left then, went to the apartment, waiting for Bear to come back. I missed this kid A LOT.

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