KISS ME

CHAPTER 3 - DISAPPOINTMENT

Camila was at once excited and nervous about the last day of working in the studio with Shawn. And the other writers and producers of course. She almost skipped up the stairs to the studio to find everyone milled around talking, looking very serious. She looked around but couldn't see Shawn.

"What's up?" she asked, frowning.

"We just heard from Shawn, he won't be able to make it today, personal reasons."

Personal reasons? She looked from one face to the other.

"What sort of personal reasons?" she asked. One of the guys spun his computer around for her to see.

'Shawn Mendes and Mystery Blonde Take Midnight Flight'

Beneath was a photo of Shawn with his head bowed low and a blonde woman at LAX.

She looked at them all in shock. Are you kidding me? In the middle of the recording session, he fucks off on holiday with some bimbo? She was fuming. That was so unprofessional, and so RUDE. She tried not to acknowledge the other feelings, the disappointment in him, the.....jealousy? No way. Definitely not. The decision had been made to reschedule the last couple of sessions until Shawn was available again, and to be honest she was so angry she didn't think she could concentrate anyway. She was supposed to stay in LA for a few days before heading to London to start rehearsals but she decided to go home instead and booked on the next available flight to Miami. She was going to lay by the pool for a few days, stay off social media, not talk to anyone but her family, watch Disney movies and meditate. Fuck everything. And fuck Shawn Mendes.

A week later, she strolled into the rehearsal space located near the studio just outside of London feeling calm and in control. She had done exactly what she had said she would and she was relaxed and regenerated. She tried not to acknowledge the little ball of fury that by now was surrounded by a wall of ice. She was cool. She was calm. She was NOT disappointed or upset because someone didn't meet her high standards. She would just accept him as he was. She could hear talking and laughter when she walked in. Shawn was already there, he towered above most of the others and her eyes zeroed in on him. He turned when she walked in and the smile faded from his face. She gave him a cool smile and a casual wave and then hugged Kay and James and some of the others who she knew, then went through introductions with all those she didn't. She didn't care how wonderful they all seemed to think Shawn was, she was not getting sucked into his nice-guy aura again. She just nodded and smiled when a bunch of girls were talking about how nice, and kind and sweet and gorgeous he was, as they stood around in the ladies' bathroom.  She knew better.

Shawn and his men-at-arms went off with the stunt co-ordinator to work on weapons training. They were learning how to use swords and do hand-to-hand fighting. The first scenes being worked on were Cinderella at home, with her father, and then with the stepmother and her stepsisters. It wasn't the traditional storyline, but the basis was the same. She loved the girls who played her sisters, and they were deliciously wicked as was the woman who played her stepmother, one of her favourite actresses and a phenomenal singer. She had a wonderful day, not the least because she didn't have to interact with Shawn at all. He had worked on his own scenes in a different space in the complex, the scenes before Prince Robert meets Ella, and some after he meets her, scenes with his father and his advisors etc. She hugged everyone goodbye and took her service back to the house she'd rented not far away. Her mother was waiting when she got home, she'd spent the day setting everything up at the new place, letting Camila do her thing on her own. She had a quiet night ahead of her, a bath perhaps while she read through her lines for tomorrow. She already knew most of them of course, and she was more than a little nervous, because these were the scenes with Shawn, but she was sure they would be fine.