Adventuress Love | S.M & C.C

The Faking Of Love

Shawn's POV

"Come on, we have to get a move on!" She giggled, dragging me out of the restaurant we just had lunch at.

She was always quick on her feet and she hopped from one thing to the next. She had the most vibrant energy with the most valuable heart. It was crazy to me that I found myself uncovering something new about her every single day I spent with her.

"Where are we even going?" I raised an eyebrow at her, continuing to jog along beside her.

"Galleria Vitorrio Emanuele II" she bashed her eyelashes, stopping for a moment to get a look at the expression on my face.

I wasn't the best at the accent but hers was perfect. She continued to amaze me everyday. To say that I didn't know what that was is genuinely a fact.

"Do you not know what that is?" She crossed her arms, clearly appalled that I had no idea what Galleria-whatever-the-fuck-it-is, was.

She rolled her eyes at me, playfully before going on and on about what it was in the taxi.

"It's a beautiful old shopping mall." She confirmed by the end of her rant, clearly aware of my lack of knowledge. "We're here." She smiled at me, gripping my hand and dragging me out of the taxi.

She truly knew what she was doing and her way around. We made our way to a few shops and I picked out a few things - like souvenirs for my family members back home and some friends and I'm sure Camila was doing the same.

"I'll pay for that," without my consent, she yanked the things out of my hands and brought it to the counter with her.

"Hey!" Her and I both were very stubborn and it definitely came to surface while bickering about who payed for what.

I didn't have time to object. She had already handed me the separate bag of souvenirs. She was giving and really caring - she definitely wasn't like other girls.

"Thank you, beautiful." I had grown accustomed to calling her different names and complimenting her everywhere we went.

She nodded and smiled in response, walking ahead of me but not far enough to get away from my grip, dragging her closer towards me.

Confidently, I placed a gentle kiss to her cheek and pulled away, satisfied with the pink tint on her cheeks. "I'm paying next time, love." I winked at her, interlocking our hands and making our way to another store.

"You mentioned your sister...what if you got her something like this?" I waved a necklace in her face. It was beautiful, it had a gold rose in the heart with the words "Milan, Italy," imbedded into the centre of the necklace.

Camila's POV

Those words hit me like a truck. I wasn't prepared for him to say something like that. It was an innocent idea and he meant well but in the moment, I couldn't think straight.

"C-Camila? Are you alright?" I heard the clinking sound of the necklace hit the ground as he swiftly place his arms around me, pulling me into a tight hug.

I didn't realize that I had tears streaming down my face. I was too busy overthinking life at the moment.

"Mila...are you okay? I'm sorry." He apologized a thousand times and all I could do was nod my head, no - profusely. "Can we...can we go back?" I asked, barely above a whisper. My body overflowed with sorrow and guilt.

The same guilt I felt when she died and the same guilt I felt just yesterday.

In no time, he brought me back to my hotel and he thankfully, stayed. My head was cuddled into his chest as a part of my body displayed above him as my rigid breath was the only thing to be heard.

"You need to talk to me...I'm sorry but this is killing me."

My heart sped up and my head started to spin. The thought of being even more vulnerable than what I was now - in front of him, heavily clung to my chest.

I prompted myself up from his chest, looking at him with sad and puffy eyes.

I'd never imagine my vacation to be like this. I would never in a million years think that instead of exploring alone, I'd be spending time with a guy that I was sure I had a major crush on in a matter of days. Not only that, I was about to be his fake girlfriend to an event. To top it all off, I was about to open up, for the first time since it happened.

"My sister...she's dead." Shawn's body shifted, bringing himself up to engulf my body into his as I silently cried. He mumbled his apologies and I couldn't listen to it. I've heard that too many times.

"It was eight years ago." I took in a sharp breath, shutting my eyes to gather my thoughts that kept overflowing my mind.

"I was already in campus in college, a few hours away and I wasn't able to come back or else I'd risk missing exams."

My heart clenched, painfully at the thought of me not being there to help my mom or my sister. "My mom assured me that my sister would want me to pull through with school."

Shawn nodded, tears threatening to spill out of his big, hazel eyes. His hand ran up and down my arm, in attempts to calm me down which worked, slightly.

"College was just shitty after that. Everyone just grieved for me and if they ever saw me go out...they'd, they'd...guilt trip me about having the time of my life when my sister is dead."

College was supposed to be the year where I finally let loose and actually enjoyed my remaining years of being immature and doing things I won't be able to do when I start to work or start a family.

Instead, college was just like high school except more guilt and more thoughts flooding my mind, making things harder.

I continued - through many tears, explained high school to Shawn and how desperately I wanted to have the high school experience I never had but couldn't.

"Leukaemia...she's 5 years younger than me, she had just turned 15." My body was shaking but I was able to control my breathing, with the help of Shawn. "Eight years later and it still messes with me."

He nodded, whispering sweet nothings into my ear. He made me feel better, like I was special. The only girl in the world - as cliche as it sounded.

"That's why I travel so much." I added, hoping that my ideas of 'adventures' made more sense.

Our day was spent in my hotel room watching reruns of an Italian sit-com, being extremely close to one another with flirts here and there, room service and moments, moments where I wanted to kiss him or I wanted him to kiss me but I knew that if I did, it would mess things up.

As far as I knew, he was just being kind to me - too kind. He felt a source of pity for me and what I've been through. As of now, he didn't want me for what I was, he wanted me for tomorrow night's plan where I'd be his arm piece for the night. After that, I had no idea.

Thinking of it now, it probably wasn't such a good idea to be vulnerable in front of Shawn. He didn't need that nor did I think he wanted that. What he wanted was his request to be followed through.

If I wasn't worth the loving, I'd be worth the faking of it.

A/n

She finally opened up!

Next chapter should really be about Shawn's though on it all and more interactions with his parents in the PRESENT time.