You and Me, Forever

Overheard

ꫝડꪀꫝꪶ𝕥ꪶρ𝕫ꪑ

Marriage.

They always say the first year is the hardest.

There is a lot of compromising, and learning new things about the other that you might not like very much.

Maybe your wife leaves her wet towel on the bed. Or your husband just kicks his shoes off wherever he is.

In Shawn and Camila's case? Things went much deeper than laundry and clutter.

Shawn was on tour for 9 months of their first year. He's just recently returned home.

Now the long distance thing, him constantly on the move, time zones interfering with facetime dates, it's nothing new to these newlyweds.

They've been together for 4 years now, they've survived 2 world tours.

It's just, when Shawn returned home this time, something was off. For the first few days it was constant; 'I love you's and heaps of cuddles. To be truthful, they never really left the bedroom until his third official day when they really needed to get food.

But now it's been almost 3 weeks since he's come home, and it's been 2 weeks of constant fighting. It's almost become unbearable for them to be in the same room as each other.

With brave faces on they went to Karen and Manny's for Sunday family dinner. But the tension is high, you could practically cut it with a knife. Shawn didn't dish up Camila's plate, she didn't offer to get him a drink when she went to get hers, they aren't all over each other like normal, and what really caught his parents attention is the fact that he hasn't told her that he loves her since he arrived.

Shawn is a very affectionate person, always has been, always will be. With his job, it takes him away from those he loves most, so when he is around them he makes sure they know that he absolutely adores them. Camila is the one he tells the most.

It's very unusual to go longer than an hour with Shawn not telling her that he loves her.

Karen gave her Mom code to Manny, letting him know he's in charge of speaking to Shawn while she sought out Camila.

While she helped her in the kitchen, finishing up the dinner dishes Camila let a shaky breath slip and Karen was on her in a hot minute.

"Let's go talk."

"About?"

Karen gave her the "Mom look" and Camila sighed, nodding as she reached for her coffee cup.

"Let's head out to the back porch."

𝖍𝖘 

"Shawn," Manny spoke up, leaning against the door frame of the old playroom Shawn and Aaliyah shared. "Let's have a quick chat."

"About?" Shawn inquired, watching his Dad open the balcony door and step out.

"Just come talk to me."

Shawn sighed, hanging his head and groaning as he followed his Dad outside.

21, married, and living on his own and he was still getting in trouble with his Dad.

Manny's just about to take a deep breath to start this conversation when he hears Camila's voice.

"What'd you wanna talk about?"

"Oh Honey," Karen coos.

Shawn's brows furrow and at the same time both boys lean over the balcony rail to see Camila and Karen leaning against the porch fence. Karen is rubbing Camila's shoulder as she buries her face in her hands.