11:11 (A Shawn Mendes Fanfiction)

Chapter 7

        My alarm blasted in my ear at 6:45am Saturday morning. I scrambled out of bed, threw on a pair or black nike pros, a blue lululemon workout tank, and tossed my hair up into a quick bun before leaving for 7am dance practice.  I got to the studio just in time for ballet to start.  I couldn’t concentrate the whole morning.  My mind was swarming with memories from last night, plus I was tired from my lack of sleep.  During my lyrical class I fell while doing my solo in our floor routine.  I sat on the ground while the other girls were staring, laughing at me.  I laughed to as I grabbed Morgan’s extended arm, pulling myself onto my feet.  

“Rough night?” Morgan whispered to me.

“Fun night, rough morning.” I replied, causing her to let out a little laugh.  I tried really hard for the rest of the morning, not allowing my thoughts distract me.

"Alright, everyone. Take a quick water break and come back in 5," our teacher said. I sighed, scratched my head, and began to leave the room behind everyone else.  I grabbed my water bottle and picked up my phone. Shawn had sent me a couple of texts, and my Twitter was blowing up again.  Before I could figure out why, we all needed to go back into the room, so I threw my phone back into my duffel bag.

"Alright, guys, so as you know we have our first competition a month from today.  That means right now is crunch time.  Meaning, cleaning, run throughs of every routine, flawless practices every day, no injuries, and Nicole, no falling during your solo.” Our teacher gave her speech and everyone laughed at the last comment.  I smiled, even though I was extremely embarrassed.  After a short jazz workshop to clean one of our numbers, everyone left to go home.  I, on the other hand, stayed to run my contemporary solo that I've been working on for weeks.  In the middle of a run through, my teacher stopped the music.

"Nicki, you're good," she began, "But, you need inspiration.  Your dance is about love, and passion, and fire.  I see your technique yet, it needs more. Technique is only the half of it, you can’t win with only technique and no passion. You better find that spark before competition or you will embarrass yourself up there." Her words were harsh towards me, but I am grateful for her rashness and honesty with me.  I would be no better without criticism.  I thanked her and left the studio, grabbing my bag on the way out.  I got in my car and sat in the parking lot for a little bit.  I pulled my phone out from my bag and opened twitter to figure out why I had so many notifications.  After about 3 straight minutes of scrolling I saw a tweet from Shawn.  He tweeted a picture of us posing in front of a store, one of the picture we took last night.  In the picture, he stood behind me with his arms around me.  We were both slightly bent over at the waist, laughing.  A true candid picture.  His tweet read, ‘Thanks @nicolemurphy for showing me how to love this city<3’.  I was sitting in my car, staring at my phone, smiling like an idiot.  The tweet had already gotten over 5,000 favorites and over 3,000 retweets!  I’ve gone from 500 to 7,000 followers ever since I’ve met Shawn.  I retweeted Shawn’s tweet and replied with, ‘LA is much more fun with you here(:’ Then I drove home.

I had completely forgotten about Shawn's text until he sent me another one.  They each read...

‘nicki, I had the best time last night. I haven't had that great of a night in my whole entire life’

‘but you never sang 4 me!’

‘reply ASAP Nicki I don't know how long i can wait 4 another date!’

I read all of his messages in his voice.  I replied as quickly as possible after thinking of a cute response.

‘mendes u just said it was the best night of ur life, i wouldn't ruin it with my voice(;’  I smiled and locked my phone for about a half a second before my phone rang again.  Shawn was calling me.

"Hello?" I asked, even though I obviously knew it was him.

"Don't ever talk about yourself that way! You're absolutely perfect in everything you do. It hurts me when you say things like that, Nick." He explained.  I began chuckling at his concern, since I was kidding.  Actually, I think I have a pretty good voice.  It's just embarrassing to sing in front of someone who is famous for his voice and has a record deal. "Why are you laughing?"

"I don't think I'm a bad singer," I admitted.  "I just don't want to sing in front of you. With your millions of followers and amazing voice, I just don't want you to judge me," I finished.

I waited for his response, but it never came.  I finally opened the car door after sitting in my driveway for a while.  I fumbled with the keys to my front door.  Suddenly, I felt a hand on my waist and I flinched.  Turning around, I realized it was Shawn.  He wrapped both of his arms around me in the warmest, most comfortable hug possible.  My arms were latched around his neck as I took in the scent of his blue T-shirt.  We stood like this on my front step for what seemed like an hour. No words were necessary until he pulled away and looked me in the eyes, still holding onto my waist.

"Never, in a million years, would I even think you aren't the most perfect, talented, and beautiful girl on this planet.  I may have girls following me around but the only one I ever want to follow around is you, Nicole.  Don't ever feel like my fame or my career will get in the way of us."  His gaze never once strayed from mine.  I pulled him in and we kissed again, his lips fitting perfectly with mine.  I unlocked the door and guided him in my house into the living room.  I picked up a guitar from its stand and handed it to Shawn.

"It was my dad's.  He used to play, but he hasn't for a long time," I said, offering him the instrument. "If you sing for me, I will sing for you," I offered.  He smiled assuringly at me and began to strum the guitar lightly, deciding which song would be right for the occasion.  I could tell he wasn't just going to sing Life of the Party or any of his newer songs.  Once he decided on one, he began singing.

"Guess it's true I'm not good at a one night stand," He began.  Stay with Me by Sam Smith was one of my absolute favorite songs. I buried my head in my hands with excitement that Shawn was serenading me with his flawless voice, handsome looks, and a fantastic song choice.  Throughout the song, he was looking at me and his left hand, shifting positions to create different chords.  Once he finished, he just looked at me.  I took the guitar from his arms and placed it on the ground.  I just laid my head on his shoulder.  He soon put his arm around me and placed a quick kiss on my forehead.

"How did I get so lucky to meet you?" I asked him.  I looked up to meet his eyes and he smiled, running his fingers through my hair.

"You're not the lucky one, sweetheart," He replied.  This boy was going to be the death of me.  He smiled at me.  I got up from the position we were in and went and sat at the keyboard in the room.  While I wasn't exactly Beethoven, I knew how to pluck out some chords.  I only had a few songs in my repertoire of music, so I picked the one that was closest to my heart.  I began playing the chords to Say Something, and Shawn scooted to the end of the couch, closest to where I was playing.  Once I began singing, he could not take his eyes off of me.  I looked up every so often, which actually wasn't very often since I needed to pay attention to the piano.  At the end of the song, I wasn't sure what to do.  I sort of just held my hands in their position on the last chord of the song.  Shawn then stood up and sat on the edge of the piano bench.  He grabbed my hands and looked so lovingly into my eyes.

"You could not be any more perfect. You know that, right? Your voice is incredible," He told me sincerely.  I blushed and look down at the floor, brushing my heels against the carpet.

"Sorry for making you wait to hear me," I apologized, still looking at the floor.

"It was more than worth the wait. Don't apologize for being real with me," He said, taking my chin lightly in his hand, bringing my gaze back to his. "You don't understand how much your honesty and personality mean to me. You don't see me like my fans do, or even my parents.  I can never be more thankful for you in my life right now."

I placed my hand over his, which was now resting on the side of my cheek.  He leaned in for a soft and slow kiss before resting his nose against mine.

"You are my 11:11," He whispered against my lips before closing the gap again.

"And you're still on crack," I laughed, pushing him away.  We started jamming to different songs that we both knew, and I've never felt happier in my life to be seated next to one of the most talented people I've ever heard, embarrassing myself.

Thank god I didn't kill this kid with my car.