Boy Next Door

Conversations on a Couch

Shawn put his guitar back in its case before getting ready to leave the coffee shop he had been playing at. It had been two days since he found out that Camila was pregnant, and subsequently two days since they had spoken. There had been countless times in those two days that he considered knocking on her door, but he didn't. He didn't want to seem like he was being invasive, and after slipping that note under her door he knew that she was aware that he was there for her. Still, he wanted to talk to her—even just to see her. He needed to know that she was okay.

Just as he was about to leave, a little pink cake pop in the café's glass display case caught his eye. He wanted an excuse to stop by and see her, so he went over and bought the cake pop before finally leaving and heading back to the apartment building. Being impatient and eager to see her, he stopped at her door before even dropping his guitar off at his own place. After a few moments of hesitation, he finally knocked on the door and waited. The door opened slowly, revealing his favorite neighbor standing on the other side.

"Hi," he said shyly. Camila's eyes glanced at the guitar case in his hand and then up to the cake pop in his other hand.

"Do they only pay you in cake pops? Because I feel like that might be illegal." Shawn chuckled and shook his head.

"No, no—they pay me. I just...I actually just bought this for you. I don't know, I just thought maybe you could use something to brighten your day." He shrugged and awkwardly handed the cake pop over to her. She gave him a half smile as she took the treat. Silence lingered between them, but just as he was turning around to head back to his apartment she spoke up.

"Do you want to come in for a bit?" Shawn quickly turned back to look at her. "You can take your guitar back to your apartment first if you'd like," she suggested.

"Yeah! Yeah...I'll go do that and then be right over." Shawn desperately tried to ignore the butterflies taking flight in his stomach, but he couldn't. Though finding out Camila was pregnant was a shock, it surprisingly didn't stifle his crush on her even a little bit. He quickly shoved his guitar back into his apartment and made his way back over to Camila's.

"So..." he said as he walked into her apartment and sat down on the couch. "How are you?" Camila just sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

"Pregnant."

"Yeah...sorry about how all of that happened by the way. I mean, I'm not saying I'm sorry about how you got pregnant...I just meant that I'm sorry that I found out the way I did. I feel bad that you didn't get to tell me when you were ready. I'm sure this is a lot to process for you."

"It is...but I think it's a good thing."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," Camila said as she sat down on the couch next to him. "I mean I've always wanted to be a mom. I didn't really expect it to happen this way...but I guess life would be pretty boring if everything happened exactly how you expect it."

"Does Zach know?" he asked curiously. Camila let out a half-hearted chuckle as she remembered everything that happened after she told him.

"Why do you think he left?" Suddenly Shawn remembered how much yelling and fighting he had heard the night that Zachary had left and his heart ached knowing the reason behind it.

"Jesus, Camila. I...I don't know what to say. I didn't realize that was the reason. I've never been in a serious relationship before but honestly even if a girl I just had a casual hookup with told me she was pregnant I don't think I could ever just...turn my back on that."

"That's because you're a good guy," she said plainly. "I'm really hoping that whole "asshole" trait isn't genetic."

"Well with a mom like you there's no way that baby won't be the coolest kid ever." He felt accomplished when he noticed that his compliment made Camila smile. As he looked around the apartment, his eyes landed on the patched up wall from where Zachary had punched a hole in it. Camila followed his eyes and picked up on what he was looking at.

"Oh—sorry about that. Our landlord and maintenance fixed it as much as they could but they didn't have any extra paint so now I just have a big white plaster mark on my wall."

"I'm not gonna lie...now that I know why you guys broke up it just pisses me off that he did that. Did he just really not want kids that much? I mean you guys were together for so long...it's crazy to me that he just freaked out and gave up," Shawn said, perplexed. Camila went into the whole story, detailing everything from taking the test in the bathroom of a drugstore to the night she broke the news to Zach. Shawn listened intently, his face showing a mixture of sadness, disappointment, horror, and empathy as she described the way Zach acted.

"He even accused me of cheating on him...with you."

"What? Seriously?" Shawn laughed in disbelief.

"Yes, unfortunately he was serious. He was fully convinced the baby was yours. I tried to explain to him that it wasn't even biologically possible for me to be pregnant with your baby considering you had just moved to Miami, but common sense isn't really his strong suit."

"Apparently not," Shawn laughed. "Listen Camila, I'm so sorry that you had to go through all of that. You really didn't deserve that kind of treatment."

"I know, I know," she said. "Honestly I'm kind of glad things happened the way they happened. I think I'd rather go through this alone than with him."

"You're not going through this alone." Shawn placed a comforting hand on Camila's shoulder as they exchanged smiles.

"I don't know why you're being so nice to me but I really appreciate it," Camila said with an exasperated sigh.

"Please don't take offense to this, but I think maybe you're just used to people not being nice to you."

"People as in...?"

"Zachary," Shawn deadpanned.

"Wow, you really hated him didn't you?" Camila laughed.

"Hate is a strong word. I just think he's gross and bad and frankly, I'm glad he's gone. You deserve better than him. I knew from the first conversation I had with him that you deserved better than him."

"Oh god," Camila groaned. "It was that bad of a first impression?"

"Just the way he talked about you rubbed me the wrong way. He said you were "in a mood" and rolled his eyes. He just acted like you were so annoying, and honestly you're anything but." Camila shook her head and slouched down in the couch.

"Unfortunately that's not completely surprising," she sighed. "He was pissed at me because I said I wasn't in the mood to have sex with him at that moment." Shawn looked over at Camila with furrowed brows, remembering what he heard in their apartment just hours after that conversation and hoping that she hadn't given in to him only because he made her feel guilty for rejecting his prior advances.

"I changed my mind. I do hate him," Shawn scoffed.

A/N: Alexa, play "Glad He's Gone" by Tove Lo.

ALSO WE'RE #1 ON THE SHAWMILA TAG. THANK YOU. ILYSM!