Camila a receptionist on a unit her father built for "special victims" is best friends with Detective Shawn Mendes of the Toronto Special Victims Unit. They've been inseparable since they met at a college party a few years ago. Both are adventure...
After we made out and laughed some more about our families reactions to our news, I posted the picture I showed her on Instagram. Within minutes Connor, Tiffany and Brian all liked and commented. It was almost like they were waiting for me to post something. Between a bunch of "Congrats" and "It's about damn time's" it seemed the general consensus was that everyone was overjoyed for us.
I told Camila about all of our comments and she simply smiled, kissed my cheek as she grabbed the last of her things from the bathroom and put them in her bag. I did a final sweep of the hotel room to make sure we had everything. Before we left, there was one thing I wanted to do to put a final seal on our trip. I had told Camila to pack a couple of cute dresses because I kind of knew that she would say yes to being my girlfriend, despite all my anxiety about it. As a little surprise to her, I hired a photographer to capture us at some of our favorite places we visited.
"Baby, remember those dresses I asked you to pack?"
"Yesss..." she answered hesitantly.
"Put them at the top of your bag before you pack them away" I tell her.
"Ok?" She's looks at me with curiosity in her eyes. "Shawn Mendes what is going on?" She asks, raising an eyebrow at me.
"That is for me to know, and you're cute little self to find out, very soon!" I said as I kissed the tip of her nose and finished packing my things.
Once we checked out and got our things loaded into my truck, I help her into her seat. My hand "accidentally" rubbed her ass and she shot me a mischievous look, which is not what I was expecting at all, I thought for sure she would flinch, but I was glad to see her react so well.
As we began our drive back home, I stopped at the same lake where we went canoeing and Camila turned to me in shock, her eyes wide as she saw the white tent in from of her with the photographer I hired and none other than Tiffany and Brian standing next to him with clothes for me and makeup for her in hand.
"Shawn Peter Raul Mendes!! What is going on?"
"Surprise baby!" I say excitedly as I reach over and take her lips with mine. "I wanted to do something special to remember this trip, it had a lot of meaning for both of us and we really haven't been in any pictures together so I organized a photoshoot before we even left Toronto."
"Oh my god Shawn!!!! This is...I have no words." She says as her hands cup my face and tears roll down her cheeks. "You are amazing, and slightly cocky for thinking I'd say yes before you asked me, but overall just amazing!" She giggles as she kisses me again. I can't help but notice her chocolate brown eyes showing a little more light; even a week ago they still showed nothing but blackness, emptiness and hurt. Seeing her with a small spark in her eyes again makes my heart happy and every little thing I've done to get us here all the more worth it.
________________________________
After spending much of the morning taking photos, driving to different places around the lake, enjoying time with Tiffany and Brian, but more importantly each other....we finally got enough pictures to create a small album. The photographer was amazing and Camila seemed comfortable around someone other than me and Brian for the first time, so that was a huge step as well.
At the end of the session the photographer told us to pick a few of our favorites and he would have them printed before we left. (Pretend this is Shawn and Camila).
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
My personal favorite is the last one and when the photographer asked what size we wanted each one printed, I told him I wanted a wallet size of the last one. Camila heard this and was instantly in tears. I rubbed her back and kissed her temple as she cried, I wasn't sure if they were happy tears but she reached up to kiss me like no one was watching, it's pretty safe to assume she was crying happy tears.
Breaking away, she whispered "Thank you" against my lips and I smiled. This moment right here is what I've been dreaming of with her. I feel extremely overwhelmed that we even got here, but also forever grateful that she made it out of the darkness.
The photographer handed us a package of photos and gave us his card so we could order more or purchase the disk from him when we were ready. Camila squealed with Tiffany as they looked through the pictures and Brian gave me slap on the back and we hugged. "I'm just so happy for you man. This is everything you wanted!" He smiled at me. "Yes...yes it really is" I beamed admiring my girlfriend as she and Tiffany talked about our trip.
Getting back into the truck to head home after saying our thanks and goodbyes to everyone, before she put her seatbelt on she crawled into my lap and hooked her arms around my neck. Leaning in, she kissed me. I kissed back, and when she broke away she whispered "Thank you Shawn for caring enough about me to save me from myself, to save me from what could have been after him, and thank you most of all for continuing to save me and continuing to love me despite everything."
Tears filled my eyes as I kissed her again and held her in my arms. We must have gotten a little carried away because pretty soon we heard my truck horn and broke apart almost instantly.
"Whoops!" I say, blushing slightly, turning away.
I look back up at Camila and she's smiling and we both break into a fit of laughter as I help her back to her seat.
"Let's go home boyfriend!" She says as she interlaces our fingers as I start the truck.
Pulling her hand to my lips, I kiss the back of her hand "Okay girlfriend! And by the way, Thank you for this trip baby!" I smile as we start back towards Toronto.
