Strings Attached

"Friendly" date

I stared at him, opening my mouth to speak but no words came out. So, I reached up and flicked his hair.

"Ow," he crinkled his nose and reached up to rub the part where I flicked. Then, I gave him a look and he sighed, "I suppose that was inevitable, eh?"

I nodded and sighed, before smiling and grabbing hold of his hand, "Well, since there's nothing else to do, we might as well walk around here."

"Really?" Shawn asked, his eyebrows slowly rising up.

I nodded and intertwined my hands with his, slowly pulling him forward, a sudden rush of energy bursting inside me.

.........

"Did you know that I wrote a new song?" Shawn suddenly asked as we were walking around the area. There wasn't much to see, as it was just trees around, but it felt nice. Especially to be talking to Shawn and just being around him, it's pretty special.

"Really?" I asked, biting my lip as I looked up at him.

"Yeah, it's uhm... I decided to call it 'Where were you in the morning'," Shawn muttered, sighing.

"What's it about?"

He then turned his head to look at me, licking his lips as he stayed quiet for a minute or two.

"Nothing really," Shawn said after a moment.

I knitted my eyebrows and chewed on my bottom lip, knowing there was something that he just wasn't saying. "Shawn?" I asked, giving him a look.

He looked back down on the ground, kicking a rock that was in his path, before giving a defeated groan. "Well... a week ago, I had gone to the bar and met this girl, and..." He bit his lip and sighed again. "And well, we went back to mine..."

"Oh," my heart dropped, my nostrils flaring ever so slightly as I glanced away from him.

I shouldn't feel jealous. If anything, I should've expected it. He deserved someone better, and I only hoped she'd be good for him.

"What's her name?" I asked quietly, still staring at the ground.

"I... I don't know."

I crinkled my nose and side-eyed him, "What?"

He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed, "Well, she left before I could wake up. I couldn't get her name or her number."

"Oh." At this point, I was confused.

Did she really leave Shawn Mendes? Well, she probably had an understandable reason, but still, it was honestly surprising.

"I don't actually know what to say," I breathed out, chuckling as he smiled.

"You don't have to say anything," he answered, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I just wanted to tell you."

I nodded and bit my lip, smiling as I felt his hand squeeze mine tightly.

Within a few minutes of silence and walking around some more, Shawn noted that we had reached an empty area where trees were somewhat scarce and that the sun was already setting, which surprised me because I hadn't noticed the time pass by.