I fixed my sweater over my body as I stared out at the pieces of snow falling from the sky like little pieces of magic falling from the sky. The clouds were white and pressed against the dark sky, all crowded together on the cold, wintry landscape. A few hours ago, I'd finished my classes of the day, so I could officially say I would have no more classes until the new year.
I tucked the edge of the thick sweater into my waistband, feeling it fall all the way to my knees. I straightened my hair and did my makeup, constantly checking the time and listening for any dings from my phone. It was dark and tinted a sleepy purple-blue in the room, but I didn't care as I sat against the window. Oddly, I wasn't nervous, I only felt a sense of wondering in me. I wondered if they'd like me, if we'd get along, what Shawn's favorite ice cream place was.
I texted my parents that I wouldn't be able to catch the train til late. Of course I was planning on telling them about everything, but I knew my parents well enough to know that the reaction wouldn't be stellar. I'd wait a couple more months before telling them, in case this was a false alarm. Though the thought made me feel sick to my stomach.
A ding sounded from my phone and I instantly reached to pick it up. It was from Shawn, reading, 'I'll meet you right outside your building. are you good with taking the train?'
'yep. i'm heading down right now'
I grabbed my phone and pulled on my beanie and ran down the stairs. True to his word, Shawn was waiting outside the door in a comfy looking sweatshirt and a puffy winter jacket on top.
"You look warm," I commented when I saw him.
He rolled his eyes. "Well hello to you too Camila!"
"You never stop being annoying," I groaned.
"I wouldn't be me without it."
"You could say that again."
He took ahold of my hand and asked me about my day, even though he had already seen me that morning. I told him about what had happened since morning and let him guide me to the train station, playing along with the banter had so easily struck up.
We climbed down the rusted stairwell but before we reached the end of the eight-stair stairway he stopped and grinned in the dim lighting.
"This stairwell is so old, you can say anything and it'll echo til your ears fall off."
"Yeah, and that's exactly what I want."
He laughed and the sound bounced off the walls and back into my ears. He nodded and gave me the 'I told you so' look. I rolled my eyes and said, "Don't give me that look."
I couldn't hold back a small smile as I listened to my voice echo. Such a dumb thing, but I liked it.
"Okay come on now." He took my hand again and we went through the fun little spinny things and waited for our train. He showed me his family photos and funny baby photos of him doing things as obscure as eating Cheerios or going on the swings. He showed me his dog Tarzan and videos of him catching a ball or offering up his paw. I found it cute how every time he found a video of Tarzan doing something cute, a proud smile would cover his face.
The train creaked to a stop and he put his phone in pocket and pulled me in. It was crowded with all the kids going home for Christmas break, but the temperature still seemed to be 20 degrees colder than what it was a minute ago.
The cart moved suddenly and caught off guard, I nearly tripped into the person in front of me, but Shawn and his 'darling, my reaction time is a quarter of a second' wasn't lying and he wrapped his arms around my waist before I could fall.
"You good?" he asked quietly, his lips so close to my ear I shivered, and not because of the cold.
"Y-yeah."
He didn't let go of his arms and after a few seconds I found the warmth in his arms quite comforting. I only let myself lean back a little into him.
"So where are we going?" I asked after a couple minutes.
"This really, really, really, really good Italian restaurant that we always go to, and you have to make sure to get the spaghetti and meatballs because it's legit the best thing you'll ever taste."
"Nah, bananas prevail."
I looked up at him and saw his fake look of offense that always looked so cute on him.
"Okay, if anything it's muffins but not bananas."
Playing along, I fake gasped like he'd just Sharpied on my Nikes. "Obviously it's bananas, like have you tasted those things?"
"You can have your own, cough, wrong, cough, opinion as long as you know that my is the right one."
I rolled my eyes and elbowed him, saying with a grin, "You're so annoying."
"It's part of the persona darling."
"But I've seen you be sweet, why can't you just be sweet all the time?" I pouted.
He pouted back. "You're supposed to like me for the way I am."
I held back a laugh and gave his nose a little boop, not paying attention to the staring eyes around us. "Just kidding. It's kind of fun when you mess with me."
He smirked. "Thought so."
...
The train came to a stop, the cart feeling a bit warmer than it had when we got on. We exited the station into a bustling, snow covered, golden glow covered street with buildings tall and short all with the same style neon signs advertising anything from candles to vintage records to 1000 different colors of spray paint. Shawn let out a sigh of relief when we stepped onto the street, like he'd finally returned home.
"See that tall apartment building over there? That's where we live."
"And the dog likes it there?"
"It's surprisingly roomy. C'mon."
He guided me around the initial row of shops and into a second row I never would've guessed was there, his long legs moving too fast for me to follow. He led us past the thrift shop, the DQ, the stuffed toy shop, the bakery, and into a restaurant that looked straight out 1970's Italy.
Black and white photos hung on the wall and red checkered tablecloths were on every table. The first photo I saw was of two men who looked like brothers, both with dark, thick mustaches and big smiles.
"Those two still come here sometimes," Shawn said, noticing my staring. "That guy's son runs the place now but they visit pretty often." A bright smile covered his face. "Mum! Dad!"
He waved at two people at the nearest table. It made me smile how excited he was to see his parents again.
He smiled at me and pulled me over to the table, making sure to pull out the chair for me before he sat down.
"Hi Shawn," his dad said.
"Hi Dad." He grabbed a breadstick from the basket and bit off the end. "Where's Aaliyah?"
His mum replied, "She has a school sleepover thing."
He set down the breadstick and his expression got just slightly murderous. "Like with the whole grade? With the boys?"
His mum laughed. "No, some girl in her class invited a bunch of girls to her house for the night."
He let out another sigh of relief and continued on his breadstick. "Phew. That's good." His eyes lit up. "Hey guys, this is Camila. You remembered she was coming right?"
His mum smiled at me. She had the same smile as Shawn. "Dear! I'm Karen, Shawn's mum."
His dad nodded at me. "So you and Hailey are officially done?" he asked.
"Yeah, she broke up with me just all of a sudden and look at this- I don't think I showed you this," he added, turning to me. "But she posted this picture two days after we broke up."
The picture was of a girl who must've been Hailey and another boy who I must say was considerably less handsome than Shawn. The caption read 'love u' with his username and every color of heart emoji. Bad decision, breaking up with him, I thought to myself, looking at Shawn. But better for me.
"I never liked that girl," Karen said.
Shawn chuckled. "I'm starting to see why."
Karen turned to me. "So where are you from Camila?"
"I was born in Cuba but I live right past the city in the suburbs."
"Really? I had a friend who lived in Cuba. Do you speak Spanish? I've always wanted to visit the place, every time my friend talked about it it always seemed so fun to visit. Do you go back often? Also which part of the suburbs do you live in? I'm one of the only ones out of my friends I went to college with that stayed in the city. Most of them live right past, didn't like the pollution or the apartments or the high prices or something."
She went off. Shawn's mum seemed a lot more excited to meet me than his dad did, which I was okay with. I knew it's different since I'm the girl, but even if I had normal parents that let me date while I was still in high school, I knew my dad would glare at Shawn if I ever brought him home. It kind of freaked me out that if this worked out, I would eventually have to bring Shawn home.
When the waiter came to take our order, Shawn got in the way and ordered the spaghetti for me, smirking back at me over his shoulder. His parents let us talk quietly to each other while we were eating, and Shawn couldn't stop saying, "I told you so!" about the spaghetti. It was pretty damn good.
(also if y'all like reading the family meeting stuff or whatever then sorry to disappoint you bc I don't like writing it so we're skipping the rest of the dinner)
After an entire two hours of eating spaghetti and breadsticks and talking to his parents, we waved goodbye. Shawn promised them I would get home safely when Karen got super sweet about being concerned for me. Mr. Mendes pulled Shawn aside before we left, and I watched his face intently as it slowly turned red throughout the conversation. He seemed to pull away as quickly as he could and waved goodbye to both of his parents, not meeting his dad's eyes.
"You know how I said I'd take you to my favorite ice cream place after dinner?" he said as we were zipping up our jackets. I nodded. "Well let's go."
Snow was falling lightly from the sky, sprinkling just a little bit more onto the white-covered ground. The snowflakes rested on top of my black coat just long enough for me to get a look of the pattern before melting along with the rest of them. Shawn laughed at me when I tried to catch one of them on my tongue. But after walking for max 30 seconds, he turned around and dragged us into DQ.
I gave him the look. "This is your favorite ice cream place?"
"What's wrong with DQ?!" I could see his angry blush even in the dark.
"Nothing, I just thought it would be 'Aunt Patty's Cold Treats!' or something."
He snorted. "C'mon."
He opened the door and I stepped inside to the familiar store with its wall of ice cream flavors and floor littered with napkins and sprinkles near the corner. I skimmed the wall, as if I was going to get a new flavor. I was a basic, Oreo Blizzard type girl.
Shawn came up behind me and took my waist from behind. I shuddered again. Every time his hands touched me, I felt an electric shock go through my body.
"What are you getting?"
He was probably used to this. He probably used to hug Hailey from behind at any given moment or wrap her up in his arms and hold her against his chest. It made a string of jealous emotions, a string of emotions I shouldn't have felt for a guy I wasn't even dating, bubble up in my chest when I thought of the fact that they probably did much more than that.
Ignoring that, I wasn't used to all that stuff. Fuck, a week ago I hadn't even had my first kiss. And every time, out of the very few times he'd done it, Shawn even just touched my arm for a moment, my mind went numb.
I swallowed and answered, "Oreo blizzard."
He nodded in approval and took his hands off my waist. "Candy Cane Oreo blizzard, only for winter though." He winked.
I suddenly remembered what had happened just before we left the restaurant. "What was your dad telling you about before we left?"
His cheeks immediately turned red and he looked down at his hands.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want-"
He chuckled. "No, it's okay. He was just giving me the sex talk. You know the, 'You better use protection boy or I'm gonna whoop your ass' talk. Kinda awkward because I literally first kissed you like four days ago or something."
"You didn't get it when you were with Hailey?"
"Oh, I did, but that one was a lot more chill 'cuz I was still living in their house. Now they can't bust down my door if I try to lock it or track me if I sneak out, you know?"
I didn't say anything for a moment and then laughed. "Sorry, it's not at you, it's just a little funny imagining a dad giving that talk in the middle of a 50 year old Italian restaurant."
Shawn threw his head back and laughed with me. "Trust me, the last time I got it he walked the whole family into the CVS and bought me the condoms right there."
"Damn, your dad's a savage," I joked, glad we weren't eating ice cream right now because I swear it would be flowing out of my nose already.
Shawn tried to keep a straight face as he ordered but he kept looking back at me and holding back a laugh, leaving the employee looking sick of it. He gave us the cups and we each took a bite at the same time, nodding at each other with satisfaction.
"Damn, you got the big one," I noted, pointing at his cup.
"I'm a big boy!" he said in defense. I laughed and stuck another spoonful in my mouth. He placed his hand on my back and guided me out of the shop into the cold, cold air, slowly sliding his hand up my spine, down my arm, and settling into my own hand. I looked up at the cup he ordered. It seemed a little too early to ask for a taste, but I made a mental note that the next time he took me to DQ at 10pm I would ask for one.
He walked me back to the train station, his arm now protectively wrapped around my shoulders and his lips telling stories about the crazy shit he'd done around here. I happily listened, enjoying the weight of his arm on my shoulder.
He reluctantly let me off at the train. I could tell he was worried about me waiting for the Uber by myself, and I found it endearing. When the train arrived, he slowly rubbed my shoulders with his hands and pulled me into a kiss.
"Text me when you get home, okay?" he said sweetly. I smiled and nodded.
"Goodbye Camila."
I waved to him. "Bye Shawn."
And I got into the train, not breaking eye contact with him until the cart pulled away into the suburbs.
_______________
i need a guy who will take me to dq at 10 pm :(