two weeks later-
it was christmas eve eve, and i couldn't have been more excited. shawn was coming back to california so we could spend christmas eve with my family, then at midnight, we would head off to lax to catch our flight to canada so we would be able to spend christmas day with his family.
i told him my family and i would pick him up from the airport, but he insisted on taking an uber to my house because he didn't want to bother my parents. my mom and dad weren't too happy with his decision.
when i got out of bed, i helped my mom clean and start lunch. after awhile of helping her, i headed off to my room to get dressed for the day.
i changed into a black long sleeve, skinny jeans, nude heels, sunglasses, a cartier bracelet and ring, and the necklace and watch shawn gave me. for hair, i put it in a bun, and for makeup, i did something simple. [outfit below]
i grabbed my phone and headed to the kitchen, "mom, i'm not waiting until shawn gets here to start eating, i'm starving,"
my mom was no where to be found in the kitchen or living room, but the front door was opened so she was most likely outside. she wasn't in the house to tell me i couldn't, so turned on the stove.
i grabbed three tortillas and put them on the stove. while i was getting the chopped cilantro, lemons, and sauces out, the front door shut. i ignored the door and continued to get the things from the fridge. i got the bowl of chopped onions and shut the fridge door.
i held the bowl while i turned around, but quickly threw it at a giraffe/slender man looking figure that was next to the fridge before dropping to the floor and covering my eyes... like if me covering my eyes was going to help me.
they laughed, it was shawn's laugh.
"i would've continued laughing at what just happened, but you fell and i'm scared you broke something," he said after he quickly got down to the floor and sat with me, "you also threw chopped onions at me, that wasn't pleasant,"
"i'm fine, and oops?" i said while laughing, before i jumped into his arms, "i'm happy you're here,"
"i am too," he said.
i stayed in his arms until i remembered my tortillas were on the stove, "i really don't want to ruin the moment, but my tortillas are going to burn if i don't flip them,"
"wait," he said while standing up after me, "you were planning on eating without me?"
i shrugged, "you wouldn't respond to my texts, so i didn't know how far you were, plus, you know i'm always hungry,"
he laughed, "well then,"
i flipped my tortillas before i added more to the skillet, "have you seen my mother?"
he wrapped his arms around my waist, "your sisters and her went outside for me, then she saw your neighbor and they all started talking,"
"in that case," i said after i unwrapped his arms from my waist and grabbed the broom, "since i'm warming up your tortillas, you should do me a solid by cleaning up the chopped onions i threw at you,"
he grabbed the broom, then handed it back to me, "exactly, the chopped onions you threw at me,"
i handed it back to him, "but you had the audacity to scare me,"
he swept the onions off the floor and threw them away, "your mom is going to be pissed you dropped her onions,"
i put our tortillas on plates and handed shawn his, "my mother is not going to find out,"
we prepared our tacos and went to go sit at the table.
"did all the packages get here?" shawn said after he took the first bite of his taco.
i helped shawn online shop for my family over facetime, and he had the things shipped to my house because it was easier.
i nodded, "yeah, they just need to be wrapped,"
"okay, good," he said reaching for my hand, "before i forget, i-"
my mom and sisters walked through the front door, "i love doña tomasa and all, pero a veces, habla buen mucho, {but sometimes, she talks too much,}"
shawn and i laughed.
shawn laughed with me, so that meant he understood what my mom said, "wait, you understood what my mom said?"
he took a sip of his water, "he estado practicando mi español, {i've been practing my spanish,}"
i smiled, "i'm impressed, mendes,"
my sisters sat on the couch, "doña tomasa might be annoying, but she gives us good presents every year,"
"girls, don't say that," my mom said while walking towards shawn and i.
my mom hugged shawn, "i didn't properly say hi to you out there, how've you been?"
"amazing," he responded with a smile.
"that's good," my mom said while walking to the kitchen, "wait, do you two have onion on your tacos?"
shawn and i's eyes went wide, "uh, no,"
"did i seriously forget to chop onions?" my mom asked herself, "i'm sorry, guys,"
"no, you're good," shawn responded.
i silently laughed before i mouthed 'oops?' to shawn.
after shawn and i finished eating, we went to my room and started wrapping presents.
aaliyah told me shawn was the worst wrapper of all time, so instead of me offering to help him off the bat, i decided to see how bad he was for myself.
he didn't even get through the first present without stopping me from wrapping the ones i had to do, in order to help him. i went through how to do it, step by step, multiple times, but he couldn't comprehend what was happening most of the time. long story short, i ended up wrapping all the presents with shawn standing next to me, handing me tape when needed.
since it was just me who was wrapping the presents, it took a while. three hours to be exact. but once i finished, shawn and i went to the living room where my sisters were watching the grinch.
shawn put his arm around me, "by the way, you're not getting your present tomorrow night, you're getting it christmas morning in canada,"
"that's fine," i said while chuckling, "you're also getting yours christmas morning in canada,"
"everyone, i just convinced your mom that were not eating tacos again, and were going to olive garden," my dad said while walking towards the couch where my sisters, shawn, and i were, "hurry and get in the car before she changes her mind,"
my dad ran outside and turned on the car so we could all get in. a few minutes later, my mom walked outside and saw we were all in there, "well then,"
once we got to olive garden, we were quickly seated.
shawn sat next to me and we were across from my parents.
shawn put his menu down, "you two order a bottle of wine, i'll drive back,"
they didn't think twice, "that's nice of you, thank you,"
my mouth went wide, "how come when i offer to drive back, you don't hesitate to decline?"
"you've been driving for like two seconds," they said, "shawn has been behind the wheel for awhile,"
shawn took a sip of his water, "i'll be happy to give you some lessons,"
i scoffed, "this is bullying,"
"it's all love, cassandrita," my parents said, "we're just teasing,"
shawn laughed, "what your parents said,"
"all love my ass," i mumbled while drinking my water.
"what?" my mom asked.
i smiled, "nada, {nothing,}"
the next day-
i woke up and went into the guest room where shawn was sleeping, and stole one of his hoodies. i made my way to the bathroom and changed into that before making my way back into the guest room to try to wake him up, "shawn, wake the fuck up, i want starbucks,"
"what the fuck?" he said, "it's early,"
i checked my watch, "it's eighty thirty, now get up,"
"no," he said before he pulled me down on the bed with him.
i tried getting out of his embrace, but i couldn't, "mendes, i want coffee,"
"don't you have a keurig?" he whispered, "use that,"
"but i want to go to starbucks with you, so please get up," i said.
he shot up and out of the bed, "are you asking me out on a date?"
"you wish," i responded before going to his suitcase and throwing a random shirt and jeans at him, "get your ass dressed quickly because we have to take my dad's truck, so we have to sneak out,"
he playfully sighed, "fine,"
we discreetly made our way to starbucks in my dad's truck and were back at my house in thirty minutes.
i opened the front door and saw my mom sitting on the couch with her arms crossed, "we have coffee and food here, and you decided to go out and buy some?"
shawn came in behind me holding a drink holder, "it was cassie's idea,"
"chill, mom," i said while getting the drink holder from shawn and handing it to my mom, "we got everyone something,"
my mom took a sip from hers, "carmel macchiato?"
i nodded while handing her lemon bread.
"well then," she said.
"love you, mom," i said while walking away with shawn following me.
"love you, cassandrita," she said, "wait,"
i stopped walking away, "yeah?"
she took a sip of her coffee, "cuando piensas empacar tu maleta para canada, te vas hoy en la noche, {when are you planning on packing your suitcase for canada, you leave tonight,}"
shawn looked at me, "you haven't packed your suitcase?"
"uh," i said while pretending to think, "no,"
"go pack," my mom said, "i'm distracting you,"
the following three hours were spent packing my suitcase, it wasn't fun, but it could've gone worse.
once i finished packing, i went to the kitchen to start helping my mom with some of the food making. this year, we weren't going to my grandma's, we were having the party at my house. i guess it was because my family thought it would be easier for shawn and i to go to the airport from my house since our stuff was here.
my dad came into the kitchen, "¿cassie, donde esta shawn? {where is shawn?}"
i turned around, "uh,"
shawn appeared in the kitchen, "right here,"
my dad laughed, "i'm going to home depot to pick something up, want to co-"
"sure," shawn responded, interrupting my dad.
my mom and i laughed before proceeding to continue with the food.
"have fun you two!" i yelled.
"we will," they responded.
my mom laughed again, "that was funny,"
i laughed, "it was iconic,"
we spent another two hours finishing up the food before we both headed off to get dressed for the night.
i changed into a burgundy sweater dress, black thigh high heeled boots, a cartier bracelet and ring, and the necklace and watch shawn gave me. for hair, i left it straight and did a braid, and for makeup, i did something fitting for the outfit. [outfit below]
just as i was putting on perfume, there was a knock on my door.
i put the bottle of perfume down, "come in,"
"hey, gorgeous," shawn said, "woah, you look, woah,"
i blushed, "you don't look so bad yourself,"
"you're cute," he said, "now come on, everyone is waiting for you to start eating,"
my grandparents, aunts, and cousin were in the living room. i greeted everyone before making my way to the dinner table that my dad extended.
shawn pulled my chair out for me and sat next to me.
"antes que disfrutemos esta comida, quiero decir algunas cosas, {before we enjoy this meal, i want to say a few things,}" my mom said, "estoy muy agradecida de que dios nos haya dado otro año increíble. este año fue realmente una bendición, se hicieron muchos recuerdos para los libros, la mayoría de ellos gracias a shawn, {i'm so grateful god gave us another amazing year. this year was truly a blessing, many memories were made for the books, most of them thanks to shawn,}"
shawn smiled as my mom turned to him.
my mom held shawn's hand, "shawn, thank you for coming into my daughter's life and changing it for the better, i have never seen her so happy,"
everyone at the table nodded and smiled.
shawn cleared his throat, "quiero darles las gracias a todos por tratarme como familia. todos ustedes me han invitado a su casa como si fuera nada, y realmente lo agradecero, significa mucho para mi, {i just want to say thank you to everyone for treating me like family. you all have invited me into your home like if it was nothing, and i really appreciate it, it truly means a lot,}"
i held his hand and smiled at him with tears in my eyes.
"now, before i cry off my mascara, let's eat," my mom said before laughing, "cassie?"
i smiled, "para la cena de hoy, tenemos tamales y pozole, y para acompañarlo, para beber tenemos atole, ponche, sparkling cider, y vino para los que son legales, {for today's dinner, we have tamales and pozole, and to accompany that, to drink we have atole, ponche, sparkling cider, and wine for those of you who are legal unlike me,}"
everyone laughed.
we all enjoyed our meal and talked about how amazing our year was. we're not always together on new years, so it's important to us to reflect on our year on christmas eve.
but, the conversation is always cut short by the kids being very impatient, and wanting to open their presents.
"thank you, shawn!" my cousin said after opening up the scooter he's been wanting forever.
shawn hugged him, "no problem, bud,"
shawn got up from the couch and got many boxes that each had an envelope taped on them. i remembered wrapping the presents, but he must've added the envelopes after. he passed out a box to everyone, including me.
shawn smiled, "the box has a random gift that i hope you enjoy, but the envelope has to be opened at the same time by everyone,"
i laughed, "i though i was getting my present tomorrow?"
"this is a present for everyone, not just you," shawn said before he got his phone out and started recording.
"i'm scared, what did you do?" i asked.
he smiled, "you'll find out in three, two, one,"
everyone surprisingly ripped open the envelopes at the same time.
it was a plane ticket to mexico, more specifically, the town where most of my family from mexico still live. the flight was for the beginning of march.
after i read the paper, i looked up to see everyone with tears in their eyes.
the adults got up from the couch, "this is too much,"
shawn shook his head, "no es suficiente, {it's not enough,}"
i hugged him, "thank you, you have no idea how much this means,"
shawn put his head on top of mine, "like i said, it's not enough,"
~2543 words~
authors note// thanks for reading my forty first chapter in traveling | shawn mendes. hellooooo. i got a little emoshawnal writing this chapter, but let's be honest, it was expected. i already started writing next chapter, and it might be shorter than the last couple of ones, so please forgive me on that. wow, this journey is ending in four chapters, holy shit. anyways, see you soon.
xx, c