This whole week has been so weird. Shawn stayed by my side the whole time, basically living here with me. It was nice to have someone to talk to, but he also wouldn't leave me alone, waiting on me hand and foot. I appreciated all the help, but sometimes it was just too much. It must be his way of "making it up to me," though none of this was his fault in the first place.
Even though he's been a little overbearing, we've grown really close this week. We were able to talk a lot since there was really nothing else to do. Some nights, he's even slept in the chair next to my bed or leaning on my bed. I hated to admit it, but I kinda liked it.
Since I was getting discharged today, Andrew was here signing all the papers and what not. While he was doing that, Shawn was helping me into a wheelchair to take me down to the car.
I tried to ignore the electricity I felt from Shawn's hands on my waist, gently guiding me into the chair. He was so close I could feel the body heat exuding from him. When I looked up to his face, he was already looking down at me, a mere few inches apart. I bit my lip as we shared a moment. His eyes briefly went down to my lips before he cleared his throat and looked away.
I was left in a daze. I shouldn't be feeling like this. We're just friends.
"Alright I think we got everything. Let's go." Andrew said, coming back into the room, making both of us jump. Shawn nodded and started pushing me down the hallway. Besides everything, I was so happy to be getting out of here. Hospitals are so depressing.
I couldn't help but be a bit nervous when we reached the door though, as Andrew warned us that there were still paparazzi outside. We stopped moving, Andrew turning to us.
"I'll go pull the car around. Wait here a sec." He told us and walked out the front door. I could see the group of people with cameras outside waiting, making me gulp. I really didn't want this right now. Being near crowds of people scared me, mostly because of what happened the last time I was in the middle of one. I couldn't stop my hands from shaking.
I sucked in a breath as I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"Hey, are you okay? I thought you'd be excited to leave." Shawn asked me with a concerned expression on his face.
I shrugged, moving my eyes to my lap, playing with my fingers. "I don't know Shawn. I've been so excited to leave this place, but I'm scared. Knowing that there's a crowd of paparazzi out there I-"
"Hey." He cut me off, kneeling down to my level and grabbing my shaking hands. "I promise I'm not going to let anyone hurt us anymore. Besides, we have cops standing guard at our apartment complex. I'm telling you, nothing is going to happen as long as I'm around." His words calmed me down a little, but I was still paranoid.
I nodded and took a deep breath to try and calm my nerves. "Okay."
He had a thoughtful look on his face before he reached for the sunglasses that were perched on the top of his head. "Here. Why don't we try this." He took his sunglasses off and put them on my face. Once again I felt electricity between us as he tucked my hair behind my ears, a shiver running down my spine. Then he reached past my head and pulled the hood from my sweatshirt up and tightened it slightly. "That's better."
Shawn smiled a reassuring smile before standing up and getting behind my chair.
"We got this, alright?" He spoke and then pushed me out through the double doors without waiting for my answer. Cameras began flashing and people were yelling questions at us, as per usual. My heart was beating rapidly, but the hood and sweatshirt did make it more bearable.
Thankfully we didn't have to go far. The car was a couple yards in front of us.
The passenger door was opened. Andrew coming out of the driver's seat to help get me into the car. I could tell that Shawn was trying his best to shield me from the cameras, which I really appreciated. It took both of them to get me in. It hurt, but was bearable.
Shawn quickly closed the door and stuffed the wheelchair into the back before getting into the seat next to me, Andrew at the wheel. I breathed a sigh of relief and felt Shawn grab my hand, giving it a squeeze.
We pulled away from the valet parking spot and finally were on our way home.
•
I never thought I'd call Shawn's apartment home, especially after how this whole thing started. But as soon as I saw the familiar building, I felt comforted. It was so good to be back. It's only been a week, but it felt like a month.
I couldn't help the small smile that played on my lips.
"Alright, let's get you out of here." Andrew clapped.
He got out of the car along with Shawn. They pulled out the wheelchair and helped me into it. There were no paps in sight. Thank god.
The trek up to the apartment took a little longer than usual because of my stupid wheelchair. I was already sick of this thing. The doctor told me I'd have to use it for a couple more days, then I'd be ready to walk. I could not wait.
"Alright, here we are." Andrew opened the door for us, since Shawn was pushing me.
Once I was in and the door was closed, he pushed me into my room, and together, they helped me into my bed. I sighed back into the soft sheets. I missed this.
Andrew turned to Shawn. "Now I have to get going, but Shawn, I'm counting on you to take good care of Cassie." Shawn nodded vigorously.
"Of course I will." He replied.
"Call me if anything happens here okay?" He looked from me to Shawn.
We both nodded and he took off for the door.
He was so crazy busy these days with meetings with clients and cops, I hadn't seen him slow down. He always worked so hard, which I admired about him.
"Andrew!" I called. His head popped back in the room. He looked at me expectantly.
"I'm fine. Please don't worry about me. I can see how stressed you've been about this." I smiled at him, giving him some assurance.
"I know Cassie." He spoke, walking back into the room. "I just can't help it. But I will try to trust that Shawn will take good care of you for the next few days while I'm on my business trip." He looked to Shawn. "Please take care of her."
"I wi-" Before Shawn could answer properly, Andrew disappeared out the door.
Once again, we were alone.
"Sooooooo," Shawn began. "Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Shawn the only thing I want from you is my laptop. After you hand me that, I want you to go to your room and sleep, watch tv, do a puzzle; whatever it is that a Shawn Mendes does to relax, do it." He laughed at that and put his hands up.
"Alright, alright. Just holler if you need anything." He handed me my laptop and headed out the door.
Hours later, I was still doing homework. Shawn came in a couple of times to see how I was doing and to bring me food, but other than that he left me alone, which was good. I didn't need a distraction while I was doing homework.
When I finally finished, I closed my laptop and set it aside, shutting my eyes. I hated doing school work. It was exhausting.
By now it was nighttime. I yawned, tired from the events of the last week and decided I should go to bed soon.
I grabbed my phone to see if I had any messages and to check social media. I hadn't turned it on since I called my mom the day after my surgery, since Andrew took my phone back so I wouldn't get stressed by what was being said about us. He gave it back on the car ride here.
I had a bazillion missed texts and calls from my family and friends. Most of the texts read the same thing.
Are you okay?
What happened?
Did they catch the guy?
I replied to them. I didn't want to think about the incident, but the people I loved deserved to know what happened.
After I finished replying, I checked social media. For the most part, the fans seemed worried about me, which was sweet. The news outlets were going crazy. News headlines were posted everywhere about what happened. I scrolled through one story, the front page showing the picture of the guy.
I cringed back and immediately put my phone on the night stand. My pulse was racing and my breathing became a bit heavier. Just thinking about that guy scared me. There's no way he can get to me, I thought. I'll be fine.
I pulled the covers over my head, hoping that will protect me from anything that tries to penetrate it. I knew it wouldn't do shit, but I always did that when I was a kid. It felt comforting. And just like that, I drifted off to sleep.
•
I was back in front of Rogers Centre. The crowd of teenage girls once again swarming us. The screams were so loud, I could barely hear myself think.
The crowd seemed to double, triple every time I looked up, almost making me lose my sight of Shawn. I had to walk faster to keep up.
I turned my head again, just in time to see a large man make his way through the crowd of screaming girls. He snapped his finger, and two more of him appeared out of thin air, on Shawn's other side.
I gasped. I wasn't sure what was happening, but I could feel in my heart that it wasn't good. "Shawn!" I screamed, but he kept walking. He didn't hear me.
"Shawn!" I yelled again. I tried running, but it didn't seem like I was going anywhere. It was no use.
All of a sudden, the crowd became quiet. They all stepped back, giving me a clear look at Shawn.
The two guys who appeared behind him grabbed him by the arms. He looked confused and tried to get away, but they held him firmly in place.
"Cassie!" Shawn yelled, looking for me in the crowd.
"Shawn!" I yelled back. "I'm right here!" He looked right past me. I tried walking towards him again, but a hand shot out to stop me.
The original guy was stood in front of me. An amused smile on his face.
"You thought I couldn't find you?" He darkly whispered to me. I gulped.
"Looks like I did." He said and again snapped his finger. An exact replica of him appeared in front of Shawn. There were 4 of them now.
He wasted no time, taking advantage of my surprised state and grabbing something out of his pocket.
He pulled out a glowing knife and shoved it into my side, laughing. I doubled over in pain.
He leaned down next to me. "Pretty boy is next." He laughed maniacally before I was forced to watch his clone pull out a similar knife and plunge it directly into Shawn's heart.
"Shawn!" I screamed and jolted awake.
I was sweating profusely and breathing heavy. I could feel tears running down my face.
The door burst open, making me jump and scream.
"Hey!" It was Shawn. He yelled and ran over to my bed. "What happened? Are you okay?" He asked me frantically, sitting down.
Without thinking, I grabbed his shirt and pulled him into a hug. He was surprised at first, just sitting there, but then I felt his arms wrap around me.
"You were stabbed!" I cried, holding him tighter.
"What?" He sounded confused.
I looked up at him. "It felt so real!" My vision became blurry as tears fell.
Realization washed over his face. "It was just a dream." He rubbed my back as he spoke. "He's locked up now. He won't be able to hurt us."
We sat there like that, me trying to calm my racing heart. It was just a dream.
"It felt so real." I said again. Shawn pulled away from our hug and grabbed my face in his hands. He used his thumbs to wipe the tears that had fallen down my cheeks.
"Well it wasn't. I'm here, right in front of you. And I'm not going anywhere." The look in his eyes was sincere.
"Okay." I whimpered, sniffling. We stayed quiet for a moment.
"You really scared me." Shawn began and scooted closer, pulling me in tight. "I thought something bad happened to you."
I didn't say anything in response, just clutched onto his sweatshirt.
He pulled away and lifted my chin with his fingers. "Please don't scare me like that again." He whispered. He was so close I could feel his breath on my forehead.
"I'm sorry." I responded in a whisper as well, meeting his eyes.
This was the second time one of us had a nightmare in the apartment and the other had to wake them up. Not a good way to bond, but I felt a connection with him. We'd been through a lot in the past few weeks, and I now had some sort of reliance on Shawn. I hoped he felt the same way towards me.
"You should get some sleep." Shawn whispered. That was the last thing I wanted to do right now, but I nodded anyway.
"I'm sorry I woke you up." I responded, feeling a little guilty.
"It's okay." He smiled softly at me. "You don't have to apologize for something like that."
A minute passed before he got up to leave, but I quickly grabbed his hand. I did not want to be by myself tonight.
"Wait!" I blurted out. He turned to me with his eyebrows raised.
"Yeah?" He asked.
"Can you-uh-Can you maybe stay here tonight?" I asked back timidly. I couldn't look him in the eye.
He didn't move or answer for a second. Maybe I shouldn't have asked. It's probably too weird for hi-.
I stood corrected as, without saying a word, he walked around to the other side of the bed and got under the covers. I was still sitting in place as I watched him get comfortable.
I turned my head to see him face me with a smile. "Of course."
"Thank you." I spoke quietly, just above a whisper. "My dream really freaked me out, and I would just feel more comfortable and less lonely if there was someone else here because I probably wouldn't even be able to fall asleep on my own so-"
"Shhhhh." He grabbed my hand, silencing my rambling. "You don't have to explain. I get it."
I breathed a sigh of relief and nervously laughed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to ramble."
"That's okay, just try to get some sleep now." I suppressed the smile that was about to creep onto my face.
He put his arm out on the pillow while slowly pulling me down with the other hand. My head was cradled in the crook of his elbow. He gently moved his body closer to mine. His other arm wrapped around me. I felt safe in his embrace. His scent invaded my senses as I closed my eyes.
With someone else in the room with me, I was able to relax. Fatigue washed over me and I let out a yawn. I laid there for a couple minutes, very aware of the boy laying next to me. And just like that, wrapped in his arms, I drifted off to sleep.