Boyfriend + Brother || Shawn Mendes

){chapter 26](

Karen arrives home shortly after with no Aaliyah as she has gone to a friends house, Manny to an hour or so later looking a slight mess from a toughs day work. Karen sticks her head into my room for a moment to check if I'm home yet, telling me that the house is too quiet and that it's making her uncomfortable.

I fake a small laugh before she heads next door to check on her son. I don't remember hearing him disappear into his room, but I know he must have had the same idea as me because I hear his voice through the walls.

I am called down for dinner and the four of us sit around and eat our lasagne in silence. Karen decides to break it a minute or so later when asking Manny how his day at work went. I listen to their conversation trying to ignore the fact the Shawn is being as silent as a grave and I am not going to lie it's making me slightly worried.

There's an abrupt screech as he pushes his chair away from the table and gets to his feet. He shakes his head at the food and scrunches up his face in disdain. "Im not hungry. Im going to go back upstairs, sorry mom." Karen's smile fades from her face within a nanosecond, her hands resting on manny's broad shoulders.

Karen heaves a sigh and moves back over to the cooker to turn down the heat. "Well, that's two kids down," she murmurs.

And dinner as a whole runs relatively smoothly until the phone rings. We think nothing of it until Manny rushes back into the kitchen. He tosses the wireless phone onto the table and grabs his keys. "That was Maiya," he explains quickly, his wide eyes on Karen as she warily stands. "Aaliyah has fallen on his wrist. She says it could be broken. We better go."

"she'll be fine," Karen tells him. firmly. "Let's go get her" she rushes around the kitchen to check that everything is switched off, because she can't have the house going on fire while she's gone, and then she pauses at the archway to the hall. She strains her neck around to face me. "Can you keep an eye on Shawn for me please"

I quickly nod as I stand up. "Go." She offers me a thankful smile before fleeing out of the house and into the car with Manny. As the engine fades away into nothing, the only noise I hear is the clock ticking on the wall.

I decide it's the perfect time to try to talk to him again. I can't tell if he's mad at me or mad at himself, but either way, he's pretty upset, and I prefer to see him in a good mood. He's sitting on the edge of his bed with a guitar on his lap when I push open the door to his room. His head is low and his hands are writing notes on a sheet of paper in front of him, his room silent.

 "Karen and Manny have left," I say quietly, to let him know that I'm there. "Aaliyah may have broken her wrist."

Immediately his eyes flash up to meet mine, and suddenly he's getting to his feet. There's panic on his face. "What happened? Where is she? Who?" I'm a little taken aback by his outburst, and his questions only confuse me.

"What?" He clears his throat. "I mean, how?"

"I think she fell on it," I tell him. He looks like he might pass out. he sighs

"I can't deal with any of this right now. Why is my life just messing up so much" As though he's out of breath, he exhales rapidly as he runs past me and heads into the bathroom? He grabs onto the edge of the sink and stares at the faucet.

"You're getting worked up, its okay. She is going to be fine," I say as I approach him from behind, pushing open the door further so I can stand inside the small bathroom with him. "Watch the door," he mutters. "The lock is broken." It sounds like he's on the verge of tearing the sink off the wall, so I gently place a hand on his arm in an effort to calm him down. But he only flinches and steps away from me.

"you don't get it ellie. I need to get out of here,  nothing is how it is meant to be" he whimpers, his eyes flashing to the cabinet above. He flings open the mirrored door and reaches up to the top shelf, his hand grabbing a wad of cash. I notice the collection of prescription pills and tablets in bottles carelessly scattered along the shelves. But that's not what I care about right now. Shawn slams the cabinet door shut again and turns around, but I quickly step in front of him and bump into his chest, blocking the door.

"Don't even think about it. Running away is not the answer. Why are you doing this?," I ask through gritted teeth.

"Ellie," Shawn says, leaning toward me as his wet lips hover by my cheek, his breath cool against my skin. "I got to get out of here. I need a rest" I glance down at the cash clutched tightly in his hand as I take a step back. My eyes flash back up to lock with his. "Because running away from the problem is gonna fix everything, right?"

"Ellie, please," he says again, his voice hoarse. "Move your cute ass out of my way before you get me even more annoyed. I gotta take a break."

"I'm not letting you," I snap. Now I'm furious.  Shawn slams his palm flat against the wall by my ear.

 "It's not up to you! Get out of my way ellie!" But what he doesn't know is that it is up to me whether he goes or not, because he inadvertently told me how to stop him. So as he presses his lips together and stares at me, I reach over for the edge of the door, fumbling before I finally get hold of it. And before Shawn can even notice what I'm doing, I swing the door closed, spinning around and shoving my weight against it until it stiffly clicks into place. The fucked-up lock, as Shawn called it, just became my best friend.

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hi guys! sorry, this chapter was a filler but I promise you the next chapter is really good and also super long so be sure to stick around! that you so much for 4000 reads! that's crazy! and I can't thank you enough for taking time out of your day to read my story, it means so much! see you guys very soon xx