Boyfriend + Brother || Shawn Mendes

chapter 37

By Friday, I was getting pretty tired of moping around waiting for Shawn to come back. I just wanted to talk to him and even see him even if it was only for a few seconds. Last night mum made him stay for dinner but within minutes after finishing he was out the front door again. He snuck the occasional glance and when our eyes met he would look away within the instant and when I smiled at him just in hope for me to get some sort of reaction, he would just go back to spinning his fork around his plate playing with the tomatoes.

It made me a lot more angry than I thought it would, I knew I would miss not seeing much of him every morning but I never thought I would grow frustrated at him. It didn't make sense to me why he was cutting me off so much.

When I asked him if he was doing okay, I heard nothing back.When I asked him if he even remembers what happened last weekend, my phone had never been so silent. Caitlin probably has him wrapped around her finger. Caitlin, who absolutely hates me. Caitlin, whose house I'm about to turn up at uninvited. Caitlin, who's most likely going to burst into flames when she sees me.

It is pouring with rain outside, the dark sky casting a permanent shadow over the city and I have to squint through the drops on the windows in order to see properly.

"where are you going?" Manny says from behind me

"umm...movie night with my friends" I answer turning back to manny. maddy drives up to the front of the house and honks her horn and I open the door and pull up my coat hood.

"ellie, if you happen to see Shawn..."

"he will be there" I reply immediately. that's the only reason why I agreed to go tonight.

"Well can you tell him to come home and to please come to talk to me. I feel something is hurting him and im getting rather worried. tell him he can always talk to me no matter what and tell him that I love him"

I smile back at manny and walk over to him and give him a hug. "you are a really good dad" I say because they are the only words running through my mind as I watch him overthink the whole situation. his lips part in surprise and he looks like he is about to say something but he is interrupted by the sound of a car horn blasting yet again.

For the first time, I really do see him as my stepdad. "I'll see you when I'm home." The corners of his lips pull up into a smile to mirror mine, and this time his smile isn't brave. It's sincere. Outside, Maddy is furiously revving up her engine out front of my house and as she rolls down the window as I approach she yells, "You were supposed to be looking for me! We're wasting valuable time!" I throw open the door and slide inside, barely getting my seatbelt on before the car takes off down the avenue.

"I was talking to Manny," I say, but I don't want to leave space for her to ask what we were discussing, so I quickly add, "What's the plan?"

"Stop being curious," Madeleine orders, lifting a hand off the wheel and wagging a finger at me. I scoff. Curious is all I'll ever be. "You don't even need to do anything. You'll mess it up, so lemme do the talking."

I roll my eyes and adjust my seat, pushing it back to give me more leg room, and then I slump down and heave a sigh. "Where did this rain come from? It feels like I'm in England," I murmur, tapping my knuckles against the window as I try to distract myself because nerves are rattling me. But I can't let Maddy know this because then she'll wonder why I'm nervous, and there's no way in hell I'll be able to tell her that I'm panicking beyond despair over the fact that Caitlin is going to flip when I turn up at her front door.

So for the five-minute ride, I act as normal as I possibly can. I text Freya, rummage through the CDs packed into the glove box, adjust the heating, and, of course, listen to Madeleine. She's telling me about owen again, and she's gushing over the fact that he's started adding hearts to the end of their texts, and she's blushing as she tells me how sweet he's suddenly being.