next door // s.m (a social media story)

victoria's pov

I sat my phone down and silently laughed to myself. what are the odds.

I went into Amelia's room where, predictably, she was petting the cat while on her computer.

"Say goodbye, I found her owner," I tell her.

She looks up from her computer screen with a sad face. "Already?"

"Already. Don't worry though, he lives right next door," I chuckled.

"Oh well that isn't so bad. I can still see her sometimes then." Amelia picked her up and gave her a few last kisses before handing her to me. "Let whoever he is know that he's got one of the best cats I've ever meet."

"Will do," I said, grabbing her and making sure she was supported before heading out the door.

Shawns house was indeed right next door. I only had to walk about 40 feet before I was at his front door. I knocked.

Shawn came to the door, and I was pleasantly surprised to see a tall boy about my age rather than the middle aged man with a wife and kids I was expecting. Not only was he young, he was pretty cute. He had brown eyes that glowed orange in the sunlight and matching head of curly hair. There was something vaguely familiar about him, but I couldn't quite place my finger on it.

"Oh my gosh thank you, thank you!" He exclaimed upon opening the door. He took the cat from my arms and hugged her.

"Maddie was her name you said?" I asked, trying to start a conversation to avoid an awkward moment.

"Yes, well that her nickname. Her full name is Madonna, I'm a bit of a music nerd." He smiled shyly.

"I like that. Very classy," I smiled reassuringly at him.

"Thanks," he said, scratching the back of his head. "Are you new around here? I don't think I've seen you before and I probably should have considering you live right next door." He laughed a little.

"I actually just moved in last week with my best friends Amelia, Hayley, and Zander. They've been here for a few months but I had to finish up some things back at home before finally flying out." I mentally hit myself in the face. He most likely didn't want to hear my whole life story, he just wanted his cat back.

"It must be fun, living with friends and all. I'm only living here for a year or two for my job but I'm all alone," he said.

"Well you are always welcome to hang! What kind of job do you have? Sound like a fun one if you get to live in the hills for a year," I laughed.

"I uh, it's hard to explain. I guess you could call me a singer songwriter."

Then, I realized where I knew him from. It took everything in me to suppress 8th and 9th grade me from screaming and fainting.

"No way," I whispered, mostly to myself but Shawn had a confused yet amused face on.

"Victoria? Is everything okay?" He laughed.

"I remember where I know you from! You were in magcon!" I blurt out.

"heh, haven't heard that word in a while." He said awkwardly.

"Sorry, i know that's probably really weird for you it's just that I used to be extremely obsessed with magcon like 5 years ago. This is so crazy," I tell him, feeling slightly embarrassed.

At this point he was full on laughing at me. It wasn't a mean laugh or anything, or even if it was I wouldn't've noticed. It was more refreshing than anything, just the idea that I could amuse a stranger so much. It made the whole deal less awkward.

"So like what are you up to nowadays?" I asked.

"Well, just doing the same old thing. Making music and doing what I love." He smiled, and you could tell music genuinely made him happy.

"I can't believe Shawn Mendes himself is my neighbor. If I could go back in time and tell my 8th grade self this she would absolutely flip." I giggled at the thought. Shawn also laughed.

"I'm sure she would. I know a ton of girls that would flip now," he said. Just as he did I got a call from Hayley.

"Oh hang on I don't know what this is about give me just a second," I said, answering the call.

"Vicky where are you? Zander just came home and he's plastered as shit, it's hilarious he was crying just a second ago," she said.

"Okay I'll be over in a few minutes," I told her before hanging up. "I gotta go, crazy things happening at my house apparently."

"Sounds like it. We should hang out sometime though." He smiled.

"Yeah, we should. Sounds fun. I'll been in touch," I gestured to my phone, indicating I'd text or call him before walk back to the madness in my own home.

Before walking in, I noticed Shawn had watched me walk all the way home.