LOVEHATE

28

"Shall we go?" Shawn asked, acting as if he'd heard none of my embarrassing conversation with Lillian.

We both got our jackets on and made our way to his car.

After I got buckled in, Shawn told me to pick some music. He unlocked his phone and I searched through his playlists until I found one I liked. As I was adjusting the volume, he took my hand in his and we started down the road, hands entertained, enjoying John Mayer.

I felt my phone vibrate in my purse which was by my feet. I let go of Shawn's hand to grab it, thinking Lil had texted me about what just happened. She'd want to know right away if he confronted me about what he'd heard.

Nope. It was my brother.

Tony: You're dating Shawn Mendes now?

I stared at my phone for a second, frowning in confusion. How would he know that?

Me: what?

Shawn looked over and saw the confusion on my face. "Everything okay?"

"Tony just asked if we were dating."

"Yeah? I put something on Instagram while I was in the bathroom. Is that okay?" he asked.

This news surprised me.

"Let me see what you put before I answer that," I said as I opened Instagram.

The first thing I saw was a notification that Shawn had requested to follow me. I accepted, of course. I then saw that his recent post was at the top of my feed.

It was an adorable picture of us. I was smiling at the camera, but he was smiling at me. Underneath he'd written taking this beauty out tonight ❤️.

I didn't even realize that the car had come to a stop, because I was so caught up in my phone screen. We were parked in a small parking lot near a popular area for restaurants and boutiques.

"Sadie, if it's not fine, I can delete it. I probably should have asked," he said nervously.

I looked at him and saw how anxious he was. "I love it," I said quietly.

His face lit up. "Really?"

"Going public that we're dating is kind of a big deal, though," I said, worried that he'd later regret what he'd done.

"I know."

"It's only our first date."

"True, but we've kind of been together for a year," he said.

My phone buzzed again. Tony had sent me a screenshot of Shawn's IG post in case I hadn't seen it.

"I think Tony's excited about this," I said with a smile.

"Can we go to Ottawa sometime? I'd like to see him again."

"I'd like that," I said. The fact that he was suggesting making plans like this made me very happy.

I quickly replied to Tony saying that yes we were on a date right now and I'd text him later.

Shawn got out and opened the door of the Jeep for me. He then offered me a hand as I climbed out. We walked down the block a bit until we came to a French restaurant called Le Sélect Bistro.

"Impressive first date location," I said as we approached the door.

"Only the best for you."

We were seated right away at a table that had red leather booth-style seating on one side and a chair on the other. Shawn insisted I take the comfier booth side. He then ordered a bottle of champagne to kick off the dinner. While we waited for our wine, I looked around at the restaurant. The decor was lovely. One whole wall was made up of posters of artwork that overlapped each other in a collage. The lighting was soft and there was music playing, though as packed as the place was, it was drowned out by the happy voices around us.