Bad Reputation (Shawn Mendes)

epilogue

"What?" I questioned.
"They gave me an ultimatum."
"Who did?"
"Island records."
"What do you mean?"
"They said if I want to continue my music career then I have to break up with you."
I chuckled. "That's insane. What did you say?"
His face was serious and he didn't say anything making my face suddenly drop.
He took my hands in his. "We can still be together just in secret."
I nervously chuckled. "This is a joke isn't it?" I looked around at the others but they were all stood watching in silence. "Tell me this is a joke."
"Jasmine please."
I felt a lump in my throat as my eyes began to water. I pulled my hands out from his. "So you're breaking up with me?"
"This is my career we're talking about. I can't take any risks. I don't know what would happen if I didn't agree. My whole music career could end."
I scoffed. "You're acting like there's nothing for you here."
"There isn't. Without music I have nothing." He snapped.
My heart sank and entire beach felt like it suddenly went silent.
He sighed regretting what he said. "I didn't mean it like that." He took my hands back in his. "Look I've told them we won't see eachother anymore but they don't have to know. We can still be with eachother just not in public. Please. I don't want to lose you."
I hesitated. "I don't know."
No one knew what to say until Syd spoke up. "I don't understand how does staying with Jazz affect your career?"
"All they said was it will be better for my fans if I'm available all the time." Shawn said.
Syd looked confused.
Dan cut in. "More girls will be interested in Shawn and his music if they know he's single." He paused. "It's actually genius if you think about it. A headline goes out saying that Shawn is single and his numbers go up."
I shook my head. "I don't get it. You talked about marrying me. How can you throw all that away?"
"I still want that. I still want to marry you one day."
I looked at Shawn trying to hold back my tears. "I want that too but I don't want it if we can't be seen together. I want to hold your hand when we're walking down the street. I want you to randomly hug me from behind and I wanna dance with you but we can't do those things if we can't be seen together." I paused. "Did you even fight for me?"
He didn't say anything making me angry. I scoffed and then began to walk away. "Do you even love me anymore?"
He stopped me. "Of course I love you. You know I do but nothing I would've said could have made a difference."
"I would never make you choose!" I looked away. "I can't even look at you."
He cupped my face with his hand. "Look at me."
I pushed him away. "I don't even know who you are."
His face dropped. "Yes you do. I'm the same person I've always been."
"So what are we supposed to do?" I spat. "Am I supposed to stay your girlfriend in secret and watch you with other girls? Because if that's the outcome then I want no part in it."
"You think this was an easy choice for me?"
"No but you still made the choice. We could've talked about it and figured something out but you made the choice on your own to end our relationship. Not me." I paused. "I need some time to process this."
"Good idea, let's go back to mine and talk this through."
"No I need to be alone."
He tried to come closer but I stopped him. "Please go."
He hesitated and then walked away. Dan and Jake soon followed behind and once they were gone I took a deep breath trying to hold back my tears, my chest suddenly tightened and tears began to roll down my face.
I don't know how long I stood on the beach for but seconds felt like hours. I tried walk away but my legs gave out and I collapsed onto the sand. Syd and Char immediately knelt down with me and wrapped their arms around me as I sobbed into them.
They took me home after I stopped crying and as soon as I saw Dad I started again. He hugged me and then I told him and mum everything. "Maybe this is for the best." He said. "You're both about to take an important step in your life. You're moving to New York and Shawn is going on tour."
"I don't want it to be for the best. I want him."
"I know sweetie." She said pulling me in for a hug. The doorbell suddenly rang so Dad got up and answered it. A few moments later he came back and Shawn was stood behind him.
"Do you want me to tell him to leave?" He asked.
I shook my head.
Shawn spoke up. "Can we talk somewhere private?"
I didn't say anything. Instead I stood up and walked to my room, Shawn followed behind.
I shut the door behind us and sat on my bed. Shawn stayed stood up. It was at this moment I realised he was still in his prom suit and I was still in my prom dress, only mine was covered in sand.
"Can we talk?" He asked.
I sat staring at the wall. I had nothing to say.
"England."
Don't call me that.
"Please talk to me."
I didn't say anything.
"What now you're not even talking to me?" He sat down on the bed next to me. "I just can't see us throwing away something we know is so amazing. Jazz, I love you so much." He started to kiss my shoulder, then along and up my neck. He pressed his forehead against mine. I closed my eyes and for a brief moment I forgot about everything. He pulled away and then tried to kiss me but I stood up before he could. "No, Shawn, don't! You can't just kiss me and think you'll make it all go away. It doesn't work that way. It doesn't just make it all better." I paused and looked at him for a moment. "I think you should go."
"What?"
"I really think you need to go now."
He got up and stood infront of me. "Look, theres got to be a way we can work past this." He took my hands in his. "We can do this. People do long distance all the time, it works. We are stronger than we think, I know we can handle this. We love each other too much to just throw away what we have." He paused. "Jasmine please, I am begging you. I need you with me. I can't do this without you. I can't imagine..." His voice broke. "I can't imagine my life without you."
I didn't say anything.
"I leave tomorrow. If you come to see me off then I'll take that as a sign that you want to make this work and I will do everything in my power to make it work. But if you don't then...."  He bowed his head. "....then I'll leave you and I won't bother making contact with you again."
He went to leave but I stopped him. I looked him in the eye. "I don't want this to be our last memory together."
He placed his forehead against mine and we both closed our eyes for a moment. He looked at me before slowly bringing his lips closer to mine, testing the water. I didn't hesitate this time. I let us slip right back to the way things were and soon our hands were all over eachother stripping eachother from their clothes one piece at a time. Soon we were under the covers and he took me to bed one last time.

***

I woke up the next morning alone. Shawn had gone and there was nothing but a note left on his pillow.

Offer still stands. I'm in if you're in. Hope to see you before I go x - S

***

Shawn's POV

We made it to the airport with plenty of time before my flight. I waited for her. I sat with all my stuff and waited. It wasn't long before the others arrived to say their goodbyes. My eyes immediately caught Syd and she shook her head. "She's really not coming?" I asked.
"I'm so sorry man." Dan said before embracing me with a hug. I said my goodbyes and then headed to my gate. As I walked every girl I saw looked like her. I kept hoping she'd appear out of nowhere and I could kiss her and say everything will be okay but she never did.

***

Jazz's POV

The next day
I woke up feeling nauseous. I quickly rushed to the toilet and pushed the lid up just in time for me to hurl. Once I was finished I wiped my mouth and flushed. I returned to Syd's bed. "I think I'm coming down with something. That's like the 3rd time I've hurled this week."
"That's not normal. You should get that checked out. Unless you're pregnant." She joked.
I didn't say anything.
"What?" Syd asked me looking over at me with a worried expression on her face. 
I stared up at the ceiling. "I think I might be."

***

Shawn's POV

When I landed, I went through security and then found my bag. I grabbed it off of the carousel and met Andrew and the others outside. We climbed into a taxi and headed to the hotel. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked it.

Syd:
30 missed calls

The End.
Or is it?