Stay With Me (Shawn Mendes)

Thirteen

"Why are you still awake?" my mom asked, causing me to jump. It was 2 in the morning and I was in the kitchen looking for something to eat.

"I'm looking for something to eat," I told her. "Why are you still awake?"

"I'm looking for something to eat," she laughed.

My mom and I were basically the same person in different bodies. For the most part we liked the same things, with a few exceptions, we acted the same, and we had the same sense of humor.

She opened the fridge and started digging. "Wait," she said, looking at me again. "You're not going to throw this up are you?"

I shook my head. "No."

"Are you sure?" she questioned.

"I promise," I told her, and for the first time in a long time, I knew I wasn't lying to appease her.

"Okay," she shrugged, obviously believing me, although I couldn't tell if it was because she actually believed me or because she was more interested in food than me, probably the latter. She pulled out a package of Oreos and started walking to her room.

"Hey!" I yelled after her. "What if I wanted some?"

"Then you're SOL," she told me.

I flipped her off since her back was turned to me and she wouldn't see. I grabbed a bag of chips and went back down to my room. After finishing the movie I was watching on Netflix it was 3:30 and I was still wide awake. I closed my eyes and unsuccessfully tried to force myself asleep. My brain was too active for me to actually fall asleep.

***

"Have you been awake all night?" my dad asked, walking into my room.

"Yes," I admitted. After an hour of trying to fall asleep, I gave up and started watching a new movie on Netflix, then another.

"Good God, Arden. Do you ever sleep?" he questioned.

"Yes. But last night was just not one of those nights."

"I was supposed to tell you that your mom, Elizabeth, and I are going out if you want to go," he said.

"I'm good. I'll stay here."

"Alright. We'll be back later," he waved and walked out of my room.

I went back to watching my movie and started getting tired.

***

My phone started ringing next to my ear, causing me to jump and fall out of bed. I landed on the floor with a loud thud and let out a moan of pain before grabbing my phone and answering.

Shawn's face appeared on the screen. "Hey."

"Hi," I said, pain still prominent in my voice.

"Are you okay? And are you laying on the floor?" Shawn asked, giving me a confused look.

"Sort of. I'll live though. I fell off my bed," I told him, pulling myself off the floor.

"How did you... never mind," Shawn said laughing. "What are you doing? Other than falling for me?"

"You're not funny," I narrowed my eyes at him.

"You didn't answer my other question. What are you doing?"

"I was sleeping. But now I'm doing nothing."

"Can I come over?"

"Yeah. No one's home except me though."

"Okay. On my way," he said and hung up.

I stood up and walked to my bathroom. I ran a brush through my hair, taming my bedhead. I had barely finished brushing my hair when I heard the door open and close upstairs. I wasn't sure if it was Shawn or my parents, since Shawn just walks in too.

I walked up the stairs and saw Shawn standing by the door.

"You look beautiful," he said, kissing me on the cheek. I looked down at my Shawn Mendes shirt and sweatpants and shook my head slightly. "And not just because you're wearing one of my shirts."

"You must be very heavily medicated," I told him.

"I am, but I still know you're beautiful."

"How did you get here?" I asked, the question just coming to my head. It's not like he could drive, he was on too many medications to drive at the moment.

"My mom brought me. We were doing something so I came here instead of going home," he explained.

"I see," I nodded. "You went out in public heavily medicated?"

"Sort of. So what were you doing?"

"We already went over this; I was sleeping."

"Okay. Tell me how you fell off the bed then."

"Take a seat young one, for... no reason because it's actually a very short story," I laughed and Shawn and I sat down. I told him that my phone was too close to my ear, causing me to jump and fall off the bed.

"Very anticlimactic," he said, shaking his head in disappointment.

"I know. Everything I say is always anticlimactic."

"Not true," Shawn said, "I think most things you say are very... climactic."

I laughed. "Thank, Shawn."

"You're welcome," he laughed and kissed me.

"How can you write songs and be so bad with words?"

"Didn't you know how talented I was?"

"I did, I just didn't know you were that talented." I couldn't help but laugh.

***

We had moved from upstairs to laying in my bed because it was freezing in my house and I didn't know how to change that.

"Your feet are cold," Shawn complained.

"Yeah, it's freezing in here," I told him and put my feet on him even more, causing him to squirm.

"Well keep your feet to yourself."

The door opened and closed and I heard Elizabeth running down the stairs. Normal people my age would be freaking out if they were about to be caught laying in bed with their boyfriend, but Shawn and I hadn't done anything so I didn't have to hide anything.

"We're home," she said, trying to jump on the bed, but landing on Shawn instead.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah. I think so anyway," he smiled.

"Sorry," Elizabeth said.

"It's okay."

I even though he kept telling me over and over that he was fine, I didn't believe him. He wasn't in the best condition yet and something really bad could happen.

"Shawn, are you positive you're okay?" I asked before he left.

"I promise I'm fine. You cuddled the pain away," he smiled at me.

"You better be okay. Because I love you and I don't know what I would do if you weren't okay."

"I love you too. And that's exactly how I felt about you a year ago." He leaned down and kissed me before turning and walking out the door.