Don't Wake Me Up - Shawn Mendes

PART TWENTY SEVEN

 We climb up the stairs and Shawn just bursts through the door. I understand that it's his house, but he doesn't technically live there anymore!

"Hello!" he yells for the whole house to hear.

I try to step in next to him not to look like I'm hiding, and I hear hurried steps come down the stairs. At that pace, I assume it's Aaliyah rushing to welcome her big brother home, but not a second later, I feel arms slung around my neck.

"Hi! I'm so excited to finally meet you!" she tells me.

"Wow! Me too!" I exclaim as I hug her back.

"Ahem?" Shawn coughs.

I swear, Leos cannot not be the centre of attention for more than 1 second. I loosen my hug to look at Aaliyah and smile, and nod my head towards Shawn. She smiles back and hugs her big brother to welcome him home. All that commotion brought Mr. and Mrs. Mendes to the room, so I greet Karen with my usual air kisses, and when I pull back, I realize my mistake.

"Oh wow! I always forget it's not a thing here! I'm so sorry," I say in a chuckle.

"Oh no worries, darling, I'm a hugger!" she says as she pulls me in a tight hug.

She lets me go, and Manuel says:

"Maybe it's a European thing?" as he air kisses each side of my face.

"Maybe it is!" I reply as I do the same. "Nice to meet you!"

I hand over the box of chocolates I brought to Karen, and of course she says I shouldn't have and I reply that it's nothing. I don't like to show up empty handed, and I figured bringing something showed I actually thought of them before coming here! Karen walks us over to the living room, and Shawn and I sit on the couch, Aaliyah by his side. Karen sits in a chair, and asks Manuel to go get the plate she prepared. We all have a pleasant talk, and I'm a bit at the centre of all since they're all meeting me for the first time.

"So Alice, Shawn tells us you're actually French Canadian?" Shawn's dad asks.

"Hmm," I acknowledge his question while I swallow a bite of cheese. "I am! I grew up in Quebec, but I moved here after university."

"Oh that's nice! What did you study?" Karen asks.

"Linguistics! And a little bit of marketing as well."

Aaliyah shifts forwards on the couch to look at me past her brother.

"Wait. If you're done with university... How old are you, Alice?" she asks.

"Oh, I'm 23 actually."

There's a collective chuckle from the family, and I look at Shawn, puzzled. Aaliyah explains:

"Shawn always liked... older women."

"What! Older women?" I say as Shawn tightens his arm around me to pull me close, a tad embarrassed. "You make it sound like I'm-"

"Hey! Careful what number you're gonna say there!" Karen tells me, pointing a finger and laughing.

If I still had an ounce of nervousness, it faded completely at that point. We're all joking with each other, and I feel part of the family, almost.

After a while, Karen gets up to go get some things ready for supper.

"Oh, can I help with anything, Mrs. Mendes?" I offer.

"You're sweet, but it's pretty much all done already! And please, call me Karen," she tells me with a warm smile.

Aaliyah switches places on the couch to come sit next to me, and we talk as Shawn catches up with his dad. I catch him looking in my direction a few times, so I wonder what he tells him about me. My talk with Aaliyah is great, she's so funny and easy to get along with. She makes me feel very at ease all night long. We even exchange phone numbers and instagram handles so we can stay in touch.

We soon move to the kitchen for supper, and the conversation continues, as smooth as it was before. I was able to make them laugh a few times, which makes me feel like I lived up to my reputation, and also gives me the sense that they quite like me.

"So Shawn," says Manuel, "are you excited for tour to start?"

"Oh definitely! I'm so pumped. I think it's gonna be great! I can't wait to get back on stage, and see all these different cities!"

"And Alice," Karen says in my direction, "are you excited for the tour as well?"

"Oh I'm excited to sleep without this guy mumbling next to me!" I say pointing at Shawn.

I laugh it off, but I realize that we haven't really talked about him going on tour. Leaving for months. Meeting beautiful girls every single day. Beautiful girls who would give anything for a moment with him. Beautiful girls. Beautiful. Girls.

I snap out of it as Shawn kisses my cheek and the whole family is laughing with me.

"But you'll come visit me, won't you?" Shawn asks me.

"Sure, I'd love to visit Italy," I say with a smile.

Beautiful. Italian. Girls.

After a delicious meal and a few more laughs, it's finally time to head home. I thank everyone for a great evening, and I'm delighted to know I'm invited back anytime. I walk back to the car hand in hand with Shawn, happy I made a good first impression, but unable to stop this new feeling from creeping up in my chest.