Some Things Never Change [SHAWN MENDES]

November 27, 2021

I'd arrived in New York early in the morning on Thursday since it was a short trip from Philadelphia, where I'd played the night before at the Wells Fargo Center.

Typically I stayed in Brooklyn, but I'd asked Andrew to switch my booking so that I'd be in Manhattan, away from my team. He arranged for me to stay four nights in a suite at the Baccarat, which was close to Central Park. I wanted privacy and luxury because Ceci agreed to my proposal a couple days after I left on tour.

She'd arrived several hours after I'd gotten checked in, and before I could properly welcome her she told me that we needed to talk.

"I don't want to overthink things, but I need to know what this is," she said as she sat on the chic white couch in the sitting area.

"This is you and me spending a few romantic days together in one of the greatest cities in the world."

"You keep using the word romantic. What's changed? Why the shift?"

I knew we'd be having this conversation, but I didn't think we'd start with it. In my head, I'd seen us spending my day off in bed, taking breaks to go out and take advantage of the fantastic restaurants in the neighborhood. I envisioned a late night walk through Central Park where I'd tell her how I felt. This was...forced.

"Ceci, as a favor to me, can we just relax and enjoy things? I promise you'll get the answers you are looking for, but I want it to happen more naturally."

She looked down at her hands which were clasped on her lap. "You understand why I've got some trust issues, don't you?"

"I do, but this is different."

When she looked up at me with her beautiful eyes, my heart did a flip flop in my chest.

"What's on the agenda for today?" she asked.

"Without being too presumptuous, I was thinking we'd start out in bed, reconnecting," I told her.

"I was hoping that was the plan."

That was three days ago and since then we'd had an incredible time together. On that first day, we'd stayed in the suite until dinner, ordering food off the room service menu to replenish the energy we'd expended. Later we took a long shower together and ventured across the street for a nice meal at a high-end restaurant. I hadn't made reservations, but they'd found us a table for two in the bar area when they realized who I was, though I hadn't intentionally used my celebrity status. It was after nine o'clock so the bar was starting to hop. We shared multiple appetizers and several bottles of wine, well aware that people had noticed us and that some had sniped photos.

The next day was the first day of my concert, so we'd taken a morning walk in Central Park and then relaxed at the hotel. Ceci stood with the sound mixers to watch the show, and it had been hard to take my eyes off her as she danced to every song. That night I'd been electrified with endorphins from performing and she said seeing me on stage had turned her on, so we stayed up so late that we just missed the sunrise. We slept most of the next day before heading to Madison Square Garden for night two. Again, we chose sex over sleeping after the show.

"Look," I said, showing her the travel app on my phone as we lounged in bed the following morning, "there's another flight at nine tonight. You'd be at your apartment by eleven. Let's switch it."

Ceci had a late afternoon flight back to Toronto, but my bus wouldn't be leaving for Boston until the next morning. I didn't want our weekend to end, so I was pushing for a five hour extension.

"Except for your concerts, we've been joined at the hip for three days. Aren't you tired of me?" she asked.

"Not at all. In fact, I'm going to miss you horribly these last two weeks of tour," I pouted.