nike-shawn

Now, weeks later, you haven’t seen him since that day and your appetite is gone, your skin is paler and you’re sadder than you’ve ever been. There’s paradise around you but all you can see is his retreating body and the sight of his boat getting smaller and smaller and smaller until the dock you were standing on felt like a tightrope and you were one gust of wind from falling into the churning ocean.

“Excuse me, ma’am?”

You hear the familiar voice from behind you and for a split second you think that your brain is tricking you, that he wasn’t due back for another month, that you’ve gotten so weak that your mind has started playing games to keep it on its own feet.

“Ma’am,” it says. again, closer, then he drops the act with “Y/N?”

You turn around and you think that your heart just about leaps out from its ribcage. You immediately start crying and melt into his arms, your warm skin against his icy body. Immediately you feel better. You feel like a shot of caffeine was directly injected into your bloodstream.

His arms wrap around your waist and he spins you around like a ride at the state fair. His lips connect with yours, then his teeth as he smiles. Your palms come to rest on his shoulders and you breathe in his flowery scent, the warmth of familiarity overcoming you. Mixed with the sound of the waves crashing to the shore and the smell of salt in the air, you realize that this moment is the closest you’ll get to paradise in this lifetime.

“How’d you get here so soon?” You ask, finally pulling away. His genial expression drops. Your energy plummets with his. “What?” Shawn shakes his head and leans in to peck you again. You gently push him away. “No, I wanna know. What’s going on?”

“Don’t you wanna just get out of here and go back home?” Although his tone is kind, there’s a hint of pleading behind his words, begging you to just drop it.

“Will you tell me on the way back?”

Shawn bites at his bottom lip, staring at his feet which have now sunk into the warm sand. “Let’s just go get you packed, yeah?”

You swallow back your protests and grip his hand tightly as you both walk towards the sparkling resort. The friends you’ve made during your time here squeal with happiness as you pass them, hand in hand with the boy they know you’ve been miserable without. The sweet housekeeper who has been cleaning your room stops the both of you, kissing both of your cheeks and squeezing your clasped hands between two of hers. She says “God bless” and you try to resist responding with “thank you, we’ll need it.”

Shawn helps you throw your things into suitcases, asking you about how your life has been on the island. You keep it vague, trying not to show just how miserable you’ve been. You tell him that you “rode dolphins, played tennis, that kind of thing” but you really stayed in bed with the covers tightly cocooned around your body, shutting out anything and anyone who tried to cheer you up.

“Greta told me that this little... break...” he coughs, struggling to find a good word for their situation, “would be tough for you. But I knew you could do it. Tough as nails, eh?”

He’s smiling, joking around with you, and you muster up a fake smile back, hoping that it stops the barrage of questions coming at you. “Yeah, it was fine. I’m just glad you’re back.”

That was the first true thing you’ve said to him since he arrived.

After saying your goodbyes, you and Shawn start the journey back home. As soon as you board the plane, you fall asleep, your body finally able to relax now that Shawn is near. You wake up as the plane touches down in your city.

Snow sticks to Shawn’s hair as he helps you into the backseat of the Uber, popping the trunk and stuffing your luggage there. He slides in beside you, his hand immediately positioning itself on your thigh. “Easy flight,” he remarks.

“Mhmm,” you agree.

“Tired still?” You shake your head no, resting your head on his shoulder. “You’re not usually so quiet.”

“I’m just thinking, I guess.”

“What about?”

“You. What you did while I was gone.”

He tenses. “Oh.”

You don’t talk for the rest of the drive.

🖤🖤🖤🖤

After seeing your parents and filling up on your mom’s cooking, you and Shawn head to his apartment. Usually, the two of you take refuge at your place, but you told your roommates you had dropped out as an excuse for going to the island. You’d been to his home a couple times, but only briefly, and both times you were taken aback at how nicely decorated and luxurious it is.

This visit is no different. You breathe out the breath you’d been holding as you walk through the doorway, dropping your suitcase at your feet and finally allowing yourself to smile a real smile. Something about Shawn’s home is so incredibly comforting-- he told you last time that, when you mate with someone,  their scent calms your nerves. Here, his scent is all over the furniture, the bed sheets, the rugs, the everything.

You feel yourself gravitate towards the couch where a throw blanket is inviting you to cuddle in it. You do, and your eyes close in bliss. Soon enough, your gangly vampire boyfriend slots in between your back and the couch. He kisses your ear. “Feel better, now?”

You smile and burrow in further. Shawn chuckles and gives you one last kiss on your earlobe before resting his head on your pillow. His long hair tickles your neck.

Right before you let sleep overtake you, a thought shoots through you like a lightning bolt. “Shawn?”

“Hm.”

“You had to kill them, didn’t you.”

The calm that previously enveloped you dropped abruptly. “Why would you say that?”

“Shawn. I know what had to happen.”

He doesn’t say anything. He sits up and gently moves you so he can wiggle out from underneath you. As he starts to walk away, you barely catch the words that left his mouth.

Now, weeks later, you haven’t seen him since that day and your appetite is gone, your skin is paler and you’re sadder than you’ve ever been. There’s paradise around you but all you can see is his retreating body and the sight of his boat getting smaller and smaller and smaller until the dock you were standing on felt like a tightrope and you were one gust of wind from falling into the churning ocean.

“Excuse me, ma’am?”

You hear the familiar voice from behind you and for a split second you think that your brain is tricking you, that he wasn’t due back for another month, that you’ve gotten so weak that your mind has started playing games to keep it on its own feet.

“Ma’am,” it says. again, closer, then he drops the act with “Y/N?”

You turn around and you think that your heart just about leaps out from its ribcage. You immediately start crying and melt into his arms, your warm skin against his icy body. Immediately you feel better. You feel like a shot of caffeine was directly injected into your bloodstream.

His arms wrap around your waist and he spins you around like a ride at the state fair. His lips connect with yours, then his teeth as he smiles. Your palms come to rest on his shoulders and you breathe in his flowery scent, the warmth of familiarity overcoming you. Mixed with the sound of the waves crashing to the shore and the smell of salt in the air, you realize that this moment is the closest you’ll get to paradise in this lifetime.

“How’d you get here so soon?” You ask, finally pulling away. His genial expression drops. Your energy plummets with his. “What?” Shawn shakes his head and leans in to peck you again. You gently push him away. “No, I wanna know. What’s going on?”

“Don’t you wanna just get out of here and go back home?” Although his tone is kind, there’s a hint of pleading behind his words, begging you to just drop it.

“Will you tell me on the way back?”

Shawn bites at his bottom lip, staring at his feet which have now sunk into the warm sand. “Let’s just go get you packed, yeah?”

You swallow back your protests and grip his hand tightly as you both walk towards the sparkling resort. The friends you’ve made during your time here squeal with happiness as you pass them, hand in hand with the boy they know you’ve been miserable without. The sweet housekeeper who has been cleaning your room stops the both of you, kissing both of your cheeks and squeezing your clasped hands between two of hers. She says “God bless” and you try to resist responding with “thank you, we’ll need it.”

Shawn helps you throw your things into suitcases, asking you about how your life has been on the island. You keep it vague, trying not to show just how miserable you’ve been. You tell him that you “rode dolphins, played tennis, that kind of thing” but you really stayed in bed with the covers tightly cocooned around your body, shutting out anything and anyone who tried to cheer you up.

“Greta told me that this little... break...” he coughs, struggling to find a good word for their situation, “would be tough for you. But I knew you could do it. Tough as nails, eh?”

He’s smiling, joking around with you, and you muster up a fake smile back, hoping that it stops the barrage of questions coming at you. “Yeah, it was fine. I’m just glad you’re back.”

That was the first true thing you’ve said to him since he arrived.

After saying your goodbyes, you and Shawn start the journey back home. As soon as you board the plane, you fall asleep, your body finally able to relax now that Shawn is near. You wake up as the plane touches down in your city.

Snow sticks to Shawn’s hair as he helps you into the backseat of the Uber, popping the trunk and stuffing your luggage there. He slides in beside you, his hand immediately positioning itself on your thigh. “Easy flight,” he remarks.

“Mhmm,” you agree.

“Tired still?” You shake your head no, resting your head on his shoulder. “You’re not usually so quiet.”

“I’m just thinking, I guess.”

“What about?”

“You. What you did while I was gone.”

He tenses. “Oh.”

You don’t talk for the rest of the drive.

🖤🖤🖤🖤

After seeing your parents and filling up on your mom’s cooking, you and Shawn head to his apartment. Usually, the two of you take refuge at your place, but you told your roommates you had dropped out as an excuse for going to the island. You’d been to his home a couple times, but only briefly, and both times you were taken aback at how nicely decorated and luxurious it is.

This visit is no different. You breathe out the breath you’d been holding as you walk through the doorway, dropping your suitcase at your feet and finally allowing yourself to smile a real smile. Something about Shawn’s home is so incredibly comforting-- he told you last time that, when you mate with someone,  their scent calms your nerves. Here, his scent is all over the furniture, the bed sheets, the rugs, the everything.

You feel yourself gravitate towards the couch where a throw blanket is inviting you to cuddle in it. You do, and your eyes close in bliss. Soon enough, your gangly vampire boyfriend slots in between your back and the couch. He kisses your ear. “Feel better, now?”

You smile and burrow in further. Shawn chuckles and gives you one last kiss on your earlobe before resting his head on your pillow. His long hair tickles your neck.

Right before you let sleep overtake you, a thought shoots through you like a lightning bolt. “Shawn?”

“Hm.”

“You had to kill them, didn’t you.”

The calm that previously enveloped you dropped abruptly. “Why would you say that?”

“Shawn. I know what had to happen.”

He doesn’t say anything. He sits up and gently moves you so he can wiggle out from underneath you. As he starts to walk away, you barely catch the words that left his mouth.