𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈, 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒅 & 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆 – ᴅᴇᴍɪ ﹠ sʜᴀᴡɴ 9.16.20
The message from the other brunette singer Shawn had received on his way home from the gym that morning had been a welcome one. The Canadian hadn’t seen Demi since all hell had broken loose in the club between her, Max, the random girl who’d thrown a drink in her face, and even Hailey in the end. An occasion which hadn’t leant itself to being one where they could properly catch up and speak openly like usual. From the moment they’d met and had properly connected at that Halloween party years ago, Demi had been a godsend, and, in Shawn’s eyes, one of the most authentic and genuine people it was possible to meet in the industry. If the male needed advice, personal or professional (an honest opinion on a new song, an outside perspective on his girl troubles, or someone to simply tell it like it was without too much sugar coating), the former Disney star was one of the first people he turned to. Pushing still-slightly-sweaty hair back from his forehead as he killed the ignition of the Range Rover in his driveway, he thumbed out his response to his female best friend. ‘Hell yes. Just what I need today. Your condo?’ As if he could feel her vibe through his phone, it felt like a laid back day rather than one that would be spent at one of the two headquarters’ studios.
An hour later, Shawn was on the familiar route between his place and Demi’s condo, showered and freshly dressed in a crisp, faded t-shirt, loose-fitting jeans, and a pair of tennis shoes. He figured they had a lot to catch up on. Though he’d briefly texted the other brunette immediately following the fight at the club to make sure she was okay and not hurt, he had yet to find out the specifics of what had gone down. Being one of her closest friends, Shawn knew all about the PR contract she had (and had not voluntarily signed) with Max. The fact that enough had gone down to have resulted in thrown drinks and a slight physical altercation made Shawn wonder with some concern if there’d been some kind of new development. On his own side of things, his mood had dramatically lifted since the last time he’d properly spoken with Demi. Although the pressure he put on himself to release a record he was truly proud of was still always going to be there, the Canadian musician had had a fresh burst of writing inspiration he knew was entirely related to a certain blonde friend of Demi’s. Instead of being constantly so torn up over his past relationship with Camila, he’d found his thoughts circling on the early morning texts that had started with ‘have you.. ever thought about us? about me?’ with a thrilling and nervous tug in his abdomen.
Taking in the warm sunshine and breeze of that fall day for a moment, Shawn tried the door without pushing his index finger to the doorbell, knowing that Demi usually left it open for him. Slipping inside and locking the door behind him, he was greeted with the sudden patter of paws on the tiles and tiny barks he knew as either Ella’s or Batman’s. The latter of the two pooches recognised the six-foot-two Canadian as he took off his sunglasses, his protective barks turning into excited pants and a fast wagging tail as he leant his front paws up against Shawn’s leg. Chuckling, Shawn leant down to pick the pooch up into his arms, speaking to him as if to an old human friend. “Hey, my dude! Don’t worry, I’m not trying to break in. And if I was, you’d have me fleeing out of here, for sure.” Mind on trying to find the fur baby’s mother, the man ruffled the curls on Batman’s head as he moved towards the studio. Finding Demi there and beginning to set up, as anticipated, he placed Batman back down and walked over to pull the smaller female into a warm, friendly hug like always. “Hey, Dems. You’ve got one true guard dog holding down the fort here. How are you?” he asked sincerely, letting her go as Batman now rested his paws against Demi’s leg and whimpered to be picked up. His eyes glanced over his friend, finding it hard to read how she was doing only from the air surrounding her that morning. But he had all the time in the world to sit with her, guitars in laps, and find out. “What’s new since I saw you last?” But the black pooch interrupted with an overexcited yap, and Shawn chuckled again. “Where’s your sister, little man?” The Canadian’s eyes glanced around the familiar space, looking for tufts of creamy-white. It was no big secret playing uncle to the two fury fiends was an additional reason Shawn was always so happy to spend time at his friend’s condo, currently having no pets of his own.
Getting away from her life for two seconds was nice, the woman was getting to overwhelmed to pretend to be someone she wasn’t, and that was attracted to her ‘fiancé’. Finding the man sexy and that she was in love with him, she was finding it was harder than if she was going to go act. There was a line between acting and her personal life, but acting with her personal life? It was killing her inside. she hardly interacted with her actual friends anymore, only two really knew what was going on, both Hailey and Shawn knew that her and max were PR from the get go when she signed that paper. The woman held herself up in her studio most the time, or at home with Hailey and the pups. Every time she acted with max, the necklace she wore — she swore burned on her reminding her of what her actual personal life was, and even the blonde and brunette had no clue about. at first her and max weren’t PR, it was just a nice little new relationship between two people, really just friends trying to figure each other out and it quickly changed within a couple weeks.
Trying to set up the studio, it was taking her mind off the clusterfuck of her personal life, and the fact she’d been holding it together this long so far said a lot. This was one of the only places where she felt safe, where he never touched and would never, no matter how many times he would plead and ask. She would just book him time since clearly the man couldn’t get it himself — he needed her status to actually talk to some good producers. Moving some things around, demi ran her hand lightly over her guitar that she would be playing later hopefully. If it was something new or something old, she needed this day with one of her best friends. Hearing batman starting to bark, she looked back briefly but mostly her thoughts were overtaking her mind at the moment with how she was ready to just relax with Shawn, see what he’s been up to. Hearing the two come in, she looked back with a smile. “Hey..” Saying to the tall Canadian as she was pulled into a hug. Demi placed her head on his chest as she wrapped her arms around the man, hugging him back. Squeezing him gently as she then pulled back as she laughed a bit to look down at her pup. “Oh I know, I have a big brave dog..” Laughing gently. “Hey Shawnee — “ saying back to him. Feeling batman she then picked him up so he’d stop pawing at her leg. “You got your uncle to carry you around and now me…you little mooch”
“Not much…other than I don’t have a drink in my face cause the little shit isn’t here…but I’m peachy” she said sweetly the last part with a small smile. “And really held up here as much as I possibly can…trying to avoid him..what about you?? What’s new with you?” Asking the taller man as she held batman and she swore the pup fell asleep in her arms. “She’s grown an attachment to Hailey so she stayed behind…actually she snuggled into Hailey more when I tried to get her to come with so..” Shrugging lightly with a teasing roll of her eyes and a smile afterwards. “Plus he’s always the one to come with” demi pulled him up and kissed his little face before putting him down into his bed under the makeshift table and taking a seat. “Oh I brought water and stocked the mini cooler and shit..so..tell me how’s life, what’s life like on the outside…”
