The flowers still are blooming, the leaves will turn again, but time will be frozen for us - Sabrina Claudio, frozen
-
aria slipped on her heels, nervousness filling her mind, swooping around her thoughts, and making her figure tremble softly. her black, barely there, heels click over the laminate flooring of shawn and hers shared hotel room, trying to find the silver bracelet her mother gave her to wear today, along with the silver chain shawn purchased yesterday for her.

"my stunning girl," shawn mumbles, pressing his lips gently to her cheek, making her blush softly underneath her layers of makeup.

"my handsome man," she responds, flattening her hands over the collar of his suit and shirt, pressing her lips onto his jawline. "shawn, you look so good."

"not as good as you, though," he responds, making her cheeks flush once more. "aria, you look so beautiful."

"thank you," she replies, smiling softly at him. "can you put my chain on for me?" she asks, holding out the cartier chain for shawn to put on.

"i'd love to," he says gently, holding the chain in his hands, delicately, before walking behind aria, and placing it gently over her neck, doing it up. "i knew it would look incredible on you."

"i'm still mad at you for spending that much on me," she teases, hitting his arm softly. "but i love it."

"good, because-"

"come on kids!" andrew calms from the main room of the suite, making the two young adults sigh simultaneously, before chuckling to each other. "we don't have all day!"

"ready?" he asks her gently, completely settling her nerves.

"let's do this," she says, kissing his cheek, before grabbing her clutch, and following shawn out of the bedroom, into the main room, where andrew, geoff, and jake are all waiting.

"matching outfits, nice touch," andrew grins. "you guys are definitely gonna get some attention now."

"so what's the plan exactly?" shawn asks nervously, clutching onto arias hand, as the walk down to the lobby of the hotel. "like are we just gonna get there and kiss? or like more?"

"you will go onto the carpet first, take a couple photos, before you call aria to join you. she'll get out of the car, walk up, and both of you will take some photos, showing some affection. kiss preferably, but it's okay if you don't. aria make sure to kiss his cheek or something before he goes to the interviews, so he gets asked and can confirm it," andrew explains to the two of them, as they nod understandingly. "other than that, just have a good time, and relax. the more you worry, the more scripted it will look, and we don't want fake rumours coming up, especially since this is a very much real relationship."

"oh god," aria and shawn both mumble at the same time, climbing into the car. "i didn't realise it would be that tiring," aria groans, making shawn laugh.

"love, it's walking around and answering questions, it's not tiring," he says, placing his hand on her thigh. "as soon as it's over you can go to sleep, i promise."

"good," she says softly. "school has completely exhausted me over the last week. i hate exams."

"you're gonna get straight A's anyway, why are you so worried?" shawn chuckles again, squeezing her thigh softly.

"shut up," she mutters, folding her arms against her chest, making shawn grin, and laugh again. "i'm pretty sure i failed my calc exam, but you know what? that's besides the point. it's not like i'm gonna be doing maths in uni."

"exactly, so please hunny, don't worry," he chuckles, as she smiles sadly, pressing her lips to his cheek gently.

the car eventually comes to a stop, in the middle of screaming fans, a screaming crowd of people, swarming around to get a picture with their favourites. aria feels suddenly nervous. she's never been to these things with shawn, and she should probably get used to it. she didn't know what to do; how to act, so she simply followed shawn, and did exactly what he was doing, which was moving to the doorway of the car.

"ready, baby?" he says softly, looking back at her. she nods in response. "i love you."

"i love you more," she grins, leaning forward and pecking his lips.

"come on kids, let's make the internet blow up," andrew says, patting shawn on the back, and pushing him out of the car, making aria chuckle softly.

shawn immediately gets escorted onto the red carpet, pictures being taken of him left, right and centre, flashes going off in every direction. aria gasps softly to herself, before shawn takes his hand out of his pocket, motioning for aria to come out. she nods, clambering out of the car, and walking to shawns side.

immediately, flashes and yells fill the world around them. shawns hand finds its way around her waist, pulling her closer to his side, as the two of them shoot smiles out; arias smile still a little shy, but nevertheless, beautiful to anyone who passes.

"ready?" shawn whispers in her ear, before she nods, turning her head, and pressing his lips up to shawn.

although the red carpet erupts into a fleeting diorama of insanity, everything was frozen for aria and shawn; both of them felt like they were the only ones on earth, and to shawn, this threw him back to their first kiss.

"aria?" shawn chuckles, as she lets out a squeaky giggle, hiccuping from the alcohol that fills her system.

"happy birthday!" she squeals, throwing her arms around his neck, stumbling slightly, so they fall onto his bed. "oof!"

"careful," he laughs, trailing his hands down to her waist. it's only then he notices she's sitting on his lap, her hands resting on his shoulders. she gulps, suddenly sobering up, as shawns lips fall slightly, his eyes trailing down to her lips, her soft, slightly puffy, rosy ones.

"shawn-"

"i've wanted to do this since i first met you, don't kill me," he mumbles, before leaning forward and attaching their lips together, in their first kiss, which eventually led to a night of passion and lust.

"-there you have it folks, shawn mendes is officially a taken man!"
-
aria sits down at the afterparty, well, perched on shawns knee, as they engage in a conversation with an interviewer.

"so how old are you again?"

"me?" she asks shocked, at the interviewer, who laughs, and nods. "i'm-"

"19," shawn butts in, his heart hammering against his chest, much to arias dismay. why would he lie about her age if it didn't affect him? her heart drops, as a small frown gets painted over her lips.

"19? god, i would've thought you were older, maybe 21," he laughs. "so what made you go for him?"

"oh you know, he's," aria begins, looking down at shawn. "shawn."

"just shawn?"

"yeah, nothing special about him," she shrugs. "now if you excuse me, i have to go to the powder room," she says quickly, getting off shawns lap, without another word, and storming off to the bathroom, the trail of her dress running behind her, as tears well up in her eyes.

she reaches the bathroom, and pushes the door open, sitting down on one of the plush seats in the dressing area. what a posh bathroom, she thinks to herself, before letting the tears stream down her cheeks.

"oh my god, aria?" hailey baldwin, the girl who she met earlier, gasps, before rushing over to her, and sitting down next to her. "is everything okay, sweetie?"

"yeah," she sniffles, wiping her eyes. "just allergies."

"that's nonsense, what's going on? should i get shawn? he-"

"no!" aria bursts suddenly. "i mean, it's a female bathroom."

"what did he do?" hailey sighs, making aria let out a puff of air.

"he told an interviewer that i'm 19, when i'm 17. what the fuck is wrong with him?" aria bursts, anger filling her. "you know, he always says he has no problem with my age, and we've had problems about this before with other people, but why is he caring now? i thought coming out as a couple was taking a step forward, not taking one thousand steps back!"

"i'm sure he's only doing it to protect you, there's ears everywhere in these parties," hailey says sympathetically, placing her hand on arias back. "and it was with the press, aria, if the interview gets out, you don't want some of shawns fans finding out your age," she says softly.

"why? i'm 18 in two months," she frowns.

"take it from me, who got hell from some of his fans even though we said countless amounts of times we're just friends, you don't want them to find out your real age. certain ones will use it to their advantage to attack you, he's only doing it for your protection," she says gently. "but aria, i completely understand why you're pissed, he shouldn't have done that without telling you."

"i know, it's just," aria sighs, taking the tissue that hailey offers to her, patting her eyes dry. "i didn't want it to be about my age, especially since we literally broke up because of something to do with my age, and shawns friends," she admits. "i'm just nervous."

"what happened?"

"they don't like me with him, they say i'm too immature, too childish for him, just because i'm three years younger than him. he's gonna be 21 this august, and i'm gonna be 18 in two months, what's the problem with that? he's gone on and on about how my age doesn't matter, but all of a sudden he just decides i'm 19 without telling me?" she lets out a long sigh, rubbing at her temples. "god, it's like he thinks like his friends!"

"listen, why don't you come over to my place? it's a half an hour drive away, and we can talk, order some pizza, have a girls night, yeah?" she says gently, rubbing her back. "you look like you need one."

"i'd love to, but i need to tell shawn before, and make him know that i'm annoyed," aria mutters, standing up and wiping her eyes.

"you want me to come with you?"

"please," aria nods, as hailey smiles sadly at her, giving her a sweet hug, running her hands up and down her back. "thank you so much, hailey, i really appreciate it."

"no problem hun, and don't worry, everything will work itself out," the two of them leave the bathroom, escaping back to where shawn is, who's now talking to andrew and geoff, along with niall horan, who has now joined them.

"oh hey niall," aria says, greeting the singer with a hug. "how have you been?"

"great, thanks! how are you?"

"good, thank you," aria says back, pushing out a smile, before looking at shawn, who has just been greeted by hailey. "um, i'm going home with hailey."

"oh," he states, frowning slightly. "i thought we were going back to the hotel together- i mean, talk you know, like couples do." he flushed, making the people around him laugh softly, as aria rolls her eyes, folding her arms.

"i'm not an object you can use whenever you want, shawn," she shoots, making andrews eyes go wide, suddenly worried about where they are, and who's listening.

"hunny i didn't say that, what's up?" shawn asks concerned, holding onto her hands, and his face full of anxiousness. "aria?"

"shawn don't," hailey sighs, pulling their hands apart. "aria, why don't you go outside and ask for a taxi? i'll meet you there," hailey says, as aria sighs, and nods, saying a quick goodbye to niall, geoff, and andrew, before rushing out of the venue.

"hailey, what's going on?" shawn asks confused, sadness filling him. hailey sighs softly, pulling him away from the group.

"she's upset about you saying she's 19," she tells him. "look, let me have a girls night with her, let her relax a little, and calm down. please don't run after her, just let her be on her own for a little."

"i-i didn't mean to," shawn frowns.

"she knows you didn't, it's just she's upset, and angry, and pissed at you," hailey says gently, as if trying to manipulate shawns psychological emotions; reverse psychology in theory. "just give her till tomorrow morning, yeah?"

"um, can you give her this?" shawn reaches into his pocket, taking out the little red box, handing it to hailey. "it's a ring she wanted. it's not an engagement ring, but i saw her admire it on a website or something, and i got it for her. i was gonna surprise her with it tonight, but i guess not now. tell her i love her, and that i'm sorry. i'm gonna go back to the hotel."

"of course," hailey nods, taking the box from him, before sighing gently. "are you sure you don't want to give it to her?"

"yeah, i don't think she wants to see me tonight," he sighs, looking away. "somehow i always mess things up, they were my friends who messed things up, so therefore i messed it up," he mumbles, shoving his hands into his pockets. "i'll see you around."

with a heavy heart, shawn walked away, taking a long walk back to the hotel; not particularly knowing where he was going, but eventually ending up at the hotel, where he immediately crawls into bed, falling asleep as soon as he turns the lights off.

but he couldn't help to think about what his friends thought, is she really too young for him?