{emma pov}
 
 
 
I wake up to the pleasant sound of birds chirping and the wonderful aroma of freshly cooked bacon. I notice that Shawn isn't beside me, so I crawl out of the tent and see him, back towards me, cooking something on the gas stove.

I get out of the tent quietly, and just as I am about to sneak attack, he stops me. "Good morning, beautiful," he smiles, turning around to kiss me. "I heard your footsteps and the tent's zipper, if you were wondering how I knew you were coming," he chuckles. "You can't fool me."

"It was gonna be so good though," I pout.

"Sorry, you ruined it for yourself," he shrugs, laughing. "You came just in time! Ready for some bacon and eggs?" he asks and I nod vigorously.

We eat breakfast, then it's almost checkout time, so we pack up the tent, and all of our other belongings.

"Thanks for making me come camping with you, I had so much fun," I say to Shawn as we pull out of the campsite and onto the highway.

"See, I told you," he nudges me. "But anytime, baby girl, I had a lot of fun too."

"And now we get to have a beach day! And go out into the ocean to face one of your worst fears," I smirk.

"Yeah..." he blushes a bit.

I gasp. "Is Shawn Mendes really that scared?" He looks away. "I didn't think you were that afraid of anything!"

"Everyone's afraid of something," he shrugs, biting his lip.

How is he so damn poetic? It makes me swoon every time.

✦

We're now in San Diego, and lately I've been starting to get my creative juices flowing, trying something different. I'm starting to write a song.

It's pretty trashy, to be honest, but I feel like it's a decent start.

I strum some of the notes on my guitar, starting to like the way it sounds. I sing the lyrics.

I'm facing the window, enjoying the beautiful view of the California waters, hoping it will give me some inspiration.

"What's this?" Shawn asks, coming up behind me and looking at my sheet music.

"Oh, nothing," say, closing my notebook. "Just a song I'm writing," I blush slightly.

"Wait, wait, wait, you have glasses? Since when?" he asks with a chuckle, sitting down on the bed.

I laugh, forgetting that I had them on. "Yeah, I don't wear them often, only when I'm reading or really focusing on something. I don't really need them, but I get headaches sometimes if I don't."

"Oh," he smirks.

"Yeah..."

"Well you look pretty damn adorable and smart in them," he comments, making me blush slightly.

"Thanks."

"So, can I hear what you're writing?"

"I guess," I smile awkwardly. "But I'm warning you, it is not that good."

"I'm sure it is," he smiles, rubbing my shoulder. "Go ahead," I open my notebook and start strumming the chords.

"You know just what to say,
things that scare me,
I should just walk away,
but I can't move my feet,
the more that I know you
the more I want to,
something inside me's changed
I was so much younger yesterday,



I didn't know that I was starving til I tasted you,
don't need no butterflies when you give me the whole damn zoo,
by the way, by the way you do things to my body,
I didn't know that I was starving til I tasted you,"

Shawn doesn't say anything, just stares at me with wide eyes. "Yeah, that's all I have so far, I told you it was bad," I scratch the back of my neck, biting my lip.

"No, Emma. This is amazing! It's sooooooooo good," he says in awe.

"Thanks," I smile. "Do you have any suggestions? Ways I can improve my writing?"

"Honestly, just write what your feeling, and go with what your gut tells you. You may edit some things along the way, but just write down whatever comes to mind, anything could end up being useful in one way or another."

"Okay, that's a great suggestion," I smile, kissing him on the lips softly. "Oh, we're going to be leaving San Diego soon, I should text Kayla and ask her when we can hang with them!"

"Yeah, good idea."

I send her a quick text, asking if they want to have a beach day before we leave Cali. I turn off my phone, then almost immediately get a text back.

kayla 💫
 
of course, that would be so much fun! looks like we're both free tomorrow if you wanna do it then :)
 
 
 
"Tomorrow?" I ask Shawn. Our show isn't until the day after.

"Yep, sounds perfect," He smiles at me, and I respond to her.

emma 🌸
 
that sounds perfect!
 
 
 
She gives me the address of Troy's parent's beach house and we work out all of the other details.

emma 🌸
 
i can't wait! see you tomorrow!
 
 
 
kayla 💫
 
me either! see you!
 
 
   
I shut off my phone and sit on Shawn's lap on the bed. "Aren't you excited?" I ask.

"Ill admit, I'm pretty excited, I love beach days. But I'm just a bit nervous about going into the middle of the ocean," he admits.

"Good! Me too, I'm so glad you agreed to this," I smile. I know it'll be a great day.

✦

"Emma!" Kayla yells as we arrive at the door the next day. I give her a big hug. "Shawn, how are you guys? Come on in!"

"We're doing pretty good, how are you?" I smile as we walk into the door of the small but cute beach house.

"Great, thanks, we're actually going to go straight down to the beach I think, so you can get changed if you'd like."

"Okay, thanks Kayla," I say and take my bag into the washroom to get into my bathing suit. It's new, I've never worn it before. It's a one piece, plain black with a v- neck that goes down pretty far.

Once I'm changed, I walk out into the main room again. "Damn, babe," Shawn says as he sees me. I blush instantly. "Absolutely stunning as always."

He takes his turn, and when he comes out my heart goes wild. He's wearing some swim trunks, and his perfectly toned stomach and arms are all in view.

I keep my reaction inside, but just bite my lip, smiling and looking at him.

We hold hands and follow Kayla and Troy down to the beach. The water is a really deep blue colour, absolutely gorgeous. It's still the early afternoon, but it's already very hot out. I love California.

"Beach volleyball anyone?" Troy asks and we all nod.

"Boys against girls?" Shawn suggests.

"You're going down," I narrow my eyes.

"Doubtful," Shawn chuckles.

"Say that again after we beat your sorry asses," I smirk.

We play for awhile, and they do end up winning.

"And who's sorry asses got beat?" Shawn raises an eyebrow and walks towards me.

"Shut up," I laugh, shoving him a bit. He laughs too.

"Who wants to go swimming?" Troy asks.

{shawn pov}
 
 
 
"Meeeeee!" Emma yells, starting to run towards the ocean. "I'll beat you there!" She yells back to me.

I start running behind her, gaining on her quickly. Just as she hits the shoreline, I pick her up from behind, and she squeals. I spin her around in circles, and she starts flailing a bit.

"That's not gonna stop me!" I laugh, then put her down a few moments later before we get too dizzy.

"I won, by the way," she winks.

"Won what?"

"I beat you down here," she shrugs, grinning cheekily.

"Only cause I let you,"

"That doesn't change the fact that I won," she smirks.

"Yeah, well," I say. She sticks her tongue out playfully.

She starts to walk into the water. "Ah! It's so cold!" She screams.

"It's the Pacific Ocean, what did you expect?" I laugh. "But it's not that cold."

"Yes it is!"

Eventually I get her to step out with me into the water about waist-deep. She keeps screaming because of how 'cold' it is.

"Okay, lets dunk in 3," I say, our fingers intertwined.

"2," she says nervously.

"1," I finish it off, and we both dunk underwater. When we come back up, she starts laughing. I have no idea why, but she does. Her laugh is so adorable, making me laugh too. So the two of us are sitting in the ocean, laughing our heads off for no apparent reason.

"It... hurts..." Emma laughs, holding her stomach.

"You're adorable," I chuckle, "What's so funny?"

She starts laughing even more, tears coming out of her eyes from all the laughter.

"To be completely honest, I have no clue. I'm so delusional,"

"Um, okay then," I laugh.

"Ooh! I have an idea! Do you want to go on a boat ride?" She says excitedly.

"Um, I guess," I say nervously.

"It's okay, I know that you're scared," She giggles.

"What? No," I bite my lip.

"Yeah," she mocks me. "It's okay, as you told me, everyone's afraid of something,"

"Well what are we waiting for then? Let's go!" I say.

We go back to the beach, hand in hand, and meet up with Kayla and Troy.

"Did I hear one of you say you have a boat?" I ask as we approach them.

"Yeah, my parents own one and I have a licence, why?" Troy asks.

"I-" I blush, but Emma takes over, cutting me off.

"Shawn would like to finally face his worst fear," Emma says, rubbing my shoulder. "Since we're on tour, we decided that we would both face one of our worst fears, and mine was spiders, so we went camping the other day. His fear is being in the middle of the ocean."

"Goals," Kayla coos, "That's so adorable, I love it! Of course we can go!"

The boat is attached to the dock, I can't believe I didn't notice it before. We grab our towels and life jackets, walk over and hop in. Troy gets in the drivers seat and we unhook the boat from the dock, setting us free.

I'm really scared, but also kind of excited for this. I don't know why, just something about being out in the middle of the ocean absolutely terrifies me. There are possibilities of drowning, getting eaten by a shark, being stranded, and so many others, it really freaks me out.

"You ready?" Emma looks me in the eyes, holding my hand. There's a small sparkle in her beautiful brown eyes, and I get lost in them. "Um, babe?" she says after awhile, laughing awkwardly.

"Sorry, what?" I laugh awkwardly. "Sorry, I got distracted by your beautiful eyes," I grin.

She blushes.

"You two lovebirds ready to go?" Kayla laughs from the front of the boat.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I bite my lip as we start moving. I grab onto Emma's hand tightly as we are speeding across the ocean. "Oh my god this is amazing!" I yell over the loud sound of the motor.

We go over some really big bumps, and I hold on for dear life. If I end up in the middle of the ocean, I will not be a happy camper.

"Troy! Can you please stop the boat? We'll go right here," Emma yells excitedly. We're really far out now, the beach house is smaller than the size of my thumb in the distance. My heart starts beating faster. "Come here!" she says, taking my hand and pulling me to the back of the boat.

"Um, what are you doing?" I ask nervously.

"We're facing your fear! Come on!" She smiles.

"No no no, let's just stay here in the boat," I suggest, but she shakes her head. She won't have it. I figured.

"Please, do it for me, I promise you won't drown," she pouts.

"Okay," I say, taking her hand and stepping towards the back of the boat, where there is a flat platform for jumping off of.

"Ready?" She looks at me, smiling. I nod. "One, two, three!" We jump together, hand in hand, and hit the cold water, going under.

A few seconds later, I come up to the surface. And I kinda hate to admit it, but that was actually kind of fun. "I did it," I smile, and we go hold onto the back of the boat, as I am still obviously not used to being out here, in the middle of the ocean. Troy set the anchor at some point, and Kayla and him are swimming too.

"Yes you did," Emma smiles back. "I'm so proud of my Shawnie."

I give her a glare.

"What?" She asks.

"Please don't call me that ever again," I beg. "Never, do you hear me?" I let out a small chuckle.

"You got it, Shawnie," she sends an exaggerated wink, and I roll my eyes. She's never gonna stop now. "You know, there's one more thing we should do before we get back into the boat," She smirks.

"What's that?" I ask, a bit worried about what she'll say next.

She doesn't say anything, just moves a bit closer and kisses me. And she didn't have to say anything, I know what she wants to do now. She pulls away, and I take my arm off the back of the boat, swimming out a little. She does the same.

She nods at me, and we both go underwater, and we kiss. I swear, at this moment, I feel everything click into place, just because of this one very romantic gesture. I figure that somehow, and I don't know how, but we met for a reason. We were meant to be together.

a/n
 
sorry it took so long to update! but here's a super long chapter for you to make up for it :)
 
shemma's underwater kiss tho 😏💋💦

remember to vote and comment so you're not a ghost reader! I have a lot of those 😌💘
 
bye until next time!
 
~em 💗