Modern day technology has nearly wiped out the old school idea of pen pals, however when two young people with old souls stumble across a website that matches you with an anonymous pen pal, they may find that fate is much realer than they thought.
I...
"Shawn, can you start squeezing the lemons? People are going to be here soon and I haven't even made the lemonade yet," Karen said frantically. Shawn nodded and stood up to slice and juice the multiple lemons. The one thing his mom loved more than anything was hosting parties for friends and family. As much as he hated the awkward small talk that would inevitably take place during those get-togethers, seeing how happy the parties made his mom always made it worth it. Today was going to be fairly casual; she had only invited about twenty people and most of the food would be grilled by Manny. The weather was beautiful so they expected most of the festivities to take place outside, especially considering their pool was open and the cornhole game was already set up.
Soon enough, their backyard was buzzing with excitement as all of the attendants chit-chatted amongst themselves. Shawn grabbed a drink and casually sipped on it as he stood by himself in the corner, hoping to avoid strange conversations with his mom's middle-aged friends. Despite his attempt to remain low-key, multiple different people had come up to him wanting life updates. One after another, he answered the same questions for each inquiring person.
"How have you been? How's life treating you? Are you still making music? Any special lady in your life these days?"
It was always the same and he was sick of it. He managed to stay for a couple hours before finding his parents and little sister to let them know that he was heading back to his place. He got in his car and sent a quick text to Brian before pulling out of the driveway, inviting him over for beers and video games. After surviving the barrage of questioning during his parent's cookout, he was ready to just chill out and focus his mind elsewhere.
He walked into his apartment and threw his keys on the counter, sighing heavily as he grabbed a cold beer from his fridge. He looked out his window and saw the mailman walking out of the building. Go figure he'd miss him by just a few minutes. He pulled out his phone and sent another text to his best friend, asking him to bring his mail up for him when he arrived. About fifteen minutes later, Brian let himself into Shawn's apartment.
"Guess who got a letter from their mysterious lady friend..." Brian called out in a sing-song voice. Shawn snatched the mail from his hands and furrowed his brows.
"I asked you to bring my mail up, not sift through it." He tried to act upset but he couldn't deny the small smile creeping across his face at the excitement of reading her letter. Brian rolled his eyes and grabbed a beer of his own before making his way to the couch. Shawn flipped through the mail quickly, grabbing the Miami girl's letter and haphazardly throwing the rest onto his kitchen counter. He jumped over the back of the couch and landed on the soft cushions as he carefully opened up her letter, preserving the sticker as always. When he finally got the envelope open, a small photo fluttered out and landed face down onto the couch next to him. Without thinking twice, he grabbed the picture and flipped it over. His breath hitched in his throat and his eyes widened as he took in the image he held. It was her. She was glowing. Her hair cascaded in long, brunette curls around her face. Her sparkling brown eyes peered right into his soul. Her pouty lips looked plump and soft and as much as he hated to admit it, he couldn't help but wonder what they would feel like pressed against his.
"Earth to Shawn," Brian teased as he tossed the cap of his beer bottle at his friend. "What? Did she actually send you a nude or something?" Shawn wanted to respond with some snarky remark but found himself completely unable to form any coherent words as he continued staring at the photo of her face. Being far too curious to let it go, Brian walked over and grabbed the picture from Shawn's hand. "Woah," he said when he saw what his friend had been staring at. "So..." Brian handed the picture back to Shawn. "Are you still sticking to that whole 'she's just a pen pal' thing or...?"
"Shut up," Shawn finally muttered. He pulled out the letter that had still been stuck in the envelope and read through the words she had written for him. His heart ached to heart that she had a pretty rough day but that ache dissipated when she admitted that his letter helped cheer her up. He held his breath when he realized that she was about to finally reveal her name to him, and as soon as her secret was out he couldn't help but smile like an idiot. Camila. Her name was Camila. Looking at the picture of her, the name suited her. It felt like a dream. Knowing her name and seeing her face, suddenly it all felt too good to be true.
"You know you've got to send her a selfie back, right?" Brian interrupted as Shawn read through her letter.
"I know, I know." Shawn slowly and reluctantly set the picture and letter down onto his coffee table as he moved to pick up the game controller.
"You can write your reply, I know you want to," Brian sighed. "I'll just play a few solo games until you're done." Shawn smiled and grabbed his notebook and pen. Though Brian liked to tease him about his communications with Camila, he appreciated that he could also see that this was important to Shawn. As always, Shawn added the sticker she had sealed her letter with to the front cover of his notebook before beginning to write his response.
Camila,
That was as far as he got before he realized that he had no idea how to start this letter. He felt the need to address the fact that she had sent a picture of herself. He wanted to compliment her, but he also didn't want to sound like a creep.
"I don't know what to say," Shawn admitted to Brian. "How do I tell her that she's one of the most beautiful humans I've ever seen without sounding like I'm flirting?"
"What's wrong with flirting?" Brian asked. Shawn looked up at him to respond, but he didn't have a good answer to the question. "Just be honest with her. Wasn't that the whole point of the pen pal in the first place? To have someone you can be completely honest with?" Shawn sighed and looked back down at the nearly empty piece of paper before picking up the pen and being completely and utterly honest.
Camila, You'reabsolutelybeautiful. I apologize if that's too forward, but it's true. You're name is equally as beautiful as you are; it fits you. Does this mean I officially have to send you a selfie now? Alright. I'll include one. I'm sorry to hear that you had a rough day, but I'm glad that I was able to brighten it up a little bit. Moving out of the house you grew up in is rough. My parents moved out of my childhood home shortly after I graduated high school and I agree that the flood of memories and sentimental moments can be emotionally overwhelming. My day hasn't been too bad, but it hasn't been too good either. That is, until I got your letter. We seem to be really good at cheering each other up. So far, aside from your letter, the highlight of my day has been squeezing lemons to help my mom make lemonade. Now I'm just chilling on my couch drinking a beer with Brian and preparing to kick his ass in this video game. Super exciting, isn't it? I know. Try not to be too overwhelmed with how crazy my life is. Anyways, here's my face.
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With anticipation, Shawn
Hefinished writing and sealed both the image and his letter in the envelope before kicking his feet up onto his coffee table and grabbing the controller, interrupting Brian's solo game so he could join.
"So...do I get to be your best man?" Brian asked eyeing the letter on the table.
"Shut up," Shawn huffed. "Her name is Camila, by the way." Brian just smirked and shook his head. It was painfully obvious that his friend already had it bad for this girl.
