[third person]
-

the heat of los angeles was what woke the couple up this morning. after an incredibly stuffy night, the two lovers were greeted by muggy weather the moment they awoke, making aria groan and get up to turn the air conditioning on full blast.

she sits back down on the bed with a sigh, shawn still fast asleep, clutching a pillow in his hands, and his lips slightly parted. aria smiles to herself, leaning down and pressing a sweet kiss to his cheek.

"mmm," he whines, turning his head and tucking it back into the pillow. "it's too early, go away."

"shawn, it's 7, that's not early," aria giggles, playing with the curls on his head. "come on lazy bones, let's go on a drive."

"a drive?"

"a drive around the hills, come on," she urges, sitting cross legged. "and then go to get coffee."

"the things i do for you," he mumbles to himself, making her laugh as he sleepily wakes up, getting out of the white sheeted bed. "morning," he turns over, leaning forward, and capturing arias lips in his.

"morning," she replies, a faint pink pinching her cheeks. "sleep well?"

"very well," he nods, pushing out a smile. "what about you?"

"okay," she shrugs, folding her arms. "it was muggy when i woke up, and you forgot to keep the ac on," she says, pointing a finger teasingly at shawn.

"i'm sorry, it was getting cold when i fell asleep," he chuckles, pushing arias finger down. "i'll leave it on tonight." aria smiles up at him, shaking her head slightly.

"you've been having so many late nights here," aria says to shawn, noticing something. "is everything okay?"

in reality, shawn was planning arias birthday. although aria wanted nothing done for her birthday, shawn still wanted to make the day perfect. he missed her 18th birthday, he has to go double for her 19th, and plus, she would be 19; completely legal in canada. he was trying desperately to get into contact with her family, but no one would answer him. not even her father.

"andrew keeps giving me things to do," shawn lies quickly. "it's okay, i'm not tired. i prefer having late nights in la, it's weird. i guess i'm used to having late nights here."

"get to sleep early tonight," aria says to him, bringing her hand up to brush away shawns stray hairs on his forehead. "that way you won't be cold when you go to sleep, so you can leave the ac on."

"okay baby," shawn laughs, nodding. "now you go get ready for the drive."

after a short shower, aria gets dressed into gym clothes, considering the comfort more than anything, and rushes to the downstairs of the house they have in la to make two coffees. she hums away to a tune she heard shawn singing the previous day, and prepares a small snack box of almonds and pistachios for them to snack on whilst driving.

"hey aria," andrew says, yawning and walking into the large kitchen of the hollywood home.

"hi, morning," she says back, smiling as she gets two water bottles out of the fridge.

"where's shawn?"

"showering i guess, we're heading out this morning," she says to andrew, taking the two water bottles and snack in her hands.

"that's fine, the majority of the work is done anyway so don't worry," he chuckles back. "you kids go have some fun, shawn and you both have been over stressing, and shawns been overworking a lot, you need to let go a little."

"i think they did enough letting go yesterday," brian mutters, walking into the kitchen, and heading straight to the coffee machine. "i swear to god, i am never sleeping in the room next to them again-"

"brian!" aria whines, slapping his arm, her cheeks flushing red significantly.

"do you know what the funniest part is? shawn left straight after to come to talk to me! he was fucking shirtless with marks all over his back-"

"brian!" aria whines again, slapping him over and over again. "shut up!"

"i demand a new room," brian says, folding his arms and looking at andrew. "now."

"wear headphones," andrew says to him, chuckling. "well, at least we don't get shawn moping about anymore. remember on the illuminate tour?"

"you should've seen him when he came back home, oh god," aria laughs, sitting down on a bar stool. "definitely the most annoying shawn i've met."

"and the shawn who is just shawn isn't annoying?" brian jokes back, nudging arias shoulder.

"i mean, he's shawn, and shawns annoying," aria chuckles, taking a sip of her coffee. "god, i'm engaged to him."

"shawns so excited about it," andrew says. "at the time he wanted to propose, he seemed so at peace, you know? it was like everything had clicked for him."

"yeah, he told me about it and i've never seen him happier," brian adds, making aria feel warm and happy, yet still quite upset because that initial happiness was removed from them ever so quickly. "he's happy. you can see it."

"he definitely is. he seems so much more at ease," aria says gently. "it's good. he deserves to stay happy for the rest of his life."

the group are silent for a while, until shawn strolls in, freshly dressed, rubbing at his wet curls with a white towel. shawn gazed down at his phone, before coming to a stop next to aria.

"morning guys," he says to brian and andrew, before planting his lips on arias forehead. "hey baby."

"hey, i made you a coffee," aria says to him, bringing her hand up to his forearm, brushing her fingertips over his guitar tattoo.

"gross, i'm leaving," brian says, placing his hands up in surrender, taking his coffee and walking away from the group. andrew and aria both chuckle softly, aria shaking her head, leaving shawn confused about what just went on.

"what happened?" shawn asks confused, taking the coffee from aria, and taking a seat next to her.

"brian hates sleeping next door to us," aria chuckles, making shawns eyes go wide with realisation.

"shit," shawn mutters, resting his hands on the side of his face, his elbows on the marble counter. aria laughs, nodding. "really?"

"i told you to put on a shirt," aria says to him, making him muster out a laugh. "come on, let's go."
-
"hi dad," aria says softly, lying down on her bed in california, her phone pressed to her ear. "it's me. i'm in la right now, and i'll be back in toronto next monday. i hope all of you are well at home, i miss you guys. how's that listing going with the beach house? call me when you get this, i love you all." aria takes a small sigh, before continuing. "please call me back. i don't know what made you all ignore me. i love you. see you soon, maybe we can all go out on my birthday, just like old times."

aria hangs up the voice mail, letting her hand drop down, and her phone fall onto the white sheeted bed. she lets out a long sigh, before her eyes fill with tears, as she wonders about why her family haven't been talking to her. it's been weeks since they found out what happened, and it's been weeks since they all uttered a word to her.

on the other side of the door, shawn can't help but to feel so angry at her family. aria was doing nothing more than taking care of another person she loves, and even though any normal person would have left, she stayed. shawn lets out an angry breath, before sliding his phone out of his pocket, and heading to another room, far away from their bedroom so aria wouldn't hear him.

he quickly dials arias mums number, and angrily presses his phone to his ear, raging at the way arias family are treating her for simply loving shawn.

"hello?" ashley answers, making shawn slightly happy that he blocked his number to an unknown caller.

"mrs tate? it's shawn," he says quickly, shutting the door. "i'm just calling to let you know that it's arias birthday next week, yeah that's right, you do have a daughter who has a birthday next week," shawn takes a quick breath, steadying himself. "i've planned a party for her at a hotel in downtown. i'll send you the address, please try to come. it will make aria feel so much happier. she's in a bad place right now and i'm just really worried."

"you have a bigger chance of us attending your funeral than attending her birthday. it's either us, her family, or you, someone who consistently breaks her heart and treats her like rubbish." arias mum hangs up before shawn can get another word in.

he groans in annoyance, throwing his phone down onto the bed, sitting down on the desk chair next to him, and placing his head in his hands.

is he really the reason why arias family won't talk to her? do they seriously have no acceptance towards arias happiness?

aria gets up from the bed, pulling one of shawns hoodies over her head, and sliding on a pair of flip flops. she then exits the room, wiping her cheeks, and walking around the corridor to find shawn.

carefully, she opens up one of the white doors, revealing a very much angered shawn that she doesn't know about.

"shawn?" aria squeaks out, sliding off her flip flops, and walking over to him. "i need you."

"baby," shawn sighs, looking up and seeing aria in the state she's in. "oh darling, come here," all of a sudden, shawn calms down and loses all of his anger, his entire mind focused on making aria feel better. aria walks over, curling up onto shawns lap, and letting him hold her close to his chest as she cries and cries and cries.

she didn't know what was worse; not talking to her family, or her family not talking to her.