chapter two
devil wears prada
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alana couldn't help her mouth to gawk at her surroundings. this couldn't be a university students flat? she thought to herself, eyeing up the expensive kitchen, decked out with various bottles of alcohol, and surrounded by groups of people.

"con, you sure your friend owns this place?" she mutters to her best friend, eyes scanning around and looking for the maths student who made her heart leap countless amounts of times.

"shawns rich," connor answers, shrugging and going to the table, grabbing two bottles of corona, handing one to alana. "speaking of, i see my friends. see ya later."

"charming," alana whispers to herself, seeing connor walk straight into a crowd of people, greeting some of the boys with that awkward chest hug hand grab thing they do.

she took a long sip of her beer before sighing gently and looking round to see if she recognised anyone there. her heart pretty much skipped a beat as soon as she laid eyes on the one person she had dressed up for, and almost felt herself drool as he sent her a dazzling smile, before walking to her direction.

nate edwards. smart, witty, gorgeous, nate edwards.

"hey stranger," he says softly to her, sending her a soft smirk. "haven't seen you around lately, what's up?"

"oh you know, professor stupid smith and his five thousand essays he gives a week," she replies back with a roll of her eyes. "i'm sorry i didn't text you back the other night. been either eating or in the library."

"so you don't have time to catch dinner tomorrow?" alana gawked at him, making him chuckle softly. "come on lana, nothing too fancy, we can go get pizza if you want."

"how about that chinese place that opened up near campus?" she offers, feeling a sudden urge of confidence overcome her red riddled cheeks. 

"i'll pick you up at 7?" he replies, making her smile gently, before nodding her head. "come on, some of us are hanging outside," he holds out his hand to alana, which she takes gracefully, letting him lead her outside to the massive terrace area, before walking over to a group of people she actually did recognise.

"hey! didn't know you said yes to con," brian craigen says enthusiastically, before greeting alana with a hug. "you've been pretty hidden lately, you weren't over when i went over last."

"library," alana answers, chuckling gently. "it's nice to see you though, didn't realise how much of an amazing place you had."

"that's on shawn," brian answers.

"i don't know how he got this rich," nate adds, swooping his arm around alana's waist, making her jump slightly, before her cheeks flush wildly again.

"only fans," brian shrugs, before nate and alana look at him in shock. "what?"

"you're joking," nate replies, raising his eyebrows. "shawn? shawn mendes? on only fans?"

"i'm kidding," brian laughs, throwing his head back. "man, you should've seen your faces."

"yeah, yeah," nate rolls his eyes, whilst alana cuddles up to him gently, the cool breeze disrupting her bare shoulders, his body heat warming her up slightly.

"speaking of," brian trails off, looking at the terrace door, seeing the oh so famous shawn mendes step out, holding a red cup as he walks over to the larger group of them. "hey man, this is alana, cons roommate."

"hey-"

"it's you," alana cuts him off, holding in a huff and a roll of her eyes. "oh my god, i'm out of here."

"got your table back then?" he shoots back, folding his arms to his chest.

"actually i couldn't because some dickheads books were on top of mine," alana snarks back, glaring at him through her eyelashes.

"i know what else could be on top of something of yours," shawn smirks back, making alana almost want to vomit. "what do ya say sweetheart? my rooms just next door," he says, making the crowd go silent. "oh wait, i wouldn't sleep with people who look like you. too fussy for my tastes anyway. what are you even doing at a party like this? i always thought connor wasn't that dumb when it came to things, clearly he became dumb when it came to picking a roommate-"

"fuck you," alana sneers at him, chucking the contents of her bottle at shawns shirt, hearing some gasps around her, and nates hand wrapping around her other wrist. "i don't want an std, but you actually might want to go to your room, you've got something on your shirt. makes it look better though."

a few people let out a laugh, including nate who lets go of alana's wrist, letting her fold her arms to her chest.

"get the fuck out of here," shawn fumes, his eyes burning with anger. "i don't care if you're connors best friend, get the fuck out of here."

"gladly," alana mutters back, putting her bottle down on the table, before storming back into the main room and heading towards the front door.

"hey lana, where you going?" connor asks, pushing past people to reach his best friend.

"home," she mutters, turning around and letting her breath heave. "i swear to god, never bring that dickhead to ours ever again. he's disgusting."

"why, what?-"

"hey, i'll make sure she gets home okay," nate pushes in, making alana's heart warm and her stomach feel fuzzy with butterflies. "shawn said some gross things to her."

"shawn? why?"

"you know today when i said someone took my table? yeah he was the someone," alana spits out, huffing softly. "i just want to go home and shower," she continues, before turning to nate. "you don't have to come with me, i'll be okay."

"i walked you home after you had one too many jäger bombs, and even with that, you still walked into the wrong apartment building," nate says softly to alana. "back then, you were in the right frame of mind, given how drunk you were, but after what shawn said, i know you're gonna go home and cry your eyes out, which is why i'm coming with you."

"i hope i stained that fucking prada shirt."
-
the next morning, alana found herself tucked up underneath her duvet covers, being woken up by her shrilling alarm clock. she sighed gently, glaring at the glowing screen which showed it was 7am, before hearing a thump outside her room.

"con? you good?" she yells, holding her duvet to her chest, shivering slightly from the cool temperature of her room. "brashier?" she calls again, not getting a response. "fuck sake," she sighs, throwing her duvet off of her and walking outside of her room, seeing connor face flat on the floor. "did you just get in?"

"uh huh," he says in response.

"are you drunk?"

"nah," he replies, obviously not knowing what's going on.

"how did you get home?"

"uber," he says, lifting his head up and shooting his eyes at me. "nate still here?"

"he went home last night," alana replies, feeling a soft blush coat her cheeks. "um, he's taking me out tonight."

"date?" connor smirks, sitting up. "by the way, i'm not drunk. just tired of looking after brian."

"the party was at his house-" alana cuts herself off, feeling her cheeks heat up again. "but yeah, a date."

"you've got an macro class in an hour," connor points out, looking at alana's appearance. "might wanna get changed."

"don't remind me," alana whines. "okay, i'm gonna shower, meet you for lunch?"

"you got it," connor replies, sending alana a wave as she walks back into her room, heading to her bathroom. "hey lana?"

"what?" she yells back, sighing softly.

"you okay?" he asks gently, tapping on the door. "i found out what shawn said. i'm ignoring him, if that makes you feel better."

"y-yeah, i'm alright," alana replies softly. "don't ignore him, he's one of your friends too."

"yeah but you're literally my sister, you're basically family to my family," he says. "he doesn't get to hurt family without getting away with it," alana smiles gently to herself, before pushing out a little breath.

"i'm okay con, don't worry," she reassures him. "nate really helped me last night, if he didn't come here with me i would have been crying my eyes out. he saved me from a breakdown."

"what did you two even do?" connor asks cluelessly.

"nothing, we made a snack and watched simpsons," alana chuckles back. "right, i need to get ready now."

"yeah, i'm gonna call shawn to yell at him at some stage," connor sighs. "anyway."

"go eat something," alana tells him. "and maybe shower. you stink."
-
shawn was late. very late. he was in fact running to his lecture, half dressed, and not even bothering to cover up the marks dotted on his neck from the random girl he hooked up with the previous night. he didn't even have his laptop on him, and he couldn't remember if he shoved a notebook into his bag or not.

"ah, mr mendes," professor williams starts with, continuing to look at the computer screen, sensing shawn walking into the theatre late. "long night?"

"something like that," shawn responds back to his favourite professor. "sorry professor williams."

"take a seat," he guides shawn to sit, making shawn look around the surprisingly packed theatre, making his eyes go wide.

he had never seen macro this packed, ever. he thought maybe it was the third year rush where students actually realised how important university work was, or because it was the first week of proper lectures, and he thought people might as well show their faces.

"there's one next to miss summers, third row," the professor continues, not looking up again. "okay so if we look at the way the-" shawn blocks out the rest of what professor williams was saying, whilst trying to find his seat.

he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw who he was supposed to sit next to.

"oh you're kidding me," he mumbles to himself, before slacking himself down into one of the cushioned seats. alana glances at him, but quickly moves her eyes back to her notebook where she tries to summarise what the professor was talking about.

shawn rummages about in his bag, not finding a notebook he thought he put in, making him curse softly to himself. instead, he finds his statistics textbook, along with a pen at the bottom of his rucksack, and a half empty packet of gum.

"pst," he whispers to alana, seeing she's the only person with paper around him. she glares up at him in response, rolling her eyes. "okay look it isn't exactly pleasant that i have to sit-"

"mr mendes, do not come in late to only disturb miss summers, i'm sure she does not want your phone number," professor williams says, making the theatre let out a small laugh, and alana's cheeks go red.

"but sir i-"

"get settled mr mendes, i was just telling everyone that i will be setting a test in the next few weeks," shawn grumbled in response, before sighing gently and leaning back in his seat, fiddling with his pen, clicking it over and over again, annoying alana in the process.

"here," she says curtly, ripping out a sheet of paper from her notebook and handing it to shawn just to shut him up.

"thanks," shawn responds quietly, before scribbling down whatever was on the board, trying to catch up with what he had missed.

the lecture went by pretty quickly, surprising shawn greatly, and he was more than ecstatic to leave, since his only class that day was macro. he did have a tutorial later on in the day, but they were optional, and he decided to not go since they were going over something he knew pretty well already.

"shawn, stay back a minute," professor williams says, making shawn sigh softly as he stops in his treks, turning around and facing his professor. "what's up shawn? you never come in this late, and not have anything with you."

"i'm sorry sir i just had a long night," he says, hoping his professor does not see the red splotches on his neck. "it won't happen again, i promise."

"shawn, you're a great student, and i have really high hopes for you," he continues. "which is why i want you to come to the tutorial today. it's only for you and one other student because realistically you're the only two who are going to pass this class but," he cuts himself off, making shawn chuckle gently. "maybe save your long nights to the weekend, yeah? this is a serious year for you shawn, and i know you want to continue in the subject post university. you've already been recommended for the internship in industry shawn, and you haven't even completed a week in classes."

"i've been recommended?" shawn asks in shock. "i didn't know that."

"you're supposed to get a letter about it today," professor williams continues. "how about an early start to tomorrow's lecture?"

"yes sir," he says in response. "thank you professor. i won't let you down."

"i know you won't," he continues. "have a good day shawn."

"you too," shawn replies, before leaving the theatre and walking through the corridors to the exit.

he just hoped this other student he was talking about wasn't alana.