Of Shrunken Shirts and Oversized Sweaters
"Nate?"
Nate Green, of the world famous band Connect 3, spun around quickly, coming face to face (well, technically face to chest because of the obvious height difference) with Caitlyn Gellar, Mitchie Torres' best friend.
"Hi, Caitlyn," Nate blushed embarrassedly.
"Care to explain your current choice of outfit?" Caitlyn asked with an eyebrow cocked.
Nate was wearing SUPER skinny jeans and a white v-neck that looked so tight it could cut off his arms' circulation. Over all Nate's clothes were TIGHT, which really said something since Nate regularly wore fitted clothing.
"Crap! Is it really that noticeable?" Nate groaned and ran a hand over his face in frustration.
Caitlyn bit her lip at how adorable Nate was when he was stressing out over something. "Just...A LOT!" Caitlyn joked.
"Stupid Jason!" Nate grumbled before explaining his outburst. "He decided to do some laundry, which is nice when you think about it, but really I just wish he hadn't! He washed every piece of clothing I brought with me, even what was CLEAN! And, surprise, surprise, he shrunk it all! And now I need to go and perform with Shane and Jason and I have NOTHING to wear!" He threw his hands up in fury, causing the hem of his shirt to inch up his torso, revealing his abdomen.
'Oh, God!' Caitlyn thought frantically. She had always had a HUGE crush on Nate. 'Stay calm!' she told herself. Caitlyn quickly diverted her eyes, looking for something, ANYTHING, to distract her.
"Nate," Caitlyn started, her eyes landing on an abandoned grey hoodie. "Is that yours?"
"Uh, yeah. I was wearing it while Jason decided to do my laundry, so it's not shrunken, but management said I'm not allowed to wear sweats on stage."
"Your management? They came to camp?"
"Yeah," Nate sighed bitterly. "Ever wonder where Connect 3 is in the morning? We have breakfast meetings!" he finished rolling his eyes.
"Oh," Caitlyn responded. How could she help Nate? "I've got it!" Caitlyn exclaimed snapping her fingers. "You can wear my brother's shirt!"
Caitlyn began sliding the loose blue plaid shirt she had been wearing off. It was unbuttoned and she had a white tank top on under it.
"And, you can wear my hoodie, since its cold," Nate answered handing over his hoodie as he accepted the button down shirt.
As Caitlyn accepted the sweater gratefully Nate continued staring at her body. Caitlyn's tank top was tight enough to accentuate her curves, and Nate thought it was something to be admired. Caitlyn noticed Nate's stare and quickly pulled the hoodie onto her self-conscious body. Nate blushed as well, pulling on the plaid shirt, buttoning it and rolling back the sleeves.
Once Nate looked up from his shirt he noticed Caitlyn had rolled the sleeves of the hoodie and had it hanging off one of her shoulders. She was wearing the sweater in such a way that it looked as though it was part of the outfit all along.
Caitlyn looked up at Nate and smiled. "You look good in Brad's shirt," she complimented. "ALMOST as good as he did!"
"Hey!" Nate exclaimed, catching the double-sided comment. "I'm sure he is nothing compared to me! I am a rock star after all," Nate joked.
"Pop star," Caitlyn chocked out with a smile before looking down sadly.
Nate laughed at Caitlyn's response until he noticed how upset she looked.
"Cait, what's wrong?" he asked, placing a hand on Caitlyn's shoulder.
"Nothing"
"Cait," he repeated sternly. He could tell she was lying.
"Fine," Caitlyn gulped before continuing. "Brad and I used to have similar arguments. He said he was going to become a rock star and I would joke around saying he would be a pop star. But that was before... he died." Silent tears escaped her eyes which she had squeezed shut.
Nate's mouth hung open in shock. He had not been expecting that response. He pulled her into a tight hug as the tears cascaded down her cheeks.
Caitlyn thought about her brother's death silently. It was odd to admit that he was gone aloud. Since he his death, seven months ago, Caitlyn was allowed to admit he was gone. Her parents had permitted a week of grieving before she was to move on with her life and act as if nothing had changed.
"I'm so sorry, Caity," Nate whispered, using a nickname he'd heard Mitchie utilize before.
"Not your fault," Caitlyn squeaked before waves of flashbacks hit her.
Brad had suffocated in the middle of the night. He suffered from severe asthma and was having one of his regular attacks, but this time he could not find his puffer. This caused his brain to shut down and eventually die due to lack of oxygen. Caitlyn had found him dead on his bedroom floor the next morning. It was an image that would haunt her for the rest of her life.
Caitlyn shivered at the memory and clung to the front of Nate/Brad's shirt. She breathed in the shirt's scent. There were still faint traces of Brad's musky scent and they were mixing with Nate's sugary sweet one. Caitlyn smiled, despite herself, at how complimentary they were to each other.
"I'm sorry, Nate!" Caitlyn said suddenly, pulling out of Nate's hug. He was in a relationship and they really shouldn't have been that close.
"It's, uh, okay," Nate responded, rubbing the back of his neck embarrassedly.
"And, sorry about the shirt," Caitlyn added pointing out the wet spot her tears had left.
"It's your shirt"
"True..."
"Hey, Nate! Shane and Jason are looking-" Dana, Nate's girlfriend, burst through the door of the Vocals cabin only to stop talking abruptly. "Oh, hi Caitlyn."
"Dana," Caitlyn smiled in response. "I, uh, better go find Mitchie. See you two later!" Caitlyn said quickly, attempting to escape the tension filled atmosphere.
"Wait, Caitlyn!" Nate called out. "Thanks again for the shirt!"
Caitlyn smiled and nodded politely.
"Was she crying?" Caitlyn heard Dana ask Nate in a whisper once Caitlyn was out of the cabin doors. She never heard Nate's response as she took off towards her own cabin.
Upon arrival Caitlyn discovered her cabin to be abandoned, the girls were probably already down at Beach Jam. She decided to wash her red puffy face before going to join them.
"Hey, Mitch," Caitlyn said breathlessly as she pushed through the audience towards her best friend Mitchie.
"Hi," Mitchie said turning around. "You were wearing that this morning, were you? Isn't that Nate's?"
"Um," Caitlyn blushed, looking down. "Yeah, we sort of swapped..."
Mitchie gave Caitlyn a confused look but dropped the subject when Connect 3 stepped onto stage.
"Hey guys, we're gonna play a new song today! Hope you guys like it!"
As Nate began to move around the stage playing his guitar he made sure never to wander too far from Caitlyn. He'd never really thought about Caitlyn romantically before, but now that he had, she was all that he could think about
In the middle of the song Nate looked over towards Dana. She was standing near the stairs to the stage and was looking almost impatient. Lately it seemed as though Dana had forgotten about the music, and all that mattered was promoting the newly created Camp Rock-Star. He rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to Caitlyn, who was dancing wildly with her friends. She was beaming up at Nate and he returned the smile just as enthusiastically.
"Thank you!" Shane yelled into the microphone as the song ended and the whole band ran off stage.
Nate set his guitar down before being bombarded of talk about press by Dana. As his girlfriend yammered on Nate's eyes wandered towards Caitlyn who was now talking animatedly to Peggy, Ella, Mitchie, and Shane. Nate sighed, wishing he could be joking around with them too.
"Nate," Dana said irritated, snapping her fingers in front of Nate's face. "Are you even LISTENING to me?"
"Yup," Nate popped the 'p', dragging his eyes away from the beautiful brunette. "Interviews with HotTunes and Hitz TV tomorrow, I know!"
"Okay, well, I need to get back," Dana said, giving Nate a peck as he stood in front of her stiffly. "Bye!"
Nate nodded and breathed a sigh of relief as Dana climbed into her canoe. Although the camps had come together as one, neither of them could accommodate ALL the campers on one location, so until renovations could occur, cabin assignments were the same as the beginning of the summer.
Once Dana's canoe was completely out of view Nate walked from the shore towards the small camp fire the original camp rockers had created.
"Hey," Nate waved at everyone. "Caitlyn, can I talk to you?" he asked hopefully, once everyone had greeted him.
"Of course"
Nate and Caitlyn walked down the path towards the cabins and sat on the steps in front of Caitlyn's.
"Here's your brother's shirt," Nate said pulling off the button-down and handing it to Caitlyn.
"Thanks," Caitlyn muttered, un-zipping Nate's hoodie. "Here's your-"
"No," Nate interrupted. He placed his hand over hers tenderly. "You keep it!"
The two stared into one another's eyes, subconsciously leaning in towards each other. Caitlyn came to her senses first and straightened up.
"Um, I better get to my cabin," she said suddenly.
"Yeah, me too..."
"Thanks for the hoodie," Caitlyn smiled, gesturing towards the sweater.
"Thanks for saving me with your brothers shirt," Nate smiled.
"No problem," Caitlyn responded. "Goodnight!"
"'Night"
Caitlyn then ran up the rest of the steps to her cabin and collapsed onto her bed. She had a goofy smile on her face as she did so. For once Nate had notice HER! He may not have confessed any hidden feelings for her, but they had ALMOST kissed and he had given her his sweater. That had to count for something, right?
She would ask Mitchie later, but for now she chose to be blissfully ignorant to Nate's current relationship status. Instead she would relive the day over and over again in her head.