Hehehe. This is for Charlotte and Isabel. My Cyber Stalkers and real friends all in one!
"Nate?"
"Caitlyn?"
"What the hell is going on?" Caitlyn's eyes swept over the scene in front of her. Her very own boyfriend of six years was on one knee in front of another girl, holding up a sparkling diamond ring. The other girl, who just so happened to be Caitlyn's own best friend, had tinted pink cheeks and a very happy expression.
"I can explain, Caity."
"You can explain?" She asked, tears twinkling in her eyes. "You can explain why you've been leading me on for six years so that you could break my heart by proposing to my best friend. The girl who your brother has been trying to work up the courage to propose to for months?"
"Shane is-? Wait, no! Cait, this isn't what it looks like!" Mitchie leapt up from the bed she was sitting on and held out a hand towards her friend.
"Don't touch me." Caitlyn hissed sharply, taking a step backwards. "I hope you two have a nice life together." She turned and left the room before the tears in her eyes could fall.
"Caity! Wait!"
She ignored the calls after her and sprinted out of her own apartment, not stopping once she was in the hallway, only pausing momentarily to call an unfamiliar number.
The ring sounded and her feet began pounding along the carpeted floor again. "Come on, come on, pick up!"
"Hello?"
"Shane!" She winced when her voice came out like a screaming fan girl.
"Look, I don't know how you got this number but-."
"No! Shane, it's me. Caitlyn."
"Caitlyn? Since when have you had my number?" A sob ripped through her body and she felt her legs wobbling. "Cait, are you crying?"
"Can you- Can you come and pick me up?"
"I'm on my way."
Shane hung up and Caitlyn suddenly felt scared; alone and cold in the pristine white corridor. She sunk down against the wall, her vision clouding over and her hands shaking. How could he have done that to her? How could Mitchie have done that? To her best friend and her boyfriend?
Despite the fact that his house was a twenty minute drive away, Shane was standing next to her just ten minutes after their conversation had ended. He took one look at her shaking form and immediately knew that something serious was wrong.
"Cait? What's up?"
"What's up?" Came her cynical response. "What's up? Why don't you go into my house and ask the new couple what's up?"
"Nate was cheating on you?"
"Nate was proposing to Mitchie."
"What?" Shane's eyebrows furrowed into one long line. "I'm sure that's not right. You must have misunderstood!"
"No, I really didn't. He was there, in front of Mitchie, down on one knee with a ring box in his hand. I don't think I misunderstood Shane!"
"So why call me?" He asked tentatively.
"I don't know!" Caitlyn took a shuddering breath and looked up with bloodshot eyes. "I just… I couldn't call Mitchie so I just… I think of your house of safe because whenever I was upset Mitchie would take me there and throw you out… I just thought you'd like to hear the news."
"I'm still not sure, Cait. Nate and Mitchie are like siblings; maybe you didn't see what you thought." One look at Caitlyn's face made Shane throw his hands up. "I won't protest Cait, just come with me back to my house. I'll talk to Mitchie when she gets in and find out what happened."
Too weak to protest, Caitlyn didn't say anything as Shane pulled her to her feet and hesitantly wrapped an arm around her waist in an attempt to help her walk. She dragged her feet along lifelessly as Shane guided her out to his car and helped her inside. Her vision was blurred with tears; she could barely make out the seatbelt from the dull interior of the car.
Caitlyn didn't speak a single word to Shane for the entire drive. She simply sat with her feet on the expensive leather, her arms wrapped around her legs and her face buried in her knees. She didn't even bother to cry, she was still too much in shock to shed any tears.
The car finally pulled to a stop outside the familiar white building and Caitlyn felt her fingers fumble for the door before her brain had fully registered what was going on. She was out of the car before it had stopped moving. At that point she wanted nothing more than to curl up in a dark corner and cry herself to sleep.
For some odd reason, Shane seemed to understand this better than Mitchie ever had and watched her sprint into the house and up the stairs without question. Caitlyn found herself making for the room she had spent so many times in, the bedroom.
Everything she had ever experienced had a link to this room somehow. When she and Nate had, finally, gotten together, Caitlyn had danced around in Shane and Mitchie's bedroom. When the press had reported Shane as cheating on Mitchie, the two girls had sat in here for almost four hours before Shane arrived home and promised her it wasn't true. But never had Caitlyn thought she would be hiding in her best friend's room because that very same best friend had been sneaking around behind her back with her boyfriend.
As soon as her feet found the familiar corner and allowed her to stop, Caitlyn gave way to the tidal wave of emotion that had been bearing down on her for the last half an hour and felt her knees give way under the onslaught. Nate had been proposing to Mitchie. He had been down on one knee with a sparkling silver ring, the cause of the deliriously happy look on her face, and then he had tried to deny it.
"I loved you." Caitlyn whispered to no one in particular, allowing the stream of makeup tainted tears to stain the ivory carpet. Her fingers reached up to wrap around the silver locket that had been hooked around her neck for so long and without a second thought she pulled it off, throwing the offending item deep under the depths of Mitchie and Shane's bed.
Downstairs, Shane was talking. She could hear the indistinct babble of his voice almost constantly throughout the immeasurable amount of time she spent crouching against the wall. A part of her wondered how he was so calm about the idea of Nate and Mitchie but it wasn't her main priority. For now, all she cared about was clearing her head of the joyful smile Mitchie had been wearing as she stared at the expensive ring.
The outside world didn't affect her for a long time. The darkness of night had faded into the misty dawn when the door flew open and a dishevelled Shane stumbled in.
"Caitlyn. We have to go. Now." He darted toward her, grabbing her hand and tugging.
"What?" She snapped. Shane gave himself just a second to breathe before he answered.
"Nate was coming over to talk to you and he was hit by a drunk driver. He's at the hospital right now."
Caitlyn leapt to her feet immediately, her eyes wide and her heart stuttering. She was midway down the stairs when she remembered that she was furious at Nate and that it served him right.
"Come on Caitlyn," Shane ordered sharply, hurrying passed her and sliding his arms into a leather jacket. "You can be mad at him later. Now, we have more important things to be worrying about."
She nodded and followed him out of the house, leaping into the first car they reached and skidding out onto the main road. Shane was constantly gaining speed throughout the entire journey, swerving around traffic and driving straight through red lights. Even in her confused state Caitlyn was easily able to recognise that she was close to joining Nate in hospital but she didn't care.
Shane jerked the car to a stop in the middle of the car park and shooed Caitlyn in the direction of the door.
"Go!" He yelled as she stepped uncertainly out. "I'll catch up!"
Heart pounding, Caitlyn raced towards the thankfully clear reception desk.
"I'm here for Nate Grey!"
"Sorry," The woman said without even looking up. "No fans allowed."
"Hello? I'm his girlfriend!" The woman looked up with a sceptical expression.
"Really now? I have a few details here to identify you form none other than Shane Grey himself. He said to ask you where you have spent the last six hours."
"Curled up on the floor in Shane and Mitchie's room because I caught my boyfriend proposing to my best friend. Happy?"
The woman looked shocked but nodded anyway. "He's on the fourth floor, room two hundred and seventeen."
Calling a hurried thanks over her shoulder, Caitlyn ducked into the nearest elevator and pressed the four button repeatedly until the doors slid shut. The cheery music irritated her as she waited for her short journey to be over, slightly apprehensive as to what she would find at the end.
As soon as the number on the display hit four she slammed her fist on the open button and pushed through the doors before they were completely open, tumbling into a white corridor and following the sign that pointed to the left.
She knew she had found the right place as soon as she caught sight of the familiar brunette pacing the slightly widened corridor.
"What are you doing here?" Caitlyn spat. "Oh wait, I forgot. You're getting married, aren't you?"
"No!" Mitchie crossed the room in two steps and took a hold of Caitlyn's shoulders. "Nate wasn't proposing to me, Caitlyn! He was practising for when he proposed to you; he was going to do it over dinner tonight!"
"He- what?"
"Nate said he didn't feel ready to ask you so he asked if he could practice with me, show me what he planned to say. He was heartbroken when you left the apartment, he really was."
Caitlyn's mouth was hanging open and she spoke in a muted tone. "He wasn't proposing to you?"
"No! Caitlyn, Nate loves you! He lives with you, he bought that ring for you and he was going to give it to you! Don't get me wrong, I love Nate and all, but only as a brother. I find the very thought of doing half of the things you and him do together repulsive."
"Hey!" Caitlyn protested weekly. She half smiled at her best friend and then the two girls embraced tightly. "How is he?" Caitlyn asked softly as they pulled away. In answer, Mitchie pulled her through an unmarked white door and Caitlyn found herself in a bright room.
The floor was tiled in spotless white, as were the four walls and the window ledge. The lights were shining brightly from above her head, illuminating the pale chair and the sleeping young man in the white bed.
"Nate!" Caitlyn gasped, startling him awake.
"Caity!" He whispered hoarsely, attempting to sit up straight. He winced, but Caitlyn could see no physical sign of damage other than a few small cuts on his right cheek. "Caity, I am so sorry! I promise you, I wasn't asking Mitchie to marry me. I was nervous about asking you and I was just practicing."
"I know. Mitchie explained." Caitlyn took a few hesitant steps forwards. "I'm sorry I didn't give you a chance to explain Nate. I'm sorry! I should have known that you and Mitchie would never do that to me! I should have trusted you, I'm so sorry!"
"Caity, it's okay." Nate slowly eased himself into a sitting position and pated the bed next to him. Caitlyn hurried to join him and noticed that, at some point, Mitchie had left the room. She sat contentedly by his side in silence for a few minutes. "So, Caity?"
"Yeah?"
"Will you… um… This isn't how I expected to be asking you this, but will you marry me?"
Caitlyn let out a soft giggle and forced her way under his arm before looking lovingly into his eyes and whispering her response,
"Yes, yes I will."
It's completely pointless but it's Naitlyn so I'm happy. This is my happy weekend present to you guys; I am so relieved it's finally a Friday evening!
Review? Please?
~Spwarkle