Summary: As I sit in my small service apartment, I wonder why he never once thought of trying to find me. Now after all these years, he's trying to frantically search for me. We don't even have the full rose, thorns and all, of our past romance. All we have are the blackened, cold ashes. The ashes of a once perfect romance turned sour by her.
The Ashes of a Once Perfect Romance
Chapter 1
It's been five years, two months, five days, three hours and around thirty-one minutes since Shane Gray broke up with me, Michelle Rose Torres.
No, it's thirty two now. Do you want me to include seconds?
Yes, I have counted. It's depressing, but it's my life. My life in this small service apartment in New York City because I can't own a real one with the thin salary I'm currently receiving. I have nothing else to do but count the days, hours and minutes since my life was destroyed. I am twenty five years old, single and I have a horrible job. Sometimes, you just want to hold on to the past and you don't want to set it free and go on with life. The once perfect past that is now in a billion pieces, you know, you want to hold on to it and never let it go, they say.
Well, I'm making all those pictures Jason always took of us last. They've all been preserved in a photo album that is right on top of my desk where I can always see it. It's got all of my past memories in it- of Shane, the gang and every single thing that was recordable. Even petals of that white rose Shane gave me that had been pressed in a thick dictionary for a month. It's one of the things that I don't leave home for more than a few hours without. It's one of the few necessities I have, other than food and drinks. It's one of those things that I wouldn't want to burn away, the one thing I would grab in case of a fire, a thing that keeps me going, the memories of my now crumbled past.
It's now in front of me, turned to the first page. The first page starts with the first year of Camp Rock for me. I had those lovely bangs that tickled my eyes and that huge gap that I got fixed a year after. There's one with the whole gang- Shane, me, Nate, Jason, Peggy, Ella, Caitlyn, Tess, Barron, Sander, Lola, Brown and my Mom. Jason was making funny faces at Shane, but then again, Caitlyn was cross eyed, Nate had a serious look on his face, and the picture was overall silly. I loved that picture, because it reminded me of those silly days with the gang. I could not let that specific picture burn away.
Next were pictures of me and Shane smiling, lost in each other's eyes and the two of us sipping the same smoothie and all those other 'so cute' photos- the first year of our romance. It was so real, yet a little bit awkward, but it was love and we, let's just say, loved it. Then, came the second year- it was still a somewhat awkward, but the relationship was more mature. Caitlyn was already planning our wedding from this year on. Jason was always blabbing away about his awards in babysitting. Tess was always shopping with me at the high end stores.
All I can say is I miss those romance filled moments when I felt as lucky as Jamie Sullivan. Shane Gray was supposed to be my Landon Carter. I loved that movie, and I still do, because of those times when Shane was almost like Landon- my protective, shining knight in armor. He was supposed to be the man that I grew old with- there might have been a baby or two along the way- a really cute one with dimples and raven hair- and we were supposed to live our fairytale. But we never did. All because of her- the one who stole my happy ending.
Her name is Olivia Montez, who is the evil cousin of my good friend, even now, Gabriella Montez-Bolton (Well, yeah, she got her fairytale. Troy's a nice guy, anyways.). I always hated Olivia. She always tried to flirt with Shane, trying to win him away from me. It never worked until that day when Shane left me for her. Maybe he fell for her evil charms, her trying to act cool. She even stole my fame. She's a big singer now. Everybody knows who Olivia Montez is. She's going to live her fairytale- she's going to become Olivia Gray and mine keeps crumbling every time I hear her name.
She even stole my friends. Caitlyn's now planning her wedding with Shane. Tess is now taking her shopping to all the fancy stores in Hollywood. Jason's now blabbing away about his awards in babysitting, typical Jason. Even Nate would take his part, being the waiter whenever Shane begged him to. She had taken all of my memories and she made them her own. She was going to have kids with him. She was going to have that perfect white wedding to Shane Gray. She was going to sell millions of records. The dream that I always have wanted and thought of a million times over.
And I was supposed to be Mitchie Gray, with that ring on her finger- a big, glowing diamond one. I was supposed to be the wife with Shane with two gorgeous children with raven black hair, all growing up with good grades. Now, his children are just going to end up like her, bitter, angry thieves who break into people's lives. I was supposed to have my fairytale. She was the one who was supposed to wed some alley man that she had met in a bar while drinking vodka and soda. But she had gotten her dream. And I had lost mine.
Now all my childhood fulfillments were shattered. Getting married, having kids, being a famous singer and being a somewhat Cinderella came crashing down that day like my heart was just a toy a little kid throws away when it breaks. I wanted to live that fairytale, and I had gotten it- and I had lost it to some bitchy girl who didn't even have feelings for me not even sorry feelings. She never said a single word to me other then 'Say goodbye to those dreams, Bitchie'. I never thought that you could lose your fairytale when I was younger. That you had to always fight a battle for what you wanted. I never knew that and now that I lost everything I loved, I'm beginning to have a bitter shell.
I had lost my own fairytale to her. I had lost my voice. I had lost my friends. I had lost my job. I had lost my life. I had lost my memories. And most of all I lost him. The only person I would ever truly love and I lost him to her, my worst enemy, the person that envied me so much that she plotted to steal things from me by acting so like me. I lost him to her. She's probably still acting fake to him to this day, only unveiling herself when he's not around to her cousin and to the paparazzi- even to the fans that thought she was such a good girl, at times, which she was not.
I thought that she deserved nothing but the scraps and crumbs of old burnt toast like her singing career should be. Now she's got everything that she planned to steal from me.( took this out because it was repetitive). I don't have anything except for this dirty old service apartment, my co-worker 'friends', little girls who like my singing and give me a coin or two and the things in this apartment. I didn't get my Prada shoes, my Gucci bags or my Armani clothes it wasn't the only things I wanted but it would've been a bonus.
Gabriella got her fairytale with Troy. They live in Connecticut, somewhere around West Haven, so I tend to visit them sometimes. They have a little baby boy named Tyler, one little sweet girl on the way that's going to be named Melody according to Gaby. Why can't I have my own fairytale, the one that I wanted so much to have? Why couldn't I be the one with the cute son, smiling as he coos at me, poking my nose and laughing wearing an adorable teddy bear t-shirt and be the one to hold my newborn daughter, smiling and knowing that this little girl was mine?
Why did I have to be the one that didn't get her fairytale or her dream come true? Why?
--
I crawl onto the sofa, laying under the blanket that I grabbed to cover me, and grabbed the remote to turn on the boxy TV that was a meter away from my face. The TV screen flickered, showing the Hot Tunes News anchor, Mandy Connor, who was a blond sunny person who seemed as fake as Olivia, muttering something under her breath for a moment, then perking her head up, smiling and opening her mouth to talk. She seemed really excited and giddy about something. Then Shane's picture popped up. I had a feeling of longing in my stomach.
"Well, good evening! I'm Mandy Connor. I've got some great news for all those awesome Connect 3 and Olivia Ray Montez fans out there. We have just recently spotted our favorite couple- Liv and Shane- out and about in Santa Monica. And our spies tell us that there was a glittering ring on Liv's left hand ring finger! Our favorite couple, after five long and impatiently waited years, is finally getting married to the girl he treasures! From all the people who have been crossing their fingers for the last four years, we wish both of you our congratulations!"
Tears began to spill out of my eyes almost automatically as I still stared stunned at the screen, my vision blurred because of the tears that made my eyes blink several times hoping this was all a dream and I realized it wasn't. I would never get my fairytale now. She had officially stolen it. They were engaged. She was going to get her fairytale wedding. Caitlyn would be so obviously giddy and she would be clapping, smiling, telling her that they needed to go out and fit dresses with Tess or something like that. Jason would bring up kids again.
She would be like Barbie, being so excited and giddy and pecking Shane on the cheek and telling him that now they could have their dream wedding and that they needed to have the dream cake and tiara.
How could you do this to me, Shane? How? I thought that you said that you loved me. That one day, you would marry me, and you would marry no one else. You broke your promise. And you broke it with that stupid brunette girl who's so evil but so sickeningly sweet at the same time. I bet you don't even remember me. That, that stupid bitch hypnotized you and all of my friends. Of course she did, she's the master planner I should've known. Maybe you don't remember when you said you loved me? But I thought that you cared, but again I was naïve.
"But, there's another girl that we want to talk about… Somebody who's name is not Olivia." My eyes turned back to the screen as I wiped away my tears, staring keenly at the screen. "Mitchie Torres. Shane gray's ex girlfriend. I wanted them to marry, way back then. You remember, the girl with the amazing voice? You may even still have your albums somewhere- This Is Me, Perfect Ain't The Word, La La Land and the unfinished and soon to be released album, Just In Love. Have you ever wondered where she is hiding after all those years?"
My mouth suddenly went dry. My face suddenly felt frozen, as if I was paralyzed. My eyes stared blankly at the screen. After all those years they're going to release that album I was working on. After all those years they acknowledge me. Why? Why did she say my name?
A/N: New collaborated story! Finally, after all this time! Please read and review and let us know what you think so far! Any ideas on why Mandy said her name? Let us know, please. The chapters will be in rotation between Mitchie and Shane so next chapter is Shane. Sorry for an errors.
~Kim and Lyra