It's Hard
'Cause we rock, we rock, we rock on, the phone's ringtone played loudly as it moved slowly across the table, pushed by its vibrations. Mitchie jumped, startled by the sheer loudness of it. She grabbed it and shut it off quickly, planning on going back to sleep, when she realized that it wasn't her alarm but a call from Shane she's just turned off.
As soon as this occurred to her, the loud ringtone started playing again. This time, she actually answered, having woken up. "Hey, Shane."
"Hey, Mitchie. How's everything going?" Hearing his voice, her heart flipped, and she sighed deeply.
"It's going. Math is as hard as usual, people are still obsessed with you, and I wish I could see you more," she said. Mitchie was normally a cheerful person, but lately, it felt like all the happiness in dating someone was sucked out when that someone was never actually there.
"I know, Mitch. I wish I could see you, too. It's weird to think I'm dating someone who I see less than once a month." Mitchie couldn't help but smiling a bit when he said 'dating'. After three months, it was still hard to believe that she was dating the Shane Gray, the famous musician from the popular band Connect 3. After all, she saw posters of her boyfriend on girls' lockers every day.
"When's your next concert nearby? My mom said she'd love to take me and Caitlyn to see you guys," she said, hoping it was soon.
"Actually, I was calling to tell you that we were booked for a European tour for three months."
Mitchie nearly dropped the phone when she heard that. This was terrible! How was she going to handle not seeing Shane in over three months?
"Mitch? Say something, please," Shane said. She could hear the distress in his voice. Mitchie knew he didn't want to spend that long without seeing her, but it felt like he never did anything to help it.
"I'm just shocked, that's all. That's great news, though. I mean, Europe! That's a pretty big deal!" Mitchie tried to sound as cheerful as possible, so Shane wouldn't think she was upset.
"So you don't mind?" He sounded somewhat disappointed, as if he was expecting more of a reaction from her.
"No, of course not! You guys are going to do amazing, and everyone's going to love you over there." She ignored the gut-wrenching feeling she had, and kept trying to be positive. After all, three months isn't an eternity, right?
"Okay, I guess… Well, I have to go. Nate wants to practice some more. Workaholic." Mitchie could see him rolling his eyes, and she felt even sadder than before.
"Tell him I said get a life, okay?" She smiled sadly, still wishing she could be in the same room as him.
"Okay, I will. Tell your mom I said that I miss her cooking," Shane sounded like he wanted to say something else, so Mitchie kept quiet and waited for him to finish talking. "I, um, I love you," he said quickly, like he was trying to say it before he could back out.
"I love you, too." She sighed, finished saying bye, and hung up the phone. Reaching under her pillow, she brought out her book, and started working on a song.
A few days later, she was playing with some chords on her guitar when she heard a knock on her bedroom door.
"Come in," she said, and continued working on the song.
"Hey, honey," her mom said. Mitchie looked up at her and smiled.
"Hey, mom. What's up?"
"There's someone here to see you, and I figured you might want to know." Mitchie looked at her mom, confused. She wasn't expecting anyone, and she knew Sarah was working tonight.
"Hey, you." Mitchie jumped up excitedly when she recognized his voice. She stood up and ran into Shane's open arms.
"Shane! What are you doing here?" She looked up at him, ecstatic to be able to see him and hug him instead of just hearing his voice.
"Well, call it destiny or whatever, but Jason broke a leg during a rehearsal because he was trying to show off for a girl that was there, and our tour was cancelled, so I figured we could stay here until he heals." Mitchie grinned, happier than she'd been in a couple of days. Downstairs, a timer went off in the kitchen.
"That must be dinner. Shane, will you and the boys stay?" Mrs. Torres said.
"Thank you for the invitation. I'll call them and tell them." Mrs. Torres went downstairs to check on dinner, leaving Shane and Mitchie in the room by themselves.
"God, I missed you," said Shane, playing with Mitchie's hair. She was still grinning like a fool, not quite used to the fact that Shane was there with her.
"I missed you, too. I can't believe you're here!" Shane kissed her forehead, and Mitchie sighed deeply. He touched her cheek lightly, making her look up at him, the kissed her softly on the lips. She kissed him back, loving the feel of him right there with her. He smiled into the kiss, and she laid her head on is chest, feeling complete.
Dating a celebrity was hard. But boy, was it worth it.
