Remember December
AN 1: So I seem to be in the one-shot mood right now. This idea came to me and would not leave me alone until it was written. Demi Lovato's song 'Remember December' is the title inspiration and is contained within the story. This song is seriously one of my favorites. A little background information: the story switches from Mitchie's POV to Alex's about halfway through the story, and after that switch several weeks have gone by since the two lovely ladies have really interacted. I also once again made Shane Mitchie's rock. I think that these two are much better as friends than boyfriend/girlfriend, because that just seems like a recipe for disaster, all things considered. In this one he reminds me of that one guy friend that you can totally be yourself around and know that he won't interpret it as anything more than platonic. And again…I own nothing but the storyline. I hope you guys enjoy the one-shot, so without any further ado, here's Remember December.
Mitchie's P.O.V:
I took a deep breath, desperately attempting to calm the nerves fluttering in my stomach. My hands smoothed over the artfully ripped skinny jeans I wore before I gripped my right knee tightly in an effort to stop the rapidly bouncing leg from moving. Come on, Mitch, I said to myself. It's just a phone call. You can do this.
A knock on the door interrupted my internal pep talk. "What's up?" I called, moving off of my bed and across the room. As I reached the door, my best friend, Shane Gray, poked his head into my dimly lit bedroom.
"My brothers and I were talking about going to catch a movie or something. Wanna come with?" he asked, his dark brown eyes shooting me a questioning look at the state of my room. Crumpled balls of paper littered the floor, interspersed with piles of clothing. My guitar was propped against my bed, having clearly been used recently.
I shook my dark hair out of my eyes. "Yeah," I replied with a small attempt at a smile. "I just gotta make a phone call first." Internally I winced at my tone of voice, knowing that it indicated how much I truly was not looking forward to this conversation in the slightest.
Understanding and sympathy shone on Shane's face. "Alex?" he questioned, more out of formality than anything else.
Unbidden, a sigh of frustration rose from my lips. "Yeah," I muttered. "I honestly don't know why I bother anymore, Shane. It's like pulling teeth trying to talk to her these days. I don't know where we went wrong though. We were fine – more than fine; we were perfect – until January hit and now it's like she doesn't want anything to do with me."
The older boy winced. "I'm really sorry, Mitch," he replied. "If you want, I can sit here with you while you make the call." At my eager nod, he smiled despite the seriousness of the situation and sat down on the unmade bed, carefully avoiding the plate of unfinished pizza that was also present on the bedspread and offering his hand to me.
I gripped his large, warm hand with my slim fingers, grateful for the unspoken show of support Shane presented. Feeling more at ease now, I sat down next to him and grabbed my iPhone, holding the phone to my ear as I did so.
"Hello?" a voice questioned after the dial tone stopped ringing.
"Alex?"
"Oh…umm…hey," my girlfriend said, sounding about as excited as if she was talking to her parents when they brought up chores.
"Is this a bad time?" I questioned, my leg starting to bounce again despite my best efforts to keep it still.
Shane nudged my shoulder, causing me to glance quickly in his direction. "Speaker," he mouthed, motioning to my phone. I rolled my eyes in mock exasperation, but did as requested and put Alex on speaker.
"…No," came the hesitant reply. "What do you want?"
I stifled a sigh, not wanting to let her know how much her answer frustrated me. "I just wanted to hear your voice," I said quietly. Before I had the chance to continue, Nate and Jason burst into my bedroom.
"Mitchie!" Jason exclaimed loudly. "What are you still doing up here? Shane said he'd…mmph!" The rest of his sentence was lost as Nate clamped his hand down over his older brother's mouth.
"Sorry," Nate mouthed, hand still firmly over Jason's mouth.
"I didn't know you had plans, Mitch," Alex's voice said coolly over the phone. "Why don't you go spend some time with Shane? I'll talk to you later."
"Alex-" I started, but before I could continue I heard the cold sound of the dial tone, telling me that Alex had already hung up. A loud smack echoed through the small bedroom, and I glanced up to see Jason ruefully rubbing the back of his head where Nate had hit him, causing me to smile slightly despite how upset I felt.
Shane rubbed my back comfortingly as I leaned against his strong shoulder. "Hey, do you still want to come with us? If you don't that's okay too."
I once again brushed my hair out of my eyes. "No, I think I'm going to try to call her back and see if we can work this out." I gave a weak smile, hoping it would dissuade any of the brothers from offering to stay with me. If I started crying in front of them I would be extremely embarrassed, despite any closeness we shared. There are just some things I preferred to keep private. "You guys go ahead. Rain check, okay?"
The warm presence under my head disappeared as Shane stood. "Rain check," he agreed, already shooing his brothers out of the bedroom. As he walked to the door, his dark eyes found mine again. "Text me if you need me, deal?"
"Deal," I echoed, fixing a fake smile to my face and starting to pick at the black nail polish that adorned my fingernails. Once Shane had left, the smile slid from my face as I collapsed back onto my bed with a groan. What the hell is her problem? I wondered. She's met Shane…she knows there is absolutely nothing going on between us. And she's always liked Nate and Jason. Wearily, I ran my fingers through my hair and called Alex back.
"What?"
I couldn't help but flinch at my girlfriend's harsh tone. "Alex, I don't know what on earth I did to upset you, but I'm sorry for whatever it is," I stated wearily. "Can we just have a civil conversation? Please?"
The other girl's voice softened slightly. "Yeah, Mitch. I'm sorry for snapping at you."
"What happened to us, Alex?" I questioned soberly. "Remember December? I had a whole month off from anything career related, and I came up to New York to spend Christmas with you and your family."
Alex chuckled softly, causing my heart to melt. It had been so long since I had heard the other girl laugh. "We got in a huge snowball fight with Justin and Max," she recalled fondly.
"And we won, of course," I replied, also starting to laugh in spite of my best efforts not to.
"Because Justin was a huge baby," Alex said, lapsing into giggles. "He got snow in his ear and called it quits without even trying to get us back."
The smile faded from my face quickly. "How did we go from there to here?" I murmured, passing a hand over my face tiredly.
"Everyone up here says you'll forget about me," Alex confessed quietly. "They say that it'll never work between us. Couples struggle to keep up long distance relationships from cities that are only half an hour apart, Mitch. How is it supposed to work between us when you're all the way in L.A.?" When I didn't respond, she pressed on. "I didn't believe them at first, you know. But then it became harder and harder to keep the faith when you were performing so much that it seemed like you didn't really have the time for me. Not to mention how all the tabloids like to show you and Shane together every chance they get."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "So that's what's got you acting so distant?" I demanded angrily. "Alex, you know there is nothing going on between us! Shane is a friend, nothing more. He's the first friend I made in this business. We look out for each other, but we're like siblings! Nothing more, I swear. Anything else would just be wrong." I lowered my voice sadly. "I thought you knew that."
Alex sighed. "I know, Mitch. It's just hard, okay?"
"No," I snapped, suddenly angry enough to spit fire. "No, it isn't fucking okay. How are we supposed to work if you don't trust in my feelings enough to know that I would never, ever, do something to hurt you? Who are you going to believe; the people and gossip magazines around you who don't have a fucking clue about what is really going on in my life? Or me, your girlfriend and the only one who would really know what's really going on?" My voice broke at the last sentence, and I silently cursed as tears started to trickle down my cheeks.
"I can't do this right now," Alex said softly, sounding close to tears as well. "I'll, umm…I'll call you when I'm ready to talk." With that said, my girlfriend – ex-girlfriend? Now I wasn't sure – hung up for the second time that night.
I stared down at the phone in my hands in shocked disbelief. What are we now? I wondered. Something inside of me snapped as I thought about the conversation that had just occurred. "What am I going to do now?" I whispered, slumping back onto my bed, trying to fight the tears I could feel welling in my eyes. I recalled a piece of advice that Shane had given me when all the fights started: "You're a rockstar, Mitch," he had stated. "You and I are two of a kind. We express ourselves better with lyrics than actual words. Best way to reach her now is to write a song to show her how you really feel." I sat up abruptly as inspiration struck and quickly sought out a pen and an unused sheet of paper; I had a song to write.
Alex's P.O.V:
"Hey, Alex," my brother, Justin, said conversationally as he plopped himself down next to me on the living room couch. "Did you know Mitchie is presenting her latest single on Hot Tunes today?"
I shrugged. "No," I stated coolly. He knew that Mitchie and I hadn't spoken in weeks.
"Well…can I watch it in here?" he asked, grabbing the remote.
I rolled my eyes internally. "You're going to do it either way, aren't you?" I asked, sinking back into the cushions and crossing my arms.
"Pretty much," he admitted carelessly. "You know what I think of you two fighting. You need to pull your head out of your ass and just apologize already. And besides, she's an amazing singer."
She is, I silently agreed. Besides, just because we were fighting doesn't mean I didn't want to see her. "Okay," I stated, trying not to look too excited at the prospect of seeing her, if only on TV. Justin beamed at me and switched channels quickly.
"You all know her as the girl who stole America's heart two years ago at the nationally broadcasted Camp Rock Final Jam," a male voice announced. "Her second album is out now and she's here to perform her second single from that hit album…everybody give a warm welcome to Mitchie Torres, performing her song 'Remember December'!"
I perked up instantly as Mitchie's band started to play. My heart fluttered as I saw her lips tug upwards into a small smile. I could tell that she was in her element now, and once again felt my heart rate speed up as she started to sing.
I feel a separation coming on
'Cause I know you want to be moving on
I wish it would snow tonight
You'd pull me in, avoid a fight
'Cause I feel a separation coming on
Just prove, that there is nothing left to try
'Cause the truth, I'd rather we just both deny
You kissed me with those open eyes
It says so much, it's no surprise to you
But I've got something left to inside
Don't surrender, surrender, surrender
Please remember, remember December
We were so in love back then
Now you're listening to what they say, don't go that way
Remember, remember December
Please remember, don't surrender
You said you wouldn't let them change your mind
'Cause when we're together fire melts the ice
Our hearts are both on overdrive
Come with me, let's run tonight
Don't let these memories get left behind
Don't surrender, surrender, surrender
Please remember, remember December
We were so in love back then
Now you're listening to what they say, don't go that way
Remember, remember December
Please remember
I remember us together with a promise of forever
We can do this, fight the pressure
Please remember December
Don't surrender, surrender, surrender
Please remember, remember December
We were so in love back then
Now you're listening to what they say, don't go that way
Remember, remember December
Please remember, don't surrender…
Mitchie finished the song, breathing heavily, and quickly bowed, smiling widely, causing my heart to pound violently in my chest. She looked radiant; there was no other word for it. Her hair was a little longer than I had last seen it, and was now so dark it could be black, but she was still the same beautiful Mitchie I had fallen for when we were fifteen.
"Isn't she wonderful," the show host, Rick, exclaimed, clapping with the audience. As Mitchie moved to sit in the sofa provided onstage, he crossed his legs and contemplated her over his interlinked fingers. "That is a very moving song," he observed. "Can you tell me more about what inspired such a powerful song?"
Mitchie smiled, and shifted slightly in her seat. "Well, Rick, it's about two people in a relationship…obviously," she laughed, causing me to smile at her humble attitude. "I wrote it to represent how sometimes in a relationship one person has so much to say to the other person, but it feels like that person is not listening, or is trying to leave the…erm, singer, for lack of a better word, behind because it's easier that way. The song captures how the person singing is begging the other person to remember the good times and just forget what everyone else has to say about the relationship because they are happy together." At these words I felt a hot surge of shame well up in my throat; I knew exactly what she was referring to. Once again our fight played back in my mind. How could I have been so stupid and selfish to ever treat her the way I did? Looking back, I couldn't believe the things I did at all.
Rick surveyed Mitchie over his fingertips. "It sounds to me," he said shrewdly, "that this comes from personal experience."
Mitchie sent him a coy smile, flipping her hair over one shoulder. "Well, I'm not going to deny or confirm that," she said, grinning. "I feel like if my fans can connect to the song then that's all that really matters." However, I knew the truth. I knew the girl on that camera better than I knew myself. She wrote it for me – to show me how she felt about our relationship these days.
Rick laughed warmly. "Well there you have it folks," he exclaimed. "Unfortunately, that is all the time we have here for the day. Everyone give it up for Mitchie Torres!" Mitchie gave another smile and wave to her fans in the audience before allowing herself to be led off-camera.
I stood up suddenly, realizing what I needed to do. I didn't know if I would get her back, or if she would even answer, but I knew I had to at least try. I pulled out my phone and quickly dialed her number, hoping she still cared enough to answer my call despite how much of a jerk I had been to her in the last month of our relationship.
On the fourth ring, I heard her angelic voice come through my phone. "Hello?" she said quizzically.
I took a deep breath, and stated "I remember December."
AN 2: Well there's the end…I decided to go very open-ended with this one, so you guys get to decide whether they make up or split up. I really did enjoy writing this though, so maybe I will do a sequel if there are enough requests for one, but that's up in the air right now. I definitely won't say I won't do one. Let me know what you guys think, please and thank you.