Alright so, hi again guys!

Now, I wanted to talk to you guys about something. I wrote a one shot called Mitchie's Dreams (if you checked it out THANK YOU and if not, whenever you have time, I'd appreciate if you did :D) and most of the reviewers asked me to continue it. I didn't really think about it when I wrote but if I really was going to do it, I'd do it after I finish Bright Eyes because of my lack of time and inspiration to write both at the same time. So, if you really want me to continue and are willing to wait, let me know and I'll plan it out. Just for you to know, Bright Eyes is not really going to be long, so it shouldn't be that long of a wait.

Anyway, this was supposed to be updated last week but my birthday, homework, two concerts and laziness of my part came into the way so it took longer than I expected and I apologize for that. However, I really don't know how I feel about this (I know I say the exact same thing every single time but ugh) so we will see. I didn't really double check it, so sorry if there's a lot of spelling mistakes.

Enjoy :)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot of this story. The credit of the characters' names and songs used to tell this story goes to whoever was smart enough to create them, hoping they're doing well in their lives tonight.


Chapter 4: Boyfriend, truth and chances.

Whether it went against everything I had told myself I wouldn't do or not, to fix my great grandfather's guitar was the only thing I wanted to do that week. Taking advantage of winter break, I would basically sleep in the workshop of the Gray's Music Shop, telling myself I needed to fix it before Christmas. "Tuning machine, fret board and strings. If I make it, it'll be perfect again" was what I repeated myself every minute of every day that week. However, I still didn't know nor could understand why was trying to fix it. Did I really want to give Mitchie the opportunity to talk to me? Even if I knew if I wanted or not, I was aware there was no reason to just not do it. She was right; something inside me wouldn't have let me go of my grandmother's house that day without giving myself a try to fix it and thank god, Nate was as fascinated with the guitar as I was. He had let me use the workshop and even had helped me, thing I appreciated a lot. I would probably have taken over a month trying to fix it without his help.

"Your great grandfather was a true talent, you know that?" He said one day, as he was adjusting the new tuning machine we had placed on the guitar. "This guitar is so perfect. It will have a beautiful sound once it's all fixed in a few minutes, you can't even imagine."

I smiled, pleased. "I bet it will; this wouldn't have been his life partner if it wasn't that way."

"But what I'm still surprised about, though." Nate continued. "Is at how whipped you are."

I raised an eyebrow, sitting on the table and picking up the different samples of nylon strings he had placed there for me to choose. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You did not get what she was trying to tell you with the whole guitar metaphor, did you?" He looked at me and smiled, probably at my expression. "Your family isn't that into music like it was generations ago. Your grandmother can't play the guitar anymore and your grandfather isn't nor has ever been into music. Once this is fixed, they'll make you play a song for them to prove it really is fixed and then it probably will go back to the attic." He went back to adjusting the machine. "But you'd still go through all the trouble of fixing it, just for the sake of it. It's the same thing. If you would go through all this for an old guitar because you knew you could fix it, what wouldn't you do for that girl and your relationship with her when you know you still can save it?" He looked at me, again. "Just think about it, Lex."

"Girl is smart, isn't she?"

"Yes, and you are either clueless or just whipped."

"Shut up, Nate." I said, handing him the set of strings I had chosen, glaring at him in the process.

"I knew it." He replied, with a little smirk in his face as he took the strings and continued with his work.

Truth to be told, there were a few bad things of spending all my time with Nate. The first one was that Harper was getting very jealous of my relationship with Nate. Since I told him everything about Mitchie, I started hanging out a lot with him instead of Harper –who had been asking me to do it since October, when I broke up with Mitchie and isolated myself–, which pissed her off a lot. It wasn't a secret she didn't like the Grays at all –it had something to do about Nate's older brother, Shane Gray, but I didn't know the whole story to that – and in her head, the idea of her best friend, the best friend she had been trying for so long to take out of the sad state I was, hanging out with the brother of the guy she hated was pretty much betrayal. I tried to explain myself as in why this was happening, but how was I supposed to explain it without giving anything away about what happened with Mitchie? Harper knew of her existence –after all, I was forced to hang out with them back in summer–, yet didn't know the background story of my hangouts with Mitchie. How was I going to tell her that, which was the reason I was so sad in the first place? I had told Nate because I needed to get it out of my chest, but that was a secret that didn't need to be spread. If I told Harper, she wouldn't be able to go a day without telling Zeke, her boyfriend, making him promise that he would never tell this to anyone else. Zeke would agree but after a while, it would probably be too much for him –this kind of secrets are always the hardest to keep– and would tell his best friend who, sadly enough, is my older brother, Justin, who wouldn't lose a second to tell my parents and everything would be fucked once it got to their ears. I knew them so well that I could basically hear their voices in my head ranting about how what I was doing was wrong and just the idea of that made me shiver.

No, there was no way I was going to tell Harper.

"Okay, all set." Nate said, clapping his hands and looking at me with a smile. "The fret board was fixed and the tuning machine changed, all we have left is putting on the strings. Would you like to do the honors, Miss Russo?" He said, bowing to me and handing me the guitar strings.

I giggled. "Of course, give me that."

Another bad thing about hanging out with Nate had been my mom's speculation. Like I told you before, everyone had always said Nate and I were going to get married and the fact that we were hanging out now, in our adolescence years, when according to the imaginary teenage years handbook I was supposed to be dating a lot, was giving a lot of speculation in between Mrs. Gray and my mother. They all were thrilled about it, but my mom was an exaggeration. She had told everyone in the family I was dating him, not losing the opportunity to let them know he was one of the best players of the baseball team of my school. Like expected, of course, no matter how much I denied it, nobody would listen to me. For everyone in my family, I was Nate Gray's girlfriend. He found it funny, but me and a certain brunette that was staying in her grandmother's house –my grandmother's neighbor and best friend– didn't. She had not said anything directly to me, but we have to remember her best friend was Tess Tyler. The blonde had sent me at least 100 or more text messages just this week, most of them telling me how much she wanted to see me or asking me if the boyfriend business was true. I answered to a couple of her messages, leaving the 'boyfriend' matter in the air. Of course it was only natural for her to eventually bring Mitchie into the matter. "Saying Mitchie is upset about this boyfriend of yours is an understatement. Can you believe her?" Were her exact words, but I rolled my eyes at it and ignored it. If I had to explain that to someone, I'd be only to Mitchie. Oh god, did I just say that?

"I don't think I have seen anything more beautiful than this, oh my god!" Nate exclaimed excited, taking me out of my thoughts, once I finished putting the new strings on the old guitar. "I really wish I had met you great grandfather, dude." He placed his elbow on my shoulder, looking at the guitar as if he was looking at the most beautiful woman in the world. "This is just so… amazing…"

"You are so weird, you know that?"

"Oh just shut up and let me have a moment, ok?" I shrugged and he took the guitar, tuning it, strumming the strings once he did. He smiled, satisfied with the beautiful sound it did. "You see? Pure beauty."

"It is true, it's beautiful…"

"But you know, this can only mean one thing. " He said, looking at me with a smirk on his face. "You owe Mitchie a long talk now."

"Do you really have the need to remind me every five seconds of that?" He smiled bigger, answering my question. I rolled my eyes. "I am aware, so don't push it."

"I just find the situation very funny, Lexy. You made it so easy for her!"

"Oh, can you just shut up, put that guitar on its case and let me go home now?"

"As you wish, Miss Russo." Nate said, standing up, holding the guitar with one hand and bowing down to me again. "But I'll walk you home, because I am not letting you do anything to damage this guitar after we just fixed it."

"Whatever, Nathaniel."

"Oh, aren't we sweet?" He said, rolling his eyes this time. "Let's go, Alexandra."

IIIIIIIIII

As he said, Nate walked me home, not losing the opportunity while on the way home to tease me about the talk I owed to Mitchie but thank god I was past the anxiety over it. After the talk we held that night in the backyard, something inside me calmed down. I wasn't so sure about what was it, but Mitchie didn't make me that nervous anymore. In fact, I was a bit more curious and wanted to know what had really happened, still aware of how much that information was going to hurt, because no matter how many explanations she could give me, she still had cheated on me and nothing was going to change that. However, you could say that talk became the least of my worries when I found out that my mother had invited Nate and his parents to my grandparents' Christmas reunion.

The situation was very funny. I'm not exactly sure why or how did it happen, but I almost yelled at Nate –to have him there was like the worst idea ever– but he was as confused as I was. Later on we found out my mom had invited them because of their lack of particular plans for Christmas –Shane was out of the city with some friends and Jason was spending the holiday with his fiancée's family– and my relatives wanted to meet the 'boyfriend' I had denied so much yet my mom had made look like the best guy on earth. Nate was flattered, of course, but he was starting to agree with me that this was extremely ridiculous.

It wasn't like I was really going to marry this guy, for god's sakes.

Nevertheless, my mom and Mrs. Gray were very excited about it. They spent the entire ride to my grandma's house talking about how cute we looked together and a lot of things like it. In the other hand, my dad and Mr. Gray were having a conversation about sports, while my brothers couldn't be bothered about anything going on around the car. Justin was reading a book and Max was lightly moving his head to the rhythm of whatever song he was listening to.

"Are you ready for the awkwardness?" I heard Nate's familiar voice say in my ear, making me look away from my brother to find his brown eyes.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know, California." He said, referring to Mitchie as California. Cliché, I know. "I'm pretty much going to be presented as your boyfriend and Cali won't like that. It's going to be awkward, I'm telling you."

I sighed. "I still haven't thought about it, to be honest. I mean, California might be taken by surprise, be pissed off and hate you, but when I explain the situation, she'll be fine with it, I guess. "

"If you say so." Nate shrugged, smiling. "Truth to be told, I'm kind of excited."

I raised my eyebrow. "Why on earth would you be excited? Do you understand you're pretty much going to be attacked by my entire family?"

"Yes, but I really do want to see if you are as whipped as I think you are. It's going to be fun to see you around that girl and well, finally know how she looks like. "

"You have seen her picture on my phone, though."

"It's not the same. I want to know if she really is as breathtaking as you make her out to be."

"Then be ready to be surprised."

"We'll see."

I rolled my eyes, looking away from him and gave all my attention to the road, letting myself get lost in my thoughts as I always would do. I think that was the first time when I actually thought about what was going to happen after I talked to Mitchie and came up with a solution: to base my decision on the way she acted. You see, one thing I have learnt about people over the years is that you can know a part of their personality just by observing them. The way someone talked or moved could tell you much more things that what they could actually be telling you about a specific situation. So, Mitchie, who was a clear example of what body language can tell you about someone, would find it hard to lie to me. Even if her words weren't sincere, her body language would be. If she ran her fingers through her hair repetitively, couldn't stay still in one place and avoid my eyes as much as possible, then she'd be lying about how she really felt and that'd be the end.

I sighed again, preparing myself for whatever was to come, just like last time. However, as soon as we arrived at my grandmother's house and everyone met Nate and his family, I learnt that jealousy is the most interesting thing ever invented.

Let me explain you why.

We were all sitting in the dining table. Nate was sitting to my left, Tess to my right and Mitchie right in front of me. Even though it'd be completely impossible for me to look at Nate Gray as more than a very close friend, I have to accept he is very charming and somewhat good looking. His well defined curls had always been the perdition of many girls, just like his shinning perfect smile had melted many hearts, so it was only natural for him to have the same effect in every female of my family. From my grandmother to my youngest cousin, they all were amazed by the baseball talk Nate was doing, even though they probably didn't understand a thing, while the men in the house were probably just impressed and were trying not to show it up. Nevertheless, Tess and Mitchie weren't very happy of all the attention my mother's guest was getting, especially Tess who was used to the queen treatment she'd get from each one of my male cousins and that were too busy giving dirty looks to Nate to notice her. However, I don't think there was anyone as upset as Mitchie was in that moment, just because Nate had the brilliant idea of holding my left hand every time I would place it on the table, which would make Mitchie glare at his hand on mine, thing that I find very amusing.

After dinner, all elder men wanted to keep going with the sports talk with Nate, just as my mom, Mrs. Gray, Mrs. Torres and the grandmas departed to the kitchen to talk about cooking. Taking advantage of the situation, all my cousins left because they had a 'reunion' with some friends, Mitchie and Tess disappeared and I was left to talk with my aunts, chat that didn't last too long because of their nosey questions, so I decided to go out to my dad's car, getting the fixed guitar out of the trunk and throwing it over my shoulder, ready to take a walk around the neighborhood and stop by the park I would visit whenever the silence of the attic wouldn't be enough for me. However, when I was walking by Mitchie's grandmother's house, I heard familiar voices yelling, thing that attracted my attention. The words being yelled were so loud and clear that curiosity got the best out of me, making me stop in my tracks to listen to it.

"I can't believe I even brought you back here! None of this would have happened if you just kept your mouth shut!"

"If I wouldn't have told her, she'd still believe your fucking lies, Michelle, and she sure does deserve much better than that!" Oh, boy. Was that…?

"I was going to tell her, I just needed time to figure out how! And I don't even understand how I still consider you my best friend after all what you've done!"

"What I've done?! Do you realize the guy you cheated on Alex with was the boy I had been secretly in love for the last 2 years of my fucking life?! You knew that, Michelle, and you didn't even care!" Oh my god, what?!

"I told you what really happened and if you didn't believe me, that's not my problem! It still wouldn't have given you any right to go after Alex knowing how I feel about her!" the shouting stopped and the next thing I knew, doors were being slammed and a furious blonde came out of the house, walking towards the opposite direction of where I was, not seeing me once.

I looked to the door from where Mitchie would probably come out soon and then at Tess' figure that was getting farther and farther from me. If Mitchie saw me with the guitar, then she'd make me talk to her but if what I heard was true, should I even think of giving Mitchie a second chance? A second opinion won't hurt, Alex. The voice inside my head that sounded just like Nate's said, making me sigh and nod in agreement, making me question my sanity yet again.

"Tess!" I yelled, running to catch her up. She stopped walking and turned around, sighing when she saw me. "Where are you going?"

"Oh, hi Alex." She said, sounding sad and upset. "I don't know, I just… needed to get out for a while."

I gave her a smile. "The story of my life." She returned a weak smile. "Do you mind if I go with you? I kind of needed to get out too."

"That's fine with me, but won't your boyfriend get upset for leaving him alone with your family?"

"My boy…? Oh, yeah, Nate, no, he won't mind" I said, resting it importance.

"And your girlfriend?"

"Mitchie?"

"You're fast to answer that, huh?"

"Oh, god, shut it. I don't know, but let's not care about her for a moment, alright?" Tess liked my answer, because her smile grew bigger. "C'mon, let's go, I know a park where we can talk peacefully."

"Alright."

IIIIIIIIIIII

"Joe." I look at Tess, confused. She smiled, sadly. "His name is Joe."

We were sitting on a bench in the park. I had the closed guitar case on my lap, drumming on it with my fingers as Tess looked at the snow, with a blank expression on her face. We hadn't said a word since we sat there, the silence only broken by the sound of my fingers hitting the case and the birds singing around us.

"What are you talking about?"

"I know you heard us, Alex. You wouldn't be looking at me as you were on the way here if it wasn't because of it." She explained in what was barely a whisper. "So I'm telling you. His name is Joe and I have had a crush on him since I met him. He is a fucking jerk and always has been, but there's something about him that just… attracts me. "

"I see."

"But he always has wanted Mitchie, but she despites him, always has and I was just as confused as you were when I found out about them being together."

"What…? Be–being together?"

"They started dating a few months before summer and they broke up a few days before we got here." She sighed. "I was so upset with her but she is like the only friend I have because I'm not very friendly, so I sucked it up." She directed her sight to me. "Then, when we got here and her mother made us go to the party, I did notice you in the balcony." I raised my eyebrows, surprised. Tess smiled again. "And you intrigued me. You looked so bored, so out of reality that I just… was interested. I needed someone new in my life and thought you could be that someone, but I didn't exactly know what to do, so I just stayed there. When you came to us, I right away saw the way Mitchie's eyes sparkled when she saw you and for some reason, that alone made me want to know you even more. I still don't know why, but I thought being nice to your cousin would help my situation, so I told you I'd dance with him and I think that was the worst thing I could do that day." She sighed. "Mitchie caught your attention, just like she catches everyone else's."

"I–I…"

"Don't say anything, Lex, I know this was out of your hand. Like, who would want me when Mitchie is in the same room, anyway? It doesn't make sense. She's nice, beautiful and cute. Why wouldn't anyone want her?"

I sighed. "Tess, please, I–"

"You know it's true, Alex." Tess replied, with a tone in her voice that left understood she didn't want to discuss this any further. "Anyway, when we got back to California, the only thing Mitchie would talk about was you. Alex this and Alex that was the only thing everyone ever heard about, even if they didn't knew who she was talking about, so it was matter of time for the word to get to Joe, who didn't like it that at all. He made so many scenes about it I actually felt embarrassed for liking him, but Mitchie couldn't give a damn about it, she was just way too into you to do it."

My heart felt really hurt by that, as something in my head yelled that wasn't true, it couldn't be true. "Then what happened? Why did she…?"

"Why did she cheat on you?" The phrase cheated on you stings every time. "She says he kissed her first, but I'm not sure if I believe her. I think she felt alone, to be honest. When she decided she preferred to go home after school to talk to you instead of hanging out with her friends, you became her world. Many of her friends stopped talking to her because she wasn't their partying buddy anymore and for you, to not be there physically, was very hard for her. So I'm guessing she wanted something… touchable, to say something." Tess looked back to the sky. "She felt horrible after she realized what that meant, of course, and made a million of excuses to not talk to you, because she knew she was going to break and she didn't want you to leave her, to hate her. But it wasn't fair, not for you. That's why I sent you the picture, you needed to know." She let out a loud sigh. "And that's the story; at least it's what I know."

"I'm sorry you had to go through it all, Tess, and I wish I knew. Maybe things would have been different if I had known what Mitchie did to you."

"No, they wouldn't have, but thank you, Alex. And if you want to know." She smiled again. "I do like you, a lot. I know you will never look at me like that because you're too much into Mitchie. You might not notice it, but I do. That girl has gotten way too deep into you, but I wanted you to know how I feel about you. You're the best girl I have every known and I just truly really hope that whatever happens between you and Mitchie in a near future, she doesn't hurt you deeper than she already has. I personally will kick her ass if she does. "

I placed the guitar case next to me and pulled Tess into a hug, thing she probably didn't expect. "If I had it my way, things would have been different, I promise you that. For the three of us."

The blonde sighed again, hugging me back. "I wish I could believe that, Lex, I really do."

We stayed like that, holding each other, no words being needed. She needed a friend and I needed to clarify my thoughts. I mean, how are you supposed to take that the girl who cheated on you not only did that, but kind of betrayed her best friend? If Mitchie was willing to do that to someone she had known for so many years, why wouldn't she cheat on me again if things got difficult?

IIIIIIIIIIIII

"Hey girl, where were you at?" Nate said approaching me, as soon as he saw me entering my grandparents' front yard again. "I have been looking for you everywhere!"

"I was talking to Tess in the park, two blocks from here." I answered, looking at my steps. He placed his hand on my shoulder, making me look at him.

"Is everything alright, Lex?" I nodded.

"Yeah, don't worry. How did the sports talk go?" He smiled, running his fingers through his curls, stopping on the back of his neck and rubbing it a little, as we started walking again, towards the backyard.

"It was alright, I guess. They got so excited that we will be meeting after New Years for a friendly baseball match."

"Oh lord."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Nate agreed, chuckling. "California was looking for you, as well."

"Did you talk to her?"

"Nope, she glares at me every time she sees me and I'm pretty sure she wants to hit me." He chuckled again. "She is cute, I might admit. If she wasn't your girl, I'd probably would go after her." I smiled weakly at his joke, not paying much attention at what he was saying. I was too lost in my thoughts. "Lex, are you sure everything is okay?"

"Why?"

"I don't know, I thought you'd hit me for saying I'd go after you girl."

"I'm not that violent."

"When it comes to California you are!"

"Yeah well, she's not really my girl if you think about it." I shrugged, sighing. "She's just Mitchie."

He looked me as if I had gone insane. "What did the blonde tell you that you are acting so weird right now, Alexandra?"

"Nothing, Nate. It's just–"

"Just yesterday you were dying to talk to her, now you seem like… doubtful again?" He interrupted me, making me stop. "What is it, Lex? You know you can tell me everything, right?"

"Yes, I do know, is just that–"

"Did you and the blonde girl kiss?"

"What?" I slapped his arm. "Of course not, you idiot!"

"And you said you weren't violent!"

"Oh my god, it's impossible to talk to you, isn't it? Now you're contradicting yourself too!" I placed my hands on my hips. "Remind me why I hang out with you in the first place, again?"

"Because you wanted to get laid."

"Asshole." I said, glaring at him as he laughed.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry, Lexy." Nate placed his arm around my shoulder and made both of us continue with our walk to the backyard that we were taking years to get to. "Seriously now, can you tell me what happened?"

"Well, I just don't know if–"

"Alex." said a voice behind us, making me shiver. That voice I would recognize everywhere. 'Oh lord' was the only thing that came to my mind repetitively as I swiftly escaped from Nate's embrace, turning around and locking eyes with Tess' best friend, who didn't look very pleased with what she had found in that moment.

"Hi Mitchie." I said, nervously, looking from her to a smirking Nate. Of course he would find this entertaining. "Did you guys already been introduced?"

"No, I haven't had the pleasure." Mitchie said, unnecessary emphasizing the clearly sarcasm filled word 'pleasure'.

"Well, Nate this is Mitchie and Mitchie this is Nate." I said, awkwardly moving my hands as I mentioned their names.

"So this is the famous Mitchie I have heard about all this time, huh?" Nate said, like he didn't knew already and extending his hand towards her, his smirk growing bigger, as Mitchie looked at him, unimpressed. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"I would say the same, but I really haven't heard anything about you so…" I had to hold back my laughter. She looked back at me, softening her expression. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure." I said, nodding and looking back at Nate. "You don't have any problem if a leave for a moment, right?"

"It's okay, you guys have fun." I raised my eyebrow, questioning his tone of voice as he said have fun, but he just shrugged and walked away. I was so going to hit him one of these days and he'd know how violent can I be.

"Ugh." I let out, as looked at him walking away as he putted his hands on his coat's pockets. I sighed, looking back to Mitchie. "What do you want to talk about, Mitch?"

She looked around, biting her lip. Oh my god, give me strength. "Not here, can we go somewhere more… private?"

"I really don't think we can find a private place right now in the middle of a Christmas party…"

"What about the attic?"

"That private? Really, Mitchie, that fast?"

"Oh my god, Alex!"

"Okay, I need to stop hanging out with Nate." I said, more to me than her, but the comment made her laugh. "Follow me, then."

She nodded; taking my hand and making me shiver again in the process. We walked to the attic; passing by my cousins who had already came back and looked a little out of reality, laughing at everything around them. They probably were high, but I was not going to get into it. Not far away from them was Brandon, my only sane cousin –and the reason why I met Tess and Mitchie, if you remember– talking to Tess, who left the park a few minutes before me to avoid finding Mitchie the way Nate and I did, avoiding any kind of trouble between the two California girls. However, Tess looked up from my cousin as she saw us pass them by, smiling to me, probably her way to tell me to have good luck. I returned the smile and continued walking, not once stopping to see if Mitchie saw our little interchange or not. Anyway, when we got to the attic, I let Mitchie walk in first. Looking around, making sure nobody else but Tess saw us get there, I locked the door and turned around, my eyes connecting with Mitchie's. I took the guitar case on my shoulder and handed it to Mitchie, no word needed to be said. Her eyes lighted up and smiled, taking it, making our hands slightly touch as she did.

"You fixed it." She whispered, holding the case with one hand and opening with the other, taking the guitar out of it.

"Yeah, I did." I said, smiling at the guitar as if I was watching at my favorite child. "I'm not taking all the credit, though, because Nate helped me a lot, but it is fixed."

She rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed by the mention of Nate. "Is something he cannot do? Dear lord."

I giggled. "I think you'd like him if you gave yourself the chance to get to know him, you know."

"That's not going to happen, though."

"Why not?"

"He is your 'boyfriend'." She said, doing air quotes when she said boyfriend. "That alone is a great reason to want to break his perfect nose."

"Oh, so this all a jealousy business, then?"

"Yes, it is. So, sorry, Lex, I can't like him."

"That's fine, I guess, but just so you know, Mitch, he's not my boyfriend. He's my best friend." She raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" I nodded. "Then why is your mom telling everyone he is? Or better yet, what is he doing here?"

I giggled again. "Because I spend a lot of time with him and she says it's not normal for a boy and girl to spend so much time together without having something going on. And, to be quite honest, I don't really know what was she thinking when she invited the Grays here today, crazy ideas of hers, I want to believe. "

"Alrighty then but I still don't like him." She smiled, placing her left fingers on the fret board and plucking the strings of the guitar with her right fingers. "Perfect. You really did it, it is perfect, Lex, congrats."

"Thank you."

She smiled, playing a little bit more before putting it back in its case and giving it back to me. "This can wait."

"I agree, because I think we need to talk." I said, placing the guitar where I found it the first time, trying for it not to move. "And I do owe you a talk now, don't I?"

Her smile grew bigger, as she placed a lock of her hair behind her ear. "Yes, you do."

"Well, then." I said, sitting next to the window and patting the place next to mine, looking at her. "Let's start."

She sighed, in some sort of self preparation and sat next to me, placing her hand on my knee when she did it, her eyes not leaving the floor once. I waited, because I really didn't have much to say over this. I just needed to listen and then come up with an answer, based on whatever she was going to tell me.

"You see, before we met, there was this guy I really don't like. His name is Joseph, Joe for short. He is a jerk." I smiled. "I met him in freshman year and from that moment I really couldn't stand him, so we kind of hated each other for years. Anyway, last winter break, I did some dumb friend choices and started hanging out with people that aren't exactly the kind of people I try to surround myself with and of course that with it came dumb choices. One of them was starting to date Joe, out of pressure from these so called friends. It wasn't one of my most brilliant ideas because he is an asshole and Tess kind of liked him, but I just wasn't thinking then." She looked up to the ceiling, clearly avoiding my attentive eyes focused on her. "Long story short, 2 months later I really couldn't stand that guy anymore. All my 'friends' said they would stop talking to me, because he is the most popular guy from school and shit, so you know me, Michelle trying to fit in, not letting Mitchie come to senses. So I went on with the relationship, damaging my friendship with Tess as the days passed, until June when he got mad at me for some dumb reason I don't even remember and dumped me."

"Alright…"

"I was happily free again and visiting New York, away from the beloved California I couldn't stand in that moment, seemed like the best thing ever, so I brought Tess with me in my attempt to rebuild that friendship. It seemed like the perfect plan."

"I don't understand why, though, because New York is like the most humid place on earth and being here during the summer is hell, Mitch"

"Yeah, well, I learnt that later, but that's not the point, Lex." She said, giggling, finally looking at me. "We just needed to get away from everything, you know?" I nodded. "Well, New York. That's when you came into the picture. When I first saw you, I knew I wanted to know you and when we first talked, I forgot about everyone else. My friends, school, California, Tess, the party and even my mother didn't matter in that moment when I was talking to you. It was just you and me, nobody else. When you left, I knew I wanted you. I didn't know how nor when I was going to make it, but I knew I'd make the impossible to make us happen. There was, there is and probably will always be something that just drags me to you every time. " Man, her chocolate eyes are so beautiful… "So you can imagine I was really happy when you came back the following week and your mother made you hang out with us and well, you know what happened during that magical summer we shared."

"Yeah, I really know, trust me."

"Anyway, after we decided to keep our relationship even after I went back to California, I just kind of… never imagined I would get so attached to you. I wanted to be a better girl for you and I stopped hanging out with my so called friend to talk to you every night. I would think and talk so much about you that my real friends couldn't exactly stand me anymore. I was just so in love with you and I missed you so much that I couldn't think of anything else that wasn't you but I wanted you with me and that made it all harder. Soon enough, my friends were telling me my relationship with you wasn't healthy and I let them get into my head. Joe got word of me being in love with someone else and he didn't like it, he even had the nerve to ask me what was wrong with me to get over him so soon. It was just a big mess and I didn't know what to do. "

"Why didn't you talk to me about this, though? I would have understood the situation." She sighed, looking back at the floor again.

"I knew that talking to you meant letting you go and I didn't want that at all. I told myself I could handle the situation and fix all damage later, but I found out soon that wasn't going to happen. I should have talked to you, I agree, you would have gotten them out of my head and stop me from doing such as stupid thing as… um…" She ran her fingers through her hair. "Go back to Joe when I still was with you." straight to the shattered heart of mine. "When I stopped sending you messages every day, I started attending parties and all that kind of stuff, where I would always ran into Joe. I didn't know what I was thinking when I went back to him, I just remember that day I came home and cried. I just felt too much pressure and I stopped answering you because I wouldn't have been able to handle it. " Tears started to form in her chocolate eyes, being a proof of how much she regretted this situation. "It was just too much; Lex and I gave in to pressure. Although it only lasted about two weeks before he found another girl to be with and never went further than being seen together and the occasional awkward kisses, I felt horrible. I didn't want him, I wanted you."

I felt tears forming in my own eyes. "Bu–but, Mitch, do you realize that if–if you really wanted me, you wouldn't have–"

"No, no, no, don't say that." Mitchie interrupted me, invading my personal space and taking my face with both of her hands, bringing our faces as near as she could, probably in an attempt to don't let me any chances for me to go. "You're not getting my point, Lexy. I wanted you but my friends thought what I was having with you was doing more damage than good, I–"

"If they really were your friends, they should have let have what you wanted, not what they expected."

"I know, I know that now, they know that now." She said lowering her voice as her eyes trailed from mine to my lips. "So tempting…"

"Don't even think about it." I whispered, as her face got even closer to me, making me freeze right in my place. She looked up and smirked in such a sexy way that I had to mentally kick myself to don't kiss her.

"But you want me to, Lexy, I can see it."

"Just.. don't do it, Mitch."

"I love you, you know that? I still wish I had realized sooner." She said, pulling me as close as she could, looking directly into my eyes. "I wouldn't have made such stupid choices if I had been sure of my love for you. I would have stayed faithful, I wouldn't have driven you away." I collected all the strength I had in myself to push her away, standing up and getting as far from her as I could. If I continued there, against the wall, with her face so near to mine, I would have lost it.

"Well, Mitchie, I'm sorry, but all those I would have are too late now. We've got to face the reality: you didn't do any of that." She sighed, looking at the floor. "And what about Tess, huh?"

"What does she even have to do with us?"

"Everything, Mitch." She raised an eyebrow, in a gesture of annoyance and surprise. "You knew she liked that guy, yet you dated him, twice."

Of course she was going to get nervous after that. "I–I…"

"Even if it wasn't fair to have me in the back, not knowing anything, it was more unfair for Tess to hold her feelings inside and watch it all between her supposed best friend and the guy she liked unfold right in front of her."

Mitchie sighed. "You talked to her, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did."

"She doesn't understand, Alex. I thought dating him would do more good than damage, you know? She'd realize he was a jerk and forget of her ridiculous crush on him."

"I think who doesn't understand is you, Michelle. She knows he is a jerk, but you just can't help who you fall in love with!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands in the air.

"Tell me what you want me to do then, Alex." She replied, clearly frustrated. "Because I really can't rebuild my friendship with her with all of this going on. Do you know she has a crush on you?!"

"That isn't her fault either."

"Oh my god, Alex, I can't with this right now." She said, covering her face with both of her hands. "The only thing I want is your forgiveness and for you to give me a second chance to prove you how much I love you, is that too much to ask for?"

"I forgave you a long time ago, Mitchie; you can bet we wouldn't be having this talk at all if it wasn't that way."

"Then, Lex, stop bringing everyone else into this." She walked to me again, placing her hands on my upper arms. "Forget about Tess, Joe, my friends, your family and even Nate. Let me prove you I can love you better now."

Take a decision based on the way she acted. What the hell was I thinking? If I did that, that would meant to just go on with it and made love to her right in that moment, right in that place because she just was enjoying invading my personal space and to be quite honest, it really isn't like I was complaining about it either. However, the simple thought of that made me blush, so I just decided to act out of an impulse, as always.

"I'm giving you two weeks."

"What?!"

"You are leaving in two weeks. Then, I'm letting you have those two weeks, just like when we started. You have to win my heart again, fix all the damage done. Make that happen and I'm all yours again." Her mouth dropped, clearly not expecting that. "But if you can't make it, we'll follow the original plan. Two weeks and we're done, no more long distance relationship, not even a long distance friendship because I think we both know it wouldn't work."

"So it's an all or nothing kind of situation, huh?"

"If you want to call it like that, then it is." She pouted then smiled.

"I'm pretty sure then, two weeks will be all I need."

"I wouldn't be so sure if I was you."

"We will see, Lex." A with that and another kiss finally returned, I realized this was not going to be another of my greatest ideas, again.

Why did I keep doing this to myself? Sigh.


Good? Bad? Predictable? Rushed? Should I quit writing and play covers with my guitar on a subway station as my original plan was? Let me know!

Thank you all for the reviews, favorites and alert :) you are awesome and I sent you all the cookies from last chapter to your homes. If you didn't recieve it, your little sibling, dog or neighbor's dog ate it, I don't know. HAVE A NICE WEEK, EVERYBODY :)