Take A Breath

by PanicAttack757

Naitlyn. Shane is trying to find Nate a girlfriend, but Nate can only think of a girl who's name he doesn't know, that he fell in love with the summer before at camp. But it turns out that the girl Shane has in mind and Nate's mystery girl are the same.

4. Chapter 4

A/N: Okay, sorry it's been kinda a long time. But school's finally out!!!! So I'll have plenty of time to update frequently! I promise to try my hardest! Well enjoy! And remember REVIEW PEOPLE! Thanks! :D

Chapter Four.

Caitlyn's POV.

Nate and I continued to play the game for the rest of lunch, while Mitchie and Shane continued to have their little 'moment' or whatever you want to call it. I was actually surprised that Nate and I had so much to ask each other. I realize I hardly know anything about him, but that we are getting even closer with every question we answer. It's pretty amazing, if you think about it.

So everyone is about to leave and continue on with their day, but suddenly Brown stands up in the front of the room and says, "Hold it! I have someone to introduce you all to!"

That gets everyone's attention. Everyone sits back down, wondering what Brown could be talking about. It's then that I notice a boy, who looks to be about my age, 16, standing awkwardly off on the side of the room. He has chin length dirty blond hair, and green eyes (at least I think they're green. I can't really tell, he's too far away.), and he is really tall, I'd guess over six feet. All in all, I do find him extremely attractive.

"Look." I say, pointing him out to Nate, Mitchie and Shane. "He must be new or something." I say.

"Why would he come to camp a week late? I didn't think Brown would allow that." Nate replies.

I just shrug, because Brown starts to talk again. "Everyone this is Dylan. He had to start a week late, but that's okay. So please make him feel welcome! Well, that's all I guess."

"Oh, a new guy! Lets go make friends with him!" I say excitedly. I love making new friends! Plus, he looks so lonely, like he doesn't know what to do or who to talk to.

Nate looks at me skeptically and says, "Okay, I guess." And stands up. I follow his actions and together we go over to Dylan.

"Hi, Dylan!" I say as soon as we get to him. "I'm Caitlyn, and this is Nate."

Dylan studies us before saying, "Oh, hello." He seems like a kind of awkward guy at first but the second he opens his mouth, I can tell that he thinks he's the shit. That he thinks he's all high and mighty. I said before that I find him attractive, and I could tell that he knows that he's good looking. Do you know the kind of person I'm talking about? Well from those two words, I could already tell this about Dylan. Then, Dylan looks more carefully at Nate and says, "Oh, you're that guy from the band, Connect 4 or something...?"

"Three." I say automatically. "It's Connect 3."

He takes a good, long look at me before smirking and saying, "Ah. Thank you... Caitlyn was it?"

I look down, blushing, and say, "Yes." This guy has powerful eyes. I can't help but feel like I'm going completely silly in his presence.

Finally, Nate speaks, bringing me back to reality, by saying, "Yes, I'm in Connect 3."

"Huh." Dylan says, still staring at me. "Interesting."

"Well," I say after an awkward silence, "We just wanted to introduce ourselves and let you know you're welcome to hang out with us if you want to."

He has a beautiful smile. I can't help but get butterflies in my stomach when he smiles at me like that. "Why thank you, Caitlyn, I might just take you up on that offer sometime soon. But I'm afraid I'm busy at the moment. My dearest cousin wishes to speak with me."

"Cousin?" I ask, wondering who his cousin could be.

"Yup. Brown didn't say, but my last name is Tyler." He says, sighing, as if he hated that fact.

"Ouch, Tess is your cousin?" I ask. He nods in reply. "Poor you." I say sympathetically.

He smirks and says, "Yes, but I'm used to it by now. Well I've got to go. But I'll see you around. Nate... Caitlyn." He gives me one last heart-stopping smile before turning around and walking away.

"What a nice, nice guy..." I say dreamily to Nate as I watch Dylan walk away.

"Oh, come on, Caitlyn, you can't seriously like that guy. He's obviously a jerk." Nate says and I hardly notice him glaring at me because I'm to busy watching Dylan until he turns a corner and I can no longer see him.

Then I turn back to look at Nate. He looks slightly pissed off. "So what if I do like him? What's it to you? Besides, what do you mean he's a jerk? He was very nice just now." I say while Nate's face turns redder and redder.

Oh... my god. It just hit me. Is Nate... jealous? That's impossible! Why is he jealous? He has no reason to be... but what if he is? What does it mean? Oh wouldn't it be just amazing if Nate really is jealous?

"Caity, I can just that he's a jerk, okay? It's the way he talks, and stands, like he thinks he's the shit or something." I giggle when he says this, and he practically yells, "What?!"

I giggle again and say, "Sorry, it's just that's the exact thing I thought when he first said hello to us... that he thought he was the shit."

Nate seems slightly relieved that I feel this way about Dylan. Then he says, "And I just didn't like the way he was looking at you."

I look at Nate skeptically and say, "How was he looking at me?"

He sighed, "I don't know... like you're an object and like he has to win you... and own you. I don't know..."

Suddenly, I'm not exactly sure why, I get extremely angry at Nate. I mean, who does he think he is? Getting jealous and protective of me, while not even liking me as more than a friend! He can't just mess with me like that! Who does he think he is, some famous rock star who can get away with toying with a girls emotions? Oh wait... he is a famous rock star... but he sure as hell can't get away with all of that stuff!

"Excuse me?" I say to him, totally giving him an attitude. "I don't think it's any of your business, Nathanial. Besides, so what if he was looking at me like that? Did you ever stop to think that maybe he likes me? It's not that unbelievable is it?"

He sighs. "Of course not. That's not what I meant at all."

"Well, quite honestly, I don't give a fuck about what you actually meant. It doesn't matter to me... you don't matter to me, okay?" I yell. I honestly have no idea why I'm blowing up at him about this. It's really not that big a deal. But I just feel so pissed off at him for some weird reason.

I do feel slightly bad though. Nate looks really hurt by my last statement. He says, "Caitlyn..."

"Just forget it, Nate." I mutter before walking away from him. I hear Mitchie calling my name as I pass her and Shane's table, but I ignore her. I just need to get away from Nate. Once I'm outside, I run to my cabin and jump on my bed. After screaming into my pillow for a little bit, Mitchie walks in.

"Okay, Nate just told me what happened, and all I have to say is what the hell was that all about?" She demands, sitting on her bed, facing me.

I sigh and reluctantly sit up so I'm facing her as well. "I don't know..." I reply honestly.

"Well, why were you so angry with him?" She asks.

"Because!" I exclaim, getting angry all over again. "He doesn't even like me, yet he seems like he's jealous of Dylan, and he's acting all protective of me! Plus he made it seem like it's impossible that Dylan could like me, I mean seriously. Am I that hideous? And does he have to make it so clear that he thinks that about me?" Okay, I realize I am totally overreacting, but for some reason, this little experience, and everything that has happened between Nate and me, makes all of my insecurities come out.

Now Mitchie looks slightly pissed off. "Caitlyn," she says angrily, "you are NOT hideous, you're beautiful. Believe me." Then her face softens and she says, "And Nate definitely sees that. And he also totally has a thing for you. Why do you think he got so jealous and over protective? Plus, you should have heard him going on and on about Dylan and how he doesn't like him. Also he kept saying that he hopes you don't hate him forever. And please, please Caitlyn, don't hate him. He only cares about you."

I sigh, giving up. I know that she's right. "First, Nate does NOT have a thing for me. And second, don't worry. I don't hate him. I'll go find him later and apologize. Sorry I acted like a bitch.

She laughs. "Totally okay." She says. Then she practically attacks me with a hug. But I don't mind it.

After she sits back down I try to take the topic off of me and Nate by asking Mitchie, "So... how are you and Shane?"

She sighs. "Honestly?" She says. "A little weird."

I give her a confused look. "Weird like... bad weird?"

She shakes her head. "No, it's not bad... but not good either. Just weird."

"Hmm..." I say. "Do you know why it's weird?"

She blushes, and after a moment nods. "I think it's... you know... the physical stuff."

My eyes widen. "Oh?"

She nods. "Yeah. Like, sometimes, I feel like he wants to go farther with me. But he always stops himself short. I don't know why he does it. I mean, we've been together for about a year now. And he's never been shy about making out before. But he'll start to do something like... like his hand will be playing with my shirt and it'll just sort of creep up an inch or two under my shirt, but right then he'll stop everything. Stop the hand, stop kissing me. And it's really awkward."

I can't believe what I'm hearing. It sounds to me like both Shane and Mitchie have sex on the brain. "Well..." I say, "Personally I'm glad he's been stopping himself." She rolls her eyes. "But I mean, do you want him to... keep going?"

She turns bright red as she replies, "Well... yeah. I do want him to keep going. It's like... I want him to touch me. I know that sounds weird, but I've never really felt this way with anyone else before. I kind of want him to keep going, and I don't want him to stop." He voice is a whisper by the end of her little speech.

I stare at her, slightly shocked. "You want him to go that far?" She nods. I try to keep calm, hardly believing that my best friend is seriously considering this. "Okay, well have you had the sex talk with Shane?" I ask rather bluntly.

She shakes her head. "No, we've never really talked about it. Like I said, he just stops himself and we go on doing or talking about something else."

"Well, then I think you should sit him down and talk about what you both want. Because by the sound of it, you both want at least a little more. But you seriously need to talk about it with him."

"Ugh, but that'll be so awkward!" She says, covering her face with a pillow.

I nod. "Yes, it will be. But you've still got to do it before you do something you're not ready for."

After a moment, she sighs and says, "Yeah, you're right."

I smile. "I know." She laughs and throws the pillow at my head. We both laugh together for a while before just sitting back down on our respective beds.

"I think I'm going to go find Shane now." Mitchie says. "You know, get the talk out of the way."

"Good luck!" I say smiling at her before she leaves.

After Mitchie leaves, I just lie on my bed, thinking. About Mitchie and Shane, how I hope they're not going to do anything that they're not ready for too quickly. About Dylan, how even though he seemed to have a pretty big ego, he had been nice to me... and those smiles! And then about Nate, how I shouldn't have gotten mad at him, how he's nicer to me, and how his smiles literally make me melt. I realize that Nate means more to me than anything, more to me than Dylan ever will. Because, well... I think I'm falling in love with Nate.

Wait...WHAT?! I sit up in my bed suddenly, when the reality of what I just thought hits me. Holy crap! But then again, is it really that bad? I mean, sure Nate will never feel the same, but at least my first love is someone who cares about me at all and not some jerk off. And besides, I said, "I think I'm falling in love with Nate." So I haven't completely fallen for him... yet.

I lie back down after realizing that I'm okay with falling in love with Nate. And slowly, I start to fall asleep.

I'm almost completely asleep when I hear a loud knock on my cabin door. I jump up, surprised, and go over to open the door. And who is it? Of course. Nate.

I can't help but feel my heart flutter when I see him. I thought he would want to stay away from me after my little bitch fit before. I smile slightly at him. "Hey Nate."

He looks very determined as he says, "Okay, Caitlyn, I'm sorry I acted like I did before. You can take care of yourself, I realize that. And you're allowed to like whoever you want, and I have no say in the matter. So I'm very, very sorry."

I smile even more at him and say, "Well, thank you for what you said, really. But you shouldn't be apologizing to me. I should be apologizing to you. I was a total bitch before and I honestly didn't mean anything I said. Especially when I said you don't mean anything to me. Because you do mean something to me, Nate. You're one of my best friends. And I don't want to lose you."

He never takes his eyes off of me while I'm talking. When I'm done, he walks up the steps in front of the cabin so that we are on the same level, and he hugs me. This is the first physical contact we've ever really had. And it feels amazing being in his arms.

When we finally pull away, he smiles and says, "So we're cool?"

I stand up on my toes and kiss him lightly on the cheek. "Of course!" I say, smiling as well. And if I didn't know any better, I'd have to say that Nate is blushing.

"Um... do you mind if I hang out with you in your cabin for a little while? Shane and Mitchie are making out in mine." Nate says.

I nod, very glad that I'm going to get to hang out with him for at least a little bit longer. "Sure, no problem. Come on in."

Nate's POV

"Well, quite honestly, I don't give a fuck about what you actually meant. It doesn't matter to me... you don't matter to me, okay?" Hearing Caitlyn say that is like a slap in the face. It hurts. A lot.

"Caitlyn..." I say, practically begging.

"Just forget it, Nate." She says before turning around and leaving me.

As Caitlyn is walking away from me, I feel the need to run after her. She can't possibly have meant what she said, right? This fucking Dylan kid! Who is he to come and screw up Caitlyn's and my friendship. He's the reason she's pissed off at me. I start to follow her, but to get to the door I have to pass Mitchie and Shane, who are still sitting at the table. And of course they stop me.

"Whoa, Nate, man. What happened?" Shane says grabbing my wrist and pulling me down to sit at the table. I glare at him for stopping me from following Caitlyn.

"Yeah," Mitchie says, "She just stormed off, and she wouldn't talked to me."

"Look, I need to go follow her and talk to her. I'll tell you guys later." I say, trying to stand up. But this time it's Mitchie who prevents me from leaving.

"No." She says shaking her head. "I know Caitlyn, she just needs time to be alone to cool off after something like this, or she'll get even more mad." She smiles sympathetically at me. "Now, tell us what happened. Like I just said, I know Caitlyn, and I could probably help."

I realize she's right. Mitchie probably knows Caitlyn better than anyone, so she probably can help. So I tell her and Shane the whole story, starting from when we went to say hi to Dylan, to her telling me I don't matter to her, and walking away. It hurts just repeating the story I feel so shitty right now. And it is all Dylan's fault!

After I finish my story, Shane says, "Well, I don't know what to say, man. I don't see what you did wrong. Wonder why she got so mad."

But Mitchie rolls her eyes, mutters, "Boys..." then turns to me and says, "Well, it's obvious isn't it?" I give her a confused look, making it clear that to me it is not obvious. She rolls her eyes again. "She's getting mixed signals from you, Nate."

Now I bet I look even more confused. "How? What do you mean?"

"Well, it's not so much you giving her mixed signals, but she thinks you are. Because, while it is obvious to everyone else that you like her, she thinks you only see her as a friend. So now you're suddenly getting jealous and protective of her and she's getting mad because she doesn't know why you're acting like that if you don't like her.

At first I'm shocked that Mitchie knows how I feel about Caitlyn, but then I realize that Shane probably told her everything after I told him about me seeing Caitlyn last summer. So I just say, "But I do like her."

"But she doesn't know that." Mitchie points out. "Which is why you have to tell her how you really feel. But in the meantime I will try to talk some sense into her so she doesn't hate you forever."

"But!" I say just as she walks away. I turn to Shane and finish my thought. "I can't just go up to Caitlyn and tell her I love her!"

Oh crap. Did I just say that out loud? Apparently I did. What else could explain the look of total shock on Shane's face. I am so dead.

"You... love her?" Shane asks after a moment.

"Um... yes?" I say. "But don't go telling anyone that. Especially not Mitchie. Thanks, by the way, for telling her I like Caitlyn, man. That was awesome of you." I say sarcastically.

"I didn't tell her, she guessed. It is kind of obvious, Nate. I only told her everything you told me after she guessed." He says.

I roll my eyes. "Whatever."

Shane and I decide to go back to our cabin and hang out there for a little while. We get there, and see Jason is there as well.

"Hey guys! Look at this birdhouse Ella and I just made! We painted it pink and blue, cause pink is her favorite color, and blue is mine!" Jason says excitedly, showing us said birdhouse the second we walk in the room.

Shane rolls his eyes at me and I laugh silently before saying, "That's awesome Jason."

I sit down on my bed and pick up my guitar. I start messing around with some stuff when Jason asks, "So what happened with you and Caitlyn?"

I look up. How the hell does he know about that already? Apparently he understands the meaning behind the look on my face because he says, "What? I know things!"

I just shake my head and say, "Well, she totally hates me now because of something I said. I don't know what to do."

"Give her a little space, some time to cool off. Then go and talk to her, apologize for whatever you did. Speaking of which, what did you do?"

I sigh and once again repeat the story of what happened between Caitlyn and me.

"Hmm..." Jason says after I finish. "Well it sounds like you're giving her mixed signals."

Shane and I share a look. "Dude, that's exactly what Mitchie said. How do you know all this girly stuff?" Shane asks.

Jason just shrugs. "I pay attention and listen to girls, I just get them, you know?" He looks off into space for a moment, looking as if he just discovered the secret of life. Then he shakes his head and comes back to reality. "But back to Nate's girl problems."

I sigh. "Okay, Jase, I know what I did wrong, but how do I fix it? What should I say to her?" I can not believe I'm asking Jason, of all people, for girl advice. But he does seem to have all of the answers, so he's my best bet right now.

He thinks about it for a moment, then says, "Well, obviously, tell her you're sorry to start. Tell her that you know she can take care of herself, and you know she doesn't need you to protect her. And tell her she can like whoever she likes and that it doesn't matter what you think of him. And repeat again that you are very, very sorry. Because, no matter what, it's always the guys fault, and it's always up to him to apologize."

I think about everything he just said for a minute. "Jase, you're a genius! Thanks! That all sounds perfect!" And it does. I can't think of anything else that would make it any better. It covers everything I did wrong, from being protective, to getting jealous.

"Oh! And you should tell her how you feel." Jason says as an afterthought.

But I shake my head. "No way. Because there's no chance of her feeling the same way, and I don't want my feelings for her to ruin our friendship."

"How do you know she doesn't feel the same? I'll bet you anything she does." Jason says.

"Yeah, and Mitchie says she definitely does. And she's Caitlyn's best friend, she just knows these things about her." Shane points out.

I glare at him. "You and Mitchie have got to stop talking about Caitlyn and me." I say. He just grins sheepishly. "I don't want her to tell Caitlyn anything I've told you."

"Don't worry, she wouldn't do that. But why would it matter? You two like each other, it's just that she doesn't believe you like her, and you don't believe that she likes you."

"Shane, she does not like me, okay?" I say firmly.

"See what I mean?" he exclaims.

"Look, I will only believe it when I hear it from her." I say. I know that's never going to happen, but I just say all of this to get my friend off my back. "If I have any real proof, then I will tell her how I feel about her."

"That's easy, just ask her who she likes." Jason says.

I snort. "Like she'll actually tell me."

"What about your little 'Truth' game? If you ask her while playing, that she'll have to tell you." Shane says.

Oh, my god, he was right. If I ask her in the truth game she'll have to tell me! She never passes on questions. "That's actually a really good idea Shane! I didn't know you could think like that!"

He shrugs. "It's been known to happen from time to time."

Just then, someone knocks on the door. I, being the closest one to it, get up and open the door. I see Mitchie standing there, blushing slightly, and looking extremely nervous. "Hey, Mitchie, what's up?" I say letting her into the cabin.

"Hey guys." She says when she sees that all of us are here. "Um... actually I kind of wanted to talk to Shane. Alone, if you don't mind." She says.

"What's going on, Mitchie?" Shane asks, now looking as nervous as Mitchie. Apparently he's thinking the same thing I am. Is she going to break up with him? What else could require a serious 'Alone Talk'?

But then Mitchie smiles and says, "It's nothing bad, I promise. I just really want to talk to you about something."

Shane doesn't seem reassured thought. But anyway he says, "Guys, do you mind leaving for a little while?"

Jason and I nod, and silently let ourselves out of the cabin. Together we walk down to the lake. What do you think that was about?" Jason asks?

Well, at first I thought she was going to break up with him or something. But then she said it's nothing bad, so I honestly have no idea what it could be about."

Jason nods slowly, and says, "Yeah, I was thinking exactly the same thing."

We were silent for a few minutes, until Jason says, "Well I think I'm going to find Ella and hang out with her if that's cool with you."

I nod. "No problem. See you later."

After Jason leaves, I decide to walk down to the lake and prepare my apology to Caitlyn. Once I have it as close to perfect as I can get it, I decide to go back to my cabin to tell it to Shane or Jason, you know, to make sure I've included everything and see if they think it's good. But when I walk into the cabin, I don't find Shane and Jason. Instead I find Mitchie is still there, and she and Shane are on his bed making out. I guess everything is okay between them, so that's good. They don't even notice me enter, so silently, I let myself out of the cabin, and decide to just go and talk to Caitlyn.

I get to the cabin that Caitlyn and Mitchie share. I'm about to knock on the door when I pause. For some reason I'm extremely nervous. But I just tell myself to suck it up and I knock. After a moment or so Caitlyn opens the door. "Hey Nate."

My breath gets caught in my throat for a moment. She is in her pajamas, with no make up on, and her hair is up in a messy bun. But for some reason she looks more beautiful than ever to me. It's just Caitlyn, and her natural beauty.

But then I remember what I came here to do. So I look her straight in the eyes and say my prepared speech. "Okay, Caitlyn, I'm sorry I acted like I did before. You can take care of yourself, I realize that. And you're allowed to like whoever you want, and I have no say in the matter. So I'm very, very sorry."

All through my little speech, Caitlyn has a small smile on her face, and it has got to be the cutest thing I've ever seen. Then she says, "Well thank you for what you said, really. But you shouldn't be apologizing to me. I should be apologizing to you. I was a total bitch before and I honestly didn't mean anything I said. Especially when I said you don't mean anything to me. Because you do mean something to me, Nate. You're one of my best friends. And I don't want to lose you."

I stand there for a moment. I'm so relieved that she doesn't hate me, and that she didn't mean what she had said before. But more than anything,i just think about how completely in love I am with Caitlyn Gellar. And how all I want is to bee near her. So I do the only thing that comes to mind. I go up to her and hug her. I hold on to her a little longer than a normal 'just friends' hug would be, but I don't really care what she'll think about it, I just love the feeling of holding her in my arms.

When we pull apart, I smile slightly and say, "So we're cool?"

She stands up on her toes and kisses me on the cheek. I feel the spot where her lips had touched tingle when she pulls away and I know my face has to be bright red. "Of course!" she says.

I realize that I can't go back to my cabin (even if I actually wanted to) because of Shane and Mitchie, so I say, "Um... do you mind if I hang out with you in your cabin for a little while? Shane and Mitchie are making out in mine."

She nods. "Sure, no problem. Come on in."

A/N: Yay! I FINALLY finished this! I'm sooo happy! Well, I think that turned out okay. But I'm really looking forward to the next chapter! I have some awesome ideas that I think you guys are going to LOVE! Okay so thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! And don't forget to tell me what you think! Review please! Okay thanks! Bye!!!