One Year Later…..

"Morning," Cami said sleepily as she strolled into the living room of the tour bus that she almost permanently lived in.

Mrs. Grey looked up and smiled widely at her young charge. "Morning, Cami," she chirped. "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah!" Shane called out from behind his mother. "The pancakes are great!" He waved one around on his fork to demonstrate and ended up accidentally flinging it into Jason's lap.

"Shane!" Jason growled, quickly throwing the pancake back onto his brother's plate. He tried to brush any pieces of pancake off his new pants.

"Oops," Shane muttered and then said brightly, "At least I hadn't put syrup on it yet!" The glare that Jason shot his brother assured Shane that his little bit of uplifting news was not a selling point.

Cami shook her head at the boys and asked Mrs. Grey, "Where's-"

"Gotta go!" someone shouted just as she spoke. Cami turned quickly, knowing exactly who it was. Nate Grey, her boyfriend of one year exactly, was currently struggling to pull on his jacket as he skidded out the door.

"Where are you going?" Cami asked him curiously, looking from Nate to his brothers, who hadn't moved, and back to him. They always went everywhere together.

"Interview," Nate said, struggling to pull on his second shoe. "See ya!"

"Wait!" Cami called, hating to be a bother, but knowing that she needed an answer. "Do you have plans for tonight?"

Nate paused at the door, the first time he had ever stopped moving since she had seen him that morning, and looked at her, confused. "No. Why? What's tonight?"

A fork clattered to a plate, and Cami cringed, knowing that Shane was probably responsible for the noise. Everyone in the room but Nate seemed to be waiting with baited breath for her to say something, perhaps yell about him forgetting and never having time for her (which was true) or something to that effect. Cami, however, simply shook her head and tried to issue forth a convincing smile. "No reason. Have fun."

As the door closed behind him, Cami excused herself and climbed back into her bunk, curling up and shutting her eyes tightly to avoid the tears that would fall if she kept her eyes opened. Ever since they had kissed that night at the concert, time seemed to be against them. The tour sucked hours out of their days, usually leaving them too tired to go out on a date. Cami barely even got a heartfelt kiss anymore. Everything was on got-to-run mode, and it bothered her. It bothered her because she felt left out of Nate's life. It bothered her because he was so out of tune with hers.

She thought about the film she was currently working on, and she bit her lip. Nate had been the one to convince her to audition, to sign her up with an agent when she had protested, and when she had gotten the part, they had both been ecstatic. Now, she had begun taking dance classes in both ballroom dance and hip hop, yet Nate was never around to help her practice. If she needed a partner, Shane or Jason gallantly stepped up, never insinuating that it should be Nate dancing with her instead of them. They didn't need to insinuate. She knew. However, Nate was never around.

"Why do I keep doing this to myself?" Cami wondered as she curled into a tighter ball. She went to every single event of Nate's, many times arranging her schedule in a way she knew she would regret later. And it was all for him. Yet he never knew. He never seemed to care. She was accepted as part of his family, but he was the one that seemed to pay less attention to her than anyone else.

Cami's hand moved under her pillow, accidentally touching something that she had tucked under there a while ago. She pulled it out and sighed heavily. It was a blue flier with big, black lettering that proclaimed, Rhythm on the Floor. Cami sighed once again and pushed the paper back under her pillow.

It was an exhibition of her entire school where she took her dance classes. At first, because she was only taking the classes in preparation for the movie, Cami had declined a part in the show, but her dance teacher had convinced her otherwise. "You're a natural, Cami," her teacher had assured her. "Your talent reaches much further than you think."

Now, all she had to do was get a moment with Nate alone to ask him to come and watch her. The exhibition was only an hour. Surely he could spare that much time? "Couldn't he?"

"Couldn't who do what?" someone asked.

Cami jolted into a sitting position, nearly banging her head on the bunk above her as she did so, and found Mrs. Grey leaning casually against the doorpost of the room. Only then did Cami realize that she had asked the last question out loud. Without saying anything, Cami pulled the flier, now rather crumpled, out from under her bed and passed it to the woman who now seemed like her second mother.

For a long time, Mrs. Grey just stood in the doorway, staring at the flier as her eyes took in every detailed bit of information that the piece of paper offered. When she had finished, she looked up at Cami, her eyes shining with pitying understanding. "And you want Nate to go, am I right?"

Cami nodded. "But he's so preoccupied," she told Mrs. Grey, "that I don't know if he'd have the time, or would even want to go." She pressed her lips together. "I just don't know what to do. We never have time anymore to talk, and he, well, we forgot what today was."

"Your one year anniversary," Mrs. Grey said gently. Cami looked up, startled that her boyfriend's mother had remembered such a detail. "He had it written down on his calendar," the older woman explained.

"Yet he forgot," Cami said morosely. "I'm not asking that he remember everything, but-"

"But today was a special day," Mrs. Grey finished for her. "And yes, he forgot. If he'd stuck around to eat, I think I would have done something to his food." Cami smiled and Mrs. Grey put an arm around her. "Contrary to what you may think, Nate loves you very much. I only hope that he'll see what he's doing to you before it's too late."

"Me too," Cami said softly as Mrs. Grey gave her an encouraging smile and left to check on her other two boys. Cami looked down at the flier that Mrs. Grey had handed back to her and made up her mind. She would schedule in a time to talk with Nate, and then she would explain to him exactly how she had been feeling for the past year.

The time for holding all of her emotions in had come to an end.

A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry it took so long for this one. As you probably know, I'm writing this story for camirae, and I was waiting for an answer about skipping a year into the future. Hope you guys are okay with the time lapse, and I hope you liked this chapter! Please review and tell me what you think!!