I would have uploaded this last night but I only realise it was 2am here in the UK when I finished writing it and my internet connection was off.
But hey I hope you enjoy it!
Mitchie's POV
I knew I was getting a lot of looks from the campers at the fact I was running with tears pouring down my eyes but at that moment I didn't care. My thoughts were only on what transpired just moments before. I knew how hard it was for Shane to see his mom with Ian and that part of him resented her for moving on so fast but I never thought he'd explode like that.
Realising I'd reached the edge of the lake I took the time to catch my breath before making my way to the edge of the dock. Taking off my boots and socks I rolled up my jeans and placed them into the lake and I gave a small smile as the water rippled around my legs. The serenity and beauty of the lake always managed to calm me down however I frowned when I looked at the sky. Black, dull clouds were making their way to the camp.
Closing my eyes I turned my gaze back to the water. Swinging my legs back and forth I smiled at the water continued to rapidly swirl around the movement of my legs. I was so engrossed with the water I failed to notice somebody creep up behind me until I felt them take a seat next to me.
Looking at this person I jumped. "Kayla! You scared me." I exclaimed placing a hand on my chest trying to control my rapid heartbeat and silently praying this discussion won't be like the one Shane had with his mother.
"Sorry." She replied and an awkward silence followed. I didn't know what to say. I mean a conversation with your boyfriend's sixteen year old sister about how you had sex with him is not one of the most common topics to discuss.
"Uhhh are you ok?" Kayla asked hesitantly.
"Look why don't you just cut the part where you call me a slut that's destroyed your family and that I don't deserve your brother and then go our separate ways." I exclaimed not in the mood to make small talk.
Kayla looked at me wide eyed. "I wasn't gonna say that." She stated and I scoffed.
"You should...that's what everyone else is saying." I mumbled the last part as my gaze focused on the water once again.
"Well I'm not everyone else." She replied.
I said nothing and I heard her take a breath. "Look I'm not gonna judge you Mitchie. Sure I was shocked to find that you and Shane-uhh-did it but I know there must have been a reason...and besides since you came into Shane's life he's been the happiest I've ever seen him." She explained but I still had some doubt in me.
"Well I doubt you mom's gonna see it that way. She said it herself he broke his promise because some girl was upset and now I've practically ruined her relationship with Shane." I stated.
"Mom was just shocked and you didn't know Shane was gonna say that." She reasoned and I shook my head so she continued. "Even if he didn't explode on mom now, he would have done sometime in the future." I said nothing as her word sunk in. She had a point cause every time we'd go visit Denise and Ian he'd put up a front in front of them and then let out his frustration in private later.
Startling me out of my thoughts she asked "Did you know?"
"Know what?" I asked confused.
"How he felt about...dad...mom and...Ian." She said and I nodded giving her a small smile.
"I already knew about how your fathers...passing affected him but it was only after uhhh that night he told me about how he felt about your mom and Ian. I kinda freaked about the fact he broke his promised and he explained everything." I explained and she nodded.
Another silence fell upon us but it wasn't awkward like the first one. "Can I ask you something?" She said and I nodded ushering her to continue. "Shane said that Dallas was the only time you did it...why? I mean if you've uhh already done what difference is it gonna make if you do it again?" She asked shuffling awkwardly.
"Shane and I don't want our relationship to be just physical. We talked a lot and we both agreed that we'd wait until the right moment to do anything like that again. When it does happen again we want it to be special and meaningful." I said.
She gave a small laugh before saying "And that's why you're not a slut. I may have prejudged you when we first met but after getting to know you and seeing Shane so happy is just living proof that you're not what those jealous idiots say you are. You've been like a sister to me and I can't picture my brother happy without you...that's why I'm not letting one event change that."
Reaching over to her I gave her a hug and whispered a thank you into her ear.
For about 30 minutes Kayla and I just sat on the dock and talked about random thing, her home life my music etc. It was only when we heard a voice calling her that we realised what time it was.
Looking back I saw that her mom and Ian along with Brown were stood next to the campfire calling her. She gave me a smile and said "I don't care what anybody says to me you're still the perfect girl for my brother."
Instantly my eyes lit up and I gave out a huge smile before embracing her in another hug. Putting our shoes back on we made our way over to them but as we came closer to them I saw that both Denise and Ian had an impatient 'I don't have time for this' look on their faces so I hung back slightly motioning for her to go ahead without me.
As soon as she reached them Denise placed an arm around her shoulder and said something to her before all three of them walked away not even acknowledging my presence. Brown gave me a smile and a nod which I returned with a smile before he followed them.
Once they were out of sight I let out a breath I didn't even realise I was holding in. Looking around I saw that the camp was empty and for once I was thankful. Checking my watch I saw it was after 3 and realised that most campers were probably in a lesson.
Making my way back to our cabin I grew slightly nervous. I hoped that Shane was in a calmer mood right now so I could just cuddle up next to him and forget today's occurrences.
Entering the cabin I saw that Shane was laying on our bed with his eyes shut and arms around his head listening to his iPod.
I went over and sat on the edge of the bed and his eyes immediately snapped open and turned to look at me. I offered him a small smile and placed a comforting hand on his knee. Removing his earphones his leaned up slightly and retuned the gesture with a small smile.
"You okay?" I asked.
Repositioned himself he got up and leaned back on the headboard. "I'm better now that you're here." He replied and a silence fell between us.
"I'm sorry." He stated and I looked at him confused as to why he said that. Sensing my confusion he clarified what he meant and said. "That you had to see that, I'm sorry. I know I haven't really helped the situation by yelling at my mom but I...I just had enough of her. For 10 years I put up with her and Ian and when she brought up my dad's death I snapped."
Smiling sympathetically I said "It's okay."
He sighed. "No it's not. I mean this day has been hard enough on you and you don't need my family issues to make it worse."
"Shane, listen to me, even if you didn't say that to your mom eventually you'd get so tired of bottling up those feeling and explode anyway." I said recalling what his sister said just moments before.
Smiling slightly he said. "I guess you're right. I'm sorry I left you alone in there...that must've been awkward."
Chuckling slightly I said. "Well as soon as you left I kinda just ran out the cabin and went to the dock. Turns out I had a nice chat with your sister instead."
He looked stunned at the moment and blushed slightly whilst scratching the back of his neck. "Wow! I completely forgot she was there...Uhh well I'm actually kinda glad I didn't get a chance to talk to her, I mean it'd be kinda awkward to talk about my sex life with my little sister." He said chuckling slightly.
"It was awkward." I said and he laughed, which made me smile considering he'd been so stressed earlier.
Once the laughter died down the mood grew solemn again as we were brought back to reality. Repositioning myself so I was sat next to Shane I placed my head on his shoulder and sighed. I still needed to talk to mom and dad about this and I had no idea how that'd go. Plus we can't hide in our cabin forever so we're gonna have to face the campers eventually.
We sat in silence for what seems like eternity until we heard a knock on the door and I reluctantly moved to get it and came face to face with Jeff, my manager and Brown.
"Mind if we come in love?" Brown asked.
I shook my head and shifted to the side letting them enter before returning to my earlier position next to Shane.
"Alright, so we're gonna go with your plan Shane and not comment on the situation but you know that they're gonna ask in interviews about the...well I guess I can't call it a rumour anymore so I just wanted a heads up about how you guys are gonna tackle it." Jeff said.
I inwardly sighed; I hadn't even thought about that so I turned to Shane and shrugged.
Grabbing my hand he said "If they ask us about it we'll either say that we'd like to keep our personal life personal or we'll just ask them to stick to talking about music or we won't comment."
Jeff ran a hand through his hair before taking one of the seats next to the desk. "You do realise that you're practically confirming it by doing that." He stated.
"It did happen and we're not gonna just lie to our fans. We already know this isn't gonna reflect positively on us but if they're true fans they'll stand by us. Those fans are the one we want supporting us not the ones that care about our looks and the other superficial crap." Shane retaliated.
Jeff sighed but said nothing so Brown intervened and said. "Do you guys have any idea how it got out? Did you tell anyone about it?"
I shook my head but Shane remained motionless. Casting him a questioning look I wondered if he'd actually said anything to someone. "No. Mitchie and I agreed that what happened should stay between us. We're the only ones that know." He said after a minute or so.
"Well someone must have found out, maybe they overheard you talking about it or something." Jeff said.
Shaking my head I said "That's not possible, Shane and I would only talk about it in private. Most of the time Shane would be on my tour bus and we'd talk about it in my room, alone. Plus if someone did find out why would they wait two years to release it?"
"You've got a point there Mitchie." Brown said.
"So what do we do?" I asked.
Rising from the chair Jeff sighed and said "For now we do what Shane said and stay low, don't make any comments about the article and if we are one of the lucky few this will all blow over. Now I gotta get catch a flight back to LA soon so I gotta go but I'll be in touch if there's any updates." And at that note he left the cabin, leaving us with Brown.
He turned to Shane and me and said "I've got someone to cover your classes today after hearing what happened this morning so you two have the rest of the day off." Scratching the back of his neck he continued "Look if you two are going to engage in those-uhhh activities try to be inconspicuous about it...we wouldn't want another story on our hands now would we." He said causing Shane and I to blush and I coughed awkwardly.
"I uhh meant it when I said that Dallas was the only time it happened Uncle Brown." Shane stated.
"Right, well I gotta go so try to enjoy the rest of the day...oh and Shane your family left about an hour ago, just so you know." He stated and Shane nodded as we watched Browns retreating figure disappear into the wildness of the camp leaving Shane and I alone once again.
Shane got up from the bed and went over to grab the charger for his iPod and plugged it into the socket next to the table as he placed his iPod next to his laptop. As he did that I was drawn back to the moment Brown asked if we knew who revealed our secret. Why would Shane prolong his answer if he didn't tell anyone? It was a simple yes or no question so why the wait?
Unaware of the questioning glance Shane gave me I bit my bottom lip and contemplated every reason why he'd do that. I was so lost in my thoughts I failed to notice that Shane was calling my name until he placed a hand on my knee that I snapped back into reality and saw he was on his knees in front of me worried.
"What's wrong beautiful?" He asked and I mentally asked myself whether or not I should say but looking into his deep brown worried eyes I gave in and hesitantly said. "When Brown asked us if we knew who did this...why did it take you so long to reply I mean you didn't tell anyone about it, did you?"
Averting his gaze I put my head down and waited for his response. I heard nothing until I felt a hand under my chin forcing me to look at him. He smiled at me and said "Baby, I didn't say anything because I was thinking about ways someone might have found out. I promise you this I didn't tell anyone. That amazing night is meant to be just between us and I wanted it to stay that way cause...well it makes it more intimate, if that makes any sense."
I let out a sigh of relief and smiled wrapping my arms around his neck and apologised for making that assumption in which he chuckled in reply.
However despite that my brain was still nagging at me to go talk to my parents so I pulled away from Shane and told him I was gonna go to talk to them and after a couple of good luck kisses (as I like to call them) I made the short trail to the kitchen and braced myself for the most awkward, uncomfortable discussion I was gonna have with my parents.
Entering the kitchen I saw that mom was busy chopping vegetables or something. Taking a deep breath and preparing myself for the worse I approached her and tapped her shoulder. She spun around and was surprised to see me so I offered her a small smile and said. "Hey mom...can I talk to you and dad as well if he's here."
She didn't reply but simply nodded and instructed one of the kitchen staff to take over as dad made his way over to us.
We walked in silence and I knew they were waiting for me to say something but I couldn't find the words. As we walked along one of the many paths surrounding the camp I stopped abruptly and turned to them. "I'm sorry. I know you're disappointed that we didn't wait but things were just getting too much for me. We'd just gone public with our relationship and the hate, press and everything just got to me and I started doubting myself and it happened. But I don't regret it no matter what the consequences are. I'm sorry you guys had to find out that way especially when I said that we hadn't done anything just days before to mom. It's just...-yeah-I'm sorry." I said hurriedly.
My parents looked stunned at what I had just managed to say in such a short amount of time. Hating the silence I said "This is the part you say something."
"Sweetie we're not disappointed in you. Sure we'd like you two to have waited a little longer and it would've been nice to have heard it from you instead of Hot Tunes but we're not disappointed in you. It's clear you and Shane are completely in love with each other and we're not gonna let one incident change that. Plus we were kinda expecting something like that to happen considering the two of you were on tour together. Its okay sweetie, we're here to judge you." Mom stated and I felt a load of weight lift from my shoulders. Immediately I gave mom a hug and she happily returned it while laughing.
Pulling away I turned to my dad who said nothing all this time. I couldn't read his expression so I felt the nerves creep back once again. "Dad anything you wanna add?" I asked.
He sighed and pulled me into a hug and I immediately wrapped my arms around him as I realised just how much I'd missed him.
Placing his hands on my shoulder he looked me straight in the eye and said "Like your mother said we're not disappointed in you as long this was something both of you wanted and he didn't take advantage of you I'm okay with it."
"Dad, he didn't take advantage of me." I stated and he chuckled. "I know that sweetie cause if he did he wouldn't be breathing right now." He teased making me giggle and I hugged him again.
Pulling away I saw that dad has a slight look on his face as if he's debating whether or not to ask something. "Just say whatever it is you want to say dad." I stated.
"You two were safe right?" He asked and I felt the heat rise to my cheeks as I stared at the ground embarrassed.
"Yes dad we were. I've been on the pill since my eighteenth and besides things had already gotten...uh...heated so Shane brought some condoms just in case things ever went too far." I said awkwardly as I fiddled with the hem of my shirt.
"Alright Steve I think you've embarrassed her enough and we need to get back to the kitchen so we'll see you later sweetie." Mom said as her and dad turned to leave.
As they made their way back I felt a sudden urge to spend more time with them so I caught up with them and asked if I could help and they agreed. So for the next two hours or so I helped them prepare dinner and I felt at ease. Or the first time I things might finally be looking up.
It was about 5.30pm when I decided to head back to my cabin and the whole way there I smiled despite the fact it was starting to rain. As I approached the cabin I slowed my pace as I heard voices come for inside and whoever was in there was arguing with Shane.
Curiosity getting the better of me I slowly and quietly walked up the steps and went over to the side of the cabin next to the window. I peeked though it and saw that it was Nate and Shane.
Shane was pacing furiously across the floor and Nate was stood with his arms crossed. Making sure I was out of sight I listened in to what they were saying.
"I never thought you would stoop this low Nate. I mean are you so bitter about the fact that I'm happy that you just had to ruin it for us! This whole summer I've tried to put what happened between us behind cause I hoped that there was a slight chance we could regain our friendship but then you go and do this!" Shane exclaimed.
"I didn't do anything!" Nate fried back and Shane scoffed.
"That's a bunch of bull and you know it. You were the only one that knew about that night!" Shane spat. I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand. I don't know what surprised me the most, the fact that Nate knew or the fact that Shane didn't even tell me.
"Oh and that means I'm the one that gave the story away." Nate replied.
"Yeah! Even if it wasn't you that told the press you probably ran your mouth off to someone about it and they most likely told them...Urgh just once Nate couldn't you just mind your own business. What happened has nothing to do with you!" Shane fired.
"No this is my business Shane cause now everyone is assuming that Jason and I broke our promises. This never would have happened if you would've just stopped and thought for a second about how this would affect our careers then we wouldn't have to deal with this. But no once again your mind was so pre-occupied with Mitchie and keeping her happy and it landed us in this situation." Nate exclaimed and I tried to hide the hurt on my face when he said that.
"Don't you dare blame this on Mitchie again! This was OUR choice, we knew what the consequences would be and that's why we tried to keep this a secret...well that was until you decided to run your mouth to the world." Shane fired back his eyes on fire.
"No this has everything to do with Mitchie. If it wasn't for her we'd still be friends, Connect 3 would still be together and you wouldn't be in this mess right now." Nate stated and I felt my heart shatter at the fact that the guy I once considered a brother to me blamed me for the demise of their friendship.
He's right it is my fault. If I hadn't been so wrapped up in my own sadness Shane never would have broken his promise.
Unable to take any more I backed away from the cabin uncaring that my bracelet had been caught on a loose nail I just ran. I ran into the pouring rain away from them, away from the camp and everyone else that judged me and my relationship...everyone that was right about me.
So what do you think? Love it/Hate it/Favourite part?
What do you want to happen next?
How do you think Shane will react when he realises Mitchie gone?
And as I promised NverSayNver and JemiLover101 (two authors you need to check out cause they're awesome) I will give you a clue about who the source is.
A – The source is female
B – She's not a new character
So start guessing.
As a Christmas gift I would love a REVIEW from you guys!
Happy holidays to you all xx
P.S. next chapter will be in Shane's POV