So, I've been trying to put this off for sometime but it's time for this situation to happen. Don't hate me for it but it must be done. It's a pet peeve to have reader's hate a certain character, I can't live with the pain. I love all my character's no matter how jerk-faced I wrote them. They will all be redeemed. But, don't be too disappointed it's not like everything is resolved.

WARNING- Un-beta-ed. Expect mistakes and horrible sounding sentences... You've been warned. And I minor note to Loved-Invention- the beginning is a bit different. I re-wrote some of it. I wasn't too happy with it.

ENJOY!

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Life Sucks

Chapter ELEVEN: Apologies

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"I didn't do it on purpose!" I yelled out to Nate who was rushing away from me.

It's been two days since that horrible accident although it feels like it's been two years. The consequence for raming my foot into his guitar and tripping over it was the silent treatment. You have no idea how odd it was to have Nate keep his mouth shut around me. It's a cruel cold shoulder because it isn't really 'cold'. I think Nate hasn't said a word to me because he honestly doesn't know what to say. I wish he told me he hated me or that I owe him a new guitar but I haven't gotten a peep out of him.

Nothing.

So I ambushed him right after today's rehearsal and all I got was a startled Nate. I was watching him run away as I pathetically stood there with Shane and Jason. Nina excused herself and dragged Jason along with her. My arm began to feel limp and the sensation of a million ants crawling under mys skin began. I frowned and I didn't care who knew- I, Mitchie Torres, felt incredibly guilty for stepping all over Nate... and his guitar as well. I quickly took back all the crap I gave him even though I still think he deserved a lot of it. I take back everything just to have him talk to me again.

Jesus, you should have seen the look on his face.

He look down at Malinda (he named his guitar that...) and he looked at me. No one said a word but he knew it was my fault. He dropped the two cups of coffee in his hands and he left. I'm not sure if he wanted to kill me or cry but he did give me a look of "how-could-you?" and walked back out. Nina had to fetch him and force him to rehearse that day.

He didn't look at me that day.

Yesterday I had to trip and land on my face in order for him to crack a smile. Nate's smile was gone before it reached his ears.

"Mitch, grab your coat. It's raining outside." Shane tugged on my sleeping arm.

I pulled back and glared at him, "Don't touch me."

He glared back, "You're coming whether you like it or not. It's time for us to talk."

I bit down on my lip as Shane threw on his own coat and handed me Nate's baggy sweater. I held on to the sweater for dear life when Shane walked towards the exit and tilted his head, motioning me to come along. I watch in horror as my body began to follow Shane out. I'm not sure why I couldn't kick him where it really hurts and run away. I wanted to hurt Shane so badly but it seems like he was still in control and I hated that. I know I don't love him. I wish I could prove it to Peggy who still has her doubts. I wish I could do whatever I wanted to do around Shane because we all know Malinda wouldn't be in the trash right now and Nate would be the one following me around. I could look at Shane now and know that everything I said to him is in the past.

But why is it that I turn to some idiot when he looks at me?

Could it be that I have something in common with Tess?

I understand her now. There is no doubt in my mind that I don't love Shane but there has to be some strings still attached that cause me to act this way.

Shane held the door open for me as I stepped out into the rain. I quickly slipped on Nate's sweater and pulled the hood over my head to cover myself from the down pour. For a second I thought I was going to be drenched but then the soft pelting of the rain stopped. I looked up and discover that Shane was holding an umbrella above me while he was getting soaked. Just because he was being nice doesn't mean he's off the hook. I was burning mad that I was with Shane. We both scurried around in the rain until we stopped at none other than an empty Java Junction. I've managed to continue working here just not as frequently as I hoped I would. I've cut down to three days out of the month and I miss Ted horribly when I don't get to work.

Ted was surprised to watch us order and take an empty table for ourselves. I hadn't noticed before but I was shaking in fear. I'm not sure why I was so scared. It was only Shane, the idiot who let me go and never explained why. What's the worse he could do now? Tell me he wishes he could take it all back?

Psh, I'll scratch his eyeballs out if he did.

Shane hunched over his drink as I straighten my posture with my hands folded on my lap. I don't want to lie but it looked like he was struggling to say whatever he wanted to tell me.

"I'm not sure if you noticed Peggy at yesterday's rehearsal." He muttered out, "She wanted to check up on the rough performance."

I shook my head, I had no idea Peggy was around. I would have loved to talk to her about this whole Nate ordeal. She would have made things ten times better.

"She wasn't thrilled with the song choice. She's hoping we can change the performance to formally introduce you. Nate wants to perform an old song and then have you sing a song from your new album but Peggy thinks we should do something else." Shane bit his lip, "Like a duet we sang at camp."

I closed my eyes, "You want to talk about song choices?"

"Yes and no," Shane finally looked up at me, "because talking about that song would mean that we need to settle this thing between us."

I shook my head, "Well I don't want to do that song then. We'll just stick to what we have now and tell Peggy it's too late to change it."

"In this business, it's never to late to change things." Shane sternly said.

Ted lightly hummed as he nearly ran into the back room. I shook my head. I'm sure he was trying to give us privacy- something that I didn't want, not with Shane at least. I glared at Ted and scowled at Shane.

"You don't hide things very well Mitchie." Shane lightly chuckled, "Nate told me about how much you dislike me but I didn't need him to tell me that when I already know."

My face felt warm.

"What's there to discuss? You broke up with me, end of story." I choked out.

Shane rolled his eyes, "Do you want to know why?"

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." I frowned, reciting a line I watched from a movie.

He let out a laugh which confused me.

"Gone With the Wind?" He smiled.

"Nate and I watched it one night." I recalled.

Shane bowed his head, "Ah, old fashion isn't he? He introduced me to the wonders of old Hollywood movies too."

I kept quiet, wondering what Nate was up to.

"I didn't want to hurt you more than it was going to. I knew breaking up was going to hurt but I didn't want to continue with us when I wasn't able to love you anymore." Shane explained.

I was still trying to comprehend that I was sitting across Shane without fainting or blacking out or feeling like crap... We're talking about feelings for heaven's sake. I do not share my feelings since he came along and now it's coming full circle.

Damn it.

I thought back to all the questions I had for him during the period when he just broke up with me. I pressed my lips together remembering how painful and pathetic it was to experience that.

"Did you leave me for Lola?" I whispered out.

His brown eyes locked with mine and we looked at each other for a moment.

"No," Shane looked down, "I thought it was best to let you go right when I knew I didn't feel the same way you were feeling. I didn't want to lead you to believe that we were fine. So I let you go and I was going to tell you sooner but things got in the way. And don't think that after I left you I was completely fine. I still loved you but as a friend and I really missed having you around."

I was speechless.

"Not as heartless as you thought I was, right?" Shane smiled.

I looked down at my untouched coffee, "You moved on pretty quickly."

For the first time Shane looked ashamed. He frowned and nodded, agreeing with me.

"I know I did. You can blame Nate for that. He formally introduced me to Lola." Shane sipped his coffee.

A weary smile spread over my face, "Right now, I won't blame Nate if we wanted to kill me."

"You'll be amaze to know that he doesn't." Shane grinned.

I avoided Shane for a while. I fiddled with my cup as I process everything that was going on. I felt like I lost a huge part of me in a couple of minutes. If Shane is apologizing for everything that he did to me, does that mean I can't hate him anymore? I'm sure I can, but I can't blame him anymore and that means I won't have any reason to want to claw his eyes out now. Just before I completely gave in, I found another reason to hate him. For goodness sake, I wrote a song about this.

"So can I know why you acted like we were never in a relationship before?" I sharply inhaled the scent of Nate's sweater.

"What do you mean?" Shane tilted his head.

I scowled again, "Nate thought I was stupid to write 'Don't Forget' but it made me feel a lot better. I can't hate you now for breaking up with me but I can hold against you that you're a complete jerk."

"How so? Would you rather me avoid you and make it completely awkward because we didn't work out?" Shane questioned.

I gulped down a knot in my throat, "At least I would have known that you remembered me as Mitchie- your ex. Not Mitchie- your friend."

Shane opened his mouth to protest but his phone buzz. He held a finger up and answered his call. I didn't bother to listen in. I didn't care who Shane was speaking to. I finally took a sip out of my untouched coffee and sighed. Shane coughed, said his goodbyes, and turned his unwanted attention back to me.

"It was Peggy." He announced, "She's asking if you accepted."

I shifted uncomfortably in my chair. As much as everything cleared up between me and Shane, I did not want to sing with him, at least not that duet. I smirked at the thought that it would probably piss Lola off to no end but then again I don't know her well enough to know how she would react to something like Shane and me singing together again.

"I'm not sure." I sighed, "It would be weird to sing with someone I don't get along with anymore."

"You could stretch you're acting skills." Shane offered.

I groaned, "Yuck, acting on stage is terrible. It's not a real performance if it's not natural."

"Then we could quit this shit and start being friends again."

Shane looked too hopeful. I crossed my arms and shook my head. There's no way I wanted to be friends with someone who can potentially ruin my life again. I've over that stage. Just because I'm opening up to everybody doesn't mean I should accept every friend offer I get.

"How about co-workers?" I shrugged.

"I could live with that." Shane quickly accepted my weak offer, "But since since we have to work together and present a decent performance we need to do this duet. And if it makes you feel better, do it for Nate. It's the least you can do after you broke Nate's guitar. He's been freaking out for the past 48 hours about this morning show. Bad songs and no guitar?"

I slumped in my chair, "I hate you."

Shane knitted his brows together, "Is that a yes?"

I rolled my eyes, "It's a maybe. I can't believe you used Nate as an excuse to make me sing with you. It's not my fault you wrote a bad song."

Shane rolled his eyes as well, "That song isn't entirely mine. Lola thought she should expand her creativity and write a song for us. Needless to say, what we've been singing is only what I fixed up. The original song is much worse."

I shoved my face to my hands and breathed, "You're making this difficult."

Shane perked up, "So, are you fine with the duet? If you're not convinced, keep in mind it's Peggy's favorite song to date."

I groaned, "I'll do it on one condition."

"Anything." Shane said.

---

After a relaxing warm bath in my new spacious apartment and eating some chinese take out, I was ready to go to bed in my room the size of my old apartment. It was only my second day living here and I love it all. I tucked myself in and gingerly placed my head on the fluffy pilllow and just before I drift to sleep, I thought about the whole day- like finally cutting those pesky strings and wondering what I could do to make it up to Nate.

He does like Harry Potter. I could buy him a wand. Or get him tickets to the premiere that should be next month...

I rolled my eyes and I turned to my side, unsure of what to do or get to have Nate back.

"I never knew, I never knew that everything was falling through..."

I quickly sat up and snatched my phone. I narrowed my eyes at the name flashing on the screen.

It was Nate.

I stared at the phone for three more rings before I answered it. I couldn't believe that it was really him. I half expected to hear nothing and figure out that Nate accidently called me by mistake.

"Hello?!"

"What do you mean you're doing a duet with Shane!?"

I smiled. He's talking to me again. I then frowned.

"Huh?" I drawled.

"Open up I'm here."

I scoffed, "No you're not."

I heard angry pounding on my door and from the phone.

"Open or I'll let myself in."

"You don't even have a key!" I said rushing out of bed. I threw on my slippers and picked up my wet hair into a ponytail. I rushed over to the door to find Nate letting himself in. I felt a fit bubbling in me.

"You have a KEY!?" I yelled, "What in the hell! What kind of crap is this?"

Nate closed his phone and shoved it in his back pocket. He looked as angry as I was.

"I ask your landlord for a spare." He mumbled out.

"You're fucking crazy." I spat.

"Where did you go after rehearsal?" He hissed out, completely ignoring my questions. I still want to know why Nate has a spare key to my apartment. Does he get a kick out of entering my home without permission?

I narrowed my eyes, studying him. He was doing the same. I pursed my lips and looked at the floor. What is his deal? He gives me the cold shoulder and now he's bitching at me? He's worse than my mom on her bad days. After Nate got the hint that I wasn't going to answer him he cleared his throat and paced around.

"Nina talk to me and advised that I should sit down and have a talk with you." Nate frantically ran his hands through his hair.

As much as he was annoying me right now, I wanted to pull a curl out of his head and hang on to it. I'll show it to him and warn him if he continies to be irrational, all his hair will be ripped out. And I just wanted to touch his hair again.

"I know I haven't been a good friend lately but I was going to apologize. I was looking for you after Nina and Jason talked to me but I couldn't find you or Shane anywhere." He stopped and faced me, once more. "You never answered your phone and Shane said he dropped by Java and was on his way to Peggy's house."

I shyed away from Nate's look and slightly pouted. I had a funny feeling that he had no idea that Shane and I shared an afternoon trying to remember the duet that I long forgotten. To my surprise, I found it easy to recollect almost all of it. Shane filled in a lot of hole I couldn't remember. We hung around Peggy's house to lightly practice the song. But I'm sure that Nate knew something was up. Why on earth would I ever agree to sing with Shane with out being black-mailed?

"When I talked to Shane he said you agreed to do some duet with him." Nate voice lowered, "I didn't believe him because of course I knew you wouldn't want to interact with Shane. These past few day's you hardly ever looked at him. Did he trick you? Did Peggy force you?"

I gulped, "No."

Nate shook his curls around, "I feel like I'm living in alternate universe. I don't have a guitar and you and Shane are sneaking around."

I made a face at the sound of "sneaking around".

"We're not sneaking around." I growled, "And just because we might be singing together doesn't mean we're friends."

I saw a flash of hope in Nate's face and I seriously felt sick at the sudden realization that I've been trying to avoid. Tess wouldn't think her crazy assumptions were true if there wasn't some signs to aid her in her belief. Those signs were flashing brightly right now and I wanted to pretend they weren't there at all. Could it be possible that the only reason why Nate would go through crazy lengths to be around me is because he... likes me? Why on earth would he barge in my apartment with a spare key and rant on about this duet? He was jealous. He doesn't want Shane around me at all. Would he panic if he didn't like me?

"Shane and I talked things over at Java. You should have seen the look on Ted's eyes." I sourly laughed, "I would share some of the topics we talked about but some of it is extremely personal but yes, he said Peggy would perfer we do something much more attention grabbing than what we were doing before."

"What's wrong with what we were doing before?" Nate fumed.

Yet another clue. Nate would agree that Shane's song was horrible and would be the first to suggest something else. In fact, I do remember Peggy saying that Nate asked her to come and listen in.

"I think you would agree that Shane's song wasn't performance material. Not for a morning show, at least." I wrapped my arms around myself, "It's just a song Nate. Why are you freaking out?"

To be honest, I didn't want to hear his response because it would only further confirm what I didn't want to accept. Nate shoulders drooped and his head hung. His hand shot up to the back of his head. I felt a pang inside me. I felt uncomfortable. It was exactly the feeling I got when Nate hugged me but this time, he was standing a good five feet away from me.

"It's been a tough week, I guess. I really didn't expect a duet to be honest." He shrugged, "It could be partly because I don't have a guitar to practice the changes."

He sent me a cheesy grin and I felt horrible again.

"Nate I'm really sorry. I've been trying to tell you for the past two days that it was a complete accident." I sighed out, cocking my head to the side, "If you like, you can use mine. Or perhaps, can't believe I'm saying this but I could buy you a new guitar. Something better than that piece of crap you had before."

Nate smirked, "I love how you can turn charity as an insult."

"I know you liked Malinda but honestly, nobody will take you seriously until you have a guitar like mine." I pointed back to my own guitar that I spluged on my first paycheck. My old guitar was still being used. Heck, even my old guitar has some flare that Malinda didn't.

"Malinda was my first guitar." Nate raise his eyebrow, "You sure you can replace memories with an expensive piece of wood?"

I scoffed, "You can replace anything for a price."

Nate finally relaxed and he threw himself on my dingy couch (I never noticed it was dingy until the surrounding enviroment "improved"). As much as I was happy that he wasn't spewing out his jealousy to me, I didn't want him to stay. I was about to go to slep before he barged in. He settled himself and sighed, a sloppy smile spreading on his lips. I crossed my arms and stuck out my hip in the most girly way I could interpret.

"So you still hate Shane, right?" Nate asked.

I rolled my eyes, "Nate, it's none of your business."

He looked slightly alarmed but he concealed it better than before, "I'll take that as a yes."

"If it makes you feel better." I sighed.

"After rehearsal, Nina told me exactly what happened to Malinda. Jason couldn't really recall much except that you shoved you big fat foot in her." Nate smirked, "And even though you killed her, I'll admit it wasn't the best idea to stop talking to you. So I'm sorry if I freaked you out but at least I know you can't live without me."

"Nate..." I groaned. I had a perfectly good explaination as to why I wanted Nate to talk to me again. After having Nate follow me around and always be there- it was weird to not have him do those things.

"And since you offered, I do need a new guitar. Would you like to come and help me pick one out?" Nate sat up.

"I'm not a guitar expert." I shook my head.

"After you insulted Malinda, I assumed you were." Nate grinned.

"I know what guitar best suits me and that's all I know. But I also know that Malinda was not helping you out when you performed some of those ballads." I cringed, "She clashed horribly with how soft you can sing."

"Please come along. I have a part of a song that I've been itching to sing to you. Maybe with Malinda out of the picture it could be better. I was thinking that maybe a warmer sound could improve it."

I yawned, "As much as discussing guitars with you sounds oh-so exciting, I need rest. It's been a long day and this morning show isn't helping my sleep."

Nate nodded and stood up. I walk him to the door and lightly hugged him instead. I'm not sure what possessed me to do it but I thought it would make him feel better. After all this is the guy who lives to see me squirm when I don't want to do something.

"If you don't give the landlord the spare back, I swear Nate I will make sure your nether regions won't ever have the chance to reproduce." I threatened just before I push him out and locked the door. I took a few steps before I heard the door click open. I turned around to see Nate sticking his head in.

"I promise I won't do this ever again." He smiled.

I nodded, "I have a funny feeling that you won't be able to keep that promise."

He smirked and disappeared. I was left with that feeling that something was up with Nate and I knew exactly what it was. Worse part- I can't imagine anybody liking me, much less Nate.

---

So a couple of things happened. Shane fessed up. The duet. Mitchie saw what everybody has been seeing for a while. Now, are things going to get easier? Heck NO! Bring Mitchie and Nate together is gonna take more than her realizing and accepting love. It's going to take blood, sweat, and tears! So let the games begin!

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