"Could you take that up to Shane, please?" Nate looked up from his cereal to point at a big envelope.
"Sure." I placed the envelope in the tray next to the rest of the stuff: his beloved chocolate chip pancakes, a huge bottle of syrup, freanch toast, and two glasses of chocolate milk.
"You need any help with that?" He asked, watching me stumble a little when I picked the tray up.
"Noup." I pushed the kitchen door with my back and smiled at Nate. "Thanks anyway."
After almost spillling all the milk in the stairway I got to the room I was staying in. The door was closed. That was a bit of a problem.
"Nate?" I asked not to loudly from the top of the stairs.
"Yeah?"
"I changed my mind." He came to my rescue, laughing a little, and opened the door. "You should stick to the french toast." He said, eyeing the food. "He is not gonna let you have any pancakes."
"I know." I sighed fakely as I stepped into the room. "That's why the toast is here." Nate chuckled lightly before closing the door.
Shane was still sleeping in the bed. I giggled at how funny he looked; he was somehow using all the space of the big mattress, the covers were practically on the floor, his shirt was torn, leaving half his abdomen bare-which was something distracting, rather than funny. I focused on something that wouldn't make me drool, and laughed again when I saw that he was drooling.
I walked closer to the bed and a light snore escaped his mouth, waking him up. He rolled to his side and scrubbed his eyes.
"You're too cute." I laughed, leaning down to kiss his cheek.
"I get that very often." Shane mumbled against the pillow. "Do I smell pancakes!?" He asked excitedly, sitting up quickly.
"Not just pancakes." I answered sitting on the edge of the bed with the tray in my hands. "Chocolate chip pancakes." Shane took the tray from my hands smiling and I climbed farther into the bed, crossing my legs carefully (I was still wearing my dress). I watched him eat his pancakes happily, occasionally drinking some milk.
"Man, I love you." He said mouth-full.
"Are you saying that to me or to the pancakes?" He could really be saying it to the pancakes.
"Both." He looked up at me and winked, I rolled my eyes. "How did you sleep, babe?" He asked, putting the now clean plate down and extending his arms to me. I crawled into them.
"Comfy." I said, snuggling into his chest. "How about you?"
"I barely slept."
"What? Why? You weren't comfy? You should have told me...or just go..."
"You looked too beautiful. I couldn't bring myself to close my eyes." Was it really necessary to say things like this and leave me speechless? Yes. If falling further in love with him was a necessity. Which I don't really consider a necessity, but just something I can't avoid. "Thanks for the pancakes Mitch." He said into my hair. I thought I heard something strange in his voice.
"You are not thinking about the pancakes."
"Yes I am."
"Shane."
"They were really good...yummy..."
"Shane."
"Ughh." He laid back against the pillow and closed his eyes. "Can we just make this three days happen again? Or maybe just last night." I was really hoping we wouldn't get on the goodbye-again subject.
"Thank you so much for our date last night, Shane." I kneeled next to his head and started stroking his hair. "It was seriously the best first date a girl's ever had."
"I'm so glad you enjoyed it."
"I really did. By the way, your hair is very messy right now." His hand flew up to his hair and it found mine. "Not that I mind." He squeezed my hand shortly and then moved his head up to my knees.
"Yours is pretty." He reached for the tips of my hair. "Have I ever told you I love it?"
"Don't know. Have I ever told you I love yours?"
"Yeah. But you're not the only one who does, so..."
"Jerk!" I said, standing up and leaving Shane laughing in the bed.
"You did not just walk away form Shane Gray." He said, his eyebrows raised and his index finger accusing me.
"Oh, I think I did." I retorted with my hands placed firmly on my hips.
He gasped and shook his head.
Then he tackled me.
Literally.
Before I knew it I fell into the covers that were on the floor with Shane tickling my sides.
"Take it back!" He laughed.
"Never!"
"Take it back, Mitchie, or I swear I'll make you laugh 'til you pee."
"Shane! Gross!" Though I gotta admit we weren't that far from that happening.
"Just take it back, baby."
"No!" I managed to slip away from his hands for a second, but then he catched me by the ankle and dragged me back. "Please...oh!...please!" I begged among hysterical laughs, "Please stop! Ok!"
He stopped tickling my feet for a while, without releasing them. "Okay, you'll take it back?"
"Yeah, I take it back." I yanked my feet, thinking he would finally let me go, but he only gripped it harder.
"Sorry! Too late."
"You are a jerk!" I acussed when he strated tickling my sides again.
"A jerk you love." He said, finally stopping, and suddenly I was very aware he was on top of me, his face just an inch away. I nodded stuppidly, mesmerized by his honey eyes. He dropped his head to close the distance from our lips, my hands knotted in his hair, his hands clutched my waist. I felt the tip of his tongue touch my lower lip, and then there was a knock on the door. Shane sighed angrily and rested his forehead against mine. We were both breathing heavily, but the knock came again.
"Who is it?" I asked, trying to make my voice sound even.
"It's me, Peggy. Your mom said you had a hair straightener? Mine broke." Was she kidding me? She interrupted that amazing kiss for a hair straightener? "I do have one, Peggy, but it's in my Mom's room."
"Oh, sorry to bother then. I'll go look for it."
"You do that." I said, glaring at the closed door.
"Hair straightener...I'll give you a straightener..." Shane muttered as he got up and went for the tray. "...next time ruin my moment for a Kleenex, if you like..." He was still frustrated when he placed the food on the floor and sat next to me. "What's that?" He snapped, indicating the envelope.
"Nate asked me to bring to you." I answered, giving a french toast a bite. Shane picked the envelope and searched for the sender on the back of it.
"Oh." He started to tear open the envelope and then seemed to remember something. "Ooooooh. You open it." He smiled devilishly at me.
"What is it?" I asked, eyeing him carefully.
"Open it."
As soon as I oppened the envelope my eyes were drawn to Shane's face in the cover of Pop Infromer magazine, next to Nate's and Jason's.
"Is it the new edition?" He nodded. "Oh, cool! It says: 'The Boys Spill! Nate: 'She brings the best out of him'... Jason: 'We are so happy for him!'...' Shane...what are they talking about?"
"You can't tell me I didn't tell you!"
"Oh my god! Shane!" If this was what I was thinking it was..."'Shane: 'I found my girl.'! Shane!!"
"In my defense I didn't actually say 'I found my girl', Maggie asked if I was dating the girl from the camp and I..."
"'Sorry, ladies, but it seems that Shane Gray is oficially off the market. The hottie declares in his latest interview that he has found the perfect match for him this past summer at Camp Rock, and his bandmates couldn't agree more with him. 'She's been a great influence over him, and we really believe she brings the best out of him. We don't think there's any other girl out there better for Shane.' Nate says. Mitchie,'-you said my name!? If I'm kidnapped one of this days, Gray, be sure to tell my mom you are the one to blame. 'Mitchie, Shane's new gf, will have to look out for all of us jealous fans!'" The heat on my face couldn't be worse. It almost hurt.
I threw one of the covers on top of me to hide my face. "Mitchie, c'mon!" He lifted the cover a little and got beneath it, too. "Thank you for being so blushy."
"Oh, leave me alone."
"Mitchie?" My mom called form the other side of the door.
"Yeah?" I said, ignoring Shane and standing up to start cleaning all the mess we've made.
"Are your bags all set?" Damn.
"I'm working on it. How much time?"
"The plane leaves at five, which means we have to be there at three or so." Damn.
"Okay." Shane rose with the cover still on top of him, his head cocked to the side.
"You're leaving me in three hours?"
"What are you talking about?" Oh. The clock did read 12:05. "Well, it's not like I'm leaving you, I'm just going home." He rolled his eyes, annoyed.
"It's just so frustrating! I've had ONE real date with my girlfriend! It's not fair! I mean..." He ran a hand through his hair. "...I mean...I love you so much more than other jerks who get to see their girlfriends every day."
"And I love you so much more than the girls that go out with the jerks who get to see their girlfriends everyday, but that's exactly why we do, because there's no chance those jerks and girls could get through what we are going to get through."
And with that and another million I love you's my three short ours passed, and before I knew it -or before I was ready for it- I was at the airport, saying goodbye again.
"Take care of him, okay?" I said quietly to Nate, giving him a hug.
"No problem. You take care too."
"Jason! I'm gonna miss you." He hugged me so hard I was forced to stand on the tip of my toes.
"What job am I getting?" Jason whispered sounding very excited.
"You are the one who will smooth things over when Person 1 gets bossy and Person 2 gets jerky."
"Nate-bossy, Shane-jerky, Jason-smooth. Got it." He winked at me and went to stand next to Nate.
"I'll see you at the reunion, Mitch." Peggy step forward to say goodbye.
"Sure thing, Peggy. Call me when you're done with your song."
"Yeah, we'll keep in touch." I watched as Peggy walked away to say goodbye to my mom, and then saw Jason and my mom almost break into tears while saying goodbye.
"And you're sure you gotta leave?" He said grapping his arms from behind me and covering my ear with kisses.
"I'm pretty sure my dad would be furious if I didn't."
"And we don't want that?"
"We really don't." I turned around. "I'd like to have you in good terms the day you meet. Which will hopefully be in about a week or two."
"I'll keep my fingers crossed." He hugged me tightly. "Call me when you land." I just nodded and kissed his cheek several times.
"Your glasses and hat make it hard for me to kiss you properly."
"I know. But I thought this was better than another fan chase."
"Maybe. But I did enjoy that chase." I said laughing at the memory.
"Tell me about it." He laughed too.
"Not so funny for the waiting, worried-sick mom." My mom said with a reproachful look.
"I'm terribly sorry about that, Mrs. ..." Shane started to apologize again.
"Oh, stop it. I'm just messing with you." She said, waving an airy hand. "Anyways, we gotta get going now. Thank you for everything, Shane. You were really sweet to us these three days." She hugged him tightly, and I saw Shane blush a little. Whether at my mom's affection, or lack of air, I didn't know. "Thank you for making my daughter so happy." She added in what she thought was a whisper.
Shane smiled widely at that and 'whispered' back. "That really is what I live for." He kissed her cheek lightly, giving my mom her chance to blush.
"All right, you two." I said, pushing my mom aside.
"Aw, look at her Shane, getting all jealous at our closeness." She laughed, half-hugging Shane.
"Isn't she sweet, Mrs. Torres?" Shane played along.
"Yeah, yeah. Closeness. Now if you'll excuse us." I took Shane's arm and pushed him away with me. "I gotta show you some real closeness." Before he could take one more breath I got on my tiptoes and kissed him as if no one was watching. He was taken aback for a while, but then responded to the kiss, grapping his arms around my waist and lifting me, so my tiptoes were no longer touching the ground. As if his lips weren't enough to make me feel like flying.
"Listen," Shane started, placing me back on my feet. I pressed my lips to his once more.
"Don't." I hugged him close to me. "It's harder if you say beautiful things. So, let's just go, okay?" He nodded and I knew he understood exactly what I meant.
"I love you so much."
"I love you more. I'll call you when I land." He kissed me once more and I catched up with my mom at the gate. I turned around to wave goodbye, focusing in nothing but Shane's eyes. Trying to keep my promess to myself and not cry, I walked away towards my mom.
I felt sadness washing over me until I heard him call me back.
"Mitchie! Wait!"