A/N: I'm sorry about the wait, again. Are any of you even surprised anymore at the long waits? Sorry. :\ Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing this still despite the wait! And thank you to suburbs. She read through this for me once again and fixed it up a bit. She's simply amazing for all the help she consistently gives me.

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.

I turned over in bed again, pulling the pillow over my head. I'd been tossing, turning and squirming since I slipped between the sheets two hours ago. Every time I turned, trying to find a semi-comfortable position, a new thought popped in my head.

Of course, you couldn't really call them new as every other thought was about Mitchie. I wondered what she was doing, whom she was with, what she thought of me leaving, if she was waiting for me to come back, if she'd be excited when I did get back and so many other things. It was funny to me that when I wanted so desperately to get away from her I couldn't stop thinking about her. I thought going to a new town would give me endless other things to think about. I was wrong. As a result I couldn't wait for the week to end so I could just see her. I was glad that I was going home tomorrow.

Finally deciding I wasn't going to be getting my sleep I unburied my head with a sigh. I stared around the dark hotel room for a minute before getting out of the bed and finding my cell phone. It was time I checked all my messages. Maybe they'd be boring and put me to sleep, I thought with a laugh. I'd ignored every message that came the whole week. After a short debate I figured the best way to go through them was in order. That wouldn't be too hard seeing as it was only two voice mails and thirty-one text messages. I thought back to the day I left and remembered that it had started with Jason. He'd left a voice mail then a text. Bracing myself for the end of my break from reality I called my voicemail.

"Hey Nate, its Jason. I'm calling to say I'm sorry about last night. I shouldn't have ignored Mitchie's feelings the way that I did. Or, I guess I shouldn't have abused her feelings like that. I don't know, whatever you'd call it, I shouldn't have done it. I'm not really sure what got into me. I do regret it. I've already apologized to her. I just thought I'd say sorry to you too since you were probably mad at me last night. Give me a call back later and let me know if we're okay."

I should have known Jason would apologize. It was so unlike him to purposely hurt someone. He'd always been the one who helped cheer a person up, not bring a person down. I quickly deleted the message and hung up, switching to my text messages. The first one was from Jason.

I forgot. Shane said you got us time off? Awesome. Want to hit up the beach this week?

I knew the other voice message was from Mitchie. I'd been dying to hear what she had to say all week, but held strong and refused to listen to it. I knew after one more text message that it'd be time to listen to it. I guess I'd have to thank Caitlyn for texting me before she called and giving me a chance to stall longer.

Hey, just heard from Shane about the time off. Want to do dinner tonight with us all? Let me know.

It made me kind of sad that I didn't feel the least bit surprised that Caitlyn hadn't apologize for last night like Jason had. I would have liked her to say she was sorry, but I guess that would have been too much to ask for. It's not that she was a terribly rude or hurtful person, but she felt strongly that she had to do whatever it took to get Mitchie to tell Shane the truth. Still, Mitchie and Caitlyn's friendship was going to be permanently damaged from this situation. I knew it was never going be the same again.

Like usual when thinking about one of my friends, my thoughts drifted back to Mitchie. And that made it impossible to stall any longer. I had to hear her voice mail – her voice.

"Hi… it's me… Mitchie… I was just calling to see what's up. Well, no, actually, I was calling to see where we stood exactly. It's probably not a good sign that you didn't answer my call, but you could still be sleeping so maybe it's not. I don't really know. You might not even remember our conversation depending on how much you'd had to drink last night. You didn't seem too drunk, but who knows. In case you don't remember, I'm breaking up with Shane. Today. I'm waiting to hear from him to see if he's up and functioning. Then I'm going over there to do it. I promise. I still hope you'll give me a chance, but if you don't, I understand. Please call me back when you're ready to talk to me. I love you Nate, with all my heart."

She loved me, she said, with all her heart. She was probably not feeling very good about herself considering I left and haven't called her back. She would be the first person I called when I finished going through these messages. I had known, before I even heard that message, that I still wanted to be with Mitchie. I loved her. It was as simple as that. I may not have liked some of the things she'd done recently, but I loved her. A few bad choices brought on by jealousy and insecurity weren't going to change that. And it's not like she hadn't already suffered. I had made my point clear. I'd said goodbye to her once. If I'd hurt her half as much as walking away from her had hurt me, she'd suffered enough. We'd both suffered enough.

With the thought of calling her in mind I quickly read through the rest of my text messages. It didn't take long for them to realize I wasn't going to be home anytime soon. Caitlyn got it first, or at least mentioned it first.

Never would have pegged you as the type to run away.

Shortly after that one Shane sent me his first and only message. It was sent the morning after I had left.

I had an interesting convo with Mitchie last night. We need to talk.

For one heart-stopping second I panicked. What if she had talked to him, but blamed it all on me? What if she said I kissed her? How else could he just call it an "interesting convo."

I instantly hated myself for doubting Mitchie. She wouldn't throw me under the bus like that no matter what. I knew better than that. And this was Shane I was talking about. If I read the message in the right tone, it made perfect sense. Shane would have to be the first person I went to visit. I would have to sort things out with him and see if he could forgive me. I hoped he could.

Surprisingly, Jason was the one to send the message with the actual confirmation that Mitchie had broken the news to Shane. As a matter of fact, it was Jason who texted me regularly throughout the week to keep me updated, even though I never sent him a text back. He seemed to understand that I had to leave and felt he'd help by simply keeping me in the loop. Mitchie's name never crossed my screen again – neither did Shane's. Caitlyn sent me a few texts, but nothing compared to Jason's constant updates. I skimmed through them with my full attention. I was hooked on the events unfolding back home.

As it turned out, Shane was mad at everyone, but not even speaking to Caitlyn. Caitlyn was crushed. Jason and Shane patched things up easily; Jason had only known for three days after all and expressed immediate disapproval. I didn't really get that part – how could he be furious at Caitlyn, but not even mad at Jason? If anyone was consistent in his or her disapproval it had been Caitlyn. There was never a single moment when she was okay with the situation. I'd have expected Shane to be thankful to her for speeding up the process. If it weren't for Caitlyn, it would still be going on. Either way, Caitlyn sent me an angry text, blaming everything on me.

The most interesting news Jason delivered came in a text dated two days after I left. It was about Mitchie. She was gone. She had apparently decided to pull the same stunt I had. She negotiated some emergency time off, packed a bag and left town. Not even her parents knew her destination. I had to laugh at the ridiculousness of the whole thing. What would she be running away from?

And then I started to worry about her. Why had she left? Had Shane gotten harsh with her? Was she okay? Did she know where she was going? What if she got lost? Did she have enough money to keep her gas tank full? Enough to eat? Could she afford a nice, safe place to sleep? What if she came across some pervert who would hurt her? A young, pretty girl traveling alone could not be terribly safe.

I skimmed the rest of the messages with surprising speed and sure enough she wasn't home yet. I had to make sure she was okay. I didn't care that it was nearing half past three in the morning, I dialed her number, not even bothering to waste the time to find it in my phonebook. My heart pounded in my chest as each ring passed and I waited for her to pick up. I had a fleeting thought that maybe this is how she felt when she realized I left and guilt coursed through me. My anxiety trumped it though. She didn't answer.

"Hey you've reached Mitchie. Sorry I couldn't answer the phone, leave a message and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can."

I smiled at the sound of her cheery voice despite the situation.

"Mitchie," I breathed. "It's Nate. Please call me back as soon as you get this. I'll be back in town tomorrow, by noon at the absolute latest. I need to see you. I love you."

My nerves eased a bit as I hung up. If her phone was still on, that meant she was taking care to keep it charged. If she were dead or kidnapped, that wouldn't really be her concern I'm sure. She was probably just sleeping; it was the middle of the night. I would just have to wait to hear back from her to know for sure that she was okay.

By ten the next morning I was just outside of town. I ended up falling asleep for a few hours sometime after I called Mitchie, my phone clutched in my hand, waiting for her to call me back. She never did. I was itching to go to her house and see if she was back, but I'd promised myself I'd see Shane first. Deciding to skip stopping home all together I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Shane's number.

"Well look who finally decided to show up," he answered, his tone neutral.

"Are you home?" I asked. "We need to have that talk."

He scoffed, "It's not like I have very many friends I want to hang out with these days."

"I'll be over in ten minutes," I sighed. "Just let me in and we'll talk about it."

I went over everything I wanted to say to him in my head on the way there. Surprisingly enough, when I showed up he was waiting for me on the porch. "I've got coffee on. Let's go in the kitchen."

I nodded mutely and followed him. I watched him get out two coffee mugs and plates and set both of us up with coffee and muffins. I was surprised by the friendly gesture, but it gave me hope. He didn't look at me again until he was settled in and drank his first sip from his mug.

"Do we want to beat around the bush or just get to the point?" he asked bluntly.

"Just get to the point," I mumbled.

"How could you fall in love with my girlfriend?" he asked, looking appropriately annoyed. "We were supposed to be best friends. I was supposed to be able to trust you. Instead you run around behind my back with my girlfriend?"

"It wasn't quite like that," I defended lamely. "It's not like I was… getting physical with her."

"I know," he sighed. "She told me. Said you guys only kissed once and that it was her birthday night." He paused and looked up into my eyes. "That's what your fight was about wasn't it? That's why you weren't talking to her?"

I nodded. "I never would have crossed that line Shane. I thought she'd broken up with you. Not that it's any better that I was hoping she'd dumped you, but I never knowingly would have kissed your girlfriend."

"I know that," he laughed bitterly. "I've been sitting here all week thinking it through. It was smart of you to leave. If you were here right after I found out… well, I wouldn't be quite so mellow about it. As it is, I've only been talking to Jason this week really so I had a lot of free time to think."

My first instinct was to ask why he wasn't speaking to Caitlyn, but I needed to fight to clear my own name before anyone else's.

"I know I was an ass of a friend. I would have deserved to face you all worked up." I paused, not sure what to say to prove it. I laughed to myself as I thought of just what I had to say. "You can punch me if you want. You can beat the crap right out of me. I deserve it.

He looked at me, as if considering this option, maybe imagining it in his mind, before shaking his head. "I don't want to fight you Nate."

"Okay," I nodded. "What do you want to do?"

He opened his mouth to answer then paused. He shut his eyes for a moment then opened them and looked straight into mine. "I want to hear you tell me why."

"Why what?" I asked right away, eager to do what I could to salvage our friendship.

"Why anything," he shrugged lightly. "Why'd you fall in love with my girlfriend? Why'd she fall in love with you? No, here's what I really want to know - why did you let it get to the point it did? If things were the other way around I never would have done this to you."

I hung my head, ashamed. "This wasn't something I did intentionally Shane. I wasn't sitting around bored one day and decided "hey, why not do something to damage my friendship? It'll be fun". You need to understand that. She was always around though, always there to spend time with. Do you remember how I didn't even like her? How I couldn't stand her being around so much and you all but begged me to try getting along with her?"

"I remember," he laughed. "It cost me a new guitar case to get you to agree." He paused and laughed again, this time the noise was a bitter sound. "Apparently the case wasn't enough."

I winced and continued explaining. "I started to like her, then love her. I really tried to get over it though, honest. Remember Jenny?"

"Jenny," he repeated slowly, processing this. "Jenny was supposed to help you get over Mitchie?"

"Yes."

"Jenny was a year and a half ago!"

"It's been a long road leading up to now," I said quietly. I started to pick at my muffin while I waited for him to think this over and say something. I couldn't figure out what was going on in his head today. He was being friendlier than I was expecting. I walked into this fully prepared for fighting and screaming. I was expecting to walk away from this mentally beaten. The sad thing was that I felt worse simply because he wasn't yelling.

"I spoke too soon," Shane said suddenly. "Maybe I do want to hit you."

Despite the seriousness of the moment, I found this hilarious. So much so I started to laugh loudly startling Shane. He tried not to laugh along as he scolded, "Be considerate of my feelings Nate. I'm trying to be angry with you here."

It didn't take long for me to stop laughing, but by the time I did Shane was smirking amusedly. "Okay, so maybe I don't want to hit you, but you need to keep explaining. I just want to understand."

I nodded and carefully worked my way into the next part. "I started to love Mitchie a long time ago obviously, but I never acted on it. I talked to my brother and sister about it, hoping for some helpful advice, but I didn't tell anyone else." I paused and took a deep breath, knowing I had to choose my words carefully. "Eventually I started to notice something that gave me hope. It was a shift, a barely perceptive one, but a shift all the same. You guys started to stop."

"Started to stop?" he asked skeptically.

"Yes."

"Started to stop what?"

"Started to stop loving each other," I said simply.

He scoffed, "I still love Mitchie."

"I know you do. You always will, just not the same way anymore. You guys stopped spending as much time together."

He didn't confirm or deny my accusations. Instead he asked, "What makes you so sure of this shift?"

I smiled; sure I was getting through to him now. I didn't need him to admit it to know I was right, but it would help if he did. "You started to hang out with each other because it's what you were supposed to do. You didn't always want to anymore, but felt obligated."

Shane blinked. "Just because I wanted to do things with other people doesn't mean I didn't love her anymore. There is no rule that says when you date someone that you have to spend all your time with them."

"I know, I know," I said hastily, not wanting him to get worked up. "That was just the start. The less you wanted to do things with her though the more she started calling Jason and me to pass the time. Do you see where I'm going?"

"Unfortunately, yes. The more time you spent with her the more you fell."

"Exactly," I nodded.

"What I don't see is how she ended up falling in love with you."

"I got lucky," I smiled. He raised an eyebrow at me and I quickly back tracked. "I mean, you know, she must have just-"

"Forget it," he cut me off – much to my relief. "I know what you meant. I remember what it's like to fall in love and have the girl love you back. You're right though. I don't love her like I used to. I don't think I have for a long time."

Not sure how to respond to that I concentrated on refilling my mug. After a couple more minutes of silence I finally started to ask the important questions. "You think we'll get through this and work our friendship out?"

He turned to me and tilted his head. "I thought the coffee and muffins would have shown I'm not entirely pissed at you. It'll take awhile, believe me, but we'll get back on track I think. We're best friends Nate."

"Yeah, but I was a terrible friend."

"Most everyone makes a big mistake in their friendships sometime. We know I've made mine. This is yours. "

I nodded and asked another question. "Do you think… will you be mad if I say I want to be with Mitchie?"

"I think I'd be more upset if you said you didn't," he laughed.

"What?" I blinked.

"Why go through all this fighting if you aren't even going to be with her? That would be pointless. I know our friendship has always meant a lot to you. If you're willing to risk it for her, you better really want to be with her."

"I do," I breathed. "I really do."

"Okay," he nodded.

"So it's okay?"

"I'm not your mom Nate; you don't need my permission."

"I know I don't. And I'd be with her either way to be honest," I shrugged.

"So why ask?"

"Just wanted to see where you stand."

"I had several long talks with Jason this week. I stand where you want me to."

"Jason?" I asked surprised.

"Yeah, he brought me from pissed off to mildly angry and annoyed. Trust me, I was not this easy going about it last Sunday."

"I'll have to thank him."

"You should."

Now that I felt we were on better terms I tried helping Caitlyn out. "You know, all week Caitlyn's been on my case about telling you. Mitchie's too. I'm not even sure their friendship is repairable anymore. She really fought for you." Shane nodded stiffly in acknowledgement. "Just think it over you know. You shouldn't be mad at her."

A/N: I can tell you now it'll be a bit of a wait again for the next chapter. I need to update You've Got a Friend and I'm only a few paragraphs into the next chapter. I really need to update that though, so I can finish it.