It's been so long, I know! But I promised myself that I would try to update you weekly now, so hopefully this will work. So by every Thursday of each week I should have updated, if not then that's when all of you can send my angry PM's telling me to get my act together and post something. Haha. Anyways, I'm super duper sorry that it's been a whole MONTH since I updated! Feel free to get angry with me…
--
Nate called me back at 4:30. Yes, in the morning. I had managed to fall asleep about two hours prior to that, mainly because I worn out from all the crying and talking done with Mitchie. Who knew it could be so exhausting having someone you loved away on tour?
"Hello?" I asked groggily, wiping at my eyes and checking the time.
"Hey baby." I heard Nate reply softly on the other side of the phone. I couldn't help but smile slightly as I rolled onto my back and attempted to wake myself up a little.
"Nate, hun, I love you and everything, but it's 4:30 in the morning."
Nate chuckled, "I know I'm sorry, but this is really the only chance I have to call before I go to bed and have to get up at 6:30."
"6:30?!" I repeated in awe, "And whoever said the life of a rockstar was an easy one. Psht." Nate and I both laughed but the moment ended too soon and suddenly everything became sad and the longing for him increased dramatically.
"God I've missed your laugh." Nate sighed, and I could almost imagine him closing his eyes. I could feel the aching in my heart as I pined for him to hold me so I could fall back asleep.
"Don't say stuff like that, Nate. It's only going to make this 10 times harder than it already is." I whispered back, also closing my eyes tight and taking in deep breaths to avoid becoming an emotional wreck all over again.
"But I miss you, Caitlyn. So much."
"I know, I know. I miss you too, Nate." I responded, trying to clear my head of all the depressing thoughts that flooded to mind. "Let's just forget that I'm not with you momentarily though, and tell me how's the tour going?"
Nate sighed, "Well, minus the fact that you aren't here, the tour's going great. Shane's really stepping it up with all of us. He's kind of like our superhero right now."
"Aww that's great." I smiled, running my hands through my hair. "And how's Jason doing? He didn't seem so great when you guys left."
"He'll be fine, he's a tough cookie. The tour's doing him some good though, I think he missed being around music."
"Yeah that's true, you guys did sort of take a break from all of it this year, seeing as it was pretty hectic and there was a lot of drama to deal with."
"Yeah, really." He responded solemnly, and I could tell that the small talk wasn't going to work anymore.
"Well I should let you go, you have to get up in like an hour and a half."
"Yeah, sleep would be good…"
"So I'll talk to you tomorrow?" I asked hopefully, knowing that it might be a busy day and he couldn't get the time.
"Definitely. I love you baby."
"I love you too." I responded, sighing softly. "Talk to you tomorrow."
I pressed the END button on my phone, but stared at the screen for a little while longer, it's flashing almost mocking me that the call had ended with Nate. I refused to think about it, however, and set the phone on my side table and cuddled in with the blankets, closing my eyes tight and thinking of happy things so I could drift into a peaceful slumber.
I was awoken about 3 hours later thanks to Mitchie.
"Morning Caitlyn!" Mitchie said brightly, grinning as she plopped onto my bed. I groaned.
"Mitch, what the crap are you doing in here? No, wait, more importantly, what the crap are you doing awake?"
"Love you too." She said back, and I mentally rolled my eyes. "I thought that today should be a happy day and we should go shopping!"
"Oh did you?" I asked, turning onto my side away from her. "I'm not going at the butt crack of dawn. It's too early for shopping."
I heard Mitchie mock gasp. "It's never too early for shopping! Besides, all the good stuff is on sale in the mornings and that's when the mall is the least deserted."
I decided that maybe if I ignored her, she would go away. This did not work.
"Ugh, come on Caitlyn." Mitchie whined, pulling on my arm now. I groaned and opened my eyes, glaring at her.
"I hate you." I said lethally, but Mitchie just grinned.
"That's the spirit! Now chop-chop go get all dolled up. And no sweats, you sulk around in those enough already."
"Oh so now you're the Clothes Police?" I grumbled, literally rolling out of bed.
"Yes, I am. Now go get pretty!" Mitchie said, practically skipping out the door. "Oh and I invited Candace to come along, too. Thought maybe she could cheer you up." She added on her way out.
I fake smiled, and mumbled, "Joy." Before getting into the bathroom and starting my shower.
I was ready to go within the hour, making a very anxious Mitchie a little more excited than she should have been.
"Come on." She said for like the millionth time, pulling on my arm. "It's already 9 o clock. People are going to be there by now!"
"Oh mg god, you're acting like a 5 year old. I'm coming I'm coming! Sheesh." I rolled my eyes but grabbed my flip-flops, shoving them onto my feet as I practically fell out the door with Mitchie tugging to hard. "Seriously Mitch, what's gotten into you?"
"Nothing!" She said honestly, glancing back at me. "I'm just sick of us being mopey. Yeah our boyfriends are far away, but we're dating rockstars! Who are famous, by the way, and it's summer, we should enjoy it even if the boys can't be around us the whole time."
I sighed, mulling this over. She was definitely right, it was summer and I didn't want to spend it being depressed. This was the time where we didn't have to stress about exams, didn't have to worry about the press because the boys were off on Tour, and didn't have to worry about late night essays or homework. These were the months of bliss where we got to relax.
"Alright, alright, I'll let it go. You're right, this is summer and I'm gonna enjoy every second of it that I can." I genuinely grinned and Mitchie grinned back at me, we totally had a 'we're-going-to-do-anything-we-want-to-over-the-summer' attitude, and nothing was going to stop us. "So is Candace meeting us there?" I asked, as Mitchie began driving, she had recently passed her driving test a few weeks ago before the boys had left.
"Yeah, that's what she said. She lives like an hour and a half away, I'm surprised she even wanted to get up at this hour but she seemed pretty excited on seeing you. She said it had been too long."
I sighed, thinking about the last time I had seen Candace; it had been at least 3 or 4 months ago after the beach incident. And that felt like so far away, so I could only imagine how she felt not having seen really any of us because I stole a lot of time with Nate away from her.
"You know," I began, frowning slightly, "We really should start including her in some activities that we do."
"Yeah but Nate hates having her around, remember?" Mitchie said, as she turned a street corner and we advanced towards the mall. We were about 10 minutes away now.
"Screw what Nate hates and doesn't hate, he knows that deep down he misses her. He always tells me how he never gets to spend enough time with her, and how sometimes he regrets being in the band because he never gets to see her. He needs to get over this thing that she has going with Jason. I mean nobody even really knows if they're going to get together, what is Nate worried about right now?" I wondered aloud, though I sort-of knew the answer.
"He's probably just worried about her being around and Jason falling for her. I mean Candace is really pretty, I bet if she pursued in modeling or even acting she would get some sort of part on a show." She replied, still keeping her eyes on the road.
"True. But who cares? Is he really going to stand in the way of Jason and Candace if they have the chance to be something? Nate doesn't give Jason enough credit on his character; he's a great guy. In fact, I think I think if you looked at all the things Nate has done in this past year compared to Jason, Jason would totally come out being the nicer guy."
Mitchie now pulled into the parking lot of the mall and shrugged, "Yes but Nate loves you, therefore he can get away with doing all that crappy stuff to you. Jason, however, no matter how much he loves Candace, will never be able to get away with it because it's Nate's sister."
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." I said, frowning slightly as I unbuckled the seatbelt and got out of the car. It was a warm day out, but not too hot. "Should we wait here for Candace?"
"Yeah, why not? We can just talk for a while." Right as Mitchie finished her sentence, I noticed a black Limo pulling up into the Mall's entrance. Mitchie and I both exchanged confused glances before I stared at the Limo.
"Wait…." I thought aloud, thinking hard.
"Candace wouldn't…?" Mitchie said, also thinking out loud.
"Could she?" I asked, turning to Mitchie. We both stared at each other for a while before sprinting towards the Limo, both praying on who would be inside. We reached the Limo gasping and exasperated, and frantically tried opening the doors to see who was inside.
"This…stupid….thing…" I cursed loudly, still trying to open it.
"Woah, hold your horses there, lady, wouldn't want you to hurt the Limo." I heard a voice behind me say. My heart stopped, as well as my pulse as I slowly turned around to see who was to the right of me. And there Nate was, standing in all his glory. I gaped at him before running ahead and jumping into his open arms. He welcomed me with a hearty laugh and an intense kiss.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, once he had put me down and the shock had worn off.
"Thought we would surprise you guys." I heard a different voice from the other side of me say. I turned to see Shane leaning against the Limo also grinning. I laughed while Mitchie received the same sort of Welcome.
"So where's Jason?" I demanded, looking around, "I know you guys have him some where."
"Present!" Jason said happily, climbing out of the Limo with Candace right behind him. I couldn't help but grin at seeing the two of them before running over and actually giving both of them a huge hug.
"Aww, Jase, I've missed you! And you too, C! I hardly ever get to talk to you anymore."
"Yeah well, whose fault is that, T?" Candace asked, sticking her tongue out at me s I made a face.
"Whateverrr. You were just as busy as I was, buttface." Candace laughed as Nate came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, laying his head on my shoulder.
"So…are we going shopping or what?" Nate asked.
I raised my eyebrows; "You want to go shopping on your only day with your girlfriend?"
"Sure." Nate said, as Jason and Shane agreed, "Plus sneaking behind dressing rooms and making out is so my style." He whispered in my ear, causing me to blush and whack his arm.
"You're terrible." I mumbled to him, and though the comment was quite immature, I couldn't wipe the grin that was on my face as we all walked hand-in-hand (Not including Jason and Candace, of course) into the mall. I was praying that no one noticed Connect 3 was here otherwise we really wouldn't have gotten any time alone together and it would be a bummer of a trip. But the three of them were being careful not to draw too much attention to themselves for a change, to which I was thankful for.
"So, where to first?" Shane asked the group at large as we entered the huge Mall.
Mitchie and I looked at each other. "Macy's!" We both said together at the exact same time. Nate, Jason, and Shane all shared a confused expression while Candace grinned: she knew exactly why we wanted to go there.
"Oh no. No no no no." Nate immediately said as we entered the store: There was Connect 3 merchandise everywhere.
"Look Nate, I can even cuddle with you at night." Shane said in a high-pitched voice, lying down on a bedspread that had Nate's face blown up to cover it. The whole group howled with laughter while Nate scowled.
"Hey at least I'm not on kid's underpants." Mitchie said, flinging a pair that had Shane's face on it at him.
"Ew!" I said, cracking up as Nate took his turn laughing at Shane. "That is so wrong. I would never wear underwear that had someone's face on them…gross."
"We need to take pictures!" Candace suddenly shouted, grabbing her camera from her bag and quickly snapping away. The pictures were hilarious to say the least, we had plenty of me kissing the bed sheets that were supposed to be Nate, Shane with the underwear on his face and head, many of Shane and Mitchie laughing hysterically, (Soooo cute), some of me and Candace just being stupid, Candace also managed to sneak in a few pictures of herself and Jason, which was adorable. And there were a few of Nate and I that I adored, and would probably be putting as the background on my laptop soon.
"Let's just pray that these pictures never get released to the Press." Nate said, though he was grinning broader than I had ever seen him smile before.
I smacked him lightly on the chest, "Oh who cares if they do? It's not like we're half nude or something or making out in front of a camera."
"Speaking of which…" Nate said, winking at me. Before I had the faintest idea of what was going on, Nate had me pinned to a wall that was completely secluded from the store and had his lips mercilessly on mine before I even had time to react. I gave in for a few seconds before pulling apart, much to Nate's displeasure.
"There could be press around here!" I said, trying to shove Nate off of me.
"I don't care." Nate said simply, attacking my neck with kisses since my mouth seemed to be uncooperative at the moment.
"Nate! You don't even want people to know you're here! What if some creepy stalker fan takes a picture of us making out and posts it all over the web? How would that look for your rep?" I demanded, still pushing against him, Nate retreated in defeat.
"Alright, alright, you're right. I'll stop. I've just missed you is all." Nate admitted, running his hands through his hair with a frustrating look on his face.
I sighed, "I know it's hard but the second we get back home you can kiss me as much as you'd like."
Nate grinned and took his hand in mine, interlacing our fingers together. "Sounds like a plan." He said, we then walked off to find our group again, who were now entertained by the many pencil pouches and watches that had been based off of Connect 3.
After our rather rambunctious outing about the mall, we noticed it was getting more and more crowded and so by 11 we left, just incase any fans showed up or figured out they had been there. We hadn't purchased anything other than ice cream a little while before, but I had had the most fun while at the mall ever. Something about taking pictures just seemed to lighten the mood.
When we got home, Shane and Mitchie locked themselves in her room, (even amidst all the wolf whistling and winks they had received), and Nate and I were about to do the same before Candace grabbed my arm pulling me away.
"I'll be right up in a minute." I said to Nate, who nodded and headed to my room. "What's up?" I asked, turning to look at Candace who seemed flustered.
"You guys are totally leaving me and Jason alone!" She said, as though it were obvious.
I laughed slightly, "It's not like he's going to attack you, or anything. It's just Jase."
"Yeah but I have no idea how to be around him! And more specifically, I have no idea how to be around him alone! People have always surrounded us! This is going to be so much more-"
"Candace." I said, placing my hands upon her shoulders. "You need to chill out. It's not the end of the world, you two are going to be fine. And both Nate and I will be down within an hour. We just want some time alone to talk and catch-up. Alright? Nothing's going to happen, you two will be fine."
Candace closed her eyes and took in a few, deep breaths, then nodded before beginning to walk away. As I was about to make my way upstairs she turned and said quickly, "Oh and I snuck some pictures of you and Nate making out. Bye!"
I gaped at her now gone back as she ran away from me and glared, fuming inside. It was one thing that I had told Nate to watch out for the press, and completely another when his own sister had been stalking us and taking pictures. If any of her friends ever got hold of those pictures….
"You okay, babe? You seem slightly…er…pissed?" Nate woke me from my dark thoughts, and I hadn't even noticed that I had entered the room.
"Candace took pictures of you and I at the mall." I said, still glaring,
"Yeah? So? She took pictures of all of us." I shot him a look. "Oh, you mean those kind of pictures. Dang. Well I'll just delete them after she goes to sleep, or I'll just ask to look for the camera. Not a big deal."
I thought about this for a moment, before shrugging, "Yeah I guess you're right. I mean they weren't that bad of photos anyway, whatever. As long as you promise to delete them."
"Promise it on our love." Nate swore, smiling at me. I grinned as he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me towards him forcefully, causing both of us to collapse on my bed. I could tell by the lust shining in his eyes that he wasn't going to spare me any longer, but I had a few questions before we got straight to the kissing.
"Wait," I said, pressing my fingers to his lips in an attempt to make him stop advancing. Nate groaned and let his head fall on my chest.
"What now?" He asked impatiently.
"Don't be so rude." I scowled playfully, before continuing, "So how in the blazes did you get here? You haven't been gone nearly a week and you're already back? How did you manage to do that?"
"First off," Nate began, resting his chin on my chest so he could see me properly. "'Blazes'? Really, Caitlyn? Where did that come from?" I rolled my eyes so he pressed on, "Second, we were going to come visit you like this the whole time, it was just supposed to be a surprise. And thirdly, can I please kiss you now? Because I've been waiting, at your command, for the past 4 hours to have you at my mercy and yet still you've found a way to distract me."
"Fine, fine." I said, as though I didn't care, but we were both grinning by the time his mouth had connected with mine. It was the most amazing feeling I had had since he had left, and I never wanted it to end.
"Caitlyn Gellar, I love you will all my heart and soul." Nate whispered, hugging me tightly to him. I sighed; smiling and feeling my heart swell from his love and devotion.
"And you too, Nate Presley."
--
The endddd! (Not of the story, just of the Chapter)
PS. I'm starting a completely new story, (No worries, I'm not forgetting about TEWOTB) but be on the lookout for it. :)