It's a tad short, and I apologize. Between packing and what not… gah. Packing for college is so hard. At least for me with the sudden bout of ADD and the continuous asthma attacks lately. And, ugh, I have to be ready by 4 am Saturday morning to drive up to CT. I'm totally sleeping in the car but… grrr… and I have to be packed by Friday morning because my brother is taking all of my stuff up in his truck Friday Night. So, don't be surprised if you don't get an update until next week. Oh, and this was typed on my laptop, which has Word, whereas my computer has Works… so… it was aggravating to type. My computer is getting dissambled in the next day or two, so… I just couldn't leave you guys hanging with the 'OMJ is she really?' Haha enjoy.
Chapter 29:
I glared at Caitlyn and Anastasia while they laughed hysterically. We were out to lunch roughly a week after I went to the doctor. I'd gotten my test results in. Silly me decided to share the news with my best friends. Faith and Elisha joined us as well. Thankfully, they were being polite and attempting to hide their laughs.
"You really have Shane withdrawal!" Anastasia snorted through her laughter.
I glared once more. "At least I miss my husband." I shot back at the hyenas.
They both sobered almost immediately. "That was low." Caitlyn replied.
"We do miss them. We just don't worry about it." Anastasia argued.
I sighed. "I never said you had to worry about it. Do you ever read their diaries?" I asked. "They're both pretty upset by the sound of it."
"They are?" Caitlyn asked in a small voice.
"Yup." I nodded. "Jason thinks Stas is ignoring him again, and Nate thinks you're getting sick of him again."
Anastasia and Caitlyn glanced at one another. "Maybe she's right…" Anastasia sighed.
"Probably." Faith interjected. "I know from being a military girlfriend. A lot my boyfriend's buddies go crazy because of their girlfriends or wives."
There was a slightly awkward silence that passed between us. Elisha cleared her throat. "So, the guys have diaries?" She asked.
We smiled. "Tour diaries." Caitlyn explained. "Blogs basically."
"Ah." She nodded in understanding. The subject changed from there, but the awkward silence didn't continue.
Caitlyn and I had just gotten home from lunch when my phone rang. Uncle Brown. "Hello?"
"Mitchie!" Brown's voice called through the phone. "I've a favor to ask you." He began.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I need you to sing." He replied.
I stopped walking. "What?"
"Milo has an amazing song writer he's found, but he can't find anyone with the right voice for the songs. The writer can't sing. I was looking at the songs and you came to mind."
"Seriously?" I asked.
"As a heart attack. Please, Mitch. Shane-a, Shayna really needs this." He practically begged.
"Send me the lyrics, and… I'll think about it." I decided.
"Excellent. Shane-a, will be very happy to hear it." Brown quickly said good-bye.
"That was weird." I commented to Caitlyn. I turned to see her staring at her phone, waiting for Nate to call. "You could call him. You know, maybe even a missed call and a voicemail would make him feel better?"
She nodded and continued to stare at her phone. Sensing her hesitance, I sat at my computer and put headphones on. Of course, there was nothing coming through them, but she didn't need to know that. I began typing my paper that was due in two days.
Finally, I heard her speak. "Nate-" Her voice seemed to crack. "I know you're probably on stage right now. But, I just… wanted to talk to you. Tell you how much I miss you… I know I don't tell you that enough. I-" I wasn't sure but I thought I heard her choke back a sob. "I'm sorry if you thought- thought I didn't. I love you, Nate. So much." I could clearly hear her sobbing into the phone now. "I'm sorry." She closed the phone and continued to cry.
"Caitlyn." I sighed, rushing over to her side. "It's okay. Let it out."
"I didn't- didn't want to break down…" She whispered softly through the tears.
"I know. But sometimes you need to." I reminded her, letting her cry on my shoulder.
She eventually fell asleep and I finished my paper. Her phone rang an hour or two later. I answered it since she wasn't moving too much in her sleep. "N-"
"Caity?" Nate's hoarse voice cut through the line.
"No, it's Mitchie. Caitlyn cried herself to sleep. And she's still knocked out." I spoke softly.
"Oh." It was obvious he'd been crying, and might have been still. "Is she okay?"
"No. She admitted she didn't want to break down, which is why she never gave in to missing you and caring. It was easier for her to just swallow all of it."
"I hate to be selfish-" He began.
"I'll wake her up." I said smiling softly to myself. "Caitlyn…" I spoke louder than had been on the phone. "Cait, wake up. Nate's on the phone."
"Nate?" She asked sleepily. I handed her the phone.
"Caity?" I heard him ask.
"Hey, baby. Did you get my message?" She asked. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left you that message- You did?… Oh. Well, then I'm glad I did… I miss you, too… I know. I love you. Good night."
"That was short." I commented.
She smiled. "He could tell I was still tired. He just wanted to thank me for leaving him the message and to tell me he loves me and misses me."
"Go back to sleep. I'm going to call Shane soon, so don't be surprised if I'm not in here if you wake up." She nodded sleepily and fell back to sleep.
Shane beat me to the phone call, though. My phone rang just as I stepped outside of my dorm. "Hey, pop star." I answered happily.
"Hey, baby." He replied. I imagined a soft, exhausted smile gracing his features based off of his tone.
"You sound tired." I commented.
"I am." He replied.
"Go to bed." I told him softly, not wanting him to stay up because of me.
"Can't yet. I need to catch up with my wife. She's been ignoring me for a week." He teased.
"She had a paper to write." I teased back. "Pop star, paper. Pop star, paper." I said lifting my hands like a scale though he couldn't see. "Paper is more important, my love."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." He laughed softly. "I just miss you." He sighed.
"I miss you, too." I replied. "But… at least I tell you that." I reminded him.
He laughed. "Ironically, I'm the least mopey out of all three of us."
"I know. You have a good wife." I teased. "And don't you forget it."
"Never." He laughed. "I'll die before I let you go."
"That's nice." I replied indifferently before laughing. "God, how much longer until your home for Christmas?" I whined.
"A few months still, baby." He replied. "Still have all of October and November. But I will be home in December. December third to be exact." He sighed.
"That's exactly two months from Sunday. Tomorrow." I said depressed.
"Only 8 weeks." He said sighing as well. Desperate to change the subject, he started talking about Jason's pending meeting with future in-laws. "We're meeting the extend Anastasia family tomorrow. Oh and did you know that we've been saying that wrong? We say Ana-stay-sha like… the Disney movie… nope it's Ona-sta-cia." He explained. "Makes more sense as to where Stas comes from."
"Yes, it does. Why do you know this? And Stas said Anastasia herself." I replied.
"Her cousin, who will be our 'translator' so to speak, warned us that if we call her Stas, we may get kicked out immediately. The one family is like uber strict against nicknames. And he suggests that we pronounce her name their way and not the American way to avoid being stupid Americans."
I moved my phone from my ear and looked at it in confusion. Placing it back on my ear, I asked, "Did you just say uber?"
"Too much time with Jason." He mumbled. "Anyway…"
"You're all meeting Stas' family?" I asked.
He mhmm'd. "We have an interview with Riley tomorrow morning for a Serbian newspaper, then we'll be staying at the Dragomir's. It's hard to tell who's more scared, Jason or Nate."
I was confused. "Why is Nate scared?"
Shane laughed. "We found out that Stas' grandfather is part Russian. Nate evidentially has a fear of Russians. Something about his grandfather and a bedtime story about Communists…"
I laughed fairly hard. "Seriously? Wow. He has some serious complexes." I shivered.
Shane heard me. "Where are you?" He asked.
"Outside." I answered.
"WHAT?!" He yelled through the phone. "It's late… and dark… and cold… and a college campus… and there are such things are rapists and muggers in Boston, Mitchie!" Shane panicked while yelling at me. I rolled my eyes amused.
"It's a closed campus. I'm right outside the door to my dorm. There is a security guard looking at me every minute or so. Relax." I attempted to ease his fears.
"Is it a male security guard?" I heard the jealousy slip into his voice.
"Shane…" I warned.
"Sorry. I just hate that all those college guys get to see you every day and I don't." I could practically hear him pouting. I also heard him stifle a yawn.
"Go to bed, baby." I instructed. He began to protest but I silenced him. "I need to go to bed, too. Go."
"Alright. Alright. I'll call you tomorrow before we head over to the Dragomir's. Goodnight. Love you." He relented.
"Love you, too. Night, Shane." I fell asleep with a bright smile on my face that night.
When I woke up the next morning, the dorm room phone was ringing. "Hello?" I asked groggily.
"Room 303? You have a visitor at the security desk." The security guard informed me.
"Who?" I asked.
"He says Uncle Brown?" The security guard replied.
"Uncle Brown?!" I sprang up in my bed excitedly. "I'll be right down." I hung up the phone and threw on clothes.
After leaving Caitlyn a note on her forehead, just for the fun of it, I ran down the stairs to the main door.
"Uncle Brown!" I hugged him tightly.
"Ello, poppet." He replied, hugging me back. "Thought I'd hand deliver these." He handed me a large envelope, no doubt containing the lyrics to the songs he wanted me to sing. "What do you say, I grab my guitar and you hear some of them?"
I nodded enthusiastically and followed him out to his truck. We sat in the courtyard near my dorm. Brown started strumming music that sounded almost familiar. Like I knew the style.
I stared at the lyrics in front of me as he played, going through it once in my head. Once I had the general rhythm, I began singing.
"Once upon a time, I found myself. But somewhere along this way, I've lost it all again. I used to know where I was going and who I wanted to be. Now I just float and drift… lost at sea. Here's my SOS, help me please. Woman overboard toss me a line. I'm starting to drown. Help me, help me. This ships going down. Sinking faster than titanic." I finished the rest of the song as well. I bit my lip and looked over at Brown. "So, how was that?"
"Perfect. I think the writer wrote it specifically for you." He smiled. "Now, can I get you in a studio to record these?" He handed me the stack of songs.
"Sure. Why don't you see if there's a local studio you can use and we'll meet up there?" I offered.
"Excellent." Brown smiled even more. We spent a good portion of the morning out in the courtyard playing. He eventually left, promising to be back next weekend to take me to record.
Shane hadn't called me yet, by the time the interview should have been done. I was bored, so I checked the usual stupid gossip, seeing who's career they were trying to ruin now. HotTunes caught my attention the most.
Caitlyn came in the room just in time for obscenities to spill from my mouth. Why, you ask? Because Riley is stupid. That's why.
After being asked the same question for the seventh time in one press conference, Pop Star Riley McCartney finally snapped, giving reporters the answers they wanted. When the final reporter asked Riley, "Are you dating Mina Lorenzo?" who is an up-and-coming actress that Riley's been seen with, he yelled, "No, I'm not dating Mina. I'm not dating Tara. I'm not dating Kylie. I'm not dating AJ. I'm dating Nicky, okay?" At Riley's admission, both his face and the members of Connect 3's paled considerably. McCartney was reported to express a few expletives almost immediately, as well as Shane Grey. This leads us to only one conclusion. Riley's dating Grey's younger sister, Nicky, who is two years younger than Riley. Now, we're curious as to whether this coincidence of similarity to Grey and wife Mitchie is due to Riley and Shane's shared pop stardom, or is it a Grey family trait for older guys to date younger girls? Either way, we have a new couple to watch.
"Oh my…" Caitlyn began.
"God." I finished. "Nicky is going to flip when she finds out."
"I'm already calling a cab." Caitlyn promised, and was sure enough, calling a cab.
Shane finally called while we were in the cab. "Hey, sorry I didn't call sooner. I was dealing with-"
"Riley telling the world about him and Nicky?"
"HotTunes?" He guessed.
"HotTunes." I affirmed. "We're on our way to your parents' now."
Shane sighed. "She's a mess." He admitted. "He called her as soon as the interview finished and she blew up at him."
"Oh, no." I sighed.
"We really don't have time to talk though, because we have to go to Stas' family's house. Petar just picked us up." He spoke apologetically.
"Okay, well, we're almost at your house anyway. Let me know how it goes with the Dragomir's?" I asked.
"Yeah. Love you." He replied.
"Love you, too. Bye." I hung up not waiting for his response.
When we entered the house, the first thing we noticed was the shattered cell phone on the floor near the wall. Edging our way up to Nicky's room, we found Kevin awkwardly trying to console his sister.
"Thank god!" Kevin sighed in relief. "Nick, Mitchie and Caitlyn are here." He quickly ran across the hall to his own bedroom.
"Hey." We said cautiously.
"I hate him." Was her immediate reply. The bitterness was clearly evident in her anger. "He's so stupid. How could he let that slip? He couldn't just say, I have a girlfriend and no it's none of those sluts. Stop asking?"
"It's not that easy, Nick." I reasoned.
"Reporters are ruthless. Look at what happened to Mitchie barely a month ago." I glared at Caitlyn as she brought up the pictures. She shrugged.
"They'll stop at nothing. And obviously, Riley was sick of hearing all of those possible girls when he knows he's with you." I offered.
"I don't think I'm ready for this. I don't think I'm ready to publicly date a celebrity."
I sighed. We were in for a long night.
Small cliffy. Sorry. I want Demi's CD! Like now… and I was watching an interview she did and she was like, I had to ask JB to help me write songs for my target audience because I wasn't trying to attract metal/rockers, etc. It made me laugh since Mitchie needs Shane's help to write happy music anymore. Lol.
