"Hey."

Mitchie jumped about a foot in the air and whipped around to see who had tried to give her a heart attack.

She couldn't help but smile when she saw the friendly face.

"Nate."

He smiled.

"Mitchie."

He seemed to casually look Mitchie up and down. She fiddled with her fingers uncomfortably. That smile hadn't been the right thing to do. Nate was looking at her. Looking at her in a friendly way. Oh no. He stepped forward.

"You look great."

He doesn't like you he doesn't like you he doesn't like you… Be awkward. Then he definitely won't like you

She smiled awkwardly. "Err… um… thanks…"

"What's going on?" He asked, being friendly.

"Nothing." She answered quickly.

"What are you doing?" He indicated toward the printer she had been standing over two seconds before.

"Printing." She answered.

He nodded. Like he couldn't have seen that when he'd walked up.

"How are you?"

"Good." She gritted her teeth. Never before had she purposefully tried to be awkward.

"Are you only going to use one-worded answers?"

Shit, Mitchie, what do you say to that?

She shrugged.

He smiled a friendly smile that mocked her. She frowned.

Suddenly she grabbed the papers she had been copying. "Have to go." She said and walked swiftly out the door.

She didn't see the hurt look on Nate's face when he said, "Nice to see you again, Mitchie."

.....................................................................................................

Mitchie plunked into her chair and laid her head in her arms. She just murdered a perfectly good friendship. Maybe Nate would even remember Shane. But she just blew it all up. Way to go, Mitchie.

"Hey!" Caitlyn dragged out the word cheerily as she poked her head into Mitchie's cubicle.

Mitchie looked up, still frowning. Caitlyn didn't even notice.

"Did you see Nate?" She wiggled her eyebrows.

"Yes."

"And…?"

Mitchie just stared at Caitlyn.

Caitlyn looked confused. "What happened?"

"He can't like me, Cait. I don't want him to like me. So I was rude to him. And you know I'm never rude to people! Now I feel like freaking shit because I'm afraid that if I'm civilized Nate will like me!"

Caitlyn made a face. "What the hell, Mitchie?"

"I know!" She threw up her hands exasperatedly and stood up. Realizing how loud she'd been and that people were staring Mitchie sat back down and whispered.

"I mean it's complicated. I wish I could tell you.. but-"

"Then tell me. We've been best friends for, like, what- 75 years?"

Mitchie cracked a smile. "Nine." Caitlyn smiled too. And then she was serious.

"You can tell me anything."

"It's not that simple. You'd think I was insane. Peggy and Jason already do. I think I might be insane."

Caitlyn rolled her eyes. "It can't be that bad."

Mitchie shook her head. "Oh, but it is."

"Just tell me!" Caitlyn shrieked. People stared.

"I'm showing Mitchie what our readers will be like when we advertise our next issue with that big Angelina and Brad story." Caitlyn said quickly and the people nodded and turned back to what they had been doing before.

Mitchie had her face in her hands again.

"Please." Caitlyn added in a whisper.

Mitchie took a deep breath. "Okay, well, you'll just have to come over to my place tonight so we can talk in private. I really don't want anyone overhearing."

"Overhearing what?" Jason walked over and draped his arm around Caitlyn.

"Overhearing how much we dislike you as a colleague, Jason." Mitchie said pleasantly. Then she shot Caitlyn a stern "no-one-overhearing-like-this" look.

Jason's face fell. "Then why did you let me overhear?"

Caitlyn smile. "We're just kidding. This is a gossip magazine, remember? There are lots of things we don't want to be overheard until we've written about them."

"Oh. Okay." Jason smile again. "Hey, want to go grab some donuts?" Jason asked Caitlyn.

"Sure. Bye, Mitchie!" They waved as they walked away, leaving Mitchie and her tortured mind alone.

…………………………………..

"Wow, Mitch, you still haven't painted like you said you were going to months ago." Caitlyn said as she stepped into Mitchie apartment. Mitchie and Shane had been going to paint it after the wedding.

"Nice to see you, too." Mitchie said, leading Caitlyn to the couch.

Caitlyn shook her head. "So what do you need to tell me that's so secretive?"

Mitchie sat criss-crossed, facing Caitlyn. "Please just don't think I'm crazy. Don't report me to a doctor or anything. Since you want to know so badly just listen. I trust you."

Caitlyn's face grew concerned as she nodded, folding her legs, mirroring Mitchie. They hadn't sat in their secret-spilling session positions like this since they were sixteen. Caitlyn knew this wasn't just some little things anymore. Mitchie was serious. And a serious Mitchie was kind of scary.

"So, last week I woke up and everything was different." Mitchie began, terrified of re-living the last week and not sure what to expect from Caitlyn. She couldn't go back and freeze time, no matter how much she wished it. She could only tell Caitlyn what had happened and trust that she would listen and not call her crazy.

Oh, gee. Sorry for this chapter (that sucked, in my opinion) . I'll try to get things moving faster soon. School's out in 2 weeks so hopefully I'll be updating more frequently then. But Nate's here! Woo! I love Nate. Do you? Review and tell me! Thanks for reading! :)