I am SO sorry, you guys! It's been almost 2 months! Feel free to send me hate mail- I probably deserve it for just leaving this story alone for so long. I guess I lied when I said I'd be updating more this summer. :| But I DO hope you enjoy this chapter!

Mitchie laughed and tucked her hair behind her ear. Nate was funnier than she remembered. She looked at her empty plate and then glanced at the clock.

"Oh my God." She couldn't help herself. "We should probably get back to work. We've been here for an hour and a half."

Nate looked at the clock, too, and made an impressed face. "Wow, time really does fly when you're having fun."

They stood up and Nate picked up both their plates.

"Thanks." Mitchie said quietly.

"No problem." He smiled. Then he opened his mouth again, and hesitated a bit before saying, "I had a really great time talking with you. Would you want to go to dinner with me tomorrow night?"

"Yes, I'd love to." Mitchie smiled. Nate was such a gentleman.

"Great. I'll call you later."

"Awesome. Bye."

"Bye." Nate winked at her before turning around and walking away.

Mitchie couldn't help but grin hugely as she returned to her cubicle. But before she could sit down, Caitlyn intercepted her.

"Hey, smiley, someone looks happy." Caitlyn said suspiciously.

The smile fell right off Mitchie's face. "Oh no."

"Oh no?" Caitlyn repeated.

Mitchie made a distressed face. "This is terrible!"

"What's terrible?"

Mitchie put a hand to her head and shout/whispered, "I have a date with Nate tomorrow!"

Caitlyn's mouth formed the shape of and 'o'. "How the hell did that happen?"

"I don't know!" Mitchie sat down in her chair with a dramatic thump.

"There's gotta be a story. What's the story? Go through the story with me, Mitchie."

"Well, I went to go apologize to him… then he asked me if I was getting food and I looked at the clock and it was noon and I thought, "Why don't I get food? It's lunchtime anyway." Then we got food and he started talking to me and he's really funny, and he made me laugh. He was so nice and he totally forgave me for being a freak the other day. So we were talking and stuff and I realized it had been and hour and a half since we started talking and then he picked up my plate to go drop off and he said he had a great time and did I want to go out with him tomorrow and I was so happy so I just said yes because… I think I like him, Cait. I like him more than I should. It's his fault I was smiling. Dammit! I was smiling because of Nate! That's wrong! That is so wrong! What do I do? Help me!"

Mitchie took a deep breath and looked to Caitlyn in despair.

Caitlyn thought for a moment. "Cancel the date."

Mitchie stared at her in horror for a moment.

"What?! No! I can't just cancel the date! I smiled at him! He made me laugh! He thinks I like him! I think I like him! I would break his heart! I have a fiancé, for crying out loud, Caitlyn, and you want me to cancel the date!?"

Caitlyn tried not to laugh and nodded, attempting to look solemn. One thing she found amusing about Mitchie; she rambled when she got upset. It caused way too much entertainment on Caitlyn's part, and poor Mitchie was just beside herself and so worked up.

"Yeah, hun. Best thing to do would be to stop leading him on. You may like him a little bit, but probably because your fiancé is… wherever he is and can't be with you… It's like at the store when your favorite cupcakes are gone and you buy the really sweet cupcakes just to hold you over until they restock the good ones."

"…But the sweet cupcakes are good, too." Mitchie's face crumpled.

Caitlyn tried to say something more comforting, but when she thought of something, she imagined how Mitchie would react and stayed quiet. There was a kind of tragic silence between the two.

"Hey, ladies." Nate walked up and grinned at the two women.

Mitchie glanced at him and managed a pained smile. Caitlyn did the same.

Nate seemed to sense the tension in the air. "Well, I'll see you later." He sent a friendly wave in their direction and walked off.

Caitlyn turned to see Mitchie's face was still sad. "Oh, Mitchie…"

Mitchie shrugged and tried to smile. "I'll figure it out."

Caitlyn nodded. "Yes, you will. You will figure it out with me, tonight, when we go out to dinner, because you are not allowed to be alone tonight, and we are going to eat until we puke. Okay?"

Mitchie actually laughed. "Okay. Thanks."

Caitlyn patted her head. "You need it."

...

"Okay, Cait, I've been thinking." Mitchie said, after the waiter walked away with their orders.

"Don't hurt yourself."

Mitchie stuck her tongue out. "I was thinking that I don't want to just forget about this mess I'm in. I mean, it is my life, and I have to deal with it. I want to figure out how to make it right again."

Caitlyn looked impressed. "Okay. So… how are we going to go about this?"

Mitchie wrinkled her nose. "Um…"

She began thinking. She was thinking about her situation from beginning to now- again. She hadn't told Caitlyn about how Shane visits her in her dreams. Maybe some grand idea could be sparked from that.

"You know, I've seen Shane since everything changed."

Caitlyn's eyes widened. "Why didn't you tell me!?"

Mitchie smiled. "I forgot, because I was so happy you remembered him."

"Oh, okay. Now tell!"

Mitchie laughed. "So he's visited me. In my dreams. It's kind of real, and I'm pretty sure that's his only way of communicating with me. He told me he forgave me for throwing stuff at his head, and he still loves me. He was the one who told me that when I had said I wished I'd never met him, it came true. He also said that he basically doesn't exist anymore, because if we'd never met, he wouldn't exist."

Caitlyn smiled sadly. "Aw."

"Yeah." Mitchie smiled, too. "So I asked him how I could get him back, and he said love. But I don't get that, because I already love him. I still love him. I don't know what else to do."

Caitlyn looked puzzled. "He won't tell you anything else?"

Mitchie shook her head. "No. When I ask, he kind of just... leaves. He won't give me any details. I guess I'm supposed to figure this all out by myself…" She nodded at Caitlyn. "Or, at least, without him."

Caitlyn shrugged. "Love… love, love, love, love, love…"

Mitchie watched her in silence.

"Love…" Caitlyn had her eyebrows wrinkled and her eyes had a faraway look in them. It was Caitlyn's thinking face. "Maybe…"she started, after a while, "maybe, it's not Shane you're supposed to love, since you already do. Maybe… it's Nate." Caitlyn looked at Mitchie with a glint in her eye.

Mitchie's mouth dropped. "Nate?!"

Caitlyn nodded. "Who else could Shane have meant? Love. It's obvious you love him, but you seem to be fighting yourself about Nate. Maybe you have to love him in order to get Shane back."

Mitchie hesitated. "I don't know…"

"Just think about it. I'm only trying to help."

There you go, guys. I am sincerely sorry for the wait on this. I will try to update sooner with the next chapter, but sadly, I can't gaurantee! You know what? If you PMed me telling me that I need to update, that might help. Haha ;) School starts here in 2 weeks (puke). I really don't know how that will effect updates.

Anyway, thank you all for reading! Please don't forget to review. Reviews make me smile. :D

Much love,

Oddball