And we have returned! There was a less… hostile response from the last chapter. So at least there was that to brighten my day. ^_^ Still lots of confusion on the sides of both Mitchie and Shane though and I still don't know how this will end up (Well, I know how the CHAPTER will end because I write that and THEN I write my author notes, but as for the ending of the story…). We'll see if I actually decide for them to get married. Anywho, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Camp Rock or any of the songs/products that are named in this chapter (well, I DO own an iPod but I don't own anything within the company). I simply use these things to further the enjoyment of all.

--

'Stupid, stupid, stupid,' Mitchie thought to herself as she ran back to her room, arms full of her things. She should have never gone over there, never should have kissed him and certainly never should have slept with him. When she had woken up and realized what she had done she had made sure that she would never have to go back there. She took everything she could carry back to her room, intending never to return to his room. She put everything away the instant she got home but the busy work did little to keep her mind off the events. Tears still streamed down her face.

What was she doing? Was she really going to give up this guy that she was so hopelessly in love with? She was having trouble remembering her reasons. She couldn't help feel that it was all too reminiscent of freshman year when he had promised never to hurt her again. Yet here he was, tearing her heart out worse than he had by simply hanging out with every girl that threw themselves at him. She realized, in agony, that he had probably slept with every girl she had seen him with since the break up. The thought almost made her want to throw up. She sat on her bed, hugging her knees to her chest.

How much of it could she really blame on Shane though? She was the one that had broken it off, told him that it was best for the both of them if they just stopped seeing each other. It was her fault they weren't getting married and her fault that Shane was so hurt. He wasn't responding in the most mature way but she had always known that Shane didn't deal with romantic turmoil the same way she did. He got angry and went looking for the fastest, easiest way to hide the hurt instead of just facing it. That's the way he was. Usually she had to pry out of him why he was upset, so to expect him to react in any sort of logical way after putting him through this sort of thing was stupid, just like everything else she had done in the past twenty-four hours.

Somehow, though, she still couldn't bring herself to go back to him. As much as she missed him, as wonderful as being in his arms again had been, it just reiterated exactly what she had been saying all along. Sex was their answer to everything, not an actual conversation. Never mind that he hadn't been looking for that. She was content to ignore the fact that she had decided on sex, not him. A simple little kiss didn't equate to 'jump into bed with me, Mitchie.' He had just wanted her to understand that he loved her and wanted her back. This time she had used it to avoid having a conversation, mostly because she was sure she didn't have the courage to end it with him a second time.

What a coward she had turned into.

She flopped down on the bed, confused about everything. At one point she had thought it so simple. Now she realized that everything was screwed up. Nothing was going to work itself out easily. She regretted hurting Shane, leading him on like she was sure that she had. She could only pray that he would know not to pursue her. If she had to, she would tell him again that they needed to separate.

Her cowardly side hoped that she wouldn't.

--

"You what?" Jason asked, not quite believing what his friend had just said to him.

"We slept together," Shane repeated. He couldn't keep the smile from his face. "It was… well to be honest it was better than I remembered."

"So… are you guys together again?"

"No," Shane answered with a sigh. "She was gone when I woke up and so were all her things. Not even a goodbye."

"Harsh," Jason commented with a low whistle. "What now?"

"Now I fix it," Shane said simply. "She wants to be with me, Jason. She's in love with me as much as I am with her. Having sex last night, believe it or not, was not my idea. All I did was kiss her. She decided on everything else. Now I just have to convince her head that she loves me."

"I'm glad to see you have a better outlook on it this time."

Shane couldn't answer his friend for a minute. He still remembered, with painful clarity, the look on Mitchie's face when she had found out what he had done during the short time that they hadn't been dating. He wasn't going to repeat that mistake.

"I'm not going to be an idiot this time, Jason. This time I'm going to remind her of all the reasons she fell in love with me."

--

"Jessie, what's this?" There was an iPod shuffle sitting on her desk and it didn't belong to Mitchie. It was green, her favorite color, and she wondered if it belonged to Jessie. She held the device out to her friend.

"It looks like and iPod," Jessie said, smiling impishly. Mitchie rolled her eyes.

"Thank you, Jess. Is it yours?"

"No."

"Then where did it come from?" Mitchie asked her. A shrug was the only response she elicited.

"It's your room, how the hell should I know how things mysteriously appear. Maybe it belongs to your roommate."

"No," Mitchie answered shaking her head, "she has an iTouch." Mitchie sat at her desk and plugged it into her computer. Her iTunes popped up and revealed that there were actually songs already on the iPod despite the devices new appearance. As Mitchie began to scroll through them, she had to fight back tears. "It's for me," she almost whispered.

"Who gave you an iPod?" Jessie asked, walking over to Mitchie.

"Shane."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because he's put every song that's significant to our relationship on it."

"Oh, Mitchie, that's so sweet!" she answered, plopping herself onto Mitchie's bed.

Mitchie didn't answer. Shane always did sweet things but usually they didn't have this much thought behind them. She scrolled down the list noticing that there were some she had heard of and some she hadn't. Her song was on there, I Gotta Find You and of course Everybody. There were a few by him that she had suspected all along were about her like Just Friends. However, not all of them were by Shane. Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight, their first dance together, was there along with When the World Ends by Dave Matthew's, one they frequently had sex to.

At the bottom of the list was Sister Hazel's Your Mistake and a song she had never heard of. Clicking on the file, called Comfortable, she heard the familiar strings of Shane's acoustic guitar flow from her speakers. Soon his voice began singing and Mitchie had to hold back tears. He had written something new, she was sure of that, and it had only been in the past week since they had slept together.

Our love was comfortable and so broken in

"Hey, I've never heard that before," Jessie commented from her spot on Mitchie's bed. "It's really good."

"It's brand new," Mitchie managed to choke out. "From one of my favorite artists." Tears streamed silently down her face, drops falling onto her shirt.

I loved you, grey sweatpants, no makeup, so perfect

"It's so… sad," Jessie said looking up. She immediately saw the tears running down Mitchie's face and realized exactly what she was listening to. "This is Shane, isn't it?"

Mitchie just nodded at her friend, no longer able to speak. She turned the volume up slightly.

"When did he make this?"

"Within the last week," Mitchie answered after shrugging her shoulders.

"Mitchie…" but Jessie didn't know what to tell her friend. If the song was any indication, Shane was devastated. This time he hadn't done anything to mess up. Oh sure, he forgot her birthday and sleeping with half the campus wasn't exactly the smartest thing to do. However, the first was forgivable and the second precipitated by Mitchie. If she hadn't broken it off with him for who knows what reason, no one seemed to be quite sure, he would have never taken a second glance at those other girls.

Our love was comfortable and so broken in. She's perfect, so flawless, I'm not impressed. I want you back

Sobs wracked Mitchie's body as the song finished out. She didn't know what to say, what to do. Shane never stopped being a constant surprise and once again he had surprised her with the ability to remind her how much she loved him. It just made it worse. She hated being constantly reminded that he was all she loved and everything that was no good for her. She felt Jessie's arms around her and Mitchie just cried until there was nothing left.

--

"That was a brilliant idea," Jason told his friend. "An iPod with all the songs from your relationship. Nice. That's way better than your lame flowers the last time."

"Hopefully it actually has some sort of effect on her. It's been a week already and not a word out of her," Shane said. They were in the lunch room, trying to eat without the fight this time. It seemed to be going a lot better. Shane speared his salad, taking a bite of the slightly less than crisp lettuce.

"So what's your next move?" Jason pressed. "We both know that if she hasn't come to you by now, she's not going to."

"I'm not sure. But something subtle that she wouldn't notice right away but when she realizes that it's been done will be really appreciative."

"Well, that clears it right up," was Jason's sarcastic answer.

"So maybe not but little things that make life just that much easier are the things that girls love. Especially Mitchie…" his voice trailed off as his mind began to think of all the things that he could do for her. One by one he thought of them and rejected them. Something would present itself, Shane thought, and he would be ready when it did.

--

It was raining and it was cold, two of Mitchie's least favorite things. Her feet hurt from running around all day and she was soaked from head to toe. For some reason today was the day she had needed to run errands around campus. This was also the day that she had forgotten her umbrella. So she ran from class, to offices, to work all in the pouring rain that didn't seem to let up once. Her pants were soaked up to her knees from the water collecting on campus and she was usually trudging through water up to her ankles. She was absolutely miserable and the worst part was she knew that her dorm would be cold when she got back, her heating not working correctly, and that the room needed to be cleaned and her laundry done, which included the sheets on her bed. She wanted nothing more than to get into a warm shower and some comfortable clothes but she didn't have the time for even that.

Mitchie trekked up the steps, stuck her key in the door and slammed it open with more force then necessary. Her eyes went wide at the scene before her.

Her first tip off that things weren't normal was the wave of warm air that swept over her. She knew it wasn't normal that her room was this warm, not that she was complaining. Stepping inside she saw that there was a space heater next to her regular heater. No, that was definitely new. The other thing she noticed right away was how clean the room was. Her desk had been cleaned of its clutter, papers put into files that hadn't been there previously, all clearly marked. All the clothes that had been accumulating on her floor were cleaned up, washed, and placed neatly back into her closet and dresser drawers—exactly where each was supposed to be. All the jeans in her drawers, all her nice shirts hung in the closet with her dresses. Her bed was made and new sheets were on them. She meant new, too, as in she'd never seen them before in her life. She also realized, touching them, that they were softer than the average sheet. When she looked at the tags she knew why. Egyptian cotton. A high thread count of Egyptian cotton. Mitchie cursed under her breath, knowing exactly who had been in here. She had forgotten that she had kept a spare key in Shane's room. Obviously he hadn't. She walked into her bathroom and saw it was cleaner than it had been all year. Coming back to her room she saw her favorite pair of sweats and the t-shirt of Shane's that she had always worn, sitting on top of her dresser. She was certain she had left both in Shane's room yet here they were, sitting in front of her with a note on top of them.

Mitchie,

Saw that it was going to be a rainy and figured you'd be out in it all day. Hope that a clean, warm room makes your day better. Enjoy the new sheets and they're non returnable so please just accept them. Found the clothes in my room and I thought you'd be missing them.

Love,

Shane

She couldn't bring herself to crumple the note up like she had all the rest. It was times like this that made her question her decision when it came to him. It was one thing to send her flowers or give her an iPod with their songs on it. It was something totally different to clean her room and heat it because he knew, not was told, knew that she'd be wet, looking for respite and not finding it in her room. He knew she'd be cold, he knew she'd be tired, knew she'd be pressed for time and need all these things done yet not want to deal with them. He had taken care of all of it and even provided her with comfort that would probably allow her a better night's sleep than she had seen since the month and a half since they had slept together and she had been sleeping on his Egyptian cotton sheets.

She took a hot shower, wishing that the water would wash away all the confusion she felt as easily as it washed away the cold and tension in her muscles. She dressed in the clothes he had left for her. The shirt smelled like him and it tugged at her heart. She missed him. She hugged herself, taking in the scent that she would recognize anywhere. As she was about to crawl in her bed to watch some TV there was a knock at the door. She thought at first perhaps her roommate had locked herself out but immediately dismissed the idea. Her roommate all but lived at her boyfriend's place and stayed in her own room maybe once a week. Wondering who it could be, and praying it wasn't Shane, Mitchie opened the door.

"Pizza for… Mitchie Torres?" asked the guy, reading from the paper. He wore the jacked and hat from the local pizza place.

"That's me," Mitchie told him softly, "But I, uh, didn't order a pizza."

"Well someone did. It's all paid for already." He took the box out of its warmer and held it out to her. "Might as well."

She took the box from his hands and closed the door when he walked away. She opened it up and saw that it was Pineapple and Canadian bacon, her favorite toppings. There was a post it note on the inside top of the box when she opened it that said 'drinks in the fridge.' She walked over to her mini-fridge and, sure enough, it was stocked with cans of Sunkist orange soda. She took one and walked over to her bed, pizza and all. She was starving. She flipped on her TV and realized that there was already the title page of a movie on her screen. Someone had left Pride and Prejudice running in the DVD player, her favorite movie.

'I wonder who,' she though sarcastically to herself. She knew exactly who. What she didn't know was what to do with everything that had happened to her today.

--

Shane was frustrated. Three days and not a word from her. He thought for sure that what he had done for her the other day would at least elicit a 'stop doing shit like that' courtesy call. Clearly, that wasn't the case. He punched his pillow and it exploded in feathers. Shane sighed. Well, at least he was learning to destroy less expensive things when he became frustrated with Mitchie's actions. Somehow that knowledge didn't seem to help. If replacing a damaged computer or a hole in a wall was what it took to get her to see reason, he'd gladly do it a million times.

He had to think. There had to be something that he could do to get her to talk to him. Maybe he should just try going over there and talking to her. She was always complaining that they never just talked. If he gave her the opportunity to really sit down and discuss every fear that she seemed to house, he could make her realize how perfect they really were for each other.

Unfortunately, Mitchie wasn't making it easy to talk to her. She had been avoiding him at all costs and if she was in her room when he knocked (which he was decently sure she wasn't), she was very quiet. At least this time her friends weren't running interference. In fact, even Jessie was staying out of it, something she tended not to do. He got the implication that maybe they didn't completely agree with what Mitchie was doing.

Well, it wasn't the worst plan that he had ever had. He was fresh out of other ideas, that was certain. He would go over there tomorrow when he knew for sure that she'd be there and talk to her. If she wouldn't let him in well, he'd let himself in the same way that he had done today. One way or the other, though, he was going to make her talk to him.

--

"This can't be happening. This can't be happening, this can't be happening!" Mitchie repeated the phrase over and over again, hoping that it would cause the whole situation to magically disappear. She shook it again but the results didn't change. They hadn't been any different the past two times so she didn't know why shaking it was actually going to work. It wasn't and she knew it. "This has got to be a nightmare," she mumbled. She couldn't stop looking at it.

"Mitchie? You in here? The door was propped," Jessie called into her friend's room. There was no answer, which was odd. Mitchie wouldn't leave the door unlocked.

Mitchie couldn't answer. She had forgotten that she had promised to go out with Jess tonight. She wasn't sure she could now. She looked at it for about the hundredth time. No change.

"Mitchie, what are you doing in the bathroom?" Jessie walked up to her friend and absorbed the disbelieving look on Mitchie's face. "What's wrong?" Still Mitchie stood still, not sure if she was going into shock. Jessie looked down, took the stick out of her hands and saw the little pink plus sign that it bore. "Oh my… God, Mitchie, you're… you're…" Jessie couldn't say it out loud anymore than Mitchie had been able to. Mitchie just looked at her friend, fear, shock and panic all written on her face.

"Jessie, how the fuck did I get pregnant?"

--

:-D What now? Mitchie's pregnant and mad at Shane. Well, she's broken it off with him anyways. I don't think she's exactly MAD at him. You have to be asking yourself all sorts of questions right now. Will she keep the baby? Will she tell Shane? Will she keep the baby but not tell Shane? Will she get rid of it and tell Shane? I have those same questions myself. Wish I knew the answer. It would make the next chapter a whole lot easier to write, let me tell you! Well, until next time!