Longest chapter ever. 4,000+ words. The longest prior to this? 3,700. I've had the solution to the tour since I came up with the problem. A schoolmate of mine did something similar during Sophomore year, except he's an amazing drummer. Anyway, super long, a little pointless in places, and definitely fluffed up in some places. Thank you for putting up with the last few chapters of fillerness. After this chapter we get to the part I have lot's of ideas for. I think. I dunno, half my ideas go haywire while I'm writing. I hope you enjoy. And don't expect another chapter this long for a while.
Chapter 17
I felt my face being licked when I woke up. I giggled a bit as Jacob's tongue ran across my cheek. "Guess you need to get walked huh?" He barked and I made a shushing noise. Caitlyn was asleep right next to us. He dropped his head a bit. I smiled at him as a pulled on shoes and a jacket. "Come on." I whispered opening the door. He took off ahead of me.
He was sitting next to the door waiting for me when I made it to the kitchen. I chuckled and clipped his leash on. I laughed realizing his collar was green. "Looks like Daddy is the one who bought your collar, huh, pup?" I petted him, unknowing that my mother stood behind me.
"Daddy, huh?" She asked. I stood up quickly, scaring Jacob a bit.
"Well, uh, I… um." I had no idea how to explain referring to Shane as 'Daddy' to my mother. She laughed at me.
"Don't worry, I heard you last night when you were saying good-bye." She shrugged.
"Mom! You were listening?" I blushed.
She smiled. "Maybe. That boy is very good with words. No wonder he's a song writer. You better walk him soon." Mom nodded down at Jacob who looked like he was going to burst at any moment.
"Oh!" I quickly opened the door and he took off, pulling me with him. He peed in the yard once before we just walked around. I looked at my phone and saw it was about 6:30. I decided to call Shane, knowing he would be on the bus already.
"Hey, baby." He answered sleepily. "Why are you up already?"
I laughed. "Someone had to pee."
"Oh, right. Sorry. Did he lick you?" He asked laughing slightly.
"Yup. I'm guessing that was the only way he was able to get you up, huh?"
Sheepishly, he replied, "Yeah. Sorry. So what are you doing?"
"Walking, Jacob. I don't normally get up for another half hour, so I figured I'd let him enjoy being outside for a while."
"Mmm… you cold again? It was pretty cold when we got on the bus."
I laughed. "No, I remembered my jacket. But thank you for asking."
"Gotta make sure you okay, since I'm not there to keep you warm."
I sighed. "Where are you guys?"
"I don't even know. Nate, where are we?" I heard him ask. Nate muttered something I couldn't hear through the phone. "Nate says he thinks we're in leave him the hell alone." I laughed. "Connecticut, I think."
"Are you dropping your brother and sister off at school or home or something in Mass?" I asked.
"Yeah, we're taking them to school, despite my sister's protests. She's sleeping right now, though. I'm sure you'll get a phone call later about Riley." Shane said softly.
Nicky and had come a long way from our first meeting. Now, we weren't just civil, we were more like sisters. She called me a lot to vent about different things. Having only two brothers and no real girl friends, it was hard to talk to someone. I gladly listened to everything she said.
"Probably." I laughed. "Hey, it's almost 7, I'm gonna take him in and get ready for school, okay?"
He sighed. "Uh huh. Love you."
"Love you, too." I hung up and called Jacob over to me. He pulled his head out the flower bed he'd been sniffing. As he got closer to me, he stopped and sneezed. The poor thing sneezed about 4 times before I cleaned all of the pollen of his nose.
"Breakfast ready, yet, Mom?" I asked coming in with Jacob.
"Not yet. Why don't you go get dressed and wake Caitlyn up for me." I nodded and headed upstairs. Mom had already put Jacob's food out for me, so he stayed in the kitchen and ate.
"Come on, Cait. Time to get up." I threw my thermal at her as I walked into the closet. She groaned but got up anyway. 15 minutes later we were on our way back downstairs. Jacob was on the floor playing with his chew toy and Mom had been listening to HotTunes in the background. It was a little scary sometimes to see her singing and dancing to our generation's music. After a few minutes, the morning report came on. There were a few miscellaneous things on there at first, but then a picture of Shane and I from the day before showed. I groaned.
"Smitchie's got a puppy. Grey and Torres were seen yesterday morning clad in pajamas walking an energetic little pup in Torres' neighborhood. Grey and the rest of Connect 3 start their Play My Music Tour today, with their first show tomorrow night."
"What poses people to have concerts on Tuesday nights in April?" I asked.
Caitlyn laughed. "You don't care that they talked about your puppy, they have a picture of you in your pajamas, or that the press now knows where we live, but that there is a concert on a Tuesday night?"
I shrugged and ate my breakfast. "I don't really care anymore. The press is always going to be there. We just need to stay on their good side, Cait."
"True." She agreed. "Did Shane text you yet?" She asked.
"No. I called him at 6:30 when I walked Jacob." She nodded. "Did Nate text you?"
"Yeah. At like 6 to tell me he was tired and going back to sleep. He'd text me around lunch." She laughed.
"Yeah, he's particularly crank this morning. Trust me." I laughed.
That was pretty much the way life went. Every morning I got up and walked Jacob at 6:30. If Shane was awake, he called me and kept me company while Jacob ran around. Caitlyn and I would get ready for school, eat, and then deal with the stupidity known as high school. Rosie felt the need to make it as hellish as possible.
"Gee, I wouldn't trust my boyfriend to be on tour without me." She commented. "Especially if my boyfriend were in the hottest group out there."
"Wow, Rosie. Thanks." Caitlyn smiled at her. "You're right, they are the hottest out there. Glad you see that, too."
"You really trust them to not do anything wrong? They have lots of fan girls."
"Okay, see, this is why we date rock stars and you drool over them." I said, getting annoyed. "They're people. They have morals. They love us. And we trust them. Unlike people like you, who see them as big famous rock stars and that's it. Not every famous musician has to be the same and fit the stereo type you force on them." I smiled in triumph as she shrunk in her seat a little and didn't say anything else for the rest of the period. Mitche and Cait: 204, Rosie: 0.
We did trust them. And even if we didn't, Anastasia brother was on tour with them. He promised Anastasia he'd keep an eye out and tell her if he saw anything seriously wrong. But we didn't think that would happen, not when we were always hearing about how much they missed us.
We missed them just as much. Sierra was beginning to get annoyed, but understood. It had only been 4 days since they left, but the limited communication was straining. "I vote we move the Massachusetts!" I cried dropping my head onto my arms on the table.
The other two laughed. Caitlyn agreed. "I wish, Mitch. But you know we can't."
"I just wish there was some way we could get out sooner." I sighed.
"You could take your finals early." Sierra suggested.
"How would that help?" Caitlyn asked.
"Well, my sister was going on a summer exchange program to Europe, so they let her take her finals in May, and she still got credit and everything."
Caitlyn and I shared a look. It was the middle of April. If we talked to Mom immediately, she could talk to the principal, and then we could be on the tour at least 2 weeks sooner. "Sierra." Caitlyn turned to her. "I love you!" She hugged Sierra so tight, I think Sierra started to turn colors.
When we talked to Mom, she promised to talk to Anastasia's brother about it, and then to the principal. Though, we wouldn't say anything to the guys just yet.
On one particular morning, about two weeks after they left, Nate was awake while I was on the phone with Shane. He was sitting next to Shane, strumming mindlessly on the guitar.
"Tell Nate that sounds good." I laughed through the phone.
"She says that sounds good." Nate laughed, Thanks, through the phone, "Okay, ignoring him, now." Shane said sighing. "How long until I can be with you again?" Shane whined.
"Soon enough, Shane." I replied.
"I can't handle this much longer. Every day without you here with me is painful."
"Dude! I got it!" I heard Nate exclaim.
"What?" Shane asked him.
"Just, just keep talking to Mitchie. I'll show you later."
"Ookay, crazy one." Shane laughed. "I think he's going through Caitlyn withdraw."
"Yeah. She's going through Nate withdraw, too. We were hoping dreaming about you would help, but it doesn't much."
"I told you, Mitch, dreams can't even compare when you're in love." He laughed.
I laughed, too, before seeing the time. "Oh, time to go in. I'll talk to you later, okay?" I heard him sigh. "I love you."
"I love you, too." I hated getting off the phone every time I did, but I couldn't help it. I had to go to school. Mom hadn't gotten back to us on the whole getting out early thing yet. Hopefully she would soon.
I sighed, and pushed open the door, letting Jacob run inside. He took off his leash and he ran to his bowl, where mom had his food waiting already.
"Mitchie. When you and Caitlyn are done getting ready, I need to talk to you." Mom said as I headed up stairs.
"Okay!" I called back heading upstairs.
"Come on, Cait. Mom wants to talk to us. Hurry up. I'm hoping it's about going on tour." Caitlyn shot out of bed and ran past me, into the closet to grab clothes.
We made it downstairs in a record time that morning. Mom laughed as we sat quietly, waiting for her to tell us whatever it was. She was still cooking since we were early. "I talked to Anastasia's brother, John. He's very nice. He's worried about her being by herself in his apartment."
"Oh." I said, not sure where this was going.
"I also talked to your principal." She said turning around with the pan of scrambled eggs in her hand. She kept talking while she split the eggs. "Since you are passing all of your classes, and you have only missed 2 or 3 days of school each, he's decided that if you pass all of your finals with an 80 or better, he will let you end the year early and give you full credit."
"What if we don't get an 80 on all of them? Are they really going to not let us go if we get a 79 on one of them?" I asked. Finals and midterms were not my strong suite.
"Depending on the class, you will have to continue doing the school work and email your teachers with it once a week." Caitlyn and I sighed in relief. "And that's only if you pass the rest of your finals." Mom reminded us.
"We will. We will study our butts off!" I said excitedly.
"We promise!" Caitlyn said equally excited. "Do the boys know?"
"No. We thought you might like to surprise them." Caitlyn and I grinned. This was going to be so awesome.
We had told Anastasia, who would of course be coming with us. She had enough credits to graduate already, and was only in school to keep her occupied until starting college in the fall. She talked to her school already, and as long as we were going, she was coming, too. She didn't want to go until we did, knowing that Shane and Nate were liable to through hissy fits. Rather than cause drama with the guys, she and Jason opted to wait for everyone.
Shane and Nate could tell something was definitely up with us. We were abnormally hyper and happy when we would talk to them. Shane questioned me many times and kept getting the same answer: "We must be losing our minds without." Knowing him as well as I do, I knew he would glare at the wall or the phone every time I said it.
So we thought taking our exams early would be awesome. They weren't. "I think my brain is going to explode." Caitlyn whimpered two weeks later during lunch. We had been studying and taking test for the last week. Today was our last day, and if as soon as our morning exams got our scores back, we would know if would flying out tonight or not. If we didn't pass our last exam, we would do the work on the tour. They arranged the exams so that English was last. We could easily do English work while on tour.
"I don't think I've ever seen Mitchie study so hard in her life." Sierra laughed at us. Study as much as we had, with her help, was her forte. You don't get an A-plus in AP Mandarin if you don't. We laughed, knowing she was right.
"Mitchie, Caitlyn." Our guidance counselor came over to our table. "Good news, girls. Caitlyn you passed all of your exams. Mitchie, you were close-" My face fell. "But you managed a 79.6 on your math exam which rounds up to an 80." I screamed.
"Seriously?" Caitlyn cried. "Yes!" We were jumping up and down like idiots, not caring that the entire cafeteria was watching us. People who knew what was up yelled in congratulations for us. After the counselor walked away, rubbing her ear, Rosie felt the need to approach us.
"Yeah, you sure trust your boyfriends." She quipped.
"We do. But hearing them tell us how much they miss us, it gets tiring. Of course, if the many Connect 3 fans who get worse and worse shows because the guys are all moody get upset, we'll be sure to blame you." Caitlyn replied,
"Come on, let's go call Stas. We can leave right after school." I pulled Caitlyn and Sierra with me. Now, I'm sure you're wondering, 'Oh no, poor Sierra.' She'll be all alone, right? No. Remember Craig from Calculus? They've been steady since then. She'll just relocate to his table of nerds.
"Stas!" We yelled into the phone as she answered. Luckily, we have lunch during the same time. "We passed!"
She screamed back. "I will so be at your house when you get home. I'm going to go sign out of school."
"Bye." We hung up as the bell rang. "Test time." I said smiling. Caitlyn groaned.
Two hours later, we were cleaning out our lockers. I smiled at all of the Camp Rock and Connect 3 stuff I had in mine. Caitlyn finished first, as usual. "I remember that." She smiled looking at the picture in my hands. It was Caitlyn and I after Final Jam. Shane and I had just sung. She and I were jumping around laughing.
"Yeah. That was after I talked to Shane for the first time since he yelled at me."
"Wow. We've come a long way since Camp Rock, huh?" Caitlyn sighed.
"I know. Look at us, now, going on tour with our rock star boyfriends."
"You do realize they are going to make you and Shane perform the duet, right?" She asked. "You're famous, too, now, Mitchie."
I looked down at first and then I smiled up at Caitlyn again. "We are, aren't we?"
She gave me a confused look. "I said you."
"Whatever you say, Naitlyn." I sang at her.
"I'm so going to get you, Smitchie." She chased me down the hall. I stopped before she did and started laughing. "What?"
"Janastasia or Jastasia?" I asked in mild seriousness. She shook her head and laughed as well. Thankfully, there were no classrooms in the front of the school, and there were only lockers on both sides except for the main stair case and the front doors.
We found ourselves saying good-bye to Mom and Dad three hours later. "I'll call you all the time, Mom, promise." I cried, hugging her.
"And we'll see you at Camp Rock, right?" Caitlyn said crying as well, hugging Mom.
"And Dad, we'll see you for Final Jam, okay?' I hugged him. Caitlyn latched on as well.
"We'll miss you so much, Steve." He hugged us back while Mom cried.
Jacob whine in his carrying case next to Anastasia. "Time to go, girls." Dad said pushing us gently toward Anastasia who was by the private jet Lava was flying us out on.
"Tell the boys we said hello and that we miss them." Mom called as we boarded the plane. "Love you!" She yelled one last time as they started closing the door behind us.
Collapsing into a seat, I smiled. Jacob wanted out of the carrier, but I wasn't allowed to let him run around. "Shh, pup. You'll be seeing Daddy in a little while." I petted him slightly through the bars.
"Daddy?" Anastasia asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Blame Shane." I answered, smiling. "He called me Mommy first."
"I'm exhausted. I'm going to sleep." Caitlyn said, curling up into a ball. Anastasia and I agreed and got comfortable, too.
"Girls." Someone was nudging us. "Mitchie, Caitlyn, Anastasia." I opened my eyes to find Rich shaking us. "Come on. We've got to get you back to the bus before the guys realize I left during a show." He smiled at us as we suddenly snapped awake and began moving around the small plane.
Rich took my bag for me as I carried Jacob's cage. Anastasia and Caitlyn carried their own bags. Rich laughed at us as we kept talking excitedly. 15 minutes later, we pulled up to a crowd stadium. You could hear the band inside. Rich lead us to the bus.
"Donnie will show you around the bus, but I have to get back in there." He pointed toward the stadium as the door to the bus opened. "Costume change is in 15." He ran off. We liked him a lot better than Chris. He was nicer.
"Hello, ladies, my name is Donnie." A small balding man said to us from the door way.
"Hi." I said. "I'm Mitchie."
"I know who each one of you are. The boys never stop talking about you." We all blushed. "Come on, come on. There is lots to show you and some rules I've been told to explain see as I'll be the one enforcing them."
We quickly filled on the bus, and Donnie made sure to close and lock the door behind us. "Can I let him out of his carrier?" I asked, gesturing to Jacob.
"Sure." Donnie said. "Your mom warned us of the puppy, and said he'll go by the door if you don't take him out soon enough. So, we have a piddle box for him. We made him a little stand thing to go in the stairway over there," He pointed to the door. "This way the box will stay straight and not knock over if the bus hits a bump."
"Sounds good." I said, a little disturbed. I let Jacob out and he started sniffing around, no doubt smelling Shane. He ran off to the back after a moment and started barking and sniffing like crazy. "What's back there?"
"That would be the beds. Pup probably picked up Shane's sent the strongest back there." I nodded. "Okay, up here," he pointed to the bed above the front of the bus, "Is where I sleep." We nodded. He pointed out various other locations on the bus. There was a couch, a small 4 person booth-table thing, and a small kitchen area. "When the bus is parked and the guys are hanging out, the side of the bus slides out. The table and the couch can be made into extra beds, but we won't need them." He moved to the back of the bus where Jacob still was.
"This is the bathroom. I wouldn't suggest leaving certain items in there unless you want to freak the boys out. Then by all means do. It doesn't bother me. Grew up with 4 sisters." We blushed, not expecting him to mention that.
"You'll have to take quick showers. However, we will stop at truck stops along the way and hotels as well, so you'll get normal showers occasionally."
"Now, this is where I have to lay down the rules. There is one large bedroom for all of you. There are two full sized bunk beds. Meaning, four beds. When the bus' side is open, there's lots of space between the two bunks. However, when it isn't, like now, they touch. There is a small closet for the next days clothes only. Your bags will all be stored under the beds and under the bus. Now. I don't care who sleeps where mostly. The three of you can share the bottom and the guys can share the top, or the three couples can split off. Whatever. However, if I see, hear, or even think there is something going on that is inappropriate, I will be forced to make sleeping arrangements. Am I understood?" We nodded. "Good. Feel free to explore." He went back to the driver's seat and picked up the newspaper.
"Okay, can we be excited now?" Caitlyn asked. Together, the three of us started jumping up and down and screaming. We saw Donnie look up at us in the review mirror smiling. We immediately stopped.
"So, I totally claim a bottom bunk with Shane." I said picking Jacob up, who had been laying on one of the bunks sniffing a pillow.
"Works for me." Caitlyn shrugged.
"Yeah, me, too." Anastasia agreed. "So, what do we do now?" She said sitting on the couch.
"Wait another hour for the guys?" I suggested. They shrugged. Almost two hours later, the girls and I had changed for bed, and had been hanging out on the couch talking to Donnie and getting to know him. Caitlyn teased me when I didn't put on my thermal. Forgive me for liking to feel my boyfriend's bare skin. I teased her back as she had also worn a tank top to bed instead of her usual tee.
"Shh. Here come the guys." Donnie said turning around.
"I don't know, Shane!" Nate yelled. "Caitlyn's not answering either, so chill!"
"Why did we come on tour again?" Shane asked angrily.
"So we could go to Camp Rock." Jason answered oblivious. "But relax, guys, they're probably doing something. Would you rather them be out having fun, or sitting around missing you?"
I tried to keep Jacob quiet, but I couldn't. As they got closer, he recognized Shane's voice. When the guys opened the door, he began barking and ran out of the bus.
"Jake?" I heard Shane say picking him up. "Jacob!" Shane laughed. Nate and Jason fought each other to get into the bus as they realized what that meant.
"Caitlyn!" "Stas!" They yelled together. The girls immediately jumped into their boyfriend's arms. Shane came in a moment after them, carrying Jacob who was licking his face.
I stood up and took Jacob and put him on the floor. As soon as I did, Shane pulled me to him and kissed me, not saying a word. After a few minutes, we pulled apart. "Hi." I breathed out.
"Hi." He smiled at me. "What are you guys doing here?" He asked bewildered.
"We took our finals early so we could come see you." I answered smiling widely.
"How long are you here for?"
I looked down, "Um, we're, uh, here, until, uh, Camp Rock!" I yelled at the end.
"Seriously?" He spun me around. "That is amazing." He said hugging me tightly.
"Right, now that you boys are here, I'll tell you what I told the girls already." Donnie explained the sleeping rules again.
"Where's Rich gonna sleep when he's on the bus?" Nate asked. Rich sometimes flew from concert to concert to get there ahead of time, and therefore wasn't on the bus 24-7 with the guys.
"Well, he's hoping you all sleep the way we think you will but if not, he's going to sleep on the couch." Donnie answered.
"Wait, what?" Jason asked, not following.
"Jason, there are four beds. There are 3 couples. If each couple shares a bed, there is still one open bed."
"Oh! Wait, we can share the beds?" The girls laughed while Shane and Nate just looked at him weird.
"Hey, guys, I see found your surprise." Rich said coming on the bus. "We have to drive all night to get to the next show, so think about that while you decide who's sleeping next to who." He said. "Guys you have an interview tomorrow before the show as well as autograph singings. After that is rehearsal, and then the show. Girls you will be more than welcome to tag along to all of these. But know that if you go to the interview, you will be expected to answer questions. Decide how you all are sleeping so I know where I'm sleeping."
"Decided." We all said together, laughing. "Shane and Mitchie, Jason and Stas, and Caitlyn and I are going to be sharing beds." Nate explained.
Rich nodded. "I'm off to sleep then. Guys don't be up too late." He walked into the back. "Shane's bed's already been picked I see." He laughed. Jacob was sleeping on Shane's bed.
The others went to bed shortly after, but Shane and I stayed up in the living room talking a bit.
"I've missed you, so much." Shane kissing my head.
"I know." I answered resting my head against his chest. "I don't think we'll be able to handle it if I go to college and you're on tour." I sighed.
"Well, you won't be going to Camp Rock then, and we'll be able to tour during the summer, properly." He replied.
"Maybe. I mean, that's if I go to college. I mean, who knows what's gonna happen."
"True. Who knows, then you might be touring with the guys and I as an artist. Like the opening act or something."
"Ha. Right." I laughed. "I wish."
"Maybe." He smiled. "I have a feeling you'll be with me anyway."
"Why?" I asked smiling up at him.
"Just do." He shrugged.
"Mmm. I could stay like this forever." I sighed into his chest. I'd missed the feeling of being in his arms.
"I know." He laughed. "Me, too." He stood up, and pulled me with him. "Bed time." We went to the back and I crawled into our bed next to Caitlyn and Nate. Shane stood at the bottom of the bed and pulled off his jeans and t-shirt, and crawled into bed next to me.
I fell asleep almost as soon as he wrapped his arms around me. Jacob was at our feet, curled up as well. I didn't want the next 8 weeks to end. I wanted to sleep in his arms forever.
You know you love me. :)