I didn't check this. It's late. I'm tired. I didn't care enough. Sorry. Lol. But, it's long. Almost 4000 words. Lots of fighting and a tad bit of introspective on the Mitchie-Caitlyn-Stas dynamic trio. Don't ask why that's there. It just is. I tend to make characters observe or ramble when I notice something in my own writing. So, I have to be packed by tonight -Thursday- as it's 3:18 in the morning at the moment. And I'm only about half way mostly packed. Lol. But, again, I had to write.
Chapter 32:
I don't know what was worse. How hurt I was that he tricked me or that I forgot his birthday. I know, I know. Forgetting his birthday was the icing on the cake for the kind gesture he was attempting to make. I know. But think of this from my side for a moment. He was tricking me into singing again. He may have had the best of intentions, but, come on. It was still wrong and backhanded.
But, that wasn't an excuse for forgetting his birthday. In all honesty, it wasn't the only thing I'd forgotten at that point in time. Other than my school work, I'd been forgetting quite a few things. But I needed to apologize for fighting with him on his birthday -and forgetting it.
The phone rang, and rang, and rang. I tried three times before I decided to just leave a voicemail. I was mad he was ignoring my calls. I knew they weren't performing tonight. "Hey, Shane. It's me, Mitchie, your wife. The one you hung up on. Granted, we're fighting, but you can't just hang up and then not answer when I call back. I'm sorry we're fighting on your birthday, and yes, I forgot because I didn't really know what day it was. But, that doesn't give you a reason to ignore me calling back. Let me know when you decided to act your age."
Maybe that wasn't the best apology. But, hey, at least I called him back. He wasn't even picking up his phone. I was upset the rest of the day. Brown called and apologized, but I didn't fight with him. I told him it was fine and called it a day. I was more mad at Shane than I was at Brown. I knew he wanted me to sing as well, but it wasn't his idea. He just went along with it.
However, there was one more person that I was aware of their involvement. They were getting yelled at as well. I stalked my way back to the dorms finally, after trying to calm down before exploding at Caitlyn.
When I came in the room, she looked up at me smiling. The smile faded when she saw the look on my face. "What's wrong?" She asked.
"Anything you want to own up to now before I start yelling?" I asked as calmly as possible.
Her eyes brows furrowed together in confusion. "No, I don't think so…" I could see her mind racing, trying to figure out what I meant.
"Nothing involving my husband?" I asked.
She looked at me in pure confusion. "Mitchie, just start yelling because I have no idea what you are talking about." She sighed.
"Shane tricking me into singing? I know he asked you about Brown the other day when you both lied to me." I snarled.
"He tricked you into singing?" She asked. I wasn't sure if she was that good of an actress or being sincere. "Mitchie, all Shane asked me was if Brown sent you songs. He said Brown mentioned it to him. He asked if I spoke to Brown, I said no. He told me to not let you know he knew, to tell you that he was asking about Nate. He said Brown had meant it to be a surprise for him." She explained.
"Wow, he's even more of a liar. Awesome. I married a liar." I threw my arms up in the air and collapsed on my bed. I screamed into my pillow. Caitlyn didn't say anything. A few moments later, a hurried knock sounded at our door.
"Mitchie? Caitlyn? Everything okay?" Faith's worried voice called through the door. Caitlyn answered the door and Faith came in. "What's wrong, Mitchie?" She asked, sitting on my bed next to me.
"He's a liar." I cried softly behind my pillow. I wanted to be pissed off, but I was more hurt. He lied to me, he lied to my best friend and made her lie to me. What else had he managed to lie about?
"Oh, sweetie. He's not a liar." Faith tried to soothe me.
"Yes, he is." I replied. "He tricked me into singing again. And he lied to Cait and had her lie to me. I hate him." I argued.
"You do not." Faith said firmly. "You love him. Maybe he didn't tell Cait because he didn't want her telling you. From the way you've spoken about him, I highly doubt he tricked you intentionally. He was probably trying to help and hoped you wouldn't find out. Guys sometimes do things backhandedly and don't realize that it always backfires."
"She has a point Mitchie. You didn't tell me something because you were afraid I'd tell Nate, who would tell Shane." Caitlyn agreed. "And, she's right. He didn't trick you to trick you. Shane's been trying to convince you to sing or a write a new song for months. You keep telling him no." She pointed out.
"He still lied." I argued weakly, knowing they were right.
"Now you sound like Nicky." Caitlyn mumbled, probably hoping I wouldn't hear it.
"I heard that." I glared at her. She shrugged unapologetically. "He's still being immature. I still have a right to be mad."
"Why is he being immature?" Faith asked.
"He hung up in the middle of an argument and then wouldn't pick up when I called him." I explained.
"Shane hung up in the middle of an argument? I've only seen him walk away from an argument that one time you were being seriously immature. What did you do?" Caitlyn demanded.
I shrugged innocently. "I may have snapped at him about not being here to make assumptions of my moods."
"That was low." Caitlyn replied. "No wonder he hung up on you."
"Anyway, is it like Shane to not work out an argument?" Faith asked.
"It might when it's his birthday and his wife forgot?" I offered.
"You forgot?" Caitlyn gasped. "How do you forget your husband's birthday? Especially when he is amazingly awesome to you on yours every year."
"It's only been two! And so, this may be like the worst birthday ever for him, but it's not my fault entirely." I argued. "And thanks, I didn't have enough guilt on my own. Your's really helped."
"Don't get sarcastic with me. I'm not the one who forgot my husband's birthday and fought with him." Caitlyn glared at me.
"No, you're the one who pushes your boyfriend away and hurts him because you don't want to break down crying when all he wants is some type of emotion from you." I threw back.
"Don't turn this around on me." Caitlyn's glare increased. "Just because you're upset that Shane's pissed at you doesn't give you that right."
"You started it." I shot back. "And I have every right to be pissed off right now."
Caitlyn was about to argue back when Faith cut her off. "Guys! Chill. Fighting with Caitlyn isn't going to make your problem with Shane go away, Mitchie. And Caitlyn, fighting with Mitchie isn't going to make your own guilt go away." She reasoned.
"What guilt?" Caitlyn asked defensively. "I'm not feeling guilty about anything. She should."
"You're feeling guilty because Mitchie was right about Nate. You feel guilty that Mitchie's been in contact with Shane more than you have with Nate, and it was therefore totally unexpected that she forgot his birthday. If you or Stas forgot their birthday, it'd been expected. But Mitchie talks to him almost everyday. You're happy that Mitchie screwed up and that you're not alone in being a shitty girlfriend/wife at the moment." Faith explained.
Caitlyn stared at the floor rather hard. She refused to comment.
"Cait, is that true? Are you happy that I screwed up?" I asked softly.
"A little. It's hard to live being compared to you all the time. Stas and I sometimes feel like we have to live up to the standards that are Shane and Mitchie." She admitted.
"I don't mean to make you feel like that." I sighed.
"I know. But you guys are so… perfect." She admitted. It seemed like no matter how many times we had this conversation, it never got through to her.
"No, we're not. Look at us right now. Far from perfect." I whispered upset.
"Because of something stupid." Caitlyn argued.
"It's not stupid-" I began arguing but Faith cut me off.
"Question." She changed the subject so we wouldn't fight again. "They're in Europe, right?" She asked.
"Yeah…" We replied.
"You realize that unless they're in the metropolitan area of whatever country they're in, it's possible they don't have service?" She offered.
"Oh." Was all I could manage to reply. "Well, then… maybe I should call him back? And maybe leave a nicer voicemail?"
"I think that'd be wise." Faith replied.
I sighed and picked up my phone. I dialed Shane's number quickly and listened to the faint ringing. "'lo?" His voice sounded slightly slurred.
"Hey, Shane…" I began.
"Oh, it's my wife." He cut me off, again sounding rather slurry. "Did you call to yell at me again?" He asked.
"No, I called to apologize-" I again began.
"Oh, like your voicemail. Which was just so apologetic." I was positive he was slurring his words now.
Suspiciously, I asked, "Shane, have you been drinking?"
"What difference does it make? You're not here to tell me what I can and can't do! Actually, you can't tell me what I can and can't do anyway." He replied. I could hear Nate's urgent voice in the background pleading for the phone, but Shane ignored him. "I'm not there, and you're not here, so what difference does it fucking make?"
"You told me you wouldn't drink until you got home." I replied, practically in tears. Another lie, another broken promise.
"It's my fucking birthday. Of course my fucking wife couldn't remember that, now could she, Mitchie?" He asked upset.
"Shane… I've been busy-"
"Busy, my ass. Like that's an excuse to completely forget?" He asked.
"No. But I didn't completely forget. I just didn't know what day it was. I remembered as soon as I saw the date." I tried to explain.
"You should have woke up remembering. You're phone should have had an alarm or something…" He argued, drunkenly still.
"Call me tomorrow when you're sober. Actually, don't." I hung up the phone, even more pissed off and hurt than I had been prior to that phone call.
Faith and Caitlyn stared at me in bewilderment. "What the hell?" Caitlyn finally asked.
"He lied." I whispered. "He told me he wasn't going to drink until he got back. I asked him not to because I knew, I knew he'd get stupidly drunk trying to numb everything. And his stupid, spiteful ass did anyway. I hate him." I whispered brokenly as I collapsed onto my bed again in tears.
Faith and Caitlyn tried to calm me down but it didn't work. So, they called in one of two people who would call me on my stupidity and force me to calm down. After almost an hour of hysterical crying with no end in sight, that is.
"Oh, come off it, Mitchie." Anastasia's voice cut through my hurt induced haze.
"Go away, Stas." I growled.
"No. Not until you stop crying and get over the fact that Shane's not perfect and that he's just like every other guy out there." She argued.0
"Worry about your own relationship." I replied.
"I would, but ya see, my boyfriend is dealing with your drunk ass husband." She said simply.
"Too bad for you, then." I glared at her.
"Mitchie, I swear to God. Get the hell up and stop freaking crying. It's not the end of the damn world. Grow up and call him back and fix this." She threw my phone at me. "Not every problem between you two has to be fixed by him. Maybe you'll get the damn truth out of him if he's drunk."
"He's being ridiculous. No, I'm not calling him." I argued, but sat up anyway.
"Fine, I will. And I'll tell him his wife is being a spoiled little brat. I glared at her as she picked up my phone off the bed. "Just like his sister." That pushed the right buttons and I grabbed the phone from her.
"Hello?" A hesitant Nate answered.
"Let me talk to him." I sighed.
"He's… babbling incoherently at the moment. I'll have him call you as soon as we sober him up. I'm sorry, Mitchie, I know you asked me to keep an eye on him, but you wouldn't believe how persistent he was. He was pretty upset before you called, too."
"Thanks, Nate. Tell him… tell him I'm sorry. And that I love him. And that we'll hash this all out when he's not drunk or hung over. I'm beyond angry at him but I'm not a sadist." I sighed.
"I will. G'night, Mitch." Nate said in light tone.
"Night, Nate." I hung up the phone.
"Finally, she acts her age." Anastasia taunted.
"Oh bite me, Stas." I replied.
She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "Won't Shane be jealous?"
"Yeah, well, you are like the Bride of Dracula…" Caitlyn commented.
"Ew. Bad mental picture of my husband and someone he refers to as a sister." I replied.
"Yeah, well." Caitlyn shrugged.
Faith sat at my computer giggling and smiling at us. She'd sat there for a while observing us.
"What's so funny?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.
"A. How bipolar you are." She commented. I scowled a bit. "But b. how diverse your personalities are, yet you all have a place in your friendship. It's hard to have threes stay as tight as you have." She explained.
We stared at her oddly. In Anastasia's opinion, she was still ever so slightly an outcast. "What?" Caitlyn finally asked in confusion.
She sighed. "Mitchie and Caitlyn fought to express their own anger and hurt and guilt onto the other. They fought like sisters: take it out on the one your closest to. But when Mitchie broke down and Caitlyn couldn't get through to her, Stas was able to push her buttons until she cracked. Also like sisters: one always knows which buttons to push. Usually, Mitchie is the voice of reason, pointing out the reality of the situation. Like when she called Nicky on her crap, and even you two at lunch. You all have your places you take given the situation. Stas and Cait take turns being the blunt, sarcastic one, depending on who's involved in the main conversation."
Caitlyn, who was the first to absorb the thoughtful out look on our relationship, asked, "But, that's with Mitchie. Are you saying if it's not Mitchie we're dealing with, Stas and I can't coexist?"
Faith laughed. "Not at all! When you're the one who's upset, you'll fight with Stas, because you're so alike. Mitchie's the button pusher. Your voice of reason. When she was fighting you earlier, you were being petty and trying to rub it in, and she knew exactly what to say back to piss you off." I had to agree, it made sense.
"And, when Stas is upset?" I asked.
"Stas fights with you, because she knows you'll forgive her easier. Caitlyn can be hot and cold when it comes to her grudges. But being so alike, Caitlyn can put Stas back in place just as quickly." Faith explained.
"You've never seen Caitlyn and I fight." Anastasia reminded doubtingly. "How are you so sure?"
"I'm good at reading people. If I didn't love music so much, I'd be majoring in psychology." Faith giggled.
"You should!" Caitlyn and I replied.
"Well, ladies, I say it's time to head home, for me anyway." Anastasia said standing up. "I have to finish a paper. I was leaving Bray's when you called, so I'm behind on my writing time."
"Who's Bray?" Caitlyn asked. I never did talk to her about the phone call. I opted to keep it to myself.
"A friend." She replied simply, pulling on her jacket. "I'd introduce you to him, but he's a bit of an ass and would probably make a pass at you. Don't want the poor guy loosing his package." She smiled.
My eyes squinted a bit at her joke. "Stas, do you hang out with him a lot?" I asked.
She shrugged. "He's E's cousin. We hang out with him a bit, I guess."
"Oh. Well, be careful." I replied. She looked at me oddly. "With Jason. Wouldn't want him to get the wrong idea, right?" I replied.
"Mitchie, if there's something you want to say, say it." She challenged.
"No. I'm just saying. Guys overreact. Jason's sensitive. I'm just saying you should be mindful of mentioning him to Jason too much." I lied easily.
Caitlyn, thankfully backed me up. "Yeah. Wouldn't want a jealous Jason. Never seen it, don't want to see it."
"Right. I'm gonna go before one of you out right accuses me of cheating instead of backhandedly." Anastasia began stalking toward the door.
"Stas- I'm just, worried. He seems like a shifty character." I called out to her. She froze at the door.
"You've never met him, I've barely spoke about him. How can you determine him shifty?" She demanded indignantly.
"I may have overheard your conversation with him a few weeks ago. When I called you and you were hanging out with him, at a party or something." I explained, not wanting to give away too many details of the conversation.
All of the color drained from her face. "You heard that?" She asked.
"Yes. I did." I replied. "I wasn't going to say anything, but the way he-"
"Drop it." She threatened. "Please." She begged.
"Just be careful." I begged.
"I am. There's nothing going on between he and I. I love Jason, with my whole heart, Mitchie. I swear." She stared me hard in the eyes, trying to truly convey that sentiment.
"I believe you." I whispered, unable to keep her stare.
"Thank you. Now, I really have to go." She turned around and opened the door. "Night." She closed the door behind her.
"Do I want to know?" Caitlyn asked, staring at the closed door.
"No." I replied, sighing. "She hooked up with him once or something after the break up- I believe. She tried to reassert that and he was all 'we'll see' about it."
"Wow." Caitlyn sighed. "Too much drama for one night. I'm going to sleep. Night." She literally rolled over in her bed, fully clothed and went to sleep.
Faith smiled awkwardly, yet surprisingly reassuringly at me. "Everything will work out in the end. You just have to have a little… faith." She laughed.
"Night, Faith." I replied laughing softly. She smiled again and left the room.
I woke up the next morning to my phone ringing Shane's ring tone. It was only about 6:30 in the morning and the spiteful part of my wanted it ignore the call. I knew I couldn't and answered anyway. "''Ello?" I answered sleepily.
"Hey. It's early. Sorry." Shane whispered.
"Why are you whispering?" I asked, noticing I was as well.
"Because a. the guys are sleeping and it's early still, and b. because I have a hangover and it hurts to hear my own voice." He explained.
"I told Nate to tell you to call me when you weren't hung over." I replied confused.
"I know. I had to call you as soon as I was sober though. I was completely out of line last night-" He began.
"You weren't completely out of line. But you were a bit." I cut him off.
"Still. Despite how hurt I was, I shouldn't have said some of the things I did." He argued softly.
"You had every right to. I was at fault, too. Believe me, I'm still pissed at you for the songs and for getting drunk, but you have every right to be mad that I forgot your birthday." I reasoned.
He sighed. "And that you're blowing things out of proportion." He added quietly, not expecting me to hear it.
"I know. I over reacted a bit. But you really should have asked me. Shane, if you told me that you wrote a song that you wanted me to sing, I would have. Just because you took the time to write a song for me to sing. I'd do anything you ask me to that is in my power to do. If you wanted to be sneaky or conniving, why didn't you just ask me to do as your birthday present?" I asked. "You know I suck at getting you gifts."
"Actually-" He began, and I swore I could hear the smirk in his voice. "I thought that was my gift?"
I gasped. "I can't believe you just said that in the middle of an argument. Perv."
"Damn, not even jerk. You must be mad at me." He commented.
"You've no idea." I replied.
"I'm sorry I was sneaky about the singing. Can you forgive me?" He asked.
I sighed. "It's not even the sneakiness that I'm upset about. You lied. To me, to Cait… you told me you wouldn't drink until you got home-"
"I was being stupid and spiteful." He cut me off. "I'm so sorry about that."
"I know. Again, not so mad about that as I am about the lies and the broken promises." I explained.
"I just wanted you to be happy." He replied. I could hear the desperation in his voice as he tried to make me understand. "Mitchie, if I thought for a second you wouldn't be happy singing again, I never would have pushed it so much. I just want to hear you sing again. I fell in love with you when I heard you singing at Final Jam. I just want that Mitchie back. Even the one who sang with me in the studio. I just want my Mitchie back."
"Shane…" I felt tears spring into my eyes despite the amount I cried last night. "I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me for me to fix it."
"I know." He replied. "I was trying to fix you myself." After a small pause, he asked, "Can we put this horrid argument behind us?"
"Yeah. Just don't lie anymore, please? And, I'll let this promise go." I offered.
"No more lies and sneakiness. Unless it is a surprise for some reason." He amended his statement to avoid getting caught in a trap later on in life. He knew me too well sometimes.
"You know I hate surprises." I argued.
"You love them when they are from me." He shot back.
"Maybe." I admitted.
"Well, the evil thing called the sun is starting to shine brightly, so I'm going to crawl back into my bunk and ignore the guys as long as possible."
"Night, Dracula." I teased softly.
"Night, baby." He laughed back. "Love you."
"Love you, too." I replied, closing my phone.
I silently hoped this was enough drama for the time being and that my life would go back to normal soon. However, something with Anastasia didn't sit right with me. Nicky and I were still not speaking, which was awkward at dinners. School was stressing me out still. And most of all, I wasn't entire certain my marriage was going to last this tour.
So honestly, did you like this chapter? Hate it? Indifferent towards it? I was going to save the Smitchie discussion for the next chapter, but didn't want to drag it out. Do you feel Mitchie copped out? I think she did. I think she was all 'wah, wah, wah, my marriage is falling apart already, let's not fight'. I don't know. She was very crying in this chapter. But she hasn't been like this since ATCR so maybe it's okay. Idk. Let me know your opinion on that. Peace yo.