Let me start this chapter by saying I'm sorry that it took me so long to update. But I have a reason. I'm graduating on Thursday from high school (which I already have told you all) so I've been scrambling to get everything ready for that. Plus, my paternal grandparents (Dad's parents) are coming into town and have decided that they want to spend some time at my house (My parents are divorced and I live with my mom) so we've been cleaning it and painting the living room and it's all chaotic! Plus I need to clean my room (which hasn't been cleaned in about four months so it's awful. So I'm sorry that it took so long, but you'll just have to bear with me for another week or two!
Let me just say right now that this was not the original chapter 8 that I had posted. I read over some of the guidelines after I got an anon review that got me all nervous, and I decided that I was going to take out the bit of lyrics from Drops of Jupiter. I'm sorry if anybody is disappointed.
Anyways, here's chapter 8 :)
I sat quietly in mine and Caitlyn's cabin, humming a tune that I couldn't get out of my head. I glanced warily at my guitar. I still hadn't played since the night of the murder. I looked away, shaking my head free. I had to get away just so I could breathe. I stood up and quickly decided to take a walk down to the dock.
As approached, I noticed that I was not alone. I smiled lightly and saw Shane bent over a piece of paper, scratching something out in pen. Why did he insist on using pen? Probably for the same reason I do. To make it harder to forget something.
"So does your music sound better over here or something?" I called out, startling him. His head shot up in alarm, but he immediately relaxed when he noticed it was me. He smiled lazily at me.
"Nah, it probably sounds worse, but you can be the judge of that," he said. I looked at him skeptically.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Can you help me with something? I have lyrics, but I can't find a melody or chords to go with them," he said. I felt a wave of dread run through me.
"Um…I'm not sure if I'm the right person for this. I haven't played in awhile. I'm kind of rusty," I said, coming up with any excuse to get out of this. Shane's smile fell slightly, but he nodded in understanding. I didn't want to disappoint him, or anybody for that matter, so I hesitantly took the guitar out of his hands and decided that now I could get the tune out of my head that was stuck. I looked down at the lyrics and began humming. I sang him bits and pieces of the song to the tune I had in my mind, and when I finished, I looked at Shane warily. He had this huge smile on his face.
"That's exactly what I'm looking for! Thank you so much Mitchie!" he exclaimed. I laughed and handed him the guitar, still uncomfortable with it in my hands.
"So, is that song to Peggy?" I asked, knowing perfectly well that it was not a song for Peggy. Shane slowly nodded.
"Yeah…for Peggy," he said. I chuckled lightly and looked down at the canoes.
"Do you remember going around in circles for hours in these things?" I asked.
"Of course I do Mitchie. It was only last summer," he said. I sighed.
"Feels like it's been a decade," I said, more to myself than to him. The next thing I knew, Shane was untying one of the canoes and climbing in.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"I'm taking you on one of our infamous canoe rides. Now get in," he said. I knew I shouldn't have, but I shrugged off this nagging feeling and climbed in with him.
"Alright, where's our paddles?" I asked. He pulled them up from the side and handed me one of them. We both started rowing our own way, resulting in the usual circles and drifting into the middle of the lake from the current. I chuckled lightly and set my paddle on my lap once we had drifted to the middle of the lake.
"So…how was your year?" I asked hesitantly. Shane looked at me and saw my nervous face. He sighed and placed his paddle on his lap.
"I won't lie. It's been a little frustrating. I can't help but feel like I wasted half of it on phone calls to you," he said. I bit my lip and looked down at my hands.
"How did you and Peggy hook up?" I asked.
"At Caitlyn's birthday party, I just wanted someone to listen to me vent, and she listened. We just connected and it just went from there," he said. My heart clenched.
"Wait…you took time off tour to go to Caitlyn's birthday, but not to come see your girlfriend who wouldn't return your calls? Messed up priorities?" I snapped. Shane glared at me.
"I didn't take time off of tour. Caitlyn's birthday was only a month ago," he snapped back.
"Still! Don't you think I was a little more important?" I asked.
"At that point, no! You weren't!" he exclaimed. I felt my heart clench again. I looked down at my hands again, the feeling of worthlessness creeping back up on me.
"Hey, I'm sorry Mitchie," his soft voice said, smooth like velvet again. His hand rested on my knee and I was hit with a sense of longing.
"Why did you have sex with me? Why did you take that from me if you were with Peggy?" I asked, looking up into his eyes. I knew mine were filled with tears, but that question had been plaguing me since I'd first heard him call her "hun."
"Because I…I forgot for awhile Mitchie. I didn't…it felt like old times again. It felt like we were together and we were taking that step," he admitted. I pulled away from his touch.
"Can we please go back to camp?" I asked, shifting the paddle slightly. As if fate had decided to intervene, the paddle slipped out of my grasp and into the lake.
"Shit!" I exclaimed, reaching for it. Shane groaned. He leaned over to see how far it had gone.
"Don't let go of yours!" I exclaimed. He quickly turned only to see the handle of his paddle sink. I groaned.
"I thought wood floats!" I exclaimed to the sky. Right on cue, the paddles emerged about fifteen feet away, bopping in the water.
"Great. That's just great," I said as I sat back and put my hand on my chin.
"It's getting dark," Shane said.
"Thank you captain obvious!" I spat. Shane growled at me, but didn't reply. I didn't want to hear it from him.
"We're closer to the other shore. May as well see if there's any shelter. I know that they closed Camp Star down, so maybe there's still buildings where the campers stayed," he said.
"Yeah, now we've just got to wait until the tide pulls us in," I said.
About 30 feet to go.
"This one is open," Shane said, pushing a door open. It was, so far, the only cabin that hadn't been locked up. I poked my head in. One bed.
"Fate hates us," I murmured.
"Clearly," Shane responded.
"There has to be another cabin open," I said.
"Well there isn't. Why don't you just accept that this is the only cabin we have for tonight?" he asked.
"Shane, I don't want to sleep in the same room as you. It's not because I'm angry or anything, but because you have a girlfriend and I respect that," I said. I saw something flicker in his eyes. Respect. Good. I needed someone's respect. Shane sighed in defeat.
"How about this. I'll sleep on the floor while you sleep on the bed," he said. I opened my mouth to argue, but he just held his hand up.
"I don't care if you respect mine and Peggy's relationship or not. I'm a gentleman and you're sleeping on the bed, damn it," he stated. I scoffed.
"Some gentleman. And why don't you care if I respect your relationship with Peggy?" I asked. Shane rolled his eyes and pushed me towards the bed.
"Just go to bed Mitch. As soon as it's dawn, we've got to head back. Uncle Brown is going to freak out," he said. I sighed and laid my head on the unused pillow and closed my eyes.
"Wake up Mitchie. It's time to go home," a smooth voice called to me through my slumber. I peeled my eyes open to see Shane's smiling face. I was immediately hit with memories of last night and nodded sleepily. Without warning, I felt myself getting picked up and brought out to the canoe. Shane felt so strong.
"It's not dawn yet," I murmured in his ear.
"Camp Star had canoe Mitch," Shane reminded me. I chuckled lightly. Why hadn't either of us thought of that earlier.
"Do you need me to help?" I asked, half asleep.
"No. Go back to sleep. I'll paddle us over," Shane said. I nodded and laid down in the canoe. I could hear the water under the canoe and watched Shane as he paddled us back to Camp Rock. I smiled lightly at his determined expression. I felt my heart soar with pride at that look. I closed my eyes again.
A short while later, I felt myself being lifted out of the canoe and taken somewhere. I heard a door open and close quietly. I heard some quiet voices, but Shane quickly quieted them, stating that I was asleep. He placed me down on a soft bed and placed a simple kiss on my forehead.
"I love you Mitchie Torres."
So was Mitchie dreaming that or did Shane actually say it? I don't know. I guess you'll just have to tune in next time, which I'm hoping can be before Thursday, but with all this scrambling, I would say at LEAST Friday. Most likely, Sunday or next Monday.
Anyways, I'd love to see 10 reviews for next chapter! If you don't, then poo on you, but I won't PM every single one of you and request that you leave a review.
Sorry, that was mean...but come on, PMing your readers for reviews? It's a little tacky and seemingly desperate. I trust that you all will review if you feel it deserves it, but my goal is 10! :)
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Love you all tons! Time for bed!
Tianna