Disclaimer: I do not own Camp Rock or Wizards of Waverly Place.
My life has become "I need to write, but I want to sleep," or "I want to write, but I have an online quiz due tomorrow," or "Yes! I finally have time to write!...Oh, hi roommate randomly coming in my room and jumping on my bed and staying for three hours." I love you guys, but school and sleep and friends do come first. Those are my priorities, this is my hobby. I am trying very hard not to neglect you guys. I am currently extremely tired and putting off an assignment that I probably should be doing instead. But this isn't a burden. I love doing this. I really, truly do. And I love you guys. Sadly, though, reviews are my favorite things in the world and I barely get any compared to the amount of views. But nothing will stop me from writing this. I just wanted you to know that. Okay, rant over.
Alex walked the streets of New York City, trying to take things slow. Her black Converse made a pleasant thudding sound each time she took a step. The city was silent, eerily dead. That was quite unusual for New York City on a Friday afternoon at 6:30. She was used to hustle and bustle and people trying to get home from work. There were usually people yelling, cars honking, alarms going off, babies crying… But not today. Today, there was silence.
Any other day, she would have reveled in this fact and probably even stopped at a bench to enjoy the peace. But today was different. She would have welcomed the chaotic noise, because it would have occupied her mind and not let her concentrate on the brunette she was currently on her way to pick up so they could go to the movies. The noise would have been a distraction. Alas, the streets were unusually tranquil, giving Alex no distraction from her troublesome thoughts of Mitchie.
"You're being ridiculous," she said to herself as she walked, partly to fill the silence, but also partially to scold herself. "She's just your friend. And friends don't think about other friends as much as you're thinking about Mitchie. So just stop it!"
Alex had chosen to walk instead of letting her brother drive her or take a cab or the subway for several reasons. First, she was mad at her brother. Next, cabs were expensive, and if this wasn't a date, she didn't need to splurge to impress Mitchie. Also, she and her friend would be taking the subway in order to get to the theater. Alex wasn't very fond of the subway, so she didn't want to get sick of it before they'd even seen the movie. Finally, she thought walking would help her to feel better.
She'd changed her shirt and ran a brush through her long, tangled, raven hair. Then she touched up her makeup and brushed her teeth. After that, she still had much ample time on her hands. So what to do?
She paced around her room for a good while. When Justin finally arrived home, he tried to come into her room to talk to her, but Alex was prepared. Before changing, she'd stolen the darts from Max's dart board. When Justin entered her room, she picked up a dart from her bed and flung it at him. If he hadn't ducked, it would have hit him right between the eyes. She threw another at him, which also narrowly missed. He then realized that his sister meant business, so he quickly closed the door and dashed down the hall. Just in time, too, because right when the door closed, a well-aimed dart hit it and stuck there, right where Justin's chest had been a moment before.
When the clock told her it was a reasonable time to start making her way to Mitchie's apartment, she left. Not a word was said to either of her brothers or her parents as she left home. They were all down in the sub shop, busy with the dinner rush. With Jerry making sandwiches and Max and Theresa delivering them, they didn't pay any attention to Alex. But Justin, who was manning the cash register, saw her. However, after the earlier dart incident, he knew better than to address his temper mental sister.
So Alex was able to slip out easily. She tried to keep her pace slow, but her anxiety made her walk faster. She was constantly stopping to 'inspect' something in a shop window or pretending to tie her shoe. The fresh air did nothing to calm her nerves because, let's face it, in New York City, there's no such thing as fresh air.
Eventually Alex found herself standing in front of Mitchie's apartment building. She looked up at the third floor, where she knew Mitchie's apartment was located. Standing in the building's shadow, she shivered as a cool breeze blew by. The sun was setting, and it was early November in New York. This meant the air was a bit chilly. And having a case of nerves was not helping with Alex's body temperature at all.
A quick check of the time told Alex that it was 6:40. She still had another five minutes before she had to be here. Well crap. She'd tried so hard to be at earliest, on time. She'd really wanted to be about five minutes late. That way it would have seemed like she didn't care as much. But if she went up there now, she would seem eager.
She couldn't just stand in the street, though. What if Mitchie looked out the window and saw her just standing there like a creeper? That could not happen. Plus, it was starting to get a bit cold since the sun was starting to go down. But if she went in, she would have to go up to Mitchie's place. And then she would be early and ugh! It was just one big mess.
After debating with herself for a minute or two and shivering about five times, she finally decided to go inside and wait in the hallway. It was worse than freezing her butt off outside.
Mitchie could not decide what to do with her hair. She was very tired of her natural color. Brown was so plain and boring. And what was with these bangs? Sure, they'd come back into style, but now they were just a bit aggravating. They were getting to the point where they were too long and hanging in her eyes slightly. She dreadfully needed a haircut.
She brushed it and parted it a few different ways, but she was still unsatisfied. She even debating breaking out the curling iron and curling it, but Alex hadn't exactly given her enough time to get ready in order to do that. Why had she agreed to only an hour of prep time? She couldn't do anything in an hour!
Mitchie wanted to look good tonight. She wanted to impress Alex. It startled her a little how much Alex's opinion of her seemed to matter, but then she remembered how Alex had the power to unsettle her more than any human had ever done in her entire life.
She always felt like she had odd connections with people. For example, she was drawn to Caitlyn and her sweet, bubbly personality. And now, they were best friends. She felt drawn to Alex as well, but in a different way. Every reaction she'd had to the girl so far had been intense. Maybe her emotional connection to Alex was just stronger than most. Alex did have a unique quality about her that radiated from her body in waves. Mitchie couldn't quite put her finger on it. Then again, the whole idea of having connections with people could be completely ridiculous. Alex could just be a really charismatic teenager that's confidence frightened Mitchie at first, but she was slowly getting used to it.
Whatever the matter, Mitchie still wanted to look presentable. After all, it was her first time out in New York City. And it could very well be her last for a while considering the baby. She wanted to make the most of it.
But then there was the problem of what to wear. She was starting to show and outgrow a good bit of her clothing. She and her mother had purchased a few maternity outfits before moving, but the lady in the store had been giving them dirty looks, so they left quickly, not getting much. Most of it was for later in her pregnancy, anyway. Another thing, though, is that she didn't want people looking at her tonight. She just wanted to go out and have fun with a friend, be a normal teenager. But baby bumps drew attention, she knew.
"If you're causing this many problems already, I'm terrified to see what you're going to be like at my age," Mitchie said to her stomach.
In a futile attempt to hide her pregnancy from the world, she put on a sweatshirt and matching sweatpants. After all that time worrying about her looks, she was going to go out in sweats. She sighed when she looked at herself in the mirror that was hanging on the back of her door. Now she looked like a lazy teenager that was just a little bit chubby, but at least she didn't look like someone would be calling her 'Mommy' in six months. Well, a little longer than that since he or she wouldn't be able to talk until they were a year old, and even then that might not be his or her first word, and…OH MY GOSH YOU GET THE POINT!
Mitchie glared at her hair, still trying to fix it. Fed up, she just put it up in a messy bun. Next was makeup, pretty standard, nothing too special. When she looked in the mirror again, she couldn't help feeling depressed. So much for dressing up…More like grunge down. There was nothing impressive about her outfit, but there wasn't much else she could do. She had nothing else to wear, had no idea what to do with her hair, and Alex was supposed to show up within the next few minutes.
At a soft knock on her bedroom door, Mitchie tore her gaze from her reflection.
"Come in," she said.
Steve Torres opened his daughter's bedroom door. He leaned against its frame and inspected her. "You're not ready yet?" he asked, eyebrows raised slightly.
Mitchie winced. So she did look that bad. "No, I am. I'm going out in this." Her insecurities came flooding back to her.
"Oh," Steve said. He took note of his daughter's reaction. "You look…Comfy." He tried to smile reassuringly.
She sighed. "I'd change, but I have nothing to wear," she said, gesturing to her closet. "Nothing fits me anymore, and I hardly have any maternity clothes."
"Well maybe you and your mom could go shopping this week when she's not working, and she can buy you a few more things," Steve said. "Until then, what you're wearing is fine. You're going to a movie, after all. It's dark in there. No one will see you. Don't worry about it."
"Alex will see me," Mitchie said quietly.
Steve watched as his daughter looked down at the ground sadly. This killed him. He'd thought letting her go out tonight had been a good thing. But seeing her so distressed over it, maybe he shouldn't have permitted it.
"You look fine, Honey," he told her sincerely.
She looked up at him, eyes full of hope. "Really?"
He held up two fingers. "Scout's honor."
"Thanks, Dad," Mitchie said, smiling a little.
"Can you do your old man a favor and take the garbage out before you leave?" he asked.
"Why can't you do it?" she asked, not to be bratty, but out of genuine curiosity. It took not even a minute to walk out into the hall and put the bag in the chute.
"Because you have a pretty sweet deal going on right now," he said. "You're being homeschooled, and we're letting you keep the baby. Remember? You're going to have to compensate a bit. Doing a few measly chores is a fair deal, I'd say."
She smirked a little. "You just don't want to do it, don't you?"
"Great. Glad you see it my way," he joked and quickly walked away, back to the living room where he'd been watching a ball game.
"You're not funny," Mitchie said with a smile as she followed her father out to the living room.
Steve took a seat in his lounge chair. "I think I am."
Mitchie rolled her eyes good naturedly as she plucked the trash bag out of the can. "You keep thinking that."
She opened the door, taking a step out. She almost yelped in surprise when she saw Alex pacing back and forth in front of the stairs.
"Alex?" she asked cautiously, taking a step toward the pacing girl.
"Yikes!" Alex jumped nearly a foot in the air at the sound of Mitchie's voice. She turned to face the other girl. "Oh, hi. What are you doing here?"
"I live here," Mitchie said, gesturing to her apartment. "Why were you pacing?"
"I, uh…" Alex cleared her throat, clearly embarrassed. "Okay, I don't have time to think up a good enough excuse, so I'm just going to give it to you straight." She took a breath. "I got here too early, and it was too cold to wait outside, so I came up, but I didn't want to knock on your door, because I was early, and I didn't want to seem too eager because that's lame, but I had nothing to do, and I was bored, and I had nervous energy, and I figured pacing might help to pass the time. And then, you came out, but I didn't hear you because I was lost in my own thoughts, then you said my name, and I yelled, and I jumped, and now here we are." She finished her miniature rant by spreading her hands out in front of her.
Mitchie raised an eyebrow at her. "Okay, I kind of got lost at 'I'll give it to you straight.' So…What?"
Alex sighed. "I got here too early, and it was too cold to wait outside, so I…" she stopped. "Please don't make me say it again," she begged, giving Mitchie the best puppy dog eyes she'd ever given to anyone.
Mitchie laughed. "I'm just kidding. I understood everything…I think I did, at least." She scratched her head with the hand that wasn't holding the bag of trash. "Let me just throw this, and we can go, okay?" she asked, holding up the bag.
"Yeah, sure." Alex nodded.
Mitchie went down the hall a bit to a white chute door. She slid it open and dropped the bag in. She didn't know where the trash went after that, but thinking about it, she really didn't want to know.
"Oh, by the way," she said, walking back to Alex, "my dad wants to meet you, which is perfect, because I need to go back in and grab some money."
Alex gulped. "Your dad wants to meet me?" she asked nervously. Meeting parents always freaked her out, even if most always loved her. It seems her parents were the only ones that resisted her Alex Russo charm. She had a feeling, though, that that wouldn't be the case with Mitchie's parents.
"Oh, calm down," Mitchie said, taking note of Alex's even more panicky expression. She put her hand on the other girl's shoulder comfortingly. "He just wants to say hi and make sure you're not a psycho or something."
"Was that last part supposed to be funny?"
"Yes." Mitchie smiled.
"Ha…Ha," Alex said sarcastically.
"It'll be fine. Come on." Mitchie ran her hand down Alex's arm to her hand, taking it and leading her to the apartment, which still had its door wide open. "Hey Dad?" Mitchie called when they got inside, shutting the door behind her.
"Yeah?" He looked over his shoulder.
"Alex is here." Mitchie gestured to the unusually quiet girl beside her.
Steve got up from his chair. He crossed over to where his daughter stood, an oddly pale girl to her right. She looked almost terrified.
"Hi, Alex. I'm Mr. Torres." He offered the girl a smile and held out his hand for her to shake. He then saw that Mitchie was holding on to one of Alex's hands. It wasn't the one she needed to shake with, but he still found it a little odd. However, he just chalked it up to a girl thing and shrugged it off.
Alex took his hand limply in hers and gave it a small shake. "Nice to meet you," she said timidly.
Alex felt like kicking herself for being so nervous. There was no need to be. Since when did she care what adults thought of her? She never did before. She had a winning personality that always made parents initially like her… Until they got to know her, that is. But she usually didn't give a shit, quite frankly. So why, all of a sudden, did it matter what Steve Torres thought of her? Maybe it was the fact that she knew Mitchie's parents already weren't fond of her. Maybe because she knew Justin had told them about her flaws, or at least she was pretty sure he had. Maybe it was because she was afraid if Mr. Torres hated her, he wouldn't let Justin continue to teach Alex and Mitchie at the same time. Whatever the reason for her nervousness, Alex made herself suck it up and get over it, or at least pretend to do so.
"Can I have some money for the movie, Dad?" Mitchie asked.
"Sure thing, Kiddo," Steve said, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out his wallet. He slipped a twenty dollar bill out and handed it to Mitchie before putting his wallet back in his pocket.
"Thanks." She slid the bill into the front pocket of her sweatshirt.
Alex took a deep breath to calm her nerves and put on her signature grin. "Thanks for letting Mitchie come out with me tonight," she said. That's right, work the Alex Russo charm.
"Thank you for inviting her," Steve said. "I'm glad she made a friend."
"Dad," Mitchie groaned, her face a little pink. What was it with dads? Did they have a gene in them that says they must embarrass their daughters?
Alex chuckled softly at her embarrassed friend before turning back to the girl's father. "No problem. We both could use a night out."
"What time will you be back?" Steve asked curiously. He didn't want Mitchie out too late in New York City after only living there for a few weeks, even if she was going to be with a New York native, especially not in her condition.
Alex chewed the inside of her cheek, thinking for a moment. "It really depends on which movie we see. I'm thinking no later than 10:30 or 11 probably."
"And you're walking there?" Steve asked, eyebrows raised.
"No," Alex said, shaking her head. "We're taking the subway there. I'm most likely going to walk home, though."
Mr. Torres looked at her uncertainly. "By yourself?"
Alex nodded. "Yeah, I do it all the time."
"Can't you get your brother or one of your parents to pick you up at the theater?"
"Justin has to work tonight," Alex said. She wasn't sure if that was true or not, but she said it anyway because she was still extremely pissed at him. "And my parents don't have a car. We loaned it to this guy to fix up for a race, and it was basically destroyed… Long story, trust me."
"I could go pick up both of you," Steve offered. "If you still want to take the subway there, that's fine since it's daylight. I'm just a little nervous about you two being out alone at night. You understand, I'm sure."
"Oh yeah, totally," Alex said, nodding.
"So I could go get you and then drop you off at home," Steve said.
Alex turned a little red. "I can just walk from here. It's okay, really," she said quickly when he started to protest. "I don't want you to have to go out of your way. I feel bad enough that you have to come get us. I don't want to be a pest." Whoa, where was this coming from? Since when did Alex Russo care about the convenience of others? She must've really wanted to impress this guy.
"You're not a pest, Alex," Steve said good naturedly. "But if it bothers you that much, why don't you just spend the night here? I'd feel a lot better if you did that instead of walking home at night by yourself."
Alex was a little taken aback. She'd never been invited to spend the night so early in a friendship, not even with Harper. Every once in a while, she'd had a different friend that would invite her over, but never a parent. Especially after they got past her charm and saw that she was way too devious to have around for too long. This was very new.
"Are you sure?" She asked, looking to Mitchie. Even if Steve had offered, she wasn't about to accept if it wasn't okay with Mitchie.
Mitchie looked a little worried, but put on a small smile. "Yeah, Alex, stay. It'll be fun. My bed can fit two."
"Um, okay," Alex said, rubbing the back of her neck with her hand. "I'll call my parents and ask." She took out her phone. "I'll just take this in the hall…" She excused herself before stepping into the complex's hallway for privacy.
Mitchie stared at the closed door, lost in her own thoughts. Steve took notice of this.
"What's going on, Mitch?" he asked.
She looked at her dad. "Why did you do that?" she asked.
"What do you mean?" This time he was taken aback.
"Invite her to stay?" Mitchie crossed her arms. "She's my friend. Shouldn't that be my decision?"
"I was just trying to help." Steve frowned. "I thought you'd be happy. Last night you were talking about how excited you were that you were going to get to have sleepovers when Caitlyn got here."
"Yeah, with Caitlyn!"
"Caitlyn, Alex, what's the difference?" Steve asked innocently. He really didn't see what the big deal was. A sleepover was a sleepover, right?
"There's a big difference," Mitchie said. "Caitlyn is my best friend. She's familiar. Alex is new, and… Oh, never mind. You wouldn't get it."
The conversation was cut short with a soft knock on the door. Mitchie opened it to reveal Alex.
"You didn't have to knock, you know," Mitchie said, stepping back to let her in. "You could have just walked back in."
Alex shook her head. "No, I couldn't. I would have felt weird doing that. Harper does it at my house all the time, and after almost ten years of it, I still feel uncomfortable."
"That's a problem." Mitchie frowned slightly. "You should talk to her about that."
She shook her head again. "Nah. It's Harper. She's practically family. My parents like her better than me, anyway."
"Speaking of your parents…" Mitchie looked at Alex. "What'd they say?"
"My dad said it would be 'wonderful,'" Alex said. "In fact, he didn't say it. He yelled it. Very loudly, and in my ear. He was very excited about it." She smirked a little.
"Really?" Mitchie smiled nervously. She was used to having people having positive opinions of her, but this was too much. The Russos knew she wasn't a saint, right?
Alex nodded. "I told you, they like you."
"They haven't even met me…"
"I know, but can you imagine what they'd be like if they did?" Alex gave her a smirk.
"I really can't, because I don't know them," Mitchie said honestly.
Alex's grin slid off her face. Well, that wasn't smooth at all. "Uh," she cleared her throat, "we should get going."
"Yeah." Mitchie nodded her agreement. "I'm so glad you're sleeping over." She smiled at the girl, then turned to her father. "Bye, Dad." She waved at him as she and Alex walked out the door.
Steve stood there dumbfounded, staring after his daughter. He was utterly confused. Hadn't Mitchie been upset with him for inviting Alex to spend the night? She had seemed like it was the last thing in the world she wanted. But then, her mood did a complete 360 when Alex said she could stay. He had no idea what was going on.
Maybe it was the pregnancy. He could vaguely remember Connie having random mood swings while she was carrying Mitchie. Could Mitchie be going through the same thing? Or was it too early for that? He really had no clue. But if that was the case, and Mitchie was having severe mood swings already, he knew one thing for sure: This was going to be a long pregnancy.
"Hi, Honey. How was your day?" Steve asked Connie later when she came home from work.
"Exhausting, but fun," Connie said, sitting next to her husband on the couch. She wrinkled her nose when she saw he was watching baseball. She hated sports.
"That's nice." Steve turned his attention back to the game.
"Where's Mitchie?" Connie asked, looking around the apartment. Usually Mitchie was at the table doing work of some kind or in the living room watching TV. She was never in her room because she felt claustrophobic in there, so she was always in the living room. But not tonight. She was nowhere in sight.
"Oh, I let her go to the movies," Steve said, bracing himself for the question he knew was to follow his remark.
"With whom?" Connie asked, raising an eyebrow. Caitlyn wasn't supposed to move up to New York for another two weeks, so it couldn't be her. So then it had to be…
"Alex." Steve turned the TV lower, ready for the fight he knew was about to come.
"What?"! Connie exclaimed, snatching the remote from her husband and turning the television set off completely.
"Honey, I know you don't like her," Mr. Torres started, turning to face his wife.
"You're right; I don't," Connie said. "That girl's trouble! And you let our daughter go to the movies with her!"
"I made sure she came here first so I could meet her!"
"But I didn't meet her!"
"You didn't have to," Steve said. "I am Mitchie's father. I'm capable of making a few decisions concerning her life."
"I thought we were equal partners in raising her?" Connie asked, standing and putting her hands on her hips.
"We are," Steve said, looking up at his wife. "But I knew you wouldn't let her go. And I also knew it was one of the last chances she would get to be a kid before the baby comes! It was important for her to go."
"She could have gone to the movies two weeks from now when Caitlyn moves up here!" Connie exclaimed. "She didn't have to go with Alex!"
"But Alex asked her to go, and she really wanted to." Steve sighed. "Look, I met her. She seems like a nice enough kid. She was polite enough to me, anyway."
"I'm telling you, Steve. I have a bad feeling about her," Connie said, pointing her finger at her husband. "I had a bad feeling about Shane Gray, too, and look what happened. He got her pregnant!"
"I don't think Alex is capable of that, Sweetheart," Steve said, smiling amusedly.
"This isn't funny, Steve." She pinched the bridge of her nose, fighting a headache.
He got up and went behind his wife, placing his hands on her shoulders and rubbing gently. "Give her a chance, Con."
"Who, Alex or Mitchie?"
"Both of them," he said, still rubbing. "Give Mitchie the chance to prove she's grown up and become a better judge of character, and give Alex the chance to prove she isn't such a bad influence after all."
"I guess." Connie sighed.
"That's my girl." Steve kissed the top of her head.
"Anything else I should know about?"
Steve stopped rubbing her shoulders. "Did I mention I said Alex could spend the night, too?"
"Great..."
If you felt the scene with Alex, Mitchie, and her father was awkward, good. It was kind of supposed to be.
Reviews make me smile. Just so you know…