DISCLAIMER: I do not own Mitchie, Nate, Shane, or Jason. However; Linda, 'Beefy' and the girl at the counter are all figments of my imagination.

Once he was home, Nate wandered around the house; looking and hoping for something to do to get his mind off of Mitchie. But he couldn't find anything. Sighing, he threw his body down onto the large couch and closed his eyes. Again, Mitchie's face appeared in front of him. He opened his eyes and sat up, breathing heavily.

'Mitchie and Shane are in Europe for a month,' he thought. 'I'm not going to be able to live that long if I keep this up.'

He lay his head back down on the cushions and was going to try and sleep when his cell-phone rang. He sat up and reached into his pocket. The caller ID on the front said 'Jason.'

"Perfect!" he whispered to himself. "He'll help me get my mind off of Mitch."

"Hey," he said into the tiny phone. Jason's voice came onto the other end.

"Hi, Nate! How was the wedding?"

Nate sighed and rolled his eyes. Just the topic he wanted to think about….

"It was great," he said; annoyed .

"You sure? You sound mad or something."

"Me? No. I'm fine! Couldn't be better! So glad you called when you did!" Nate said, hoping Jason wouldn't notice the level of sarcasm in his voice. Jason chuckled.

"Yeah. I thought you'd like to hear from me and I wanted to know what was going on. I bet Mitchie looked beautiful up there." Jason sighed contentedly on the other end of the line.

"Yup. Beautiful," Nate said, closing his eyes and lying down once more.

"Nate, it really does sound like something's up. Would you like to talk for a little bit? I could make some time."

Nate sighed.

"Fine. You win. I'm just…I just….I guess I'm kinda' depressed is all."

Jason paused for a moment before answering.

"You have a girlfriend?"

"No," Nate whined. "That's part of the problem."

"Well, then, maybe you should get one!"

"Yeah. Ok. I guess that's it then," Nate said.

"Ok. Well, I gotta' go now. Bye, Nate!"

Nate heard the other end click and turned off his phone.

"I've gotta' get out of the house," he muttered to himself, grabbing some dark glasses and scarf to cover his face so he wasn't recognizable. "Maybe Jason's right. I should try and find a girlfriend."

Running outside, he hopped into his car and was decided to go downtown to a sub shop. Once there, he parked the car and ran inside.

'Remember,' he thought to himself. 'You're looking for girls.'

The person at the counter was a young teenage girl who was as skinny as a toothpick and with long, drab blond hair. She looked completely bored.

"Can I take your order?" she asked, monotonously.

"I'd like…an...All American, please," Nate answered, smiling. The girl rolled her eyes and turned to face the doorway next to her.

"Beefy!" she called.

"What?!" An older, rather fat man with greasy black hair, horrible five o'clock shadow and a large t-shirt that barely covered his torso came into the doorway.

"One All American," the girl said, pointing to Nate. Nate looked over at the man and cringed. 'Beefy' rolled his snarled as he walked back through the doorway.

"And don't burn the meat this time, Beefy!" the girl cried to him. "That lady's burger earlier was supposed to be only partially rare, not only partially edible."

Nate gulped.

"You know, I'm actually not that hungry," he said, trying to smile. "I'll….come…back later."

"Whatev," the girl answered, tossing her hair. Nate turned and all but ran out of the shop.

'I'm just gonna' go to the bookstore at the mall,' he thought. 'Nice and quiet there. And no 'Beefy.''

When he got to the store, Nate bought a small latté and started wandering down the long rows of books. After twenty minutes, he decided that this was boring and was about to leave when he came upon a girl. She was standing with her back to him; her long, wavy, honey-brown hair falling delicately onto her shoulders and her whole body stretched out as she reached in vain for a large book that was just beyond her reach.

"Here, let me get that for you," Nate said quickly, stepping forward and reaching for the book himself. The girl turned around and looked up at him; her green eyes sparkling like emeralds in the bright light that came from the ceiling, landing on her like a spotlight. For a moment, Nate stood; mesmerized. Then, he recognized her.

"Linda?"

The girl stared hard at him; her brows knit together. Nate suddenly remembered he still had his 'disguise' on. He quickly took off the glasses and un-wrapped the scarf from around his face.

"It's me! Nate!"

Recognition suddenly flooded onto Linda's face.

"Oh! Nate! I'm so sorry. I couldn't see who it was. Forgive me."

"No problem," Nate said, grinning widely. "That was kinda' the point."

Linda giggled.

"Thanks for getting my book."

"Yeah. No, sure," Nate said. "They really should have ladders here." Linda smiled for a response; her cheeks glowing a soft pink in comparison to her white complexion and cherry colored lips. Then, it hit Nate. She could be his girlfriend! Sure, she wasn't Mitchie, but she was cute and sweet and might help to take his mind off of Mitchie for a while.

"Hey, Linda," Nate said, suddenly nervous at the prospect of having to ask her out.

"What?' Linda asked, innocently.

"I was wondering. Do you think….maybe….you could….I don't know….go on a date? Uh…that is…with me?"

Linda's eyes lit up.

"Sure!" she said, trying hard to make it appear as though she wasn't quite as enthusiastic and excited about it as she actually was.

"Cool," Nate replied, smiling. "Where would you like to go?"

"I'm a sucker for fairs," Linda said, blushing a bit. "There's one over in Ellisville this Saturday. Would…that be ok?"

"Of course," Nate answered. "Sounds great."

"If we buy the ticket-bracelets, then we can go on any ride as many times as we want 'till midnight. And I can work out getting them. The bracelets start at 8:00 p.m. Maybe you could pick me up at my house around 7:30?"

"7:30 it is then."

Linda wrote something down on a slip of paper and handed it to Nate with a smile.

"Here's my address. See you then?"

"Thanks," Nate said, taking the small piece of paper. "See you then."

Linda smiled and turned and walked out of the store.

Ok. I know that Linda isn't Caitlyn and it's not quite the same, but please just try to think of her as a Caitlyn-type-character….(sorry, but, WHO is Caitlyn again? I was too concentrated on Smitchie to notice her as much….((don't be mad at me!))

Hope you liked it, and, for those of you who don't already have the drill pretty much down, if you don't review, I don't post more. So, REVIEW!! (and any ideas or anything you have for this story or an idea for another are greatly appreciated as well. I may not use all of them ((and probably won't just to let you know)), but I will try to incorporate as much as possible that fits with the story line I want. Thanks!!)