Chapter 10

We can't be together and you know it.

It had been a week since the day of Final Jam and those words were still ringing ever so clearly in Mitchie's head. Even though Mitchie had been busy recording, writing, and getting ready for her first music video, nothing could keep her mind distracted long enough to not think about Tess Tyler. Mitchie didn't bother to try to get in touch with the blonde girl, already knowing her attempts were pointless.

We can't make this work Mitchie.

She was willing to put everything she had in to the relationship so why couldn't Tess do the same? Was Tess really evil enough to take Mitchie's heart and then crush it in her bare hands? Mitchie couldn't help but wonder if it was some sort of game to Tess and if she was sitting on some private island laughing herself to tears telling the story to her friends.

A phone could be heard ringing in the distance, but this didn't register in Mitchie's mind as her thoughts were plagued by memories of Tess Tyler. Connie Torres suggested talking about it, but Mitchie wouldn't have that. She would just give her mother the darkest glare she could muster before mumbling, "There's nothing to talk about." Sure her mother was trying to help, but Mitchie didn't want to have to talk about Tess. Thinking about her was painful enough.

A loud knocking on the door managed to pull the brunette from her depressing thoughts and she sat up on the all too comfortable bed she managed to bury herself in.

"Yes?" Mitchie said, her voice slightly hoarse from crying a few hours before.

"Ms. Torres, the limo is ready to take you to the studio again." A rather monotone voice said from the other side of the door.

Mitchie groaned and threw the comforter back over her head. She wanted to scream with frustration. She wasn't in the mood to record again for the 3rd time that day. She just wanted to lie in bed for another few hours…or the rest of the day.

"Mitchie Torres! You get out of that bed right now!" It was Connie's voice this time. "You've been moping around enough today!"

So much for her mom trying to help. Mitchie pulled herself out of bed and grudgingly made her way across her suite to grab her purse and shoes. She pulled the door open and found her mother standing impatiently with her hands on her hips and a scowl etched on her face. Connie opened her mouth to say something but stopped when her daughter walked around her to head to the elevator.

Once the elevator had reach the lobby level, Mitchie and her mother quickly maneuvered through the lobby and out the revolving doors. As soon as Mitchie had stepped a foot onto the concrete, a photo was snapped and hundreds more followed. She was thankful for the dark sunglasses that sat securely on her face. The last thing she wanted to see was herself on the internet with red puffy eyes from crying. She gripped her mother's hand as they squeezed through the mass of reporters and photographers. Even with her body guard who happened to be twice the size of Mitchie and Connie put together it was still a challenge to get to the limo. The limo driver held the door open and the two Torres women slid into the vehicle.

Mitchie settled herself in to the seat and leaned her head against the window. The limo was pulling off as quickly as possible without running over any of the crazy photographers. The city of Los Angeles passed in a blur as she stared blankly out the window. Connie seemed to be talking, but Mitchie was most definitely not paying attention. Her thoughts began drifting to a person that was probably hundreds of miles away.

Flashback

"Mitchie."

A groaning noise could be heard from the person attempting to hide themselves in the sheets.

"Mitchie!"

"Go away Caitlyn."

Caitlyn sighed and sat down on the bed next to the other girl.

"You're gonna have to get up sooner or later. I don't think you want Connie in here…" Caitlyn said slightly bouncing on the bed to annoy her friend.

"Ugh. Quit it." Mitchie whined trying to kick at the other brunette.

Caitlyn laughed at her attempts but got up from the bed only to yank the sheets from the bed.

"Rise and shine!"

"Caitlyn just leave me here to die."

The other girl scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Let's not be melodramatic here. It's just Tess."

Mitchie sat up to glare at her friend. "She broke my heart. She just tossed me aside like an old, fashion magazine."

Mitchie wondered if Shane was feeling that way about her. She felt horrible for how things went down with Shane, but she couldn't help how she felt about Tess. But clearly the blonde didn't reciprocate the feelings since she just left her standing backstage.

Please Mitchie. Don't make this harder than it is.

"Just give it time. Things will work out for the best I promise." Caitlyn said offering a reassuring smile.

Mitchie shrugged and climbed out of bed. She got ready and quickly threw the rest of her stuff in her bag. With one last glance around the cabin to make sure she had forgotten anything, she exited with Caitlyn right behind her.

"You know," Caitlyn started, falling into step with the other brunette. "We'll be in L.A. soon. Shopping, sightseeing, etcetera, etcetera."

Mitchie couldn't help but smile slightly at this. She was happy that to have Caitlyn to be with her in Los Angeles, since she had work to do.

Breakfast was nearly too full of excited chattering for Mitchie. And most of the excited chattering was coming from her own table. Sander and Barron weren't exactly the quietest guys at Camp Rock. Since she was sitting at her usual seat, she caught a glimpse of Tess Tyler at her usual table. But not once did the blonde look her way. Mitchie was couldn't take sitting in the mess hall anymore, so she got up from the table without a word. She walked out of the door as stealthily as possible. She was glad she left when she did since Brown decided to get up and do his farewell and whatnot speech.

Mitchie leaned her back against the side of the mess hall building. She had her eyes clenched shut as she tried to fight the tears that were threatening to fall. With no such luck, the tears leaked from the corners of her eyes anyway and a sob escaped her lips. She felt pathetic standing there outside because she couldn't stand being in the same room as Tess Tyler. The sound of footsteps surprised her and she furiously wiped at her eyes with the back of hand attempting to hide evidence of tears.

Mitchie glanced over at the blonde girl walking towards her and her breath nearly caught in her throat. Neither girl spoke as Tess stood directly in front of her the brunette that looked stunned. Mitchie was preparing herself for more heartbreaking words and was ready to cover her ears with her hands if needed.

But what caught Mitchie off guard was the sudden feeling of lips on her own. Mitchie didn't have time to question anything as she found herself being pushed harder against the building with Tess' lips still vigorously moving over her own. Mitchie grabbed a hold of Tess' face in her hands securing her and returned the kiss with as much passion as she could. Tess' hands were gripping Mitchie's hips as if she was holding on for dear life. But just as suddenly as the kiss began, it ended. Tess released her hold on the other girl's hips and Mitchie reluctantly released the blonde's face. Tess began backing up but Mitchie reached for her. Tess shook her head, her eyes shining with unshed tears and she turned around to leave Mitchie standing alone again.

Mitchie slumped to the ground curling her knees up to her body. She allowed the tears to fall freely as she could careless who found her in the state she was in. A few minutes later, she felt someone sit beside her and they pulled her against them. The familiar scent of axe filled her nostrils and she knew who was holding her.

"Well I know you're not crying over me." Shane said with a slight laugh.

Mitchie managed a smile and looked up at her ex-boyfriend.

"Shane what're you doing? I thought you hated me…" Mitchie whispered snuggling into the embrace.

"I can't hate you." Shane murmured into the brunette's hair. "Before we dated you were my first bestfriend. I'm not willing to throw that away."

Mitchie hugged the boy tighter, causing him to gasp for breath. She pulled away abruptly, smiling apologetically. "So what now?"

"This is the part where you ask if we can still be friends." He said as if it was obvious.

"Well…can we still be friends?" Mitchie asked.

"Duh." Shane said and hopped to his feet. He held out a hand for her to take and she took it gratefully and was pulled off the ground. "I'm sorry for what I said."

Mitchie shrugged. "I can't blame you. You were…more than furious."

"But still I had no right to call you all those names. And diss you in public. So I'm really sorry."

Mitchie nodded. "I'm sorry for...you know the way things happened."

"Yeah I didn't see that one coming."

They both laughed in agreement.

"So you and Tess…?" Shane asked as they made their way back to the mess hall to grab their stuff.

"There really isn't a 'me and Tess'." Mitchie said hoping Shane would drop the subject of Tess Tyler.

End Flashback

Mitchie noticed that the limo was no longer moving and her mother was persistently calling her name. She climbed out of the seat and she made her way into the studio with her mom, easily getting through the paparazzi this time. Once inside the building, she spotted Caitlyn toying with one of the display guitars.

"You break it, you buy it." Mitchie shouted causing the other girl to jump in surprise.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Caitlyn asked putting her hands behind her back and began rocking back and forth on her heels.

Mitchie and Connie laughed before the three shared a hug.

"So how's Ms. Celebrity doing?" Caitlyn teased as they made their way to an elevator.

"Been better." Mitchie shrugged looking away from her friend, but caught the look of concern Caitlyn gave Connie.

It was mostly silent as they rode the elevator down a few floors. The only thing that could be heard was the faint sound of Paramore playing from the speakers of the elevator.

I've gone too far to come back from here
But you don't have a clue
You don't know what you do to me
And I've come too far to get over you
And you don't have a clue
You don't know what you do to me

As soon as the doors slid open, Mitchie nearly fainted at the sight she saw before her. There Tess Tyler stood just a few feet in front of the elevator with a slight smile playing at her lips. Mitchie rubbed at her eyes and even pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

"We'll see you later Mitchie." Connie and Caitlyn said in unison.

Before Mitchie knew it, she was stumbling out of the elevator.

"Hey-" She began but stopped when she saw the doors close in her face.

"Mitchie." The blonde said causing the brunette to automatically turn to face her.

Mitchie nearly stumbled back when she realized how close the other girl was. "I-"

Tess placed her finger over the brunette's lips silencing her. Mitchie glowered at Tess and put some space between them.

"So you probably thought you were on your way to record another song." Tess stated with a slight smirk.

Mitchie nodded but opened her mouth to talk but was cut off by Tess again.

"Let me finish Mitchie."

"Of course. Put yourself first as always." Mitchie mumbled.

Tess raised a brow at the girl in front of her and sighed. "Look, I set this visit up. I'm surprised by how willing your mom was. And Caitlyn of course."

Mitchie eyes were wide in disbelief. "So I was tricked in to coming here?"

Tess laughed. "Sure Mitchie. I wasn't really sure if you would actually want to see me…"

Mitchie let a bitter laugh escape her lips. "I thought it was you that didn't want to see me."

Tess sighed. "Of course I wanted to see you. I needed to see you." Tess replied reaching for Mitchie's hands, but the brunette turned her back to her. Instead Tess wrapped her arms around the other girl from behind.

"We can't make this work Tess." Mitchie said repeating what the blonde had told her only a week ago.

She heard Tess chuckle in her ear and she felt an involuntary shiver run down her spine.

"Oh Mitchie. We're going to make this work." Tess whispered tightening her hold on the brunette in her arms.

"You really think you can come find me in L.A. and we can just kiss and make up?" Mitchie asked not believing the audacity of this girl.

Tess chuckled again and placed a soft kiss on the brunette's neck. "I had help. Shane had Nate call Caitlyn, who called me and told me where you'd be. So really I'm here thanks to Shane. It was all his idea. He said you missed me."

"Shane?! Is this some kind of joke?" Mitchie asked turning her head to catch the blonde's gaze.

"Shane isn't that bad. Even though he could have directly called me himself, the gesture was nice." Tess replied.

"I'm kinda speechless…"

"Good. The less talking we do, the more kissing and making up we can get to." Tess replied leaning into connect her lips to the other girl's. But Mitchie pulled her head back slightly.

"You didn't bring me any flowers or chocolates?" Mitchie asked teasingly and turned in the blonde's arms. She would have to remember to thank everyone involved in this little scheme

"I brought myself." Tess retorted bringing her forehead to rest against Mitchie's. "And I'm the best gift."

Mitchie couldn't help but smile. "You and that ego. But you're right." Mitchie replied leaning into kiss the blonde. "Definitely the best gift." She whispered before their lips collided together.

Even though Mitchie still had a lot of questions she needed to ask Tess, they would just have to worry about the future later and enjoy the present while they could.

-The End-