a/n: first off - HEY! i've missed you guys incredibly, and i have to apologize for how long this chapter took. my friend was living in my house for about 2wks and then my family and i went on a road trip, so i didn't have any time to write. i hope you'll all understand, and you've all been really awesome and patient so far so i can't thank you enough. ;) as an apology, this chapter is really quite long (i tried to squeeze a lot in because so much is coming) - but on the down side, i didn't have time to edit so hopefully you guys find it okay. i also wanted to say sorry for not replying to every single one of your reviews this time - and i promise i will this time. your reviews mean the world to me.

also, thanks to bluebubble112, xXfanaticofyouXx, faith8313, incywincyspider, natasha11892, williamswheelbarrel, xxHeadInTheStarsxx, and more for consistently incredible reviews and kind words. know that even if i didn't mention you, i appreciate your support all the same. to Liza, sushi, VegasJonasLuver, and other anonymous reviewers i can't reply to: thank you as well. :) x, cami

Song of the Chapter: Take a Breath - Jonas Brothers (a lot of you suggested JB or Demi songs, so here you go! i know it's old school JB, but i'm sure you guys are fans of that. i actually tried really hard to incorporate the lyrics from this one throughout this chapter, so try listening to it and see if you can spot them tweaked a little and worked into the descriptions! let me know :P)

Everything We've Known
Chapter 24 - Four's Company, Five's a Crowd

Mitchie.

It rang through her ears as she sprinted away from the cabin, her own footsteps and the echoes of the name pounding in her head.

Mitchie.

Oh my God – her very own best friend. She wasn't even sure which best friend she was thinking of at the moment, but all of it was wrong and they're both her best friends and how could she have done that? She continued to run mindlessly, as far as she could get from the cabin and she hated herself for it (it seemed that whenever she and Nate saw each other now, it ended with someone running) but how could she have stayed there? How could she have stayed there when she wanted to kiss him so badly and yet – it was just a pity kiss from him, a final memory for her to keep once she couldn't have him. It didn't mean anything, nothing more than an "I'm sorry" and "goodbye". And then there was the Mitchie factor, the screaming voice in the back of her head that told her to get away, to stop.

Mitchie.

It was a mistake. And her last mistake, too. That was just closure, she told herself. And Nate will fix everything with Mitchie, she continued, trying to reassure herself that maybe this could be okay. She knew that Nate did it for her benefit, because after that he would go back to Mitchie (because he loved her, not because Alex told him to) and it would be as if Alex had never loved him. As if Alex wasn't in the picture. But for one instant there, she imagined sparks between her and Nate and thought that maybe he saw her the way she saw him. It seemed to be all she did in the past few weeks – saw things differently than they actually were, imagined things that weren't really there. She was really, really sick of it. She couldn't even wrap her head around why she put up with it, until she saw Nate and thought of everything they'd gone through and…

Mitchie.

It was too confusing. Somehow she had ended up in front of her cabin again, and she couldn't go in there. She couldn't go there, and not to Nate's cabin – she couldn't go anywhere anymore. Where was she supposed to go from here? It was like she was always running, always, always, always. She slowed to a walk and headed towards the rehearsal halls. She'd been singing more and more lately – to a point where it had gotten almost unreasonable. She clenched her fists loosely at her sides, just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. There came a point when she really wasn't interested in it anymore. She couldn't keep giving and giving, or she'd break. She hadn't broken yet, had she? No, she was still standing. She'd walk away – and she'd keep that last kiss from Nate, the parting gift he'd given her. She deserved that much. It was all from him she would keep, this one last reminder, because that was all she had left.

"I'm sorry Mitchie," she murmured, her head held high, "but I'll keep that. You can keep him – you can have him. I'll keep his last gift, and you can have the real thing."

"Alex?"

She was standing in the rain. No, dancing. Her hands were grasped in someone else's, someone whose face she couldn't see. His hands were warm, familiar, and she knew the situation didn't really make sense but she wasn't worried.

The rain was slowly coming to a stop and a quiet ray of sunshine was peeking through the clouds, spreading gently across her face. She bent her head back and smiled towards the sky as the hands around hers guided her, spinning her around as the last drops of rain fell.

"Alex?"

Someone was calling her name. Mitchie, maybe? She turned slowly, and Mitchie stood to the right of her, dancing in somebody else's arms. She couldn't see his face either – but Mitchie was smiling too, and that was all that mattered in that moment. "I'm sorry," she yelled to Mitchie, but somehow her voice went unheard and Mitchie didn't seem to care. They were still dancing, dancing, and the rain was still falling but it was a good sort of rain, the kind that smells like a new start and fresh beginnings. A cloud moved above her head as they began to part slowly, the skies wide open before her.

"Alex,"

Someone was still calling for her. This time, it made her wary. Apprehensive. She ignored it, still smiling up at the sky and thinking of the hands around hers. They held her up – she almost felt as if she wasn't working to stand up straight, as long as this person was there. And then the hands slowly slid away from her, almost so that she didn't realize until they weren't around her. For a moment, she was panicking, scared she would fall. And then the hands were back, but this time, there were more. At least three people, she guessed, all holding her steady and so familiar. It was overpowering, how much that comforted her, and she turned slowly to face the person calling her name.

"I'm sorry too."

The voice said it to her, and suddenly it was pouring, thundering, crashing down on her and all she had were the hands holding her up and—

"ALEX!"

She woke with a start, her head jumping up from its position on the hard, wooden table. Her guitar was still on her lap and a pencil was in her hand. Her heart was still beating too fast from that dream (nightmare) and she was disoriented, unsure of what was real.

"You okay, Lex?"

She whipped her head around and was face-to-face with a concerned Shane. He looked worriedly down on her and then slowly smiled at her confused expression. "It was just a dream, Lex," he whispered. She blinked up and saw an equally concerned Jason, standing behind Shane.

"Shane, Jason," she breathed, "I – it…it was awful. Something's not right, something's going to go wrong, I can feel it. Tonight…"

"Tonight?" Shane repeated dubiously. "Alex, what happened earlier – with you and Nate? Jason told me you went to tell him…are you okay? Do I need to go kick his ass?"

Alex let out a weak chuckle, amused by the thought of Shane trying to kick Nate's ass for her. "No, no one's ass needs to be kicked. We –" she paused, unsure of what to say. We kissed? Shane would go ballistic. Jason would blame the whole thing on himself. "We – worked things out."

"What…what does that mean?" Jason asked, and Alex couldn't help to think that was exactly what she had been thinking. She had no idea.

"It means everything is okay. It means…it means I don't want to think about it at the moment." She smiled half-heartedly, and Shane and Jason looked for a moment as if they would press her for more information, but they bit their words back and smiled carefully too. She frowned, something nagging her at the back of her mind. Something she was forgetting…

"Mitchie," she whispered, "Mitchie. Have you talked to her? Is she…okay?"

Shane nodded slowly. "She's holding up, Alex. We told her you went to talk to Nate – she understands, you have to know that. She's not the type to pretend as if everything is okay when it's not. She's strong – like you, Lex. And she's a good friend too – she wants what's best for you."

Alex bit her lip. Mitchie was a good friend. And yet she'd hardly spent any time with her this summer. Nothing had really gone according to plan, had it? And all over a boy.

"I told Nate to try to fix things with Mitchie," Alex murmured, "He does love her, no question. But maybe…maybe neither of us is meant to be with him. Maybe we're both better off without him. Look at what happened to us, look at how we let things get between us."

Slowly, she stood, putting her guitar carefully on the table. She stepped forward and when she looked up Shane and Jason were both there, with their arms held out wordlessly. She laughed, smiling genuinely as she stepped into their arms, letting them hug her for what felt like forever. She let a few tears slip again – but this was for other reasons. This was because she would miss them so much – her best friends. Her brothers.

"Um, I hate to interrupt this heartfelt moment," Jason said, his face squished between Shane and Alex's shoulders, "but we do have a dance to get ready for."

Alex laughed as Shane snorted and the three of them pulled apart. It hit her then, that this was it. There was only one more week left of camp. Only seven days, seven days until she'd say goodbye to her best friends and seven days left of her last year at Camp Rock. Seven days to make all the memories last.

"Ready to knock everyone's socks off, Miss Russo?" Shane grinned, holding his bent arm out for his date.

"Always, Mister Gray," she laughed, looping one of her arms through his and the other through Jason's as they walked out the door.

The next few hours were a blur.

Somehow they'd ended up in Alex and Mitchie's cabin and everyone was flying all over the place. When they'd entered, Mitchie had came at Alex so fast that she could hardly see her until her arms were wrapped around her. Somehow it was as if Alex hadn't seen her for months and months – and maybe they'd gotten so caught up in everything that they hadn't. But this was her best friend too, and they stood like that for a few minutes, laughing and crying and catching up.

It was almost as if nothing had ever happened.

Shane and Jason had run back to their own cabins to get their things, and promised they'd meet the girls back in their cabin in an hour. Nobody mentioned Nate, because at that moment it wasn't about him. He never came up in the conversation, not even to ask where he was. They avoided the topic of him and Alex tried her best not to think of it – and at times she forgot about him completely. And then at other times his face would come to her mind with a pang and she'd pause in whatever she was doing, shaking her head to clear her thoughts.

"Alex?"

She looked up sharply from the mascara tube she was holding but not doing anything with, pulled out of her thoughts. Don't think about him, she reminded herself, don't think about—

Her eyes widened and her mouth spread into an awed grin as her eyes fell on Mitchie. She'd stepped cautiously out of the bathroom, a nervous smile on her face. Her hair looked lighter, her eyes gleaming softly in the dim light. She'd straightened the majority of her hair but the ends had been curled gently, framing her face. Alex had expected a far more done-up look, something darker and more glam rock – but this was softer and subtle in a way that caught Alex off guard. She'd gone with an almost nude lip but dark lashes and eyeliner – something so Mitchie, and yet so classy. Her dress was simple and black with gold detailing, and Alex laughed at how mature Mitchie had become. An almost corset-like bodice dipped into a sweetheart neckline and ended with a full skirt, and the whole thing just made Alex smile.

"Do I look okay?"

Alex laughed. "Breathtaking, Mitch." Mitchie laughed and spun around, the gold accents almost glittering in the room. Alex clapped and watched her take a bow, grinning as she grabbed her own dress off from its hanger on the side of her bunk. Mitchie rose from her bow and then crinkled her nose at the sight of the dress.

"You're not wearing that, are you Als?"

Alex laughed. "Hey! Come on, what's wrong with this?" She held up the dress carefully, examining it. She'd worn it to their winter formal, and had gotten plenty of compliments in the process. It was a deep emerald green one-shoulder dress, and Alex had been pretty pleased with it up until about two seconds ago. Now, she wasn't so sure.

"Nothing's wrong with it," Mitchie amended, "But I've seen it already! You need to wow everyone, Lex. It's our last year at Camp Rock – go out with a bang!"

Alex rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "So what do you suggest, that I just make a dress right now? I, unlike you, am not totally insane and didn't bring a million dresses to camp, of all places."

"I am not insane! Most of the dresses I brought were casual – and I wanted to have options so I could choose for Final Jam! Plus, you won't be complaining once you're wearing one."

Alex had barely comprehended her words before Mitchie was dragging her towards the bathroom, where dresses were randomly strewn all over the countertop. "Go do your hair and make-up," she commanded, "And I'll pick out something fabulous for you."

"Mitch, I think I should just wear my—"

"No buts, Alex. Hair and make-up, go!"

An hour later, Alex had given up completely on working on her own appearance. Somehow in the process, Mitchie had walked in on her straightening her hair and had practically flipped. Ten minutes afterward, Mitchie had shoved Alex into the chair and was curling her hair instead. It was just easier to let Mitchie take over than to argue with her.

But she put her foot down on the make-up. She didn't want anything overdone – just lipgloss, mascara, and blush were the furthest she would go. Mitchie finally decided that bit wasn't worth arguing and proceeded to brandish the curling iron dangerously close to Alex's face until she sat down and cooperated.

Somewhere between the mascara argument and the curling iron threats, Shane and Jason had entered the cabin and Mitchie had warned them that if they took one step towards the bathroom and saw Alex and her before the "full product" was ready, she'd bite both of their heads off. Shane and laughed and muttered something about her being "feisty", but Jason had looked genuinely scared and retreated into a corner of the cabin. Alex had squirmed uncomfortably in her seat for another twenty minutes (in which she was absolutely forbidden by Mitchie to look into a mirror) until it was announced she was done.

"I'm a genius," Mitchie grinned as Alex stood carefully, unsure of what to expect. "Now put this on," she instructed, throwing a deep red dress towards her. She caught it inches before her face and groaned. "Mitchie, it's red. It's so loud – red is you, not me."

"Just put it on, Alex," she ordered as she slammed the bathroom door shut. She took one last down at the dress and held back another sigh as she unzipped it. At least it wasn't pink, right? She peeled off her jean shorts and slid into the dress, the silky fabric wrapping itself easily around her. She tugged the small cap sleeves around her shoulders and the v-neck fell into place, the fabric hitting just above her knees. Little bits of transparent silver material peeked through beneath the sleeves and bust, and she tugged at the dress uncomfortably. She bit her lip and ran her fingers over the material, breathing out as she stepped out of the bathroom.

Mitchie was standing directly outside the door, waiting impatiently. The door swung open and she sprung, jumping towards Alex eagerly. She opened her mouth thoughtlessly before taking it all in, and then she shut it as her expression softened. A small smile spread over her face and then she let out a laugh, grinning at Alex.

"Oh God, Alex, it's perfect. I don't care what you think. You – it's stunning." She paused, smiling again and reaching out to adjust the fabric at the shoulder. "Everyone's going to love it."

"You think?"

"Alex, really. You look beautiful, I promise. But I mean, if you don't believe me, we have other people we can ask!"

And then she was taking her hand and the two of them were stepping out of the back of the cabin together, towards their bunks. Shane let out a dramatic, "FINALLY!" as they stepped around the corner, and then stopped in his tracks as the two girls emerged.

There was a long silence as the girls stood there, looking expectantly at Shane and Jason. Alex let out a breath and whispered, "Well?" Jason, who had been sitting on the bunk with his video camera pointed in their direction, slowly stood. He grinned as he recorded their smiling faces at the sight of the camera and then set it down, approaching them.

"Alex, Mitch," he smiled as he spread out his arms for the second time that day, "You both look gorgeous."

The girls grinned and leapt into his arms, smothering him in a wave of silky material and flowery perfume. Shane let out a laugh and a whistle as the girls pulled away, Jason still smiling at them.

"Hate to say it, but you guys look hot," Shane teased, "And so not like the girls I've known since I was about four."

Alex stuck her tongue out at him and he rolled his eyes as he attacked her with a hug of his own, moving on to Mitchie next. Somehow, Alex sensed an almost awkward pause before they hugged, a moment in which Shane wasn't quite sure what to say (and that never happened with Shane, did it?). But then they were both laughing and Shane's eyes were twinkling with humor as they hugged and Alex wondered if she had just imagined it.

"My lady," Shane joked as stepped back to Alex, bowing to kiss her hand. Alex let out a snort and humored him, letting him take her by the arm.

"I forgot to say," Alex said, "You boys look great too. Very dashing, if I say so myself." Shane grinned and adjusted the color of his dress shirt as Jason chuckled.

"You ready Mitch?" Jason asked, and Alex turned around in surprise as he took her by the hand. "Sorry for the last minute change of your date."

"Wait," Shane cut in, as surprised as Alex, "Jason, you asked Mitchie?"

Mitchie smiled and waved it off innocently, shrugging. "Yeah, as friends." She beamed up at Jason and added, "Thanks, Jase. It'll be more fun with you anyway – after all, friends come first – and boyfriends are overrated. I don't mean to ditch Nate, but…I don't want either of us to have to pretend anymore."

Alex bit her lip at her words and then took Mitchie's other hand so they made a chain of four. "Friends do come first," she murmured, squeezing Shane and Mitchie's hands on either side of her. She glanced down at the floor and then whispered, "Does anybody know where Nate is?"

There was a moment of tense silence in the cabin as the question hung in the air. It was the first time Alex and Mitchie had mentioned him all evening, and Shane's hand tightened comfortingly around hers. But friends did come first, always. She wanted to be able to still call him that, and for the first time she realized that it made her said he wasn't here. He was supposed to be a part of this, after all, the five of them together.

"I don't know, Als," Jason said, "But he said he'd be at the dance."

Alex nodded and with that the four of them were stepping out of the cabin door, arms linked as they headed into the evening air.

Nate stood in the entrance of the performance hall that Brown had cleared out for the dance. The hall was crowded, filled with people jumping up and down and moving to the music. All of it made him feel sort of nauseous – anxious, even. He fiddled nervously with the knot of his tie, suddenly feeling as if it was strangling him. He entered along the perimeter of the room, staying as far away from the center as possible. Strobe lights flickered from every corner and he was thankful for the relative darkness, the way he could slip away from the crowd unnoticed.

He'd been standing in the entrance for about 15 minutes, and it had taken him this long to even gather up the courage to enter the room. Now it was all too much, and he wished he'd not bothered to show up. He craned his neck momentarily to see if there was anyone he recognized – and then pulled away quickly when he realized he wouldn't even know what to say if he saw any of his friends. Besides, it had been more than a full hour since the dance had started, and by now they'd probably made their way into the center of the throng, dancing their hearts out.

It had taken him this long to finally convince himself he had to come to the dance – and after all of that, he couldn't bring himself to do anything. In fact, what would he do? He'd spent the whole afternoon pacing around in his empty cabin, locking himself up in the bathroom when he'd heard Shane and Jason entering to get ready. All he could think about was that kiss. He'd done it almost without thinking – because that was what it was. Thoughtless, natural, right, even. It was so cliché he almost couldn't make sense of it, the sort of cliché he wrote his pop songs about and maybe, maybe what he'd been looking for all along.

And it freaked him out too, just a little. Sure, he'd known Mitchie even before he'd known Alex – and yet, it had never been the same. Alex was like his sister. To even start harboring feelings like his was so unexpected that he didn't know how to deal with it. But then there was the matter of what she wanted. She was sending so many mixed signals he'd wondered how he'd ever thought he understood her. And yet, he did – he understood her more than anybody he'd ever known – and she was his best friend.

It would have been something else entirely if she'd told him outright that she loved him, that she wanted to be with him. He was the sort of boy who needed to hear something like that, who had to have everything spelled out for him. He'd drop everything for her, and she knew that. To stay with Mitchie would mean to hurt Mitchie too, and he didn't want that either. If he'd never known about Alex's feelings, maybe he and Mitchie would have been the perfect couple. Happy forever. And yet everything had crumbled once he'd heard those words from Shane, the ones that had shattered his conceptions about everything as it had been until that moment.

It was all that Alex had asked for – for him to try and fix things with Mitchie. But he couldn't do that to her, even if it was what Alex thought she wanted, could he? It would be a lie. How could he stay with Mitchie if he would spend every second wondering what he and Alex would have been?

These were the jumbled up arguments that had run through his mind all day and that ran through his mind then, as he stood there. And now, he was still near the entrance of the performance hall, watching the flashing lights and excited people. He'd come this far. He'd messed up everything. And yet – he had to do this. Somehow summer had come and gone and now there was only one week left for everything that had yet to be said. One week was a short time when you had this much left to say.

Suddenly he was walking forward, making up his mind. It was as if he'd crossed a clear line, the line that separated safety and recklessness, the street between lost chances and taking risks. He was pushing through the crowd then, a sea of eyes turning as he walked purposefully through. He'd known what to expect - but when he finally saw his friends, he wasn't prepared.

Mitchie and Jason came into his vision first. What had been a fast, upbeat song suddenly switched seamlessly into a ballad, and Jason laughed as he promptly stopped some strange version of the chicken dance he'd come up with. He smiled and offered his hand out to Mitchie, who curtsied jokingly as she took it and raised her arms around his neck. It was bittersweet, in a way that Nate couldn't completely understand. He felt a rush of gratitude towards Jason, for taking care of Mitchie as a friend would and making her smile. Nate had been proud of the way he could make Mitchie smile, how he thought he'd be the perfect boyfriend to her – and in the end, he'd ended up hurting her too.

He still wished he could be the one to make her smile, but now it was because she was his friend. She was beautiful, and he could still recognize that. But somehow that little spark was gone, that magic he'd thought he'd seen between them. She had loved him, and he'd thought that was what he'd wanted all along. A girl to love him. It was easy for him to believe that if she loved him, that was all he needed to automatically love her back. And he had loved her – but now, seeing it in a new light, maybe it was never in the same way. When you stripped away her love for him, did he still need her in the same way?

No.

I'm not in love with Mitchie, he realized, and he'd expected there to be fireworks or some sort of epiphany but it was just that, the simple truth. I'm not in love with Mitchie, he thought again as a dull, throbbing sensation spread through him, I'm not in love with Mit—

And then there was a soft giggle and a flash of silky red fabric before he saw her, out of the corner of his eye.

His breath hitched in his throat and for a moment there, he was sure he had literally forgotten how to breathe. That was cliché too, he realized, but maybe they were meant to be a cliché. Maybe they were meant to have their cheesy happy ever after and fall head over heels in love. Would that be so bad?

It was the giggle he focused on first. It made him dizzy and he could have sworn the world was spinning around him. And her eyes too, the way they lit up when she smiled, the way they almost sparkled in the dim light of the room. The combination of his decision to talk to her and seeing her like this, under the flashing lights and with her beautiful red dress – it was all a little bit surreal.

The scene played out before him was almost too perfect and part of him was scared to step forward into all of it, the same way you didn't want to touch a soap bubble for fear it might pop. But here was the spark he'd thought he'd lost with Mitchie – it'd been here all along. Her cheeks were flushed and he thought of the way she hardly ever blushed when they were younger and how cute she looked when she did. He noticed all these things – and yet just as he was about to step forward, it was the last thing he saw that made his heart sink.

Shane.

Somehow he'd been so distracted he hadn't even noticed who her arms were wrapped around, who she was smiling up at. And he knew that Shane had been there for her, that he wanted what was best for her too – but that didn't stop him from wanting to tear his brother away from her. When he'd seen Jason with Mitchie, it had been bittersweet. Sure, he'd wanted to be the one that made her smile, but he knew that Jason and Mitchie were only friends and if she was happy then Nate was glad. But seeing Alex laugh with Shane like that was just bitter. And maybe they were just friends, but he couldn't be sure and it was hard to think straight when all he saw were searing hot flashes of anger before his eyes.

He wanted to yank Shane away, to take his place and dance with Alex forever so they could pretend that nothing else had ever happened except for the moment they were living in. And yet somehow, in all of this, it hit him that none of the four of them had realized he'd been standing in the background, watching their happiness. It could simply be because of the poor lighting, or because they couldn't hear a thing except for the music. But everything seemed to have fallen perfectly into place except for him, and to intrude on this picture would somehow be wrong. Without even noticing, five had become four (and weren't even numbers always nicer anyway?) and they were better off without him. They were happy, like this.

His eyes fell on Alex, who was still dancing to the music. They were laughing and the two of them spun together effortlessly on the dance floor. They twirled in unison past Mitchie and Jason and as they passed, Mitchie called Alex's name. Alex turned with a smile and caught her friend's eye, mouthing something back. Her voice was lost to the music, but Nate still caught the words that slipped from her lips – "I'm sorry".

He felt sick to the stomach and his palms clenched into fists with the realization that somehow along the way, he'd almost ruined a friendship. No, more than just one. Mitchie and Alex's, his and Mitchie's, his and Alex's. Three friendships. Maybe the second two weren't almost ruined – maybe he had ruined them.

He watched Shane slowly slide away from Alex and for a second he was inexplicably happy. But then she was spinning around again and Jason and Mitchie had joined Shane and Alex to form a small circle, hands grasped together as they rocked back and forth.

"Alex," he whispered, knowing the words were inaudible in the noisy room. He'd whispered them for his own benefit, to hear her own name and know that this was all real, that she was real. But suddenly, as if she'd been called to, her head sprung up and she was looking around, turning to face him, and he'd never seen anything more heartbreaking.

The easy smile on her face slid off without thought as she froze in her spot, staring back at him. For a moment, her thoughts were far too readable in her expression, spelled out clearly in her eyes. The upset face he'd always hated to see – the one he'd seen after her parent's divorce, after Final Jam the year she couldn't perform, when her first boyfriend broke up with her – it was the same, after all those years. And this was the worst of them all, because he had caused it. He'd never in a million years dreamed that he would ever be the reason for that sort of pain to Alex, but it was all there in that split second on her face. And then suddenly she was composed, almost as if a mask had slid over her and she'd camouflaged what she'd been feeling when everything was the matter. When Nate was the matter.

And she always used to tell him everything, he was the one to comfort her after every heartbreak, every fall, every misplaced step. To see her hide pain from him was almost worse than having to see her upset.

When he'd decided to come to the dance, he'd thought they were supposed to get their clichéd ending – but all it took was that one look from Alex and then he was turning around and pushing through the crowd, feeling as if he was suffocating. He wondered how many times they'd ended up running away from each other, how many times their meetings had ended in disaster. She wouldn't chase after him, he knew, and in the back of his mind he wished she would.

"I'm sorry too," he murmured, his back to his four best friends as he continued to push until he was out of the performance hall. The summer air was almost cold compared to the sticky air inside, and it hit him like a wave as he exited the room. He grasped the brick wall for support and slid down against it, fighting back tears. Somehow, his hands made their way into his jacket pocket and he pulled out his cell-phone, locating a number in his phone book. It rang it helplessly in his ear as he clutched at his head, out of breath.

"Hello?"

He was silent for a full minute as the person on the other end continued to repeat their hello. "Nate, is that you? Hello?" He bit down hard on his lip until it hurt, tears starting to glide slowly down his cheeks. This was all his fault.

"Yeah," he managed finally, his voice cracking, "It's me, Mr. Briggs. I know this is really last minute, but," he shut his eyes, his hands shaking as he held his phone to his ear, "I wanted to let you know that I can make it to LA early to promote for the album."

His head was still spinning but now everything else was numb, indifferent to this hurt. His hands continued to shake but he did nothing to steady them, his phone slipping further and further away from his ear. The excited words of the band's manager sounded small and distant, and all he could make out was his last sentence – "We'll send transportation tonight, if that's okay?"

There was another moment of silence and Nate wanted so desperately to be able to tell him that it wasn't okay at all, that he had to stay here and say goodbye to his friends and Alex and…her face floated in his vision, first upset, and then blank and unreadable. He saw the four of them, swaying on the dance floor, blind to their surroundings. Alex, happy and laughing as Shane twirled her around the dance floor.

He raised the phone carefully to his ear, his hands finally still.

"Yes," he murmured, "yes, that's fine."

a/n ii: aaksjdfncakshdf - i don't know why i keep doing these awful things to Nate & Alex - i'm sure you're really getting sick of it. but i have this strange little last idea in my head, so i hope you'll eventually see why i keep doing this. thoughts, please? be brutally honest, if you've got an opinion! also, to x3OJDx3, i'm sorry i didn't use you as Jason's date! i thought it would be fitting that he ask Mitchie as friends - but you're awesome and if i could have used you in the story, i would have. ;) x, cami