The Next Best Thing: Part II

Thirteen

Mitchell

"I ship you and Paisley so hard now that you've decided to officially become a couple. I know the entire fam loves you too," she smiled, taking a picture with me.

Now that we decided to officially become a couple?

"Thank you so much and I cannot wait to see you guys' show tonight." The girl gave me a friendly hug and ran off to her friend impatiently waiting for her by the cafe's door. They both seemed stoked to see us on stage that night, even more stoked that I was dating Paisley Reiner.

Paisley and I had decided to officially become a couple?

I was confused, and one would say quite annoyed by these rumours I really didn't need right now. I was also quite surprised that I apparently had a girlfriend that people approved of and they seemed to like the idea of us together.

I paid for my coffee and followed Aidan out of the Starbucks in central Amsterdam, just leaving a radio interview.

"What's this I hear about you and Paisley as a couple? Dammit, Mitch. What have you done now?" he asked me, a disappointed look on his face.

"I really don't know what's going on myself. The tabloids just want us together so they're basically imposing it." I was sick of seeing my stupid, drunken mistake being spun into a fictitious romance saga.

"Do you want that, mate?"

"Aidan, all I want is Zoe back. That's it. I've never wanted anyone as much as I do her. I already screwed up our relationship. If I'm going to fix it, I want her to believe I will never break her heart again," I answered him. I held the hot paper cup very close to my person and scalded my hands because I deserved to be in pain. She didn't.

"I love her."

He understood. He always teased me about the way I looked at her and how I acted like an idiot around her before he knew we were a couple.

"Don't screw it up again, okay? Or I will kill you."

I wasn't planning to.

We had a local network television performance lined up for that afternoon, as well as interaction with our fans before our show.

It was nice seeing so many girls so excited to see me, ironic as most of the ones in my life were a little angry at me at the moment. I was grilled about Paisley, a topic I chose to avoid or keep mum about.

"Are you two going to get married?" one girl inquired, her face unable to mask her disapproval.

"No, I don't think that's happening," I replied her with a smile. She still looked upset and I figured she wasn't the biggest fan of what they were calling Misley. Or was it Patchel? Like satchel but with the P and double L.

I gave her a big hug and encouraged her to enjoy the show which I hoped would cheer her up. I knew I needed that too.

I would look up from performing and see Zoe in the sidelines, cheering us on and having her big fan jam session in the corner. I always looked forward to that when she watched us - her enthusiasm was off the charts. She knew every song lyric, better than even my own bandmates, and could outsing Lyle any day. He asked her to join us on stage once and she freaked out.

"Let's give the people that fifth member they always look for," he had said.

Zoe replied with a witty comment, saying how she wouldn't want us to be unemployed because she would be the new shit.

"I still need you around to throw free concerts for me."

She wasn't standing there, of course. She was but a figment of my imagination, no longer something tangible. I wanted her to be stood there though.

I had called her before we went on, a decision I debated internally throughout the day. I decided I would clear this Paisley drama by telling the world about her, about Zoe. They deserved to know the truth too.

I had lied to my friends and my fans - I wasn't up to lying anymore than I should have. But if I was to do this, I figured she deserved to know in advance before I exposed her to the masses.

She didn't pick up and I was running late so I didn't leave a message. I just hoped she would understand that I tried warning her and she wouldn't despise me more than she already did.

We performed all the crowd favourites, incorporating songs from our latest albums and our best covers. Those two hours were amazing and mostly a blur, feelings of adrenaline coursing through my veins and endorphins lightening my mood.

I sang, I danced and I made a few of them very happy that day when inside I was numb. I couldn't feel anything, putting on a show and praying for the act to end. I hated what I was going through and how it was taking a lot away from the other important things in my life. I wasn't myself. It'd take a long for Zoe's Crawford to come back and face his disappointing reality.

We all enjoyed the show and thanked everyone for attending and wishing them a good night before we left. Cam suggested we have a night in in his room, clearly missing his girlfriend.

I was asleep as soon as I lay my head down, preparing myself for our early morning flight to London and about six UK shows. I wasn't up to naked chess.

...

"Cameron, it seems you are the only one with a stable relationship at the moment. How do you manage to do that?"

We were at BBC's Radio 1 chatting with Zane Lowe. He loved to probe about our relationships, a topic that always amused him. His belief was that we loved each other too much to actually be capable of keeping girlfriends.

"She's very understanding. I can't be with Mitchell forever. He's half the woman Rae is," Cam replied with a smirk.

"Speaking of Mitchell, word on the street is somebody's found himself his other half," Zane said, turning to me. "The kids have even nicknamed you Misley, is it?"

Lyle had been teasing me with that name ever since the story broke, begging me to clear the air before it stuck.

"Zane, just to set the record straight, there is no Paisley and I. There never has been and I don't think there ever will be," I began.

This is for you, baby. "There was someone else, though. Her name is Zoe."