Disclaimer: I don't own the Princess Diaries, or any of the characters mention... although I do take credit for the hobo... :-)
At the sound of a loud knock on his door, Michael Moscovitz awoke with a start. "Alright butthead, you have 3 seconds to get your lazy butt out of bed and open this door or else I will have to resort to drastic measures!" An angered voice threatening his well being brought him back to Earth with a start. Hurrying, he threw on a shirt and quickly opened the door to see a very frustrated Lilly standing outside.
"Hey Lil, what's with the friendly morning wakeup call this time?"
"Can it smart one, the wedding is due to start in 30 minutes and you're still in pj's!" Michael looked down to see an old concert tee and his favorite Peanuts boxers.
"Point taken" was all he could get out before slamming the door in her face. She could be so difficult sometimes. He rushed about his room in preparation, throwing open his closet and pulling out his old suit, still in the plastic wrap from the cleaners. Cursing, he tried to undo the knots they had placed upon the package, to no avail. At the sound of Lilly's voice starting up once more he decided it was a time for drastic measures himself, and grabbed a pair of scissors off his cluttered desk.
"Gotcha now," he muttered as the metal sliced cleanly through the plastic, and to his horror, the suit! "DAMNIT!" he yelled, bringing the worried Drs. Moscovitz screeching to a halt in front of his bedroom door. Why did this stuff always have to happen to him?
"Is there a problem in there?" His father called out to him. "We have 20 minutes to be in the church!"
Pulling on his sports coat, he gave a resounding "No!" and seconds later, he was closing the door to his messy bedroom. "Chill out guys, I'm ready!"
His mother raised an eyebrow at the sight of his tousled hair, messily tied tie, small cut in jacket, and shoes still in hand. Michael looked down once more, and a faint tinge of pink collected in his cheeks, inwardly thanking God that they couldn't see his thoughts. Then they would of course know that the only reason he was excited about the marriage of Helen Thermopolis and Frank Gianini was so he could see Mia.
Mia. The name itself launched him into a series of fantasies, all involving the two of them alone at what he thought of to be very romantic places: the video arcade, Mario's pizza down the street, and the bowling alley. Shrugging aside a daydream of him pulling a string of pizza cheese off Mia's lip, he hastily pulled on his shoes and followed his family out the door.
The Moscovitzes, all in their Sunday best, hopped on the subway to the church where the marriage was to take place, the female Dr. doing a bit of what she called "damage control" on her son. He tried to squirm away as she straightened his tie, combed his hair with some sort of cream magically procured from her oversized handbag, and used saliva to get rid of an invisible smudge on his left cheek. He groaned, wondering why on earth she had to be so motherly in front of his sister, and numerous other businessmen and hoboes, the latter looking like they needed much more help than he did.
As if reading his thoughts, his mother said, "We can't have you looking like a hobo in front of Helen, Frank, and Mia." The bedraggled man in the bucket seat next to them gave the smiling psychoanalyst what he obviously thought was an evil look, then resolutely stared straight ahead as the Drs. Moscovitz and family allowed themselves a chuckle. "There now," Michael's mother said, "That wasn't so bad, was it?"
Lilly smirked, her specialty, and announced that her baby brother could now be allowed out of his cage and into the real world. She was silenced by a look from her parents and just returned to her usual miffed look.
Michael groaned, wondering what he had done to deserve such a beast for a sister. He had always heard that he wasn't the most obedient as a child, but didn't think that whatever he had done could merit having to live with Lilly. About to begin his senior year at Albert Einstein High School in a little over a month, he looked forward to the day when he could move away from his psychotic family and into a dorm somewhere hopefully far away. Not too far though; he still wanted to see Mia. He lapsed into his daydreams once again, but was brought back to reality with the jerky stop of the subway train. Why did they always have to stop at the best parts!
In the dressing room at the church, Mia worked at fastening up the back of the custom-made wedding dress, Helen's own design. It was a gauzy, silky number with long sleeves, a lace-up bodice, and a long flowing skirt that seemed to perfectly accentuate the 40-something woman's best qualities. Despite her age, Helen Thermopolis had still managed to retain a youthful quality, which she told people came from her ability to express herself creatively through her art. Mia knew however that it was really the byproduct of a multitude of skin care products, namely Mary Kay cold cream. But who was she to give away her mother's beauty secrets? She finally finished hooking and zippering the back of the creamy dress then pulled back as her mother turned slowly around for a viewing of the final product.
"How do I look?" she asked with a slight smile.
It was all Mia could do to answer coherently. After only seeing her mother in artist smocks, men's button-down shirts, and jeans for years, only dressing up when absolutely necessary, Mia was floored at the difference that a real dress and some makeup did. "You look amazing, Mom," Mia said, giving her mother a hug.
For the past two years or so, her mother had been dating Frank, or Mr. G as she still referred to him as. After all, it was a bit hard thinking of your Algebra teacher as "Dad." He had proposed to her mother only 3 months earlier. Despite what Helen said about not wanting to be traditional, the wedding, all of her design, was turning out to be just that. White lilies adorned the New York City church, and a white horse and carriage waited to cart the new happy couple off to their new life.
Mia knew all this would be a huge change, but was willing to accept it for one slightly superficial reason: staying at Lilly's while mom and Mr. G. were honeymooning in Paris.
Lilly had been her best friend since the third grade, when she had stuck up for Mia from the school bully, Lana Weinberger, and the two had been nearly inseparable since. Mia spent much of her time at the Moscovitzes apartment anyways, but the thought of a whole week there was almost more than she could stand: 7 days of Michael Moscovitz, usually without a shirt!
Okay, so he was her best friend's older brother, which did put a damper on any possibly relationship they might have, but still! He was perfect for her! There was the little catch that she was just his sister's friend to him, but she was determined to change that within the course of the next week.