"Dude, you have been sulking for like a week." Jason says to me as he throws a pillow at me. "You need to get out."

"Just leave me alone dude." I was laying under my covers, on my phone. I was looking up Mia, something I shouldn't have been doing. But I had to check on her. I didn't trust that asshole J.P. Something just wasn't right about him...

I had clicked a recent article about her, something about seeing her out at Pinkberry, when my phone signal dropped. I shifted around, moving it anywhere to get a signal.

"No use." I pulled the covers off of my head to see Jason holding his precious signal jammer in his hand, a look of pure satisfaction on his face. "Its Saturday night dude. No more sulking like an emo kid that found out My Chemical Romance was turning to pop music. We're going to get up, go out, drink sookie and bring back a couple of Asian chicks."

"OK, first off, I'm not sulking. Second, its called sake. And third, I'm not bringing back a random Asian chick."

"Why not?"

"That's not what I do. Me and Mia are on...a break."

"Well that's one hell of a break, seeing as how she apparently attached herself to some other dude's lips in the middle of the hallway you were standing in."

"Hey, do you have a problem man? Because we can settle here and now." My anger was rising. I didn't know the reason behind Mia's decision to seek refuge in that little retarded blonde kid and I didn't care. She was mine and I would get her back. Somehow.

"Whoa, hey dude, just trying to make a point." he sighed. "Look, maybe it would help you just to get out for a while. You don't have to hook up, just hang out. Take your mind off of things."

I sat there on my bed, thinking. I sighed, defeated. "Fine."


We went out to all the local places. We danced, we drank, I drank more, I stumbled around. I wasn't even exactly sure where I was at moments. Then I was introduced to Mie. "Maybe you should honor her with a dance." Jason suggested.

I sighed and took her hand. We walked out to the dance floor as a slow song came on. It sounded like a Japanese version of a Kings of Leon song, a band I had really come to admire.

"So how are you enjoying your time with us?" Mie asked with her heavy accent, batting her eyelashes at me.

"Good. Its good. I really like your country." I said absentmindedly. I was thinking of me and Mia. At the Nondenominational Winter Dance. At prom. Hugged up to each other closely, both insecure by our lackluster dancing skills. Just swaying back and forth, lost in the moment...

The next thing I knew, I saw her. Out the door of the bar, it was Mia. I dropped Mie's hand and went running out the door. "Mia!" I called. But there was no one. I ran up and down the street, vaguely aware that it was starting to snow. I heard Jason calling my name, calling me to come back but I couldn't. I had seen her. Finally, I rounded the corner and there she was. Her back was turned, her hair shining.

I walked up and swung her around. "Mia..."

But it wasn't her. It was just some random Asian girl who I had pissed off when I grabbed her arm. With a quick stomp of her stiletto into my foot, then a knee to a very private part of the body, I was down on the ground and she was walking off.

"Eff my life." I said up to the sky, as the snow fell on me. Was this really how I wanted to be for the rest of my life? Chasing ghosts of my past and ending up laying on the ground with my man parts in questionable condition. "Yes Michael," I said to myself "This really makes you deserve her. You are pathetic."

"Yes you are." I heard a voice ring out. Suddenly, Jason was standing over me. "Man, I don't know what kind of hold that girl has over you, but you aren't ever going to get her back you keep ending up like this."

"Yeah, thanks." I said sarcastically.

Jason sighed, then gave me his hand. I took it and together we managed to get my pathetic ass off the ground.


I woke up, realizing I had been dreaming about that night. Two years had passed and I was ready to go home. I was ready to see her.

I got up and looked at myself in the mirror. "You are older, wiser, more mature, better looking and richer than you used to be. You have created something that is going to save millions of lives. You, friend, finally deserve her."

It was with that attitude that I got dressed, headed to the airport. Boarding the plane, I looked out the window of the place that had set the stage for the rest of my life. Japan was amazing, but it was nothing I was really going to miss. I was heading back to New York, back to my home with my family and my dog. And most importantly, the sole reason I had come out to Japan to begin with. The love of my life.

I was headed back to Mia.