Author's Note: This fic is dedicated to awesome Koumi lover, Fan Rider Ryu! The idea for the story came to me when I first discovered a band called The Dollyrots a while back. Besides "Love Ya, Love Ya, Love Ya" with Bowling For Soup, "Stupidly In Love" was the first Dollyrots song I've listened to- it's a pretty catchy song (I also like their song "Bury Me In Ireland" and they have a song called "Kari Equals Hottie" too). So go ahead, listen to "Stupidly In Love", read my story and tell me what you think! It doesn't matter which order you do it in, but I suggest you save the reviewing until AFTER you read the story :)

Chapter 1

"Mimi, it's getting late. I think it's time we hit the hay. Besides, Izzy will be here tomorrow," Sora yawned and stretched her arms.

"Okay," Mimi sighed.

"Good night," Sora stretched her arms up and went to her room.

"Night," Mimi looked at the clock across the room. Like always, Sora was right. It was pretty late. She turned off the TV and went to get ready for a shower.

Without fail, Izzy drove down from Boston to New York to visit for the weekend. If the weather was too bad for driving, Izzy would take a train over. At first, Mimi couldn't stand that he did that. As much as she liked Izzy, she resented him because she felt like she had to cancel her weekend plans at the last minute just in case nobody else was around to hang out with Izzy. She also felt guilty at the same time, because it's not like Izzy even implied that she should be his back-up plan. He would have probably been fine being by himself for a day, but Mimi couldn't let that happen. He travelled all of the way to New York, and Mimi didn't want him to feel like he made the trip all for nothing so she was "on-call" to keep him company if Tai couldn't do it. Eventually, Mimi got used to him coming down every weekend. In fact, she kind of looked forward to it- until a certain night happened. Since that night, Izzy stopped coming for the past couple of weekends, claiming it was because of "work". Tai and Sora didn't bat an eyelid, but Mimi was not buying that pitiful excuse of a cock-and-bull story.

Mimi was full of mixed emotions; she was slightly looking forward to seeing Izzy again, but she was mostly dreading his arrival. It wasn't because she felt like she had to sacrifice her weekends to keep him company, it was for a different reason now.

A month ago...

It was one of those swanky parties that happened in the city all the time. People would go to an upscale penthouse apartment and socialize over classy cocktails and jazz music in the background. The venue was always different, but the one thing they had in common besides being fancy and having open bar, was that all of these gatherings had no purpose. The parties were never for someone's birthday or other special occasion. They were just thrown for no reason at all.

Tai made the crazy idea to crash one of these soirees. None of the gang was rich, nor did they have good friends who was rich, but Tai was determined to make his friends go to one of these parties. "They'll never even know! I bet most of the people there don't even know who the host is!" he reasoned. Mimi had no inhibitions about it, but Sora and Izzy were very hesitant. "Someone's bound to notice us," Sora would say, but somehow Tai managed to convince her to come along. Not wanting to be the odd one out, Izzy reluctantly jumped bandwagon as well. And this is where they ended up.

The party was just hitting its peak. People were slinging back drinks, talking about the New York Times Bestseller list, and chuckling to their hoity-toity jokes. Mimi seemed to be the only person that wasn't enjoying herself. She was expecting it to be more like the parties in Sex and the City, but what she got was more of a yacht-club, book-loving, Emily Gilmore-worthy type of gathering. Everyone else seemed to be fine with it, except Mimi. Where were the glamorous models, fashion designers, or celebrities? And what was up with the jazz music? She might as well have gone to an art exhibit at the Guggenheim. There weren't even any paparazzi around, and Mimi couldn't blame them. She wasn't Hollywood-starstruck, but at least those parties had a more lively atmosphere. This "party" was putting her to sleep faster than NyQuil ever could.

"Hey, you're the first familiar face I've seen since we walked through the door," Izzy staggered over to Mimi.

"Really?" Mimi raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I have no idea where Sora and Tai went, but I'm going to be pissed if they left without telling us," Izzy said.

"I don't think they would," Mimi pursed her lips.

"Izzy? Hurry up! I thought you were just getting a drink!" a blonde guy in a preppy outfit hollered from across the room.

"Seems like you've met some new friends," Mimi smirked.

"Yeah. We were just talking about New England- a lot of those guys vacation to Cape Cod, New Hampshire, or Maine, but they've never gone to Boston...but the boys are right. I should get back to them. Excuse me," Izzy said as he waited for the bartender.

"I've for a couple of orders waiting, but what can I get for ya?" the redheaded bartender wiped the bar dry.

"Can I get a scotch on the rocks?" Izzy asked.

"Sure thing. There you go," the bartender slid the glass of whiskey and ice to him.

"Thanks," Izzy said and turned back to Mimi. "So, I see you haven't talked to anyone here. I'm surprised. You're usually the life of the party."

"Yeah...well, not this party. It almost feels like a book club in here. Everyone's talking about documentaries and books- it's just not my crowd. I wouldn't mind it, but it's not like I read the New Yorker and watch PBS religiously. I can't even stay awake through an episode of Downton Abbey," Mimi sighed.

"Kill me now...," the bartender huffed. Violin music started playing in the background.

"Huh?" Mimi and Izzy turned around to see her.

"Sorry," she shrugged. "It's just that this has to be the most pretentious party I've tended at- and I've bartended at two of Gwyneth Paltrow's boring ass parties. Wait, you're not the hosts, are you? Because if you are, it was the alcohol talking- not that I'm drinking on the job."

"No, we're not the hosts," Izzy said.

"Good. This party blows. I've tried to drink myself stupid, but no amount of liquor would make this party more fun for me," the bartender remarked as she poured herself a shot glass of tequila. "Nope, gross," she cleared her throat.

"It seems like everyone is waltzing. Who knew we stepped back into the Renaissance?" Mimi made a face.

"Do you want to dance?" Izzy turned to face her.

"Yeah," Mimi said as Izzy led her to the rest of the dancing couples.

"It's a good thing I found you. I can't imagine dancing with someone else, let alone dance at all," Izzy said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mimi smirked.

"Mimi, I...," Izzy paused. He pulled her closer and kissed her.

"Izzy...," she let go of him and stepped back. "I don't- you're not my type, no not at all," she lightly put her hand over her mouth. She could feel the blood rushing through her face and she saw that Izzy was turning a deep red himself.

"I...I'm so sorry. Anyways, I have to get back to the...yeah. I'll see you later, okay?" Izzy jerked his thumb in a random direction and squeezed his way around the dancing couples.

"Okay," Mimi stood still, completely dumbfounded. When she regained composure, she headed back to the bar. She didn't drink a lot because she hated the woozy feeling she got after one cocktail, but tonight she was desperate. "Can I get a Long Island Iced Tea?"

"Sure thing, hun. It's the most popular drink requested here," the bartender snorted as she mixed the potent drink.

"Ticket please?" a train conductor stood in front of Izzy.

"Here you go," Izzy handed him his ticket stub.

"Thank you for riding DamnTrack railways," the train conductor pierced the ticket stub with a hole puncher and handed it back to Izzy. "Have a good day."

"Thanks. You too," Izzy nodded. He didn't know what he was thinking coming to New York, after the stupid stunt he pulled. He was hoping that Mimi didn't tell anyone about it. It was embarrassing enough, he didn't want anyone else to know. He was too nervous to drive, but even now, he was feeling jittery sitting down. He missed seeing his friends, especially Mimi, but he wasn't sure if it was a good idea. No time would be the right time so he might as well force himself to make his way to New York now, he reasoned. He hated confrontation, but he knew he couldn't avoid it forever. He was hoping that this trip wouldn't be stressful but he highly doubted it, especially after he did another dickish move the day after the incident.

Ever since he could remember, he was always in love with Mimi, but he never did anything about it. He had dated other girls who looked similar to Mimi, but none of them could come close to the original. Now that he made a bold move, he instantly regretted it. It was obvious that Mimi didn't feel the same way about Izzy as he did about her. If there was any proof that it was an unrequited love, that night would have been rock solid evidence. "You're not my type, no not at all," Izzy could clearly remember Mimi's words. He should have known better; a girl like her was out of his league, so out of his league that they might as well be leagues from different sports. She was like the MLB and he was like the MLS, less popular and rarely noticed. He felt bad for lying to Mimi, but he had to save face somehow. He was used to rejection, but to be rejected by his long-time crush shattered him to pieces, pieces that Izzy wasn't sure if they could be put back together.

Mimi had tried to confront him the following morning. "Hey Izzy? Can I talk to you about something?" she sat on the armrest of the futon couch.

"Good morning to you too. How long have you been here?" he rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"For around 10 minutes, I think," Mimi said, sounding uncertain of herself. "Remember the kiss from last night?"

"What are you talking about?" Izzy played stupid.

"Last night you kissed me and I...," Mimi trailed off.

"No. I think I would remember if that happened...," he scoffed. He hated himself for being such a coward. He couldn't even own up to his mistake.

"Oh," Mimi looked puzzled. "I could have sworn you kissed me."

"I'll admit, I had a couple of drinks but not enough for me to forget what I did last night," Izzy scoffed. Dammit, he thought to himself. He should have told her that he got plastered; maybe then, Mimi would let it go and act like everything was normal.

"Oh," Mimi repeated. Izzy wasn't sure if she was believing him or not. He was aware of the fact that he was extremely cryptic, so he hoped that this would be one of the times that his facial expression would not betray him.

"That's odd...must have been a dream then. It felt so real though," Mimi pursed her lips.

"You must have been mistaken. Are you sure it happened?" Izzy crinkled his eyebrows.

"Now that I think about it, I don't know...," Mimi frowned.

"Anyways, I should get going. I have to leave early because my coworker has something and I almost forgot," Izzy got up from the futon and rearranged it back into a sofa.

"Okay," Mimi nodded.

"Just going to take a quick shower and head straight out. New York traffic is awful. If I don't see Tai and Sora, tell them I said bye," Izzy gathered up his belongings. He didn't bother looking at Mimi this time; unlike him, Mimi was an expressive person and Izzy was too chicken to look at her face.

"Sora," Mimi shook her awake.

"What is it? It's like 3 in the morning...," Sora groggily said.

"I know, but I can't sleep," Mimi plopped down on Sora's bed.

"But that doesn't mean you have to wake everyone else up," Sora grumbled.

"I'm sorry, it's just that I can't stop thinking about something. Remember that time we went to that fancy party?" Mimi said.

"Wasn't that was over a month ago?" Sora yawned.

"Yeah...but something happened that night. I just have to get it off my chest," Mimi said.

"Fine," Sora got up from bed. "I'll make some coffee and we can talk."