I jumped out of the taxi and stood for a moment in front of the door. Then I took a deep breath and went in.

I looked around for Mia and when I found her, my deep breaths got stuck on their way up. It's just that Mia looked so…..sophisticated. I hadn't gotten a good look at her at Columbia. Lily said that she made friends with Lana Weinberger (the most unlikely pair. I for one still remember the time Mia broke Lana's cell phone to pieces when she antagonized her. That's my girl.)

She wore tight jeans that hugged her in all the right places and showed off her long legs, a off the shoulder top that I was sure did not come cheap, and these crazy boots. Was Mia really wearing designer labels? But….I liked it. Not just her clothes, but the way she sat(her posture had slightly improved, something I would only notice after spending some time with her grandmother), the way her legs tucked under the chair, and most of all the way her hair fell around her face when she bent her head.

She was writing in her diary. Of course. For some reason, this made me relax. Mia was still the same person underneath all those clothes. I took a deep breath and started walking towards her.

She saw me coming and quickly closed her diary. Well it's not like I had a chance anyways. She never let anybody read it. I wondered if she let that jerk read it. Lars spotted me and smiled. I grinned back before turning to Mia.

"Umm….Hi Michael! Here take this seat," she said, kicking out the seat opposite her. I noticed that her eyes lingered for a fraction of a second on my muscles. Score!

"Hey Mia. Am I late or anything?" Please god don't say yes. I spent a while getting ready. I really want to pick her up and kiss her or a hug at least. Save it for the end.

"Oh no. Don't worry. I came here a few minutes early to get rid of the paparazzi."

"Ya. I guess that's a good idea. Don't want the paparazzi seeing you with me huh?" Are you kidding me! I would love your scumbag of a boyfriend to see you on a date with me! Oops. Maybe I shouldn't have said that. She looks a little scared right now.

"Anyways, never mind that. We're at a café. We gotta order. What do you want?" I asked hurriedly.

"Oh I can pay for this. I'm the reporter anyways. I'll have a latte please," she said to the waiter.

"You're the reporter. I'm the friend. I get to pay for this Mia. Hot chocolate please."

"Fine then. Are you ready for the interview?"

What interview? Oh right. That interview. Stop looking at her lips Michael.

"Totally. Go."

"Kay. Is it okay if I record this then?"

Record this: I love you. Get out of it Michael…

"Ya. Sure that's cool."

She pulled out an iphone from her designer clutch and turned it on.

"An iphone huh? You've officially gone Mac."

"What? Oh. Um. Ya. Why? Are you against Mac now?" she said with a playful smile. Ahhh. There it is. I was wondering if it would ever come.

"No….sorta. I'm blackberry now." I pulled out my phone for proof.

"Gosh. You are just like Lana. She thinks iphones are old technology."

So it was true.

"So, you and Lana are friends now?"

"Yup. What about you? Did you meet any new people in Japan?"

"Actually, I think that's what your interview is about."

"Interview? Oh right! Shoot!" She pressed a button on her phone and looked up.

"So, it's okay if I record this?"

Wait. Huh? Didn't she already say that? Michael focus on the conversation.

"I said it was." Good. Laugh casually. Make her blush.

"I know, but I need to record you saying it. I know it's stupid."

At this point, I just let go and was myself….in a polite way.

"It's not stupid. I am for letting you go. It's just kind of weird. I mean to be sitting here being interviewed by you. And not letting my hand touch yours. First of all, it's you. My ex girlfriend who is now dating some theater jerk who hates it when they put corn in the chili. Second of all…well you were always the celebrity. Not that you liked it very much."

"Well, now it's your turn. And thanks again, so much for doing this. I know how busy you must be, and I want you to know I really appreciate you taking the time out to meet with me.

Gosh girl. Don't go formal on me.

"Mia…of course. Of course, I would do anything for you. Heck, I would jump in front of a train for you. But you've got body guards for that."

"Okay, so first question: What inspired you to invent the CardioArm?

"Well, I saw a need in the medical community and felt I had the technical knowledge to fill it. There've been other attempts in the past to create similar products, but mine is the first to incorporate advanced imaging technology. Which I can explain to you if you want, but I don't think you're going to have room for it in your article, if I remember how long the stories are in the Atom.

"Uh, no, that's okay…"

Say it Michael!

"And, of course, you" Score!

"What?" Oops. Not quite what I was hoping for. But then again, Mia isn't the type of girl to kiss her ex boyfriend just because he said he did something for her.

"You asked what my inspiration was for inventing the CardioArm. Part of it was you. You remember, I told you before I left for Japan, I wanted to do something to show the world I was worthy of dating a princess. I know it sounds dumb now, but…that was a big part of it. Back then." It's still a big part of it. I love you! If I say it enough times in my head will you hear me? I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you….

"R-right. Back then."

Looks like that idea didn't work.

"You don't have to put that in the article if it embarrasses you, though. I can't imagine you'd want your boyfriend reading that." I would.

"J.P? No…no, he'd be fine with that. Are you kidding? I mean, he knows about all that. We tell each other everything." Ouch that really hurt. She probably didn't mean it, but it took me back to that night when I told her about Judith Gershner.

"Right. So he knows you're here with me?"

"Um. Of course! So where was I? Oh, right. What was it like to live in Japan for so long?"

I don't know what it was. Maybe it was how she'd seemed nervous since I met her at Columbia, or how that laugh had a slightly nervous ring to it, but I knew she was lying and that JP didn't know that she was here. This made me increasingly happy and I answered the question with a little too much enthusiasm.

"Great! Japan's great. Highly recommend it." I didn't put in the part about how it might have been better if she was there.

"Really? So are you planning on…Oh, wait, that question's later…Sorry, my grandmother woke me up really early this morning and I'm all disorganized."

Doesn't really matter considering that she looks great but it made me ask another question.

"How is the Dowager Princess Clarisse?" Strange as ever I bet.

"Oh, not her. The other one. Mamaw. She's in town for my birthday party."

Right. I forgot that considering her grandmother's extremes, she probably would've invited all the celebrities too. Although Mia's other grandmother was the farthest thing from celebrity, I'm pretty sure she was forced to invite them.

"Oh, right. I wanted to thank you for the invitations to you party."

At this, Mia turned a fierce shade of green. It lasted for a second and then disappeared.

"The invitations to my party?"

Wait. She didn't know?

"Right….Mine arrived this morning. And my mom said hers and Dad's and Lilly's came last night. That was really nice of you to let bygones be bygones with Lilly. I know she and Kenny are planning on going tomorrow night. My parents, too. I'm going to try to make it, as well."

Huh. Try to make it? I already cleared my whole schedule for tomorrow night in the taxi on the way over. I left out the part about Lilly because I was pretty sure that she didn't want Mia knowing that she cared. Typical. But why didn't Mia know we got the invitations? Some sort of fear bubbled up inside me. Fear that maybe I was wrong. It was like she didn't plan on us coming. True, I understood that she probably didn't know I would be back but she seemed pretty surprised that Lilly got one. Then again, the invites for them came yesterday….

I was pretty much wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn't hear Mia mutter something under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Okay…so what did you miss most about America while you were gone?"

Easy.

"Uh…you?"

"Oh, ha ha. Be serious." I know. I was being serious. Well, if I must…

"Sorry. Okay. My dog."

"What did you like best about Japan?"

She seemed to be asking another sort of question with her eyes. I just couldn't figure out what.

"Probably the people. I met a lot of really great people there. I'm going to miss some of them-the ones I haven't brought over here with the rest of my team-a lot." Somehow, this seemed to answer that question.

"Oh. Really? I mean…so you're moving permanently back to America now?"

So she wanted me to stay. Or am I reading too much into this?

"Yeah, I have a place here in Manhattan. Pavlov Surgical will have its corporate offices here, though the bulk of the manufacturing will be done out of Palo Alto in California.

I answered enough questions. I needed to ask her something. Besides 'Do you still love me?' I mean.

"Oh. So…" she started.

"Can I ask you a question now?" She looked scared. Like she knew what it was and didn't want to answer it.

"Um…sure."

"When am I going to read your senior project?" I wasn't joking either. She kept avoiding the question when I asked her in our emails.

"See, I knew you were going to ask me that…"

"So, if you knew, where is it?"

"I have to tell you something."

Whoa, her eyes got all big and her mouth was set but it kept wavering. It was the same face she had when she told me that she didn't want to have sex. Trust me. I would remember.

"Uh-oh. I know that look."

"Yeah. My project's not about the history of Genovian olive oil presses, circa 1254-1650."

Well, I'd like to say I was completely surprised, but some part of me knew that Mia had more in her than that.

"It's not?" I said in a completely innocent voice.

"No. It's actually a four-hundred page medieval historical romance novel."

Wow. All I can say is wow. She kept something like that a secret for how long? I would have thought she'd have told somebody. Especially Tina. I mean, from what I hear from Boris, that girl is over the moon about romance novels. But nobody actually found out? I mean, nobody wanted to read it? Not even her boyfriend?

"Sweet. Hand it over."

"Seriously. Michael-you're just being nice. You don't have to read it."

She's kidding right?

"Haveto? If you don't think I want to read it now, you're high. Have you been smoking some of Clarisse's Gitantes? Because I'm pretty sure I got high once on the secondhand smoke from those." I didn't mention what I did afterwards. Which was drop water balloons at every single person that walked under our window with Felix.

"She had to quit smoking (good thing. Not that she followed that). Look, if I e-mailed you a copy, will you just promise to not start reading it until I've left?"

YES.

"What, now? You mean this minute? To my phone? I completely and totally swear."

"Okay. Fine. Here it is."

I had to look down to see it.

"Outstanding. Wait. Who's Daphne Delacroix?"

"You said you wouldn't read it!"

Oops.

"Oh my god, you should see your face. It's the same color red as my Converse."

It was redder.

"Thanks for pointing that out. Actually, I changed my mind. I don't want you to have a copy anymore. Give me your phone, I'm deleting it."

Whoa. Uh-uh. No way girl. Not now.

"What? No way. I'm reading this thing tonight. Hey-cut it out! Lars, help, she's attacking me!"

Actually, I quite liked it. She reached over and tried to wrestle the blackberry from my grip. I kept her off without actually throwing her off. It was fun.

"I'm only supposed to intervene if someone is attacking her, not if the princess is attacking someone else."

So if I tried to hit on the head with the salt shaker in a move of defense, he would attack me? Not that I would.

"Give it to me!"

Ya. Right.

"No..."

And then her hand touched the cup of hot chocolate on the table and it tilted over and spilled on my jeans. We both fell silent.

"Is there a problem here?" Why do you have to butt in now? Just go back to your kitchen. We do have a bodyguard you know.

"No."

"No."

"No. Please excuse them. Too much caffeine." Thanks Lars. Great. Now Mia looked embarrassed and worried. Why did I have to make that comment on her face?

"Sorry, Michael. I'll pay for dry cleaning…"

"Don't be stupid…." Wait. Was her phone still on? "Are you still recording this?"

She looked down and laughed. Then she turned it off.

"Well, I guess that's it." She said. Oh, come on please don't go.

"Are you sure you don't have any questions left?"

"Oh, I got enough information for the Atom. And I got to go take my grandparents and Rocky to the zoo."

"Alright then, and I'm paying too." I put down my card faster than she had time to pick up her purse. She sighed and smiled.

"Apparently, there's no point trying to convince you otherwise. Well, I go to go. It was nice seeing you again." She held out her hand for me to shake.

You're kidding me right?

"I think we can do a little better than that, can't we?" I held out my hands for a hug.

"Of course." Why was her voice shaking?

When she stepped into my arms, it felt so good. I didn't even feel like we were standing in Caffe Dante. I wanted to stay there. And then she sniffed me. Which wasn't anything new; she always used to do that. But this made her step back and say,

"Well um…. I go to go now. Bye." She left without another word and got into her limo.

I was left standing there until Lars stopped by to say,

"I liked you better than the other kid, Michael. Please try to get her back."

I looked up at him and smiled.

"Thanks, Lars. I am."

With that, Lars strode out of the Caffe as if the conversation didn't even happen."

I looked down at my phone, and I saw the book. Sighing, I sat down, ordered another hot chocolate, and began to read.