Okay, it was the same girl Michael had seen thousands of times before. But this was the first time he had seen her fully princess-upped as a grown woman (Girl? Whatever). See her in her striking tiara and equally striking ballgown, his mind flashed back to their first date, the first time he had seen her in her princess wear. She looked like a beautiful snowdrop at the time, tonight… She looked different but also the same. He could feel his chest tighten in a way that it hadn't in many years. He only wished that she was close enough for him to really see her face.
After her grand entrance, Prince Philippe himself surprised her, and Michael could tell she was trying not to cry based on the way she kept wringing her hands. He made a speech and presented her with another tiara (although this one had some significance for Mia) and she full-on started bawling. They ended up switching her tiaras, and somehow the new one just seemed right for her. She already looked beautiful, but her new tiara made her shine in a way she hadn't before.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Lilly was near the front of the crowd, filming the whole ordeal. The idea worried him a bit about where that footage was going to go. Was it to dissect (and criticize) the lucrative spending of royalty, or the immense financial value of Mia's headpiece? He had asked her about the camera on the ride over, but Lilly just said not to worry and that she was keeping her promise to be nice. Although Michael was still a bit concerned as to what Lilly considered to be nice.
After the speech, he lost sight of the birthday girl and made his way around (a bit reluctantly) socializing with other guests. He ran into a small group of his old teachers, who asked him about the CardioArm and how Japan was. Michael forced out a smile as he answered the same questions he had heard dozens of times over the last few weeks. He then moved away and ran into Bill Gates, who luckily for Michael, was not aware of the anti-Microsoft stint he had been on a few years ago. They chatted for a few minutes because Mr. Gates had recognized him from the Times article. Michael refrained from mentioning that all of the computers in his new office were Apple.
The first person Michael was really happy to run into was Boris, who had been watching the dance floor. Michael followed his gaze and realized that he was watching Tina dance wildly to one of Madonna's more popular songs. His eyes quickly fell on Mia herself, and he sucked in a breath. This was the first time he had gotten a chance to see her up close tonight. She looked even better nearby, her beauty radiating as she danced with her friends and mother. She was somehow managing to look both like a regal princess and the Mia he had known for a dozen years.
Michael forced himself to look away when Boris started speaking to him. It hadn't been very long since they last spoke, maybe a week or two.
"I sighed the papers for a loft today," Michael said, speaking up over the music.
Boris gave him a big grin and an expecting look. "So…" He reached his arms out slightly.
"So, you're free to move in whenever you want!" Michael grinned back at him, clapping a hand on his shoulder. Boris had been an exceptionally good friend to him over the years, and when he told Michael about being nervous about getting a roommate for Julliard (and then later that he had actually missed registration), Michael offered up his place.
Boris was incredibly grateful, but honestly, Michael wouldn't mind the company. He certainly had the room, and he was happy to be able to help a friend out.
Before they could say anymore, the music had been replaced with a slow song. Boris looked behind Michael at the dance floor in alarm, but before Michael could turn around, Tina showed up by her boyfriend's side.
"Hi, Michael, it's so nice to see you!" the girl smiled widely at him, pointedly keeping his gaze away from the dance floor. The two of them were trying to keep his attention, but Michael had already turned a bit and saw J.P. walking out onto the dance floor.
He kept a completely neutral expression as he turned back to the couple and smiled back politely. "You too, Tina. You look great." Her smile had weakened, but she nodded at him, holding Boris's arm. "I'm gonna go get myself something to drink, you two go dance."
Before they could reply, Michael slid back into the crowd, making his way towards the bar. He wasn't much of a drinker, but he needed something to get him through this night. Sure, seeing J.P. step out wasn't exactly a thrill for him, but whatever. He knew the chances that she had broken up with him were minimal. But what did make it worse was that it seemed like there wasn't going to be any chance for him to speak to Mia alone tonight.
After getting his drink, he glanced around the crowded boat. There were so many people he could speak to, but there was really only one he cared about. And he was tired of having to answer questions about his project or about how he knew Mia ("we're really old friends" is how he was putting it).
Sighing to himself, he resolved to just spending a few minutes by himself looking out into the waters. Unfortunately, someone side-stepped right into him, and a heel landing firmly on his foot.
"Fuck," Michael groaned quietly, grimacing from the sharp pain in his big toe.
"I beg your pardon?"
Fuck. Not from the pain this time. That voice inflicted more pain to Michael than a heel ever could have.
He made no attempt to smile as he looked up, "Sorry."
Princess Clarisse looked quite disgruntled as if it was somehow his fault that she had run into him. He noted the sidecar in her hand and wondered how many of them she had already had tonight.
Mia's grandmother had never liked him and refused to pretend to, no matter where they were. He was well-aware that she only ever referred to him as "that boy" while he and Mia had been dating. Mia never told him, but Lilly let it spill one day. Not that he cared. Much.
And today, it was still evident that she harbored the same disdain for him, no matter what medical marvel he made. As she eyed him, he decided to just let it go. It didn't matter if she never liked him, all that mattered was that Mia did.
"Excuse me," was all he said, giving her a (fake) polite smile and walking away.
At that point, he didn't want to risk being alone anymore and found Lilly and Kenneth lurking around the dance floor filming. Almost as soon as she saw that Michael had joined them, she lowered the camera and headed straight towards Mia, who had just finished dancing. He hesitated before following them but decided it was better now than never.
Michael was pleased to hear Lilly compliment Mia's party. Mia, on the other hand, was obviously quite astonished and almost choked on the shrimp cocktail she had been eating. He was also pleased to see that she was looking directly at him, even when speaking to Lilly. He gave her a warm smile, but she didn't reciprocate it. She just kept staring at him.
Under her gaze, Michael ended up blurting out the first thing that came to mind. "Nice party hat you've got there, Thermopolis." He kept glancing up at her tiara, which suited her so perfectly.
She thanked him, looking a tad embarrassed, and quickly switched the topic to her dad's campaign. She expressed the worry she felt about her father losing out on even one day, which Michael found ridiculous. He had met her father's opponent, René, a few times while visiting Genovia, and that guy was the most self-absorbed idiot Michael had ever met.
As if anyone would vote for that tool when perfectly good Price Phillip was right there. Which is what Michael expressed to the group, and he caught Mia's grateful smile before Boris somehow switched the conversation to bloomin' onions. There seemed to be some discussion going on that Michael didn't quite understand, but then Kenneth pointed out that Mia's dad seemed happy to be at the party, currently dancing with Ms. Martinez.
Michael watched as Mia's face switched quickly to hide her horror, and then they went back to discussing why her father was running for prime minister.
He had been absentmindedly watching the people on the dance floor, mostly removed from the conversation until he heard Boris say something about Mia going to the University of Genovia. And then Michael couldn't help it, his head whipped around so fast and he was staring at Mia with wide eyes.
"University of Genovia? Why are you going there?" Their reputation was… Well, lacking, for lack of a better word. And Michael knew that Mia could do so much better than there. He felt kind of bad about his reaction when he saw Mia turn red, looking extremely embarrassed. Except that this wasn't a cute embarrassed, it was a can-we-not-talk-about-this-at-my-birthday-party kind of embarrassed.
Boris answered before she could, quite bluntly stating that she hadn't gotten into anywhere else for a reason as stupid enough as her math SAT. That makes no sense. Michael was studying Mia, watching her expression carefully. There were tons of schools that didn't care about SAT scores, especially when she probably applied to do something in English. And other than math, her grades were really good. And, for crying out loud, she was a princess. There was no way that Michael believed even for a second that she had been rejected from every other school.
Which is what he was beginning to explain until he was interrupted by Mia herself, bringing J.P. into the circle as he handed her a drink. Although Michael wasn't happy to see the newcomer, his mind was still stuck on the college thing. There was no way, no way, that she had gotten rejected from everywhere. But why lie? Unless…
"Mike." Ugh, he only liked it when his friends called him that. J.P. was now looking directly at him with a dumbstruck stare, obviously wondering what the hell Mia's ex-boyfriend, who was meant to be living in Japan, was doing at her birthday party. Michael noticed his hand tighten around her waist as if subconsciously claiming his territory. "Hey. So. You're back." He felt some kind of private victory in having clearly shaken J.P. up, but then his stupid expression quickly snapped to a polite smile. In response, Michael just nodded. He had no interest in speaking to the guy.
Luckily for him, loyal Boris jumped in to explain. He went a little overboard, boasting about how big of a success the CardioArm was, but Tina elbowed him before he could continue. Michael wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed, particularly when J.P. just replied with, "Wow, that's great."
He then felt some irritation when Tina randomly informed him about J.P. wrote a play. Everyone looked at her because their conversation had evidently turned into a pissing contest. But Michael just said, "Wow, that's great," with the same enthusiasm J.P. had shown him. It was kind of petty to mock him, but he knew that it was subtle enough not to get called out on it.
There was a bit of an uncomfortable silence, but Mia tried to excuse herself, citing princess duties. She was interrupted, although, by J.P. pulling her back into the circle and saying that he needed to make an announcement. He was suggesting that they go up the microphone and Michael could tell that Mia was unsettled by the idea. He knew better than anyone that she hated surprises, and this seemed like it was going to be one hell of a surprise.
He watched with distaste as J.P. dragged Mia up the stage and practically grabbing the microphone out of Madonna's hands. Even though he realized that he was biased against the guy, he really couldn't believe that anyone could think he was genuine. He was polite, sure, but he seemed so… Arrogant? Maybe it was the old money thing about him, or maybe it was how excited he seemed to have everyone looking at him.
Michael almost threw up when he heard J.P. claim, "Princess Mia means more to me, perhaps, than she does to any of you-". That statement alone infuriated him considering they were surrounded by Mia's family and oldest friends.
And then the asshole took out a small black box.
The whole crowd had erupted into cheers. Michael couldn't stand it anymore. He had no interest in hearing whatever the rest of that speech was going to consist of, and he needed to get out of there as quick as humanly possible. Before turning to leave, he looked over at Mia. Her face was going to decide what he would do.
And she looked… Horrified. There was no other word for it. She looked absolutely, positively horrified. She scanned the crowd and found his face. They looked at each other for a moment, but he couldn't find it in himself to do anything. He didn't smile, he didn't frown, he just stood there, looking back at her until she tore her gaze away.
He then turned and walked to the exit swiftly, before the crowd got a chance to stop clapping. He didn't want to hear whatever the hell J.P. was going to ask her (not marriage surely, she literally just turned 18) nor what her answer would be. Whatever it was, she was being asked in front of hundreds of people including her family, friends, teachers, and a bunch of celebrities. There were paparazzi and reporters below listening intently, ready to report on everything the next morning. It didn't matter what she wanted, because she was going to have to say yes regardless. Michael almost wondered if that was why J.P. had planned it like that. Or maybe it was because J.P. obviously liked the attention. Whatever it was, it didn't seem like Mia would have any choice in the matter.
As he walked down the gangplank, cameras flashed in his face and he heard questions being thrown at him. Unfortunately for him, there were significantly more people throwing around the term "ex-boyfriend" now and knew that he looked like a scorned ex-lover (seriously, what? Mia's book had certainly had an effect on his inner dialogue) who was walking out as the princess' current boyfriend makes some kind of proclamation. But, whatever, he had gotten used to Mia's press years ago; he just needed to get used to his own now.
He didn't answer any questions and hastily flagged down one of the nearby cabs who were waiting to take party-goers home. He would leave the limo for his family to take home.
He couldn't hear whatever J.P. had asked due to the loud cheering. However, as he was closing the car door, he heard a squeak from the speakers. Mia's answer had been "Well, we'll see!"
Michael couldn't help the smirk as he sat down in the backseat. Well, we'll see, indeed.
"Where to?" the cabbie looked at him through the rearview mirror with some mild interest, quite aware of all of the cameras being pointed towards them.
"Pavlov Surgical, please." When it was clear he had no intention of elaborating, the driver set off, leaving the flashing lights behind him.
Michael knew exactly what he was going to do.
He now knew that he was undoubtedly, completely, and ferociously in love with Mia Thermopolis. And he was also quite sure that she felt the same way for him.