Authors Notes: Hey guys, I just want to say how much you guys rock!!! Your reviews definitely motivated me to get this chapter out as fast as I could. Sorry it took so long but this past week has been hectic. Hopefully I'll be posting more frequently since schools out in less than 3 weeks and as long as yall stay interested ill keep writing =o).

Let me just add this really quick: To Kat, Emily, and Liz thanks you guys for showing enough interest in my little story to offer to beta I honestly didn't think anyone would want to. Even though I didn't pick you guys as my primary beta I still really appreciate the offer. To Krystar your review made me smile it was so sweet lol and to answer your question she was listening to "Thank You" (my fav song on the cd). To angie that idea is sooo cute you'll have to thank your boyfriend for me (LoL) its given me a idea for later on. And to everyone else like I said before yall are awesome, awesome, awesome. Thanks Again, Cori

P.S. Please keep the inspiring reviews coming they make me want to continue this.

P.S.S. I want to send a quick little shout out to SofieChick thanks for the comments on this chapter =o).





Chapter 2



1 ~*~ How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you would you tell me how could it be any better than this~*~ Lifehouse: Everything





Mia toyed nervously with the fringe on her favorite throw blanket. She really had no idea why so suddenly she felt like she had swallowed a whole swarm of butterflies but the feeling made her think that at any second she would burst from the nervousness and excitement she was experiencing at the moment. Glancing over at the clock on the wall she loosened her death grip on the blanket and stood up carefully as not to disturb Fat Louies peaceful sleep. As she walked over to her closet and rummaged through hanger after hanger of clothes her mind wandered back to Michael. The two had been officially a couple now for 2 months and everything still seemed fresh and new. Mia had always heard about couples that drifted apart after time but she couldn't see that happening with Michael and her.

"I might even love him." She said out loud as she looked over at Fat Louie. When Louie heard Mia's voice he cracked an eye open to peer at her. Then she burst out into giggles. "Of course I love him Louie. I've always loved him. Of course he doesn't know it and I'm not sure if he feels that strongly about me, but we've only been together for two months and he's said he likes me a lot. I guess it's to early to get into the whole love thing." As she finished her sentence she couldn't help but add silently "I'm really just to scared to tell him."

Turning back around to her closet she began to rummage once again trying to get all depressing thoughts to flee her mind. After a few minutes of struggling, cursing, and stubbed toes she finally decided on a decent outfit. "Boy, I really need to clean that closet out. It's a disaster area." She muttered as she walked over to her bed carrying her clothes.

Turning on her radio she bounced along with Michelle Branch as she pulled on her khaki ankle length skirt and fastened the black studded belt that went with it. Grabbing her black peasant top she slipped it over her head and stood in front of her full-length mirror. Glancing at her reflection she cracked a little smile. There was something different about her. Even though she still didn't consider herself exactly pretty and she was still insecure about her big feet and flat chest there was a light in her eyes and a glow in her cheeks, these past two months had been good for her. Although she couldn't help but wonder what was going to go wrong, something always did her luck was NEVER this good. Shaking her head she tried not to be so pessimistic.

She turned back towards her vanity grabbed her hairbrush and ran it through her hair trying to get it into a controlled style. Once she was satisfied with her tresses she dabbed on a bit of silver eye shadow and a hint of lip- gloss right as she heard the doorbell ring.

***************

Michael stood at the front door of Mia's apartment shifting his weight from foot to foot as he held the bouquet of different colored carnations behind his back. He raised his hand to ring the bell once again but he was cut off when the door opened. There in front of him stood Mia looking as stunning as she did that night that he had first kissed her.

Standing there for a minute he just stared at her unable to make any words come from his mouth. Mia grinned a little and laughed. "I can finally say I made someone speechless with my indescribable beauty. My life's mission is complete," She said in a joking voice as she grabbed her messenger bag from the chair by the door.

"Michaels here mom. Ill be back later." She yelled back into the house as she stepped out of the door and locked it behind her.

Finally broken out of his daze Michael looked over at Mia and smiled. "Well all I can say is that probably isn't the last time that you make me speechless. You seem to have that affect on me."

Mia laughed lightly as they walked down the stairs to Michael's car. "So when do you plan on giving me the flowers? You're not doing a very good job of hiding them."

Michael blushed slightly as he realized that he still had the carnations behind his back. "I was getting to it. I can see someone's impatient." He replied as he handed the flowers to Mia. "I can see that some things never change." He added with a chuckle.

****

"Can I take the blindfold off yet?" Mia asked excitedly as she felt Michael take his hands off of her shoulders and felt him take her hands.

"Not yet. One more minute. Now start to sit down slowly." He replied as he helped her into a sitting position. Mia felt whatever Michael had told her to sit on moving slightly it freaked her out a little but she trusted him so she just sat there trying to remain calm.

"Ok. You can take it off now." She heard him say from somewhere to her right. She reached up and slowly began to undo the knot in the bandanna. As she slipped it off she gasped at what she saw before her. They were in the park where her and Michael had first met when they were little kids. Looking down she saw why she was swaying Michael had sat her on the swing that he had used to push her on when she was younger. Directly in front of her there was a checkered picnic blanket under their favorite tree. There was two candles lit and there was a picnic basket off to the side. Mia was so overcome with emotion that she didn't know what to say, so instead she just stood up ran over to Michael and enveloped him in a huge hug.

"Thank you soooo much. You don't know how much this means to me. You really don't." She said muffling her words in his chest.

Michael smiled tenderly as he gently pulled Mia away. "It was the least I could do after all I don't really think you realize how much you've done for me." He said as he grabbed her hand and led her over to the blanket.

Mia sat down and leaned back against Michael's chest. "You know I realize all the trouble you went through for this picnic but I'm honestly not hungry my mom cooked lasagna for dinner if I would have known I wouldn't have eaten so much." Mia said as she looked over at the basket.

Michael grinned. "Don't worry about it I'll just take it home to Lilly im sure she'll eat it."

Mia smiled to herself as she snuggled closer to Michael's chest as he wrapped his arms around her frame she was overcome with a feeling of safety ness. Looking up at the darkening sky she realized that there wasn't a cloud in sight. "It's such a beautiful night. You couldn't have planned anything more perfect."

Michael turned to Mia and looked into her eyes. "There's one more thing to making this the perfect night." He said softly as he reached out and delicately tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Cupping her cheek in his hand he slowly traced her jaw line with his thumb. Mia's knees were trembling with the intense way he stared at her mixed with his tender touch. Just as Mia thought she would burst from the anticipation Michael slowly leaned forward and found her lips with his. At the contact a jolt of electricity seemed to pass between the two. As Michael began to pull back Mia wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him back to her crushing her lips against his the way she had been dreaming about the whole time she was in Genovia. Michael dug his fingers into Mia's hair as she deepened the pressure of the kiss. This was definitely heaven she thought giddily.

After the two had pulled back from each other they both wore identical grins. Neither one of them could have planned a more perfect night.