MICHAEL:
It was her twenty fifth birthday today. I looked at my clock. Her birthday was six hours old where she was.
Her little brother, Rocky told me that he was going to visit her. I told him to give my best wishes for her birthday.
He's actually a cool little kid. He acted all tough when he saw the picture of me and Vicky kissing. I cooled him off though by explaining that she kissed me and I pushed her away. That I was set up. That seemed to calm his anger.

I sent her a virtual greeting from the Genovain Royal Family website. So far, I could see that she had gotten over 15,000 greetings. She probably wouldn't even notice mine.
"Yo, man, how's this tux look?" Tony asked. We were at our fittings for the wedding. It was only a little over a month away.
"Fine," I grumbled.
"Just fine? Think we should go with the suits instead?"
I shrugged, "It's your day, you decide."
"You know what's gonna be awesome?"
"What?" I sighed.
"The day before we're all going to a Red Sox game. They're playing the Yankees."
"You know baseball is not my thing."
"It's the best sports rivalry in the world man. The best one. The Yanks are going down."
"Hey, watch your mouth!" the tailor screamed.
"The Sox are statistically a better team this season!" Tony argued. They started comparing teams. I couldn't care less.
I read the newspaper instead. I came to the celebrity section and it mentioned Mia's birthday. I tossed the paper in the trash. I didn't need to be reminded of it.
Vicky kept trying to call me that month, and I continued to ignore her calls. She would leave message after message, so I finally got my number changed and made private.
I started doing something I never expected to do. I started going to church on Sundays. I am not Catholic, but I found something in the faith that filled a void within me. How corny am I? I mean, 'filled a void within me'? Come on, who am I now?

After a few weeks a priest approached me. "Hello, son."
I smiled weakly, nervously. "Hello, Father."
"You are new here, are you not?"
I nodded. "I'm Jewish though."
He looked a little surprised. "We welcome everyone."
"But I haven't practiced in awhile," I continued. "I just didn't see a point."
"But now you do?"
"Sort of. This girl...she's kind of made me believe in a higher being..." I immediately felt like a total tool for saying the words 'higher being' out loud.
"A woman always is the one," the priest said with a laugh. "Well, if you are interested in learning more about our faith, no pressure now, we have a group of adults that meet to discuss. They are all going to be baptized and then confirmed. You will of course, have to receive communion first...if that is what you are intending." He was spitting out the words so quickly, kind of reminded me of Mia when she was excited about something.
I nodded. I had no idea where this was coming from. "I'd like to meet with you on a one on one basis, if that is okay. I am a private person," I explained.
"My name is Father Sean Heart. Why don't you come by on Thursday afternoon? Are you working?"
I shook my head, "I have a flexible job."
"Very well then."
The week before the wedding came, and so did the bachelor party.

All of us, that is the band plus a few of Tony's buddies from Boston went to a concert on a Friday night, followed by some heavy drinking, but I didn't drink. I didn't want to make any more stupid mistakes. Not that I could fix anything now.
Tony was totally wasted, and hung over on Saturday morning. But there was more to come for him. That night we were heading out to different...uh, gentlemen's clubs. Lilly told me to make sure nothing bad happened. Yeah, whatever Lil.
The twelve of us hung around Nolan's apartment since it was the biggest one. I played video games, and damn was I getting good at Grand Theft Auto...only like ten years after it came out, but I was good!
We got ready to go out around eight o'clock. I just wore regular clothes. No one really approached me anymore since I always looked so down and upset, so I didn't care. I could go for a good lap dance though.
I came out of the bathroom and heard Tony on the phoneb (this is right before we left for the bars)

"Well, you picked her up, right? You girls going clubbing?"
I hid in the doorway so he wouldn't see me.
"Well, tell Mia I said hello...I miss you too baby...I love you...bbye."
He left the hall. I came out. Mia was around the town now. She didn't want to see me though; if she did she woulda come by my apartment.
We went to some bars before the strip clubs. Tony didn't have to pay a penny for anything because he was getting married. Lucky stiff.
I decided to skip out before the strip clubs. Now that Mia was around I didn't want the lap dance. I didn't want to risk having her get mad at me; if that was even possible anymore.
I took a long walk around the city. Wondering what she was doing. If she had thought about calling- I had a different number now. She wouldn't think to ask Lilly for my new one.
I found myself outside her mother's building. The lights were off in her apartment. I am such a loser. Twenty eight years old and doing the same thing I did on Saturday night back when I was eighteen.
Yeah, that's right. I used to escape my friends and sneak out to Mia's apartment. I would just look up at her room and sometimes considered sneaking up there to her, but I obviously never did.

MIA:
Before I left Genovia I noticed a birthday gift I had never opened. I opened it and saw a CD case with the word BUELLER straight across it. Nothing fancy on the cover, just that word in bold yellow ink.
I knew who it was from immediately. I threw the CD into my discman and looked at the little booklet that came with the album. I always read those things no matter what.
I looked at the band's thank you's. Michael thanked his parents for soundproofing his old bedroom and allowing him to practice til all hours of the night. Then he thanked Lilly for being a pain in the ass and inspiring him to keep playing so he could bug the hell out of her. This made me laugh at the memories of Lilly blasting her Britney Spears CD so loud to drown out his guitar. He would purposely keep his door open to bother her with his 'noise', but I think it was also to maybe catch a peek at me (he did say he had a crush on me back in the day).
He thanked his bandmates individually. I read that he thanks Rocky, for being the little brother he never had. And then he thanked TDW. Tall Drink of Water. Me. "I love you more than you'll ever know...I'll be waiting..."
I listened to the CD while I flew back to New York for the wedding week. I was terrified of seeing him again because I didn't know what I would say to him. I didn't know what he'd say to me.

The play list said there were only twelve songs on the CD, but the end had an extra song.
He did an acoustic version of an old, familar song with Nolan and the other guys in the background. It didn't sound like the KC and JoJo version. It was more rock than soulful. He made it his own.
I started crying. He had no idea that this was my and Joshua's song. Very few people knew this song. The girls I had been on that mission with knew about it because they were there the night he dedicated it to me...they had teased me about FINALLY getting together with him. After all, I was suppose to be the sweet and innocent one of our little group. God, if they only knew now! (I only speak to them occassionally...we all have such crazy hectic lives now).

It was almost like they (Michael and Joshua)were one person. Maybe that was why Joshua liked him and picked him for me.
But there was another song, one he wrote...it really made me overthink...not good for a long plane ride: (a/n This is Vienna, by the great Billy Joel)
Slow down, you crazy child

You're so ambitious for a juvenile
But then if you're so smart, tell me why you are so afraid?
Where's the fire, what's the hurry about?
You better cool it off before you burn it out
You got so much to do and only so many hours in a day
But you know when the truth is told
That you can get what you want,
Or you can just get old
You're gonna kick off before you even get halfway through
When will you realize,
Vienna waits for you?
Slow down, you're doing fine
You can't be everything you want to be,
Before your time
Although it's so romantic on the borderline tonight
Too bad but it's the life you lead,
You're so ahead of yourself
That you forgot what you need
Through you can see when you're wrong
But you know you can't always see when you're right
You got your passion, you got your pride
But don't you know only fools are satisfied?
Dream on, but don't imagine they'll all come true
When will you realize,
Vienna waits for you?
Slow down you crazy child
Take the phone off the hook
And disappear for a while.
It's all right; you can afford to lose a day or two
When will you realize....
Vienna waits for you
When I was a teenager, and he wrote that song Tall Drink of Water for me, I couldn't hear a song's words, only the melodies and rhythm. I listened to each word that he sang now. I knew when he wrote this. He must have written it right before I joined them on tour. It was his way of telling me to stop trying to be someone I really wasn't. He hated how I acted one way in front of my family, and another when I was with my friends. I had no idea what Vienna was supposed to mean though.
Our entire...well, courtship (if that's the right word, I mean, we weren't in a relationship or anything but whatever), he was challenging me to do things I hadn't even thought of before.

Would I have sunbathed nude a year ago?
Um. No.
Would I have shared a night with a man I was not tied down to?
Uh, no way.
Would I have left the palace in search of something else?
In search of me?
Was I really an uptight royal? A girl who only thought of the next royal function? No, I wasn't. I knew deep down I wasn't. But I needed this time with Michael to reclaim my old identity. To become young again.
Now, don't get me wrong here. I was very happy with Joshua...but I was a totally different person. I wasn't Mia Thermopolis. I was Amelia
Mignonette Grimaldi Renaldo. I was a princess.
Okay, so, sure I had kind of gone against what Grandmere wanted of me when I chose Joshua as a consort. She wasn't the fondest of him; and only few knew why. But after we had told her there was nothing she could do, that I'd give up the crown for him, she demanded our behavior be fixed. He took his prince lessons. I did the family appearances.
But that wasn't the real Mia. The Mia that Michael saw. He was the only one who saw that I was caged up in Genovia. Well, one other had, but he had chosen to ignore it. He'd thought I would figure things out on my own. He never really understood that I couldn't; that I needed to be pushed.
Ugh, am I making any sense? Did he have ANY idea about how much of an affect he had on me? On how his words could make me fight myself?
These thoughts plagued me throughout the plane ride. I had once been so sure that I didn't want to see him when I got there, but now, who knows?
Lilly promised she wouldn't tell him I was there, and made Tony promise as well.
Lilly picked me up at the airport. My mom and Frank were visiting her family now that school was over and he could go out more.
"What are we doing tonight?" I asked.
"Well, the boys are going to a concert, so we're going clubbing," she explained. "But I can understand if you want a quiet night..."
"No, it's fine, I swear. I can keep up," I promised. Actually, my old friend, Lucie Priestess had called me earlier that week and asked to meet up, so I was pretty excited. I hadn't seen her since....since his funeral.

Okay, I'll admit it. I had been avoiding her phone calls, I never talked about her. Why you may ask? Because she was the sole reason we had gotten together in the first place, but that's a whole 'nother story. Now, for some reason, I was happy and excited about seeing her.

We went to a club around ten that night. We made Lilly wear a goofy bride's hat. I was happy to see my old friends that I didn't see on my last trip. I was also happy to see that Kendra had come along. Lucie made a quick appearance.

"I'm going to Italy for the summer," she told me as we picked up the drinks at the bar.

"Will Schwartz be joining you?" I asked. I'm sorry, but a man named Schwartz? Lucie had strange choice in men, but come on,Schwartz? I mean, she has dated some of the hottest rock stars in her day. I mean, hello Rivers Cuomo? Now I'm sure this Schwartz guy is great and all, but he's not Lucie's type at all. He's a rugby player for Genovia. Joshua had introduced them last winter. As far as I knew, this was her longest relationship to date.

She winked at me, "But of course. His family is Italian so...Oh, and that Robert guy said to say hi to you. He was asking how you were doing lately."

I smiled at the mention of my ex boyfriend. HA! He had dumped me and for months chased after me to go out with him again. "You can let him know I am doing just splendid. And tell him that I found a real man."

She laughed at this. We had always teased him behind his back because he had broken up with me because he didn't feel like a real man when he was with me, because he always had to be in the public eye and step behind me all the time. "But you have you...really?"

I looked down at my drink, "No..."

" You do realize that I know when you are lying, right? I haven't been friends with your for four years and not figured that one out."

"I dunno Luce. I'm gonna go find Lilly, okay?"

"Mia, am I gonna have to be your fairy godmother again? You are twenty five years old, go get the guy."

Lilly brought other friends from college and work that I didn't know. Her college friends looked at me skeptically and whispered things to one another.
I was in the bathroom of the club when one of them, introduced to me as Leila, came up to me. "Hey," she said coldly.
"Hi there," I replied, making sure my zit on the corner of my nose wasn't apparent.
"I don't know who you are, or who you THINK you are, but what are you doing to our Michael?"
I looked at her oddly. "What?"
"Lilly's brother. My friend Kelly has always had a thing for him and he refuses to date Lilly's friends because of YOU."
I was surprised. "Oh, well, I never did anything to him."
"You come back when he's about to become rich and famous? Come on girlie, you already are rich and famous, what do you need him for?" she demanded.
Something snapped in me. "Excuse me? But you don't KNOOOOW me (A/N sorry, that phase is used on Jerry Springer and it cracks me up!), so who are YOU to say what I need and don't need?"
"What your step."
"Whatever."
"Don't be saying whatever to me bitch," she snapped.
And this girl was friends with Lilly? "How exactly are you friends with Lilly?" I asked.
"College roommates."
"Forced friendship," I snapped as I walked out of the bathroom.
I lied to Lilly and said I was tired so I left. I walked around New York all alone. I ended up at Michael's apartment. I considered walking up to his apartment, but thought twice about it. He was at a concert or something. Or maybe he met someone and had her up in his place right now.
I returned home and went to sleep. Alone. More alone than ever.
The next night was just me, Lilly, Shameeka, and Tina. Ling-Su had fallen out of our radar soon after college, otherwise I am sure Lilly would have invited her.
We acted like little high schoolers, talking about cute celebrities.
"Okay, truth or dare?" Shameeka said to me.
"Ummm, truth."
"Chicken," Lilly teased.
"Fine, dare."
Shameeka looked at Lilly with an evil grin. "This is a dare that has to be done at a later date, do you accept that?"
I nodded.
"You have to flash everyone at the wedding rehearsal when we get to Boston," she said with a smile.
My face turned red. Yes, me a twenty five year old woman was blushing. Me, the woman who went topless at a nude beach. "I dunno..."
"Mia, you have to!" Lilly said between her fits of laughter.
"You HAVE to!" Tina said laughing
"No...sorry if I don't want your parents seeing my breasts."
"Good point. Fine...," Lilly said with a mischievous grin, "You must drop an eggplant out my window!"
"Again? Come on, let's be a little creative!"
Lilly handed me an eggplant. Geez, they really had this planned out! It wasn't as exciting as last time though, when we were freshman in high school. I didn't have to sneak it out of the kitchen or anything. And Michael wouldn't be here to save me from being caught.
I took the eggplant from Lilly and walked over to the window. I peeked outside. We weren't up as high as before. Only three floors. No one was around, so I dropped it. As it splattered though, someone walked right in front of it. They looked up and I jumped down.

Lilly started laughing hysterically. "It's only Michael!"
Great. Only Michael! I stared at her. "Um, that IS a big deal, Lil."
She smiled at me, "Oh please, he's my big brother. And you've never actually told me, or anyone what was exactly going on with you two, or what made you suddenly not want to see him. So you will not be getting any sympathy. Besides, we won't leave you alone with him so it's not a big deal," she said to me. She turned back to the window, "Come on up Michael!"
I told Tina that if she left me I would personally kill her, or at the very least have Lars do it for me. She laughed and promised she wouldn't leave me.
We all went to Lilly's living room and picked out spots on the couch. I sat at the end with Tina on the other side of me. I grabbed a random bowl of popcorn that Lilly had made earlier in the evening. It was cold, but that was how I preferred it. I didn't like how it burned the top of my mouth.
Lilly opened the door for her brother. "Welcome."
"I didn't know you ordered a stripper, Mia," Tina joked.
I gave her a death glare. He looked at me with his puppy brown eyes. I don't know why, but I suddenly felt guilty. I fingered the necklace that Joshua had left for me. I was going to be okay.
"Yeah, what a great choice, the bride's brother!" Shameeka laughed. "I thought the stripper was to entertain the bride, not the maid of honor?"
I gave them both death looks.
"Welcome back, Mia," he said softly. He sat down on the floor in front of me, "What are you guys watching?"
"Sixteen Candles," I replied. I knew he hated Molly Ringwald.
"So it's a good thing that I'm leaving then. I just wanted to make sure my little sister was behaving herself," he said, quickly standing up again.
"We're taking care of her," Shameeka promised. "By the way, Michael, why didn't you ever want to go on a date with me?"
He turned red, "Well, I'll think about it," he mumbled. Good job Shameeka.
"No, you had your chance hon, I've moved on."
"Too bad," he said with a smile. "I'm gonna head back home," he said, glancing quickly at me. What, was that a hint or something?
"Okay, bye Michael," Lilly said, pushing him out of the apartment.
"He wants you soooo bad," Shameeka said shaking her head at me.
"Huh?" I asked, pretending I didn't hear her. "Oh, this is the good part!"