Mia:

He still hadn't said anything about my song that I sang, basically for him. I mean, it was in response to that song he sang for me. Unless he knows some other princess and he sang that for her. I mean, that is a pretty random Beatle's song...even for him to chose.

We all started walking back to Kenmore station for the greenline. He quietly took my hand...almost shyly. He didn't even look at me when he did it. Almost like it was a reflex. Like our hands were magnets. Like we were before anything even happened.

You know when you first get with someone....those butterflies appear out of nowhere? I didn't even look at him while we held hands. None of our friends said anything, but they didn't exactly leave us alone so we could talk. They acted like we normally held hands (which okay, sure we used to do that, but not as of late).

"Mia, our hair is being done at nine tomorrow morning so be up and ready," Lilly warned. Tony was standing behind her with his hands on her hips.

"I know. Tone, what is with those damn jeans? And how do you never stain them? I was in the park for ten minutes and I had already ruined my regular old blue jeans," I whined.

He smiled. "Practice. And these are my favorite jeans, that is what is with these damn things."

"But you make me, and most likely every other girl feel fat next to you."

He rolled his eyes in Michael's direction. "Oh please Princess dear. These jeans are the shit."

"It actually looks like you sat in some, my friend," Michael said pointing to Tony's back.

Tony tried looking over his shoulder but couldn't see it. I laughed. Michael was teasing the poor guy who, this time in twenty four hours, would be married to Lilly.

They were an odd couple. I mean, one would never have thought they'd be together, simply looking at them. He was a skinny tall guy with longish brown hair. He liked wearing semi-tight jeans with button down shirts untucked. He didn't look like the type of guy Lilly used to date. He didn't, after all, tuck in his sweaters or anything stupid like that. Michael and I once shared a laugh about how good Old Boris (who I hear is currently dating some Russian tennis player or something while he is touring the violin circuit) used to wear his sweater in his pants, while the guy Lilly ends up with is the total opposite.

She, on the other hand, was a short kind of pudgy woman with squinty eyes still. Michael and I used to joke around behind her back and call her pug face...but she only looks like a pug when she's mad, and when we were younger she was mad a lot. BUt now she wasn't all that mad. She was almost giddy when she was around Tony. Giddy to the point you aren't sure whether you are happy for her, or you want to smack her so she'd shut up for five minutes.

I always imagined she'd be with a guy she could control. Like she controlled Boris. Or like that guy she dated when she first got to college. Maybe that is what attracted her to Tony. He was as confident as she was. They could challenge one another. Okay, he was also really hot. And he has amazing hair. He's the only guy I know that spends more than twenty minutes grooming his mane in the morning. Well, Michael used to on occassion, but now he was shaven so it didn't much matter at that point.

We got into a crowded subway car. There weren't any seats (so much for chivalry, a bunch of college kids drunkenly got in before us and took the last seats). I held onto the bar in front of me, and Michael stood behind me, keeping one hand on my waist and one on the metal bar above us.

We weren't supposed to get off the train until nearly the end of the line, but Michael pulled me off at the Copely (pronounced Cop-ly) stop. "What?" I asked hoarsely. I hadn't spoken in awhile, just listened to my friends. This was the first time we were completely alone since that Tuesday. Since I decided I needed him in my life romantically. That I was in love with him.

"I have a surprise for you," he said, pulling me to the Copely Plaza Hotel.

"Michael...."I said, gazing up at the large hotel. "This isn't a good idea."

"Oh, don't worry Mia. I'm not staying in the same room as you. I just thought it'd be nicer to stay here, in comfort, rather than sleeping bags. We can go back to-"

"No, no, this is fine. Perfect," I said with a wide grin. I may say I want to be like a regular person, but I like the comfort that a hotel brings. I like the little mints on my pillow. "But I don't have my-"

"Lilly asked Tony's mother to bring our stuff by earlier."

"Why arent' they staying here?"

"Well, Lilly is actually going to stay at the Park Plaza with my parents tonight. So she was getting off at the next stop anyways. Tony wanted to stay one last night in the house he grew up in. The other guys are over at the Lenox."

"Why though? Why didn't they stay here?"

"Larry wanted some alone time with Shameeka and figured that you girls would scamper off and be all girly if you were within twenty feet of one another. Nolan and Reggie met some girls the other night who are staying over at the Lenox so..."

I smiled. How had I not been aware of these happenings? "I see. Well...um," I said as the elevator stopped at our floor. Michael walked me to my door.

"If you need anything I'm uh...right next door," he said looking at the ground. Then he went directly to his room and unlocked the door. Before he went in he looked back and smiled at me. "Go in already. I know you wanna crash."

So I went into my room and got into the pajama's they had left for me. I slid into my nice fluffy bed and flipped on the TV. Lifetime movie network of course.

I burst out laughing, they were showing my life story that they made about ten years ago. I don't like the girl who played me. She looked NOTHING like me at all. I hate when the movie people find really gorgeous people and try to ugly them up. Then once she got a make over she looked like a model of course (which I didn't and still do not). But that guy who played Michael...boy he was cute. I think I saw him in a band now. But who cares about him? What about the boy he was playing? The one that was supposedly sooo in love with me. Well, now I know he was in fact in love with me, or as much in love as an eighteen year old can be with a fourteen year old. At the time I thought it was just added to give me a love interest other than Kenny, who mysteriously was never mentioned at all. They mentioned Josh Richter though, but called him Richard Johnson (Rich). They actually showed the scene where he kissed me without my consent. Ha, the authorized biography that was released last year is so much better. Probably because I participated and not Josh.

In fact, the bozo's who made this movie made me look like I had ONE friend, Lilly who was my connection to Michael. And that Michael had none. Oh well, it's good for a laugh.

But the ending, the part where Michael and I kiss by a fountain made me lonely. Made me realize that I did need something.

I slowly crept up and peeked my head out of my room to make sure no one was around. When all was clear I tip toed to Michael's room. I put my hand up to knock, but the door opened.

Michael opened the door widely to reveal that he was only wearing his champagne glass boxer shorts. "Hey," he said softly.

I walked into the room silently and crawled into his bed. He laid down next to me. I had my back to him and....well I guess we spooned. We didn't talk though, he just shut off the light and held onto me as we drifted off to sleep.

MICHAEL:

She fell asleep in my arms, finally after all these months. I couldn't sleep though. Like I had said before, I sleep in the nude. But I couldn't tonight. Mia was next to me in my bed. I didn't want her to think I was being fresh.

"Michael," she said softly about an hour after we laid down.

"I thought you were asleep?"

"Why do you have your boxers on? You never sleep with them on."

I smiled at her remembering this little fact that only she knew about. "I didn't want to be too forward," I admitted.

"I highly doubt anything we ever do in the future would be too forward," she replied.

I slid off my shorts, but didn't go back into the spooning position. I couldn't let myself get that close to her. I couldn't let myself take in her smell because let's face facts, she's the woman of my dreams. I didn't want any of my boys getting too excited about seeing her again.

When I woke up the next morning she was gone. Why was she always gone before I even woke up? She left a note,

Thanks for letting me stay here last night...it meant a lot to me. I have to meet Lilly and your mom for our hair appointments. I'll see you this evening at the wedding.

Love Mia

I wondered how many drafts she'd gone through before leaving me this copy. How many times had she gone back and forth on whether or not to say 'love Mia'? I smirked at this, things might just be coming together. I still didn't get why they were, but thank God they were finally.

The guys all met up for a drink before we got dressed at Tony's place. "You are going to stay with the band, right?" Nolan asked before he took a sip of his beer.

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I?" Tony asked.

"Oh I don't know....maybe when kids come into the picture?" Reggie asked. "It's a good question."

Tony shrugged, "We have a few years to worry about that. Guys come on, it's not like I'm moving to another country or something. I'm just getting married." I noticed that he looked at me at the mention of moving to another country.

"But what they are trying to say," I started, "I think, is that you are going to have a wife now. She is your first responsibility. We come second to that."

"We'll work it out," Tony replied. "I just know that I love her and she loves me. All you need is love," he said with a smile. He then broke into song with Nolan.

I rolled my eyes. This was not a time for Beatle lyrics. Leave it to him to be so damn calm with only six hours til he got married. Married to my little sister.

What would the guys think of my leaving the band? "Tony, let's go for a walk okay?" I said standing up and leaving a few bills on the counter.

"Yeah, sure. I'll see you guys at my parents in an hour okay? Be showered at least."

They all agreed upon the one hour curfew and Tony and I left the pub.

"Whats on your mind my singing buddy?" Tony asked. "Freaked because I'm going to be your brother after today?"

I laughed, "Eh, not really before, but now that it's really happening, yeah, I am freaked out."

Tony laughed. "What happened last night?"

"Nothing."

He wasn't sure to believe me or not. But at this point why would I lie? Why would I bring him out for a walk only to lie? "Okay. So whats up then?"

"I'm happy that nothing happened," I replied with a weird smile.

"Are you kidding me? I mean, you love her don't you? I just assumed you two would...ya know, after the public display's of affection...I mean, you never did any of that with Vicky..."

"No, I'm happy nothing happened because....well, she was laying in bed with me. That's all it took to make me happy. Having her laying next to me. We had this huge bed to share, and yet we stayed so close to one another."

"I know what you mean man. I mean, when I just look at Lilly after a really shitty day...all my problems just disappear. And when I was younger I always wanted to just...always be moving around. Doing my own thing. But now I'm satisfied in her little apartment in Greenwich Village. With her lying next to me in a full size bed. Her wearing my old college t-shirts.

"And it's just weird timing, ya know? Now that the band is picking up I am kind of over it, ya know what I mean? I-I love playing, don't get me wrong. I love hanging out with you boys and playing and goofing around. But the idea of leaving Lilly alone for months at a time...eventually with kids...it's a little too much for me. Maybe we can just get ourselves established in the industry, then when we decide to have kids or...uh, when everyone else decides to get married...we could just take a little break. But I want Lilly with us. I don't want our first year together to be with me on one side of the country and her on the other. I want her at the hotel waiting for me to come home. I know it's not much of a life for her but...I dunno, am I being fair to her?"

He never talked this much. This must have been dragging on his brain for too long. "I don't mean to be an ass, but she won't go on the road. I wouldn't mind her, but think about it. Is she the type to just follow someone around? No, she has her career ahead of her."

He nodded. "I am right in marrying her, right?"

Oh shit. I've put doubt in his mind now. She'll kill me if I screw this up. "Totally man. Like you said, you love her and she loves you. You'll figure things out don't worry."

He kicked a pebble, "The same applies to you."

"What you mean?"

"The logistics of a relationship with Mia."

"That's something I wanted to talk to you about, actually," I started.

"Yeah?"

I clicked my tongue ring against my teeth. "If we were to get together, I'd move to Genovia ...permantly."

He stared at me. "Right away?"

"Naw, when we got real serious. Which I think we would because keeping things light wasn't a good idea with us."

He laughed. "So I am guessing that when you get with her I am to assume your tenure as our lead vocalist and guitarist will be terminated?"

I laughed. "I'd like to stick with you guys as long as possible, still write stuff for you."

"You are our sole song writer so we'd have to keep you on the pay roll," he laughed.

Moments of silence (well, except for the crew working on the road and the honking of horns, but you get the picture). "And you'll always have a place with us, when you need to get your musical frustrations out."

We both laughed at that. "I'll keep it in mind." We stood in front of the hotel where they were getting married. "Let's go make a married man out of you."