Author's Note: Yeah, well, New York was fun other than how much the game sucked. I don't know what we're like because I have only been to one Yankee Red Sox game in Fenway, but the Yankee fans really do stink. At least the ones we encountered. One continously mocked Nomar's nose (okay, you really need to move on, he has a big nose I'm sure he is fully aware of that!), and of Pokey Reese's last name (oh get over it loser). And then on the subway...well, we were standing out SIDE of the train b/c it was too full for the 19 of us, this guy gestures to the girls in the group who were standing off to the side (one t alking about Manny's 'adorable' bubbl butt, Nomah and stuff), and he told us that we suck and then gave US THE FINGER. Okay, I have never seen a sox fan do that to a bunch of girls who were minding their own business. And then..hehe, the fans in Times Square decided to scream 1918 to us, all I gotta say is, J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS- oh wait, I'm sorry, I totally forgot the Jets suck ass and the Pat's have won two of the last three Superbowls. Okay, Enough with my rant.
Other than that my visit to New York was QUITE enjoyable, I even got along with my ex boyfriend on the trip! Wa-Hoo! Enjoy the story and thanks for reading my rant
ps: Mitchie: Yes, Eddie is supposed to be on the attractive side. The story gets into that a little bit in this chapter, and more so later. I don't know if I described him earlier, but he's kind of different than Michael, which totally freaks our Michael out. He is built similarly to MM, but has blonde short hair. This is VERY important to remember. Aw man, I stink at giving away hints!
Mia:
"Yeah, well I'm not worried."
"Maybe you should be."
MIA:
Okay, back in high school Michael never had a girl wanting him, and now that he has a girlfriend he does? What the hell! "No, I shouldn't be," I replied. "I know Michael better than anyone else does, and he knows me. Trust me, we're perfectly happy." I hope I sounded confident.
She smiled and said, " Well, he is in college now."
I smiled back, twice as sweetly, "Oh really? I just thought he had a different schedule than me. I am just a little high schooler after all, not nearly bright enough to know that my boyfriend is in college."
The band came out and a few regulars yelled out for them. The guys waved and went straight into a song. He was singing my song, Tall Drink of Water. It was a really mellow song. They always played a mellow song, then would break into a crazy one to offset it. It's sad how much I know about these guys.
Lilly came flying in with her camera mid way through the song. "Hey," she said with a sigh. "Sorry I'm late. They weren't going to let me in!"
"How'd you get in then?" I asked.
"Lars was smoking outside and got me in."
"I've been trying to get him to quit! He told me he quit! That little..."
"Who's Lars?" Lydia asked.
I looked at Lilly and let her know I didn't like the girl who was sitting with us.
"Just a friend," Lilly explained. "Doesn't Denis look great?"
The boys started playing a crazy fast paced song and a bunch of people started dancing. Lilly and I got up and started dancing together. I was so lucky to have a musically talented boyfriend who always knew the songs I'd wanna hear.
MICHAEL:
I loved looking at her while I was backstage. I saw Lydia continuing to talk to Mia, I'm sure it wasn't anything nice though by Mia's expression. I told the guys we'd play one of the songs I wrote for her so that she'd know that she was the only one who really mattered to me.
But then we played a really fast paced song and she and Lilly got up and started dancing. She had changed so much since that night last year when I took her dancing. Back then she was so inhibited with her movement, so uncomfortable in her own skin. She was so...so free now. I couldn't just look at her though while I played so I stopped. Lydia was downing some beer...I think that was her third one so far. She'd have fun at the club tonight. Or some guy would with her.
Mental note: Have Caleb watch out for her.
After we finished up I was all sweaty but I couldn't wait to get back to Mia. I packed up my guitar and Denis offered to take it back to the apartment since he and Lilly were going there to watch some movies. "Actually, I was thinking maybe next week we could have a party," he suggested.
"Sure, it'd be fun. Then I remembered Mia wasn't going to be around and the fun idea of a party didn't seem so...exciting anymore. "Well, thanks for taking my shit with you."
"Behave," he teased with a wink.
I saw Mia talking to some of the guys from school. She looked really happy and totally confident. They were making her laugh, causing her to throw her head back in laughter. I put my finger to my lips to let my friends know not to tell her I was coming up behind her.
I slowly put my hands on her hips and shook her.
"Ahh! Michael!" she said laughing. "What was that for?" she asked with wide eyes.
"You ready, m'lady?"
She smiled and nodded.
"Caleb, I'll see you Monday?"
"Yeah man, later."
"Bye guys!" I said with a wave to everyone else.
"Uh, yeah?" I asked with my hand still on Mia's hips. I could see her outwardly sigh and roll her eyes.
"Mind if I get the first autograph?" she asked with a wink.
I shrugged, "Sure, why not? Got pen and paper?"
She handed me a marker and lowered her shirt a little soI would sign her chest.
I looked at Mia who looked amused. "I don't think so Lydia. Ask again when you have some paper."
"So?" I asked when we went outside.
"You guys were awesome, as usual."
"No, what you think of my friends?"
"Oh, the guys are really nice. Sweet even."
"But?"
"Lydia..."
I laughed, "She's not really my friend. She kind of met up with us last night."
"She seemed to like you. She was pretty jealous of me. N-Nothing happened last night, did it?" she asked worriedly.
I stopped and pulled her into an alley. Lars was only thirty feet behind us. "Mia, do you know how stupid that sounded?"
"Sorry...sorry, it's just she's so...."
"So what? Ditzy? Drunk? Moronic? Everything you aren't?"
"Exactly!"
"Huh?"
"I mean, she has perfect stupid arched eyebrows, blue eyes, red hair, not a giant, and she's so smart!"
I held back my laughter. "Mia, how did you get smart out of her? I mean, the idiot asked me to sign her chest with my girlfriend right in front of her."
"Well, you go to school with her..."
"No I don't."
"How do you know her then?"
"She just showed up last night in the dorms where I was hanging out. I don't know her at all."
"But she looks perfect..."
"Mia, you must really not know me all that well."
"What do you mean?"
"Babe you know I don't go for that. In case you've missed the past year, I'm kind of in love with the perfect girl already. I even gave her a promise ring, meaning I would always love her and only her. And that I want to marry HER. Not some drunken bimbo that has groupie practically written all over her forehead. The girl I love likes to be goofy, has a killer smile, and loves me for me."
"She loves me for me, not because I hang with Leonardo...." she sang
"See, that's why I love you babe. You pick random ass songs to sing after I say something to you," I managed through my laughter.
"I'm sorry if I'm being all....idiotic. I know you love me. You shouldn't have to tell me as much as you do. But you know how I am..."
"I know you better than you know yourself," I said, leading her out of the alley.
"Oh?"
"Yeah."
"You have some information to back that up?" she asked as I put my hand on her hip.
"Do you know what you do with your nose while you are asleep?"
She shook her head.
"While you are dreaming you scrunch it up really tight like its itchy. And then you rub your face into my chest...when I'm there."
She smiled. "Anything else I should know about myself?"
"You've changed a lot in the past year."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, for the better. Not that you were bad back then, but I mean..."
"Well?"
"I mean, you've matured a lot. You used to be so shy around everyone else. Now you are getting to be more open and are sharing your charisma with everyone. I love seeing you from across a room because I can tell exactly what you are thinking about that person you are talking to, like I said, I know everything there is to know about you."
She leaned into my body while we walked, "I like how you smell," she announced for probably the millionth time.
"Thanks, I like showering so I tend to smell soapy."
"Well, everyone does, but its like the soap is within you..."
"Deep thoughts of America's Princess Mia."
She laughed. "You know what I want?"
"Me naked?" I teased. She blushed.
"Well, other than that."
"I guess that would be one thing I don't know about you."
"I wish I wasn't a princess so you and I could just go buy a little house when we grow up. I want to be washing the dishes in the kitchen and you in the garage working on the car. I wanna hear you doing things to take care of our house and making mistakes like any other couple would."
I liked this about her. She wanted a simple life, but never would be allowed to have one. If Lilly had heard about Mia's ambitions she'd flip out about how Mia was stuck in the 1950's. I mean, Mia didn't want to lose her independence, I knew that much.
A life where we would be doing the simple household chores. I felt bad because I knew she would never be allowed to have that kind of life.
"That sounds nice," I answered. Most guys would be freaked out by their girlfriends talking about getting married, but not me. Hell, I've even proposed to propose.
"But it's never going to happen. Hell, I won't even be able to spend all the time I want with our kids," she said sadly. "There'll be nannies and..."
"No there will not be any nannies. I am not having my kids raised by Mary Poppins. Seriously, a Julie Andrews type involved in our lives? Get real."
She giggled. "We should just run off and try to have that kind of life before they catch us!"
"The moment you turn eighteen babe," I said, kissing her cheek.
The next week was pretty average, just school and work all the time. I really didn't talk to many people during the day because I was always off to the next stop on my schedule. I mailed Mia her lion so that she could take it with her on her trip to upstate.
She sent me a card and I got it on Thursday, the front had a teen girl laying on her bed, staring up at the poster on her wall. She glued my head onto the card.
"Thought you might like a surprise in the mail. I love you babe...miss you this weekend – Mia"
It was going to be a long weekend.
MIA:
"Mia! You got something in the mail!" my mom yelled into my room as I finished packing for the weekend. I was going with Eddie, and get this, GRANDMERE, to upstate New York to a cabin that his family owns. We were meeting his grandparents there, as well as his sister and her best friend.
"Coming Mom!" I yelled back. I couldn't squeeze another thing in that darn bag. I ran out and saw a small box on the kitchen table, "What is it?" I asked lifting it up.
"How am I supposed to know?"
I opened it carefully and found a lion wearing a Columbia University shirt and a note, "Thought you might like your 'lion head' this weekend. Have fun, I love you!"
"What is it?" Mom asked walking over to me.
"Michael sent me a lion....his hair reminds me of a lion's mane," I explained.
She laughed, but said nothing. "Eddie is waiting at the door. Have fun."
We rode up to the cabin in a limousine with Grandmere. She sat at one end and we in the other end. He brought a ton of CD's to listen to, a lot of European stuff that I had never heard.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Go ahead," he said.
"Do you like Tina?"
His face turned red. "Why do you ask?"
"Because I think you do."
"Why is that?"
"Just answer my question asshole!" I said laughing.
He looked at Grandmere who was petting Rommel thoughtfully, lost in her own little world.
"Well, to be perfectly honest...yes I do. But my family would go crazy if I was interested in a commoner.And she's not exactly the ideal match for a prince. They want someone with style and grace and...well, she has to look a certain way. I don't know how you got it..."
"Because I had been a commoner up until a little over a year ago," I replied. "What was it like growing up? Knowing you were royal?"
HE thought for a moment and then answered, "I think I missed out on a lot. Sure I got all the toys I wanted. I have everything a person would have wanted in a childhood, but no real friends. No awkward phase..."
"Just straight into hottiness?" I teased.
"Of course. No, but like, I never got to make my own friends. I was forced into a friendship with Harry over there in England and I can't stand him. Well, it's not that I can't stand him, it's just we aren't compatible, nothing in common, ya know?"
"Right."
"And you were able to make REAL friends before they even knew you were royal. You can tell who is real and fake..."
That was true. I had the best friends a princess could ever ask for. And they didn't like me just because I was a princess.
We got to the cottage around ten o'clock that night. Lars put my things into a room with Grandmere's. Aren't I the lucky one to share with my grandmother?
Eddie and I went into the jacquzzi while we waited for his sister to come from her boarding school. "She's really nice, you'll like her a lot," he explained.
"I just thought of something."
"No way!" he teased.
I splashed water at him, "Very funny jerk. No, you were saying how you were forced to be friends with other royals our age. Do you feel like we were forced to be friends?"
"Oh, God, no. I didn't mean it like that. I mean, you actually talk about things that aren't royally related, ya know? You listen to good music...have a real personality. You are actually fun. YOU are a real friend."
"A girl in the hot tub?" a voice said, coming up behind us.
He turned and smiled, "Hey there Adriana!"
"And you are Princess Amelia?" she asked, sitting on the edge of the tub.
"Yes, nice to meet you. But it's Mia."
"Likewise. Are you two gonna come have a midnight snack with me or what?"
I liked Adri (she asked me to call her that after I asked her to call me Mia). She was really down to earth and complimented my combat boots. "Mamma would never allow me to wear them. You are so lucky!"
She and I spent a lot of time comparing notes about being a princess. Eddie joined in on some of the conversations, but it was mostly me and Adri (sounds like Audrey). There was no signal where we were so I couldn't call Michael. The only phones were in the security booth at the end of the long driveway.
I missed him.
I hoped he had fun at his little party on Friday night.