MICHAEL:

On Monday I called her house since I had a totally free night for once. "I'm sorry Michael, she's out," Mr. G replied when I asked for her.
"Do you know when she'll be back?" I asked.
"I have no clue. She went with Eddie somewhere. I think...I think the Plaza?"
Great, she's with that weirdo. I bet...I bet he is an undercover reporter for some trashy magazine...yeah, that's it!
"Okay, thanks Mr. G-"
"Frank. Come on Michael, we are both adults here."
"Sorry Mr- Frank," I said, correcting myself. "Let her know I was looking for her."
"Will do."

MIA:
Eddie has a secret talent that he has not shown anyone else. And this talent is going to help me give Michael a very special Christmas gift...

Get your head out of the gutter! Eddie knew how to play the guitar and offered to teach me so I could surprise Michael. But of course, I couldn't let MICHAEL know this little fact.
I borrowed money from Dad and bought a 'starter guitar', which Eddie approved of for me. I wish Michael could have helped me, but that would defeat the whole purpose, wouldn't it?
My fingers really hurt after that first day, I literally thought of cutting them off, but Eddie reminded me about what I was doing this for; Michael. That very thought made me go on with this torture. Eddie even put up a picture of Michael in his room at the Plaza to motivate me.
"I hate you," I grunted. "Oh come on Mia. Stop whining already, would ya?"

I made Lilly's pug face. "I definitely do not deserve that," he said walking over to his television.

"Grandmere is going to kill me...my fingers are all blistered."

"It's okay. She'll deal."
I looked at the time. "I better go back and get some homework done. Lars is waiting. Thanks for your help, and for storing my guitar."
"No problem Princess," he said doing a dramatic bow.
"Oh shut up!" I said tossing a pillow at him.

I walked out of the Plaza and started toward my limousine. A little girl came up to me and asked for my autograph. I never knew how to sign things like this. Do I write Mia Thermopolis? Princess Amelia? Princess Mia? I asked her how she wanted me to sign it and she was very direct,
"Princess Mia of New York!"
I giggled at her gap toothed grin, "You got it!" When I got back to my loft I saw Michael sitting outside on a bench, "Hey, what are you doing here?" I asked.
"Just looking for my girlfriend," he replied easily.
"Well here am, handsome!" I cried putting my arms out to hug him.
He put his hands on my hips, "Well, I missed you."
I kissed his cheek, "I'm sorry. I had lessons and stuff."
"Lessons?"
"Yeah. You know, when you don't know about something-"
"Right. Well, you wanna grab some dinner?"
"I have tons of homework," I told him honestly, "Don't you have work to do? Midterms or something?"
He shrugged, "Sorry if I just wanted to spend time with you considering we haven't really hung out in awhile. I'll talk to you later," he said walking away.
"Michael! Michael, don't be like that! Oh come on!" I yelled in his direction. "Fine, be like that!"
I walked up to my loft and ran into my room. He'll appreciate this later. He'll understand why I can't be with him all the time later...right?

MICHAEL:
Why can't she just tell the damn truth? She was at lessons? Oh please tell me the truth for about five minutes won't ya? I stormed into my apartment and slammed my bedroom door shut.
"Hey, man, what's going on?" Denis yelled toward me.
I refused to answer him. She lied to me. She lied and she was with him, not lessons. There were so many words I wanted to say at that moment, but I knew I couldn't say them out loud. I could THINK about certain things, but never say them out loud.
"She's being a bitch," Sheila explained the next day at computers.
"What?" I asked. I had only told her about the previous day because she wouldn't stop hounding me.
"She's a bitch. Cut it off now," she suggested.
"You don't even know her," I countered.
"You don't sound happy," she replied.
I slammed my notebook shut, "Yeah, probably because I've been sitting here listening to you."
I walked out. I shouldn't have flipped out on her, but she didn't know Mia. She didn't understand that Mia had...well, she had weird moods. That we didn't need to talk every day. We were happy with how things were.Weren't we?
I walked back to my apartment and there was Mia waiting outside, "Hey," she said softly.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, opening the front door.
"Well, I felt bad about last night," she replied.
"Well, I do believe you told me to just 'be like that', so I am."
"Michael, come on. I don't get why you are so mad!"
"Why am I mad?"
"Yes."
"Because. I hardly ever see my girlfriend anymore."
"And so you get mad at her when you do?"
"Mia, anytime I want to spend with you, you seem to be too busy with...with your friends or something."
"Michael please, honestly. We both are really busy....next week is Thanksgiving...we can spend all of Thanksgiving together and the next day even!"
"You are going to Long Island with your mom and Mr. G, aren't you?"
"Oh please! I hated it last year and I'd hate it this year. If it's okay," she said softly, taking my hand, "I'd like to be spending my Thanksgiving with the person I'm most thankful for, you."
I laughed.
"What?" she asked nervously.
"How many times did you rehearse that?"
She smiled, "That obvious?"
"Yes, definitely. But you make a good point. I'm sure my mom and dad would love to have you over for dinner. Pavlov has missed you. We should take him for a walk sometime."
"Good. Settled then. I um, brought over some dinner for you," she said, handing me a McDonald's bag.
"What's this?" I asked, "Mia Thermopolis went into a McDonald's?"
"I wanted to bring you a peace offering," she replied. "And I know you love Big Macs but you never get them because of me."
The elevator door opened. "Um, you wanna come up?"
She nodded happily with a goofy grin. The one that makes me smile no matter how bad of a day I was having.
We started watching some bad 'must see TV' and I chomped down on my burger. She put a pillow between us so she wouldn't have to witness my eating a poor defenseless cow.
"You know the masque is coming up, right?" she asked before she left.
"Oh, shit, right! When was that again?"
"December eleventh. It's on a Thursday night."
"Hold on, let me look at my calendar for finals, okay?"
"Yeah...but I really need you to come with me. And we'll have your masque designed...ohhhh, it'll be sooo much fun! Ohh, c'mon, you must come!" she said dramatically with her cute expression.
I sighed, "Fine. I'll come with you."

After she left I started studying for my midterm the next day. I hate anatomy. Maybe I should have asked Mia to help me out again, that helped me last time.
"Yo, man, I'm having Lilly over this weekend, just so you know..." Denis said knocking on my door.
"Like hell you are having my sister over!" I replied, opening my door for him. "She's my sister. If you are about to go take her virginity I don't want to be hearing it from down the hall."
"Oh please! I did that already," he said with a wink. "I'm kidding. But really, we aren't going to do that. She just...your parents are going away and she doesn't want to be alone."
"They're leaving?" I asked.
"Yeah, your dad has something in Chicago and your mom is going to be in San Francisco."
Interesting. It wouldn't make sense but I found myself saying,
"Fine. I'll stay at that apartment."
"Let me guess, with Mia?"
I smiled.
"So the fight is over?" he asked, plopping down on my bed.
"Yeah, basically. I don't know if we were really in a fight."
"That happens sometimes. I remember my first serious girlfriend. You remember her?"
"Vaguely."
"Kerri. She was...well, I thought she was the one. But then she met up with this guy she went to school with over at Juilliard. I think his name was Kevin or something, but that doesn't matter. We always got into these little fights about nothing and kept drifting apart, ya know? Next thing I get from her is a postcard with some song lyrics from that band, uh, what the hell is the name of it?"
"I don't know. I would have to know the lyrics," I replied, closing my books and rubbing my eyes.
"It was like, 'It's the first time in a long time. That I've drifted away from you. It's the first time in a long time. That I've seen someone new. It's not what it once was. It's not what it used to be. I'm not who I once was/ I'm not who I used to be/Can you hear me?/ Do you hear what I say?/ I've been waiting all day/ Do you hear me?/ Can you hear what I say?/ I've left without you I've drifted away from you/ It's the first time in a long time/ That I've seen someone new/ It's not what it once was/ It's not what it used to be/I'm not who I once was/ I'm not who I used to be.Can you hear me?/ Do you hear what I say?/ I've been waiting all day/ Do you hear me? Can you hear what I say? I've left without you.'"
I stood there in partial shock. He said every single world of the song, he had a glazed look on his face. "You okay man?" I asked, tossing him a worried look.
He shook himself out of his little dream. "Yeah, fine. You know that song?"
I started thinking. "Oh, Rooney. Duh."
"Right...well, we used to love going to those concerts together and in our letters to one another we'd always sign off with another one of their songs, Fo Love...and she very poetically signed off the relationship with some other lyrics by them..."
"Very dramatic," I agreed. "But that won't happen to us."
"I hope it doesn't."
"Well, it was for the best for you, wasn't it?" I asked. "I mean, you got Lilly and you seem to like her."
"I know...but I'm terrified. I'm so afraid that she's going to..."
"To what? Be like Kerri? Oh please Den! You and I both know Kerri isn't a tenth as good as Lilly is. I mean, you guys both ha Was I actually saying these words? "You both have your own things going on, but at the end of the day you go back together, ya know?"
"I know...I just wish I didn't have to have my heart broken before I found something like this...like, why hadn't I met Lil before?"
"Because that's just sick. This time last year she was only fifteen-"
"So was Mia," he countered.
"And I was seventeen. You were what, twenty last year?"
He shrugged, "So?"
"Den..things are different with different relationships...Lilly isn't Kerri..."
"I know. Okay, enough pity party. You done studying?"
"Why?"
"We're getting a group together for some Halo action bi-otch."
"Set that shit up...I'll be in there in a sec."
I looked at my clock. It was only one AM. I logged online quickly and saw Mia's name on.
CracKing: Hey there beautiful
FtLouie: Hey hun...I'm about to go to bed
CracKing: Oh
CracKing: Well, I am gonna check my finals sched.
FtLouie: Oh, okay, I'll wait then
CracKing: I can't go Mia. I have my anatomy final on Fri.
FtLouie: Oh Michael! C'mon, pleeeeease
CracKing: If it was any other final I would, but I am really stressing about this one
FtLouie: Fine. I'll see you on that Friday night then?
CracKing: I'll be ALL yours babe.
FtLouie: You better ALWAYS be mine ;)
CracKing: I think I might get a tattoo on my ass saying that I am the sole property of Mia Thermopolis, what you think?

FtLouie: In pink letters?
CracKing: But of course ;)
FtLouie: Okay, sounds good. I'm gonna go to bed now tho. I love you
CracKing: You too babe.
FtLouie has logged off