Author's Note: I had put this up, then took it down to fix something in it (I did this immediately), but it still went up. Sorry for any confusion! Things should start going a lot faster after this.

The next day we avoided one another, both too embarrassed to even look at one another. Sophie, Ali and Tawny knew what almost happened and were totally bummed that we had been forced to separate. They had decided that Bebe must have a thing for him, something way more than platonic.
"You only have a week left to get him," Sophie said before we went to bed three nights after the big almost event.
"I am not going to get him. He is going to go to Oxford and I am simply going to go home. Go to school. Finish school and then-" I cut myself off, "Then I'll take over my family business."
"Mia, you will regret it, you know you will," Ali said suddenly.
"Go back to your N SYNC CD," I teased.
We all burst out into giggles. Thank God for these girls, I would have never survived without them.
The next night I decided that I needed to see him, to talk about what had almost happened. To see what he was thinking. I mean, who knows, maybe we could work out. Oxford really isn't all that far away really...I mean, it's about a three hour plane ride. But then I'd have to tell him about the whole princess deal...I suppose he's bound to find that out eventually (maybe like when I take over from my dad?)

I started thinking about a conversation Lilly and I had when we were fourteen. About our apocolyptic lifemates. At the time I wanted either Josh Richter (the pretty but moronic boy), or Michael James Moscovitz (the totally unattainable perfect guy that only I realize was perfect...that is until that Vicky chick showed her ugly model face). Lilly made fun of me because Josh would be an awful life mate. I do believe that this Joshua would fit Lilly's mold for the perfect post-apocolyptic lifemate.

Firstly: He is very caring. He would help me out a lot around our house. Which brings me to my second point. He looks like a carpenter. He reminds me of a young Harrison Ford kind of (he was a carpenter before his Star Wars success). So he could build us a house. He is proving this by doing the extra work with the other group that was building homes for some families (I am forcing myself to forget that Michael and I both went on a Habitat for Humanities trip during my freshman year. I am especially forcing myself to forget the consistant flirting that went on.).Thirdly, I could totally see myself procreating with Joshua. I mean, he is perfect. When we first got here he was a bit chubby but now that he's been working he's muscled up a lot. His chest is totally...I can't even begin to explain it. Better than Michael's, I'll tell you. But Joshua normally wore his shirt around me. He is too noble to be so forward around me.

Our children would be beautiful. As long as they had his nose, hair, and height genes. Okay, as long as the children looked like him we'd be cool. We'd have beautiful heirs to the Genovian throne that Grandmere would love.

I am getting way ahead of myself here. I was having trouble finding him in the woods. Bebe said she saw him coming out here. Shit, what if she sent me out here and is going to pull a Blair Witch on me? All the searchers will find is my disposable camera. Then Dad will have them developed and he'll see pictures of me and Joshua and then he'll assume Joshua killed me. Great.

Okay, stop being paranoid. Must hear what he is thinking. What the hell was he thinking But I didn't really need to hear what he was thinking. I could see it.
I went deeper into the woods, expecting him to be there, reading Wilde, but I saw something very different. He was there, but he was with Kate. Apparently I am not the only one wanting to procreate with Joshua. They were having...they were naked. I was like a deer caught in the headlights. I didn't want to look, but I had no other choice but to look.
I knew it was him. I had seen those butt cheeks way too many times in the shower to not know. They were on the blanket he and I had laid on so many times throughout the summer. "What is she doing here?" Kate said, looking over his shoulder. I ducked.
"Who?" he asked, out of breath. For someone in such shape he certainly was breathing hard.
"Mia. She just ducked behind that bush. Like I didn't already see her! What an idiot!" I heard him jump up. I started running. I ran all the way back to the tent. I jumped into my bed. I prayed he wouldn't come over to me. "Oh please, God...Please..." I begged.

He knelt down next to my cot. I curled underneath my sheets, pretending to be asleep.

"Mia...I knoooow you are awake."

I stayed put.

"Oh Miiiiia," he sang in a voice that was not his own. He was drunk. "Fine, I'll annoy you and talk until you answer me. Look, I don't like her," he garbled. "It was just sex. See, when we are feeling...uhm..."

"Horney?" I mumbled.

He startled giggling. Boys aren't supposed to giggle. I guess he giggles when drunk. "Lonely. But I guess horny would have to be involved. But I didn't go looking for it," he explained. "See, I um..."

"Joshua, can I see you?" Bebe asked, I could tell she was at the end of the bed. "I think it's inappropriate for you to be sitting here while she's asleep. It's really creepy."

"She's not asleep," he argued. "She's awake see, but she's pretending to be asleep because she's pissed at me."

Joshua, just leave already, won't you? Please, if you are there God make him leave!
There must be a God. He left with Bebe. The next morning, however, was a different story.
"Mia..." he started.
I stabbed into my hashbrown. "Yes?"
"Last night..."
"It's fine. I get it. It's not like we had anything anyway-"
"Mia...I was thinking we could...but I guess I kind of blew that, huh?"
"What made you think we could?" I asked coldly. "Or that I wanted to? Geez, Joshua, you have a huge ego. Not every girl wants you in her pants. "
"Mia, please, just, come over and talk to me, in private?" he pleaded, rolling his eyes.
"Joshua, I'm used to being looked over for a prettier girl. Trust me. Michael has a prettier girlfriend. You have Kate-"
"No I don't. Mia, we had been...we used to date, like last summer. But then we broke up at the end of last years mission. I don't want to be with her, please believe me."
"You certainly did want to be with her last night," I snapped. "You can leave, you explained it all last night in your drunken stupor."
"It was...Mia, I know the truth about you."
Pause. "What?"
"Will you come talk to me now? Please?"
I put down my plate and followed him to the woods. He had put the blanket down, but I refused to sit on it. After all, he had just had sex on it with someone else. Or at least he had half sex. I highly doubt I showed up as they were finishing up. He seemed to have jumped up while...erg, gross!
"I understand..." he said softly.
"What do you know about me? Exactly." I said, breaking the awkward silence.
"The day after...after we almost...you know, kissed, Bebe told me that some reporters were going to arrive to document your last days on the mission. I didn't understand it at first...but then she explained it to me. You are a princess?"
I looked up at the sky. Well, at least he didn't know for the majority of the summer. "So?"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't want anyone to know. I just wanted to be...me. Mia Thermopolis."
"Why? Mia...you can do so much more than this..."
"What, tossing money at a problem, hoping it'll go away? Not do something on my own about it?"
"Well...when she told me...I- I kind of freaked out, ya know?"
"Never crossed your mind to talk to me about it?"
"Well, I was going to...last night after I had digested it completely, ya know?"
"Uh huh. Do you figure out how you feel about me while you have sex with Kate? Like, if it's good, then you can forget about me? And if it's bad then you'd come to me to talk about a relationship?
"No, really," he pleaded, taking my hand. "Well, I..."
"I really think we should just be friends," I said suddenly. "It's be- better that way. Less confusion."
"As you wish," he said reluctantly. He almost sounded like Cary Elwes in Princess Bride.
I was a little upset, but not as sad as I was when I realized that Michael had fallen in love with Vicky, or the first time I had met the girl.

"Mia, you'll be fine. Just think. This time tomorrow we will be back in Florida. I'll take you to a club and get you sooo drunk. You can forget all about him, okay?" Tawny offered.
I laughed. I didn't drink, but it was a nice offer. "I don't drink Tawn."
"It's okay. We can still have a good time dancing. It'll be nice to have a real shower, won't it?" Sophie asked, throwing her stuff in her bag.

I looked under my bed where my duffel had been. I saw something flat and white, then I remembered. The envelope Lilly had given to me. I had totally forgotten about it once I got on the plane. I had been too nervous. Too scared about having seen Michael. I quietly left my friends and went into the woods to read the letter by myself.

Mia-

I just wanted to let you know, that night will always be in my memory. I love you, whether you want to believe it or not, I seriously do. I know we can't...we can't do anything about it now, but I did love you that night. You weren't just a one night stand. It was an incredibly special night. I'll always have you in my heart...in my soul...in my dreams. If you feel the same write to me and tell me. But if I don't hear from you by the end of the summer I'll understand. I'll just keep our secret memory.

Love, Floppy

I laughed slightly. After we slept together and laid in bed we talked. Like, really, really talked. Like what we had just done was perfetly normal. Like we were a couple. I had complimented his hair and how it flopped, thereby calling him Floppy. We had been forced to deal with reality once the sun came up.
It was short, but to the point. I started crying. I couldn't possibly write to him now. He must have left already for school. He would be a resident advisor this year at Columbia and therefore would be doing orientation. Too busy to deal with me. He probably forgot about all this fuss and was making out with Vicky...or doign other things with her.

What would have happened if I had stayed? Would I have had my heart broken like...well I wouldn't say Joshua had broken my heart, but close to it.