Chapter Two

He was obviously completely and utterly wrong.

Michael, that is.

I mean, that's totally ridiculous for him to think that I'm too good for Josh. I mean, I'm not the hottest girl ever (or hot at all, for that matter), I'm like extremely unpopular here, while people practically worship Josh.

Seriously. He has a fan club. How unfair is that?

But you want to know the coolest thing about Josh?

HE LIKES ME!

Actually, that's probably not very cool for him at all. But who cares?

The cutest, most popular boy EVER is my boyfriend. Officially. We even did the whole 'walk around the school holding hands thing'. He walks me to my classes. Carries my books in between classes. And gets me whatever I want from the salad bar at lunch time (as he balances his meat-laden tray on the other arm)!

The Moscovitzes have no idea what they're talking about. Just because Josh got a teensy drunk that one time and had an error in judgement, doesn't mean he's the worst person ever.

In fact, he's actually a pretty good guy.

A guy who's a pretty fantastic kisser. I know what you're thinking. But, no, I didn't enjoy the very public, very embarrassing kiss he planted on me in front of the school doors. I'm talking about the kisses since then.

I'm not talking about the full-on making out that he and Lana used to do up against his locker. But for some reason, I don't think that would bother me too much. Maybe Josh is helping me to be more assertive.

Which is a good thing. Something Lilly never really succeeded at. Nor Michael. Though it's not like he spent all his time being my life coach or whatever. Sometimes he'd walk through the room with a bag of pretzels and defend me from Lilly or whatever when she'd be nagging me.

It's not even fair to compare Michael and Josh, though. I mean, yeah, both of them have straight A's and Michael's passably cute (especially when he's doing his Lilly impression behind her back. Making Lilly seem cute is no mean feat). But Josh has those gorgeous, soul-searching sapphire eyes. And what does Michael have?

Brown. Twinkly, brown, peat-bog eyes. Full of good humor and intelligence.

But it's not sapphire. And Michael has those floppy, messy curls instead of straight blonde hair that hangs over his bronze face and perfect irises.

See, you just can't compare them, because…you can't.

Whatever. I have to get ready for the movies. Josh and I are going to go see 'The Day After Tomorrow', which isn't really my thing. But Josh seems to like it. And the movie does have Jake Gyllenhaal.

Michael says that Jake and Tobey Maguire bother him because they look too much alike. He told me his kind of guy is more of a Heath Ledger type. But Michael isn't a fan of pretty boys, like Josh Richter.

WHY AM I STILL GOING ON ABOUT MICHAEL?

Later

So Josh and I weren't the biggest hit with the other moviegoers. I mean, I usually don't like it when the people next to me are full-on making out, but I never jab them with my elbows like that one old lady did. Talk about rude.

It didn't even matter that I hate scary movies, because I was a little too busy swapping spit with my gorgeous boyfriend.

Does that sound shallow? Because I totally value Josh as a person. I mean, we both strongly believe that Lucky Charms rock. And he told me that he really wants to be a vegetarian, but right before his grandmother died, she called him to her side and made him swear to her that he would always eat burgers as a tribute to her (Josh says she was in charge of some sort of cattle ranch). How sweet is that! And it's another thing we have in common. Grandmere makes me eat meat sometimes when I don't want to!

Josh finally dropped me off back at the loft and walked me up for a good-night kiss (Frenching in the vestibule). I thought about telling him that my mom wasn't home (she was out with Mr. G), but I don't think I like Josh that much.

Well, maybe I do, but I'm not ready for that.

So I bade Josh farewell, stepped inside, and closed the door.

"Hey, Mia," said a familiar deep voice.

I screamed and turned to see Michael sitting on my couch and looking extremely amused. "How'd you get in here?" I squeaked, still breathing hard.

"Spare key under the mat. I heard you mention it to Lilly ages ago."

"Breaking and entering is against the law, you know."

"I didn't break anything," he said, still smiling. I hate when he smiles at me like that.

"Well, you still can't come into my apartment when I'm not here. What are you doing here anyway?"

He shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable for the first time. Good. Suffer, you idiot. "I thought maybe we could hang out. I brought over Star Wars," he said, holding up a tape.

And then my frigid heart melted just a little bit. He wasn't there to berate me for anything with Josh. He even had a peace offering (sort of).

So I made the popcorn, Michael put in the tape, and we hunkered down on the couch. I shivered (my mom enjoys keeping the apartment at a cool forty degrees) and he put an arm around me and smiled. "Better?"

And it was. Most definitely. Because even though Michael was kind of a jerk about the whole Josh thing, he really is a great guy most of the time.

I mean, he even apologized for the whole Josh thing and said it was none of his business. But before I could say anything, he told me to be quiet because Han Solo was on the screen. During the movie, though, I noticed Michael was looking kind of forlorn.

I squeezed his hand and he smiled a little bit.

Why can't dates with Josh be as fun as just hanging out with my friend's older brother?