[Author's Note]
Thanks for all the positiveness in the reviews! And I think I just made up a word. Positiveness. Hmmm.Well, to answer some questions I've received, yes, there is more! I'm actually almost done with the last chapter, so updates are probably going to come pretty quickly. I hope. But anyway, I'm getting a bit sidetracked. On with the chapter! Enjoy.
[/Author's Note]

Tear me open at the seams.
Take everything you need.
Take my heart if you like the beat,
Take my lungs if it's hard to breathe, to breathe.
...
I can't take it if you're waiting.
I am ready to tell the world about a girl who showed me love again for the first time.
And it's everything I dreamed of.
...
With my heart in your hand and my neck in the other,
Should I be scared or should I come closer?
But it's still beating and I'm still breathing.
You haven't hurt me yet.

-"Still Breathing"; Cauterize

Such Great Heights
Chapter Two
Attempted Confessions

"I'm back!" the unmistakable voice of Lilly rang throughout the apartment, and there I was, lying on the couch with Michael on top of me sticking his tongue down my throat. Which was actually a very pleasant experience, but the thought of Lilly seeing me and her older brother making out on the couch made me cringe, and I froze the moment I heard her voice. I turned my head to the side, but Michael simply moved his lips to my neck as an alternative option.

"Lilly's home," I said, panicking.

"Uh huh," Michael mumbled, not caring.

"Obviously," Lilly said from behind us, slapping Michael on the back of the head to get his attention. He rolled off of me casually and rubbed the back of his head.

"I'll be the first to admit that it makes me happy to see that you two have finally figured out that your head-over-heels in love with each other," she began an endless rant, "but you really do not need to have a full-on make-out session in my presence. Agreed?" I was, without a doubt, surprised with her attitude toward my newfound boyfriend.

"Yes, Lilly, oh powerful one," Michael said, a huge grin on his face.

"Why are you in such a good mood?" Lilly asked.

"I dunno, " He said, sweeping Pavlov off the floor and heading off to his room. "Later, Mia."

He almost never referred to me by my first name. I swooned.

"Oh, come on," Lilly said, forcefully pulling me by the sleeve into her room.

"Now, Mia," Lilly started, now sitting on her bed and munching ona donut, "you do realize that now that you and Michael are now 'an item', you have to tell him."

"Tell him what?"

"That you're a princess," Lilly said, apparently aggravated my my incapability to comprehend things as quickly as she wanted me to. But hey, give me a break, I was pretty much floating around on cloud nine.

Lilly was one of the only people who knew about my...royalness. I mean, how could I possibly keep it a secret from her? She would've figured it out on her own, anyway. "You can't hide that from him anymore. He deserves to know, before the press catches you two sucking face in Central Park and does an extreme background check on 'Michael Moscovitz's New Lover'. You don't want him finding out from the press. He'd blow a fuse."

I sighed. I knew I had to tell him. I thought having Michael as a boyfriend would solve all of my problems, – oh, it felt so great to call him that – but it just gave me a ton more. Going out with Michael would put me in the spotlight, causing the media to find out that I'm a princess, and then POOF! Instant fame, and I really didn't want the spotlight. I wouldn't be able to hide my identity, anymore. But then again, I'd happily deal with these problems for Michael.

But that meant I had to tell him. "You think he'll freak?"

"Not if he finds out from you, and not the press. That's why you have to tell him ASAP. I've been waiting for years for you two to finally get together and stop pining after each other, and you are not going to spoil it by not telling him. Got it?" I nodded, a bit afraid of what she would do if I didn't agree with her. She would probably just spend another hour psycho-analyzing me. "So go ahead."

"Now?!" I exclaimed.

"Yes, go." I groaned and walked towards the hallway, pausing in the doorway. Lilly pushed me in the small of my back and I stumbled out into the open, feeling extremely uncomfortable and nervous. Michael's door was wide open, and I stopped in his doorway, waiting for him to notice I was standing there. He was wearing headphones and wouldn't be able to hear a word I said anyway. He spotted me and jumped, pulling the headphones off his ears and throwing them onto the floor, smiling at me.

I'd had this whole plan of exactly what I was going to say and how was going to say it, and I was all ready to start my tirade until he got up and walked up to me, his face inches from mine as he said, "Hey gorgeous." And then all hope was lost.

"What's up? Escaping from Lilly, eh?" He said, smiling genuinely down at me. He brushed a strand of blonde hair out of my eyes.

"Um." My voice cracked. "Yes?" He laughed, oblivious, and started kissing me, which really didn't help me confess, but simply distracted me from my task at hand.

We didn't stop until I felt something vibrating in my pocket. It was my cell phone, the one that Grandmere got for my birthday. I didn't really need it, but she insisted on being able to keep in touch with me at all times. I groaned and answered it. "Hello?" I tried to stop giggling as Michael nuzzled my neck from behind.

"Amelia?" Grandmere's raspy voice came through the receiver.

"Yes?" I replied, not exactly sure what she'd called for.

"Ou etes-vous?" she asked. Where are you?

"Je suis à la chez Lilly. Pourquoi?" I'm at Lilly's house. Why?

"Je vais viens demain à midi. Compris?" I will come tomorrow at noon. Understood?

"Oui," I said, sighing.

Click.

"Who was that?" Michael asked, embracing me from behind.

"My Grandmother. It was nothing, she's just coming to pick me up tomorrow at noon." I shrugged, once again reminded he was still so clueless about my status.

"To take you away in her big fancy limo? Suckage. I'd hoped we could do something tomorrow." My heart sunk.

"Maybe tomorrow night." I said brightly.

"Maybe. Hey, where is Lars, anyway? I miss the old bloke." He had turned on his fake British accent for some unknown reason, causing me to laugh.

"He dropped me off and took the rest of the night off." It didn't surprise me that Michael was wondering where Lars was. They always seemed oddly close.

Lilly walked in on us without warning, asking bluntly, "Did you tell him yet?" I blushed furiously and shook my as little as possible, so only Lilly would notice. She rolled her eyes.

"Tell me what?" Michael asked, confused.

"Um," I stuttered. "Nothing. It was nothing." Lilly grabbed my hand and pulled me into the hallway without warning, dragging me by the arm into her room and slamming the door.

"I thought you were going to tell him!" she exclaimed.

"I was going to... but then he kissed me and..." I trailed off.

She sighed. "You got yourself into this, and now you have to get yourself out. What about the assertiveness I taught you how to use! YOU ARE NO LONGER AFRAID OF CONFRONTATION. I thought you grew out of that a long time ago."

"Can we just not talk about this?" I asked. "It's giving me a headache."

"Fine," she finished, frustrated, and rolled her eyes.

It didn't take me long to realize that I'd created quite a large problem for myself that I'd regret later.

Sheesh. Does my life ever get any easier? Honestly.

[Author's Note]
The end. Haha, no no, I'm just kidding. So what'd you think? Reviews are always appreciated, of course. And in case you're a bit dim like my good friend Maureen and need me to say it again, review!

authentically,
Karen