"Your highness?" Lars said about fifteen minutes later. "It looks like rain."
I nodded. "Joshua, I'm not going to forget you. And Michael won't either. We owe our love to you."
The next morning I sat in a board room across from the Bloom's. Lars sat next to me and tried to make me smile. He told me the joke about the hotel and the bony elbow that Joshua liked so much.
"Ladies and gentlemen, shall we begin?" the lawyer announced.
"It's about time," Lady Bloom huffed.
I rolled my eyes with Joy.
"Well...." The lawyer started. "It seems that Mr. Bloom had quite a large trust fund that he gained access to when he reached the age of twenty one. He inherited a large country estate in Kent only three years ago. He is leaving said property to his sister, Joycelyn Katherine Bloom."
I smiled at his sister. She offered a weak smile.
"The trust fun proceeds," he started dramatically. "shall be split in the following way. One third will go to his niece, Violet Rose Grebber daughter of his sister Joycelyn. The remaining two thirds will go to any children he may have, to be split evenly between his offspring. If there are no children, one third will be given to Greenpeace, and the other one third will go to Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo."
I was pretty surprised. I hadn't expected to get money. I mean, what did I need it for? I was just there because it was the final wishes of Joshua. That's it. Apparently Lady Bloom was surprised as well.
"Is that it?" she demanded as the lawyer stood up to hand us copies of the will.
"That would be the majority of his assets," he replied. "There are some other assets that are not as large. Like furniture...cars...that sort."
I bit my lip and looked at Joshua's sister. She looked like she was ready to die. Her daughter just got a rather large sum of money. Joshua had been given a larger trust fund than Joy because he was a male. It's stupid.
I opened my mouth to say something, but Lady Bloom cut me off. "This is an outrage! She'll just give the money to that no good man she's dating! The man she cheated on my Joshie with! She must have-"
"Sweetheart..."
"I'm going to leave," I mumbled.
"Oh, please sign this before you leave. Fill out this paperwork," the lawyer asked,
MICHAEL:
Mia called me the night after Joshua's anniversary to let me know what happened. "She's a sour bitch," I replied after she explained what Joshua's mom did.
"Michaellll," she whined.
"Miiiia," I teased. "What?"
"When are you coming back here? I'm about to go crazy."
This surprised me. I thought she understood I was going to be with the band. "Mia, I'm going on tour."
She only offered silence on the other end.
"Mia, you knew that. I need to help promote the album-"
"Where are you touring?" she asked softly.
"We're doing a college tour," I replied, hoping she was okay with it all.
"A COLLEGE tour? With young little things?" she demanded.
I sighed. "Mia, please. I am a twenty eight year old man. What the hell would they want with me?"
"Michael, you are absolutely gorgeous. You know that."
"Don't you trust me?" I asked carefully.
"It's...it's not that I don't trust you," she started slowly, "I just don't trust them."
Ahhh, the classic jealous girlfriend line. "Mia, you don't have to worry. I am with you completely. One hundred percent. You are the only person I want to be with. I kind of proposed and stuff so I think I have proven that I want only you."
She sighed, "Sorry if I'm sounding..."
"Jealous?" I guessed.
"Agitated. I'm just still having issues with Dad and everything."
Great. "What is he saying now?"
"My ex-boyfriend, Rob, is in town for some rugby tournament and my dad wants me to take him out on the town."
Okay, here comes jealous Michael, "Oh really? That's...nice."
She giggled, "Here is the extent of your jealousy?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"How long is this tour?" she asked.
"Well, we are just in rehearsal's right now. And we are going to do that video so you need to come to New York."
"I'll be on the next plane," she promised with a laugh.
"Good. We want to do this video before we meet up with the other acts."
"Okay."
"It won't take very long."
"Okay."
"And we won't really be acting because it'll just be us being ourselves. And we're using some footage from last years tour..."
"Okay. When are you meeting the other acts?"
We have another week or so before we meet up with the other acts-"
"Who else?" she asked.
"Micca Brooks, Julius Upton and Shell 45."
"Micca Brooks?" she said.
"Yeah."
"Miiiichael!"
"Mia, what you want the tour to be a sausage fest?"
She sighed and laughed, "Sorry, I'm acting jealous again. I know I shouldn't be. I have to go arrange my flight. When are we filming?"
"We'll probably start the night you get here. It's not exactly a big budgeted thing. It's flexible. We've filmed some of the performance part of it. Well, that's just us in the studio actually. See how-"
"Tomorrow night?" she asked.
"Um, maybe. Okay, I love you, but I have to go practice. Okay?"
"Okay, I miss you."
"Miss you more-"
"Come on Moscovitz, no competing about who misses whom. Let's bounce," Nolan said coming into the room.
I laughed, "Okay babe, I'll talk to you when?"
"Tomorrow night if we're lucky. But once we finish taping I have to go back to Genovia. Dad has a bunch of things for me to do."
"Like what?" I asked, lifting up my guitar.
"There is this big art gallery opening Saturday, then there is the Genovian Olive Grower's Union banquet Sunday night...oh, and the new Children's wing at the hospital opening...I have to model for PETA- which I'm extremely nervous about. I mean, they have the whole 'I'd rather be naked than wear fur' thing. I've been putting it off for the longest time. For well over a year. They'll sue if I don't do this now. What do you think I'll be wearing?"
"I personally like the naked idea, but not for everyone to see. Maybe a headshot with bare shoulders and you wearing your tiara?"
She sighed, "Dad is going to flip when the ads come out. It isn't proper for a princess to model like this. I should be modeling for Chanel or something."
"I don't like you wearing that," I confessed. "You aren't Mia in that stuff."
I could tell she was smiling, "So, what else is there....oh, dinner with the prince of Cabonia on Thursday-"
"The Prince of Cabonia?" I asked.
"Oh yeah. He's an old family friend."
"Is he a prince like...Prince Charles...old, or like Prince William, young and good looking?"
She laughed, "Somewhere in between."
"Okay, well call me when you get in, okay babe?"
"Yup. It may be sooner than you would think."
It was weird. My whole life I spent sleeping in a bed where it didn't matter which side I slept on. I mean, with Vicky I slept where ever she wasn't at the moment. So as a singleton I slept in the middle of my full sized bed. But now that I had Mia in my life I slept (as if you are looking at my bed) on the right side. She was to my left, but usually we ended up in the middle with her head on my chest (okay, moment with a sigh here, come on, say awwwww. Now shut up.)
But it was lonely without her in my bed those two weeks we were apart. I mean, she had hardly ever even slept in the apartment. Only a few rare nights before she thought I had slept with that stripper. But for some reason the whole place felt empty without her buzzing around. I wanted to hear her voice from one end of the apartment, calling for me to wash the dishes from dinner. Okay, so she wouldn't have to call very far considering the small scope of the apartment but still. Maybe we'd keep this place to run away to after we got married. Who knew?
I pondered this thought as I heard the door open. I was laying in bed and opened one eye. Very few people would consider strolling into my apartment this early. It was early wasn't it? I looked at my alarm clock. It was three in the morning.
It couldn't be Lilly because Tony would not let her out this late. My parents didn't have keys to my place and also would call before breaking into my apartment. The only logical person would be Mia, but she said she wouldn't be coming in until tomorrow.
I got up and heard a crash in the kitchen. I threw on a pair of sweats and my old Columbia t-shirt. I grabbed my umbrella ( it's actually kind of a fancy one that I stole from the palace, but don't let Phillippe know that) and made my way slowly toward the kitchen. I peeked in and saw someone at my refrigerator.
Her manicured nails tapped the door of the fridge. "Geez, acting like a bachelor still I see," she mumbled.
"What was that?" I asked.
She jumped. "Oh, hi. Sorry. Didn't mean to wake you up."
I smiled and dropped the umbrella. "It's okay. I wasn't really sleeping."
"Good, because I had really meant to wake you up," she teased, wrapping her arms around me.
"Why did you want to do that?" I asked, kissing her nose.
She rolled her eyes. "Because I missed my fiancé a great deal-"
"And you missed the bod, right?"
She laughed, "Well who wouldn't miss this?" she asked, pointing at my oversized pants and t-shirt.
"Admit it."
"Okay. I missed the bod. But I missed the man more," she said hugging me again. "You ever notice how in movies they always make the separated couple re-join one another in dramatic ways and then they immediately jump into the sack?"
I nodded, "I like that cliché. Come on," I said trying to pull her toward our bedroom.
"Not right now. I just flew for six hours."
"Let me massage you then," I offered.
"No sex?"
"Can we have an option on the sex?" I pleaded. I'm pathetic huh?
"I'll consider it," she said teasingly. She peeled off her sweater and let it drop to the ground.
"For someone who doesn't want to make love you are being an awfully good seductress."
She smiled and ran to my room. I took that as my hint to join her.
We laid in bed and she told me about her problems with her father. "He's been really weird," she said softly. "There's something going on that I don't know about yet...I just don't understand yet...
"I'm sure he'll explain it to you babe. Have you listened to the song?"
"Song?" she asked.
"For the video."
"Oh, no. I haven't had any time. I suck huh? I mean, I am the lead singer's fiancée and yet have not even listened to the entire album consciously. I kissed the tip of her nose and went over to my stereo to play the song.
"I hope you like it. The demo groups seemed to like it..." ( A/N: This is by Tim McGraw...yes it is country but I don't care. I like country music. So shoot me!)
I never had no one that I could count on
I've been that down so many times
I was tired of hurtin' so tired of searchin'
Til you walked into my life
It was a feelin' I'd never known
And for the first time I didn't feel alone
You're more than a lover
There could never be another
To make me feel the way you do
Oh we just get closer
I fall in love all over
Every time I look at you
I don't know where I'd be
Without you here with me
Life with you makes perfect sense
You're my best friend
You're my best friend
You stand by me you believe in me
Like nobody ever has
When my world goes crazy
You're right there to save me
You make me see how much I have
And I still tremble when we touch
And oh the look in your eyes
When we make love
You're more than a lover
There could never be another
To make me feel the way you do
Oh we just get closer
I fall in love all over
Every time I look at you
And I don't know where I'd be
Without you here with me
Life with you makes perfect sense
You're my best friend
You're my best friend
You're more than a lover
There could never be another
To make me feel the way you do
And oh we just get closer
I fall in love all over
Every time I look at you
And I don't know where I'd be
Without you here with me
Life with you makes perfect sense
You're my best friend
You're my best friend
You're my best friend
I noticed a little smile creep onto her face. "You like?"
"You will always love me," she said smiling and wrapping her arms around me and nuzzling her face into my bare chest.
"Duh, of course I will. I am only marrying you silly."
She smiled half heartedly. "I love the song and I love you."