MICHAEL:

I hadn't realized that they were friends. Really, I hadn't. Lucie told me that they had met once and that she hadn't particularly cared for the princess. She thought she was kind of snobby. I hadn't thought that was the Mia I knew and had always loved, but I'm a guy. When a hot woman tells you something you just go with it. "Mia, I made out with her, okay? That's it."
She avoided my eyes. She could probably tell I was lying to her. I wish I could read her mind right then.

"Mia? Say something.?"

She started pacing, and mumbling in French. I suddenly wished I had taken that instead of Latin. She had picked up this habit of pacing when she was with Joshua. "No…no, you didn't know. She knew who you were…but I was with Joshua…" she kept rambling on and on. I stopped listening though because she looked too cute while she was trying to figure out if she should be mad.

I wrapped a towel around my waist. I kissed her softly, "Mia, that is in the past. You were with other guys before we got together."

She nodded. "Yeah, but you weren't best friends with them."

I sighed, "I could make it up to you," I said nuzzling her neck.

She sighed, "How is that?"

"Go onto your bed. I'll give you a massage."

She made a face at me. "Let's just go to bed, okay? I'm sure we'll be needing some rest now that Lucie is around. She'll keep us busy."

I stared at her for a second. "You know what I want to do with you?"

She made a face, "I have no idea babe."

"I want to lay in that ginormous bed of yours tomorrow with lots of junk food and all three of the Lord of the Rings…" I started. She made a face, "Or all three Spiderman movies (A/N: Remember this is in 2012), and let you have a Tobey Maguire fest."

Her face exploded in a smile. "Want to go for an early ride?"

"Ride?" I like how she-

"Horseback…"

I made a face but said, "Fine. Tomorrow is all about you."

"What about her though?" she asked, squishing up her nose.

"I'm sure she can find some way to spend the day. Besides, didn't you say we had to address the nation?"

She nodded and rolled her eyes. "I almost totally forgot. We should work on what we are going to say," she said pulling me toward her bed. She motioned for me to sit then she grabbed a pen and paper from her desk.

"Simply saying we're getting married isn't cool?" I asked.

"We should decide when we are going to marry," she said, biting her lip. She jumped off the bed again and went into the drawer of her desk and grabbed a book.

"What's that?" I asked.

"A wedding planning book," she said. She looked adorable and excited.

"Why do you have that?" I asked taking it away and flipping through it.

"I want to make the decisions about our wedding. Last time I was just on the outside while other people planned. I want you and me to plan it together."

I kissed her lips softly, "You are perfect, you know that?"

She gave me a goofy grin. "Okay, let's see what we've got here…"She ran her finger down a bunch of dates. "I think we could do all of this in four months.I mean, I am the princess of a country. If J. Lo can so can I. So how about January? Ohhh, New Years Eve! Michael, how romantic would that be? Remember last year?" she said with the devil in her eye.

I definitely remembered the year before.

The band had planned on going to a record company party in New York. Reffen offered to fly all of us out to the city from Louisiana

Mia and I decided to stay and enjoy the new year alone in the Big Easy. She had sent me out to get the take out she ordered, while she organized our hotel room. The night before the band chose my room to be the party room. Poker chips were everywhere.

I returned to the hotel with no bags because they said we never called. I didn't want to wait around for them to cook all that food so I decided to go back to Mia and see what she wanted to do.

"Mia! I'm back!" I called as I opened the door. The room was darkened. "Mia!" I called out worriedly.

Where the hell was she? What if some crazy man wanting to give her beads showed up and-

I found her laid out on the bed. My jaw dropped when I saw what she was wearing. "Hey…" I stammered. She stood up and sauntered over to me

Without saying a word she slipped my jacket off my shoulders. Then she unbuttoned my shirt. She just undressed me without saying a word, and without taking her eyes away from mine.

I let my hands fall onto her waist, my breath became unpatterned. We had slept together nearly every night we were able to, which according to my math is over sixty times. But she had never been the one to be so aggressive. I'm not gonna lie, I liked this side of her.

She ran her fingers down my chest until they reached my jeans. She undid the top button and then offered me a mischevious grin. I love those kinds of smiles.

She pulled away after undoing the button and dragged me in front of the fireplace. She had poured glasses of champagne for the two of us and a nice spread of Chinese food. I saw a bag that said Number One Noodle Son, our hometown favorite. "How did you do that?" I asked.

She smiled, "Special delivery," she explained.

"I think you just wanted to see my naked chest again, like from when we were teenagers."

"You caught me," she teased.

I opened up my fortune cookie, "Love lights up your world," I announced.

"In bed!" she teased. That was what you were supposed to say. After you announce your fortune you were to add on the words '..in bed' at the end.

"What's yours?" I asked with smiling eyes.

"Opportunity is knocking at your door," she replied.

I didn't add the in bed. Instead I kissed her soundly on the lips and then proceeded to slip off her silk night gown.

For some reason neither of us had felt as close as we had that night. We welcomed in 2012 while we were making love in our bed. She was the first person I saw in the new year. We honestly hadn't realized that it was past midnight until about twenty past twelve when my cell phone rang.

We had been cuddling in bed, whispering little things to one another. I rolled over and answered the phone, "Ello?"

"Happy new year!" Lilly's voice squeeled.

"Yeah you too," I replied watching as Mia started kissing a path down my stomach. I sucked in my breath deeply. Anticipating.

"Where is Mia?" she asked. "Where did you guys go tonight? Why is it so quiet?" she questioned.

"We went to a party and Mia got sick so we came back here," I lied.

"Riiiight. Anyways, I'll let you two go back to your little thing…or big thing whatever," she stammered."You make my friend feel better, 'kay? I mean, from what I hear from Vicky you-"

She was totally hammered. I know when my baby sister is drunk, and she was totally wasted. "Okay, good night Lill."

And so Mia and I fell asleep. But it wasn't on the bed. We ventured out to the balcony, drinking some wine, and watched fireworks exploding. There was a couch out there so we laid on that, holding onto one another for dear life.

We woke up early enough for the sunrise. I looked at her and knew that this was the year that it was all going to come together for us, even if we weren't officially together yet.

"You want to get married on New Year's Eve?" I asked. Her father still hadn't told her his plan. If she agreed then she'd become the sovereign. She gave me a cute face, "Please?"

Shit. I can't resist that face.

MIA:

"Michael, just think about how perfect it would be. We could finish off the year together. Please?"

He looked like he had something on his mind.

"Michael, what's wrong? If you don't want that day we can choose another," I said flipping through the book. "I mean, I know it's close to your birthday...but I wouldn't ever do the 'This is for your birthday and our anniversary' thing (a/n, NEVER do that to a person, take it from a Christmas baby. It's not cool. If you do, then expect on your birthday in the middle of the year 'oh, this is your birthday and Christmas gift..')

He pushed a piece of my hair behind my ear, "No, it's fine. I want to finish off the year with you baby.Plus, it'd be like an early birthday gift."

I smiled, "Good. Decided then. Maybe we could have the wedding in the palace…" I started rambling, "Oh, it'll still be decorated for the holidays!" I said excitedly.

"Uh huh…"

He doesn't sound all that excited. "Michael, you still want to get married, right?"

He kissed my forehead, "Baby, I want nothing other than to marry you."

"So why don't you sound excited?" I asked.

"Mia, have you talked to your dad?"

I have no desire to speak with my father. Firstly, he still hasn't told me to my face about his illness. Secondly, he is being a douche about Michael. I rolled my eyes, "He's refusing to accept this-"

"Okay, then forget I said anything. Let's get married on New Year's eve."

We started writing what we would say the next night.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of Genovia, as you know I was engaged last year to a young man that you all welcomed with open arms. Unfortunately over a year ago my former fiancé, Joshua Bloom, succumbed to an infection he got while he was on a missionary tour in Africa

"I was lucky enough to have my friends from New York City with me during this trying time, and one such friend invited me to join his band as they toured Europe and the United States. I sincerely tried not to fall in love. But before I knew it I had fallen in love again with my first love, Michael Moscovitz, my best friend's big brother. At some point he became the best friend that I have been looking for my whole life.

"We began dating last spring and have decided that the next natural step for us is to marry this winter. We hope that you will offer your greatest blessings and will welcome Michael with open arms."

We had decided that it would better if I did the speaking because he hadn't been officially introduced to the populace quite yet. We would wait for my father to do that.

"You did great baby," he said hugging me in the press room. The cameras were off and the reporters were scampering around trying to get reactions.

"Great job, Mia," Lucie said sauntering into the press room.

I smiled weakly. With my knowledge of her having her tongue jammed down my Michael's throat once upon a time, really weakened my enthusiasm to see her. Everytime I heard her voice I had a sick mental picture of the two of them making out. Her hands roaming places that I only roam. "Thanks," I said, wrapping my arms around my newly announced fiancé.

She looked at Michael and winked. He started nuzzling my neck. "You guys are really all about the PDA huh? Nothing like you and Joshua were, huh?"

I glared at her. "No. Joshua was very different. I was very different."

"Mia, let's go watch Harry Potter," Michael whispered. I could tell he was really uncomfortable with Lucie.

"Oh come on Michael. Stop acting like a stick in the mud. I know you know how to have a good time," Lucie said with a wink. "I was thinking a few margheritas and body shots."

I looked at him. What had exactly happened in the United States with them? "You sure you just wanna watch a movie? Why don't we go get some drinks?" I offered. I would love to hear the dirt from Lucie. Or did I really want to?

He glared at me. "You girls can. I'm going to just chill in our room."

I wasn't going to force him to spend time with anyone he didn't want to be around.

"It won't be nearly as fun," Lucie argued.

He sighed heavily, "I'm sure you can find a way to entertain yourselves," he mumbled. He pulled me aside, "Baby, I'm going to bed. I'll see you later tonight?"

"It's only ten," I argued, tightening my hold on his wrists.

"Yeah well I have a lot to think about."

I gave him a worried look.

"I'm working on a song babe. I've been trying to figure out the melody," he whispered into my ear, then kissed my cheek.

I smiled, "Okay. I won't be late, okay?"

THEN he kissed me in a very satisfying way that made me almost reconsider going out with Lucie. Made me want up to the room and....okay...stop thinking about this stuff. Focus.

Prepare myself for what Lucie was bound to tell me. It would either be about some celebrity having a sex scandal, her having an affair with the help, or about her past with Michael. My Michael. NOt hers.

God. I sound like I'm five years old crying about my Rainbow Brite doll being stolen by Lana Weinberger.