Author's Note: GO PAT'S! BEAT THE EAGLES

SparklingT87: was wondering if anyone would notice that

Lyra: If I did Lilly's point of view you would know what she was thinking when she saw them. But for now you'll just have to wait and see

Carrie: Dirty mind…..

Alenor: I wouldn't count Huck out just yet.


Mia crept into my room in the middle of the night, "Hey. Cuddle?" she asked.

I opened up my comforter and she jumped in and climbed up to the pillow. She was really cute. So I kissed her neck until we both fell asleep. I hated that we were in this weird place, but who knows? Maybe this was going to be our shot.


She went out with her friends from school the next night. I heard them talking about the Cultural Diversity Dance coming up before they left. I smiled, remembering how she'd gone with Josh Richter when I was a senior. Then I came and we danced for the first time together. "Where are you girls off to?" I asked, biting a carrot stick. I sat on the counter next to where Mia was standing. I handed Mia another stick which she bit into immediately.

"Fashion week," Lilly replied. "Her grandmother wants her to go out to more social things where she might meet an acceptable boyfriend." She gave me a wink.

"Oh," I said, dejected. "That's great."

"Yeah, like I'm going to meet someone there?" Mia said sarcastically. "Those guys are totally not my type," she said glancing at me. Was I her type? I sort of smiled but looked away when I realized I was being way too obvious.

Tina saw this exchange, "I don't see what was wrong with Huck. He was nice."

Mia made a face, "Yeah, I guess. But I dunno. There wasn't a spark."

"A spark?" I teased; I then stuck another carrot in her mouth.

She smiled, "Yes. I mean….you know when….I don't even know if I've been in love," she admitted. "Like, I picture everything being perfect, ya know? But I don't really think that's what love is."

"This is getting deep, Lilly, are you taping this?" I teased, "Continue."

She blushed, "I dunno. There's tension and nothing is ever really easy when you are in love."

Lilly was looking back and forth between us with her I know a secret grin. "Oh?"

"Yeah, like….I dunno…you want to spend time with that person all the time…and no one even bothers to question it, ya know? It's just…. understood. And everyone else sees it…"

She was looking really thoughtful then.

Tina looked confused. "Mia, I think you need to read my new book Stronger for Love. It's about this girl who…."

I kind of zoned out then. Why was Lilly looking at us like that? Why was she concentrating on the fact that I was handing Mia baby carrots?

"What is then?" Lilly asked interrupting Tina's rant about some stupid romance novel.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Mia asked, taking another carrot.

"What is your type? You like someone. You are thinking about it right now."

"No I don't," Mia argued, chomping down on her carrot. "I so do not."

"Fine. But what is your type?

Mia bit her lip, and waved away my offer for another carrot, "I don't know. Not preppy clean cut boys though. I hate crew cuts."

Good. I did too.

Lilly looked at me for another sarcastic remark. When I offered nothing, she sighed heavily. What, was she expecting me to jump up and down like a little school boy at the prospect that I was Mia's type? No, I'm mature. I'll wait until she's gone before doing that.

"Anyways, we're off. Go have fun doing whatever slackers do," Lilly said linking arms with Mia. "See ya."


That night I went out with the guys to this party at the Warehouse (an abandoned place where there are parties on Saturday nights with a live band) and ran into none other than Serena Roth. Yes, that Serena.

I sat uncomfortably on a couch and listened to her drone on about her life. But then she reminded me of something really funny. "Remember the time when we were having sex and you said, I love you Mia?"

I looked at her, "I said what?"

"Instead of Serena, you said Mia."

I shook my head, "I don't remember that." Yes I did. I felt like a shit head. It was the first time we'd really made love and I messed it up by saying Mia's name. Looking back I'm such a pervert. Mia was only fourteen at that point, I was eighteen.

"I never said anything but you did. I was kind of hurt at first but then I figured, Hey he's with me and not her so forget it. I figured if you wanted her you would have gone after her. But you haven't, right?

MIA:

Lilly is seriously skeeving me out. I mean, she hasn't had a boyfriend in a while so I can understand that she's excited about having me be single as well…but I dunno. She's just…too bossy and picky about boys. About boys that I think are cute. Preferably Michael.

She flipped on me that morning when she realized where I'd slept. She would have had a cow if she knew he and I shared a joint. If she only knew what else we'd shared over the past nine months.

We were placed right up front, with Lars sitting next to me. Tina . Shameeka's mom was working at the show with some models so she was already there. Aren't we just the luckiest girls in all of New York City? People KILL to get into these places. And here we are, seventeen and having the time of our lives.

"That's a really cute dress," I said pointing to a long blue dress.

"It's just like the one you wore to the junior prom," Lilly replied, rolling her eyes.

I smiled. I liked that dress a lot. Michael had as well, I think. Or, he liked it balled up to the side at least.

"Are we going to that after party too?" Tina asked hopefully. "I heard that Brad Pitt is at this show…"

I shrugged and pretended to be interested in the models. "If you want." No. No. No. I want to go back to the Moscovitz apartment and declare my undying adoration for Michael.

"Yeah, it'd be fun, what do you think Mia?" Lilly

"Yeah. Definitely."


There were cameras all over the place. I tried to avoid being caught on them. I was wearing clothes I hated, but Shameeka told me I had to wear. The top was a slinky lingerie tank and I was wearing regular jeans. Just the stupid ones that Grandmere picked out that cost like three hundred dollars. I don't want people thinking I normally wear this type of thing.

"Ohh, sorry," someone said, spilling their drink all over me.

I jumped in surprise of the cool drink. "What the- Oh. Hi."

I turned and saw the most beautiful man I've ever had the privilege of seeing up close. "Hi."

"Hi."

"Hi."

"Hi."

"Hey, Mia, I know you have more in your vocabulary than that," Lilly teased.

"Oh, um, hi," I stammered, avoiding making eye contact. I'm terrible around guys. I suck.

"The name is Schilling. Schilling Davies."

"Her name is Mia Thermopolis," Lilly replied. "I'm Lilly Moscovitz."

But he didn't take his eyes away from me, "I'm really terribly sorry about your um…shirt thing."

I looked down and remembered he'd spilt something. "Oh, it's fine. I didn't really like this thing anyways."

"I'm Tina," Tina said extending her hand, joining us.

"Shameeka," Shameeka said coolly. Great. He'll fall head over heels for her now.

"Well…um you should go get your girlfriend her drink," I said, hinting for who he was with.

"Girlfriend?" he asked with a laugh.

"Didn't we see you with one of the models earlier?" Lilly replied for me. I hate when she does that. But love it when I have no idea what to say.

"Oh, my sister. Bridget. Yeah. This was her first show. She was really nervous so I came along to offer my support."

I forgot all about the stupid stain on my stupid tank top and got lost in those crystal clear blue eyes.

"I just moved here you see, I am going to NYU. Freshman."

"No way, that's where I wanna go," I said suddenly.

"You can come by sometime, if you want. I can show you around. If you wanted to um…maybe give me your number or something I could give you a call and we can hang out. You can show me around here and I can show you around campus."

"Sounds like a fair deal," I said flirtatiously Woah. Where did my self confidence come from?

He took out his cell and took my number. "My sister is freaking out. She thinks some bimbo model is going to snatch me."

"Nope, just us average girls," Lilly replied.

He looked at me, "Not so average," he replied. "Nice meeting you girls."


We went back to Lilly's after. "He is going to call, I promise," Tina said excitedly.

We were digging into the cartons of Ben and Jerry's.

"No, he was probably just being polite. Maybe he'll call to clean my shirt or something."

"Who will clean your shirt?" Michael asked, coming into the kitchen.

Suddenly the importance of that guy calling me was no longer available in my mind. Michael was around.

"Just some guy who came early onto her blouse," Lilly replied, licking her spoon.

He smacked her upside the head, "Knock that off. Mia doesn't do that sort of thing."

"Hate to break it to you numb nuts, she's had sex before."

"Lilly!" I practically screamed. He hadn't known about me and Huck. Okay, I told her that I had sex with Huck so I would have some explanation for my sudden interest in reading Cosmo.

"What?" he said laughing. Thinking I told her about us.

"It's not his business," I hissed.

"You never told him about that lovely two hour session with Huck at the end of the school year?" Lilly asked.

I wanted to hit her. Kick her. Smack her. Do a lot of mean violent things to her. I hate her.

I glanced up at Michael, "Yeah, well, you know…"

"I hadn't thought that dillweed was capable of getting it up. Good job, Thermopolis," he said tapping me on top of my head. What the fuck? Why wasn't he pissed at me?

Oh, I forget. We are just an 'every once and a while fool around' thing. Why would he care? I'm not his girlfriend. He slept around.

"I'm gonna go work on a new song. See you girls later," Michael said looking sideways at me. He was hinting for me to come meet him, right?


The others fell asleep two hours later, sprawled out on the Moscovitz living room floor. I crept to Michael's room. "Hey."

"Hey," he replied, not looking up. "I was wondering when you'd show up."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, closing the door. Then I crawled into his bed and cuddled under his blankets. He turned to me.

"What do you think it means?"

"I don't know. That's why I asked," I said in my cutest voice.

His face softened and he came over to me. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, nuzzling into the crook of my neck, then kissing my throat.

Was he drunk?

"Were you drinking?" I asked carefully.

"Why do I have to drink to kiss you?"

Um, yeah. Otherwise that meant...wait, maybe he..."Oh." Wait, he's not drunk? NO, he has a little bit of alcohol on his breath.

"Why didn't you tell me about Huck?"

"What difference does it make? It's not like I'm the only one you've been with." Okay, so what if I'm lying to him? He's not my boyfriend.

He looked guilty. "Right. Sorry. I don't know…Maybe we could….you know…"

I interrupted him with a kiss. We can talk later. Maybe we could get together for real now. Maybe.

We started getting into heavy making out, the type you do before you make love when he said it.

"I love you Serena."