Falling Away

Chapter Three: the dark outside can't hurt you

A/N: Uh, what to say? This story may eventually be Rated R and there will be a plethora of curse words. So, if you're offended by cursing or sexual references, please stop reading this story. But if you're fine with both (the sexual references will be brief, mind you…hopefully), please continue reading and review. =)

Oh, by the way, this story will basically be made up of the present and the past. In other words, it'll document what's happening to Mia in the present (in this story, anyway) and there will be memories scattered throughout the whole story as well as newspaper articles, letters, and other such things.

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It was a perfectly crisp, autumn day. Mia found herself staying inside even though it was pleasantly warm outside. She was working on an article for Albert Einstein High School's newspaper, TheAtom. The former editor-in-chief had graduated the previous year, along with Mia's boyfriend, Michael. Melanie Greenbaum was the new editor and Mia found her to be extremely intimidating. But she was no longer on the cafeteria beat. No, she had been asked to write a string of articles for the newspaper, seeing as how most of the good writers had graduated the previous year.

Okay, so she wasn't only staying inside to write her article. Mia was eagerly waiting for her college freshman boyfriend to call. He had promised to call her sometime that day. But so far, only Grandmere had called, to tell Mia that there was a ball she had to attend in two weeks and that they would go shopping tomorrow. But no Michael. Not even an e-mail.

So when the phone finally rang, she jumped about a half-mile just to pick it up.

"Hello?" Mia said breathlessly, crossing her fingers. It had to be Michael. It just had be.

"Hi, Mia." It was Michael! He sounded oddly formal, Mia noticed.

"Hi, Michael," Mia said. This followed with an awkward pause.

"Mia, we need to talk," Michael said, still sounding stiff.

"Uh…okay," Mia said, nervous now. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I…" Michael said, pausing. "I think we should break up."

Those six words hit Mia like a tidal wave. Had he said what she thought he had said? He wanted to…he wanted to break up? But why? They were perfectly happy with each other. Of course they were…they were in love.

Weren't they?

"Mia? Are you still there?"

"I-I…did you say what…what I think you just said?" Mia said, her voice choked up. She felt hot tears already forming in her usually bright gray eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Mia," Michael said softly. There was a click and he was gone.

Mia dropped the phone and sat, shaking. Her blood ran cold as she shook, tears streaming down her eyes.

"But I love you…" Mia whispered softly before dropping to the floor, sobs escaping from her lips.

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It really was him. Mia listened to Michael's mellifluous voice through her headphones, her eyes shut. It was so painful hearing him sing but she couldn't stop. Not talking to Michael for six years, not hearing his voice for six years…Seeing him after so long, hearing him after so long…it hurt so much but it felt so good.

The previous night, after they had gotten back from Penguin, Mia had asked to borrow Adam's Mission for Recognition album. He had happily obliged and Mia had been listening to it on repeat ever since. The band's music was so different from that of Michael's high school band, Skinner Box. The lyrics were deeper…the music was louder.

And Michael's voice was different. Somehow deeper. Stronger…Sexier?

No, no. It was just…different.

You are never dead when you're dead

You're never dead when you're sleeping

You make it so hard to love

But not impossible

Never impossible

Mia opened her eyes and her cheeks flushed crimson. Adam had been watching her with his deep emerald green eyes. "If your eyes should ever rain, I'll be the one to catch your tears," Adam said, looking Mia straight in the eye. She looked bemused for a moment but then she heard Michael say the exact same thing. Mia turned off her Walkman and smiled lazily.

"So, what do you think?" Adam said, indicating the CD. Mia's head tilted, a half-smile on her face.

"It's amazing," Mia said, looking down at her cereal.

"I'm glad you think so," Adam said, taking a muffin from the center of the table.

"Adam, Z isn't really Michael's name, is it?" Mia inquired, shoving a spoonful of cereal into her mouth. She noticed, her cheeks turning even redder, that Adam was staring at her mouth.

"No, of course not. His real name is Mochasitz or something like that."

"Moscovitz?" Mia said, nearly choking on her cereal. Adam raised a well-arched eyebrow, a playful look in her eyes.

"Yeah, I think that's it," Adam said. "How did you know?"

"I…uh, lucky guess?" Mia said.

"Okay then," Adam said, taking a bite of his blueberry muffin. "So, what shall we do today, Princess? Any royal balls to attend? Need an escort?" Mia laughed and shrugged her shoulders.

"We can do whatever you want to do," Mia said.

"Uh…" Adam said, turning pink. "To be honest, I don't think you would want to do what I want to do."

"And what is that?"

"Make out in a janitor's closet. Have rough, passionate sex in some trashy motel." Adam said this so seriously that Mia did choke on her cereal that time. Her cheeks must've been as red as a tomato, she thought. But then he burst out with laughter, causing Mia to laugh weakly.

"You looked about ready to burst," Adam said, through his laughs. But he didn't say that he had been kidding. Mia watched as Adam continued laughing, his dark hair flopping into his beautiful eyes.

"Let's go to Central Park or something," Mia said after he had stopped laughing.

"Okay."

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"Welcome to the Plaza!"

"Uh, thanks," Michael said, blinking. "I guess." The record company had decided to send Mission for Recognition over to the Plaza for some unknown reason. Michael had never actually been to the Plaza, and he hadn't been planning to either. The concierge handed him a fruit basket and told him what suite number the room was.

"Pretty trippy," Kristen said, looking around.

Michael was looking through the contents of the basket when he heard a raspy, eerily familiar voice.

"Amelia, I do not care if you're off showing Adam Manhattan! You must attend this ball!" Michael froze and turned his head slightly. Clarisse Renaldo, a bodyguard at her side, stood with a cell phone to her ear.

"Adam can stay at the loft, Amelia." Who's Adam?, Michael thought. He looked down at his feet.

"Yes, I will be there soon. I must go to the spa first…I'm having a body wrap." Clarisse noticed the five leather jacket wearing, floppy haired band mates and sniffed. Michael rolled his eyes. Clarisse had never liked Michael much.

"Let's go up," Michael said, heading for the elevator.

Mia and Adam walked along the path in Central Park. The wind was blowing gently as the sun shined down on them both. Mia bit off the end of her vegetarian corn dog, her eyes on the ground as they walked. They didn't speak; their occasional looks at each other expressed everything.

Mia heard gentle humming and looked over at Adam. He felt her eyes on him and turned to meet her gaze. He grinned, his eyes sparkling. Mia smiled back before looking back down at the ground. Adam cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak.

"Mia…"

"Yes?" Mia said softly.

"What…what are we?"

"What do you mean?" Mia inquired, genuinely baffled. She looked up at Adam.

"Are we friends?…Going out? Together?" Adam said hesitantly. His eyes were nervous, she could tell.

"I…I…" Adam turned bright red.

"I-I mean, it's okay if you don't like me in that way but I just wanted to tell you that—"

"Adam…Of course I like you," Mia said, shyly.

"What? Really?" Adam said, looking surprised. Mia nodded her head.

"To be honest, I've liked you ever since I met you," Mia said. Her eyes widened and she suddenly realized that it wasn't like her at all to admit her feelings for a guy in such a carefree manner. There was a pause. Adam gently grabbed Mia's free hand and rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. Mia closed her eyes. His big, rough hand felt so nice against her smaller, softer one.

Mia looked at their hands and smiled. They stopped walking and Adam lifted Mia's head by her chin. He cupped her face, his eyes never leaving hers, and pressed his mouth against Mia's. Mia's eyes closed and she felt so warm with Adam's soft lips against hers. He smelled like coffee and burnt leaves.

She never wanted this to end.

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A/N: Okay, so, I'm kind of weirded out. My writing style used to be much, much better than it is now. It was once amazing detailed and organized, sophisticated even. Maybe my long break from writing ruined my style. This sucks.