Falling Away
Chapter Eight: we are nowhere and it's now
A/N: Why yes, I did use 'Hate North Storm' as a reference to This Lullaby. I really love that book as well as Dreamland and Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen (I have yet to read her other novels).
I'm really quite pessimistic and insecure about my writing but I'm content with knowing that some people at there like it, even if it's just a little bit. Thank you for commenting. Your reviews really brighten up my day. Oh, and sorry for taking so long to update.
- - -
Mia looked out of her window at the gorgeous night sky as she pinned the last stray strand of hair to her brilliantly disheveled bun. Grandmere had told her about "what an absolutely important occasion" the winter ball was. All of New York's socialites would be attending and Clarisse had absolutely insisted that Mia attend, for her own well being. Mia wore the stunning silvery blue gown that Grandmere had shown her the week before. It shimmered softly under the bedroom lights. Mia could only imagine what she would look like in a ballroom, surrounded by hundreds of other guests. Her lips were stained a soft cherry red, her eyelids softly washed with sheer cerulean.
"You look…amazing," said a voice from behind her. Mia smiled as Adam neared her, wearing a black Armani suit. His dark locks were kept loosely in place with gel. He smelled of piney cologne and coffee. Adam rested his chin onto Mia's shoulder, taking in her reflection. He saw a young, attractive couple smiling. Mia saw them as two good friends who had decided to become a couple and were clearly infatuated with each other.
"Thanks, Adam. You look great, too," Mia said, gently sighing as Adam kissed the side of her neck. Adam nestled Mia's necks, blowing softly onto her pale flesh. Mia felt goosebumps dotting her arms and legs as startling shivers crept their way up her spine.
"So, if this ball turns out to be on the monotonous side, do you think Clarisse would let us bail?" Adam asked in his golden, mellifluous voice. Adam walked in front of her and kissed her eyelids, which Mia found to be slightly bizarre but she enjoyed it anyway. It was the simple gestures of affection that Mia found to be the best, such as a small kiss on the forehead or a blowing into the ear.
"I highly doubt it," Mia said. "But I guess we could try sneaking out. Well, you know, if this dress wasn't so visible to the eye. But I think that it'd be worth it to try." She shot Adam a mischievous grin and kissed his lips lightly, her lip gloss smudging onto Adam's naturally deep pink lips.
"Look…it's snowing again," Mia said, her head tilted, gazing at the snowflakes that fell from the pale winter sky. Tranquil classical music played as Adam helped Mia hook the clasp of her snowflake necklace. The glowing lights made her diamond earrings gleam as she closed her eyes, slowly swaying with Adam along to the music. As they danced, Mia couldn't but feel that the moment reminded her of something. Something vague.
---
"Do we absolutely have to go to the ball?" Michael asked, smiling up at his girlfriend. His dark hair flopped over his right, equally dark, eye. He had on his best—his only—suit and had polished his shoes to maximum perfection. Mia put one of her small amethyst earrings into her right ear as Michael watched her with rapt attention, almost as if she were painting the Mona Lisa or some other equally enchanting painting.
"Yes, Michael," Mia said, grinning slightly. "I can't get out of it. I mean, the ball might be boring but at least Grandmere will be gone for the rest of the summer, right? She's flying back to Genovia tomorrow." Michael nodded, realizing what she spoke was the truth. Clarisse Renaldo would be flying back to her native country the next day, June 21st, and would leave both Michael and Mia alone, once and for all. Michael felt that things were so limited and suffocating when Clarisse would constantly order Mia around, being her true self.
Sure, he had a certain amount for his girlfriend's grandmother but that didn't stop him from thinking she was an overly selfish, barbaric sort of woman. "So, where is it, again?" Michael inquired as Mia sat down beside him on her bed. She indicated her necklace and he smiled as he hooked the clasp of the snowflake necklace he had gotten her for her fifteenth birthday a month before.
"At one of Grandmere's friends' mansions," Mia said, scoffing. Quite frankly, she was surprised that Clarisse even had friends, with her snotty attitude and all. "We only have to stay for one, two hours. It'll be fun. Hopefully." Michael smiled and leaned forward to kiss Mia. His mouth worked its way down to Mia's neck and he began nuzzling it, grinning.
"Michael," Mia said, though reluctantly. "Not now…We have to leave soon. The limo should be here in ten minutes and I still need to put on some lip gloss to replace the layer you just ruined." She shot Michael a smirk."You look gorgeous," Michael said sincerely, taking Mia's soft, delicate hands into his larger, rougher ones. He squeezed them reassuringly, offering her a small, tender kiss. Mia felt her cheeks growing warm as Michael ran his thumb over her knuckles, gazing adoringly into her eyes.
"You look great too, Michael."
"Mia! The limo's here!" Helen Thermopolis exclaimed from outside the door.
"Shall we go then, milady?" Michael asked, affecting an awkward British accent.
"Yes, we shall."
---
The atmosphere was energetic, lively, while a hint of curiosity hung in the air. Mia found herself entering the ballroom of Duchess Grace's expansive mansion, hand in hand with Adam. The room was beautifully decorated, soft lights glowing down on the duchess's guests. A few waltzes in the ballroom were to be proceeded by a twelve-course dinner. As Adam and Mia reached the dance floor, she couldn't help but feel a certain sense of uneasiness.
As soon as they had entered, almost everyone in the room turned to look at Mia and Adam, a certain meddlesome air. They, of course, knew that Mia was the princess of Genovia, the granddaughter of the dowager princess, Clarisse Renaldo. And Adam Carrick was the son of one of the richest and most successful businessmen in Europe. Not to mention, many of the women in the room thought, one of the handsomest.
What they didn't all know before tonight was that Mia Thermopolis Renaldo and Adam Carrick were…a couple. Mia smiled at Adam as they danced. She closed her eyes as they glided gracefully across the dance floor. It was around the time that they had reached the orchestra when Mia opened her eyes and gasped in shock.
For, playing the violin was none other than Boris Pelkowski, sweater tucked into his pants and all. And watching him dreamily from a small table near the orchestra was none other than Tina Hakim Baba. Then, Mia reminded herself, they were married now. Boris and Tina Pelkowski. The thought made her uneasy.
Boris had his eyes shut as he played the violin with such remarkable ease. Tina didn't seem to notice that Mia was mere feet in front of her. Mia halted the dancing. Adam, caught off-guard, nearly slipped. "Adam," Mia hissed softly, her eyes still on the daydreaming Tina. "I know that woman…" She gestured toward Tina. Adam turned around to look at who she was talking about, obviously bemused.
"Why don't you go talk to her then?" Adam said, turning back to face Mia. Taking a deep breath, Mia slowly walked in Tina's direction, holding Adam's hand loosely. As they reached her table, Tina looked up at the couple. Then her eyes widened in realization and she opened her mouth to speak. But nothing came out.
"Tina…" Mia said slowly, a small smile tugging at her lips.
"Hi, Mia!" Tina exclaimed, almost too excitedly. The last time they had seen each other had been four years before, the day Mia had left for college. Both of them had had tears raining from their eyes as they stood inside of the cool airport, hugging. Lilly wouldn't stop obsessing over the fact that she wouldn't be able to see Mia as much. in Europe, though not at the same place where Mia was heading for.
"How…how have you been?" Mia said. She was happy, though surprised, that Tina wasn't taking on the positively horrible manner Lilly had with her weeks before. No, Tina looked thrilled to see Mia again after not seeing her for such a long amount of time.
"I've been really great," Tina said, looking down at her diamond wedding ring, which was sparkling and pear-shaped. It gleamed under the effulgent lighting, the soft blue sky peaking through the long, royal blue curtains that covered the long, arch-shaped windows. "I got married three months ago…I sent you an invitation but I don't know if you ever got it. I didn't know the address to your dorm room so I addressed it out to the palace."
Mia thought guiltily of the secretaries at the palace. They threw away any and all of the letters that looked vaguely suspicious to them. And Tina's curly handwriting may have raised an eyebrow or two. "Oh. I didn't get it," Mia said, not noticing that she had let go of Adam's hand. "But if I had known about it, I definitely would've flown out." Tina smiled and nodded, her gaze landing on Adam.
"Oh! Um. Tina, this is my boyfriend, Adam," Mia said almost airily. "Adam, this is my good friend, Tina. We used to go to high school together." Adam smiled. "Hi, Tina," he offered, feeling slightly awkward.
"It's hard to believe that one day you two were high school sweethearts and the next…Well…you're married," Mia said, smoothing down her soft, gossamer dress. Tina, Mia noticed, was wearing an extravagantly stunning soft pink dress that vaguely reminded Mia of her own prom dress that she had worn freshman year. But Tina's, she knew, was much more beautiful than hers had been.
"I think I was afraid that he would meet some female virtuoso at Julliard but we managed to stay together," Tina said. She herself had attended Columbia. Every time she had seen Michael walking with a friend around campus, she was instantly reminded of how he had broken Mia's heart that warm autumn day. Mia had avoided Tina and Lilly's calls but Helen had soon filled them in on what had happened. After Lilly found out, she had kicked Michael in the place where the sun didn't shine, so to speak.
---
As soon as they entered the ballroom, all eyes landed on Mia and Michael. For a few seconds anyway. After scanning Michael, as they didn't know him, the guests at the ball all resumed what they had been doing before they had entered. "Tough crowd," Michael said, which proceeded with a light, carefree laugh from Mia. "So, what do you want to do first? Grab some, uh, food or—" Michael wrinkled his nose in obvious distaste "—dance?"
"Let's dance," Mia said, smiling. Michael shrugged and led Mia to the dance floor, a grin playing on his slightly full, reddish lips. They danced serenely across the dance floor, never breaking their gaze into each other's eyes. Michael's peat bog eyes were filled with happiness and good humor. Even if he wasn't ecstatic at being at such a fancy ball, dancing with Mia made it all better in his opinion. The ballroom was bright—overly bright—with gorgeous floral arrangements decorating the room.
Summer was Michael's favorite season. The air was always perfectly hot and humid, a perfect excuse for staying inside all day, surfing the Internet. Which is what he usually ended up doing when he wasn't out with Mia, arguing with his sister, or walking Pavlov around the block. "So, this isn't too bad, is it?" Mia asked, smiling. Michael took a moment to ponder her question and decided that no, it wasn't.
"It's really…beautiful here," Michael said, thinking of nothing else to say. Mia nodded and rested her head on Michael's shoulder. He smelled particularly nice, Mia noted. Along with his usual soapy smell, she detected a hint of cologne. And then she felt ridiculous for thinking about how he smelled. In his mind, Michael replaced the classical music the orchestra was playing with a song that he had recently written called "Pessimistic Paranoia."
He slowly swayed with Mia in time to the music when the song stopped. Mia smiled into Michael's neck while the guests around them stopped dancing, wondering why the orchestra had stopped playing. Michael was about to open his mouth to ask Mia why she thought they had stopped when he heard the familiar opening chords to one of his favorite songs.
"You arranged this, didn't you, Mia?" Michael said, a bright smile on his face. She chose to not respond, instead lightly kissing Michael's neck. The orchestra played the song with such ease that it instantly calmed Michael's nerves. He began to sing to Mia, and only Mia.
Thank you and hang up the phoneLet the funeral start
Hear the casket close, let's pin
Split-black ribbon onto your overcoat
But laughter pours from under doors in this house
I don't understand that sound no more
It seems artificial like a TV set
Mia looked up into Michael's eyes before he drowned himself in the chorus.
Haligh, haligh, a lie, haligh
The weight, it must be satisfied
You offer only one reply
You know not what you do
But you tear and tear your hair from roots
From that same head you have twice removed
A lock of hair you said would prove
Our love would never die
Well ha, ha, ha
- - -
He had missed Mia. He had missed the way her charcoal gray eyes lit up when she solved an Algebra problem correctly, the way her nostrils flared whenever she fibbed. He loved how she was always so kind and modest, not knowing how truly beautiful and amazing she was. Mia was one of those people that were pure and warm, the kind of person you could talk to about your troubles and he or she would talk you through your problem until everything was solved and you were happy again.
So, as he nuzzled Shayne's neck, his mind was too busy racing with thoughts to think about Mia or any of her amazing qualities. He didn't even know why he and Shayne were hooking up. All he knew that was he too drunk to care and would probably forget the next morning. Shayne had had a couple too many drinks as well, judging by the way her breath had more than a hint of Lager in it.
"Mmm, Michael," Shayne moaned, caressing his back. "I love you. I never stopped loving you." Michael didn't reply because he was too busy kissing her neck to respond. But also because he was afraid to speak. He certainly didn't want to say anything that he would regret in the morning.
"Do…Do you love me?" Michael stopped kissing her and looked away. Truth be told, he had never loved Shayne. Liked her, maybe. Yes, as a friend. But never more than that. As a relationship, Michael had always seen Shayne as someone he could snuggle with on a cold night or have amazing hookups with. But he had never taken their brief relationship seriously. It had always been something to do.
He just didn't want to be alone.
- - -
A/N: "Haligh, Haligh, A Lie, Haligh" is by the amazing Bright Eyes. I could only wish that I owned that song.