Please read and please review. It's the one shining part of this hellish summer. And no, Elle, you may not have an affair with Kevin. You aren't a mega wench. YET


Later that evening Manny and I started playing some cover songs as people began in slowly. We played That Thing You Do by request of an audience member. And then took a break for drinks.

"Hey," someone said tapping my shoulder as I sat at the bar.

I turned, "Hi."

"I'm Annie."

"Michael," I replied, to be polite.

She giggled, "Duh, of course you are. Um, look, I was thinking, if you aren't busy, maybe after the show we could…well…in the back room."

I can not tell you how many times this proposition has been offered to me. And how many times I actually accepted it. "No thanks," I replied. "I'm fine where I am."

She made a face, "But Kelly said-"

"I'm sure she said a lot," I replied, "My circumstances are different now. Thanks , but no thanks."

And so I dedicated a song to that girl, Annie.

Insert Nice to Meet You Anyway by Gavin DeGraw>

I don't think she liked it very much. But it did garner a few hurt expressions. Apparently more girls ga

MIA:

"So my little sister tells me you are moving to Los Angeles," Louie said as our dinners were being served.

"Yes," Felix said, smiling adoringly at me. He was fully aware of the people staring at us.

"You don't really expect her to follow you there, do you?"

"Well, we'll see. Won't we darling?" he asked, tapping my hand on the table.

I pulled it away and started cutting up my fish. "I'm going to be very busy in the next few months," I explained to Louie. "But we'll visit when we can."

"Uh huh…I see," Lou said with a smirk. He knew very well I wouldn't be making any efforts to leave the band… to leave Michael.

We left the restaurant in a cab. Felix was meeting some friends for cocktails or something. "Going home?" he asked, kissing my cheek.

"Uh, yeah," I lied. "Home. I'm feeling kind of iffy. Bye."

I ducked into the cab before he could say anything else.

We got to Cappy's in the middle of Michael and Manny's set. I caught Michael's eye while he sang a song about one night stands. I gave him a half smile as I sat down. Our usual waitress came by and handed me a glass of water, "And two beers," I said grabbing her wrist.

I could drink now. I knew Michael kissed me because he wanted to; and he knew I kissed him because I wanted to.

He looked really good up there on stage. He was just wearing regular clothes that you'd see him wear if he was just going out to the supermarket. Flip flops, worn out jeans that had lost their back pockets years ago, and that famous yellow cab t-shirt. And, of course, his skull ring. Rumor is that it's an engagement ring. He wears it occasionally; so that is when the message boards blow up with so called newbies asking what it was from. A few fans know the truth behind it. Or the truth Michael gave them. That it was found among his grandfather's possessions when he traveled up Mount Everest.

"He's pretty good," Louie whispered between songs. "But..uh…."

"What?"

"Well, why hasn't he even looked your way since you got here?"

I took a sip of my drink and looked at my brother while the opening notes of Tall Glass of Water came on. "Great question. He's just….he's just being Michael."

We listened to most of the set. He played songs I had never heard before, but that I fell in love with. They weren't rock , but they were just….somewhere between pop and rock. "C'mon, it's getting too crowded in here. Let's go get some real dessert."

So my brother and I managed to leave the bar and go over to a diner that had the best apple pie in the city. I think we ate an entire pie between the two of us. We were talking a lot about our lives and how unreasonable Grandmere was being about Katie being a princess.

But our guards finally caught up with us (okay, they called our cell phones and demanded to know where we were), and said it was time to call it a night. "Great to know we are grown adults and are being told when to go home," I teased.

"You two are just chatting," Lars replied. "You can chat at home."

Louie and I returned to my apartment building only to have my wrist grabbed and pulled aside. At first I was startled, and Lars was ready to pounce, but then we saw it was only Michael. Lars reminded Michael not to do that ever again.

"Sorry man. Can I see you?" he whispered to me.

I looked at my brother.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go upstairs," Louie said biting his lip. "Is Lilly home?"

Michael nodded, "I just left her there."

"Okay then. I'll see you soon."

"How was your night?" I asked, fiddling with my purse strap.

He started fiddling around with my hair, "It was okay. I missed you though. Why didn't you stay for the whole set?"

I looked up at him. "Wanna go for a walk?"

That is why we were strolling around Greenwich Village at two in the morning on a Wednesday. At first people recognized us and kept stopping for pictures. But they were tourists who saw this as their one opportunity to see us up close.

Girls asked about my eligible brother and if he was dating anyone. His engagement with Katie was being kept on the down low. No one outside the so called Circle of Trust can know about it. We're having a quiet wedding for them next fall. "I guess a lot of girls want to be a princess," Michel said with a smirk. "Not a rock star's girlfriend."

As he said that he slipped his hand in mine. I felt my cheeks turn red. My mind turned to mush then and I leaned into him to support me. We talked about life, but not what we were becoming and whether or not I would be breaking things off with Felix when he went to LA. We watched some people break dancing and Michael gave them a hundred dollar bill. Which kind of bummed me out cuz my hand was now Michael-less

"Are you trying to make it onto the best tippers list?" I teased.

"Should we go back?" he asked, looking at his watch. "We have a long day tomorrow."

I nodded. "Yes. Final rehearsal, right?"

"Yeah. Plus the photo shoot for Rollingstone," he replied, tentatively taking my hand.

I nodded, "I'm all a twitter."

"Everything okay?" he asked, worried.

"Well…why didn't you even glance at me when I came to the show? You always had before…well, you know…"

He blushed, "Well, Mia….I don't know how to say this, but all my songs are about you. Every song we play I wrote with you in mind."

Oh God.

"And I know if I looked at you I wouldn't be able to take my eyes off of you. I'd want to just sing to you alone. Make sure you knew they were for you. That every word is yours alone….and well…I just want us to be a secret right now. Everyone there would have known the truth and messed this up. There'd be way too much drama."

I stared up at him in surprise. "I thought you said you never wrote songs for anyone in particular? That they were just stories you thought up in your mind that you put to music?" I didn't say anything about keeping us a secret, since I agreed that would be for the best.

"Lie," he said with a smile.

"You told Serena that-"

He burst out laughing, "Serena? Good God you have a good memory. I'd forgotten her name almost. Well, I couldn't tell her it was about her, could I? She was dating a lawyer, she'd find a way to sue me. And if she knew now for sure then she really would sue since I'm worth a few million dollars."

"You are worth more than that," I argued, snuggling into him.

"Okay, ten mi-"

"Michael, you are worth more than money," I replied. "Anyone with half a brain would see that."

He wrapped his arm around me tighter. The people on the streets now were mostly homeless or too drunk to recognize us. They couldn't sell a story to US or anything.

His touch was making me shiver.

"Oh…I would offer you my coat but I don't have one."

I smirked. He didn't know about the effect he had on me, "You guys are great, you know that? I mean, I don't know what I'd do without you."

He gave me a weird look, like he looked like a stung little kid, "You don't treat all of us like this right?"

I gave him a look, "I want to give my friends the attention they deserve. I'm very hands on," I teased, pinching his butt.

He laughed and pulled me up against him (he leaned against a wall). "Very much. You wouldn't do any of this with your other friends, would you?"

"Like who?" I said with a laugh, I pushed some hair from his face.

"Um… Orlando."

I laughed, "He's my friend. Besides, what are we doing? What's wrong with all this?" I asked, knowing full well why it was wrong. That I was passing by the professional barrier we had put up.

"You know what you are doing," he said softly brushing his lips against mine; looking down at my fingers that were tugging on the hem of his t-shirt.

"No I don't. Explain to me-"

He kissed me softly, "You are slowly seducing me."
I smiled, "Is it working?"

"Possibly."

Our eyes got stuck on one another for a full minute before someone came up to Michael to ask for an autograph.

Michael smiled and signed and posed for a picture with the kid. I waved good bye to him and started for my apartment alone. "Mia, wait!" he called for me.

"What?" I asked. I was suddenly very aware that he was right. Well, partially right. We were seducing one another.

"Can I stay over?" he asked softly, pleadingly.

I sighed, "Um…Louie is over…"

"Oh, right," he said looking in the direction of my apartment. "Come with me then," he suggested.

I laughed, "I cannot do that. I have no clothes for tomorrow. My purse…"

"Then we'll stop by your place. You can say you have a late night session with us. Come on," he pleaded. I made a mistake and looked in his eyes.

"Fine," I said, stuck in those damn peat bogs.

We arrived at my apartment and started talking in front. "This is going to be the best tour ever," he said leaning into me and playing with my hair. "I get to bring home a girl every night and no one will make me feel like a booty call."

I heard someone coming up, so I put my hand to his chest to push him away, but he wasn't budging. "I like walking around with you," I admitted.

"I like doing a lot with you," he teased, and making me laugh hysterically for some reason.

"You are bad," I said, still laughing.

He kissed my forehead. "Let's just stay here forever, kay?"

"Mia?" a voice asked.