Author's Note: Thank you all for the well wishes on my trip. I'll tell all of you more about it when I am not so tired. I will say this though, men in costume have a thing for me. You all must read every line in every chapter clearly. You would know if they were broken up or why they were together that night.
SoCal: Is this the boy that is reading that reviewed? Well, here ya go, another chapter
Dedicated to Miss Liss for her patience and dedication on waiting for my return.
MIA:
I walked into the NBC studios and wove goodbye to Felix. With my left hand. He had given me a ring that my grandmother had given to him last summer when we went to see her. She told him to propose to me with this ring.
"It's only right that I return it," he explained, handing the box over to me. "She said it was a family heirloom."
I slid it on my left finger and imagined Michael giving me a ring. He would have chosen one on his own though. He'd never take a handout from my family. "Doesn't it looks dazzling," I teased, wiggling my fingers.
"It's heinous," he replied with a smirk. He could tell I hated it. "I can just see Michael proposing with that monstrosity."
I giggled. The image of Michael proposing with this ancient ring was too funny.
"Oh dear sweet, sweet Mia, will you marry me," he teased. Funny that we were able to act like this when a mere forty eight hours ago we'd been boyfriend and girlfriend. Now he was talking as if I were already engaged to another man. A man I had never even called my boyfriend outside of my dreams.
"Ooh of course I will!" I gushed, over acting, extending my hand as he pushed the ring past my knuckle onto my finger. Out of the corner of my eye I could see people watching us. They probably didn't recognize him, or me for that matter. I had my hair in funky braids and was wearing my glasses. No one ever recognized me really in New York. I looked just like every other girl.
"We better be careful or this will end up in the gossip columns in the morning," he teased, leaning over the candle light.
I smirked, "I think these people have better things to do with their time."
"Hey guys," I said throwing my bag down in the dressing room that was set up for us. The band and our'entourage'were all staring at me.
"Where is it?" Lilly demanded, staring at my left hand.
"Huh? You know I hate when you call Felix an object. He is a human-"
"The ring. It was on TV. Lemme see," she said grabbing my arm.
"My ri-Oh," I said, "This?" I replied, pulling it from my bag.
I looked at it with a smirk, and then handed it over to her. The guys even crowded around it.
All but one were in the room. "Um, where's Michael?" I asked nervously. Crying out loud, if they all thought I was….
Lilly smirked knowingly, "Follow sound of banging. He's pissed," she whispered.
I looked in that general direction worriedly. "Uh, how did you guys know?"
Kevin pointed to the TV screen. A banner on the bottom of the screen was announcing my engagement. Aren't publicists supposed to protect me from all this junk?
I sighed. "It was on TV?"
"Yeah, Channel 1 was plugging it. And there was a fax that came over for the Weekend Update. They came looking for you for an OK on a joke," Manny replied.
"It's…nice," Kevin said, trying to smile at the ring.
"No it's not," I said with a laugh. "It's the ugliest thing I have ever seen. I'll be right back."
I took a deep breath as I neared the room I was sure Michael was in. I knocked on the door that I heard someone banging. "Michael?" I asked meekly.
He slowly opened the door, "Mrs. Shortridge."
I rolled my eyes and walked past him. "Michael, honestly. Firstly, don't believe what you hear unless it's from me. You should know that, shouldn't you? I mean, you never did make out with Tara, did you? Or go into the men's bathroom with her, did you?"
He started to turn a bit red. That had been the rumor going around right after we won our Grammy a few months ago. "Do you think I'm really going to marry him?"
"You said no?" he asked hopefully. "I thought-"
I looked down, "We had already broken up. I just hadn't gotten around to telling you yet."
He smirked and knelt in front of me. "But…."
"He was teasing me. He was giving back a ring that my grandmother had given him. We were goofing around and someone probably was eavesdropping..."
. "But you aren't with…"
"I'm not with," I said as he leaned into kiss me.
He leaned his forehead against mine and his breath went totally uneven. "I was going crazy…thinking you were going to…"
"Guys?" Lilly said, opening the door, "Um, did you want to get your makeup done or…."
We simply stared at her.
"Um, we'll come get you when you need to go."
We cuddled up onto the couch and whispered to one another before we had to get our makeup done. We were whispering even though all the rooms were supposedly soundproofed. I dunno why…maybe whispering makes things seem more romantic than they are at a given moment.?
Should I feel guilty for cuddling up to one man after another allegedly proposed marriage to me? Nah, its Michael. A girl can't be held responsible for how she acts around him.
We went into make up after a few minutes. I laughed watching the guys getting makeup on. "So sexy Orlando," I teased.
"You think?"
"No," I said mussing his hair.
I stood by the stage door, waiting for the boys to finish up. They took more time to get ready than I did. Michael spent forever fiddling around with his hair. Manny kept drumming on the counter and We went on stage just as the show was coming off of commercial.
We played Glass of Water, then returned backstage and had some water. "You were great," Michael whispered into my ear.
The group of us watched some of the show in the greenroom and then went back on stage to perform our new single, which both Michael and I had to sing since I kind of wrote it:
(The Juice, by Rooney; please see TDOW for lyrics etc.)
We got more applause than we expected. Some people laughed at the obvious line about having my own country. Woot. Woot. But we left right away; crushing my dream of seeing Ben Affleck and getting the dirt on J.Lo.
We waited on the bus while some roadies packed up all of our things. The six of us (the band plus Lilly) shared pints of Ben and Jerry. "Chubby Hubby?" Kev offered to me. "I mean, not to imply that Lix is chubby…."
I smiled and took a scoop into my mouth. Let them believe what they want. I'm way too happy to correct them.
(Author's Note: Okay, I know, still wicked short but can you blame me? I'm tired and wanna have my own bed back and keep you guys happy. Work with me people)
