MIA:

I left the bathroom, VERY angry that Lilly decided that now would be a perfect time to reappear. "Hey," I said cheerfully, towel drying my hair.

"Why is he showering here?" she asked, looking at the one bed that was used the night before.

"Well, he didn't want to walk in on you and Manny going at it. So he stayed her last night. We fell asleep watching TV on my bed."

She still wasn't convinced. "Did you sleep with him? Mia, do you realize how many STD's he is probably carrying? You really-"

I laughed, "No, I didn't sleep with him. Lilly, he's in the next room."

"He has a girlfriend. An annoying one, but a girlfriend. And you are engaged."

I made a face, "No I'm not."

"What?" she asked, falling into her own, very unusedbed.

"The stupid TV said I was, but I'm not. We broke up last week," I said with a laugh, "That was a ring my grandmother gave him to give to me."

She nodded. "Why didn't you say anything before?"

"Because no one actually asked me. They just assume."

"Well, you should really consider having Amy burn this rumor ASAP." Amy is our publicist.

"If my relationship status is the focus of America's attentionthen we are in serious trouble."

"Well, you areone of the most boring musicians in the world. Whensomething exciting happens to you there will be talk."

"Oh please. I'm onto bigger and better things."

She bit her lip."Are you gonna try something with Orlando now?"

I expected her to say Michael. "Um, no. Why would I?"

"Well, you two are having breakfast downstairs, aren't you?"

Michael came out with just his towel around his waist just then. Do.Not.Hyperventilate. Don't freak out about his beautiful chest or the cuts that were pointing to his Netherlands.

"Hey girls," he said casually. How can he be so casual? He was almost making love to me in the bathroom!

"Michael," Lilly said skeptically. "So, you are going down there, right? You have to. He has flowers and everything," she continued, focusing her attention on me, not her half naked brother.

I glanced at Michael who was putting some of my hair gel in his hair. "Um, Michael was going to go too."

"Where?" he asked.

"Breakfast."

"Oh yeah. I'm starving." He put on his clothes quickly. Lilly and I both noticed the lack of underpants.

"Forgetting something?" I asked with my arms crossed.

"Nah. I'm gonna free ball today. I'll wait for you guys in the hall."

"Mia, you are completely and totally smitten," Lilly said in a voice I hardly recognized.

There was no point in lying. "Well…" I started, sitting on the arm chair. "Yeah."

I looked up at her. She was smiling. "Has he dumped that douche bag yet? Or does he not know that you…."

"No, he knows. He just hasn't yet. He will though."

"The eternal optimist." She sat next to me, "So, what's it like?"

"What?"

"Being in love for the first time. For real?"

"I dunno…I mean, how can I know if it's love?"

She made a face like she was thinking about this seriously. "Well…"

"I…I mean…I can't even think coherently when it comes to him, ya know?"

"It's your hormones. Let's see how far it goes," she replied skeptically. "I'll be waiting out there with him. Hurry up."


The three of us took the elevator down together. "Just because I know about this torrid affair does not mean that I want to be seeing you two playing tonsil hockey," Lilly warned, stabbing theLobby button.

I glanced at Michael who was staring stoically at his sister. Maybe I over judged his feelings. Maybe he didn't want anyone to know. "Lilly shut the fuck up," was all he said as he put his arm around me.

"How long has this been going on? I mean, I know that you guys sometimes fooled around when we were kids but c'mon. Why now?"

Michael stared down at me and then smiled, "I dunno. It just feels right."

"You better not let Orlando know. It'd crush him. Remember what happened with Tina?"

"If we're together then he'll have to suck it up and take it like a man," Michael replied. "He's a big boy now."

"He isn't like Tina. She was what, sixteen? Seventeen? Besides, I've been with Felix and he hasn't minded."

"But we know that Felix is as likely to have sex as you were with Kenny Showalter."

I smirked. My dad always liked Kenny because he knew there were no procreating activities going on with him. "And there is as much of a chance for Orlando as there is for Kenny."


But yet we didn't act like a couple in front of anyone. We acted like we had before. Flirty, but kept our distance. I continued to flirt with the others. But not Orlando. He would take it all wrong.

"Mia, did you want to do something today?" Orlando offered. "I saw some horse and buggy rides go by…"

I gave him a startled look, "No thanks. I um…"

"We have some new material to look at. Actually it's old stuff. That I'm reviving," Michael cut in. "We used to play it back before Mia came to the band."

I looked at him funny.

"Plus I wanna rehearse The Floor before we do sound check," Michael continued.


Michael and I walked back to the hotel, holding hands. We were sure none of them were going to follow us so it was not a big deal. He brought me to the French quarter to do some serious shopping.

"Too adorable," I said teasing him as I put a fedora on him. "Very retro."

"Very much not. Let's try it on you."

I hammed it up as he placed in on top of my head.

"Hey, aren't you from Glass of Water?" someone said from behind me.

I turned and saw my old boyfriend, Huck. I froze. "Ohmigosh!" I said as we threw our arms around one another.

Michael was burning a hole through me. "Michael, you remember Huck, right?"

Michael nodded curtly. "Hey man."

"Gawd, Mia…you look…"

"She knows she looks amazing," Michael snapped. "We make sure she does."

Michael turned and started pacing down the next aisle of the shop. "Touchy huh?" Huck asked with a laugh.

"You know Michael. He always has been."

"So I hear you are engaged, congrat-"

"No…no, I'm not," I assured him. "I know the news outlets have me as engaged but I'm not. Not by a long shot."

"But they said-"

"I said no," I replied easily. "We decided we needed to break up. It's friendly," I assured him. "He's dating his friend Liss. At least I hope he is. I'll have to call and check it out-"

"You are so…"

"So what?" I asked with a laugh.

"How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Bounce back so easily?"

I sent a furtive glance at the security mirror and saw Michael watching us. "Because my heart wasn't really in that relationship. If I were in a relationshipfor realand it ended I just….I couldn't talk to that guy again. Not for ages."

"Oh really?" he asked with a wink.

"No offense," I started, "But had you remained in New York, we'd have been friends still. Broken up, but still friends."

He noticed Michael staring at us finally. "And him?"

"What about him?"

"Did you ever…."

"I dunno," I replied, biting my lower lip. "We're figuring it all out."

I noticed Michael walk away after I said that. "I figured you would," Huck replied. "I mean, the tabloids have you linked anyways. I should have known."

"Luckily you guys have kept your mouths shut," I replied softly.

"Huh?"

"Nothing, I've been really fortunate with ex-boyfriends."

"Who are you talking about?"

"Oh, Schilling Davies. He…" I tried to find the right words, but couldn't.

"The President's son? The National League Cy Young award winner?" he replied. "You dated him, right?"

I nodded, "Yeah. After you. We kind of ended on bad terms, but he has never mentioned our thing."

"Geez girl, you have the golden touch. All the great guys wanna date you huh?"

I rolled my eyes, "So, what are you doing in town?"

"Oh, me and my boyfriend are living here now."

I should not be surprised. "Oh, that's great. What are you doing?"

"My residency, for now. It's really stressing me out so Jude is taking me shopping to get my mind off of all this."

I smirked. He hated shopping. "That's…great. Really. So, you are happy, right?"

He nodded towards the door. I turned and saw a tall lanky man with a buzz cut waving to us. "That's him," he said softly. "And yes, I am happy. Are you?"

I smiled as Michael turned the corner towards us again. "Yeah. I'm getting there. Finally."

He kissed my cheek, and gave me his number to call next time I was in town. That he'd show me around for real next time and keep me away from tourist traps.

"It was nice seeing you," I said softly. "Honestly. You should come to the show tonight. You and Jude."

He shrugged, "Rock was never my style girlie. But if you put us on your list I'll be sure to arrive in style."

I giggled and gave him another hug. "Be there."

"What's he doing here?" Michael asked suspiciously as Huck walked toward his boyfriend.

"He's doing his residency here. That's his boyfriend Jude. They'll come to the show tonight."

Michael looked very relieved. "Oh, that's cool."

"You have nothing to worry about, Michael. As long as we're on the same page there won't be anyone else," I assured him.

MICHAEL:

Seeing her talking to Huck….it should have made me feel insanely jealous, right? But here's the scoop: I wasn't jealous. Something inside of me made me realize that she was just talking to the guy, not making a lifelong commitment. Maybe it's maturity.

Nah. I never will grow up.

But she knew exactly what I was thinking when I came back as Huck left her in that aisle. That we'd always be one step away from being together. One would be single and the other plotting their relationship's demise. Then upon that demise, the other would couple up. It was an endless pitiful circle.

But she saw that I was worried about that. Told me that Huck was gay. Well, there's a big shocker. The man listened to The Backstreet Boys.


MIA:

I walked by myself through the bustling city later that afternoon after sound check. Michael's throat was bugging him so he wanted to lie down. I offered to stay with him, but he insisted I go out. "Oh, okay," I said slowly to him, feeling as if he were dismissing me. "But there better not be any girl in the bed with you when I get back."

"God," he said breathlessly, "If I have someone come in I'll at leasthave thedecencytohide her," he teased with a wink.

I playfully slapped his arm.

"Ouch, don't harm the ill."

"If you are ill then you wouldn't kiss me out of fear of infecting me," I said licking my lips.

He looked around and saw a roadie. "I would," he whispered, "But there are people. Some things are private, Mia."

Right. I forgot. He still had a girlfriend. I was still just the other woman. "Sorry," I replied, looking harshly at the back of the roadie. "It's just…I've waited so long just to be able to say things to you-"

He pulled me onto the bus so we could have privacy. "I know," he said after kissing me thoroughly. "I know what you mean, honestly. Mia, I'm not embarrassed or ashamedof us. I just want to have everything considered before we come out. I want us to be on stable ground, you know?"

"No."

"I need to end it with Elle before I can go around with you. I don't want someone to take our picture while we're acting like we don't have a care in the world and then have it end up in some stupid tabloid."

"And have Elle dump you and you look like a total jerk in front of the whole world?"

He sighed heavily. "Stop making it into a bigger deal than it already is. Mia, she'd make you look terrible. She'd make me look terrible. Things would not go well for us."

"For you," I repeated. "Michael, I'm a big girl. I understand that you want to look clean when you come out of the relationship."

He shook his head at me. "Look, I know what I want. And I want you. I thought I'd made that clear to you already. But I don't want us to go out in public with a headline every time. I don't want people talking in hushed whispers about us. I want to look at people, like man, and show off the woman I'm in love with."

He said Love. I don't even know if he realized it. I'll ignore it for now. Let's see if he uses it again. Then I can proceed with a follow-up. But he also had a point.

People would whisper about us. "Okay."

He looked kind of surprised. "Just…okay? No big speech or-"

"Michael, it's fine. I get it."

"No, I don't think you do," he started. He went on to ramble a lot more and then finally just looked at me.

"How's that sore throat?" I teased.

"Getting remarkably better by the minute. Wanna go for another walk?"

"Michael, we need a fifth for our game," Kevin said ducking his head onto the bus. "I'll give you two minutes to get dressed or whatever before I come on here and tear you off the bus."

Michael smiled at me slightly.

"They must be desperate if they are begging you," I teased. "I'll go for a walk on my own. I need to be alone for awhile."

He half smiled at me. It was actually all going to work out. I know it will.