(A/N: Back again. And this one didn't take too long, did it? I'm quite impressed with myself. Anyway, after I'd written the last chapter, I got a better idea so deleted it and re-wrote the ending. And I think its better, so hopefully you will too. Thank you for all the reviews, please keep 'em coming. This story will go on for a maximum of 2 more chapters, so don't worry. It's nearly done, people.
Please Read, Review and Enjoy.)
Mia stood, stunned at Michael's words. Those three little words she'd wanted to hear for the past eight years of her life. She had never been as happy as she was at that moment, standing in the Moscovitz family bathroom with Michael staring intently, trying to gauge her reaction and stop himself from spontaneously combusting and/or showing Mia what he'd eaten earlier that day, but displaying it all over the bathroom floor.
Her eyes sparkled with happiness and she opened her mouth, ready to utter those same words back to him when a sudden thought sprang to mind. A nasty, horribly little thought: A dare.
'That must be why he's saying this to me,' she thought, closing her mouth abruptly and breaking eye contact with him finally. It all made sense. Lilly had dared her to not talk to him. That in itself wouldn't have been an interesting social experiment to satisfy Lilly's appetite. Oh no. She must have also dared Michael to do something involving her too. To tell her he loved her to make her admit her own real feelings to him. And Michael must've gone along with it for a laugh.
But that didn't seem like the sort of thing that Michael would have wanted a part in or even found funny. But there wasn't any other reasoning she could think of that made sense to her.
'Well,' she thought, 'I have to show him that it doesn't bother me. He can't know I love him now. Not now.' And with this thought at the forefront of her mind, she looked back at him.
"Nice joke, Michael. Let me guess, Lilly dared you to say that?" She looked him in the eye once more and tried to smile weakly.
He didn't know what to say. So he told the truth. "Well, … yes, but-" He was interrupted before he had a chance to finish.
"Very funny. You crack me up. Seriously. I'm sorry, but I've got to go and talk to Lilly about something And you know, see if she's all right. She didn't look too hot earlier. Bye." And with that, she calmly pushed herself from off the door which she'd slumped against when se's first realised it was a joke, opened it and disappeared into the dark hallway beyond, quick as a flash.
Michael was stunned. She thought he was joking? She thought he didn't mean it? No, she thought he was making fun of her. He could see it in her eyes. The full enormity of the situation hit him like a ton of bricks. He'd have to follow her and convince her that he was telling her the absolute truth. O
h course, that meant clearly laying his heart on the line and letting her unknowingly stomp all over it … well, did he really have to tell her? He'd done his part of the dare. He'd told her he loved her. Was it really his fault that she'd chosen not to believe him? No, it wasn't. Maybe it was better to let her go on thinking it was some cruel joke that hasn't been thought through properly.
But that sparkle in her eyes that has appeared for the split second after he'd told her was enough to convince himself that it was a good idea. So, after a good few minutes mulling things over in the bathroom, he pulled open the door and went to try and find her.
"Lilly," Mia walked into the Den to find her best friend asleep on the couch, pop tart crumbs all around her face and somehow also on the TV screen. Should she wake her up? Was this important enough to bother her? Hell yeah, it was.
So, not being exactly gentle or considerate, she stalked over to where Lilly was lying, limbs splayed out in all directions and pinched her nostrils together. Then when her mouth opened so she could breathe once more, Mia poured the remainder of her diet coke into the noisy hole Lilly called a mouth.
Taking a step back and snickering quietly, she watched as Lilly started snorting coca cola out of her nose and spluttering about 'Evil dairy cows and their suspicious ways,' which Mia didn't even want to know about. How odd could that girl possibly be.
"Breathe, Lilly, Breathe!" She started laughing as Lilly rolled over and fell off the couch, clutching her forehead and muttering something that sounded like 'Brain Freeze.'
"Calm down, calm down. You're fine. You just uh … forgot to put the diet coke down on the table before you fell asleep is all." As she said this, she made sure to shield her nostrils, all too well aware of the flaring thing that always seemed to happen whenever she lied. Of course, she didn't know if Lilly or anyone else apart from Grandmere knew this, but it was better to be safe than sorry, wasn't it.
"Oh. I knew I forgot something. Thought it was to give Michael's brain back but of course he never had one to begin with so that couldn't have been it …" She mumbled to herself, clearly oblivious of the fat that Mia was standing over her, laughing so hard she had actually begun to cry.
When she finally calmed down enough to get a sentence out without laughing, she said, "Seeing as you've brought up the subject of Michael, I have something I need to ask you."
"Ugh, thanks," Lilly grumbled as Mia passed her a tissue to wipe the coke dripping from her nose away. "Shoot."
"You know the dare you gave me?" Waiting for a nod in the affirmative from Lilly, which she got along with an evil little smirk, she went on. "Did you happen to dare anyone else when you went about that?"
Lilly paused for a second and then started making a fuss of the miniscule drop of coke on the carpet. "Mom's gonna have a fit when she sees this. I'd better clean it up or hide it or hey Mia you want to go and get some pancakes I feel like some pancakes don't you?" She babbled like she usually did when she was trying to avoid a question.
"Lils, straight answer please."
"Ok, so I may have dared one other person. Just one, mind." She gave up, rolling her eyes at Mia's stubbornness.
"And would this other person happen to be your brother Michael?" She rested one hand on her hip and started tapping her foot.
"It may have been. Why?" Lilly asked, one eyebrow raised quizzically.
"He just told me something and I figure it couldn't be because he really felt that way because lets face it, this is me we're talking about here and for him to – well, it's impossible is all, and seeing as you dared me, I guessed you might have done the same with him too." Mia explained, rushing through the details and hoping she wouldn't ask any questions.
"What did he say to you?" Damn, Luck was not on her side today.
"That's not important. … Popcorn?"
