Chapter Six

And those eight days were torture. They were long, hot and boring and I didn't receive a single phone call from Mia over them.

"It's probably her grandmother, you know." Lilly said randomly five days before we had to leave for home.

"Huh?"

"Her Grandmother. She's probably the one who's put a stop to Mia's calls." She gave a little shrug before turning her attention back to whatever she was doing (writing her letter to the studio, probably) on my old laptop.

Thinking about it, she was probably right. I mean, those two calls probably weren't cheap and they weren't exactly short conversation either. Not to mention, what Mia must have been like the day after them, probably half asleep, so I couldn't be mad at her for stopping the calls, not when she was already so busy over there and was using up precious sleep time to talk to me (and Lil).

Four more days. Three more days.

Two more days. Two more days.

One more day. One more day!

And then finally home.

I can't even begin to describe the feeling of being home, to be able to sleep in one's own bed again. As much as I do love my grandparents, my space is my space and I like it that way.

"Are you two all ready for school tomorrow?" Mom asked as she handed Lil and me plates as we got ready for dinner.

"Yup." Lil and I both replied. Mom looked torn between suspicion and relief.

It's kind of been a tradition in our household that the first day of school are always stressful due to us (usually Lil) forgetting something or other. The rest of the year, she's fine, but the first day of school, forget it. And there is also the problem of waking up early to get to school on time. Lil and I are not morning people and after a couple of weeks of being able to sleep into at least ten in the morning, tomorrow was going to be something of nightmare to get up for, that is, unless…

"Lilly, is Mia going to be back from Genovia in time to start school tomorrow?" Mom asked.

"She should be on the plane back right about now." Lil replied as she dug into her food with a great deal of zeal. Honestly, you would think we weren't fed over and Grandma's and Pop's, though nothing beats Maya's cooking.

"I was thinking of giving her a call after dinner." For some reason I felt embarrassed as I said this. I mean, it wasn't like my parents didn't already know that Mia and me were going out and they knew that she had been calling me over the break… ok, twice, but she still called, so why I was suddenly getting all embarrassed at the idea of calling her is beyond me.

"That's a good idea." Mom said with this wide smile that I swear is simply because of my going out with Mia. The parental unit have been insanely happy about this fact all Winter break. Maya looked mildly confused but Mom gave her look that promised that she would be giving her all details soon.

I fought back a groan and finished my dinner.

To save myself from further embarrassment of eavesdropping parents, sibling or housekeeper, I used my mobile to call Mia's place. I so rarely ever use my mobile that I actually forgot my password to unlock it.

"Some computer genius, I am." I muttered to Pavlov when I finally remembered it and unlocked my phone, which slowly came to life.

God, what was I going to say? Did Mia have this much trouble before she called me? She always sounded calm and ok tired when I spoke to her on the phone over the break, there hadn't been any nerves there at all. We had both been perfectly comfortable with each other, so why was I suddenly panicking about what I was going to say to her now? Ok, so maybe her not calling me for the last eight days had bothered me a bit more than I was allowing myself to admit. And I was also worried about her too. I mean, what if the reason she hadn't called me was because something had happen to her. She was sick or she had, I don't know, fallen off her horse during some royal parade, though I'm fairly sure we would have heard about that. The media do seem to love publishing all the negative aspects of Mia's life. I guess, they think it would be to boring to talk about the positives.

She's fine; a calm reassuring voice said in my head, she's probably simply been extremely busy with her royal duties.

This did reassure me that she was probably fine, but my nerves were still in place, curling and churning up my gut.

When I rang, I wasn't sure if I was happy or disappointed when I was only greeted by Mia's, Ms Thermopolis (and now Mr.G's) answering machine. The message I left was embarrassing either way.

"Uh, hi, Mia? Yeah, it's Michael. I was wondering if you could, uh, call me when you get this message. 'Cause I haven't heard from you in a while. And I was wondering if you're, uh, ok. And make sure you got home alright. And that there's nothing wrong. Ok. That's all. Well. Bye. This is Michael, by the way. Or maybe I said that. I can't remember. Hi, Mrs Thermopolis. Hi, Mr. G. ok. Well. Call me, Mia. Bye."

Can tell just how many girls I've called over the years, can't you? God, could I have been any more lame? Honestly, I don't know.

I flopped miserably back onto my bed.

What if she's met someone else while she's been over there, someone more suited to her class (or whatever they call it now days). Someone who is actually a someone, not just some nobody computer geek. Was that why she hasn't called, because of that, because of her meeting someone else?

Crap….

You're an idiot; a part of my brain informed me before leaving me to my misery for a while. Then it, and I think it the common sense part of brain that is doing all the kicking me out of brooding session, by pointing out that I should probably check my emails, because I haven't done that since I got back, more so to avoid any possible flames I may have received while I've been over at Grandma's and Pop's from Bill Gate Lovers. It was for this very reason that I hadn't set up my email account on my new laptop yet.

There were a few, though not as many as there were when I first wrote the article. Most were from people who simply wanted something to rant about and not because they actually liked and were defending Windows and Bill Gates against what my article had said about both. Though there was really nothing more than a paragraph on Bill Gates in my article, but that was obviously enough to bring the Bill Gate's fanclub down upon my head. And possibly Bill Gate's himself.

I was just finishing up reading the last of my flames, this one making no sense because the guy says repeatedly that he uses Linux himself and that he too prefers it over windows and yet he still bagging out me out over my article, (there are strange people in the world) when I got an Instant Message from Mia.

YES!

FtLouie: Michael. Hi, it's me! I'm home. – I can see that, I thought with a wide grin - I wanted to call you, but it's after eleven, - heck what did you know, it was, - and I didn't want your mom and dad to get mad. – Though in this case I'm pretty sure they would have forgiven her.

I grinned widely at the screen, insanely happy as I typed back.

LinuxRulz: Welcome home! – yeah, since the demise of Crackhead 'grumble, grumble', I decided that since it was dead, I couldn't really continue going around on the internet as CracKing, so after some careful thought on what would piss off all the Windows lovers out there (and make myself feel better of the loss of my Zine), I chose LinuxRulz. I honestly don't actually see the name sticking. I'll probably change it in a couple of weeks, but for now I need a little form of revenge against all the traitor's and backstabbers and so on. – It's good to hear from you. I was worried you were dead or something.

More worried that she was going to come back the walking dead because they worked her too hard over there, but I didn't add that.

FtLouie: No, not dead. Just super-busy. You know, the fate of the aristocracy resting on my shoulders and all that. So should Lars and I pick you and Lilly up for school tomorrow?

I beamed, delighted. I had been hoping that, if she was back, that she would come by and pick Lil and me up for school. More time for me to spend with her and there was also something I needed to ask her.

Feeling nervous all over again, I typed back.

LinuxRulz: That'd be good. What are you doing Friday?

Yes, my gift for going from one conversation to another, completely randomly, has not faded over the Winter break, but whatever, please say you're free.

I quickly check on the website that I had been browsing over for the past couple of hours, in between abusive emails. Please, please, please.

FtLouie: Nothing, so far as I know. Why?

My face was hurting from smiling so hard. Could I be any more of a dork?

Ok, be calm Moscovitz and don't mess this up!

LinuxRulz: Want to go to dinner at the Screening Room? They're showing the first StarWars. You know the real first one, not the waste of digital pixels, ThePhantomHeadcase.

I remembered, with a shudder, the first time I had gone and seen that movie, which had actually been with Mia. By the time the movie got to the half way mark, we were more or less begging my Dad to let us leave. Lil was too, but for a different reason, she had simply not wanted to come in the first place. He didn't let us though. Leave that is, even though he was cringing just as much as Mia and me. The battle sequences at the end sort of made up for being forced to stay but otherwise… It had taken a several StarWars( the originals ones)marathons to get us over the horror of the badly written script, plot line, acting and well everything else (except for the digital effects, those had been pretty spectacular) that we had seen in the supposed first one of the saga.

Seriously, if Lil wants to write an angry letter about badly done movies, she should just write one on ThePhantomHeadcase!

FtLouie: I think that should be ok. I'll have to check with my mom. Can I let you know tomorrow?

There wasn't any rush, but I still smiled at her eagerness.

LinuxRulz: Ok. So see you tomorrow? Around 7.45?

God, so freaking early!

FtLouie: Tomorrow, 7.45.

I grinned even more widely before typing, for no particular reason other than I could and because I know she'll get it.

LinuxRulz: Kid, I've been from one side of this galaxy to the other…

Which I happen to know is a favourite StarWars quote of hers.

FtLouie: I happen to like nice men…

My smile soften and I felt simply happy, because duh, I know what happens after that, well after…

LinuxRulz: I'm nice.

Han Sole and Leia finally kiss, much to delight of I think everyone who has ever watched the original series. I mean, I watched it when I was a little kid and I actually didn't feel like throwing up when I saw it, like I felt with nearly every other movie that had kissing scenes when I was that age.

We talked for a little while longer, about what we had both been up to since we last spoke. When I heard just how much she has had to do in the last eight days, my mild frustration and worry of her not calling evaporated.

At eleven thirty I told her it would probably be a good idea for her to go to bed, since tomorrow, though not as huge as the days she had had in Genovia, would still be tiring none the less.

I was going to see her tomorrow. No more waiting, no more phone calls, I would see her.

Simply her.

I went to bed actually smiling from the thought of seeing her.

Author's Note: Yeah, sorry, short chapter I'm afraid. Chapter 7 will be, I think, longer, can't be bothered checking.
Anyway, hope you all enjoyed and i'll update soon.
Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own Star Wars.