Author's Note: Well, here is the chapter that I'm pretty sure a lot of you have been dying to read! Michael's reaction towards everything that happened at Mia's Birthday Party! Hehehe, honestly, poor Mike has no clue. I was torn between wanting to hug him and smacking him over the back of the head while writing this chapter. He's just so hopeless, but still we love him.

Chapter Four

"Michael?" I swivelled around in my computer chair as Mom stuck her head around my door.

"Hey Mom. What's up?" Mom just shrugged.

"I was just wondering when you'll be going over to Mia's."

"Her party is at eight." I told and she nodded.

"That's what I thought," Mom said slowly as she looked down at her watch, which read, I know from my computer screen, ten past seven.

"Why?" I asked.

"I was just wondering where your sister was. She didn't go over to Mia's early did she?"

"Not that I know of." I said and Mom started biting her lip, so I hurriedly added, "but she doesn't tell me anything, so she probably is or maybe she's with one of their friends and is going over to Mia's with them."

"She's been out all day." Mom continued worriedly.

"Lil's almost always out all of Saturday." I reminded her and she sighed.

"I do know she was leading the protests against Les Hautes Manger for the unfair dismissal of that poor boy, but I thought that she would be home before now. I mean..."

"Mom." I stopped her before she could work herself too much into a fit. "She's probably with Boris. He was with her at the protest, so they're probably hanging out before Mia's party."

Mom sighed before smiling at me.

"You're probably right." Then she smiled at me, "I'm being silly, aren't I?"

"Nah, you're just being a Mom." I replied and she came over and hugged me.

"Thank you, Sweetie. You will tell Mia that we wish her a very happy birthday, won't you?"

"Yeah, Mom, like I told her on Thursday." I laughed and Mom gave me a half-hearted glare.

"And you'll give her this too, won't you." Mom said as she handed me a square shape present wrapped in gold and silver paper.

"What's this?" I asked her, looking from it to her. Mom only smiled back at me secretively.

"Her birthday present from us, of course, sweetie, you don't think we forgot, do you?" Mom teased, while I rolled my eyes.

"I swear that you love her more than you do Lil and me." I said with a grin as I turned off my computer and pulled on my jacket, thinking that it was about time that I made tracks and headed over to Mia's.

"Well," Mom started with an amused grin.

"Yeah, ok." I said laughing. "I know, she is probably far easier to love than say Lil and me."

"In some ways," Mom agreed as she kissed my cheek, "but we still love you."

"Even though we are huge pains in the ass due to the fact that we must always be right?" I asked and Mom laughed again.

"Comes with having geniuses for children." She replied, "Now go on, have a good time and say hi to Helen and Frank for us, won't you."

"Yes, Mom."

"And make sure Lilly comes home with you." Mom warned and I nodded.

"I will. Mom, don't worry, you know how Lil is with time. She probably lost track of it and when she finally checked her watch, she didn't have time to come home because then she'd be late for Mia's party."

Mom just looked at me for a moment before shaking her head with a faint smile on her lips.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing. You're just a good big brother to her." I gave her an 'are you insane' look.

"Bye Mom." I said before she could become anymore sentimental.

"Bye sweetheart. Have a good time."

I was one of the first couple of people to arrive at Mia's party, arriving after Tina and Boris (who apparently arrived half an hour earlier than he was meant to, so had spent the past thirty minutes reading all of the Chinese menus that were posted in the lobby.) had.

"Hey." I said as Mia opened her front door and let me to the loft.

"Hi." She said as I hugged her.

I noted she sounded a little glum, but before I could ask her what was wrong, Shameeka and Ling Su arrived. Mia darted around me to take their coats because besides the fact that it's May it's still chilly outside and quickly storing them in her hall closet while gesturing that they should make their way to the lounge room.

"Hey." I said as she carefully put all their coats on hangers in the closet, "My sister isn't here, is she?" Mia looked away from what she was doing to up at me, a slight frown between her already distracted eyes. God, mind reading abilities would be so useful right about now.

Mia shook her head.

"Boris says that the last time he saw her was during the march this afternoon. He stopped for a hot dog and got left behind." Her lips twitched in a small smile at that, while I rolled my eyes in slight amusement. "Why?"

"Ah, she just didn't come home after the march and Mom is a tad worried about her, that's all." I added when I saw Mia's eyes widen in slight alarm. "I'm sure she's fine, just off doing her own thing, you know how she is." Mia nodded though she still looked a tad worry herself.

"Anyway," I said, trying to ease some of her worry, "here, this is from my Mom and Dad." I said as I handed her the gold and silver wrapped parcel which she took in surprise.

"They didn't have to get me anything." She said as she looked from it to up at me.

I shrugged.

"I know and they know, but you know how they are. Plus," I said as I leant for a little so that our foreheads bumped against each other, "you are their favourite child." She thumped my shoulder good-naturedly with her fist as her face went bright red, but you could tell she was pleased. It might sound weird, but I know how much Mia adores my parents. Yeah, she never calls them by their first names and is at times overly polite to them, but I know that she's adopted them as much as her second set of parents as they have adopted her as their third child. I'm not saying that Helen and Philippe are bad parents or anything like that, but I know that there were times when Mia was younger when she really did feel quite alone in the world, what with her Dad half-way around the globe and her absent-minded mother being completely absorbed in her work, there were times that she felt parentless. And that was generally when she came to spend a week or so over at ours.

I watched as she carefully opened Mom and Dad's present to her, how careful she was not to rip the gold and silver paper. I honestly don't know how she can be so patient.

It was a Journal.

A new one to replace the one that she has almost filled now. The Journal's cover was made from fake leather that had been dyed a soft royal blue colour, with Mia's name engraved on the front of it. The best thing about the journal was that when she has finished writing in it, instead of simply having to go out and buy a whole new journal, she simply needs to slide the used booklet out of the journal's leather cover and replace it with a new booklet (of the same size of course), due to the face that the leather cover is removable.

It was a surprising or really un-surprisingly, thoughtful gift that my parents had given her.

Mia beamed up at me as she hugged her new journal close to her chest, before giving me a quick kiss on the mouth before ducking off quickly to put her new journal safely away in her room.

After that, I left her to greet her guests while I went and organised the music, even though the mix that I've created for Mia's party is mainly filled with bands that I distaste. I, at least, have the knowledge that I'm expanding Mia's taste in music, introducing her to bands that she has either not heard of before or has but has never bothered to listen to them before I showed her that they really weren't that bad. So while I couldn't put in any of those bands upon the mix I made, I, at least, know Mia listens to them now and that she actually enjoys listening to them too.

Mr G shot me an amused grin when he saw me, coming over to where I was and asked me how SkinnrBx, my band, was going.

We had a pretty good conversation about it, as we watched more of Mia's friends (a few of them were mine too) arrive.

He gave me some pretty good tips too about how keep the band running smoothly after he told me that he too was in a band during his late high school and early college years. And even though he's band did break up mid-way through his second year of college, he's still in contact with most of them and sometimes they still get together and play. Just for fun and for old time's sake, he informed me.

It was an hour into the party before my sister graced us with her presence and with another presence's that left Mia apparently dumbstruck as she made her way to her bedroom to put their coats away, since the hall closet was already filled with everyone else. I stopped her halfway, confused by her obvious dazed expression, at the moment, not knowing that it was my sister who had caused it.

"Having fun yet?" I asked her, even though so far all I had seen her doing during the first hour of her party was greeting people and hanging up their coats.

She shook her head but before I could ask why, she asked, "Did you see that?"

At first I was thinking she was talking about Boris try and failed attempted to do the electric slide that Shameeka was trying (and failing) to teach him. His last attempted had actually caused him to fall down on his ass which had caused everyone at the party to laugh good-naturedly at him. He, too, was laughing as he got up and asked Shameeka if she could show him again how it was done.

"Your sister and Jangbu?" I was half-tempted to ask who, rattling my brain on why the name sounded so familiar when I was fairly sure that I had never met him before, though when I looked where Mia was pointing I recognised him immediately.

I wanted to ask why he was here, though I realised that wasn't what was bothering Mia, well not all that was bothering her, so instead I went, "No. What?"

She opened her mouth as if to tell me, but seemed to think better of it, so instead simply shook her head and said "Nothing.", while forcing herself to smile.

I gave her something of a deadpan expression for that, because I knew that she was lying or at least withholding information that was clearly bothering her. But before I could drill her about what exactly had her so high strung she was bolting for her bedroom with Lil's and Jangbu's coats.

Though when she came back out of her room, she seemed to be trying to get over whatever was bothering her and joined in with the fun of her party, because it actually was. Fun, that is.

It's been years since I've been to a party like this. When it's one of my friends birthday, say Felix or Paul's, we usually get take-out, pizza or something from Number One Noodle Son and then play either video or computer games at whoever's birthday it is place for a couple of hours.

That was basically how birthdays were celebrated with my friends and I mean, my birthday, is during winter break and I'm usually at my grandparents condo during then, so my last actual birthday party I had was probably when I was twelve. And I usually stay clear of Lil's birthday parties, even though, if I do hang around in my room during them, I can usually score some cake from Mia who snuck me a piece while everyone else was distracted with something else.

See, I have a nice girlfriend even before she was my girlfriend, even when I was being a complete ass towards her, she was still kind. Which is why I am forcing myself to put up with the bad music that was playing on the mix that I have created for her party.

It took a little while, but soon she was smiling and having fun with everyone else, bouncing and dancing around. She might be a klutz normally, but Mia is actually a surprisingly good dancer.

Anyway, she seemed to have shaken her bad mood when Tina unexpectedly came over to where Mr G was sitting at the kitchen table, reading a book, saying, "Mr G, we're out of coke."

Huh?

I looked around and was surprised to see that yeah, we were, though I was sure that there had still been a box only a little while ago. Anyway, I wasn't the only one to be surprised y this news.

Mr G looked up from his book and up at Tina in surprise at what she was telling him, saying, "How can that be? I bought seven flats of it at the drive-through liquor store this morning."

It was when Tina continued insist that we were out that sparked my suspicion, especially when I saw the look that Mia was sending in her direction. I think Mia would have stalked over to them if Shameeka and Ling Su weren't being so insistent that she stay and talk with them.

"Well, I'll run down Grand Union and buy more." Mr G said as he got up from the table, walked to the hall closet and pulled out his coat.

Almost as soon as he left Ling Su asked Helen (who had come out of her bedroom to say goodbye to Mr G) asking if she (Ling Su) could see Helen's slides. Helen looked thrilled and happily ushered Ling Su into her bedroom to show her slides.

I looked towards Mia whose head hanging was down as Tina switched off Mia's CD player and announced that we were going to play Seven Minutes in Heaven. Of course everyone got excited at the idea of playing. Well, when I say everyone, what I mean is, I wasn't, Jangbu simply looked a little taken aback while Mia simply shook her head. Obviously, she had had some idea that this was going to happen and wasn't at all happy about it.

Nor was I.

And not because I have anything against being locked in an enclosed space with Mia, which is what ended up happening next, with Tina, giggling madly, shutting us up in Mia's hall closet. Hardly, being shut in the hall closest with Mia was the best part of the situation. It was simply the fact, that just outside the closest closed door that we had just been locked into, I suspect that everyone currently present at Mia's party, minus, of course Helen and Mr G (Thank God! Thought, I'm not entirely sure who I fear more; Mr G or Mia's Dad. Mr G, while yeah there might not be so much he can do to me, what with my time at High School coming to an end, but I'm pretty sure murder is still an option to finding his just turned fifteen year old step-daughter locked in the hall closet with her three year older boyfriend. And I shudder to think what Mia's Dad might have Lars do to me if he ever found out about this), were outside, listening in. Kinda kills the mood a bit, doncha think?

I mention this to Mia, not the fear of either her father or step-father or both killing me if we were discovered in here by either her mother or Mr G when he came back with more coke, but about my suspicion that everyone at her party was standing outside the closet door, listening.

"Nobody's listening." She started, her voice slightly muffled, "See? They've turned the music back on." She soothed and despite my reservations about this, how can I possibly say no to that voice?

But still, I had to try. I have no idea as to why I had to try and talk Mia out of this, a part of my brain was in fact telling me to just shut the hell up already and kiss her, but something told me that it was the right thing to do, to give her a chance to back out of this situation

"So we really have to stay in here for seven minutes?" Like you didn't already know that! The annoyed-just-kiss-her-already voice bellowed from the depths of my mind.

"I guess."

"What if Mr. G gets back and finds us in here?"

"He'll probably kill you." She replied surprisingly calmly.

Ye-ah, thanks a lot for the concern sweetheart, I thought a little dryly at her calm tone. But at least death by Mr G should be quicker than say, death by Lars.

"Well," I said as I shifted around a little in the closet to get more comfortable before I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her closer to me, causing our noses to brush against each other, "then I'd better give you something to remember me by." And then I started kissing her.

And I have to admit that, after that, I did sort of start to enjoy the game.

Mia and I don't get a lot of time or privacy to simply make-out, so I was making the most of the situation. Even with the musty smell that had been overwhelmingly strong when Mia and I were first pushed into the closet, now it no longer bothered me, all my attention focused on the girl in my arms. Damn, Felix was right about kissing. That is, when you're kissing the right person.

I was quite happy to do just that for the rest of her party, except that after a bit, Mia pulled her mouth away from mine, asking, "So, Michael, what is up with the prom? Are we going, or not?"

What? Prom?

What?

I chuckled as I brushed my mouth against her neck, saying against it, "The prom? Are you crazy? The prom's even stupider than this game." She squirmed at that, breaking away from me.

"What do you mean?"

"Mia," I started moving towards her, brushing my hands up and down her arms, "You've got to be kidding. I'm not exactly the prom type." Though a voice in my head, a different one to the one that was telling me to shut up, agree to do whatever it was she wanted so that we could get back kissing, muttered something about my going to other dances for her, asking what was so different between the prom and them.

She batted my hands away, not particularly hard, but enough for me to know she was annoyed about something.

"What do you mean; you're not the prom type?" Mia grumbled, "You're a Senior. You're graduating. You have to go to the prom. Everyone does it." Oh god, she wants to go. Not that really I should be surprised by that and not because of the fact that she's a girl and basically all girls want to go to prom, heck even girls like Lil and Judith want to go to prom, but rather because Mia likes dancing. She's good at it and she likes doing it. It's the one good thing about going to all the Balls her grandmother drags her to, she's told me, is because she gets to dance.

Just agree to take her already, bellowed the shut up and kiss her voice, but my pride and stubbornness (or pig-headiness as Lil occasionally dubs my stubbornness) were both up and ready to pick a fight.

"Yeah," I replied, "Well, everybody does lots of lame stuff. But that doesn't mean I'm going to, too. I mean, come on, Mia." I knew I must have been sounding close to begging now. Look, if she wanted me to go to a ball with her, with all the stuck-up, rich people, put up with her grandmother and having to wear suit, fine, I'll do it. I'd ask for some kind of compensation in return of course (dragging her off to a dark corner of the ballroom and having a serious make-out session with her), but I'd still do it. But take her to the prom, my high school prom, uh no way. I'm sorry wrong number.

Those other dances that I went to because I was trying to get together with her and to show her support and that I cared and to also make up for the huge humiliation that I had caused her, and to clear up that huge misunderstanding. But those days are over!

"Proms are for the Josh Richters of the world." Which is another reason I don't want to go to the prom. Bad enough, with the school dances, you have to mix with people of all the years from your school, but prom, you're stuck with just your year and no offences to all of them, but I've had quite enough of them all at this point in time, so that spending a night with them all of them, even with Mia, is not high on my list of things to do in the next couple of weeks. In fact, prom wasn't even on my list of things to do in the coming weeks.

"Oh, really?" ah, crap! I've messed up. I felt like banging my head against the closet wall. Why couldn't she understand that the prom just simply wasn't something that guys like me, went too. Even when they did have absolutely gorgeous girlfriends like her. It just wasn't done. "What then, do the Michael Moscovitzes" yeah, I am so much trouble with her, she's said my full name, all she's missing was the 'James' (and she does know my middle name too) part of it, "of the world do on prom night."

In truth, I had no idea. Probably play video or computer games like it was any other Saturday night. That's what I usually did when dances were on before I was trying to win Mia and forcing myself to go to them.

They weren't all bad, a reasoning voice muttered at the back of my head.

Not helping, I thought back, I'm still not going.

"I don't know." I said and heard her huff, "we could do more of this, if you want." I said trying to pacify her some. Having Mia mad at me is not a fun experience, even worse than having her grandmother glare at me. Also, I was kind of hopeful that she would agree and I could go back to kissing her.

"Michael," Oh god, her princess voice is on and by her princess voice, I don't mean it's high-pitch and simpering, but rather it's put an even more serious edge to her already cranky tone, "I'm serious." I know you are, why do you think I'm trying to talk you out of it, I thought desperately. "If you don't plan on going to the prom, just what, exactly, do you intend to do instead?" You mean besides figuring out a way of getting you to stop being pissed off at me? I wanted to say but I didn't think that would be the best thing to say considering the circumstances. Our first ever, real fight and it's about PROM! Well, I guess it could be worse, way worse in fact, but still, PROM?

"I don't know." I said again, trying to gain time to think of a way that would make her happy and un-pissed at me again, "Go bowling?" Since Mia has a wicked arm and can basically beat whoever she's playing with within about ten minutes flat, time does vary due to how many people she's playing against.

This clearly wasn't the right thing to say, because she was still holding herself stiffly away from me and I'm sure was glaring at me through the darkness. I couldn't actually see her face because of the darkness of the closet but then, that was probably a blessing, in a way.

"Mia," I groaned, wiggling over to her and wrapping my arms around her again and even though she didn't return the gesture, I still felt her relax a little against my embrace. So even though she was mad at me, she wasn't so mad (yet) as to tell me to go the hell away, "Come on. Admit it. The prom is the corniest thing in the world." I mean, she's gone to balls! Proper Balls! In a proper ballroom, where the dances you do in them are like the waltz and what not. She's been to the real deal! Why the hell would she, after seeing and being at a real, proper ball, want to go to AESH Senior Prom? "I mean, you spend money on some rented penguin suit," even though I now have my own. Thanks a heap Mom, " you can't even get comfortable in," I'm not even comfortable in my own suit, let alone a rented one, "then spend a ton on money on dinner somewhere fancy that probably isn't half as good as Number One Noodle Son, then you go and stand around in some gymnasium - "

"Maxim's," Mia corrected me and I noted that her French accent was beginning to become more pronounced, something that only happens when she is really angry or becoming upset. I honestly, by this point, didn't know which one I'd preferred to deal with since with her changing accent, she had once more grown stiff against me. Her being angry with me means… well, actually I don't know because I've never had her mad at me before. Upset with me, well, last time that had happen she went and sat on her fire escape for something like three hours. At night, when it was snowing. Anyway, neither are really preferable. Mad at me, upset with me, whatever, which ever, because what it really comes down to is the fact that she is unhappy and she is unhappy because of me.

Just say you'll take her to the flipping prom already, voices within my head were screaming at me. But I was on a roll now, and the more I had defend my reasons to Mia on why I didn't want to go to prom had made me want to go to prom even less than I had before. "Your Senior Prom is taking place at Maxim's"

"Whatever," I said because I honestly didn't care where it was, I was too busy trying to convince her that prom was lame, that I really didn't want to go, and to somehow compromise with her so that she'd be happy again. Except that my mouth, despite my desire to make her happy, seemed to have other ideas, which was upsetting her more with saying, "so you go and eat stale cookies and dance to really, really bad music with a bunch of people you can't stand and who you never want to see again - "

"Like me, you mean?" Her French accent was now dominating her words and she sounded like she was going to cry. "You never want to see me again? Is that it?"What – the - hell? "You're just going to graduate and go off to college and forget all about me?" WHAT? Yeah, like that was going to happen! Wait, was this what had been really worrying her? Not about us going the prom at all, but rather my graduating AEHS, going to college and forgetting about her?

"Mia," I said softly because I was now realising just how much she must have been freaking out about this, my leaving and forgetting her. Like I could ever do that? How could she even think I could ever forget her? I love her. "Of course not." I managed to pull her a bit more against me and have her relax once more, "I wasn't talking about you." I soothed her gently. I love you, silly. "I was talking about people like… well, like Josh and those guys. You know that. What's the matter with you?" I asked, hoping that she would tell me what was really bothering her, to then convince her that my graduating and leaving for college wouldn't change my feelings for her. If anything, being apart from her would probably only make my feeling for her stronger.

Like when I tried avoiding her when I first discover my more than platonic feelings for her, instead of getting rid of them when I put distance between us, it, in fact, only intensified them.

I wanted to tell her all this, especially when I heard her sniff, thinking, oh god, I've made her cry again, only for the closet door to suddenly be wrenched open and for light to suddenly pour in with Boris loudly proclaiming, "Time's up!" at the top of his voice.

It took me several moments to remember where we were and why we were sitting in a musty closet. I got out of the hall closet slowly, helping Mia out of it as well; I knew she was still mad at me, even though she wasn't showing it and kept holding my hand once we were out, but what I could do about it at her party?

I guess I wasn't overly surprised by what happen next, which was my darling little sister proclaiming that it was, "My turn! My turn!" at the top of her voice, barrelling for the closet with Jangbu Pinasa being dragged behind her.

I don't think I've seen so many mouths drop at the same time by this.

I glanced at Boris, who seemed to have not quite clicked on to what had just happened or rather, what his girlfriend of eight months had just done to him, at her best friend's birthday party.

"Tough break man." I said as I placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

I mean, what else was I suppose to say? I mean, have I not been predicting, basically from the moment that they got together that Lil was going to hurt him in some way or other. So in a way, by Lil doing this, it's actually the least painful way for them to break up. I mean, a quick break up with Lil would be way, way better than a long, drawn out one, because I know, my sister is a bitch and if she wants someone to hurt, she'll make them feel as if she's ripping out their guts, that's how horrible and mean my sister can get if it suits her.

Of course, not everyone thinks this way. Even Mia, who knows firsthand how awful my sister can be and has said, countless times, that she doesn't quite understand why Lil and Boris are still together and about how badly Lil has been known to treat him, can't understand how everyone else is simply standing by and letting Lil get away what she is doing.

"That's it? That's all you're going to do?" She squeaked as she followed me the table that was set up with refreshments.

Her eyes were wide and shocked, though from what Lil had/was doing more than from my lack of intervention to stop her from doing what she's currently doing. Though for some reason, I felt the need to play dumb, maybe in cowardly way of diverting some of Mia's anger at me more towards my sister's direction.

"About what?"

"About your sister!"Mia cried. "And Jangbu!"Well, at least she's no longer thinking about prom.

"What do you want me to do about it?" I asked in amusement. I know, I'm terrible, but I can't help but like winding up my girlfriend, especially when she makes it so easy for me to do so, "haul him out and hit him?" of course I was expecting her to say no, except that…

"Well… Yes!" I had to fight the need to keep from cracking up at her at that, if only because I was drinking 7-Up, since there is no coke left… apparently, and I didn't want to spew it up all over her. I very much doubt she would appreciate that, even if she wasn't in the mood that she was currently in.

"Why?" I asked carefully as I took another drink of 7-Up, "I don't care who my sister locks herself in the closet with." Ok, so I do, in a way, but seriously what's the worst that could happen… ok, so I do know what the worst that could happen, but in seven minutes?

Beside Jangbu hadn't been exactly what you'd call overly thrilled about being dragged into the closet by my sister.

Seriously, the worst case scenario is just them mucking around. I very much doubt that sex is involved.

"If it were you," I continued on calmly, "then I'd hit the guy." I'd do more than just hit him actually, more like have Lars hold him down while I turned him into a Cream of Wheat. "But it's not you, it's Lilly. Lilly, as I believe she's amply proved over the years, can take care of herself." Which is actually the real reason why I'm not doing as Mia has suggested and dragged Jangbu out on his ass and hit him already.

Seriously, Mia has been inflicted with as many, if not more, of Lil's lethal shin kicks, she should know by now that if something is happening to Lil that she doesn't like then she'll deal with it with a ankle-shattering kick and since I'm not hearing any screams of pain over the music, I'm guessing everything is ok… not that I really want to be thinking overly much about what my sister and Jangbu are up to. Bet they're not arguing about the stupid prom, I thought grouchily.

I held out at a bowl of Cheetos to Mia asking if she wanted some. She shook her head.

"No, thank you. But aren't you at all worried that Lilly's - " she was less angry now and more worried, gnawing heavily upon her bottom lip.

"Been swept off her feet by the guy's rugged Sherpa good looks." I finished for her with a shake of my head. "Looked to me like if anybody is being taken advantage of, it's Jangbu. The poor guy doesn't seem to know what hit him." Which is the usual reaction that people get upon meeting Lil.

"B-but," Mia stammered, looking around her worriedly, "But what about Boris?"

I followed her line of gaze to where Boris was slumped down upon the futon couch, his head cradle in his hands.

Ok, so yeah, I did feel bad for him. I mean, even though I do want him and Lil to break up as fast as humanly possible, to escape pain on his part, he still looks pretty cut up about what was happening. I would have said something if I hadn't noticed the way Tina was acting around him. Ok, yeah, she was telling one of the lamest cover stories in the history of cover stories, that Lil was simply showing Jangbu what the inside of an American coat closet looks like, but you could definitely see that her whole heart was behind her telling him it.

Oh, yeah, I think Boris is going to be just fine.

"Boris'll get over it." With a little help from Tina. I looked away from the two, knowing that I was the only person present seeing what was actually going on, but that was fine. If Mia saw what I was seeing, she'd probably just freak out more.

Not that it matter much because just then Mr G came back.

"I'm home." And Mia jumped about a foot in the air, as she looked at Mr G in horror, "I picked up some ice, too. I figured we might be running out by now…" he stopped there because that was when he open the closet and found my darling little sister tongue wrestling with Jangbu.

I have to say that while he didn't blow his head off at his discovery; Mr G was quick to react to it. He didn't drag Jangbu out of the closet, simply jerked his thump at the pair of them to get out, while Lil was spluttering an even lamer cover story that Tina's, about how she and Jangbu got accidently locked in the closet.

Mr G simply gave her a 'oh please, do I look stupid' look before telling that he thought it was about time to wrap things up.

Which, of course, had everyone grumbling since, besides from what was going on in the closet, they were having a good time at Mia's party. Well, everyone except Mia, who actually looked pleased that her party was over and started moving about to get everyone their coats.

I gave her hand, which at least seemed to earn me a some points back in her books, because she smiled at me (thank god) as I helped her hand back people's coats, while Mr G called Hans, Mia's limo driver to come around and pick everyone up and take them home.

I couldn't help but grin a little as Mr G told Hans over the phone that when he got to mine and Lil's building that he was to make sure that Jangbu didn't get out with us and that Lil went all the way up to our apartment, just case she got any ideas about sneaking back down to meet up with Jangbu somewhere. Wow, clearly this isn't the first time Mr G has experience something like this, because he clearly knows he's stuff.

I managed to get one kiss in before I left with everyone else. I think Mia was too distressed over what had happened at the end of her party with Lil, Jangbu and worry about how Boris was coping with it all, to be thinking about our fight (if what had happened in the closet can be classed as a fight.), because she seemed happy enough to kiss and hug me goodbye.

The parental unit was somewhat surprised to see us when we got in after Hans had dropped us off, apparently they thought we'd get in sometime after midnight not just before eleven. Neither Lil or I gave any reason as to why that was, simply saying we were tired and were heading for bed.

"I don't suppose it would have killed you to have waited til you got into the privacy of your own home before you decided to make-out with Jangbu." As well as other things. I said to Lil as I waited outside the bathroom for Lil to finish brushing her teeth so that I could go in and do mine.

"Why?"

"Well, besides the fact that you more or less did it in front your long-time" suffering "boyfriend, who is quite upset about this if you didn't happen to notice," how on earth she couldn't, what with the pitiful looks he had sent her way the whole ride home, "you did it at your best friend's house, at her birthday party no less. It was kind of rude."

"Why? It was the game we were playing." She came out of the bathroom, frowning up at me. "You played it too." She reminded me at which I rolled my eyes back at her.

"That's different; I was in that closet with the person who is my girlfriend. You were in the closet with someone you basically picked off the street while your boyfriend remained with the rest of us wondering whether or not this was the end of your relationship."

Lil snorted at this.

"Jangbu is not just 'someone I basically picked off the street', he's a friend."

"Uh huh. Looked more than friendly to me, but that's beside the point, I honestly don't care what you get up to in a closet with another person, as long as you're being safe and you weren't forced into it or whatever. My point is, couldn't you have thought of a better time and place besides Mia's birthday party?"

"We were playing the game; I don't see what the big issue is." Lil snapped at me and I gave up.

If Lil couldn't see what she had done wrong, then she would continue not to see, so telling her over and over again is as effective as talking to a brick wall and expecting it to talk back, so I went to bed.

I thought about calling Mia, just to see how she was and if she was still mad at me, but I thought better on it.

Though I was going to have to figure how I was going to convince her that nothing was going to change with my graduating and going to college in the fall, that my feeling for her would remain the same.

Like my feeling for her are ever going to change. And if they do, it's only because they've grown stronger for her.