My Imaginary Ex
Here's what happens when you play pretend.

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Chapter 1: Meetings

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Mikan's POV

I had three groups to sort my phone contacts: Family, Work and College.

When someone from the Family group would randomly greet me, at least I wouldn't have wondered why since it would be somewhat natural when I had such a paranoid family who so often called for unnecessary reunions.

When someone from the Work group would randomly greet me, my first guess would be he or she would want to be covered for or would be scolding me and telling me to get my sorry ass to the office.

When someone from the College group would randomly greet me, I'd be really surprised.

So when Sumire Shouda suddenly texted me for an urgent meeting at a café I've almost never heard of (probably due to my almost unsocial lifestyle), I was definitely flabbergasted to a point that I had to reread the message thrice just so to confirm I wasn't delusional in any way when it simply said: Mikan! Be at Aria Café around 6 tonight, k? Be there or else I'll personally hunt you down. Even if you have other plans, just please stop by. Love you lots! –ss

It was nearly six o'clock in the afternoon, almost ten hours after I received the message. At first I was quite reluctant about it. After all, five years after college was enough for someone to suddenly turn into a madwoman, right? But I've heard about Sumire often over the radio, so I was pretty much convinced that there was no way someone as nice sounding as her could end up insane.

I held my phone at eyesight level and read the name of the café she told me to go to. Aria café? I'm sure I've seen it one way or another in this mall. After walking for a while, I finally faced a small yet cozy looking shop that had a small whiteboard that had their menu written down in front, a certain name decorated cutely and musically on top of it.

I saw her waiting on a comfortable lounge chair, her legs comfortably crossed albeit the stilettos on her feet. She was wearing a dark green halter dress that matched her sparkly heels. She was sipping from a tall cup that wasn't steaming, so I assumed she was drinking an iced frappe of some sort.

I gulped inside and then looked at my attire: A blue blouse and faded jeans. My hair was down in a messy way, too. Compared to her, it seemed like I was ruining some sort of party. I walked shyly to her and tapped her shoulder—to which she replied by raising her hand up (showing her perfectly manicured nails) and saying, "I'm sorry, but I'm waiting for some—" she paused and looked at me, surprised. "—you! There you are! I thought you wouldn't come, especially since it was such a short notice!"

Looking at her again, I wondered how in the world we became friends. She was in my college list, so she definitely had gone to the same college as me… Then it hit me as my eyes rolled in thought. Oh yeah, she was the ex of Natsume. I began to panic as my stomach began doing flips. You see, Sumire Shouda was a recipient of one of the longest-running lies I had told. Almost ten years, I was shocked a bit at how long it has been, and I can't get my stories straight anymore.

I laughed nervously as she hugged me (more like jumped on me) and towered over me by a few good inches. "I was kind of wondering why you invited me, Sumire. We haven't talked since graduation." I said as she pulled away. "Which was five years ago."

In my first year of college, I told her, Sumire Shouda, that Natsume Hyuuga, the incredibly hot guy who asked her to the Freshmen Night party, was my high school boyfriend. It wasn't true, I knew, but I never really came clean with it.

Ignoring me, she pulled me over to a couch and asked, "Do you want anything? Totally my treat, Mikan."

Maybe it's time to admit it to her? After all, they'd been broken up for years. And besides, I couldn't remember any of the details I've thrown into that story. So, I might as well...

"Err," I fumbled to say. "I'll just have a latte."

"Sure."

She returned with a really tall steaming cup (probably the second size larger to what I was used to) and a small tray of muffins. She smiled happily at me; I gulped again. It was as if she was expecting this meeting to be a long one, I can tell.

She sat back down and began speaking. "I'm sorry if I'm dressed like this. I hosted a party a while ago so I had to dress formal and all. But enough about me! You look great, Mikan!" She began to gush, reaching out for my brown tresses as if a stylist. "And I'm glad you took down those ridiculous pigtails of yours, too."

"Thanks, Sumire," I replied, taking off her hand calmly and fluffed my hair back. "It's like you haven't changed at all."

She seemed to take it as a compliment. (It was, really.)

"So…how are you? I heard that you had an exhibit last month. But I wasn't able to go 'cause I had to work out of town to meet with some partners." She frowned lightly, pursing her lips. "Your job, in comparison to my stressful media work, seems so relaxing! The only thing I ever do other than talk and interview is yoga."

"Well, I guess being a freelance photographer does have its perks," I replied easily since it was the truth. "But it gets a bit lonely when it's just the camera and me…"

The conversation went on for a few minutes where she did most of the talking. I asked follow-up questions mostly and she'd gladly explain. No wonder she's a VJ, she just kept on and on! But at the same time I was glad since I wouldn't have been pressurized into spilling out things I shouldn't.

She paused and then looked at her watch with a frustrated look. "Ugh. Didn't I say six o'clock?"

I stared at her silently as she typed quite noisily (probably because she wasn't so patient anymore) into her phone. When she was done, she put it back in her bag and looked back at me. "Would you like a muffin, Mikan?"

"N-No thank you, Sumire," I tried to say sincerely. "But I'd really just get the topic over with. I'm sure you didn't ask me to go here just randomly."

Sumire sighed. "You've really changed, Mikan. From this bubbly girl I met in college, you became so refined. But," she placed a thoughtful finger on her chin. "You weren't really that talkative either. I'm guessing you must have been noisy when you were in elementary."

"Sumire," I warned. "I still have things to finish for work. And I'm guessing that you do, too. So just, please, tell me why." I told her straightforwardly, taking another sip from my latte.

"Fine," she huffed. "Let's start. Okay, Mikan, do you have a boyfriend?"

"What?" I asked incredulously. "You're not going to set me up with anyone, are you?"

"No, no!" She denied, waving her hands in front of her. "Or maybe. It's good that you don't. Have you talked with Natsume lately, Mikan?"

Uh-oh. "No," I told her; that was, well, pretty much the truth. "The last time we talked…well, I think it's been months."

She gasped lightly, covering her mouth with her long and slender fingers. "You got an invitation to his wedding, didn't you?"

I nodded. I certainly did not like where this was going… "Did you?"

"We didn't really stay friends after college," she said sadly, but quickly shrugged it off. "Do you know anything about his fiancée?"

"Um," I started, trying to remember. "I've met her once, at Ruka's birthday party, but I really don't know her."

Sumire sighed again. "This is going to be harder than we thought then. Mikan, we need you to stage some intervention for our lost Natsume."

"We? Who's the other party?" I asked, shocked. When I finally realized the rest of what she said, I asked again, "Wait—what?"

"She'll be arriving later," Sumire replied calmly, then replacing her cool look with an expression of worry. "But we want you to break his engagement, call off the wedding, anything! Just, please, keep him from marrying Luna Koizumi."

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I'll be juggling my time writing a lot this summer. I loved the book so much that I decided to write a GA version of it. Hrhr. And if you have some time, which I'm sure you have since you're on FF, read my other fic. :D

Disclaimer: Okay, let me end by saying that this idea is not mine. This fan fiction is based on a real book, My Imaginary Ex. I found the plot very intriguing and so I thought that the idea might fit something for GA—which I also do not own. So, I hope no lawsuits will be filed or whatever because of this. Err.

Review, please? :)

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