A/N- I rewrote this so many times, it's not even funny, and I STILL don't like it...
Chapter 13: Come what mayThere was a pounding, either in my head or on my door, and I wanted it to stop. NOW.
Groaning, I rolled over onto my stomach and smothered my head in my pillow. Damn it, I so did not need this.
"Michael! Michael, open up!"
It was definitely a female voice, so I automatically assumed it was Lilly. "I don't want to talk to you right now, sis," I yelled at the door, twisting the sheets around. "Go away!"
"Michael, it's Mia!"
Completely forgetting my fatigue, I bolted up in my bed staring suspiciously at the door. "How did you get into my apartment?"
"Hide-a-key," she said simply.
Without a second thought, I ran to the door and found Mia standing there, looking fresh off a winter storybook. She had an ice blue scarf wrapped her neck and dark blue fleece turtleneck with a pair of black pants. Her face was flushing from the cold New York weather, but her eyes were bright. "Mia," I breathed. "What are you doing here?"
"I found the tape," she blurted suddenly.
I felt my cheeks burn unintentionally when I remembered the tape that I left in the corner of one of the dresser drawers. "Oh? So what did you think?"
Tears began to spill down her eyes as she looked at me desperately. "Why did you do it, Michael? Why?"
I sighed and ran my hands threw my hair. "I…I don't know. Maybe it was because you were the only girl that I had ever dated and you were a princess. I felt…trapped. You know? I felt that no matter what I did, it wouldn't be good enough."
Mia grasped my hands in her own gloved ones. "You were always good enough for me," she whispered. "I didn't care, you knew that."
"I know, but your grandmother did. I started to get frustrated, and…and I was in college and…I was scared."
Her hands gripped tighter. "What were you scared of?"
My chest tightened as the memories I pushed away all these years came flooding back. I took several deep breaths and swallowed hard before I could look her in the eye. "Mia, I loved you so much. I loved you so much, that it scared me. And it seemed like you were drifting away. Your grandmother always said that you were going to get married to some rich guy in some foreign, European country…and it broke my heart."
The tears kept spilling from her eyes. "But you knew better than that, Michael! I wouldn't have let them take me away from you!"
"But I was scared. And I thought, that if I ended it before your family could, then I would at least have some of my pride."
"You're such an idiot!" She screamed suddenly. "You men are such idiots! All you ever think about are your libidos and your pride!"
Offended, I yelled back, "Well when your pride is all you've got left, you hold on like hell! I figured a princess of all people would understand!"
She glared at me. "I wouldn't sacrifice the person I loved for my pride!"
"How was I supposed to know you loved me?" I cried desperately. "How the hell was I supposed to know? You were never around! You were always with your grandmother doing stupid diplomatic stuff. You never invited me to balls anymore, saying that they would bore me. You were drifting away and it scared the crap out of me!"
Just then, she did the last thing I expected her to do.
She threw her arms around my neck and kissed me.
How the hell did that happen?
Just minutes before, Michael and I were having a decent screaming match and all of a sudden, I give into my primal urges and kiss him.
Not like either of us were complaining though.
After a few minutes, he pulled away and gave me a curious look. "What was that all about?"
I shrugged. "I don't know."
He grinned. "Does that mean I'm forgiven?"
I held up a finger. "On one condition."
"You never cheat on me again."
His grin widened. "Deal." And with that, he lowered his lips to mine and let his body do the talking from there.
"Michael, what is all this about?"
"You'll see," I whispered, leading her into a dark room. "This is special and I can't ruin the surprise."
She chuckled. "You could have just written me a song and I would have been happy."
"But I do that every year."
"I don't mind."
"I wanted this to be special," I repeated. "Besides, when you're blindfolded, you tend to talk a lot less."
"Ooh, when I get this blindfold off me, I'm gonna smack you so hard, you'll wake up twenty years later in a bed at the Sacramento County Hospital."
I chuckled as I clapped twice and the curtains from the huge windows in the ballroom were suddenly drawn apart.
"Whoa…there's a lot of light all of a sudden."
I signaled to Lori who mouthed widely, "Lights! Camera! Action!"
I let go of Mia's hand and went to untie the blindfold. I let the black strip of cloth gently float to the ground and her eyes widened in shock when she saw the spectacle before her.
The crew from Crown Jewels was all there, including the whole Genovian Court, her family, his family, and all their old high school friends. In the middle of the ballroom floor, I got down on one knee and pulled out a small, velvet box. "Mia," I said breathily as I took her hand in mine and brought it to my lips. "I love you."
Tears were flowing freely down her cheeks. "I can't believe this," she whispered. I smiled at her incredulity.
"I've loved you since I first laid eyes on you. And at the risk of sounding even more cliché, I might as well come out and say this." Opening the small box, I offered the ring to her and asked in a shaky voice, "Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo, would you make me an extremely happy man and do me the honor of marrying me?"
The whole room was silent in anticipation. Mia just stood there in utter disbelief, uncaring of the tears flowing down her face.
A little more anxious than I had expected, I began to doubt her answer. Then all of a sudden, she blurted, "Oh you damn fool, of course I'll marry you! Did you even have to ask?"
Completely forgetting that this was airing to a million, buhjillion viewers all over the world, I swept her off her feet, into my arms and kissed her. I'd always love her. And she'd always love me.
Come what may.
A/N- HA! I told you it would be a happy ending.
Hey, were you wondering why there were several sporadically bolded/underlined letters throughout this chapter? Well if you put them together, their's a secret message.
Thank you so much for reading.