The Four Seasons of Michael (Princess Diaries Fanfic)

Winter: December (1)

Something changed after Mia got photographed with Harry. I stopped seeing her on the news. At first I thought her grandmother and father simply didn't allow her to go out much, but knowing Helen, I quickly dismissed the thought. I knew Helen, she was not the biggest supporter of royalty and especially not of Dowager Princess Clarisse. She wouldn't allow Clarisse to set rules for her daughter, and I was convinced that she was, like me, happy to see Mia loosen up a little.

Whatever was keeping Mia from landing in news, I liked it. It meant she was home more, emailing me.

About a week after the Genovian badminton match, she emailed me. It wasn't only a couple of lines she usually had written; it was lengthy email, almost a whole page long. She didn't touch the events in Genovia with a single word; instead, she wrote about the movie she had gone see with Tina. I don't know why she thought a new Ryan Gosling movie would interest me, but it was so Mia, I couldn't stop laughing.

This time, I responded within three days. Two days seemed too quick, especially for our still somewhat stranded relationship, but on the third day, I simply couldn't wait any longer.

I wrote her about an anime parody of Star Wars I had watched with colleagues during lunch break. I added a few pictures I had found online and tried to be as humorous as my poor writing skills allowed me. Mia was always the writer of the two of us.

Instead of writing every fortnight, I was emailing her – and receiving her reply – every week. If I could do it without looking too desperate, I would email her every night.

Besides being more frequent, our correspondence also became more personal. We included more of our feelings, opinions, more of what was going on in our lives. She was back to writing pages and pages about her obnoxious grandmother and in response, I wrote everything I could think of that pertained to strange Japanese rituals I was witnessing. We were talking about everything – and I mean everything. About a major music star quitting Spotify, about weather changes, reporter killings, new viral kitty video. Everything was worth writing about, as long as it didn't pertain to our relationship.

I loved reading her words. I loved writing to her. I loved being a part of her life again. I loved knowing I was in her thoughts even when she wasn't writing to me - the way she described things she witnessed every day made me think she was careful to notice and remember every single detail – as if knowing she was going to tell somebody about it.

Renata was the one pointing out the other possible reason why Mia seemed to be home more. One evening, she brought home more than just take out.

"If you're too proud to look it up, I guess I did it for you," she winked at me, handing me a piece of paper. I glanced at it, seeing it was printed off New York Post.

It had a big picture of JP in the center, holding hands with a girl I didn't know. The caption named her Stacey Cheeseman and went on to explain she was his classmate.

I don't know why, but the first feeling to fly over me was surprised.

Renata laughed at my puzzled face.

"You might as well just sign your email with love, you know," she said.

My heart started skipping at the thought of what JP going out with someone else might mean. Apparently Mia wasn't seeing him anymore – instead, she used more time to stay in touch with me, her ex-boyfriend. I witnessed many relationships around me falling apart – Felix, the guy from my band, was a dater as serial as they come. He never stayed in contact with a girl after breaking up with her. But, on the other hand, he had never been friends with her before starting going out with her.