Not long after she sat down, Alicia's mind started wandering off to the sensual and meaningful kiss she and Michael had shared some ten minutes before. She could still feel Michael's soft and warm lips, moistened by his emotional salty tears on hers all over again. She could feel his big strong hands, one on her lower back and one cupping the back of her head, pressing her body against his as he kissed her with raw emotion. 'I wish you could see what you've done, Mr. Michael Jackson. Thank you very much,' Alicia thought, frustrated that she couldn't concentrate on her research. The sound of her cell phone ring snapped Alicia out of her trance. She picked it up and saw it was Natalia calling.
"Hello," she answered sweetly.
"Alicia Friar, I can't believe you would do this to me!"
A million thoughts ran all at once through Alicia's confused mind. It had to be serious if Natalia said her full name like that. 'What did I do now? Was it her birthday?'
"Hi, Naty," Alicia said nervously.
"Hi, Alicia," Natalia replied, her tone mocking. "Don't act all innocent with me."
The light bulb finally clicked on in Alicia's head. "Oh, Naty, I so ditched you at the night club last night. I'm so sorry. I understand if you're angry. Michael swore to me that you'd have a ride..." Alicia pleaded, feeling a guilty weight on her heart. How could she ever put a guy first before her best friend, sister almost, even if it was Michael Jackson? Alicia's thoughts were cut off by Natalia's guffaw on the other end of the receiver. Alicia took the phone away from her ear and looked at it scrunching her eyebrows in disbelief. She put the phone back to her ear as she heard Natalia continue to speak.
"Alicia, you do realize I was in on it the whole time, right? We totally set you up!" Natalia continued with her guffaw. "TJ took me home. Michael's nephew."
"Oh," Alicia said feeling relieved yet still confused. "Then why did you call me all crazy like that?"
"Because, Alicia, I am dying to know what happened after you guys left! You guys totally ditched the party."
Alicia slapped her hand to her forehead. "I know, I know. We had a lot to talk about. I really hadn't planned on ever seeing him again. But that was so beautiful how he set that all up just for me at the club, wasn't it."
"Yeah," Alicia heard Natalia sigh.
"I'm sorry I couldn't call you. I was... busy."
"Spill, woman," Natalia insisted. Alicia spent the next half hour recalling to her friend about the night before, meeting Michael's mother and brothers, them escaping the party, his beautiful mansion, their heart to heart, and finally them making love.
"Girl, that sounds like it came out straight from a fairy tale!" Alicia sighed. Just remembering last night filled her heart with love and brought back the butterflies to her stomach.
"Then I came home around noon and started doing some research," Alicia continued.
"Noon?" Natalia asked. "Wow," she added with a giggle.
Alicia rolled her eyes as if Natalia could see her through the phone. "Shut up, Naty." Alicia giggled, too.
"Then Michael came over and surprised me with dinner," she continued.
"Wow," Natalia said, "I told you he was into you." Alicia's heart leaped. She sure hoped so.
It was the next day, and Alicia couldn't wait to see Michael again. The rest of the previous evening she had been able to get some research done and she even started writing her paper. She was satisfied enough with her progress, so she decided to take Michael up on his excuse and go see him to take over his tupperware. She grabbed the clean tupperware and put it in the same white plastic bag that Michael had brought it in and headed over to his mansion.
