At this time, a nineteen-year-old friend of Michael's, Theresa Gonslves (whom he first met in November 1974 when she went to Las Vegas to see the group for her sixteenth birthday), telephoned him to say she was going to New York for a visit. They made plans to see each other.

  "When I got to the apartment building, he told the doorman to send me up," Theresa recalled. "'Toya answered the door. She was irritated. 'Michael didn't tell me that the two of you made plans," she said. It was as if he was supposed to check with her before he made plans, which he hadn't.

  "So I asked 'Toya where he was, and she said that he was in the kitchen baking chocolate chip cookies. After Michael and I talked and ate the cookies, I took a look around. The suit had a balcony. Michael used to like to hang over it like he was going to jump. He loved acting like a fool to upset his sister. 'Toya had the most wonderful room, a real showplace with a huge bed and a mirror above it, a penthouse beedroom fitting a befitting a star. Michael had a small, simple bedroom with a twin-sized bed in it and a desk. I asked myself, Why does she have such a great room and he's stuck with this?"

One day, Michael returned from the studio very excited about a new structure that had been built for his character at the studio. "Follow me," he told Theresa. She followed him into his modest bedroom. As the two of them stood at his desk, he started showing her a scrapbook of photographs of the movie set.

  "So what do you think?" Great, huh?" Michael asked.

  "Yes, you're so lucky," Theresa enthused.

  Michael closed the book and looked into Theresa's eyes. thoughtfully. He tilted his head and leaned over to her, awkwardly. At that moment, LaToya walked into the room. "What's going on in here?" she wanted to know. Michael pulled back nervously.

  "So anyway, I uh..." he stammered.

  Years later, Theresa would recall, "I wanted him to kiss me so badly. And I know he would have if 'Toya hadn't surprised us."

 

~ The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story, J. Randy Taraborrelli