Crush

Twenty-One

Lizzie's games room was a testament to her older brother Lee, who'd bought every high tech gadget known to man thanks to working at Michael's Electronics before he went overseas three years ago. A massive flat screen TV took up one wall and below it sat a cabinet with games consoles and games dating back to the 1980s. Tess wasn't sure if some of the older ones even worked but Lee collected them like some people collected stamps.

Lizzie's pride and joy though was her karaoke machine. Tess and Maddie hadn't been at Lizzie's for more than an hour when Lizzie started hooking it up to the TV. Tess groaned.

"Oh come on, Tess. You knew this was what we'd be doing today."

"I thought you'd at least let Maddie get settled before subjecting her to karaoke," Tess said.

Lizzie pulled a face and continued connecting and disconnecting chords and microphones.

"Well, I'm going to get another drink and refill the chips," Tess said. "Do you want to give me a hand, Maddie?" Tess gave her the 'you need to come with me now' look and thankfully, Maddie got the hint and followed Tess out into the hall.

When they got to the kitchen, and far enough away that Tess thought Lizzie wouldn't be able to hear them, she said, "You don't have to sing if you don't want to."

Maddie opened a packet of chips and dumped its contents into the bowl and said, "I'll be fine."

"Don't you think Lizzie will guess who you are as soon as you start singing? She is your number one fan."

"Give me some credit," Maddie said, crunching on a chip. "I can sing badly when I want to." She winked at Tess, picked up the bowl of chips, kissed Tess on the cheek and headed back down to the games room.

Maddie certainly wasn't wrong. Lizzie insisted they sing duet battles on some of Maddie's own songs, which Lizzie had made into karaoke versions on her computer, and despite Tess's reservations, Maddie killed them. Really, terribly, killed them. Maddie sang so badly that Lizzie pulled Tess aside after only the third song and whispered, "She's almost as bad as you. I think we should just watch a movie before she destroys any more of my favourite songs."

"I think she's a great singer," Tess said.

Lizzie, obviously missing the sarcasm, said, "You would think that since you're tone deaf."

The insult didn't bother Tess. She was secretly happy to get out of singing karaoke herself. Lizzie opened the movie cabinet and instructed Tess and Maddie to choose one movie each. Tess's only stipulation was that Lizzie couldn't choose 'The Sound of Music' because there was only so many times she could listen to Lizzie sing 'Do Re Me'. Lizzie picked 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' instead and, Tess thought, just to spite her. Maddie picked 'The Lion King' and Tess picked 'Footloose'. The original, not the remake.

"We should watch yours first, Lizzie," Tess said. "Just to get the singing out of your system." Lizzie poked her tongue out and put the DVD into the player. Tess and Maddie settled down side-by-side on the lounge. It was thrilling for Tess to be snuggling so close with Maddie, even though Lizzie was in the same room. It was even better when Lizzie closed the blockout curtains to make the room dark to stop the glare on the TV screen. Maddie curled her legs up beside her, slipped her hand into Tess's and leaned her head on Tess's shoulder. Tess was hyper-aware of every part of her skin that Maddie touched and found it hard to concentrate on the movie. It didn't matter. She knew it off by heart, thanks to Lizzie's obsession with musicals.

∞

After a three movie marathon, and even though it was late, Lizzie insisted on watching one of Lee's D-grade horror movies before they went to sleep. They were about two-thirds through the movie when Will came in. It must have been almost midnight, so Tess was surprised to see him.