Blinders

Chapter Ten: Never Wanted to Dance

Mikey's P.O.V.

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"Welcome to my humble abode!" Cassie yelled, holding out her arms in front of her front door.

"I was here Wednesday."

"This is your formal welcome."

Campbell was staring at at the fridge. "Hi... Mikey," he said, not looking at us.

"Hey, Campbell! I brought you something!" I pulled a lock out of my bag. His eyes lit up. 

"Is that...?" Cassie asked, slightly awestruck.

"Jason Godwin's gym lock? Hell yes."

"My God." Her eyes lit up. "This is going to be the start of a beautiful relationship."

Campbell cautiously snatched the lock from my outstretched hand. He held it to his ear and spun it for several seconds until it popped open. "I... I like you..." he whispered. "Sorry for... hurting you... earlier."

"Oh, it's okay!" I said, grinning. "I'm not hurt."

"Girls! Come meet Mikey!" Cassie called.

They padded out of the living room. Evelyn looked like a tiny version of her older sister. They both had the same long, cornsilk hair, tanned skin, and bright green eyes. Vivian, on the other hand, looked a lot like Campbell; raven hair, skin the color of the moon, and dark blue eyes. "Hi, Mikey," Evelyn said, jutting her jaw out.

"Hey! It's nice to finally talk to you."

"Teach me to play soccer."

"You know what? I don't play, but my brother does."

"Can he teach me to play soccer before September?"

"Of course!"

She giggled and hugged my waist.

"Say hi, Vivian," Cassie said.

Vivian chewed her lip for a second. Then her eyes widened, and she blurted, "Do you like Mulan?"

"Of course!"

"Good. You can stay."

"Vivian!" Cassie gasped.

I laughed and shook my head. "Nah, it's okay. I'm glad I got her approval. Now what?"

"Now we order pizzas, and we'll go upstairs to my room and watch a bunch of movies." Cassie grabbed the phone.

"Cass said you play piano," Evelyn said. "Show us."

"Of course. Do you have a piano?"

"Yup!" She grabbed my wrist (wonder who she learned that from?) and skipped into the living room.

A piano similar to the one in the chorus room was shoved in the corner of the living room. "No on ever uses it," she continued. "Dad said Mommy used to play it."

"When will Dad be home?" Cassie asked.

They shrugged in creepy unison. I sat down on the bench, now hesitant to play, knowing it was Cassie's mom's. "Play-y-y it!" Evelyn begged. "I like pianos!"

I poked several of the keys. An F chord resonated dully. "It's so out of tune," I whispered. Nonetheless, disappointing my new girlfriend's little sisters was not high on the official Mikey's List of Good Ideas. I lazily started running through the two chords that made up the intro of my favorite song. "Hey, I love this song-- oh, hi! Yeah, I wanna order three cheese pizzas."