Fan Fiction ❯ Almost An Angel ❯ A Story and a Crush ( Chapter 4 )

That night, just like he had promised, Michael told Sara her bedtime story. I think Mom was happy to have that much more time to herself, and to see Sara so glowingly happy. I sat down in one corner of Sara's room and just watched Michael and my sister.

"Once upon a time," Michael began his story with the stereotypical, sure-fire beginning. "There lived a girl, seventeen years old, named Kerowyn. She lived in a big keep with her father, her brother, and all their servants. Her mother had died when Kerowyn was only fourteen or so."

"What's a keep?" Sara asked curiously. I'll admit that I was surprised; I hadn't heard her ask questions about her bedtime stories in a long time. I guess there's no reason for her to; I'll admit that they probably got pretty boring for her after hearing them time after time.

"It's kind of like a castle, but not quite as big," Michael explained with a smile. Sara nodded and shifted her legs. I noticed then that she wasn't even dressed for bed yet.

"Oh. Okay."

"Well, one day, Kerowyn's, I'll call her Kero from now on, father decided that her brother needed to get married. So he found his son a good bride, a pretty girl of fourteen years from a neighboring keep…"

From there, Michael began to tell a story that had Sara completely fascinated. It had my attention too, for that matter. He stopped right as the kitchen staff heard screams from upstairs, and Sara wasn't the only one disappointed by the sudden halt.

"Keep going!" Sara pleaded, looking up at Michael with her best puppy-dog face. He just stared at her and laughed.

"Now, Sara, we both know that it's past your bedtime as it is. Don't worry, I'll tell you more tomorrow night."

"Promise?"

"I promise. Now let's get you changed for bed, and I'll tuck you in, okay?"

Sara nodded slowly, and Michael walked over to her dresser to pick out a nightgown. I left to go back to my bedroom, figuring that he could help a five-year-old little girl change clothes without me standing there and helping him. After all, Sara was already capable of more or less changing all on her own, with very little help from anyone else. Michael could handle that much, I was sure.

Needless to say, I was surprised when I opened the door and came face to face with Esther, who had obviously either been peeking through the cracked-open door or listening at it. I closed the door behind me before confronting my red-faced little sister.

"Hey, Esther. Did you need something?" I asked, looking down at her with one eyebrow raised in amusement.

"Oh, hi Davis… Uhhm… No… I was just going to… say goodnight," she stammered, her face growing redder and redder with each word out of her mouth. It was really funny, to tell you the truth.

"Okay. Well, goodnight, Esther," I said, tousling her hair. She says that she hates that, but I only do it to show I care. Well… I do it to annoy her too, but I did it that time as a way to say goodnight.

"G'night Davis," she replied quickly, then turned and ran to her room. I couldn't help but laugh.

"What's so funny?" Michael asked from behind me, turning off the lights and shutting the door to Sara's room.

"Nothing really… I just think that my kid sister has a crush on you." I said, walking into my own room. Michael followed me in.

"Which one?" he asked curiously.

"I'd say both of them if Sara were older, but since she isn't… Esther is the one I was talking about. She was eavesdropping outside Sara's door, and she got all blushy when I caught her. Now, I know she could care less about what Sara or I are doing, so that leaves you to be the one she wanted to hear."

Michael just looked at me for a second, then grinned and shook his head. "That's cute." He chuckled. "Too bad, it'd never work out… She's way too young, and your little sister on top of that…"

"And then there's the whole little gender issue…" I pointed out. We both laughed.

"Yes, there is that as well. Over all, there are a lot of problems with that particular potential relationship… She's your sister, I don't swing towards girls, and I certainly don't have a Lolita complex."

I found myself liking Michael more and more. We'd only started to actually talk to each other the day before, but I could tell that he'd make a really great friend. I realize that must sound kinda cliché, but it's true.

"So," I began as I lead Michael back to my bedroom. I figured we could hang out and talk for a while. "You wanna do something tomorrow?" The next day was Sunday, so we still had some time to spare before finishing up weekend homework.

"Like what?" he replied curiously. I had his interest; that was a good thing.

I shrugged. "I dunno. Whatever you feel like. Go play some basketball, go to the mall, ride bikes… Doesn't matter. And if you don't feel like going anywhere, we can always just chill in the backyard and talk or something." Whatever made him most comfortable would be just fine with me.

We walked into my bedroom and shut the door behind us, then threw ourselves onto my bed. We lied on our sides facing each other, and I smiled as a few strands of Michael's air fell onto his face. He hadn't slicked it back that day, and it was a lot longer than I had first thought.

"I don't know," he said, looking like he was thinking hard again. I've found that he tends to do that a lot. "I guess we can decide tomorrow though, right?"

I grinned. "Yeah, sure. That'll work."

It was quiet for a while again. That in itself was a change of pace for me. All my other friends were, like I said earlier, pretty noisy most of the time. Even my boyfriends, like James, weren't exactly quiet. Normally the silence probably would have bothered me, but with Michael, it didn't. It just seemed… I don't know… Natural, I guess. There wasn't any reason to talk all the time.

Lying there, just looking him in the eye, the thought came to my mind that Michael was pretty cute. Yeah, it wasn't the first time I'd thought that since Friday night, but it was still true. He looked adorable, kind of like a little kid in a way, but he was definitely a big boy. All grown up, and drop-dead gorgeous.

Michael smiled widely all of a sudden and reached to tap me gently on the forehead. "Penny for your thoughts," he said.

"Show me the penny first," I teased. He shrugged and rolled off the bed, then walked to his room. For a split-second I thought that I had gotten him upset or something, but that worry disappeared when something small and hard came soaring across the room and hit me on the chin. A penny.

"There you go. Now `fess up," Michael ordered, coming back into my room. He sat down cross-legged in front of me and stared expectantly.

"Hmm. Well, you did pay me, so… I was just thinking about how cute you are," I replied after pretending to think about it for a few seconds.

Michael blushed, which actually made him look even cuter, if you ask me. "Thanks," he muttered, looking away. I laughed and grabbed him, starting an impromptu wrestling/tickling match. It's a good thing that I've got a big bed, otherwise we probably would have ended up hurting ourselves by falling off the bed and onto who-knows-what.

We finally calmed down after about five minutes, but we were still laughing our heads off. It was great; I hadn't laughed that hard in a long time.

There was a knock at the door, and my mom came in, smiling. "Okay guys, enough wrestling. It's time for the kids to go to bed, and I don't want any more distractions then there already are." She looked right at me then. "You know how hard it can be to get them to bed on a normal weekend, and you aren't helping things any."

"Okay, Mom," I said, shrugging.

"Yes ma'am," Michael added. "I'm sorry."

Mom looked at him and smiled. "That's okay, Michael! You couldn't know any better… Though I can't say the same to Davis over there." She started to leave, then turned back around. "Michael, would you like anything? A drink or a snack?" she offered.

"Thank you very much for asking, Mrs. Brown, but I'm fine."

"All right. Goodnight then, boys. Don't stay up too late."

"Suck-up!" I said once Mom was gone, punching Michael playfully. He grinned.

"Hey, you told me to! Remember?"

"Yeah, but that was just to make a good first impression! She already likes you, so go ahead and just cut the act already! You're making me look bad!"

"It's not my fault that you don't have `charming' manners!"

"Oh, shut up. Let's just drop it and find something to do."

Michael grinned. "Giving up?" he joked.

"Yeah, I don't feel like listening to your bragging anymore."

"Whatever."

"Hey… Wanna play a video game?" I suggested.

"You're on!"