Chapter four: What a wicked game: to make me feel this way

When Mike had gone back into the house he had noticed that none of the other guys had yet gotten up. He went back upstairs to change out of his wet, sandy clothes, still with Trixie on his mind. As he entered the living room once again he paused before the couch. The blanket and pillow were still how they were when Trixie woke up. He began to gather those items up and put them away when on the floor he spotted a small pair of tan sandals. One of these sandals had a single white and grey feather attached to a turquoise bead that had been carefully sewn into the top of it. Mike grinned as he bent down to pick them up. Right away as he held the sandals he knew what he had to do. With the sandals in his hand he then rounded up his keys and headed out the front door.

Just about ten minutes or so later Mike stood on Trixie's front porch. He lightly rapped on the door with the small brass doorknocker and held his breath for a few seconds.

"Just a minute!" Trixie seemed to sing from inside the house

Mike casually looked at the door and house before him as he waited. There was a few pieces of paint waiting for someone to come along and peel them off of the door. One of the black numbers on the house seemed a little crooked while another one was simply a completely different shape and size all together. Mike briefly wondered if this had been done on purpose or if either Trixie or August had been too lazy to make all the numbers uniform. Before he could make his decision about the house numbers, the door opened.

Trixie stood there with a small smile on her face. Her hair was wet and a little tangled about itself. With one hand she held a bath towel snuggly around her naked body.

"Hello Michael."

"Oh." He tried to look away "I'm sorry did I catch you at a bad time?"

"Not at all. I was just coming out of the shower. Do you need anything, Michael?"

"I just came to bring you these." He held up the sandals "You left 'em at the house."

"Oh! I forgot all about those." She took the sandals with her free hand and then kissed him lightly on the cheek "Thank you for bringing them over."

"You're welcome."

He leaned coolly against the doorframe. She adjusted her towel while looking at him. Neither of them knew what, if anything, they should say. Mike didn't want to invite himself in and he didn't know if she was going to ask him in either. She lightly blushed as she looked down for a second. When she looked back up at him she nearly lost her grip on the top of her towel. Mike stood up straight and gave her a little wave.

"Well I just came here to drop those off. I best be gettin' home. My turn to fix breakfast."

"Alright… if you can't stay…"

Mike reached out and thumbed away a drop of water that had just dripped down onto Trixie's cheek. He leaned in and placed a very tender kiss upon her lips. Touching his forehead to hers, he looked into her eyes with the slightest grin. Her eyes brightened and cheeks turned a nice shade of pink. Again he kissed her but this time he ran his tongue across her lips before passing it in between them. The kiss didn't linger but it seemed like it could have lasted forever. When he pulled away from her he lightly smoothed out part of her hair before tucking it neatly behind her ear. The corner of his mouth curled up into a smile as he took a step backwards.

"Well you have a good day now."

She grinned with a slight nod "Oh I will."

"Call me some time."

He stepped off of the porch and walked over to the car. Trixie stood there in the doorway, watching as he pulled out of the driveway. She smiled and waved, watching him drive away. Mike tapped on the horn and took a glance in the side mirror, catching a glimpse of her still standing in the doorway. As he drove he smirked a little, feeling proud of himself for finally making his move.

When he returned home and walked inside he saw that there at the kitchen table sat Davy, Micky and Peter, seemingly waiting for him. The moment he had strolled through the door they greeted him with nothing but matching sly grins. Mike cocked an eyebrow as he looked at them before walking over to the table.

"What is it?" He asked

"So where were you?" Asked Micky, still with a grin

"Do you 'appen to know when Trixie left?" Added Davy

"What exactly were the two of you doing this morning?" Peter chimed in

"We were doing nothing of your concern, she left a little while ago, and I was at her house returning her sandals that she left here. What's with all the questions and are there going to be any more?"

"Oh just curious." Said Micky before taking a sip of his coffee

Mike walked over to the refrigerator and opened it to peer inside. Behind him he could feel six brown eyes burning into his back as he knew they were staring at him like they had done when he walked in. Taking out a carton of eggs he closed the fridge door and walked over to the stove.

"How's everybody like their eggs?"

"Edible, preferably."

"Not too burnt."

"White with yellow in the center."

Mike rolled his eyes and found a frying pan. A whispered comment followed by a small bout of laughter caused him to turn and face the other three guys at the table.

"Now what's so funny?"

"Nothing." Peter covered his mouth to contain a giggle

"Nice one Micky." Said Davy

"Nice one Micky what?" They only laughed again "Now someone tell me what's so damn funny."

"Oh um…" Micky snickered "I just said that you'd probably enjoy, um, Trixie sunny side up." This caused Davy and Peter to giggle like children and Mike to roll his eyes again

Mike grumbled to himself as he begun to cook come eggs. Once again he heard hushed mumblings behind him at the table. But this time he decided to ignore it. For a brief moment Trixie snuck into his mind. He shook her out on time to finish cooking the eggs. After serving the breakfast and sitting down to eat, Mike paused to peer down at his food. He swore that he could see Trixie's face within it. While staring at the imaginary face he did not notice that he was being spoken to.

"Mike?"

He lifted his head and looked at Peter.

"So… when did you get so hung up on Trixie?" Peter asked

"What are you talking about? I ain't hung up on any one."

"Oh sure." Micky snickered "And Micky is my real first name."

"I'm not!"

"Of course you are. You were pract'ly drooling all ovah her last night."

"Like when you asked her to stay." Micky purposely became a little overdramatic and put on a thick, and terrible, Texas accent, as he acted out his version of what happened "Why Trixie dear please do stay the night. It won't be any problem at all. We really don't mind."

Peter chimed in by raising the tone of his voice in an attempt to sound feminine "Oh Michael! I would looooooove to! Please won't you escort me to your bed you tall, handsome hunk of a man you!"

"Oh darling! Give me a kiss!"

"I thought you would never ask!"

Peter and Micky leaned forward and preceded to dramatically air kiss each other. Davy fell out of his chair and rolled on the floor laughing. Mike sat there with his arms folded across his chest and a frown upon his face. Micky and Peter moved away from each other with a laugh even though they knew that Mike was not amused.

"Boy, Mick, for a guy who's just been dumped, you sure have a great sense of humor."

The moment those words came out of Mike's mouth, Micky looked as though he had been punched in the stomach. Peter and Davy fell silent and turned their serious eyes towards Mike. Micky shook before getting up from the table and dashing up the stairs. The rest of them flinched simultaneously once they heard the bedroom door slam closed. Four eyes remained on Mike.

"That was really uncalled for." Stated Peter

"How could you say such a thing? We were only johking around." Davy added

Mike sighed and stood up "I'll go talk to him."

Peter grabbed his arm "No you stay. I'll talk to him. He'll probably talk easier to me right now any way."

Peter got up from the table and went upstairs to see Micky. Mike sighed and looked at Davy for a second. Davy just shook his head and went back to eating his breakfast. Mike walked away from the table and stepped outside onto the balcony. Even he couldn't believe what he had just said to Micky. He was never one to kick a guy when he was down so this had taken him by surprise. He hung his head low and closed his eyes with a heavy sigh. Normally he would have kept his mouth shut during a time like that. Normally he would have swallowed his frustration among other emotions, letting their comments roll off his back. But for some reason he allowed the most inappropriate, most hurtful thing he could have said at that given moment to fall out of his mouth.

Once again his thoughts strayed to Trixie. This caused him to groan. He shook his head, trying to free these very thoughts. It worked for a moment or two until she popped back in. Why on earth was he thinking about her and at this given time? Sure he was attracted to her, and sure he kissed her, but that meant nothing to him. He might have asked her to go out with him or a date or two but nothing more would come from it. He was certain that he wasn't showing the other guys that he might have been hung up on her like they had teased him about. He was absolutely sure that he definitely was not developing feelings for her. That was out of the question. It just wasn't a good time for him to get seriously involved with someone, especially since he knew what Micky was going through. He never actually saw Micky with August but Mike knew just by looking at him just how much he cared about the guy, and how hurt he had become by him in just a short period of time. This was just one reason why Mike felt he didn't need a relationship; he didn't want to risk going through the same thing that Micky was. Another reason was, Mike really enjoyed remaining single. But for some reason Trixie was interfering with this, and he couldn't stand it.

There was no way that he could develop feelings for Trixie. There was no reason why he would even want to develop feelings for her. Why was he even thinking about this? It didn't make sense. He did not feel anything for her. At all. The time he spent with her was great. The kiss was amazing. There was nothing about her that he didn't like. After all what straight man in his right mind wouldn't like her? Even Peter showed a slight interest from time to time. He did like her; there was no doubt in that. But he refused to have any romantic feelings for her whatsoever. He was single and he was going to stay single because that was the way he liked it.

But why did he smile every time he thought about her? Why did he get a nice warm feeling inside whenever he heard her name? 'I must be delirious from some sort of illness I'm not aware of.' He thought to himself. 'That has to be the reason for all of this.' After all he did not have feelings for the woman. Ha! That was just laughable to him. Nope. Mike Nesmith didn't care about that Trixie McEuwin. Not one little bit.