Chapter 4
"Have fun doing the dishes," Morgan teased, hanging Emily his plate.
"Real nice way to treat your guest," Sarah chided, smacking him up the back of his head.
"What? It's not my fault! She knew the rules, she lost the race..." he shrugged, "Nothing I could do about it."
Emily rolled her eyes. "I don't mind helping clean up, it's the least I can do after such a wonderful meal."
"Maybe you could give Derek a refresher course in manners," Sarah said, giving her brother a pointed glare.
"What's with this turning my family against me?" he said to Emily.
"Oh, we were never on your side," Desiree said.
"Fine," he said, "I was going to offer to help, but now you can do the dishes on your own."
"Good, you'd just screw it up anyways."
Emily smiled to herself at the playful sibling rivalry, finding herself almost envious of Morgan's family, never having had a brother or sister or even a warm, loving family atmosphere.
******
Attempting not to wake any of the house's other occupants, Morgan tiptoed into the kitchen, using his hands to blindly feel his way along the walls. The cookies had been calling to him so he had decided to sneak down to the kitchen for a midnight snack. As his hand closed on the doorknob to the pantry, someone purposefully cleared their throat, making him freeze in his tracks.
"Looking for these?" asked the voice from the shadows. In the pale light flooding in through the window he was able to see the Tupperware container of cookies on the table. He crossed the room and turned the dimmer switch just enough to illuminate the immediate surroundings without waking the rest of the house. The faint yellow glow fell upon the kitchen table where his sisters were both looking at him in a rather unsettling way.
"Creepy much?" he said.
"Please, take a seat," Desiree said, gesturing towards the chair directly across from the both of them.
"I just want a cookie..."
"You can have the first one for free..." Sarah said, pushing a single cookie across the tabletop.
"What are the rest gonna cost me?" he asked, eyeing the cookie suspiciously.
"You just have to answer one question."
He groaned, "It is way too early for an interrogation."
"Well then you'd better comply quickly," Desiree said.
"Did you guys watch some cheesy detective movie yesterday?"
"Fine, no cookies for you," Sarah shrugged, snatching away the container of cookies and standing to leave, "Let's go to bed."
"No, no! What do you want to know?" Morgan acquiesced.
"How do you feel about Emily?" Sarah whispered.
"I don't know what you mean," he said, suddenly less interested in the cookies.
"Don't play dumb, you know exactly what we mean," Desiree said, eyes narrowing.
"You know, suddenly I'm not that hungry, I don't think I want the cookies anymore," he said, shifting uncomfortably in his chair.
They both continued to look at him pointedly. "Come on," Sarah wheedled, "You can tell us."
"I..." he stammered, suddenly self-conscious now that he was about to fess up, "I..."
He was interrupted by a thud against the wall and all three turned around sharply to see what had disrupted them. "Oops," Emily giggled, "I ran into the wall... Don't know my way around here."
Pouring herself a glass of water from the tap, she looked at them quizzically and asked, "What are you guys doing?"
"Midnight snack," Sarah quickly supplied, gesturing towards the cookies.
Emily smiled brightly at the implication that her cookies were good or at least edible. Finishing the glass of water, she bade everyone goodnight before stumbling back to her room.
"Goodnight Em," Morgan said quietly, his eyes remained fixed on the doorway long after she had gone.
"You love her!" Sarah gasped in realization.
Morgan turned to look at her, eyes the size of saucers, pure alarm on his face. "Shh!" he hissed, eyes darting back to the doorway as if afraid that she might have heard, "I do not."
"Don't lie," Desiree scolded, "You totally do. It's so obvious."
He glared at the two of them for a moment, while the smiled smugly back, seeming quite pleased with themselves. "You can't say anything," he pleaded, sighing, "I don't want to scare her... I can't lose her."
