Chapter 2
Radio began to ask himself if there was more to the song that Cantarella wanted to hear so often. The song… stating that it was "almost love", a sort of "thinking about someone" kind of thing. And Cantarella wanted to listen to it virtually every day. So, he figured that the bedroom lamp must have the hots for someone.
"I wonder who the lucky machine is," he mused, and decided to ask the others if they knew anything about Cantarella's change.
They gathered in the kitchen – except for Kirby, who was busy vacuuming the living room.
"Well," Lampy scratched his shade with his plug pensively, "To be honest, I do think that something about her is different, to be honest. I just can't put my prong on what exactly…"
"She often has that dreamy, happy smile," Blanky remarked. "And more than once, I heard her humming that song she always wants you to play."
"Exactly, that song," Radio stated. "That's what made me realize it. You fellas know what it's about, right? It's about thinking of someone… "
"So you think Cantarella is thinking about someone?" Toaster chimed in. "Or rather, completely and utterly smitten!"
"Why, that's exactly what I think!" Radio stated with a wild gesture of his antenna.
"So, she's in love?" Blanky ponder guessed, one corner of his fabric thoughtfully laid on his "chin". "I wonder who it is." All of them turned towards each other, exchanging looks.
"Not me! I mean…" Lampy exclaimed, then added hastily, "Not that it's a bad thing, but why would she be in love with me?"
"Yeah,", Toaster stated. "And I can´t imagine that I'm the one."
"I couldn't be it, either," Blanky shook his head.
Then, Radio added: "While I do have a lot of charm, frankly I don't believe that I'm Cantarella's type."
Lampy scratched his head with his plug, musing. "Radio, do you remember when Cantarella began requesting that song?"
"Why, yes, I do! It was not long after that… falling incident."
"The falling incident, huh?" Blanky pondered. Then, a sudden revelation shone up on his face. "Did any of you notice how Cantarella looks at Kirby sometimes? She didn't do that before, if I'm right…"
"Kirby?" Toaster was astonished, but then he began to understand. "You mean… it's him?"
Coincidentally, just in this moment, Kirby strolled by the open door while doing his vacuuming job. The whir of his motor grew louder just as he passed, and decreased again afterward. Everyone glanced at each other again as they realized the truth.
"Yes. It's Kirby she's in love with," Blanky finally spoke out what all of them were thinking.
"Well," Lampy replied. "That is something…"
"Cantarella never said a word about that to anyone, not that I know of", Toaster stated. "Do you think she wants to keep it a secret?"
"That's very likely." Blanky nodded. "She might fear Kirby's reaction if he knew… fear that he might not like her back… That he would… Break her heart!"
"Oh man!" Radio excitedly responded, wildly waving his antenna. "With Cantarella trying to keep it secret, and Kirby… well, being Kirby, they will never come together!" With a pause, he added in suggestion, "Do you think we should help them a little?"
"But we don't know if he reciprocates her feelings, either!" Lampy pointed out. "And that means that we have to find out…" He pictured himself hiding behind conveniently placed potted plants, taking notes furiously on every bit of Kirby's behavior.
"But how would we figure out if he likes her?" Toaster mused. Lampy thought about this, nibbling on his plug. Then suddenly, his face lit up.
"I got an idea! If Kirby likes Cantarella, he would remember things about her, right? So all we have to do is to find out how much he knows about Cantarella! With subtlety, of course."
"Yeah, I guess that would work," Toaster stated. "So you all know what we got to do, right?"
"Sure thing, Slots!" Radio confirmed.
Over time, the entries in Cantarella's diary became bolder. At first, she only wrote about her feelings for Kirby in a poetic way and everything she liked about him –his strength, his face, his movements, his deep, manly voice, the way he always tried to hide how caring he really was, the sound of his motor, even the way he frowned when he was angry, and so much more - , now she indulged in fantasies of how it would be like, to be with him…
Once, she even found a set of colored pencils in a drawer and used them on one of the pages in her diary, creating a drawing of a strong, impressive Kirby, surrounded by little red hearts.
Now, she was looking at it again, dreamingly, when suddenly she heard a voice from behind her.
"Cantarella?" Startled, she flinched and dropped the diary onto the floor. There it lay open, the page with the drawing visible for anyone to see.
Oh no!, was all she could think. Her secret diary lay open, and any moment the visitor would see. It was too late to hide it… She turned around to see Blanky in the doorway.
"Oh… hi Blanky. Did… did you come to… to talk about… something?" She hastily picked up the diary and closed it, hoping that the electric blanket had not seen the drawing while at the same time convinced that he had.
"It's okay," Blanky reassured her. "I know that you're in love with Kirby."
"You… you do?" Cantarella gasped, her voice sounding as panicked as she was feeling, the book firmly pressed to her front with her cord.
The blanket nodded. "Yeah, we figured it out. Radio noticed the song you request so often, and that there must be a reason for that…"
"But you didn't tell Kirby anything, did you? Please don't tell him!" She sounded so panicked now, sky-blue eyes widened, that the blanket quickly made an attempt to calm her down.
"No, of course we didn't," Blanky reassured her. "But if you want to, we can try to find out if he likes you too. In a way where he won't know, of course."
"You could do that?"
Blanky nodded. "Yes! If you want to."
Grateful that Blanky and the others were willing, she began to beam. "I would love that! Thank you, Blanky!"
The first one to try was Radio. When the five of them had some time on their own in the living room, he played "Skin" again, stating it was an anonymous request.
"Anonymous?" Kirby huffed. "That's bullshit; it's the song that Cantarella likes so much." Behind his back, Toaster and Blanky winked at each other. And later in the day, Radio could have sworn he heard Kirby humming the melody of "Skin" from inside his closet…
The next one to try a test on Kirby was Lampy. He decided to find out if Kirby knew which books Cantarella liked.
"Kirby, do you remember which book it was that Cantarella tried to get before she fell?" he asked at the next opportunity. "Maybe I can get it down for her, more safely. And don't tell me that lamps are not made for climbing! I will be fine."
Kirby arched a brow as he thought and remembered. "It was some big tome… "The Name of the Wind" I believe. Just don't do anything stupid, got it? We don't need another lamp falling down from there."
Lampy gave an irritated frown at the last remark. "Yeah, yeah, got it. Thank you for the information on the book. So, Cantarella really likes fantasy novels, don't you think?"
Now Kirby was surprised. "You would be the one who would have to know best about that. You are her reading buddy, aren't you? But yes, from what I observed, she seems to like fantasy, and also-" he slightly rolled his eyes, "Romance novels."
Lampy had to suppress a big grin. So Kirby indeed knew about Cantarella's reading habits. Another score.
And to think of it… Did Kirby have an eye on Cantarella that morning all the time before she fell, ready to act if that happened? How else would he have had time to read the title?
Not much later, Blanky and Toaster also asked Kirby things about Cantarella, while making it seem all coincidental. Each time, he knew the answers. Finally, the four decided that they had collected enough evidence.
They gathered to tell Cantarella what they found out.
„Hey!" Radio announced with a dramatic gesture of his antenna. "So we've been doing some digging - "
"Not really," Blanky chimed in, but Radio continued, unfazed.
"- And have determined that…" He paused, playing a drumroll sound. Toaster rolled his eyes.
"Radio, please." Radio interrupted his drumroll, turning around to the reflective appliance.
"Oh, come on! This is some good dramatic tension!"
"He likes you too!" Blanky blurted out, not wanting to make her wait any longer.
Radio's antenna dropped. "… Way to ruin it, Fuzzy."
"It was pretty obvious, actually," Lampy remarked.
Radio sighed, having to admit it. "Painfully."
Toaster smiled at Cantarella encouragingly. "Anyway, you should probably tell him how you feel. There's no way he's going to turn you down!"
Cantarella looked from one to another, beaming with excitement and joy. "Do you think so? That he really likes me? That I should…?"
"Yes," Lampy said, with a nod of certainty. "I don't see how it could go wrong."
"Just be careful, he'll be a tough one to crack," Blanky warned. To that, the Rainbow lamp only smiled.
"Don't worry. I know."
A few days later, one of Robbie's friends from school came to visit and brought his fancy silver laptop with him to study and do homework. When the teenage boys went to town together afterwards, the laptop was left unattended in Robbie's room, giving the appliances an opportunity to meet him.
"Silver, pleased to meet you," he introduced himself. He was quite the charmer, chivalrous in an old-fashioned way. The others introduced themselves, with Radio as the first, followed by Lampy, Blanky, Toaster and finally Kirby. "And who might this lovely lady be?" The laptop turned to Cantarella, who was last.
"I'm Cantarella," the Rainbow replied with a shy but polite smile. She was not used to getting complimented like that and felt a little flattered. But at the same time, she also felt uncomfortable. Was this laptop attempting to flirt with her? She did not want this! It was Kirby she liked, and another appliance flirting with her in his presence would be the worst.
Kirby, however, felt a strange kind of unease upon their interactions. He had no idea why, though, and so he just kept his usual stoic face.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Cantarella," Silver said, with a smooth voice. "Might I be so bold to kiss such a beautiful lamp?" Without waiting for a reaction, he took Cantarella's cord into his own like an old-fashioned gentleman about to kiss a princess's hand.
"Uh, I… I don't think…" Cantarella tried to ward off. This was so unwarranted, and coming from a laptop she just met. Plus, they're in Kirby's presence. What would he think? When Silver placed a gentle kiss on her plug, she felt even more uncomfortable, and suddenly wished to be somewhere else; or at least, for Silver to stop.
Kirby jolted as a sudden burning aversion against Silver filled his motor. Although he always tried to appear indifferent, Kirby cared for Cantarella like he did for the others, despite knowing them for much longer. He could see the uneasy look on her face when that laptop did what he had, and he hated to see her like this. He glared at the laptop and let out a low rumble of his motor, like a growl. And then, when Cantarella cast a short look towards him that spoke volumes, something in him snapped. When he saw that the others, despite looking like they too were not okay with this, were not going to say anything, he decided to act.
Kirby roved over to the laptop with a loud whir. "Hey, can't you see that she's not interested? Keep your plug to yourself, and back off!" The last words he accentuated with an intimidating little hop that, along with the whirring and the anger in his voice, did not fail to take the desired effect on Silver. The laptop immediately did as he was told, startled and discouraged.
"I'm sorry, good Sir! If I have overstepped my boundaries, I will make sure not to do so again!"
"I would strongly advise you not to!" Kirby huffed with a final, aggressive glare that made the laptop snap shut like an oyster before rolling back to the others. They had remained silent since they wanted to see if he would take action. And that, he had.
"Are you alright, Kirby?" Toaster asked.
Radio sounded almost impressed. "I never would have thought you'd be so quick to defend a lady's honor."
"It was getting painful to watch, that's all," Kirby replied harshly before leaving the room. "That, and none of you were gonna do anything, so SOMEONE had to!" they heard him mutter as he went.
Cantarella barely noticed any of the dialogue, for internally, she was jubilating. Kirby's outburst could only mean that he cared for her… it had to be! Why else would he protect her that fiercely from the laptop's advances?
For the rest of the day, Silver the laptop remained closed up and silent until his owner took him back home. He was too intimidated to make another attempt at socializing.
Later, Cantarella spoke with the other four about what had happened.
"Did you all see how Kirby reacted to those… advances Silver made towards me?" She could barely contain her elation. "Do you think that he cares… really cares about me?"
"I do believe he shares your feelings… he is just confused," Blanky explained.
"You… you really believe that?" Her voice was almost a whisper, her eyes full of hope. However, her next words harbored doubt, mixed with a sigh in daydream. "Then again, maybe we're wrong. We don't always know what's going on in that mind of his. Oh, if only it was true…"
Blanky nodded, and Toaster added, "We're positive it is."
"Perhaps what you and Kirby need is a moment alone to admit your feelings – just the two of you," Lampy suggested.
The yellow lamp felt her cheeks turn hot at the thought, like her bulb when it had been on for a while. "Really…?" Now she didn't care anymore if anyone could see her diary – all of them knew anyway.
Radio was convinced, as well as reassuring when he spoke up. "Kirby might be stern and sometimes a bit grouchy, but I think you got a huge shot with him. Did you see how dark his face turned after confronting that laptop? I've never seen him "blush" so much."
"Kirby acts different when you're around," Blanky added. "He makes it quite obvious too. He just doesn't seem to know what he's feeling."
"Now that I think about it… he does, somehow." Cantarella paused for a moment, thoughtfully, then continued: "What… what should I say? Oh, I have no idea…"
Blanky touched her with a corner of his fabric soothingly. "Cantarella… all you should tell him is what you feel in your heart. Your circuits. You know…"
"Just tell him the truth. No dramatic love speech. Just the truth!" Radio added.
Cantarella nodded. "If you think so… then I will." She glanced at the ceiling for a moment, then back to the others. "But what if he… if he…"
"You have nothing to worry about. He loves you. He just doesn't know yet." Toaster sounded quite sure of that.
"And if he hurts your feelings, I'm gonna have a serious word with him!" Radio implored, with a swish of his antenna. This made Cantarella laugh a little, and forget her nervousness for a bit.
"Fine," she said. "I'll tell him. I just have to meet him somewhere alone…"
"I think this coming weekend will be a good opportunity, I think," Lampy suggested. "I've heard the Master mention that he and his family will go on a weekend trip this Saturday – the day after tomorrow – until Sunday. So, there'll be no one but us around. We could then ask Kirby to go see you to the bedroom because you want to tell him something important…"
Cantarella beamed. "Yes, that would be perfect!"
On Saturday, the McGroarty family left as Lampy promised, so this was the perfect opportunity… no humans in the house for two days.
"Don't worry, Canta," Blanky reassured her one last time when he and the others were about go through with their part of the plan. "There is no way this could end badly."
Cantarella nodded. "I hope you're right."
They left, and she stayed behind waiting, in equal parts excited and nervous. If she had had a heart, she was sure it would have pounded like a drum, painfully intense in her chest as well as in her ears. To help ease her nerves, she retrieved and opened her diary, sitting on the bed as she landed on the page with her drawing of Kirby. A few minutes later that felt like hours, the vacuum entered the room, closing the door behind him.
All too quickly, she hopped off the bed to face him, unaware that her diary was now in plain sight from where she left it. And on that page, too! Too late now. He must have seen it… For a moment she just looked at him, nervously trying to find her voice. In the meantime, Kirby briefly looked around the room before turning his attention to Cantarella. He saw the book on the bed, but ignored the image. He could only assume that it was something he shouldn't see.
"So… why am I here?" He arched a brow. "The others literally pushed me in here, claiming you had something important to tell me… what's that about?"
"Uh… yes… I… I wanted to tell you something," she began and felt her face hotter than ever… almost as hot as her bulb when she was giving her light. God, was she glowing?
Suddenly, Kirby felt a hunch of what this might be about. And something that almost felt like panic arose in him… No, he wasn't ready! Not for this, not now! He couldn't think straight. His mind was racing and yet felt numb. "Uh – yeah, what is it?"
She collected herself, took what would have been a deep breath if she had lungs. "Well, it's… something important. You remember that day when you saved me from falling?"
"Yeah?"
"Well…" She made a pause and summoned all her courage. "Since that day… ever since that day…" She paused again, closed her eyes, opened them again… and finally spoke it out, "I… I love you, Kirby!" It was said.
Kirby felt his mind go blank, more confused than ever. However… Cantarella saying that didn't make him feel uneasy but… happy, though he didn't understand why. He just couldn't. He stared at her, opened his mouth, but no words came out. He wasn't sure what these feelings were, or how to articulate them.
"I-… I don't… I… can't…" The more he tried, the more helpless he felt. He didn't want to say anything that might hurt her. But how was he supposed to talk about something he didn't understand?
"I… I don't know…" he whispered, but it was loud enough to be heard.
He didn't know? This was not what she had hoped for… Could it be that she had been wrong in her assumptions? That they all had been? But… Kirby had been protective of her when Silver flirted with her, even jealous – had he not? She felt even hotter than before. What if he didn't feel the same? Wouldn't he have told her then?
"You… don't know?" Her voice was little more than a whisper.
"I – I just…" Kirby bit his tongue, trying to think of what to say. "I… I just don't know if… I… feel…" He looked at the floor, trying to avoid eye contact. If he hurt her, then he didn't want to see the look on her face.
"I… I see…" He didn't know if he felt the same? She felt as if her inner wiring knotted into a hard, painful lump. She didn't want to cry. Not now, not here, in front of him. But she just couldn't hold her tears back. Hot and wet they filled her eyes. "Please… please excuse me…" She moved past him out of the room, avoiding his eyes, and not caring if anyone saw her diary anymore.
Kirby looked at her as she left him, now alone. He saw the glimpse of tears in her eyes. His motor cringed in pain, wanting to go after her but couldn't say anything, nor move. He just stood there, looking at the door the lamp hadn't bothered to close behind her. "…I'm… sorry…" he whispered quietly a few minutes later.