Page 43 of A Whole New Trick

“Exactly, and that would have beenfun.”

Mason and Matthew laugh at Miles’s words.

I fight off my smile, determined to at least try to seem like I’m on Morgan’s side. In reality, I agree more with her brothers. Eli was the rule follower of the two of us. I preferred to wing it.

Morgan crosses her arms and glares at each of her brothers in turn. “There’s nothing fun about chaos.”

“Says the walking tornado who likes to trigger family arguments during holiday dinners,” Miles counters.

“I do not!”

“No? What about the time you criticized anyone drinking a zero-calorie soda?”

“Those are basically poison!”

“Is that a 64?” I motion at the console under Matthew’s arm, stifling my laughter as I try to shift the conversation.

Matthew shoots me an appreciative look. “Yeah. The adapter didn’t work on that old beast, so I figured we’d see if an old-school system with aux cables does the trick.”

“Dibs on Yoshi!” Miles and Mason shout at the same time and immediately devolve into an argument about who gets to play as the tiny green character.

Matthew and Morgan ignore the twins and get to work setting up the gaming system. I help Matthew shift the box TV forward so Morgan can slip behind and insert the cords into the aux ports.

Once she’s done, Matthew uses the remote to reach the correct input and turns on the Nintendo 64. We all cheer when the device’s logo flashes on the screen.

“I assume you’ve played before.” Mason holds out one of the four controllers to me.

“Yes, but you four should play the first round. I’ll hop in on the next one.”

He nods and turns to his siblings. “Last place gets eliminated and replaced with Larson. After that, last place is eliminated from the tournament until there’s only one standing. Agreed?”

“Agreed.” They chime as one.

It looks like all the Caldwell siblings have the competitive gene.

This is going to be fun.

“So,Dane, why in the world would you ever agree to date our annoying little sister?” Miles asks from his spot on the leathercouch beside me. I suspect he’s trying to distract me. Right now, it’s him, Morgan, and me playing to advance to the final round in Mario Kart.

“Excuse you.” Morgan steers Princess Peach into Miles’s car, sending him flying over the edge of the rainbow bridge. “Whoops.”

“You’re going to pay for that,” he growls as he waits for Lakitu to deliver his character back to the race track.

Morgan snorts. “Doubt it.”

I chuckle.

This is the third Mario Kart tournament of the night, and through those races, I’ve learned Morgan and Miles are the most competitive siblings. Neither of them won either of the first two tournaments. That honor went to Matthew first and then yours truly. Now, I’m trying to secure the title of Mario Kart Champion with a second victory.

“You know what, Dane, I feel sorry for you,” Miles says. “Blink twice if Morgan is blackmailing you, and I’ll help you find a way out of dating her.”

Morgan takes the decorative pillow from behind her back and throws it over me, hitting her brother in the head.

“Hey!” He shouts.

“No blackmail here.” I laugh, but it comes out a little strained.

If anyone is blackmailing anyone in this relationship, it’s me. By using her desire to keep her distance from Aaron, I’ve injected myself into her life against her wishes. But I think she’s less bothered by my presence as time passes.

---