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But I Never Promised You

Scrabble and We the Kings

“No, Travis stop! I hate being tickled.”

We were all walking back up to our rooms, which were coincidently right next to each others, when Travis decided it was a good idea to tickle me. The worst part, Jack wouldn’t even come to my aide, he just stood there laughing at me.

When I was finally able to get Travis to stop, I glared at him.

“I am now uninviting you from playing Scrabble with us.”

“Aww, that’s not cool Mika.”

“Neither is tickling me. You’ll just have to get back in my good graces somehow.”

“How about I write a song for you to duet with me? I overheard you telling Rian you would love to perform with us.”

I almost squealed out loud, I was that excited.

“Well, that might work.”

“So, do I get to come play Scrabble again?”

“Not until I get my song.”

“Oh, come on. It’s going to take a while for me to write it.”

“Well, then you better get going Travis.”

“Fine.”

He started walking back to his room while we were all just standing in the hall.

“I wasn’t really serious about him having to write it this second.”

“We know you weren’t, but I’m pretty sure he already has it mostly done. He had been working on a new song on the plane; I think he might just alter it into a duet. It seemed to be something you would like anyway.”

“Oh. Well, one of you should go get him.”

“We’ll just go together. We have to change anyway.”

“Good idea. See you guys in a few then?”

“Sure thing.”

We all made our way into our respective rooms. Jack and I noticed Alex, Zack, and Rian hadn’t really done anything the entire time we had been in the pool.

“Lazy bums.”

“Who are you calling a lazy bum?”

“All of you, Zackary Merrick. I’m going to change out of my swimsuit. I expect to see you guys doing something different when I get out.”

While in the bathroom, I decided that showering sounded like a grand idea. It was a quick one though, Jack still needed to get in here before the guys from We the Kings came over.

I came out a short while later. Everyone was in the same spot that I left them in.

“Did you guys not hear what I said?”

“We did, we just chose to ignore it.”

“Whatever. Jack, you can get in the bathroom now.”

I got into my bag and pulled out Scrabble and started to set it up on the table.

“Scrabble! That game is the best. I want to play.”

“I’m sorry, Rian. You guys didn’t listen to me, so you don’t get to play. You just get to watch.”

I saw the excitement drain out of his face. It was like I had just told a kid that his puppy died.

“We already have too many players Rian.”

“Two people aren’t too many. I could still play.”

“Jack isn’t the only one I’m going to be playing with.”

He didn’t even bother asking who we were going to be playing with before walking back over to his spot on the bed and sitting down again. I kind of felt bad, but I wasn’t sure what else there was that I could do. And then, a brilliant idea came to me.

“How does this sound Rian, whoever gets the lowest number of points in the game has to switch out with the next person who wants to play? This way, everyone who wants to play can.”

“That sounds fair enough. Who are the other people playing?”

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

No one had noticed that Jack had come out of the bathroom until he bounded over to the door and opened it. He was face to face with the guys of We the King and Travis had brought his guitar.

“Did you finish my song already Travis? That was pretty fast, I must say.”

“Would you like to hear it?”

“Of course.”

“Hold on. Hold on. You’re having guys from other bands write songs for you Mika? Are you trying to hint at something to me?”

“Alex, he wrote a duet for us. He heard Rian saying I would like to perform with them. He was just doing it so he could play Scrabble with us. I uninvited him when he started tickling me in the hallway. You need to stop overreacting so much. I’m not going to cheat on you.”

“I wasn’t saying you were.”

“That’s what it sounded like.”

“She has a point man.”

“Jack, stay out of this. I’m sorry, Mika, I wasn’t thinking. I should have known. You freaked out when you noticed they would be going on tour with us.”

“You’re forgiven Alex.”

“So, who wants to hear the song?”

There was a chorus of I dos heard around the room.

“Okay, here goes.”

Travis strummed on his guitar the intro to the song before starting to sing, “Do you remember the nights we stayed up, just laughing, smiling for hours at anything? Remember the nights we drove around crazy in love? When the lights go out, we'll be safe and sound. We'll take control of the world like it's all we have to hold on to and we'll be a dream.”

I was in awe of the song already. I couldn’t wait to sing it with them. I hope they liked my voice. If not, he would probably be pretty mad about rewriting the song.

Before I could think anything else, he started the second verse, “Do you remember the nights we made our way dreaming hoping of being someone big? We were so young then. We were too crazy in love. When the lights go out, we'll be safe and sound. We'll take control of the world like it's all we have to hold on to and we'll be a dream.”

“Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.” I couldn’t think of a way the song could get any better. It was already one of my favorites and I hadn’t even heard the entire thing yet. That just shows how good of a songwriter Travis is. You don’t have to listen to his songs a million times to fall in love with them. It happens on the very first time.

“When the lights go out, we'll be safe and sound. We'll take control of the world like it's all we have to hold on to and we'll be…When the lights go out, we'll be safe and sound. We'll take control of the world like it's all we have to hold on to and we'll be a dream.”

“It’s so pretty. What parts do I sing?”

“You get the second verse and second chorus. At the end of the song, you echo me. Here,” he said picking up sheet music and pointing to the middle of the page, “this is where that is. If Hunter sings with you, do you think we could run through it once so I can judge your range and see if I need to change the scale?”

“Yeah, that would be fine. I’m assuming Hunter already knows the song since he does backup vocals?”

“Yeah, I already know the song. He made me sing your part to see if the song was worth letting people listen to.”

“I love the song.”

We started the song again. When it got to my part, the cue was really all I needed Hunter for. After a few lines, he stopped singing and just stared at me in awe.

After the song, the members of We the Kings stared at me, not saying anything.

“I didn’t think I was that bad, was I?”

Finally, Travis regained his ability to speak, “No, you were great. I’m just surprised you haven’t tried to make performing a career. You have an amazing voice.”

“I’m a better skateboarder. I like it more too. I’m the state champion in my age class in the state of Iowa. Last time I checked, I was ranked number four in the world. It’s not something I like to brag about. Most of the time, I just get lucky at competitions and my opponents fall or have a different technical error.”

“Okay, I might say winning one competition could be passed off as getting lucky, but not being ranked number four in the world. There is no way. There’s no doubt about it now, I have to come with when you and Jack go skateboarding. I want to see how good you really are.”

“Okay, so enough about me, who’s ready to play Scrabble?” I asked.

Everyone raised their hands. We decided to play rock, paper, scissors to decide who would play first, since there were too many of us. The first round put Alex against Travis, Jack against Hunter, Zack against Drew, and Rian against Danny. After everyone had “battled” so to speak, we had four winners, Travis, Jack, Drew and Rian. After winning, Drew decided that he didn’t want to play anymore since he needed to make a call, so that meant I was now in his place.

We each ended up playing two games before everyone was tired of Scrabble. Naturally, I won both games that I played. Zack and Danny each shared a win of the games that they played.

Everyone decided that since they weren’t tired, we were going to pop some popcorn and watch a movie before bed.

I was fighting with Jack over the pillows, not that it really should surprise anyone, when I actually noticed what movie the guys had put in.

I had seen it approximately 150 times. I knew most of it by heart. Although, I would probably end up falling asleep halfway through it, I usually did when I watched it late at night.

I forgot that there were eight other people in the room with me that weren’t completely aware of my nerdy inner core, so after the credits at the beginning of the movie, I began my quoting.

“The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost for none now live who remember it.”

“Whoa. I didn’t know you liked this movie?” Travis said.

“Shh. It began with the forging of the great rings. Three were given to the elves, immortal, wisest, and fairest of all beings. Seven to the dwarf lords, great miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls. And nine, nine rings were gifted to the race of men, who above all else desire power. For within these rings was bound the strength and will to govern each race, but they were all of them deceived for another ring was made. In the land of Mordor, in the fires of Mount Doom, the dark lord Sauron forged in secret a master ring to control all others. And into this ring he poured his cruelty, his malice and his will to dominate all life. One ring to rule them all.”

“Okay, Mika, that’s enough. We don’t need to hear you quote the entire movie.”

“Why not Rian?”

“It’s rather annoying to tell you the truth.”

“Fine, I’ll stop. I’ll just have you know though; I only quote the introduction scene of the movie.”

“Even still, it’s bad enough listening to it once. I can’t believe Jack picked it out.”

Jack and I had stopped fighting over pillows by this time, mostly because I was distracted. I was cuddled up next to him; he gives me the best back rubs I had ever received.

I must have been more tired than I had originally thought, because it was shortly after Bilbo’s birthday party that I fell asleep.

I was woken up some time later by Alex tucking me into bed. The movie was over and everyone had already left to go to bed. I was still tired, I could feel that, but I was awake.

“Alex?”

“Yes, Mika?”

“Will you sing me to sleep?”

“Of course, love. Any requests?”

“You know what I want to hear. It’s my favorite.”

I’m not sure what it was about Alex’s singing, but after only the first verse, I was already drifting back off into a deep sleep.
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Sorry this took a few days. I hope you like it.

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