Chapter 13
Immaturity Leads to Fun
Lorna headed down to breakfast in a cheerful mood. She had just gotten off the phone with her brother who lived in British Columbia, Canada. Her conversation with him was quite pleasant compared to the first time she called him. He had apologized to his sister for being rude to her host who had taken her in. He was quite surprised she had stayed with the man, but he was also quite impressed on how nice he was to her. The conversation did not last too long as he had to leave for work, but he promised to keep in touch. Lorna figured his wife had something to do with it, as she knew his wife was a Michael Jackson supporter.
Upon walking into the dining room, her cheerful mood went quickly sour as she saw three gloomy faces. She immediately rushed over to them.
“What’s the matter?” she asked with concern.
Paris looked up. “Daddy, had to leave this morning,” she answered with sadness. “He’s not sure when he’ll be back.”
“He was gone before we got up this morning,” Prince said. “He hardly ever leaves until after we get up.”
Lorna walked over to the pre-teen. “I’m sure he has his reasons. Who told you that your Dad left?”
“There was a note,” Blanket answer as he answered to where their father would sit for breakfast.
Lorna picked up the note as Prince was sitting directly beside his father’s seat. She read the note carefully. “Well I’m sure he’ll be back before you guys know it.”
“What makes you say that?” Paris inquired.
“I remember days when my Daddy would go away before we got up and you know what?” Lorna said as she took a seat beside Blanket.
“What’s that?” Prince asked.
“My Mom would tell us that he’s just taking a few moments to get some fresh air and when he would return he would be more than loveable and bring home treats.”
Blanket looked up at the sound of treats. “Are you sure?” the young boy looked hopeful.
Lorna hugged the boy. “Trust me. I’m sure your Dad is doing something that will be a surprise to all of us and he wanted to get going before he drew attention.”
“I’m not sure I understand,” replied Paris. “What do you mean ‘drew attention’?”
“I’ve noticed your Daddy has a hard time keeping a straight face when he wants to plan something.”
Prince looked up. “I have noticed that.”
“It’s called your Dad doesn’t have a good poker face. He has a hard time keeping a straight face.”
“So you’re saying that Daddy is planning something and he doesn’t want to tell us?”
Lorna looked at the daughter. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. Besides having him gone, this gives us a chance to be…” Lorna smirked. “Silly.”
The children looked at each other and then slowly smiled.
“That’s the idea,” Lorna smiled. “I don’t like seeing long faces. I’ve lived with it too long.”
“Breakfast is now served,” Kai announced as she walked in to serve breakfast.
With lighter hearts, the four quietly ate their breakfast. All the while Lorna was thinking of what she could do to make sure the kids kept their spirits up. Once breakfast was over, the group left the room and started their day of sillyness. The group went into the family room where Lorna then started a child version of a comedy show, making the kids laugh.
When Lorna began to tire of telling jokes, she went over to their media library. She started to sift through the CDs until she came upon the one she was looking for, Michael’s music. She had a feeling that he would keep his own music. She grabbed one CD and placed it in the stereo that was nearby.
“What are you doing?” Prince asked.
“Sillyness isn’t over yet,” Lorna grinned. “Have you guys had fun so far?”
“Yeah!” the three chimed.
“Then you haven’t seen anything yet. When I was your age. I used to like dancing to your Dad’s music. Well I’m going to show you how I once danced to his music.” She got the CD in place and then punched in the fifth song allowing it to play while she walked over to be in front of the children.
“Beat It,” Paris stated as she recognized the opening beat. “That’s an old song.”
“That it is, but still is a classic,” Lorna said, as she bobbed her to the beat.
“I’ve heard ‘Thriller’ is top number one selling album even to this day,” Prince said. “Dad is really great.”
“That he is.” Just then the words to the song started. Lorna began to lip sing to the words. She began moving her shoulders to the beat and started to bob her head like a bird. As the song progress, she started to swing her arms. By the time the chorus started, she started to swing her arms like a madman, twisted her face in some funny look.
The children began to laugh at the sillyness she was being. As the next verse started, the kids began to laugh even harder. Lorna was really going wild with her arms and head that she did not even notice she had more than the children for an audience.
Over at the entrance, behind Lorna, someone had walked in. The person had heard his own song ‘Beat It’ and heard the children laughing. He had to go see what was going on. Upon entering, he was given a sight he never thought he would see.
Standing in the middle of the room in front of the children was Lorna looking quite silly dancing to his song. He guessed the children had seen him as they began to laugh even louder. Lorna was totally oblivious to his presence. He had to watch.
He leaned against the wall as he watched her, stifling a laugh as she began to swing even faster when the chorus came on for the second time. He cupped both hands to his mouth, not wanting to alert her. But seeing her dancing to his song was just too irresistible.
He continued to watch until the chorus began to repeat itself over and over, indicating the song was almost over. She began to move her feet at this point and twirl around, causing her hair to fly about as she was wildly shaking her head. She made one final twirl when she realized her audience.
Her eyes widened in shock before a loud squeal came out. She jumped back a foot and immediately felt embarrassed. She covered her face with both hands as her face went completely beat red. The kids continued to laugh, nearly rolling on the floor, tears streaming down their faces. They so knew that was coming and seeing it was too precious.
Michael no longer could hold in his laugh. He watched her as he laughed as she turned away from him, keeping her face covered. She did turn a little to be sure she saw right and sure enough still seeing him there at the doorway, she quickly snapped her head away. She was so busted. By now the song ‘Billie Jean’ began to play as it was the next song.
Prince was the first to get his laughter under control and he walked over to the stereo, turning off the CD and put it away. He knew his father wasn’t always into wanting to hear his own music. He looked at Lorna who was now on the floor, knees curled under her, still keeping her face covered. He could hear muffled sounds coming from her, but couldn’t make them out what they were.
He looked at his father as the man began to approach. He kneeled down to Lorna.
“I must say,” he giggled. “That’s quite the greeting for coming home.”
Lorna nearly jumped again as she did not know he was that close to her. She gave a struggled yelp before facing further away from him. The kids chuckled again.
“So can someone explain to me what is going on before I walked in?” Michael asked.
“We were depressed that you weren’t here this morning,” Paris explained. “And when Lorna asked us what was wrong, she decided to spend the time cheering us up.”
“Well I take it, it worked then,” Michael grinned.
“Go away,” Lorna muffled, still hot with embarrassment. “You were not supposed to see that.”
Michael chuckled. “So I’ve noticed.”
Blanket rushed over to his father and hugged him. “Where did you go?” he asked with his innocent face.
Michael looked at his youngest son. “I just had to run a few errands and I wanted to get an early start so I could spend more time with you three. I apologize for missing breakfast. But I’m glad Lorna kept you company.”
Paris walked over and hugged her father tightly around the neck. “I love you, Daddy.”
“I love you too, Paris,” he hugged back.
Prince also gave his father a quick hug and then left to go and play some video games in his room. Paris and Blanket also stood up to go do what they would normally do at this time of day, leaving Michael with Lorna.
Michael reached over to Lorna’s hunched shoulders and rested a gentle hand on her. “I wasn’t intending to startle you,” he said with a sobered voice. “You were just…it was just too cute, watching you.”
Lorna slightly turned her head and looked at him. “But you weren’t supposed to see that. I was only doing it to cheer the kids up.”
“And you did,” he commented. “But seriously where did that dance come from?”
Lorna turned away again. He had caught her, no sense in keeping it in the dark. “When I was younger,” she started in quiet voice, still strongly voiced in embarrassment. “I used to listen to ‘Thriller’ all the time. It’s been my favorite. And when I would hear you sing, it would just make my body relax and just go with the flow of the beat.”
“‘Thriller’ is the top selling album, even to this day,” he commented. “So you used to dance like that as a child?”
Lorna nodded in defeat. “When I got older, I had to stop as my brothers would laugh and tease me. But I would still sometimes secretly dance to it when no one was home even as a teenager when I was really stressed out. Of course that was when it was still a record and not CDs.”
“Those were the days,” Michael said. “Tomorrow is Saturday and it’s suppose to be really nice. I was wondering if you would accompany with me for a drive?”
Lorna looked up, redness finally gone. “Tomorrow?” It took her a few seconds to realize she agreed to go out with him on the day of Blanket’s birthday, which was nearly a week ago. Tomorrow would make it one week since agreeing. In that time, the weather had been nasty, chilly temperatures and rain. Now the weather seemed to be warmer and Michael had gone out. Michael didn’t even want the children to play outside turning those days.
“I guess it shouldn’t be a problem,” she slowly nodded.
Michael clapped his hands together. “Good. We’ll leave a little before lunch tomorrow. I will have to take my bodyguards of course and we’ll take the limo so we can fit everyone in one vehicle. And then next week we’re going to London.”
“I’ve never been in a limo before,” Lorna stated.
Michael smiled. “Well then you’ll be in for a real treat. I’ll make sure the little cooler is filled up with yours and my favorite beverages. Kai already has all your favorite foods in her food list, so I’ll be sure she makes your favorites in that as well.”
“Michael,” she started to feel nervous, but wanted forced to keep her voice in check. “Are you sure you want to have a picnic? I mean we are still February.”
Michael nodded. “Of course.” He was not going to let her get out of this. He had to tell her his feelings or they were going to burst. In fact him leaving really early was actually to look for a suitable spot for the two to have their picnic and it was a perfect spot too. He knew she liked nature since listening to her nature sounds CD. And from seeing her just a few moments ago dancing like a nut, he nearly lost control of his emotions. He so badly wanted to tell her. It was driving him nuts.
“Okay,” she said. She finally stood up as she felt her legs beginning to go numb. “Well…I…umm…better…” she stuttered.
“Cat got your tongue?” he inquired.
She turned to him to see him with a mischievous look in his eyes. “I beg your pardon?”
“You were just stuttering, so I’m wondering if a cat got your tongue.” His eyes glimmered with humor.
“You are impossible,” she huffed. She turned away when suddenly she felt a couple fingers give a feather touch on her neck. It caused her neck hairs to stand on end and she jumped. She turned away to see it had been Michael’s.
“What are you doing?” she narrowed her eyes.
“What makes you say I’m doing something?” he asked innocently. He so wanted to bug her. He did not want her to leave the room yet.
“Don’t you give me that,” she placed her hands on her hips and frowned. “I know that…look.” Her eyes widened as she slowly released her own hips. “No…” she shook her head. “Please don’t.”
“Don’t what?” he asked again innocently as he slowly took a step forward.
“Michael,” she warned. “Don’t you do what I think you’re going to do.”
He smirked as he took another step closer causing her to take a step back. She continued to step back. For every step she took, he took a step. She had a good idea on what he was about to do, she had to plan her way of escape carefully, he was a fast runner, that she was sure of.
As he looked at her, before she had turned around to try and leave, he suddenly had the overwhelming urge to do what he thought of doing when his son was chasing her on his birthday. Seeing her dancing like a maniac was just too enjoyable to let it go right yet.
“Michael…” she whispered as she took another step back. “Please don’t do this. I thought we were friends.”
“We are,” he smirked. “Isn’t it normal for friends to joke around and have fun.”
“Yes…” she breathed. “But not at the expense of what you’re about to do.”
“And what would that be?” He stretched his hand to catch hers, but she quickly snapped her hand to her body, getting it out of his reach.
He tried again with the other hand, but found she eluded him again. With a thought in mind, he took one large step and grabbed both of her arms, causing her to gasp in shock. He pulled her against his body, still grinning. “Now what are you going to do?” he asked mischievously.
She began to struggle, just as his hands found her way to her sides and began tickling her. She soon started to sequel and struggle to get away from him. He noted how much of a wiggle worm she was. Though he hoped she didn’t find out he was just as ticklish as she.
She tried to move his hands but found it to be futile. She had to get his hands off of her and get away from in a hurry before her squeals alerted the kids and they join in. She really didn’t want that. As she struggled, she was actually helpless in his grasp. He would stop very few seconds to let her breath before attacking her again.
At one point of letting her breath, something in her snapped about reading something about her host. She had read somewhere on the Internet something about his weaknesses. She couldn’t remember what those weaknesses were but she needed to learn them fast.
She reached forward, about to push on his stomach to get out of his grasp. Her fingers lightly brushed along his ribs and he jumped at the contact. His grin turned to a look of shock. She was finally out of his grasp, still breathing heavily.
“Was that,” she panted. “You jumping cause I hit a sensitive spot?” she asked.
“No,” he cracked. Boy he was now in trouble, but if he could twist it back to his advantage, it would be good.
He launched forward, planning on grabbing her hands, preventing her from doing it again. But he prevailed wrong. She had renewed energy suddenly. He was ticklish, she was sure of it. As he launched at her, she twisted around and attacked his unprotected ribs and began to tickle him back.
He blurted out laughing, trying to stop her fingers. He pushed away from her, causing her to fall on the sofa. Before she had a chance to get up, he decided to see if she had ticklish feet. He grabbed her feet and she immediately started to squirm again, to get away from him.
She thrashed about before finally kicking her feet into his hands, forcing him to let go. She didn’t give him a chance to recover before she climbed to the back of the sofa, jumping off of it and bolted for the stairs. He was amazed at how fast she was moving. He had to get her for finding his weak spot. He bolted after her up the stairs. He was grateful that his and her rooms were on the opposite side of the house so the kids wouldn’t hear what was going on.
She continued to run, seeing he was on her heals. She squealed again and ran faster. With his speed, he was able to catch up to her. He nearly was able to grab her at the top of the stairs but she did an abrupt turn about and headed towards her room. She got to her door and luckily it was opened. She ran as fast as she could, now able to feel his fingers brushing her arms as she ran, since he was faster than her.
Once getting to her room, she slammed the door shut nearly in his face and leaned against the door, breathing heavily. Just as the door closed, he had reached her door, but it was one second too late. She was safe.
“That room,” he lightly panted. “Won’t hold you forever.”
She was leaning against the door, hearing him. “At least,” she panted heavily. “It keeps you…pant…out for now.”
“You may win for now,” he continued. “But there’s always tomorrow.”
Her eyes widened in sudden fear. She was going to be alone with him tomorrow and they were going out. There would be nothing to protect her if he tried it again. She was now in deep trouble.
“Can we call a truce?” she suddenly blurted.
“A truce?” he questioned.
“I won’t tickle you, if you don’t tickle me. I mean if you keep this up. I will have no choice but to turn down the King of Pop, which I’m sure no fan has ever done before.”
“But as you told me before you weren’t really a fan of mine, just a respecter,” he taunted. “But I suppose a truce can be made, for now. But remember this, you attack my children I attack you. And I can see you are very ticklish on the feet.”
“And if you attack me,” she countered. “I will attack you. Don’t forget, I know my way around the Internet. I’m sure I could find some goods on you for the next time.” She was beginning to get her breathing back to normal.
Michael already had his breathing back to normal as he did not have lung problems. He had an idea Lorna probably did as she did live in Las Vegas and probably was around many smokers, making her a second hand smoker. He backed off from the door. He raised his arms. “I have walked away from the door.”
She could hear from the door that he did as his voice was muffled from being a little away. She turned to the door and slowly cracked it open to be sure he was correct. Sure enough he was at the opposite side of the hallway, hands raised. She opened the door more to get a better look at him.
“You promise to end this?” she asked.
He nodded. But he was sure he was going to do it again, but not anytime soon however. “I’ll give you a break,” he said. “I didn’t realize you were that ticklish.”
“And I didn’t realize you were either,” she admitted. “So we’re even. I just can’t use you as a shield.”
He smirked. “That’s true.”
“Oh, I spoke with my brother this morning,” she said, changing the subject, as she fully stood out of her room. “He surprised me today.”
“Oh?” he was now completely sobered from the tickle chase. “What did he have to say?”
“He’s surprised that I’m still here, but for some reason he wasn’t rude like the last time. He was actually quite impressed. And he’s actually happy that I’m no longer living in Las Vegas. He hated the idea of me living there. And he is glad that at least I’m living somewhere who will take care of me.”
Michael smiled. “But he still doesn’t respect me.”
“I think he’s coming around, if his wife has anything to say about it. She’s a fan of yours and she was actually at your concert you had ages ago in Vancouver back in the early 80s.”
“That was a long time ago,” he said. “I only had ‘Thriller’ and ‘Off The Wall’ at the time.”
“Well what about your other albums when you were part of the Jackson Five?” she asked.
“Yes, I have some solo albums from then but the other two were since breaking off from Jackson Five,” he explained.
“I know,” Lorna smiled. “But my sister-in-law loves the idea that I’m staying here with you. She though has requested to sometime meet you though. I told her that may be not so easy. I may be living with you, but that doesn’t make it right for me to use you like a tool to meet more friends.”
Michael looked at her with surprise. If he wasn’t already in love with her, he would have right then and there. She had much respect for him. “I’m not sure what to say.”
“Well besides the fact you are one sneaky bugger, you are human and deserve respect. And it would be wrong and betray your trust. You already told me you have trust issues and I promised you that I would never hurt you like the Arviso’s did. Besides, I am not that kind of person.”
He walked up to her, wrapping his arms around her as a couple tears shed from his eyes. She had to wrap her arms around him. “Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to mean,” he whispered, near her ear.
With the embrace she knew the tickle torture session was completely over. “You’re dear to me Michael,” she whispered back and then added to herself. More than you know too.
Michael held her close for a few minutes before releasing her. He then excused himself as he wanted to spend some time with his children. Lorna nodded to his retreating back and then went to her room to relax. From her being silly and then being embarrassed to getting tickled and then chased, wiped her out. She did wonder what the outing with Michael Jackson was going to bring.
After relaxing on her bed for a bit, she picked up her phone, which was installed in her room, and phoned Michael’s mother. She wanted to talk to the older woman for a bit, mostly to let her know what Michael had planned for the two of them.