I was back at the bowling alley working a slow shift with Emil stationed across the counter from me waiting for the tournament to start.
"So Emil, do I need to start calling you Teddy as well now?"
"Oh no I'm just borrowing. I am sorry about what happened yesterday Amelia."
"Dude don't be. Teddy means well he does. But he has been protecting me more since Jacob went off to college and he goes a bit overboard with it sometimes."
"Teddy told me that a guy asked you out once and you told him he needed your brother and Teddys permission."
"It was because I knew the guy was a creep and that he wouldn't take no from me. But from my big scary brother and Teddy they would. So that's what I do for most guys who try to ask me out."
"I didn't know that part."
"Don't get me wrong. If it was someone like you or Sydney they would be happy with it. If they weren't I wouldn't know what to do." I explained.
"You know Amelia you surprise me more and more. Do you bowl?"
"Oh yeah. Regina gave me my own bowling ball for my birthday."
"I thought you don't tell people when your birthday was?"
"Oh I don't. She just went 'Amelia since I have no clue when your birthday is I'm giving your present now and just gonna say happy birthday.' So now I have a bowling ball."
"You know I like when you tell stories fair Amelia. I feel like I get to know more about you from them."
"Well I'm full of surprises."
Regina came up and gave a kind smile towards us.
"Emil are you ready to practice?"
"Ready as a Moose being rated."
"How do you rate a moose?"
"Wet nose and a firm rump." We said at the same time making Emil smile.
"You have a problem with how much you like Moose's."
"And Teddy has a problem with becoming a robot. Thats more wrong then with liking Moose's a lot."
"I worry for you a lot Mia."
"Yeah I know."
They went off to practice bowling and after Emil got his first strike Teddy came down the stairs. He looked over at me but I looked away and did some homework.
"Mia.... can we talk?"
"Maybe later Teddy. I'm not in the mood to talk."
"I just wanted to apologise for how I was acting. I know I was being too protective over you...I just don't want to see you hurt and when I saw you and Emil like that, I just kinda went into brother mode not considering anything else into factor. I just hope you will forgive me."
"Teddy. I know you see me as your sister and I see you guys as family as well...don't ever tell Regina I said that, it will kill her. But Emil isn't going to hurt me and we are just friends. He obviously doesn't see me in a romantic way, so you don't need to be so worried. Now go do what you were gonna do."
He gave a smile before walking off and I went to go clean a table.
'Obviously even if I did have feelings for Emil like that, there is no way he would ever think of me the same way. I am only just a commoner where he is from.'
~a few moments later~
I was mopping up a spill when Teddy ran over to me.
"Mia! Will you be my partner in the bowling tournament?"
"Uh no. You know I don't like things like this."
"Please Mia. I beg of you."
"Teddy even if I wanted to I can't. I have work till you guys lose. I'm sorry but no. Why don't you ask Wade." I said pointing to him.
"Why didn't I think of that?!"
"Don't know."
He ran off over to Wade and I placed a wet floor sign down. I carried the bucket off the platform before rolling it the rest of the way to the back room. Before I could leave I got a phone call from an unknown number.
'Strange.'
I answered the call and I couldn't believe it.
"Is this Amelia Smith?"
"Yes it is. How may I help you?"
"Hi my name is Dan and I am one of the producers for Fillmore. Now I'm calling today to inform you about a job in Peoria playing one of Fillmore children. Would you be interested in the job?"
"Yes, a 1000 times yes!"
"Great! Now we know you are still in school so you would be doing every second night for about a month or two depending how things go. Rehearsal will be starting in a weeks time along with outfit fittings. I will have Jane send you the times and we will see you in a week."
"Thank you so much for this opportunity. I will see you then."
He hung up the phone and I was so giddy.
'I can't believe I'm going to be in Fillmore! Jacob would be so proud.'
I left the room to see Teddy rush upstairs. I quickly followed and headed to his room. When I opened the door I saw he was working on his tea dipping robot thing.
"Teddy what are you doing?"
"Mia! What are you doing here?"
"Well you wizzed past so I thought you were upset about the tournament or something."
"No not at all. But I needed to fix something on my tea dunking robot."
I narrowed my eyes at him before I realised what he was doing.
"Teddy you aren't doing what I think you are going to be doing!"
"I don't know what you are on about Mia."
"You are going to cheat! Teddy I can't believe you."
"Mia.... it's just to help me and Wade since the corn dog he ate made him feel unwell."
"That must have been what was clogging the sink. But that's not the point. The fact is you are cheating."
"It's not cheating. Just will help me do better then usual."
"It's going to blow up in your face. Seriously does it really matter if you beat your mum and Emil?"
"You wouldn't get it Mia."
"Yeah guess not. How could I?" I said before heading back downstairs.
I went over to the little tables in the bowling area and began to collect some of the empty containers.
'Dad has new kids who he loves more then he ever did for me and Jacob. Never gets better then knowing that's the ultimate of being replaced.'
"Amelia are you alright? You seem down." Emil said behind me.
"Yeah. Just thinking of stuff."
"Then why do you look so upset?"
"Just something Teddy said. That he doesn't know about with my father."
"Would you want to talk about it while I wait for my turn?"
"I have work though."
"Then count this as your official break." He said with his smile.
'Dang it.'
"Fine. Just let me take these to the kitchen and I'll hurry back."
"Wonderful."
I went to the kitchen and needed to rethink things.
'Why is it that he is able to get me to tell him the exact things I can't tell anyone else? Could it be it's because he saw Jacobs spot? This is going to drive me crazy!'
I shock my head, and took a deep breath to clear my mind. Once it was cleared I made my way back to see Emil bowl a perfect strike. He looked so excited about it with Regina, that it made me smile.
'No matter what. I'm glad he is in my life now.'
I walked the rest of the way over and he rushed over to me.
"Amelia did you see how I knocked them over?!"
"Yeah. Pretty good since you were saying you never bowled before when we were on the phone yesterday."
"It's much like the game where we have to roll a cabbage between the legs of a hungry moose."
"I think that is something I am going to have to try out."
"Maybe we could do it together, if you wanted to that is."
"I would love to."
He began to smile and did the weird noise he sometimes did with me.
'Strange boy.'
"So what was it that Teddy said, that made you upset?"
"Just how I wouldn't know what it felt like to be replaced. Probably something to do with Sydney."
'Not my place to say what he actually feels about Emil taking over for him.'
"Who replaced you? Because surely I will make them regret it so much....."
"Emil, Emil. As much as I would love to see you give my father a piece of your mind it doesn't matter. Besides I'm pretty sure you have to wait for your turn."
"Wait. How did your father replace you?"
"Called half-siblings. A year after the accident he had triplets and now a two year old, they obviously mean more to him then me and Jacob ever did."
"Amelia I am sorry to hear that. Is this something else Teddy and Regina don't know?"
"Yeah. Didn't want to give Regina another reason to punch him and Teddy a reason to hate him more. But I am fine. He is out of my life and if he didn't want to be he shouldn't have done it."
"Thank you for trusting me enough to confined in me again, fair Amelia."
"Well I should get back to work." I said as I began to make my way to go find something to do.
I was stopped when my hand was grabbed and I was spun around, facing towards him again.
"Maybe, you don't have to finish work."
"But..."
"I know it's your job. But Regina won't mind and I mean it's slow tonight. You keep having to find stuff to do. So why not spend time with me during the tournament?"
"Ok fine. But as soon as Regina tells me to do something that's it."
"Of course."
We sat down next to each other and I was enjoying the time we were spending together. Later Teddy was showing off with his tea dipping robot arm thing and looked over at us.
"I am on fire."
"Yes, you are. Literally." Emil told as Teddys arm caught on fire.
I quickly rushed over to where we kept one of the fire extinguishers and ran over to him putting it out. He rushed off and I walked back to put it away.
'So stupid. I can't believe I didn't try harder to get him to stop. Maybe I'm not being a good friend with Teddy at the moment.'
"Amelia.... you sad about your dad again?"
"No. It's my fault that Teddy was burning."
"Don't blame yourself."
"But Emil I am. I knew what he was doing and I didn't try harder to stop it. If I did then he wouldn't have been at risk of dying."
"Amelia look at me." He said grabbing my face and holding it close to his.
"Still have lovely eyes." I told him before he began to blush.
"Thank you. But you did everything you could and he didn't listen. You are not to blame."
"Thanks Emil. You are a really great friend."
He let go of my face and had a hurt look.
"Emil are you ok? Did I say something wrong?"
"I am fine fair Amelia. I got to head back to the tournament." He told before heading back.
'What did I do? And why does it hurt that he was upset like that? I will figure it out after he had his go.'
I was waiting for his turn to finish before I could speak to him. Once he was done he began to walk back to the seats only to look shocked to see me waiting for him. He tried to turn away but I was quick to grab his hand and bring him next to me on the seats.
"Emil what's wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong Amelia I am fine."
"No you are not. I said something which hurt you. Why are you upset?"
"Amelia I can not say even if I wanted to."
"Why not?"
"Because I promised Teddy I wouldn't. But please believe me I am fine."
"Emil. I know what being upset looks like. And who cares what promise you made to Teddy is."
"I am just upset that we most likely won't win."
"You promised Teddy you wouldn't tell me you thought you weren't going to win." I said in disbelief.
"Yes. Because he knows how much this means to you and Regina. Seeing as you guys have never won."
"Well of course. It makes sense now. Thank you for telling me that Emil. Oh look Regina is about to go." I said having him turn around.
'I'm going to figure out what he is keeping hidden.'
~half an hour later~
I was relaxing on the couch watching Emil get ready for his next turn.
"You know Mia. You would be good at this tournament if you ever were to enter."
"Yeah, but you know I don't like going into tournaments. More fun to watch people get upset when they win. Man that Dirksen kid is better then her mum!"
"I see your point. As long as you are enjoying yourself by watching then I guess I can't argue."
"That would be a first."
"Oh Emil just got another strike." She said avoiding what I said.
'Of course.'
She stood up and went over to get ready for her turn while Emil headed towards me.
"You did good Emil. So why do you seem sad?" I asked as I poked his cheek once he sat down.
"Well, they only need to bowl a 6. I'm afraid we actually won't win this."
"Dude it's just a tournament. Besides we always lose to the Dirksens, so our tradition will still be continued and you can at least be happy with that." I said
"I suppose you are right. Just wanted you guys to be happy that we won at least once."
"I mean Regina just got a strike. Maybe doing your weird dance thing with her might cheer you up some more." I told bringing him over to her.
I was watching them finished their we are wining dance when Teddy walked up.
"Hey, guys. Something I want to tell you."
"Wait, first, let me thank you,Teddy. I was feeling homesick, and you honourably stepped aside so that I could bowl with your mother. It really made me feel like a part of the family."
"Great. Now I feel even worse. The truth is, I owe you guys an apology."
"Really? I would have never of known." I said as I lean an arm on Emil.
"You may not have noticed, but I was kind of being a poor sport back there."
"You don't say." Regina added as she pretended like she didn't know the whole time.
"No, no. It's true. I was rude. I taunted you guys. I dabbed."
"Yeah never do that again." I told
"In fact, I even played with a robotic-"
"Robotic arm... yeah, we knew."
"What gave it away? The sparks or the smoke?"
"I mean it was a dead give away for people." I said and Regina continued.
"The strikes."
"It was much more impressive than your cookie dunker." Emil told as he did a dunking motion.
"Tea steeper." He told putting emphasis on the word before calming down again. "Whatever. The point is I'm sorry. I guess it just hurt when it felt like you replaced me. And I took it out on Mia which I am really sorry for and hope you forgive me for it."
"Sure dude. I mean we have had worse arguments."
"Sweetie, I could never replace you. You'll always be my one and only Teddy Bear. Come here." Regina said as she pulled him into a hug.
"What a touching family moment for you, Teddy Bear!" Emil said smiling.
"Na dude, you can't say that." I said
"Only she can call me that.... and sometimes Mia when we make bets and I lose."
"Stop saying you can beat me at video games then."
"Never."
"Hey, the ice cream shop closed in 20 minutes. What do you say we continue the tradition and get a scoop."
"But you guys might still win."
"Nah. It's over. The Dirksens only need to roll a two. And she's way better then her mum. I wish she got pinkeye." Regina said before we began to head for ice cream.
We quickly stopped when we realised Emil wasn't coming with us.
"Dude. Why are you standing there?"
"Yeah, Emil. You coming?"
"I thought it was a family tradition."
"I mean I'm not family and they bring me."
"Yes you are Mia." Regina said
"Besides you did say earlier you saw us as one."
"Dude why you gotta snitch like that?!"
"Finally she admitted it!"
"Besides, we can make an exception."
A smile grew on his face as he came over to us and Regina congratulated the Dirksens.
"But I think we are the big winners tonight."
We began to walk off when we heard a buzzer noise. We quickly turned around to see the daughters foot over the line.
"She's over the line!"
"That's a foot fault. We win!" Regina cheered
"Eat it, Dirksens!" Emil shouted making me shocked.
We cheered and I jumped into Emils arms to hug him on winning before hugging Regina and Teddy.
"Why are you so happy Mia? I thought you didn't like the bowling tournament." Teddy said in a mocking tone.
"Oh I don't. It's because I finally get to see the Dirksens face look upset that they lost."
"Wait what? I thought you liked it Amelia."
"Na. Amelia doesn't find these things fun. But right now we focus on our victory!" Regina said before she began to dance.
We did our victory dances and headed off for ice cream.
'This was a good day I'll say.'
While Teddy was figuring out what he wanted Emil came and stood next to me.
"Turns out you didn't need to be upset about us losing again this year." I said
"Yes that is true. Say Amelia, I just wanted to tell you...."
"Emil let me say something first. If you want to lie to me about what the promise you made to Teddy is, make sure you have all the facts first."
"I am sorry for lying about the reason. I just can't break my promise with Teddy until I know he won't hate me and will be my friend."
"I get that dude I do. But I will find out what the promise to him was and how it involves me." I said before giving him a smile.
"Then for now shall we just be in each other's company like you don't know about it."
"Sure. Now let's get this ice cream!"
"I still don't know." Teddy told.
"Omg dude just pick the one you get every time!" I said as we made our way over.