two +
Michael placed the pasta and hot dogs on the table, reaching over Joey to cut the meat for her into tinier pieces. "I'm twelve, I can do this myself," she nudged Michael out of the way.
"Don't be mean, he made you food," Calum shot back at her, sitting down at the head of the table. "If it were up to me, you'd be eating frozen food with juice boxes."
"I would be so okay with that," Juli said, "I love your food, too, Mikey."
He sat down at the opposite end of the table, giving the two girls and Calum a bright smile. "Where's June?"
"Refusing to come downstairs," Calum responded. Michael could hear the slight tone of anger underneath the words he spoke.
"Did she have a bad day at school?" He asked, concerned for the littlest of the Hood family.
"You know her," he sighed. The younger man swallowed a forkful of the hot meal before continuing. "Every day seems to be a bad day."
Michael knew that Calum loved his three girls endlessly. They had a tight bond, even if Calum grew annoyed with them most of the time.
Mike pushed out his chair, wiping a napkin as his mouth. "Let me go talk to her."
"She won't talk to you, Mike, she barely talks to me."
He walked away from the table. "Just let me try." Michael walked up the stairs, taking the steps two at a time.
He was already in sweats and a sweater even though it was barely five o'clock. He had tendencies to leave clothes over at Calum's house due to pure laziness. Michael spent most of his days (and nights) over at the Hoods anyways.
Michael turned right at the stairs, going to June's bedroom. The door was cracked open, letting the hallway light in. June was scared of the dark.
"Sweetie, can I come in?" Mike didn't dare step into June's personal space. He didn't want her feeling like he was taking away the only thing she really had—her own space.
A small figure appeared in the shadows, opening the door wider and letting the older man in. She went back to her unmade bed, sitting between the layers of sheets and her pillow.
Michael looked around the room, books were strewn on the floor, paper and pens were in a mess on her desk. Clothes were piled around the open closet doors, her mirror was smudged and in need of cleaning.
He took a seat on the edge of her bed, giving her most of the room on the twin sized mattress. "Just wanted to come up and make sure you were okay," he said quietly.
She was like a baby deer and he didn't want to spook her.
June nodded, looking everywhere except at Michael.
"I used to know someone a lot like you." Michael put his feet underneath his own body, curling himself closer to the violet walls. "His name was Luke." This name meant nothing to the six-year-old, but everything to Michael.
"Where is he?" She asked. Those three words were most likely in the first dozen words she ever spoke to Michael. June didn't speak much.
"Well, Luke grew up and he got more comfortable in his life. He was able to go out and talk to people and make friends. He lives in a really big city with his own family now."
June looked back at the wall opposite of Michael, not willing to look at the calming man.
"When I first met him, he didn't talk at all. If you didn't look him in the eyes and spoke directly at him, then he didn't say a word. He was scared of talking, he was scared of school, he was scared of leaving the house the first few months I knew him."
