Exhausted after a long, draining day, Mike had a quick wash-up after dinner at the Coopers' and was getting ready to crash.
But he had barely laid down when there was a knock at his door.
"Who is it? Paige?" Mike asked, sitting up in his pajamas.
Usually, Meemaw wouldn't come to his room at this hour. Aside from her, the only other person in the house who would bother was Paige.
"You're not asleep yet?" Paige pushed the door open and made herself at home, walking right in. Seeing Mike in his white pajama set, she asked the obvious question anyway.
Mike frowned slightly as the little girl sat down on the edge of his bed without a second thought. "Did you need something?"
In front of Mike, who possessed some pretty solid acting skills himself, the little girl couldn't hide that she had something on her mind.
"Oh," Paige acted nonchalant. "I was just curious about that song you wrote..."
"That's it?" Mike shook his head helplessly. He pulled a sheet of music from the pocket of his discarded clothes and handed it to her. "Here. That's the new song. You can take it back and analyze it all you want."
Paige seemed to completely ignore Mike's obvious attempt to dismiss her. Taking the sheet music, she said, "I'm just curious about your creative process. Thought I'd quality-check it for you..."
Then, showing absolutely no intention of leaving, she sat there on the bed and started studying the song.
For a genius like Paige, even without formal training in composition, judging the quality of a song was a piece of cake.
Mike, who was ready to sleep, saw how focused she was on the new song and didn't have the heart to kick her out. So, he leaned back against his pillow, eyes half-closed, waiting for her verdict.
Fortunately, she read fast.
A moment later, having analyzed the song, Paige looked up. "It's a really good Christmas song. Is this for the girl who drove you back?"
"Yeah, it's for 'The Bombshells'—her dance squad," Mike admitted, then lowered his voice as if sharing a secret. "Actually, the girls in the squad want to use this song to make a huge splash at the school's Christmas pageant."
"With a creative genius like you helping them, I'm sure their wish will come true without a hitch," Paige said, looking down, her tone dripping with a bit of sarcasm.
Mike immediately picked up on it. Her mood was off.
It was like a child watching an adult give candy to another kid—pure jealousy.
"If you want, I can write you a nursery rhyme. It's not hard..." Mike offered.
In Mike's view, Paige was easy to placate. If she felt things were unfair, he just had to give her a "candy" of her own.
"A nursery rhyme?" Paige, whose mood had just started to improve, bristled at being treated like a toddler. She rejected it immediately. "No thanks. I'm not really into singing."
"Alright then." Seeing her strong reaction, Mike dropped the subject.
He took the sheet music she had tossed aside and, seeing she still wasn't leaving, asked again, "Anything else?"
"I..." Paige, who had high emotional intelligence, realized Mike was getting impatient. She thought for a second and found an excuse. "I want you to teach me how to play computer games."
It was a reasonable excuse that would let them hang out a bit longer. She sounded more confident as she said it.
"Computer games? Now?" Mike couldn't quite keep up with her train of thought.
"Do you have time during the day?" Paige countered. "I want to play that game you were playing last time. Super Mario Bros., right?"
She rounded out her excuse perfectly.
Mike realized that in the few weekends Paige had been here, he really hadn't paid much attention to her.
"Fine," he agreed. "Go boot up the computer. I'll be there in a minute."
"Hurry up then," Paige shot him a proud look and left the room satisfied.
Computer games were just starting to take off. While they didn't hold much appeal for Mike, they were a fresh novelty for everyone else. Even Meemaw had been obsessed for a while after learning how to play.
Moments later, wearing a thick jacket, Mike arrived in the den to find Paige already at the game's start screen.
Half an hour later, under Mike's coaching, the little girl successfully reached the final stage to save the princess.
"Jump... jump... ah... that's too bad..."
As Mario the plumber fell into the lava, Mike, directing from the back, let out a sigh.
With these kinds of platformers, when the atmosphere is right, even watching can be pretty fun.
Mike also noticed that Paige, with her high IQ, was actually very talented at gaming.
"It's okay, try again. You can definitely beat it," Mike encouraged her.
"Why don't you show me how it's done?" Paige turned around and smiled.
After watching for so long, Mike's interest was piqued. He sat down at the computer and bragged, "Watch me save the princess with a single life!"
As Mike pulled off various impressive maneuvers, Paige leaned against the side watching him, a smile unconsciously creeping onto her face.
Another half-hour passed. When Mike's little pixelated man successfully rescued the princess, Paige cheered at the perfect moment.
In reality, the little girl was more than capable of beating the game herself earlier. But she had her own little agenda and had cleverly feigned a "mistake."
That led to this exact scenario.
[Main Attribute: Intellect +1]
Mike, having satisfied his gaming itch, was surprised to see a stat orb drop from the girl. A smile spread across his face.
Playing games with her had benefits like this?
Mike immediately said, "Paige, next time you want to play any other games, just come find me. I guarantee I'll make a pro out of you."
"Okay!" Paige agreed happily, then asked, "Are we done for today?"
"Yeah, it's getting late." Mike turned off the computer. Looking at the girl who was still full of energy, he advised, "You should go to bed. Kids who don't get enough sleep won't grow tall, you know."
Paige, who was already conscious about her height and figure, nodded in agreement at Mike's "threat." "You're right. To grow up faster, I really should go to sleep."
After sending the oddly behaving girl off, Mike went back to his room to rest.
---
While everyone else was asleep, over in another room of the Cooper house, young Sheldon had gone to bed early but was tossing and turning.
Still fixated on the status of being a researcher, he had insomnia.
Sheldon, who had never experienced insomnia before, knew perfectly well that he needed sleep. But the more he tried to sleep, the more awake he became.
His brain was hyperactive, uncontrollably replaying the scene of Dr. Linkletter rejecting him earlier that day over and over again.
Finally unable to endure the torture any longer, Sheldon climbed out of bed, went to the landline, and dialed Dr. Linkletter's number.