The next morning, Jimmy is up early, and is having breakfast in the hotel restaurant alone. He's in a foul mood, having been haunted all night by a pair of bright green eyes. Frustrated, he's summoned his robot dog from Texas, and is having a conversation with it, drawing curious stares from the tourists and hotel staff.

"Love… can you believe it? Sheen was s… cool this year… thinking only of his studies, and going on about landing a job in animation… and now? It's pathetic… How can a man fall in love, anyway?"

If Goddard could have rolled his mechanical eyes at that statement, he would have. Instead, he plays a clip of an eleven year old Jimmy at the candy bar, on one knee exclaiming, "I love you, Cindy Vortex.." Jimmy colors at the sight of this.

"That was the effect of the love potion, and you know it Goddard… lousy pheromones…"

'Are you sure you would never end up in Sheen's position?' the words flash across Goddard's built in monitor.

"NO WAY…" Jimmy vehemently denies the possibility, before an image of a particular vivacious blonde appears in his mind, "well… I guess you never know… love MAY make an oyster of me… but until it does, it will NEVER make me such a fool… I see girls who are pretty everyday, and I'm not affected by them at all. Nice girls too… I guess if someone had ALL the qualities I wanted, it would be hard to resist, but… what are the probabilities of that?

'What qualities might you be referring to?' If Goddard had lips, they would be twisted into a knowing smirk by now.

"Beautiful, of course… intelligent… honest… definitely not a player… someone kind and loyal but not sugary, in fact… someone who could stimulate me intellectually… someone passionate… and I like a little fire in a girl, you know… and she should be…"

'Blonde?'

Jimmy's eyes take on a dreamy look, before he catches himself and responds with dignity, "Her hair can be whatever color God wants…Uh-oh, Goddard, Carl and Mr Love are here… let's go hide. I just ate… don't need Sheen to turn my stomach with his 'I love Libby' nonsense…"

Clumsily, Jimmy hides behind a large potted plant. Spying Jimmy, Sheen leads Carl to the table directly in front of his 'camouflage' and proceeds to speak in a loud, pointed voice.

"Can you believe Cindy Vortex is actually in love with Jimmy?"

Sheen pauses, as they hear a loud choking sound coming from behind the potted plant. Sheen chuckles silently, while Carl forces a response.

'How.. do you know that, Sheen?'

"Libby told me… can you believe it… she acts like she hates him!"

'But are you SURE? Maybe she's… acting?'

"ACTING?!? YOU CAN'T COUNTERFEIT SUCH PASSION" Sheen is getting carried away, "Libby told me she's up all night, writing… and at the end of it… she cries herself to sleep, saying, Oh Jimmy… I'm sure you must have seen some signs while you lived with her, Carl?"

'S-signs…'

"Yeah… signs that she was thinking of him…"

'Well…' unable to think of anything to say, Carl pulls Sheen over, and pretends to whisper in his ear, while a curious Jimmy strains to hear. The tourist couple at the table next to him are now genuinely alarmed, and have requested a change of table.

"You AMAZE me, Carl… so… you think we should tell him?"

'NO…He'd only torment her further…' Carl's bitterness was genuine. He didn't know how he'd ended up in this situation; trying to help the girl of his dreams get together with his best friend…at one point the previous night it had all seemed so obvious to him… now, it was just downright annoying. Unfortunately for Carl, it was too late to back out. Sheen was not one to abandon an "evil mastermind plan for good," as he put it.

"But he's a GENIUS… surely he can see what a good catch she is…"

'Yeah… she's beautiful, smart, honest, loyal, passionate… kind and caring but not sugary…' Carl's voice was truly wistful, to the eavesdropping Jimmy's slight annoyance.

"AND she's smoking hot!" Sheen earned a glare from Carl and another from Jimmy with his remark.

'Sometimes I think Jimmy should just examine himself.. and see how little he actually deserves a girl like Cindy…' Again, Carl's remarks seem to be truly heartfelt, piercing Jimmy to the core. Sheen, hearing the heavy breathing from behind the plant, knows they have hit their mark, and cheerfully turns to Carl.

"Hey, isn't Cindy supposed to be joining us for a swim today? Let's go get Eustace and Betty, so we can go pick her up.."

'No, she's meeting us here… but she should be here pretty soon…let's go get our gear.'

The two friends make their way out of the restaurant, each whistling for a different reason. Sheen seems happy that his plan seems to be starting to work. Carl, on the other hand, is an 18 year old boy about to see the girl he's interested in wearing a bikini…meanwhile, Jimmy has gotten kicked out of the restaurant, and is pacing in the lobby, discussing the conversation he has just heard with his faithful mechanical canine.

"Can it be TRUE?"

'Carl can't act…'

"That's right… and it can't be a trick… they have the truth of it from LIBBY… She'd die before she let ANYONE play a trick involving Cindy…"

'So, if it's not a trick, what are you going to do about it?'

"I never thought…I mean she's so… beautiful… and smart… and sweet... well, not sugary sweet but sweet anyway… and thoughtful… and loyal… and passionate… and that flash in her eyes when we argue…Goddard… I think I love her too!"

'So… you are a genius, after all' sarcasm had been programmed into Goddard when Jimmy turned 14.

"Goddard, access file 925C"

Goddard opens up his monitor, and picture after picture of Cindy appears on the screen. Jimmy himself had no idea he had accumulated so many of them, but now he looks over each and every one with a dreamy sigh, until he looks up to see the self same blonde in front of him, clad in a seafoam green bikini. He gulps, his blue eyes widening as he takes in her long, shapely legs, taut tummy, curvaceous torso, shiny blonde ponytail and flashing green eyes. He wills himself not to ogle, as he focuses his attention on her pink lips, twisted into a grimace that he somehow had always found endearing…

"Neutron, I've been sent against my will to call you to join us at the pool" Cindy's words are spoken through stiff lips. She turns to leave when Jimmy calls her by her name… a circumstance unusual enough to warrant a pause and a turn.

"Cindy… thanks for your pains…" Jimmy struggles to get out a coherent sentence.

The look in her eyes changes from shock to confusion. Pains? What IS he talking about…

"Er Neutron..I didn't take any pains to come here… if it had been painful, I wouldn't have come…"

'You take pleasure in the errand, then?'

"Yes, Neutron… about as much pleasure as I would take at a knife's point…" Cindy is growing impatient with Jimmy's inexplicable behavior. "Not coming, huh? I'll see you later, Neutron…" She turns and leaves, giving Jimmy the opportunity for a long, appreciative look at her… back.

"Against my will, I've been sent to call you… there's a double meaning in that!" Jimmy is exultant!

"Whatever you say, Neutron." In response to Jimmy's egotistical remark, Goddard has played a video clip of Cindy rolling her eyes at him, recorded just before their high school graduation. With a dreamy grin, Jimmy sinks onto the hotel lobby couch, earning looks of concern and distance from the hotel concierge and manager. They both agree that the "strange kid with the blue eyes" would have been kicked out of the hotel hours before, if he hadn't been a guest of their best customer.