Emo Mario- Part 11 Negotiations Continue
"Peach-e. It's me." I said to her on the message. "Listen. I know we don't-a talk much anymore, but…I have a question to ask you. I am leaving soon. It would-a give me some great peace to see you again before I am gone. If you're there at all, and-a listening to this message, please hear my words. The end of this relationship should not-a hurt our friendship- our bond that we have had for years. I know you haven't forgotten it. I would like to invite you to dinner with some of my close-a friends tomorrow evening. I can pick you up around seven thirty. Please, please return this message, and say you will come." I hung up the phone with a face as if I had eaten something raw and-a distasteful. I pondered over and over again if the words I had spoken were-a just right…for Peach-e. Luigi told me it was fine, and we were to have a great night laughing and-a reminiscing in our old ways. He patted me on the back and smiled proudly, but I could not stop thinking about how it was over. It was like a flower- the most beautiful flower in Luigi's garden. It had bloomed-a so elegantly, and protruded towards the sky for-a many many years, splashing in sunlight and sparkling-a like a summer jewel, and now…now it had faded and withered, curled up into the soil, but never disappeared. It always lay silently to remind me what I had once had.
Toadsworth, not Peach, had returned my call a few hours later. He told me Peach would be ready the next day, and my heart-a soared. I told him to thank her a million times. He didn't seem to know how much it-a meant to me, but explained that he was-a very busy in the royal office and hurried the farewells.
You probably wonder why I speak of these arrangements, and not what had happened with Flavio earlier that day. Well, he had less time than he thought. A call arrived from the docks, and he was to be setting sail in two to three days, and would need to start-a preparation immediately. He chugged down his beer, gave me a smirk, as well as his business card, and suggested a night out to dinner to further discuss-a the matters once every thing was in order. If everything would go well, he would board me on his ship free of charge.
That following night, I was to do something out of my character- to make negotiations, and to woo Peach all at once. With both parties available this night, and it being my near-last, Luigi told me it was-a the only way to leave Rogueport with peaceful conclusion. I had to bring Peach back to me- even if little by little. Perhaps this night would remind-a her…what it could be again if she just opened her heart. Flavio, I cared little for.
