Disclaimer: Sky High is owned by Disney. I do not own Sky High, but the original characters in this story are from my imagination. Some characters in the movie do not have names, so I went ahead and gave them an identity for the sole purpose of the story. This is a nonprofit work of fiction that I write for entertainment.
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To Touch Fire
Ch.12: Girl Talk With Alittle Mayhem
It took roughly an hour or so for the compensation checks to be completed that lazy Wednesday afternoon.
For a while now, Joi had been attempting to persuade the bank into helping her draw up a direct deposit system for the employee's that did have banking accounts. It would be another convenience for fewer checks to be written and instead, have the bank deposit the employee's earnings straight into their accounts. However, the bank felt that her establishment was still too raw, and attempting such a sudden change could cause complications.
Give it more time, they say. As if she didn't know a thing about handling money.
Deciding not to push the stuffy banker any more than necessary, Joi exited the columned building of Maxville's Trust Bank and entered the flowing and moving current that was lunch traffic.
Having foregone walking that day since the bank was located in Downtown Maxville, Joi had taken the bus into the city. Aunt Ming Yue had attempted to cajole her many a time to invest in an automobile, but Joi honestly preferred catching the bus or walking. A car wasn't necessary when one had the means to get around.
In stark contrast to the suburban life she had been brought up in, Downtown was a bustling section of the city. Joi never travelled much into town, but she couldn't deny that it was a sight. The tall, imposing skyscrapers reached toward the heavens and reflected the sun's glare as she made her way through the throng of busybodies. She must have been a sight herself. A young woman, wearing a floral print sundress and staring at surrounding buildings out amongst the drably dressed businessmen- and women- hurrying by with their faces grim, heads downcast, as they talked loudly into their cellphones, trying to be heard over the deafening crowd.
The city life just wasn't her cup of tea.
Shifting the weight of her shoulder bag, Joi continued on her way without distraction. Every other Wednesday afternoon was marked down on her calendar as her scheduled lunch-date with her college friend. They would always meet up around one o'clock at Lou's Dinner down by the corner of Jensen and 148th avenue.
Joi was already running ten minutes late.
Weaving through the crowd and excusing herself when she bumped into another's shoulder, she finally managed to reach Lou's Dinner and proceeded to hunt down her friend. Within seconds of looking, Joi had found her sitting at their usual booth near the front counter where Lou, the dinner's owner, was busily refilling coffee mugs for customers.
Waving to the busy man, earning her one in return, Joi walked around scattered tables and took a seat opposite her friend.
"You're late and I love the dress, hon." Her friend's eyes narrowed slowly in concentration when she finally got a good look at her, "Your hair though…it looks slightly glossier than usual and your skin looks peachy, have you been sleeping around?"
Sticking out like a sore thumb in her vibrant vintage coat, Marjorie Hawk smiled knowingly at her best friend. Her dark plum painted fingernails drummed against her chin with her wild, curly hair framing her soft features, accentuating her sensual and alluring beauty. Her deep-set, chocolate-colored eyes feathered with short, full lashes and sweeping eyeshadow promised many a sinful things, but kept an air of mystery to lure those hungry flies in. She was pure sweetness, with her full and rolling hips, heavy bosom and promiscuous smile. She was all things sexual personified and she just loved the added attention.
Shaking her head at her friend, Joi sighed, "Must you think of nothing else, Marie?"
Shrugging her shoulders, the young African-American woman smiled her legendary smile as she drank from her glass of water. "Darling, when it comes to you, I am a single-minded woman. I worry about you and your unhealthy sex-life. It pains me."
"I'm sure," she muttered, taking her own sip of sweet tea that Marie had knowingly ordered for her. "I see now why you and my aunt are in perfect harmony with one another."
Chuckling with her slow, smooth voice, Marie eyed her friend, "Ming Yue and I have an understanding. She always thought I was trouble. Too right she was, my dear. I never pretended to be something I was not around her, and I guess she liked that. Who really knows? Your uncle though, now he's a sweetie pie. But we are digressing, answer my question."
Rolling her eyes, Joi answered her, "Of course I haven't been sleeping around. Where in my busy schedule do you see me having time to do such things, and even if I could, I wouldn't. You know that. You know how I am, Marie."
"Now don't make me lose hope, Joi. I'm rooting for a non-virgin by the end of the year. It was my New Year's resolution last year."
"Your New Year's resolution was for me to lose my virginity? I definitely will be keeping these closed for sure now, thank you very much," Joi replied, motioning to her thighs. "And aren't New Year resolutions supposed to be for yourself?"
"Now why would I need one for myself? I am perfectly content."
"So am I, Marie!"
Eyeing her carefully, Marie dismissed her with a wave of her hand. "No hon, you most certainly are not. But not to worry, there is hope for you still."
Having known the young woman for almost four years now, Joi knew that when Marie got on the subject of her love-life, there was no stopping the plotting, the manipulation, and the weaseling that more than likely would ensue.
In their freshman year of college, the two had shared a common calculus class. Not one to be overly friendly, Joi had spent a good week or so without saying a word in class and doing her work diligently. Marie was very much the opposite. An eccentric and domineering woman by nature, she would usually wave her hand up in the air deliberately to get called upon by their professor, only to insult him afterwards on the choice of their current lesson. Questioning an educator's method of teaching usually never ends well and Marie usually found herself being asked to vacate the classroom for the day.
The following day, Marie had shown for class. The professor was yet in arriving since it had been a few minutes before class started. A few students were already seated, including Joi. Marie had taken her usual seat behind her and began rummaging through her things. When she ceased, Joi caught the tempo of her nails drumming along the desk in apparent boredom. She had then felt a manicured nail tap her on her shoulder and when she had turned in her seat, the young African-American woman had very politely asked if she could copy her notes from yesterday's lesson.
Handing Marie her notebook, they said no more to each other for the remainder of class. The following day, Joi was already seated when Marie made her appearance. Heading up the stairs, she was just passing by her row, when she seemed to still and then, thinking better of it, sat right beside Joi and introduced herself as Marjorie Hawk, but Marie would do.
"Joi," she had responded mutely, wondering at the sudden need to befriend her.
"I hope you don't think I'm too forward, Joi, but I just love your hair. I haven't seen hair as long as yours since back in the '90. It suits you. I myself have never worked on Asian hair before, but it is a weakness of mine. But, darling, those nails! I caught a glimpse of them yesterday and they were almost chewed down to the cuticle!"
It was a strange way to start a friendship, but they had remained friends ever since that day. Marie, the cosmetology major with a minor in art, had always found it amusing that of all the Asians she just had to get stuck with, it had to be with one that didn't know a thing about nails.
Some might have thought her musings stereotypical, but that was just Marie. She will tell you exactly how she feels about any given subject, not bothering in being politically correct. She was a spiritualist, an ambitious feminist, and one fiercely, opened-minded woman.
Keeping this in mind, Joi just disregarded her friend with a proper shake of her head. "Your insanity knows no bounds."
Winking at her, Marie paused from answering her when the waitress reached their booth and addressed them if they were ready to order. Taking down their orders, the waitress promptly dismissed herself, reassuring them that their food would be served shortly.
"My dear, I will not give up on you. Call it my over-hyped blood, but I want to see my girl with 'sex-hair' at some point in my lifetime. Which reminds me, when are you passing by the salon? Those spilt-ends need to go."
For some reason when Marie mentioned that, a certain rogue with unkempt hair that needed a good trimming presented himself fixedly in her mind. It must have shown on her face, because Marie crossed her arms and leaned forward over the table, "Is there something on your mind, hon?"
Cupping the glass of tea between her palms, Joi ran her thumb over the lip absentmindedly. "I don't know."
"It must be something," Marie stated, toying with the gold bangles on her wrists. And then a slow smile spread through her lips, "Oh, I know exactly what it is. I've seen it before." Her dark eyes were shining and her bronze skin seemed to glow with a new awareness.
Joi watched as Marie licked her top lip pensively, "It's a guy, isn't it?" At the fierce blush that took over her friend's cheeks, Marie gave a good whoop and her smile looked more like a smirk all of a sudden, "Well don't just sit there, hon, tell me about Mr. Lover-boy."
"I swear, Marie, when you say lover-boy like that all I can think about is Dirty Dancing."
"Oh so you want to dirty dance with your secrete man, eh?"
"Marie!" Joi chastised, lowering her head onto her arms and groaning, though the sound was swallowed by the crook of her arm. Faintly, Joi could hear in the background Lou messing with his radio, finally settling on the news station.
Why oh why must her friend be of such a perverse mind? She felt fingers conscientiously running through her hair and sighed. "I shouldn't have said anything," she muttered into her arm.
The fingers stilled their ministration. "You're going to have to speak up, darling?"
Lifting her head and adjusting herself, Joi eyed her friend skeptically. "I said, 'I shouldn't have said anything.'"
Marie shrugged her shoulders, "I would have figured it out anyways. Now, are you going to spill, or not?"
What was a girl to do? When your best friend asks you to spill all, to delve into your current, plaguing thoughts and finally give them reprieve, what would you do? Joi couldn't bring up to her aunt or uncle the strange, yet enthralling moments she had shared with a certain busboy. How after so many years of absence, she was starting to think more of him. How her feelings were so muddled that she couldn't make out who she was anymore. She didn't even know who he was anymore.
And yet, she couldn't help how she felt. He was someone who needed her. He was a friend, not friend, whom she had wanted to help and now she didn't know where the line between friends and slow attractions began and ended. He captivated her, and it scared her.
How easily he could come into her life and make her question herself.
There was something he was still hiding from her, something they were all hiding. And so, Joi told Marie everything, from the night when she had closed the Paper Lantern and had walked home, only to find the troubled young man she had known ten years ago sitting in an alleyway. She told her of how she had taken him to her apartment and how she had gone about in getting him to remember who she was. She even told her about Will and Layla's appearance that night and how she had left them alone at her place, so that they could reacquaint themselves with each other.
She had to pause her retelling, since the waitress came at that moment with their hot food. Thanking her, Marie expertly dismissed the waitress and turned her undivided attention back onto her. She stayed perfectly still, her heavy top-lip, generously glossed over in matching plum lipstick, wedged between her teeth. The young African-American woman made no notion to speak and waited with surprising patience for her friend to begin where she left off.
Sighing, Joi worried the napkin in her hand, "I don't know, Marie. I'm just…" She lowered her eyes and stared instead at her fingers pensively, unsure on how to finish that statement.
"I'm starting to think there is more to it than that, hon."
Too right she was. Joi, focusing her erratic thoughts, finished her musings. She described how after a few hours she had returned to her apartment, only to find the rogue asleep on her couch. In embarrassment, she retold how she had touched him, leaving out from her story the bruise on his jaw and any other weird anomalies that had transpired that night. Marie's brow had shot up into her hairline at that. Still, the woman remained uncharacteristically silent and never made to interrupt her.
"I offered him work as a busboy and now he works for me. I told him that his rent would come from his paycheck and he seemed alright with the proposition. Not much else, I guess." At finishing, Joi sat back and watched as her friend's face became quite animated.
Oh Marie was having a very good day! "I particularly enjoyed the bit about how you vandalized him in his sleep. My baby, so grown!"
"I honestly don't know what came over me, Marie," Joi defended. "Besides, he didn't seem so upset with me."
Marie snorted very unladylike. "Of course not, hon, he's a man!"
Joi gave her a withering look, "Clearly you don't know Warren Peace like I do. The man practically has stamped on his forehead 'Do Not Disturb! Warning: Bad Dog! Private Property: No Trespassing-'"
"I get the picture, hon."
"-Beware: Easily-Angered-And-Cranky-On-Most-Days!" Joi breathed in deeply before continuing, "He doesn't like it when people touch him, Marie. I was mortified! Thankfully he hasn't mentioned it since."
Marie shrugged, "Well, from what I remember, that piece of eye-candy never seemed much of a talker, so bringing up things better left alone would be something he would do, and he certainly was a rather prickly fellow. Apparently, he hasn't changed much."
There was a pregnant pause. "You know him?" Joi didn't understand why her voice suddenly sounded so small to her ears.
"Well, I knew of him. Ethan went to school with him, including Will and Layla. They were all friends," Marie replied, taking a slow drawl from her water and a testing bite of her food. "But I did get a good glance in once, and my, I don't blame you for your wandering hands…hmm…got to love Lou's."
Groaning, Joi played with her own food with her fork, but decided not to respond. Her appetite suddenly seemed trivial to the conversation at hand.
Dabbing her painted lips gently with a napkin, Marie grinned cattishly at her friend. "I think you like him, hon."
It took her friend's outspoken words to make her rethink about the last few days. "No, I don't, I can't. We're not even really friends right now and I'm just helping him out in the mean time until he gets back on his feet."
But for some reason she doubted her words and she knew Marie did as well. She hadn't told Marie how his body had been smoking when she had found him and how at strange moments a heat would creep up her spine. She couldn't say those things, because she somehow knew they were private and dangerous. Whatever this was, she wanted to keep to herself until she understood what was going on.
"You know what I think?" No, but I know you're going to tell me. "I think you're just trying to come up with excuses. I'm pretty sure you never stopped thinking of him as your friend, what with you giving him Eskimo kisses and all, which I find rather adorable I might add. And now, something has changed that is making you hide things from me, but it's ok," she said, holding up a hand in reassurance when Joi made to deny it.
"Really, hon, it's alright. I just worry about you. You're too nice. And, you think that you can help every living, and possibly nonliving, things on this planet. Just be careful around him, ok? I don't feel like breaking his balls, but if he hurts you, I'll make an exception."
Marie, in rare moments, was touched with such easy clarity and tended to hit home with her perceptive musings. But then her blunt, sharp words tended to kill the moment rather quickly. "You're violence is not necessary," Joi said gently, a sweet smile spreading through her lips. "Thanks, Marie."
"What do you think I'm here for?" Marie huffed, not at all deterred. "I've got to watch out for my girl's best interests after all." With a fluttering wink, the hot-blooded female turned back to her generous meal and proceeded in eating.
Joi joined her with less enthusiasm.
Now that they were busy eating their lunch, the voices on the radio that Joi had faintly heard earlier were much clearer.
"-Yes, Ramona, the Mayor is one-hundred percent positive that his campaign will bring about his certain reelection into office. In three weeks time, he is holding a fundraising banquet in Town Hall, just a week short of the general elections. Talk about confidence! Do you think Bob McKinney has a chance in winning this one? The Mayor has had a popular run for two terms now."
"-The polls show a greater popularity for Mayor Henderson, but McKinney is not completely out of the running's yet. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how the elections hold up, Howard. In other breaking news this morning, a citizen of Maxville heists an esteemed jewelry store in broad daylight-"
"Turn that up, Lou," Marie called out to the dinner's owner, her sudden interest in the news also beckoning Joi's curiosity.
"You know I can't have it so loud, Marie," Lou scolded her, his hands busy wiping down the counter he was standing behind.
"Oh come on, darling, you know I'm slightly deaf. No one's going to complain," she coaxed, pouting out her plum-colored lips sullenly.
Shaking his head, the mid-aged man sighed and cranked up the volume to his little red radio, "Yeah, yeah. Just be quiet will you, I'm working here." His voice wasn't really annoyed though.
"Thanks, Lou! I'll give your wife a free consultation!"
He merely waved her off with the towel in his hand and continued wiping down the counter.
Both college friends turned their attention back to Ramona Shepherd's static-stricken voice, "-the robber didn't get far on foot and was easily captured by the masked hero, Silver Wing, and is currently being questioned by Maxville's men-in-blue. The proper authorities have yet to disclose any information about the case, but it is known that the man in question's name is Kevin Sanders and that he was currently employed by the CleanWaters plantation.
"-From his records, no other indiscretions could be retrieved and so it is still a mystery why a citizen that has never committed a felony before would all-of-a-sudden be influenced into crime-doing. More on the subject will be offered by the police on a later date. As always, this is Ramona Shepherd-"
"-And I'm Howard Richards, with your local news at noon."
"Well," Marie began a few minutes after the news anchors went off the air, "that was surprising."
Joi kept her eyes trained on the radio. "Indeed."
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Author's Note: Hmm…not much to say today. This chapter for some reason was alittle harder to write and it is not necessarily one of my favorites, but it was essential for following chapters.
Keep that in mind! And keep reading!
