Back with James and Jenny...
They, including Rob Jarrett, were still enjoying themselves at the arcade. They played almost everything that was there, and it almost took up a majority of their afternoon. They played the Street Fighter game, they did the skee-ball, and multiple other games that...they keep forgetting if they played or not. Overall, it was a very enjoyable afternoon for the small group.
During their time there, James was watching his best friend and Rob playing at one of the 'Plane vs Eye' machine. He wanted to play along with them, but decided not to. He wasn't very good at the game, especially when it comes to playing with somebody like Jenny. But he did agree to just stand by and watch them play though.
While he was standing there, James began to hear his phone ringing. He pulls his Smartphone out of his jacket to check who's calling him right now, seeing that the caller was Ian...which to him, was rather strange. Normally, Ian would usually be calling Jenny rather than him, so he was a bit curious why the genius was calling him rather than his best friend, he and Jenny work at the SPA Agency after all. He first told Jenny and Rob that he was going to take the call, then headed out of the arcade, answering the phone as he left.
"Hey Ian." James said as he exited the arcade area. "I'm surprised to see you calling me. What's going on?"
"My apologies for calling you instead, James." Ian started off saying on the other line. "But I was attempting to call Jenny to see how she's doing on her day off, but...it doesn't appear that she's answering her phone."
"Me and Jenny are just at the mall." James then looks behind himself at the arcade behind himself, before continuing to explain what's going on to Ian. "She's playing 'Plane vs Eye' with a friend of hers."
"The arcade, huh?"
"Yep. That's what I said."
"Hmm...I'd figure that would be the case, knowing Jenny." James then rolled his eyes after that was said. He was about to call Ian out for saying that, before the genius began to talk before he could. "Well...I believe that it's only fair if I ask you something that...I feel rather unwilling to ask Jenny..."
James raises an eyebrow at this, before proceeding to finally say something. "What are you talking about?"
"Did Jenny never bring up the supposed crush she had on me? I'm surprised she never told you about it, considering how close you two seem to be."
"Oh...yeah, now I know what you mean..." The goth nodded his head, before continuing to speak. "She told me about that...many times, actually. Why are you asking about it?"
"Just curious. Days prior to Senior Prom at the Royal Academy, she went to me to ask if I was going to be attending, as if I was wanting to go with her..." Ian took a bit of a pause for a couple seconds, before he continued to explain what had happened. "Unfortunately, I was unable too. I had already explained to her that...I was wanting to ask Amelia to go to my Aunt Elmira's library so that we can read some books together. I also had mentioned that I was developing, eh...feelings for Amelia too...which...seemed to have made her feel a bit dejected afterwards."
"Oh..."
"I never intended to break her heart if I did. I only saw Jenny as nothing more but a close companion, as well as a coworker now."
James shrugged his shoulders, before looking behind himself at the arcade. "Well...Jenny and I talked, and...she's pretty much over it now."
"Very well...is she dating anyone now?"
"Not that I know of...no."
"I see. I'm surprised she hasn't decided to date you yet."
"WHAT?!" James shouts, shocked to hear that being said.
After shouting that, James looks up from the ground. Around him stood multiple mall-goers, all staring at him with either looks of distain or surprise by that sudden yell that came out of him. Admittedly, this was...rather embarrassing. Chuckling nervously, James decided to go over to one of the nearby vending machine halls, then continued the conversation from there.
"Anyways...me and Jenny together?" James asked while blushing. "What makes you think that?"
"Well...you two have been close friends throughout high school, so...I just assumed." Ian said.
"We're not dating. But..."
It was at that point, the geeky goth immediately stopped talking. James looks back at the arcade area across the way before Ian spoke up, not seeing any sign of either Jenny or Rob out there yet. He then leans on the wall behind him before Ian proceeded to break the silence between them.
"You have a crush on her...do you?" Ian asked.
James remained silent for a few seconds, before sighing. "Yes...I do..." He simply said. "But...I-I'm unable to tell her that I'm in love with her. I'm too nervous to even tell her."
"James, there's no need to be. In all honestly, when I was planning on asking Amelia to be my girlfriend...I was rather anxious at first too, but after I told her, I had nothing to worry about."
"Yeah, but...it's more complicated than that..."
"How?"
James just stood there silently, unsure how to even answer Ian's question. Thankfully for him, he was hearing somebody else's voice on the other line. He couldn't make out what they were even saying, but from the sound of it, James knew that whoever it was probably wanted Ian to end the phone call now. After a couple more seconds of silence, Ian finally spoke again.
"Nevermind that..." Ian said on the phone. "Roxie told me that I should probably get back to work now. Either way, hope to hear from you and Jenny soon."
"Alright. Nice talk, Ian." James said to the genius.
"Yes, yes, very nice talk indeed." After that was said, the phone call ended there.
James places his Smartphone back into his pocket, as he turned his head towards the arcade. He had developed feelings for Jenny ever since the start of their Senior Year in high school together, but he had never mustered up the courage to go and tell her about it. He was always too shy to tell her his feelings, especially when she's interested in many of the other guys who she found cool. He wasn't sure why, but he just couldn't tell her.
With a sigh, James went back to the arcade to continue hanging out with his two other friends.
Meanwhile...
Back with Crystal, Chaz, and Tim...
It was about two hours since they've been here, so the three decided that now is a good enough time to go home. They didn't really shop at any other store after lunch, since most of the stores at the mall weren't really what either of the three are really into. The only stores that they like were the bike store, the sports store, and...for Crystal, whatever goth themed store was here. They weren't too fond of any of the others. So seeing that they already been to all of those stores today, the three decided to just head home.
While they were all outside, Crystal and Tim were sitting on a bench, while Chaz was out somewhere in the parking lot trying to find his car. During her wait, Crystal heard the sound of her phone beeping, which also happened to have alerted Tim in the process. When the rebel took her phone out of her pocket, the rebel then spoke to him.
"Don't worry, one of my friends is texting me." Crystal said before checking her phone to see who sent the text. She smiled when she saw who the person was. "Well, what do you know, it's Katie."
"Katie?" Tim asked her. "Is she one of the goths? I don't think you've mentioned her before."
"She's actually not one of the goths. She's this cool girl who's going to be working at the dentist building on Main Street."
"Really?" Crystal nodded her head to Tim's question. "How come you never us about her before? The people you usually talk to us about are Summer, Goth Boy, Violet, or..." The man then gulps before saying the last name. "...Yuki. How come you never talked about Katie before?"
"I was going to tell you guys about her, after we all graduated. But...Katie was usually too busy...Chaz was usually too busy with his asshole of a dad at the auto-shop..." The rebel then rolled her eyes, before crossing her arms and crossing her arms. "Also...the fact that she left to Augusta for college didn't help either."
"Oh...I see..."
Crystal then pointed at the parking lot ahead of her. "I told Chaz about her already, and...well...he's not really too fond of her so far."
"Well...we are only hearing about this Katie girl now."
"Which is why I'm hoping that she meets up with the both of you one of these days." Crystal then sighed, before she began looking through some things on her phone. "I could make you guys meet up with her tonight, but according to her text, she's meeting up with Annie Radd at her boyfriend's house...so, hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to make you guys meet with her."
"Oh...okay." The two of them went silent after that.
About an entire minute of silence passed by, and still no sign of Chaz anywhere. They couldn't see him either walking back to them, nor did they see him driving his car to where they were. They knew that the parking lot would be full of cars today, but they didn't know that it would be a downright maze for Chaz to find his car. It feels like they were stuck here forever.
During their wait, Crystal decided to look through her texts while Tim kept his eyes out for Chaz. Both of them were pretty much completely distracted in what they were doing that neither of them were able to take notice of somebody walking up to the side of the bench. Thankfully for them, this person didn't want to harm or take anything from them, they only wanted to talk.
"Um...excuse me..." The person said next to the bench.
Crystal immediately looked up from her phone, recognizing that voice. She quickly turned her head to her right, seeing the same exact girl that she had almost gotten into an argument back inside the mall. However, unlike their first encounter in the mall, rather than being angry, the girl with blue hair appeared to be feeling rather guilty.
"Hey..." The girl with blue hair said, feeling rather awkward about approaching Crystal. "...Um...I'm not interrupting anything over here, am I?"
The rebel girl could only just glare at the girl who was just standing there. "Well...me, Tim, and Chaz were just about to head off back to our homes..." Crystal said. "Let me guess...you found this bench first?"
"Well...uh...no." The girl cringed, before rubbing the back of her neck. "I was just coming here to apologize for almost starting an argument with you earlier. Honestly, I had gotten out of an argument with one of my friends moments ago before...ours almost started." Rubbing the back of her neck, she continued. "You're...still not angry about that, right?"
After hearing this, Crystal slowly lost her glare. She was still annoyed that this girl almost had to cause an argument moments ago, but was glad to hear that she at least apologized for it. She wasn't too sure if she was being honest about getting into an argument with a friend though, since she appeared to be alone at the time their fight almost happened. Regardless, the rebel spoke.
"It's totally fine..." Crystal said. "Although...I didn't see you with any friends when you came to me."
"It's was over the phone." The girl said. "She and I were hanging out around here...until she decided to just head off to her boyfriend's house without telling me about it first..." She then rolled her eyes after saying all of that. "Honestly...it's typical of her to go and do something like this..."
"Damn...well that sucks."
"Tell me about me...not to mention, she was also was ride back home. So...now I have to take the bus home thanks to her."
"Well don't be too down about that." Tim said chiming into the conversation. He stood up from the bench, then pointed towards the parking lot ahead of him. "You can come along with us. Chaz should be pulling up any second now."
"Are you serious, Tim?" Crystal asked, immediately looking behind herself to glare at her friend. "Just because she apologized to us, but that doesn't mean that we should let her come with us. I'm glad she did, but that doesn't instantly mean that we're friends now."
"But Crystal...if you haven't noticed, this girl clearly hasn't had a good day today. Don't you think it's only right that we let her come along?"
Crystal didn't even respond to what Tim had asked her. She pretty much knew that Tim would probably insist that they let her come for the ride anyway, since unlike Chaz, the man tends to be helpful towards other people whenever he can. She couldn't really argue with that, Tim was always such a nice person. She liked that about him and she didn't...especially in a situation like this one.
Still believing that it's right to let her come along, Tim turned his attention towards the girl with blue hair now. "Ignore what Crystal is saying." Tim told her. "I'm sure that Chaz can take you back home if you want him to."
"Thank you, Tim." The girl said, before pointing at the hat on his head. "I love the dog hat that you have. Very cute, I must say."
Tim then blushed hearing that said, while behind him, Crystal was rolling her eyes at that compliment. "Thanks. I had this hat for awhile now. Don't really remember when, but I just know I had it for awhile."
"Well...it's still pretty nice."
The three were then interrupted by the sound of Chaz's car pulling up next to them. Chaz rolled down his window so that he can tell Crystal and Tim to hop in the car, but when he did, he instantly took notice of the blue-haired girl with them. He realized that the girl is the same girl that Crystal almost gotten into an argument over the table moments ago. He then pointed at said girl before speaking to her.
"Hey...you're that one girl, right?" He asked her. "That one Crystal almost caused an argument with?"
"Yeah..." She said before opening the door to the backseat. "By the way, it's Pinky." She then got into the car, while Tim and Crystal soon entered afterwards.
"Oh...okay. Nice to meet you, Pinky." He then looks behind himself, seeing Crystal and Pinky in the back-seat, while Tim was sitting in the front-seat next to him. "So...where am I driving you to?"
"Just take me back to my house." Pinky then pulled out her phone. "Don't worry, I'll tell you the directions to get there."
"Okay." After that was said, Chaz began to drive off to the exit of the parking lot.
About an hour later...
With James again...
Just like with Crystal and her friends, James and Jenny felt like it was about time that they head home now.
Outside, James and Jenny exited the mall with about three shopping bags each. They both went over to the parking lot of the coffee shop that James had parked his car at, then placed their bags into the back-seat. Afterwards, they began to head off back to the neighborhood so that they can go home.
During the drive home, James silently kept his eyes on the road as Jenny was playing video games on her phone. He kept the radio off, since he and Jenny usually never agree on what song to listen to. It happens all the time whenever it was on, so James didn't even bother turning it on during the ride. Regardless, the silence felt pretty relaxing for the both of them.
When they were just about to enter the neighborhood, Jenny decided to break the silence between the both of them. "Say...I never asked..." Jenny started off saying, before placing her phone aside. "Who was calling you back there at the arcade?"
"Oh...just Ian." James said with a shrug. "He just called to see how you were doing on your day off, that's all."
"Really?"
"Well, yeah. He tried calling you earlier, but you never answered him." He then glances over to Jenny for a second. "So...he called me instead."
"Oh...okay..." Jenny raises an eyebrow, before asking another question about the phone call. "Had he mentioned anything about...if they had found Eleanor yet? I was meaning to ask him about it if he were to call today."
James shook his head. "From what I remember...I still don't think they're at that point yet. They're still trying to find her."
"Oh..."
"Although...he did tell me that he was talking Agent Walker into allowing his girlfriend, Amelia, into the Agency...since they might need more people in order to save Evelyn from the Nightmare Realm." He then shrugged his shoulders, before glancing over at Jenny for a second. "Other than that...that's about it."
"Nothing interesting, huh?" Jenny then sighed, before pulling her phone out again. "Oh well...other than the fact that Ian's inviting along his girlfriend to help us out, we're...still nowhere in trying to find and save Evelyn from the Nightmare Realm...fantastic..." Jenny then took a deep breath, before she began playing video games on her phone again. "Well...I just hope that Amelia can help us out during this situation."
"I'm sure she will."
"I hope..." Jenny then glances at her best friend one last time. "So...is that all you and Ian talked about, or is that about it?"
"Uh..."
James took a bit of a pause. The only other thing that he and Ian had talked about was his crush on Jenny. Obviously, due to how nervous he was to tell her, he wasn't going to bring it up to her. Taking a deep breath to calm down, James spoke.
"...Not that I remember...no." James lied, clearly sounding sheepish when he said it. Thankfully, Jenny didn't notice this.
"Oh..." Jenny simply said. She then shrugged before continuing to focus on playing her video games. "Oh well...wasn't expecting anything else anyway. Just tell me when we finally made it to my house, okay?"
"Okay." James then faces forward, as a guilt-ridden expression was shown on his face.