There were currently three things Tucker was certain about, first, he was naturally gifted with the suave and charm of both John Wayne and only the best of James Bond, two, technology was his first and most loyal love, and three, Danny, his best friend since forever, was currently in a sour mood.
The clues to Danny's mood were plain as day, even over the video chat. His shoulders were hunched up to his ears, his brow resembled a canyon, and his arms were folded in a vice grip across his chest.
"Uh...hey man, you seemed...miffed."
"Miffed?" Danny's eyebrow raised, momentarily breaking his disgruntled expression.
"Word of the day calendar," Tucker shrugged in explanation.
Danny sighed and his annoyed grimace flashed across the monitor. "Yeah well, betrayal will do that to a person."
Tucker could see from the screen that Danny was sitting in his bedroom, so whatever this betrayal was couldn't have been too serious. Perhaps Jazz had embarrassed him with a new type of psychoanalysis, again. Still, Danny was upset and it was Tucker's duty as a friend to lend an ear.
"Sounds serious. Do you want to talk about it?"
Danny hunched further, his mouth screwed up in thought. Finally, he sighed once more and leaned back, his arms falling loosely to his sides.
"It's Cujo."
"Cujo?" Tucker wondered what the ghost dog had done. Bite someone friendly? Befriend Skulker? Maybe he had eaten Jack's ham? "Is it serious?"
Danny shot up. "It's the worst possible thing. I thought Cujo was a good judge of character but this...I can't believe he would do this."
"Do what?"
"Why? Why, why why?"
"Danny?" Tucker was getting worried. "What did Cujo do?"
Danny groaned. "He befriended Pookie."
Tucker's mind went blank. "Who the heck is Pookie."
Danny's head made a hollow sound as it hit his desk and his words were lost as he incoherently mumbled into the plywood.
"Come again?"
Danny dragged himself upright, his shoulders slumped in misery.
"Dash's dog." Danny sneered, "well, rat would be more accurate."
Tucker's mind started to shift as he vaguely recalled old memories. "The...chihuahua?"
"Yeeees," Danny lamented. "We ran into them on our way home from the bring your dog to school thing. Dash wanted to pick a fight and while I was dodging his fists Cujo and Pookie started sniffing each other. That distracted Dash, but then they started playing and...ugh!"
"Woah deep breaths dude."
Danny breathed slowly, his hands pulling at his face as he recalled the horror of the encounter.
"So," Tucker prodded, "what happened after that?"
Danny groaned again and mumbled something.
"Dude, I didn't catch any of that."
"We have a play date on Saturday."
"...what?"
"A play date!" Danny groaned. "Apparently Pookie is too sensitive to get along with other dogs, but, for some reason, he likes Cujo, so Dash is insisting they have regular play dates, or else."
"...I think my brain just broke."
"My life is over."
"Danny?"
"Yeah."
"Good luck."