Happy Friday! Super excited to share this chapter. I love, love Toby in all his awkward glory. :) I tease, but we've all been there... whether it's because you're shyer and more introverted, because you're the new kid, because you're talking to someone you look up to. We've all had moments where we wished the floor would swallow us up. I tried to capture a little bit of that here.

- K. Chandler

Absconded away in one of the guild's storage closets, Lyon helped Toby prepare to call Jenny. Awkward as it was, they'd have a little privacy here, and hopefully Toby would be less of a wreck without Sherry's cooing and Yuka's sarcasm.

"Are you ready?" asked Lyon.

"No," said Toby.

"Do you know what you want to say?"

"Every time I think about her I get all tongue-tied..." sighed Toby.

"Why don't you write down what you're going to say?" suggested Lyon. "Then you can read it and we'll worry about the rest later."

"That makes sense," said Toby. "So, what should I say?"

"She's your girl. Shouldn't you know?" asked Lyon.

"If I knew, I wouldn't need your help," said Toby.

"As long as it ends with some form of 'will you go out with me?' then the words aren't important," said Lyon. "Now stop dawdling," he said, handing Toby a piece of paper and a pencil.

Toby frowned and scritched and scratched and whined. But eventually he managed to get a few lines on paper.

"Good?" he asked, passing his notes to Lyon.

Lyon snorted, unable to keep from arching an eyebrow at the wobbly, childish printing.

"Bad?" asked Toby.

"Passible," sighed Lyon, resisting the urge to provide further critique. "Now, let's get this over with."

Toby nodded, pulling out his lacrima. He summoned Jenny's information with a single swipe.

"You have her on speed-dial?" asked Lyon, surprised.

"Yeah…"

"But you haven't managed to call her…"

"Yeah… I'm a loser, okay? I know already," said Toby.

"I didn't say you were—" started Lyon.

"You didn't have to," said Toby with a rueful smile. "I already know."

"Toby, is that you?" came Jenny's voice.

Toby's eyes widened in panic.

"What are you waiting for? Go!" said Lyon.

"Heyyy… Jennyyy…!" said Toby, his voice faltering.

"Don't be so awkward…" said Lyon.

"I'm nervous!" snapped Toby.

"Don't be so loud!" scolded Lyon.

"Oops. Do you think she heard that?" asked Toby, his eyes wide.

"She'd have to be deaf not to," muttered Lyon.

"Toby? You still there?" asked Jenny.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm there. I mean, here. Not there, where you are. But here. Sorry…" he said.

Lyon sighed, shaking his head.

"Oh, good. I thought you were invisible for a second," said Jenny. "But it makes sense that you're there and not here," she added cheerfully.

Lyon shook his head in awe. Jenny Realight was really something. This girl had to be the only intelligent human being in the world who could put up with Toby's awkwardness. Or maybe she wasn't that intelligent…

But then again, neither was Toby! They'd make a fantastic match. Provided that Toby ever got around to asking her out, that was.

"Toby…" Lyon prompted. "What are you waiting for?!"

"Sorry, give me a sec. I wrote it down so this wouldn't come out wrong. Sorry," he said again.

"Are you okay…?" asked Jenny. She sounded worried.

"Yes! Yes, I'm completely and perfectly fine," said Toby.

"Get on with it before I strangle you," hissed Lyon.

"I'm dying here," Toby whispered back.

"You're what?" asked Jenny.

"I'm totally not dying here or anything," Toby reassured her. "No, nobody's dying. Well, someone probably is. I mean, they say two people die every second. But no one we know. That I know of. Unless you know of somebody. Sorry, sorry! That wasn't what I meant to say!" yelped Toby.

"Idiot…" muttered Lyon.

"Sorry, I ramble when I get nervous," Toby muttered to Lyon.

"And you get even more awkward than normal," said Lyon. "I didn't realize such a thing was possible."

"It's really, really cute when you start rambling," said Jenny, her voice crackling over the lacrima connection. "You don't have to be nervous."

Toby blinked. "What? Really?"

"Toby, will you go out with me?" she asked.

"Did you just read my notes through the lacrima?" Toby demanded.

"Just say yes, already," hissed Lyon.

"Yes, already," repeated Toby. "I mean…"

Lyon groaned. This was going to be a disaster.

"Awesome!" said Jenny.

Toby blinked, looking like he couldn't believe this was real. He looked down at his paper, then back up at Lyon. He crinkled his notes nervously.

Unable to sit by, Lyon snatched the paper away. "Repeat after me," said Lyon quietly, so that Jenny wouldn't hear his prompting. "I'd like to take you out to dinner, if that's all right."

"I'd like to take you out to dinner, if that's all right?" parroted Toby.

"Dinner sounds great," said Jenny.

"Is there a certain type of restaurant you'd prefer? I'm good with anything myself," said Lyon.

"Is there a certain restaurant you'd prefer? I'm good at anything. I mean, with anything. With! With!" said Toby, correcting himself quickly.

Lyon fisted his hands to keep from smashing something, like Toby's skull.

"Actually, are you okay with meeting me in Worth Woodsea? There's this really great outdoor shopping complex thing. There's stores and all kinds of restaurants and stuff. We can figure out what we want to do once we get there. Is that cool with you?"

"That sounds fine, I ca—" Lyon started.

"Cool, cool!" chirped Toby, his face splitting into a grin, as if he just realized what had happened. "Cool as an ice mage out of Isvan. Cool as a Sorcerer Weekly reporter! I guess they aren't all that cool. I mean—"

"Awesome! I'll see you this weekend," laughed Jenny.

"Sounds good. Yeah!" said Toby. Then he gave a jubilant shout. "Yes! She said yes!" he cheered, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Hang up the lacrima first, you fool," barked Lyon, not bothering to keep his voice down.

"Oops. I hope she didn't hear that…" said Toby, ending the call. Then he grinned, like the idiot he was. "But she said yes!"

"You said yes," Lyon reminded him. "She asked you out because you couldn't keep your head long enough to read a sentence off a piece of paper. What are you going to do on an actual date?"

"Um…" Toby blinked, silent for a moment. Then he threw back his head and wailed. "I'm doooomed! Call her back! Call her back and tell her that I canceled. Tell her that I died. Tell her anything! Wait. I said I wasn't dying. Crap!"

Lyon ground his teeth to keep from retorting. He exited the closet, leaving before he subjected his friend to any more verbal abuse, well-warranted though it might have been.

"Lyon, wait!" called Toby. "Tell me what to do next! Lyon!"

What'd you think? Awkward? Painful? Relatable?

Poor Toby... He really is 'doooomed.' :) I'm not sure who I feel worse for: Toby (since he's nervous), Jenny (for being stuck with Toby), or Lyon (who has to put up with all of it and try to spin this into a positive.

Better question... what's Toby going to do now? Sherry's got the perfect plan.

Next time, in [Mazeverse] Call Me Cyrano, the operation starts. "With your dog ears, you'll be able to use the beanie to keep the lacrima against your ears. Then Lyon can call you and he can tell you what to say. Perfect, right?" bubbled Sherry.

Stop back next Friday for the next installment, or just follow me, Karine of R011ingThunder.