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Fake It 'Till You Make It

Chapter 3: Tension? What Tension?

Was she dying? Teà was fairly certain that she was dying. After all, she had difficulties breathing, not to mention the fact that her heart was pounding against her chest; at the rate it was going, she was certain she'd have a heart attack. Teà didn't want to die this young – she at least wanted to make it on Broadway first.

Standing a few feet away from her was Yami – Yugi's older brother, and her friend. Or ex-friend. Teà didn't know what to label their relationship, other than old acquaintances. It wasn't as though Teà hated him, but if she had, those feelings were long gone. She liked to believe she got over them. She hadn't seen Yami in three years. Just thinking about that made her want to cry. There were other emotions that were starting to surface just by seeing him alone, but Teà refused to acknowledge them.

Teà was relieved that he looked the same; he still wore the same old leather pants and muscle top, his hairstyle was still on point (no pun intended), but a part of her wondered if there was some aspect to him that did change. But Teà didn't want to risk figuring that out yet. She was still trying to take in his presence; she felt like she was an art student critiquing a painting.

And it seemed like he was also raking her over, with those amethyst eyes of his. But Teà couldn't tell what he thought about her. Did she seem like the same girl that she was three years ago? Did he hate her? Whoa. Where did that come from?

A wave of self consciousness swept over her, much to her dismay. Why should she be worried about Yami's opinion? She was never the kind of girl who cared what others thought about her – Mai can attest to that.

Before Teà could even continue with her thoughts, she felt Mai jab her side. Normally it wouldn't have hurt, but as Teà was so deep in her thoughts, it took her by complete surprise. "And you said my ogling was bad." Of course, Teà had to look at her friend at the worst possible time – she saw her raise both of her eyebrows in a teasing manner.

The blonde and brunette both stepped off the escalator and headed straight toward Joey and Yami.

Joey was the one who broke the silence first. "Well, well, well, if it ain't my old pal Teà." He let out a wolf whistle, causing Teà to blush in embarrassment. "You're looking good," Joey said with his signature goofy grin. At least he seemed ecstatic to see her. "All grown up."

"Thanks, Joey," Teà snorted in amusement, giving Joey a high five. But she didn't think that Joey would pull her into a hug, but Teà wasn't going to complain. Joey could give the best bear hugs when he felt like showing his affection.

"And you're Mai?" Joey's brown eyes widened, clearly not expecting Mai to be this pretty. Teà could see a faint blush on his cheeks, so that was how she came to that conclusion. She smirked, knowing this wasn't the first time she saw Joey blush in the presence of a pretty girl. "It's uh, nice to meet ya. I'm Joey, one of Teà's oldest friends." It looked cute seeing him rub the back of his head with one hand.

"Cute. Very cute," Mai snorted, looking over Joey. "And very articulate too, I take it."

"Articu-what?" Joey blinked, most likely in ignorance. Well, it looked like Joey's vocabulary remained the same.

"Never mind," Mai sighed, pursing her lips. Teà could tell that Mai didn't seem to be very impressed with Joey, but then again, it was never personal: it was who she was. "And who do we have here?" Mai turned her attention toward Yami, who had yet to even put a word in. "I'm Mai Valentine."

"Yami Mutou. It's nice to meet you." Holy crap, he still had that smooth, deep voice that could instill R-rated thoughts into any woman's imagination. His voice alone was enough to put shivers down Teà's spine.

"Teà, why didn't you tell me that you know such a hunk?" Mai also had no tact. She just had to start flirting with Yami right in front of her. What did you expect? Of course she would say something like that.

Teà, in response to her friend's blunt behaviour, hid her face with both of her hands. "Mai, seriously. Shut up."

"It's been a while, Teà. Have you been well?" After hearing Yami address her, she felt like she had no choice but to talk to him. It would be the first time in a few years that she would speak actual human words to him. Yes, that was English, by the way.

Removing her hands from her face, she then tried to give Yami a smile (but she had a feeling that it came out as a weird grimace). "I've been good. How about you?" Teà was miraculously surprised that she could look at him in the eyes like a normal person.

"I've been well. Thank you." That may well be all what Yami said to her, but Teà saw that he was still looking at her, weirdly, she might add.

Of course this was going to be awkward. She hadn't been in contact with him once for three years. There were her own personal reasons for that, but she did not want to think about them. Thinking about them would only bring up bad memories, and Teà didn't want that to ruin her little vacation in Domino.

In the end, Teà reasoned that it didn't matter. After all, she was only going to be here for a few months.

"So where's Tristan?" Teà raised an eyebrow. "Did he have work too?" As she could recall, before they graduated, the gang talked about their plans post-high school. Teà remembered Tristan complaining that he was going to be working at his dad's factory.

Joey scoffed, which could only mean one thing. "He's on a date with Serenity at the moment."

"Oh, wow, they finally got together?" Teà was surprised, but she knew she had to be happy for her friend; she knew that Tristan had a thing for Joey's little sister, but never once acted on it when they were in high school. Whenever Serenity was around, Tristan turned into a puddle of goo; it was kind of funny to see him so flustered. Joey was the only one who didn't seem to approve, but clearly he was comfortable with it now, granted that he wasn't throwing a tamper tantrum.

"Yep. He and Serenity said they'll see ya tonight, if you're still up for supper."

Teà nodded. She and Joey had planned that once they flew in, they would all get together for supper. It would be just like old times, with the whole gang together. "Yeah, of course."

"And you know, Yugi would have been here too, but he had work." Joey turned to face Yami, who was politely listening to the conversation. "Is he still up for a night out?"

"He works until five, so yes, I believe that he'll be free."

"That's good," Teà commented, but then looked away. Joey, however, seemed to pick up on her behaviour.

"What's the deal with you two?" Joey stated, looking between Yami and Teà. "You're actin' like you just got divorced or somethin'."

Mai didn't want to miss her opportunity to tease Teà as well. "Yeah, what is up with that?"

"It doesn't…It doesn't matter," Teà muttered, before she started batting her eyelashes in Joey's direction. "Can we like… go get coffee? We've had a long flight." She was hoping that Joey would take the hint – she didn't want him to say anything that would make things even more uncomfortable.

"And after that, we need to do some shopping. Then, you can drop us off at the apartment. So, chop-chop," Mai clapped her hands right in front of Joey's face, which he sure as hell did not appreciate (that rhymed – Teà's solo album coming out soon). It could have been worse – Mai could have dumped all her baggage with Joey, but Teà was thankful that she didn't.

"I ain't your servant."

"Well, you came to pick us up, right?" Mai retaliated with a comeback of her own, and Teà couldn't help but giggle. She had a feeling that Mai and Joey would get along. Eventually. "C'mon, Teà, let's go grab our bags."

"Way ahead of you." And just like that, Teà scurried along with Mai, thankful for the opportunity to relax – even if it was just for a moment.

If she took the time to look back, she would have seen Yami's eyes staring straight into her back.

:3 :3 :3

If Teà thought that the airport encounter was awkward, the car ride to the apartment was just as nerve-wracking. Primarily because Teà had to acclimate herself to being confined in the backseat with Yami. She hoped that the awkwardness between them would dissipate eventually.

But there was no chance of it happening today.

The worst – or maybe best – part of it was, was that Mai and Joey (well, as far as Teà knew) didn't think anything was wrong. Frankly, Teà wanted to keep it away. At least for now.

She was pondering all of this as she was sitting in the back with Yami. At least she put one of her backpacks in the middle, so she wasn't sitting directly beside him. Mai, on the other hand, wanted to sit shotgun (Teà suspected that she wanted to annoy the hell out of Joey).

"Teà, would you please do somethin' about your friend, here?" Joey pulled Teà out of her thoughts, sighing in the process. "She's messin' with my radio."

"I'm not messing with it. I'm just introducing you to more sophisticated tastes." Mai's tastes stuck mostly to R&B, but she was a Top 40 hits girl as well. Both Teà and Mai were united on that front.

"There's nothing wrong with Beyonce," Teà shrugged her shoulders, leaning forward.

"Hey, I don't pile up in your car and start blasting music that you don't like," Joey narrowed his eyes, looking back towards Teà for a millisecond. He was – at this point – expecting Teà to take his side for once. But as of right now, she preferred to remain bipartisan. "And I sure as hell don't buy a bunch of crap to fill up my entire car," Joey complained, though this time he went back to staring at Mai.

After they picked up coffee, Mai insisted that they went shopping for apartment necessities, which ended up taking longer than any of them thought. Teà believed that she just wanted to bug the hell out of Joey.

"Sorry, Joey," Teà once again shrugged her shoulders, hoping that a smile would put an end to the dispute.

Joey muttered something, but Teà couldn't make heads or tails of what he said. Not that it mattered. Mai was left to her own devices, singing along to some Beyonce tune. Offkey, she might add.

Meanwhile, Teà could see from the corner of her eye that Yami was looking outside the window of Joey's car. She took the time to study him for a few seconds; Yami didn't seem to look pleased about sharing the back with her, if his tense body language was anything to go by.

There you go again, Teà – way to make assumptions.

She thought she learned her lesson about jumping the gun. The last time that she made assumptions? Let's say that it left her in a hot, chaotic mess that not even she knew she could clean up.

"Is something wrong?" Oh shit, Yami just caught her looking at him. Teà nearly squealed in surprise, but she merely just cleared her throat, as if she had swallowed something the wrong way.

"No. Nothing." Which was a big fat lie, but what could she do about it?

Yami didn't look like he believed her. "Teà.." Just hearing him say her name almost made her want to cry. But whether if was tears of joy or sadness? She didn't know.

"What is it?"

"I…," he whispered, taking in a shallow breath. It was almost as if he didn't want Mai or Joey to hear what he was planning to say. "I meant what I said earlier; I hope you're doing well." Was he being polite? Or did Yami truly mean what he said?

"Of course." Well, not really; given the opportunity, Teà would most likely continue to cry just thinking about her ex-boyfriend, who she tried to burn from her memory throughout the whole flight. She was sure that once she had time to be alone, she was going to keep crying her heart out. "I…I'm glad to be back."

"How long are you here for?"

"Just a couple months. My dance group is on break for the summer," Teà supplied, and she immediately noticed that her voice started cracking. She probably should text her troupe to say that she landed safely. They were all sad to see her leave – especially Miho, probably her best friend in that group – and they demanded that she texted them at least once a day, to give them peace of mind. It was almost like they were under the impression that Domino was a dangerous city.

Hey, it was sort of a step up from Miho wanting Teà to carry at least three bottles of pepper spray at all times.

"I see." It looked like Yami wanted to say something else, the conversation was put to an end when the car suddenly stopped. Teà yelped in fear, as her body moved forward in time with the car.

That's it. She was going to actually kill Joey for his terrible driving – she really didn't want to die of whiplash.

"Are you alright?" Yami immediately began looking over her, to see if she miraculously injured herself. Nice to see that his concern for other people was still there…

"Yeah, I'm fine. Joey, what were you doing?" Seriously, she forgot that Joey was a terrible driver – why else would she have agreed to let him pick her up? Teà glowered in Joey's direction, and it would be a miracle if Joey couldn't sense it.

"Hey, we're here in one piece, aren't we?"

"Seriously, kid, this car is carrying valuable goods," Mai scoffed.

"Look, if you were that worried about my driving, you should gotten a cab!" Joey huffed, not exactly appreciating how his friend and her friend were ganging up on him.

"Thanks, Joey, for picking us up," Teà said, thinking it would be the best time to salvage this conversation. She even unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned forward to kiss his cheek in appreciation.

"No problem, I guess…" Clearing his throat, he changed the subject. Apparently Joey still wasn't used to displays of physical affection. "So this is where you guys are stayin', huh? Looks swanky."

The apartment building in question was, in fact, 'swanky'; it was roughly twenty stories tall, completely symmetrical, and had a modern element to it that most people assumed it was one of those corporate skyscrapers. Teà knew that this building was worth twenty thousand times more than her life. She almost died when Mai showed her pictures of where they were staying. After all, there was no way even Mai could afford staying here, but she knew a little bit about Mai's background. Just by looking at one single picture, Teà felt like every single cent in her bank account was withdrawn.

Yet Teà could take solace in the fact that if she was going to spend time out of New York, she may as well do it in style. She was looking forward to seeing what the apartment looked like from the inside.

"Would you like any help bringing your luggage up?" Yami asked. Teà was immediately about to say no, they could handle it themselves, but Mai beat her to it.

"See, this is a true gentleman right here," Mai replied, looking at Joey with what it appeared to be hopelessness. "Thanks, hon, but I think we got it." She even threw a wink in Yami's direction.

"We'll see you later," Teà said, opening the car door, grabbed her bookbag, and stepped out. She wasn't even aware that she was holding a breath until she felt fresh air touch her skin. Now Teà was glad that she was wearing a sweatshirt – she forgot how chilly Domino was in the mornings.

She made her way to the back of the car, and luckily, the trunk was already popped. She quickly grabbed her bags – and Mai's. She cursed under her breath; she could have sworn that Mai didn't bring these many bags with her. She didn't even want to know what Mai packed in half of these.

Teà noticed that while she was grabbing the bags, Mai appeared to have an intense conversation with Joey. She had no idea what they were talking about, and frankly, she didn't think she wanted to know. "Mai, I've got the bags," she said, grabbing her friend's attention.

"Thanks," Mai responded flippantly, as she exited the car. "Sorry about that. Your friend was just saying—"

"It doesn't matter. Let's just head inside."

"I have to hand it to you, your friend's pretty cute." Mai at least had the tact to wait until Joey pulled away, leaving the two girls to juggle their luggage up to the front door. Well, Teà was juggling – Mai, on the other hand, was used to carrying this much.

"Joey?"

"In a puppy dog way, sure. But I was talking about your other friend."

Teà bit down on her lip, hard enough to draw blood. "Yami?"

"I can see why you didn't talk about him. He's gorgeous."

Yeah, Teà was just going to roll with that reason. "Remind me why we're friends again," Teà said, looking at Mai directly in the eye with a vacuous expression.

Teà was starting to think she should have made Miho come with her.