"What do you mean you don't know where she is?" Joe shook Izzy, then dropped him and began to frantically look around.
"Joe, I'm telling you, you should just stay calm. She'll show back up. I just think whatever Gennai told her online upset her a little bit, that's all." Izzy followed Joe, desperately trying to comfort him.
"A little upset? A little? Izzy, first I hear her rant about that creep Gary, then when I ask her if she's ok, she runs away crying. Oh yeah! That just makes her a little upset!" Joe's glasses flashed as the light hit then, and Izzy could almost see himself in the reflection.
"Joe, you're over reacting!"
"No I'm not!" Joe stomped his foot down on the ground insistently.
"Uh, excuse me!" Izzy and Joe looked down to see Candymon. "I know where Emily is."
"You do?" Joe scooped up Candymon and shook her, "Where!? Tell me where!"
"Put me down! Sugar beat!" A pile of sugar came pouring down on Joe and Candymon and evaporated reveal Joe stuck inside one of Candymon's candy wrappers.
"Ah! Let me out! I'm not a candy! I'm not even high in sugar!"
"Joe, I won't let you out or tell you where Emily is until you promise to calm down and not shake me like that again."
"I promise."
"Do you mean it? Cause if you're lying..."
"Just let me out!!!"
"Ok! Ok! Sheesh! Hiiiii-ya!" Candymon ripped her claws through the wrapper so that it was nothing but a pile of shreds.
"Where is she????" Joe jumped up and then dropped down on his knees. "Pleeeeease tell me! Please! Please! Oh please!"
"Sigh! She's right over there you digi-dork!" Candymon pointed to Emily who was walking happily up to them.
"Hey you guys! What's going on?" Joe thought Emily's smile could have lit up the whole forest.
"Oh, same old, same old. Joe spazzed out because we couldn't find you. Candymon had to sugar beat him, so he'd calm down.." Izzy tried to sound casual.
"Oh! Joe I'm sorry I ran away from you! It's just, I've found out something that I had hoped would never happen. Izzy. When's the most likely time that the whole group would actually sit together and listen to me talk?"
"Well, they tend to sit together when they eat- at a table that is."
"Great. You don't think they'd settle for a bonfire do you?"
"Actually, me may be eating at a table tonight. Gennai says that there's a hotel about two miles North from here that we can stay at. He says that it's run by Leomon."
"Woah! Hold up!" Tai, who had just happened to be walking by, stopped in his tracks. "Did you just say Leomon? King of all Digimon?"
"I believe it's the same one."
"What's he doing with a hotel?"
"Who cares," gushed Joe. "As long as he's not possessed by black gears, and doesn't make us work in the kitchen, I'll be fine!"
"Actually Joe, we may have to work a little so pay him for our stay. How long should we stay Tai?"
"Three days." The three boys turned to look at Emily. "Guys, go with me on this. I've got a gut feeling that we should stay three days. I can't explain why, but I think we should."
"Three days it is then!" Tai turned and ran over to everyone else. "Guys! Get your stuff! We're heading two miles North! There's a hotel!"
"A hotel?" Mimi's head jerked up. "Come on Palmon! Let's go!"
"Should we knock or just barge in?" Sora giggled as they stood at the door to the massive "Digimon Hotel". Joe thought it bore a slight similarity to the mansion that hey had all stayed along time ago. It had turned out to be nothing but an illusion put there by Devimon, including the food.
But the Digimon Hotel was much larger than that. Each room had a balcony and French doors leading out to them. The plants around the entrance were blooming with gorgeous lilies and other exotic flowers. Joe thought he could hear a waterfall in the back if the hotel.
"I'm going in!" announced Emily as she and Candymon pushed the extremely large rotating door.
"I'll come with you!" Tai ran in with them before the door shut, Agumon close behind.. "I know Leomon. He's helped us before. Just let me do the talking!"
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever!" Emily rolled her eyes. They walked up to the front desk and rang the bell.
"Tai! I've been expecting you! Gennai told me you were coming." Emily turned to see the speaker. It was a gigantic lion who had, obviously, been working out.
"It's good to see you again Leomon!" Tai shook hands with him. Then he motioned to Emily, "May I present to you, the 9th child."
"Ah, yes! Gennai told me about her too! And bout your sister Kari," Leomon shook Emily's hand. "So where are the rest of the Digi destined?"
"Out side," Emily pointed her finger to the door. "They sent us in to make the reservations."
"They've already been made for you. Gennai has everything set up for you. How long would you like to stay?" He took out a guest book the size of Emily's guitar case and opened it up.
"Three days." Tai signed his name in the space provided. "Emily?"
"Yeah?"
"Can you go get the others in here so we can find out where our rooms are?"
"Sure. Candymon, you stay here and help Tai." Emily sauntered outside.
"Uh, ok." Candymon was having too much fun poking Agumon with the free toothpicks to really have heard what she said.
"Ok you guys! Listen up!" Emily hollered. Everyone stopped talking and looked to Emily. "Gennai has everything all set up for us in here. We all need to go into the lobby and Leomon will tell us where our rooms are!"
Everyone went back to talking as they trooped into the hotel. "What's it look like in there?" Joe slid up beside Emily.
"See for yourself." She pushed Joe into the lobby and heard him gasp. "Well, what do you think?" She went and stood beside him.
"It's- it's amazing!" The ceiling was a collection of paintings of all the different digimon. "Look!" He pointed to one of the corners. "There's Gomamon!"
"And Candymon!" Emily hadn't noticed the ceiling when she'd walked in the first time. She and Joe stood looking up as they turned in slow circles.
"Excuse me," The voice of Leomon boomed out from over next to a circle of couches. He stood in the middle. "If you'd all be seated. I'll tell you where your rooms are. You have access to all of our facilities; The pool, the garden, room service, ect. "He dug around in his pocket and then pulled our some keys and a list. Everyone leaned forward to hear where they would end up. "By request of Gennai; Matt, Tai, and TK will be staying in room D25, on the fourth floor. Sora, and Kari will be in room B13 on the second floor. Izzy and Mimi, you'll have room C11 on the third floor; and Emily and Joe, you'll have room E07 on the fifth floor. As for your digimon- "
"Hey! Hold on a second!" Matt jumped up, "How come Izzy and Mimi are staying in the same room? And the same thing with Joe and Emily?"
"I'm just following Gennai's request. He made this list himself, and it specifically says 'Please put the following people in a room together: Tai, Matt and TK; Sora and Kari; Izzy and Mimi; Joe and Emily.' I'm just going by what he says."
"I think it doesn't make sense." Matt grumbled, and slid down in his seat.
"So, as I was saying, the digimon will be staying in their own digi-suites attached to your rooms. So, Agumon, Gabumon, and Patomon, you have room D42; Biyomon and Gatomon, room B12; Tentamon and Palmon, room C10; Candymon and Gomamon, room E06. Here are your keys." He passed out the keys to the Digi destined and their digimon. "Enjoy your stay at the Digimon Hotel!"
"Oh my Gawd!" Emily's jaw dropped as she looked at the room she and Joe were supposed to stay in. "I thought he said 'room' not 'suite!'" There were two king sized beds, a couch, a fireplace, a bathroom with an indoor spa, and (much to Emily's dismay) no TV,
"Well," Joe sat down on the couch," At least here's a phone! Hello? Tai? This is Joe. Yes I'm sure. Very funny Tai. I don't sound like Emily! Look! I just called to see if your room's as big as ours. Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh huuuuh. Really? Wow! I'm gonna have to see that! Ok. See you at the pool maybe. Bye!" He hung up the phone. "Tai said to look at the digi-suite that Candymon and Gomamon are staying in."
He and Emily walked over to the door that separated their room from their digimon's. Emily knocked on the door and then yelled "Candy? Gomamon? It's Emily and Joe! Can we come in?"
"Hold on a second Emily! I'm coming!" There was a splashing sound, and then a very wet looking Candymon opened the door.
"Dude! What happened to you?" Emily walked in with Joe and nearly fell into a huge swimming pool. "Aaah! Hey! No fair! You have a pool in here?"
Gomamon swam happily up to Joe, "Pretty cool, eh?" He grinned.
"Just don't tell the others how big your pool is or else they'll want to have a pool party in here!" Joe looked around for some place dry to sit. "Where are you going to sleep? In the water?"
"Push that button right there!" Gomamon hopped out of the water as Joe pushed a red button sticking out of the wall. There was a whirring sound as one of the walls lowered itself down over half the pool. There was a mountain of towels on it, a low bed, and a more towels.
"Nice!" Emily looked around, impressed.
"Tai told me that Agumon's suite is fire proof and has fruit bar." Joe announced
"Hmm. Well I don't know about you, but I'm going out to the pool. Wait a second! I don't even have my bikini with me!" Emily exclaimed.
Joe blushed at this and said ,"Why don't you buy one at the store down near the lobby?"
"Good idea! Do you wanna come Candy?"
"Sure!"
"Come on Joe!"
"But I don't like shopping! Help!"
Joe looked out at the pool. His hunch was right. "Are you sure you want to go to the pool Emily?" Candymon noticed it too, and giggled.
"Of course I'm sure! Why?"
"Well, do you remember when I said that everyone else probably didn't have swim gear either?"
"Yeeeaaaah. So?" She pushed past Joe and walked outside to the pool. She saw Sora and laughed. "I was wondering who took the other one!"
Sora looked up "Huh? Oh!" She laughed. Emily and Sora were wearing the exact same bikini; a black one with a silver lightning bolt across the top. Mimi was sporting her usual pink. Kari had on a navy blue swimsuit with a paw print in the middle
"Hey! Joe! I like you trunks!" called out Tai from the diving board.
"Huh?" Joe looked up to see that Tai was wearing the exact same thing he was, royal blue swim trunks. He also noticed that TK and Matt were matching too, but he guessed that that was TK's decision.
Candymon looked around, "Where are all the other digimon?"
"Over at your room. I heard Gomamon's throwing a party in there."
"Then that's where I'm going!" Candymon waved a paw to Emily, then went back in to the hotel.
Matt took off his sunglasses and looked Emily, "How does it feel to be twins with Sora?"
"I haven't had an identity crisis, so I guess I'm ok." Emily slid into the pool, "Oh my gawd this pool's just right! Come on Joe!"
"I don't know! I'm more of a hot tub person. Maybe I'll just go back to the room and - Hey! Aaaaaaaaah!" Kari pushed Joe into the pool. He landed with a large splash. "Ah! My eyes! I can't see! I knew I was allergic to chlorine!"
"You can't see because your glasses flew of when you fell in! Sheesh!" Emily dove down to the bottom of the pool and got Joe's glasses for him. "Here!" She put them on for him and smoothed his bangs out of his face.
"Thanks." He smiled, "Hey! Where's Izzy?"
"On the Internet," Mimi tried to hide her disappointment. Everyone looked up at the window of Mimi and Izzy's room. Izzy sat there, typing, as usual, on his laptop.
Emily got a mental image of Izzy on the "ty Beanie Baby Homepage" going "Yes! They've just came out with a new one for my collection!" She snickered.
"What's so funny?" Tai swam up beside Emily.
"Oh, nothing." She dove back down into the water and looked for her prey. She spotted Joe standing in the shallow end of the pool, begin attacked by Kari and TK, who were splashing him, much to his protesting. She went a little lower in the water and swam up behind him.
"Hey! You two! Stop it! I don't like chlorine! Phhft!" He spit out some water splashed into his mouth by TK. "Come on you guys! Matt! Tai! Can't you control your- Ah! There's monsters in here! And one's got me!!!!! Aaaaaaah! Get it off!" Emily laughed underwater, then tightened her grip on Joe's waist. "It's trying to suffocate me! Help!" Joe started to hyper-ventilate. This was Emily's cue to show herself. She popped up to the surface and clamped her around Joe's mouth so that he'd stop. She waited until she could feel his breathing slow down, then let go of him and dove back under.
Joe turned around to see who had grabbed him. When he did, Emily swam around to his front and popped back up. She threw her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist. "Huh?" Joe turned his head to face Emily.
"Caught you!" Emily whispered and then smiled.
"Yeah, you caught me," Joe looked into her eyes and smiled back. Then he pushed her wet hair back behind her and smoothed her bangs to the side. "You're all wet."
"So are you." Emily tightened her grip around Joe's waist and pushed his glasses up his nose for him. Then, TK ran and did a cannon ball into the pool. The force caught them both off balance. Joe fell backwards, and Emily jumped back.
"TK!" Joe sputtered.
"Sorry Joe! Sorry Emily!" TK tried not to giggle.
"It's ok, TK. I was going to get out anyway. I think I might go check on Izzy and crash Gomamon's party for a while. Do you want to come Kari?" Kari was startled by this sudden gesture, but managed to nod her head, yes. "Ok, let's go. I'll see you guys later!"
"Oh! Emily!" called Tai.
"Yo!"
"We're all meeting around 5:00 in the dining room to eat, ok?"
"Ok. We'll be there!"
Emily and Kari walked through the lobby to the elevator. They were about to get on, when Leomon saw them. "Oh! Emily! I almost forgot, Gennai asked me to give this to you." He pulled out a tag and handed it to her.
"Huh? What's this?" Emily looked at her tag as Leomon walked away.
"It's your tag," explained Kari, as they walked in to the elevator, "It's for your crest, when you find it. I think it starts to glow when your near it."
"All right! And when I get my crest, Candymon cal digivolve on her own?"
"Yup."
"Oh! Guys! Wait for me!" They held the door as Sora rushed into the elevator. "I couldn't resist seeing what goes on at a digimon party!" She laughed.
First, they stopped at Izzy's room. "Izzy?" Emily knocked on the door.
"Yes?"
"It's me, Emily. I just thought I'd check up on you since you weren't at the pool with the others."
"I'm fine, really. I'm just checking something on my laptop, that's all."
"Ok. See you later!"
"Izzy?" Sora walked up to the door.
"What is it Sora?"
"Mimi asked me to give this to you." She slid a piece of paper under the door. "Bye!"
Izzy walked over to the door and picked up the note. It said "I hope you're de-stressing yourself. I miss you out here. I'm lonely. Come keep me company before we have dinner at 5:00. Love, Mimi."
Izzy sighed and turned off his laptop. Maybe he was spending a little too much time on his computer. They only had three days to relax. He should at least enjoy them with Mimi.
"Hey! Before we go to the party. Let's go in the spa!" Emily suggested, unlocking the door to her room.
"Ok! Sounds good to me!" Sora exclaimed while Kari nodded eagerly.
The three girls took off their wet swim wear and put them on the side. Then they got in to the warm water. "Hmmmm. I haven't been a good one of these since we were on tour in New York!" Emily sighed.
"I haven't been in one of these since we were at that mansion that Devimon made!" Sora shivered in remembering, despite the temperature of the water.
"Tai told me about that!" Kari joined in, "He said that everyone ate lot and then it all turned out to be fake, and the digimon couldn't digivolve. And everyone was asleep and then Devimon showed up and split them all up so that they wouldn't be able to find each other."
"That's how Joe tells it." Emily confirmed Kari's story and Sora's.
"Tai says, " Kari continued, "That the guys take off all their clothes when they get in here too. And he says Matt has a really small- "
"Uh, that's ok Kari. I don't think we need to know." Sora cut in.
"So Sora," Emily jumped to a new topic, "You saw what everyone sleeps in when you stayed at that mansion, didn't you?"
"Uh huh," Sora giggled.
"Oh! Tell us what they sleep in!" Kari cried.
"Well, Tai sleeps in-"
"I already know that! I live with him! Sometimes he sleeps in his speedo underwear, and sometimes, he sleeps in his blue, train pajamas!"
"Train pajamas?" Emily arched an eye brow.
"Uh huh."
"Wow! Ok Sora, go on."
"Ok, well, Izzy sleeps in yellow briefs. I think they might even have a little orange sun on them." Emily guffawed. "TK sleeps in powder blue boxer-briefs," Kari tittered, "Joe sleeps in light blue boxers, and Mat sleeps- "She stopped and giggled.
"Matt sleeps...?" Emily waited for a second. Still laughing, Sora pointed to herself, then to the water, then to her clothes over on the side. "Oh my gawd! Mat sleeps naked!!!!!!" Emily, Kari, and Sora screeched with laughter.
"Ma- Matt sleeps na- na-naked!" Sora stuttered, and all three girls died laughing again.
Ten minutes later, after they had managed to calm down, Sora said, "Let's go to the party now."
"Ok!" She and Kari got out. "Are you coming Emily?"
"Yeah. In a second. You two go ahead. Just knock on that door out there and say that I sent you. Candymon should let you in."
"Ok, see you there!" Sora and Kari put on their swim suits again and Emily heard Sora being let into to the digi-suite.
Emily smiled. She liked Sora and Kari. Dora reminded her of Katie, in a sporty kind of way. And Kari, well, Kari could be funny, but usually when she didn't know it. She remembered what Kari had said earlier, "Tai has train pajamas!" Emily snickered and sighed. God, that was funny! She stood up and looked around for her bikini, humming to herself.
Around the time that Sora, Emily and Kari had been laughing about what all the guys slept in, Joe had gotten tired of TK splashing water on him. "Ick! Stop doing that TK! That's it! I'm outa here!" Joe got out of the pool and grabbed a towel.
"Going so soon, Joe?" Izzy looked up. He had joined them five minutes ago, and was sitting with Mimi.
"Yeah. I'm going back to the room." Joe rubbed the towel over his dripping hair, and then hung the towel around his neck. "See ya at 5:00."
He walked into the elevator pushed up his glasses. To his irritation, he left a finger print on them. He took them off, and cleaned them with his towel. The elevator stopped at his floor and he got off. Geeze. It's cold now that I'm out of the pool. I think I'll get in the spa for a while.
Joe unlocked the door to the hotel room and stepped inside. He could almost feel the warmth of the spa already. He took off his swimming trunks and tied his towel around his waist. Then he started to open the door to the spa. "Now where did I leave my bikini?" Joe froze. "Oh! There it is!" Joe's heart raced as he opened the door a little wider. "Geeze! I wonder how it got all the way over- Eeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!!!!!!!!!! Joe!!!!!"
"Oh no!" Joe turned magenta and slammed the door. Had he just seen what he thought he saw? Emily, standing in the spa with only a towel on, starting to put on a bikini? Well, so much for my virgin eyes. I guess I should just be glad I didn't see more than I did. Or even worse, I could have dropped my-
"Joe! What did you think you were doing? Barging into the spa like that! Haven't you heard of knocking?" Emily stormed out of the spa with her towel tied around her.
"Huh? No! I just thought I'd get in the spa and then I heard you, but I-"
"You what?"
"I couldn't stop myself."
"Oh you!" She threw her bikini top in Joe's face and grabbed her regular clothes from off of the bed. "Is that what you wanted to see? Huh?"
"No! I was cold and I wanted to go in the hot tub, as long as it wasn't too hot. How as it?"
"Heavenly. Go see for yourself." She shoved Joe into the spa and shut the door behind him. Then she jammed a chair under the doorknob.
"Hey! Come on! Let me out!" Joe pounded on the other side of the door. Great. Just great. I just happen to stumble in on Emily who was about to change and so she locks me in the spa. "Emily!" Joe pounded on the door again. "Emily! I didn't see anything! I swear!"
"Yeah right!" Emily pulled on her pants. "You know you can't get that image out of y our head!" She pulled on her tank top and then slipped on her vest.
"Oh Yeah! The image of you in a towel! Come on! You don't want me to suffocate do you?"
"You want me to let you out? So you can go tell Tai and Matt how you saw me half naked, and how awful I look, even with a towel on? I don't think so!" Emily pushed her feet into her army boots.
"You don't look bad!"
"Yeah right! Is that what you're gonna tell Tai?"
"I won't tell Tai or Matt this even happened. I promise. Just let me out!" Joe hit the door. "Come on! The steam is fogging up my glasses!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes! I won't tell anyone! And you don't look bad in a towel! You have nice legs! Now let me out!"
"Really? I have nice legs?" Emily pulled up the leg of her jeans to look at her right leg.
"Yes! Really! Now let me out! Please!" Joe sounded like he was going to start hyperventilating again, so Emily decided to open the door.
Joe stumbled out and walked into the door frame. "Joe! Are you ok?" Emily helped him up, being careful that Joe's towel didn't fall off.
"I told you my glasses fogged up!" Joe took off his glasses and blew on them so that the steam on them disappeared.
"Well they probably wouldn't have gotten fogged up if you hadn't yelled do much!" Emily pointed a finger in Joe's face.
"I wouldn't have yelled if you hadn't locked me in there!" Joe pointed a finger in Emily's face.
"I wouldn't have locked you in there if you hadn't barged in while I was changing!" Emily slapped Joe's finger out of her face.
"Oh yeah? Well I wouldn't have barged in there if you hadn't- if you hadn't… ummm if you hadn't…"
"If I hadn't what?"
"I don't know." Joe gently pushed Emily's finger out of his face, and walked over to pick up his duffel bag. "I don't feel like going in the spa anymore. I think I'll go over to Matt and Tai's room to change."
"They're still at the pool. I can hear them."
"Oh. Well do you think you could- "
"I'm going to go over to Gomamon's party. Don't worry about it." Emily picked up her guitar and walked out of the room.
Great. I've really blown it. But how am I supposed to explain to her what I felt when I heard her in there? I just couldn't stop myself. And now look at me. She probably thinks I'm a total jerk. Joe sighed and opened up his bag. He pulled out his clothes and put them on. He looked at the clock on the wall. Ten minutes until 5:00. Oh well, I might as well get there early, since Emily probably doesn't want me to follow her to the party next door. Joe took out his comb and ran it through his hair. It got caught several times. I guess I haven't combed my hair in a while. Joe went over to the sink and stuck his head under the faucet. Then he turned the water on and let it run through his hair. He could feel the knots in his blue hair, slowly start to come untangled.
"Uh Joe?" Joe turned off the water and looked up to see Candymon standing in the room.
"How'd you get in here?" Joe hit his head on the faucet as he tried to get his head out of the sink.
"I think someone left the door open. But listen, Have you seen Emily? Sora said she was in here, getting ready to come to Gomamon's party and she hasn't shown up yet!"
"That's weird, she said she was going to go over there when she left. She was kind of mad, so I figured she'd probably go straight over there."
"Why? What happened?" Candymon handed Joe a towel for his hair.
"Well," Joe blushed nervously. "I was getting tired of TK splashing me in the pool, so I decided to get out and go back to the room. I was getting cold, from standing in the elevator, so I decided to get in the spa when I got back to the room." Joe picked up his comb and began to comb out his wet hair. It slid through much more easily.
"But Sora, Emily and Kari where in there!"
"They left before I got there and went to Gomamon's party/"
"But I didn't see Emily at the party!"
"That's because she didn't go with them! As it turned out, she couldn't find her bikini. Then I came in to the room and walked right in to the spa."
"Oh no! Joe, how could you!" Candymon gasped in horror.
"It's not what it sounds like! She had a towel rapped around her. But she was really mad that I had just barged in without knocking. So she shoved me into the spa, and locked me in until she was done changing. Then she let me out and we kind of argued about why walked in on her. She got mad and left, and that's the last I heard of her." Joe blushed in shame.
"Woah Joe! I didn't know you had it in you!" Joe and Candymon turned to see Gomamon standing in the room.
"Gomamon! Get out of here! You're getting the carpet all wet!" Candymon grabbed another towel and threw it on the ground to soak up the puddle that was forming where Gomamon was standing.
"But I wanna hear what's going on!" Gomamon stomped a flipper against the floor indignantly.
"Well, at least let me dry you off." Joe sighed and got another towel. The draped it over Gomamon and rubbed the towel against him vigorously.
"Hey Joe! Not so hard! You're going to take off a layer of skin!" griped Gomamon.
"There! I'm done!" Joe took all three towels and put them in the hamper.
"So what are we talking about?" Gomamon cocked his head to the side.
"We can't find Emily."
"Really? I heard Sora say that she was on her way to my party. Of course, that was seven minutes ago!"
"I'm just worried that she's run off somewhere because of me. I didn't mean to walk in on her. I just did it without thinking." Joe ran his comb through his again.
"Sure you did Joe!" Gomamon laughed.
"You shut up! This isn't funny! Can't you see how hurt Joe is?" Candymon smacked Gomamon in the back of the head. "Sorry about that Joe."
"It's ok. I guess I kind of deserved it. But I wish that I could just tell how much I…" Joe broke off and looked away.
"Don't worry Joe, we both know how you feel about Emily." Candymon patted Joe's hand.
"You do?" Joe blushed and wiped away a tear.
"I can sense it in you Joe. The day that you met her, I could just feel it. And so could Gomamon."
"But she'll never talk to me ever again now! I've blown it!"
"Joe! Don't say that!"
"That old feeling I had before I met her is going to come back. I'll be alone again! I don't want that to happen. I love the way I feel when I'm with her!"
"Why don't you tell her that? I think she'd probably understand where you're coming from."
"I can't! I just know she hates me! Besides, why would she care that I'm in love with her? She already has Matt drooling over her! And who could turn down someone like Matt? He looks like a Calvin Kline model for God's sake!"
"Who's that?" Candymon and Gomamon both had no idea who Joe was talking about.
"Calvin Kline in a fashion designer. He designs shirts and hats and perfumes and stuff like that. And he usually has all these guys and girls in his adds that look terrific, well, most of them."
"So does Matt look like a guy model or a girl model?" Gomamon asked. Candymon giggled.
"A guy model," Joe sighed, "How can I compete with something like that?"
"Joe, I think you should know something. Emily likes you. I think she's always liked you." Candymon said. Gomamon nodded.
"No way! If she did, she doesn't like me anymore." Joe hid his face in his hands.
"Look, Joe." Gomamon nuzzled up beside Joe, "I know that you feel terrible right now. If there's anything I can do, just let me know."
"Shoot me." Joe cried.
"Not like that! Look, it's almost 5:00. Let's go down and eat. Maybe we'll see Emily down there."
"You think so?" Joe looked up and blinked his red eyes.
"I know so. Come on!" Candymon dried Joe's tears and stood up.
"I'll be right back, I gotta go get everyone else out of our digi-suite. Wait for me ok?" Gomamon hopped off the sofa and went next door.
"I hope you're right Candymon." Joe sighed and looked at the rainbow koala. "I really hope you're right."