(A Continuation of Seishuun Dattene...)
Chapter Eleven
"Yolei, your words are like honey!"
"Only because you put them in my mouth."
"Once more, my sweet!"
"You're enjoying this way too much." Yolei grumbled behind a computer screen in the Odaiba High's computer lab.
Izzy was underneath the steel-legged table, connecting numerous network cables. He smirked, and sat up a bit to pull out a chord from beneath him. He connected it to a power socket, and an array of screens in the room began to flicker on.
He came out from beneath the table, and brushed off the front of his white uniform shirt. He walked over to a computer in the far corner of the room--the file server. He sat down in front of it. "I don't hear anything..."
"IzzywasrightandIwaswrong." Yolei growled through clenched teeth.
"I can't heeeeaaarrrr yoooouuu..." he sang.
"IZZY WAS RIGHT, AND I WAS WRONG!"
"IZZY WAS RIGHT, AND I WAS WRONG!"
"IZZY WAS RIGHT, AND I WAS WRONG!"
"IZZY WAS RIGHT, AND I WAS WRONG!"
"IZZY WAS RIGHT, AND I WAS WRONG!"
Yolei heard her voice echo endlessly in the room as her admittance was put on reply on every .WAV player in the lab.
A vein began to throb peevishly on her forehead, and she saw all of the computer screens switch to a screen saver with 3-D letters in a rolling marquee:
Izzy couldn't help but cackle at his devious prank. He rested an arm over the back of his chair, and turned around cooly to face Yolei. "Have I made my point clear?"
Yolei's eyebrow twitched, and she pushed her glasses further onto her nose. She stood, knocking down the chair she sat on. At the top of her lungs, she screamed:
"There is just TOO MUCH EGO in this room!!!"
"Mimi."
"Mmh..." Mimi buried her face further into her pillow. She waved a flimsy arm to slap away the disturbance, but Jill nudged her again.
"Mimi, my parents aren't back yet." Jill leaned on a crutch over Mimi's bed.
Mimi sat up, and rubbed her forehead. She looked at the clock on the desk across the room, and groaned, falling back on the bed. "It's three in the morning!" She paused, and sensed her friend still at her bedside. "What do you want me to do, call them and make sure they didn't get arrested?"
Jill whimpered pathetically. "Could you make sure the door is locked? I don't want someone breaking in."
Mimi sighed, and trudged out of bed. Rubbing her side, she licked her dry lips and and made her way to the living room. Past the sofa and television, Mimi and Jill approached the door.
"It's latched, bolted, and locked." Mimi turned the knob, and the door refused to budge. She looked over her shoulder to her blonde roomie, and rose an eyebrow.
Jill looked at Mimi with her doe-eyes. "Sorry. Wanna catch the late-night show with me?"
Mimi sighed, and tugged on the bottom of her pajama shirt. She limply threw herself on the sofa across from the TV, and grabbed the remote.
Jill sat down next to Mimi, and nuzzled up against her side. She gently propped up her cast-bound right leg, and rested her head on Mimi's shoulder.
Mimi stopped surfing channels when she heard one of Dudley Moore's popular lines--
"Can I kiss you?"
She held the remote still, and slowly lowered it to her lap. Her half-open eyes reflected the shocked face of the lovely young lady playing his love interest. There was a short silence between the two, except for the horse in one of the stalls in the stable they were in.
"Yes..." she whispered, her dark eyes round.
Mimi's chest ached as Dudley Moore's character walked across the stable, and kissed the nose of the horse just behind his lady friend. She smiled almost bitterly, and her shoulders rose slightly as she let out a small smirk.
"Oh! I'm sorry! You thought I was talking to you!" Dudley said teasingly.
Mimi shook her head, smiling. "What a brat."
She had originally seen the movie "Arthur" for its theme by Christopher Cross. Mimi watched the remaining thirty minutes of the movie, and found herself mouthing the lyrics as Jill soundly slept against her. After the movie ended, she shut off the television, and sat there in the darkness. She closed her eyes, and began to drift to sleep.
What little sleep she got--no more than fifteen minutes, certainly--was cut short by Jill's nudging.
"Mimi, would you let my parents in?" she begged groggily.
Mimi opened one eye, and heard a quiet knocking on the door. "Don't they have keys?"
"Maybe the forgot them." Jill was awake now.
"...I dunno." Mimi stood, and helped Jill up. "Stick close. I'll need back-up in case this visitor isn't your parents."
Jill gulped, and nodded.
Mimi yawned, her head still cloudy. She unlocked, unlatched, and unbolted the door, and looked to Jill behind her, who had a crutch lifted, ready to strike. She faced forward, and swept the door open.
Mimi's eyes fell on those of Joe Kido, who looked like he had been thrown into the middle of New York's craziest intersection. His breathing was weak, his glasses crooked, his hair blown out of place...
Jill lowered her crutch, and looked to Mimi, who had an understated look of shock on her face.
There was a pause, of course. Joe and Mimi didn't move, but Jill craned her neck to see the two exchange looks. Highly anticipating some sort of action, Jill kept her fair distance though, finding Mimi to sometimes be unpredictable.
--unless Joe made the first move. He took a breath and began to speak, and Jill noticed him lift a foot to take a step towards Mimi.
"Mim-"
Mimi, unflinching, quietly shut the door before Jill could hear the second syllable. In a daze, Mimi spun on her heel, and began to walk back to the bedroom. "It's the cheese pizza. It must be the pizza..." she droned.
"Mimi!" Jill called, and looked to the door.
Mimi crawled into bed, and curled up in a fetal position. Closing her eyes, she pulled the blankets over her head, and slept the rest of the morning.
The smell of ham and the sound of the television is what Mimi woke up to at around noon. She heard commotion in the kitchen, and slipped out of bed to see if Jill had saved her any breakfast.
She yawned, and lightly scratched her chin. "Jill, what time did we actually get to sleep last night?"
Jill looked up from the stove, leaning on her crutches. She smiled, and Mimi saw why--Joe stood behind her, turning the slices of ham on a skillet.
Mimi gawked, and pointed this out. "Wh-who is THAT?!"
Joe looked up, nervously smiling. "Rise and shine, Mimi!"
Mimi gasped, and covered her face with her hands. "Oh, my GOSH! Now I have to go get MAKEUP on!!!" She spun around, and bee-lined back to the bedroom.
Joe and Jill both flinched as they heard the door slam shut.
Jill turned to Joe, and smiled. "I told you we'd finish breakfast in time."
Mimi dabbed concealer over the dark circles under her eyes. Leaning over the bathroom sink, she studied her reflection in the mirror. She was debating with herself while putting on makeup.
She wasn't going to avoid him. That was unrealistic, and very babyish. But what could she possibly say? "Thanks for coming!"? "How'd you get here?"? Duh. By plane. "Why?"?
...that would be odd. "Why?"...if he answered "Why not?", she'd twap him.
She heard a knock on the door, and Jill's voice came from outside. "Mimi, your breakfast is cold!"
"I don't care!" Mimi shouted back. "Have your visitor eat it!"
Jill detected the bitterness in Mimi's voice. "Uh, excuse me, but he's your guest."
Mimi glared at her reflection, and she noticed Jill's voice change to one of a more jocular tone.
"Don't say that you don't know him! Every other word out of his mouth right now is Mimi! Mimi! Mimiiihee-hee-hee!" Her reciting of Mimi's name dissolved into giggles as her voice faded off.
"You're worse than my brother!" Joe's voice could barely be heard in his embarassed hiss.
"What, do you expect me to just let you wish my shopping partner away from me without putting up a fight? Fat chance!" JIll teased.
"Will you two keep it down out there? I'm trying to do my makeup in here!" Mimi growled.
"You're a troublemaker." Joe whispered calmly.
"Says the stalker boy from Japan." Jill's voice was distinctively louder than Joe's.
Joe grumbled something inaudible, and Mimi rolled her eyes after applying mascara. She opened a tube of lipstick, and liberally applied a pinkish-brown shade that simply tinted her naturally-bright lips. She pressed her lips together, and touched up her top lip when the door opened behind her. She spun her head around, her eyes wide.
Joe had his eyes closed nervously. "It's safe to come in, right?" He opened one eye apprehensively, his teeth clenched together in an uneasy smile.
Mimi set down her lipstick, and stood up. She was still in her pajamas--a knit shirt and drawstring pants.
"Why?" she peeped, but immediately regretted it. "H-have you eaten? Where did you sleep? When-"
Joe left the door open, and sighed as he let himself further into the small bathroom.
"You weren't at the airport. Was there an emergency that you couldn't come to see me off?" Mimi kept talking nonstop, her nervousness beginning to suffocate her, resulting in having her choke out her words. Her embarassment caused her eyes to water and sting.
Joe put a hand on Mimi's cheek, and grinned as he ran a thumb over the side of her top lip. "You've got lipstick all over your face." He said with almost a laugh.
Mimi put both of her hands around Joe's wrist, her tears spilling over her cheeks onto his hand.
"You're supposed to be happy to see me." Joe didn't move his hand, but kept his jocular tone.
Mimi sniffed. "You big jerk...you had to mess up my girls-only movie night, and now you've messed my makeup."
"Can I make it up to you with dinner?" Joe's voice grew quiet again at the question.
Mimi let go of Joe's wrist, and turned around to face the mirror. She wanted to. If anything, she never turned down a free meal. But it was such a drastic contradiciton to what she had planned to do--a few hours of the silent treatment, some crying, make him regret ever getting upset with her in the first place--
Mimi dabbed her eyes. "The tears weren't supposed to come yet. Now it's for all the wrong reasons."
"Mimi, I would've done this--well, I should've done this if were were back in Japan. I'm not doing this because I feel sorry for you." Joe's voice rose a bit, and he extended an arm to express the sincerity in his words.
Mimi glanced at the reflection in the mirror, and saw Jill's sillouette on the wall outside.
"Do you have any idea what's good in New York?" she asked, her eyes lowered onto the counter. Mimi glanced up to the mirror to see Joe's face light up for a moment, but it quickly faded. "That's..." he spun around, and walked out of the bathroom. "Jill!-oh, you're right here..."
Jill straightened up outside the door, her eyes wide.
Mimi shut the bathroom door, and went back to her makeup. "Now I'm going to have to re-do all of my eye makeup..."
Joe opened the door, and stuck his head in. "You'll be ready at six, won't you?"
"Oh, only six hours to get ready?" Mimi teased, looking over her shoulder. "I'll manage."
Joe nodded, and shut the door.
Mimi turned back around, to which Joe opened the door again.
"Oh, yeah. I'm taking you someplace really fancy. Dress up." Joe gushed out, and slammed the door shut in a rush.
Mimi turned completely around this time. She looked at the closed door, and blinked. She went back to her makeup, muttering "I wonder if someone back home put him up to this."
"Good GRIEF!" Yolei rubbed her nose after recovering from a sneezing fit.
Cody handed Yolei a tiny handkerchief from his pant pocket. "What did you say to him?"
"Thanks." Yolei took the handkerchief, and wiped her nose. "I didn't tell him anything. He was laughing too loud, I couldn't hear myself think."
Cody flatly stared at Yolei, and sweatdropped. You've got a one-track mind. "I meant Joe."
Yolei looked over to Cody. "Joe?" She looked down at the Hida family computer, which was getting a complete overhaul courtesy of Yolei Inoue. "He just wanted to double-check the address Mimi was staying at. Paranoid."
"New York's a big place, I can see why." Cody knelt next to Yolei.
"Geez, this drive is screwed in tight--what the heck did you guys do with this thing?!" Yolei grumbled.
"...well...Izzy upgraded it last year sometime..." Cody watched Yolei try to wigglet he screws loose.
"Huh. Figures." Yolei grumbled. "You'd expect him to be so short-sighted. As if we'd never do another upgrade or something..."
"He probably thought he would be doing it." Cody's voice lowered in volume. "But he's busy with exams coming up..."
Yolei jerked her head up, and glared at Cody. "You mean to tell me that you asked him first?!"
Cody shivered. Yolei's expression made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. In a silent fury, she stuck her head back into the case, and began to mess with the wires. "I can't believe you asked Izzy when you could've just come next door and asked me!! He's inconvenient, you have to work around HIS schedule, and look at how he does wiring! Look at this sloppy mess!" Yolei pulled out her head, and scornfully insulted the unsuspecting wires. "This red, yellow, and green thing just doesn't make any sense! What was he thinking?! I'll have to re-do the entire thing!"
Cody was meanwhile trying to get a word in, "But--but they computer came that way--"
Yolei pushed herself up from the floor, and paced towards the door of Cody's bedroom. "I'll be right back."
Cody turned to the computer, and sat himself in front of it. Peering inside, he saw that jumbles of wires were still loose. He sat back, and his eyes followe dthe main power chord, which was still plugged into his electrical socket.
"...." Cody sweatdropped, and crawled over to unplug it. Just as he pulled it out, Yolei came back in.
"I'm borrowing this from your mom, but I'll pay her back." Yolei sat in front of the computer again, and set three bottles of nail polish down in front of her. She began to unscrew one, which was a light lavender.
Cody crawled to Yolei's side, his eyes wide. "What's that for?"
Yolei pulled out a bunch of wires, and painted each yellow one lavender. "Making some sense out of these wires."
Cody nearly fell over. "That doesn't make any sense!"
"Of course it does. Computer geniuses like myself have little to fear from these machines!" yolei capped up the lavender polish,and opened the light blue to paint over the green. "Now, if Izzy has trouble figuring any of them out, you can always have me help, of course!"
Cody gave Yolei a suspicious look. "Of course."
"Mimi, let's be honest with each other." Joe was the first to speak after they closed Jill's apartment door behind them.
Mimi wrapped her black velvet shawl around her shoulders. She looked up to Joe with observant eyes. He was dressed well--he must've splurged at one of the nicer boutiques on this side of town. His hair was combed so that his layered bangs framed his face.
"Okay. Your cufflinks clash with my outfit." Mimi pointed at Joe's wrists.
Joe angrily blushed, and began to pace down the hallway. "That's NOT what I meant!"
Mimi stood at the doorway still. She delicately held her purse, and watched Joe stop a few doors down when he realized that she didn't follow him.
He turned around to look back at her, and she called in response.
"You better be planning to offer your arm to me if you plan on having my company this evening!"
Still red in the face, Joe hurried back to Mimi's side, stood to her right, and stiffly extended his left arm to her.
Mimi smiled, and took his arm with both of hers. "I know this must be hard on you." She teased.
"I wanted to explain why I wasn't at the airport yesterday." Joe kept his straight and sensible demeanor as they made their way to the elevator.
"Oh, not that!" Mimi whined, and leaned against Joe as they waited for the door to open. "Can we save that for later? I wanna enjoy the night--without seriousness."
Joe frowned, and they walked into the elevator. "How could you possibly enjoy the evening when we have something like that in our memory?"
"What can't wait a few hours more? After all, it waitied all day." Mimi was messing withthe cufflink on his left arm.
Joe looked down at Mimi, who was intently focused on his wrist. He sighed, and put his right hand in his pocket.
"You really didn't hold back at al, did you?" Mimi began to talk again as they walked out of the glass doorway of Jill's apartment complex. "This suit's really nice."
"Thanks." Joe stood at the sidewalk. "I'd say that you look nice--"
"--but I already know that, right?" Mimi grinned. "It's still nice to hear, though."
Joe's right hand fidgeted in his pocket nervously. "You look perfect." He kept his eyes on the street, looking for a taxi in the distance.
Mimi blinked, and held onto Joe's arm still. "That's a bit much."
Joe grimaced, blushing. He glared down to Mimi cynically. "What the heck do you want me to say?!" he grumbled.
Mimi glared straight back at him. "If I told you everything, I'd be the man in this picture, not you."
Joe turned his glare back to the street, and pulled his hand out of his pocket to hail a taxi. "Taxi!!"
Mimi stepped down off of the curb, and realeased her hold on Joe's arm. Waving both arms freely, she shouted at the top of her lungs. "TAXIIIII!!!!"
"Mimi--!" Joe threw both of his arms around her frame, adn yanked her back onto the curb. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"
A taxi pulled over just a few feet from them. Mimi giggled, and put a gentle hand on one of Joe's arms around her. With a light pat, she said "Just that, foreigner."
Joe blankly stared at the taxi, "...."
Mimi lifted her chin to look up to Joe, whose chin was resting on her head lightly. "Wanna get in?"
"Oh!" Joe backed away from Mimi, his arms raised a few inches above his waist.
Mimi skiped a few steps as she rushed over to the taxi. She swung the door open, and crawled in.
Joe rushed in next to Mimi, and slammed the door shut.
The driver looked back to them in the rear view mirror. "Where to?"
"The Boardwalk." Joe confidently said, brushing off his sleeve.
Mimi and the driver both gave him an expectant look.
Joe looked back at Mimi apprehensively. "What?"
"Which one?" Mimi asked.
"There's more than one?" Joe sounded amazed.
Mimi buried her face in her hands, and the driver sighed.
"This is my first time here, okay?!" Joe rose his voice at Mimi or the driver--or maybe both.
"Where are you taking me, Joe?" Mimi cowered in her own embarassment.
"The Steel Drum." Joe replied.
"Got it." the driver pulled out into the traffic.
Joe was recovering from his sudden spaz-attack, and Mimi turned to him.
"Have you ever eaten Cuban food, Joe?" Mimi asked with wide eyes.
"I've never paid more than ten dollars for a meal before, Mimi." Joe answered, then paused. "Except for our sushi date."
"Oh, so they're dates now?" Mimi teased.
"You're the one who called it that." Joe replied.
Mimi pointed to herself. "I called it a date?"
"You two are going to The Steel Drum and you're not dating?" the driver cut in.
"It's an apology-and-promise-never-to-do-it-again dinner." Mimi leaned over the seat to talk with the driver.
"Mimi!" Joe pulled Mimi back, and hissed to her. "What are you doing?!"
"Clarifying things for him." Mimi whispered back.
"It's none of his business!" Joe angrily shook a hand in the driver's direction.
"Sure it is! He's an NYC taxi driver! It's like a hair stylist! You can tell them anything!" Mimi replied.
Joe sighed, and Mimi went back to chatting with the driver. He watched the scenery pass him by swiftly. The evening sun was turning a ripe red, and street lights and signs were flickering on along the way. The people pacing down the sidewalks were bundled up tightly. Friends and lovers huddled close to each other to warm one anohter up. The heat coming from the luxury cars all around them were forming streams of translucent clouds.
Mimi leaned over Joe's lap, and looked out the window with him. "It's charming, isn't it?"
"It's nice." Joe replied half-heartedly.
"...." Mimi watched silently, trying to ignore Joe's less-than-enthusiastic answer.
"I can...y'know..show you around a bit. Tomorrow. If you like." Mimi quietly muttered an offer to Joe.
"I have a flight home tomorrow morning." was his reply.
"Oh." Mimi looked at her hands, and sat back in her seat. She looked out of her window instead, a disappointed frown on her face. Just doing everything in your power to not grow to love this city, huh, Joe?
"Don't worry. I wasn't expecting you to come back with me." Joe said with a lighter mood. "I know better."
"You know better." Mimi said at the same time, hugging her arms tightly.
The two exchanged a look with almost bittersweet smiles. Mimi broke eye contact and looked back out the window.
"Are you cold?" Joe asked.
"A little." Mimi honestly replied.
Joe reached over, and lifted Mimi's shawl further over her shoulders.
Mimi tugged on her shawl, wrapping it tighter. Her plum-colored dress just barely reached the rop of her knees. She crossed her ankles, and waited for the taxi to pull to a stop in front of The Steel Drum before picking up her purse.
The driver got out of his seat, and opened the door for Mimi.
Mimi took in the atmosphere of The Steel Drum's entrance while Joe paid the cab driver. The sign was a lit-up coral color, and fountains on each side of the glass door were an illuminated blue.
Slow jazz music was played live in the lobby. Mimi and Joe both felt a little intimidated by the high-class atmosphere--but Joe took a small gulp, and escorted Mimi to the front desk.
"Kido, party of two." Joe felt his face burn when the host lifted his eyes off of the reservation book.
"Of course, sir. This way." the host led them into the main dining room.
The two teenagers couldn't believe their eyes. The walls, the ceiling--the restaurant was a giant aquarium!
Joe felt Mimi's hold on his arm tighten. They were shown to their table, but even then they couldn't stop gasping at the different fish they spotted.
"This place is amazing--I had no idea it was like this!" Mimi awed at the finned creatures swimming merely inches from her.
Joe looked up at the ceiling, a goofy grin on his face. "I wonder if that's where they catch our dinner."
"Behave!" Mimi giggled.
"What drinks do you want to start off with?" Joe opened a menu.
Mimi followed his example. She scanned the drinks. "How about we have some watermelon margaritas?"
"In the middle of winter." Joe gave Mimi a questioning look.
"Pretend you're on the islands!" Mimi cheerfully chimed.
"Being eaten by mosquitos...getting sunburnt..." Joe began to count down on his fingers.
"Going barefoot, collecting seashells, sleeping on hammocks..."
"...getting caught in the undertow..."
"...parasailing..." Mimi leaned over the table.
"Me wearing a swimsuit." Joe shot back.
"Me wearing a swimsuit." Mimi rose an eyebrow.
Joe paused, and sat back. "Where's that waiter?"
"It's summer all the time!" Mimi chirped happily. She began to read through the menu again, observing the specials and paying close attention to the desserts.
Joe saw that Mimi was looked at the back of the menu, and smiled. "Aren't you going to--I dunno--look at the entree section?"
"The true test of a chef's creativity is in three things--" Mimi turned the menu. "--drinks, salads, and desserts."
Joe ordered their drinks, and turned back to Mimi, "So entrees and appetizers--"
"Anyone can do a new entree or appetizer. Chefs focus all of ther enegies on them, and ignore things like desserts." Mimi's eyes widened. "I hate it when restaurants are nothing but chocolate, cheesecake, tiramisu, blah, blah, blah...and if you're lucky, creme brulee."
Joe snickered, and had to stifle a chuckle after Mimi finished.
Mimi sat back. "What?"
"You're so intense about it." Joe stayed quiet in the restaurant.
Mimi took her drink as it was set in front of her. "I thought you were used to that by now."
"I guess not!" Joe sipped his margarita. "Mm. Not bad."
"Not at all." Mimi agreed, and picked up her menu again. "I think I'm ready to order."
"Really? So fast?" Joe rose his eyebrows. "That's not like you."
"Well, there's so much to choose from, I'm just going to pick one and go for it!" Mimi closed the menu.
"And appetizer." Joe asked.
"You're paying. You decide." Mimi casually replied.
"But it's for you." Joe insisted.
"You have no clue what you want." Mimi replied.
"Not one."
Mimi sighed, and opened the menu again. "What're you having for dinner?"
"Pork tenderloin stuffed with papaya with a guava-pinapple chutney." Joe read off of the menu.
"Mmh--" Mimi grinned, and sipped on her margarita again. "Don't read it like that, you're turning me on."
Joe dropped the menu, and reached across the table to take Mimi's margarita. "Are you sure these are virgin?"
Mimi giggled. "I'm positive, you old fogey!" She snatched it back, and sipped it again. "Let's get the stuffed mushrooms, then."
"I trust you." Joe casually looked at the desserts.
"Oh, you do, do you?" Mimi grinned evilly.
"Allow me to re-state that--"
"--I don't think I want to!" Mimi teased, cutting Joe off. "You know, that was going to be what I ordered--lemme see what else would go well..."
"Want me to order something else?" Joe asked. "I'll order something else if you--"
"No! Now I can get something different." Mimi scanned the menu. "If I get lamb, that should make picking an appetizer to share easier."
Joe looked at the fish next to him, and rested a finger on the glass.
"Yeah, I'll get the lamb, and we'll have this stuffed mushroom appetizer." Mimi pointed out an item on her menu, and tapped it. "Although I'm not a big mushroom fan, it'll be perfect for a cold winter night like this." Mimi looked up over the top of her menu when she didn't hear a response from Joe. She set her menu down, and leaned on the table. "Oh, so the fish are more interesting than me, huh?"
Joe pointed upwards, near the upper portion of the aquarium wall. "Look at those two angelfish up there."
Mimi rose from her seat just slightly to get a better look.
The two fish were eagerly swimming their way towards the top of the aquarium. The smaller one stopped for a moment, and gradually began to sink. the larger of the two swam back down, and came up behind it to urge it forward. The two began swimming again towards the top, when the larger of the two began to slow down. Like before, the smaller fish pushed on from the back, and they continued to the ceiling.
Mimi's lips curled to a smile. "That's so cute!"
"It's like us, isn't it?" Joe calmly said. "Always making each other give our 110-percent."
Mimi sat back, and smiled across to Joe. "Even when oceans away."
"Especially then." Joe answered as the host approached their table.
The two teenagers looked up with curious eyes.
"Sir, you have a phone call at the front desk." he quietly, politely said.
Joe and Mimi looked at each other with questioning looks.
"Jill?" Mimi asked.
"I don't know why she'd ask for me, though." Joe stood, and set his napkin on the seat. "I'll be back."
"Don't be long." Mimi gently pleaded.
"Go ahead and order when the waiter comes." Joe said before walking to the front desk with the host.
"...." Mimi frowned, and looked around for their waiter. What am I, Jill's baby-sitter? She flagged the waiter down, and ordered her and Joe's meals. She requested that she keep the menu to look at it a bit more. As the waiter left, Mimi buried her nose back in the menu to decide on dessert. She felt a presence on the opposite side of the table, and lowered her menu to see a man--perhaps in his late 20's, early 30's...standing at the edge of the table. By how he was dressed, he could have very well been a CEO or popular playwright.
"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation, Miss." he smiled warmly.
"Joe, this is Izzy."
Joe gawked, nearly dropping the phone. "Izzy?! Where are you?!"
"In Japan, of course." Izzy replied matter-of-factly. "I forced Jill's number out of Yolei, called her, and she gave me the number to this place--"
"What for, Izzy?" Joe felt his shoulders sag with a hopeless feeling of annoyance.
"Your brother called." Izzy sounded nervous on the other side of the line. "And your father, too. He was asking why he couldn't reach your cell phone."
Joe paused, his stomach beginning to feel queasy. He tugged at the collar of his button-up shirt, and swallowed. "What'd you tell him?"
"I told him to ask your brother."
"Izzy!!"
"What was I supposed to tell him?! That you hopped on a plane to America to chase after a girl?" Izzy got defensive.
Joe sighed. "That's not what this is."
"Why couldn't you have just shown up to see her off like a normal person would've?" Izzy muttered.
Joe could just barely pick that sentence up. He arched his eyebrows, and shifted his weight. "Look, I've gotta call my brother to make sure he covered for me. I'll talk to you when I get back."
"When's that?"
"Oh, some time tomorrow."
"Oh." Izzy sounded a bit forced in his reply.
"What was that?" Joe straightened up.
"What was what?" came Izzy's reply.
"That 'oh'." Joe imitated his friend's tone.
"Oh. Well, I thought that you were staying longer than that."
Joe closed his eyes. "I gotta go."
"All right. Have fun, Joe."
"Yeah." Joe hung up, and pulled out his wallet to grab his phone card. Picking up the phone again, he dialed home.
"Hello?" Jim answered.
"Jim. Has Dad called?" Joe anxiously asked.
"No, it's seven a.m. over here, bro." Jim groggily grunted as he sat up in bed.
"Has Izzy called you?"
"About you leaving? Sure. Don't worry, I'll cover for you." Jim rubbed one of his eyes, and fell back down on his pillow. "Can I go now?"
"I'll be back tomorrow."
"Whatever. Goodbye, Joe."
"Sweet dreams." Joe dryly said before hanging up.
Walking back into the dining, room, Joe tugged on his jacket collar, straightening it. Taking a deep breath, he began to walk back to the table.
"Oh, gosh, no! I'm barely eighteen!" Mimi laughed.
Joe's feet froze. He heard a man's laughter. It sounded much older, too. He turned the corner, and he felt his face burn when he saw a much more mature man sitting in his chair across from Mimi, smiling with a grin that was just way too straight to be likeable.
"Eighteen? Do they allow food critics that young?" the man good-naturedly replied.
"I doubt it! My dad's been encouraging me to go to a good journalism school, so I could work for metropolitan magazines and stuff." Mimi framed her face, and smiled one of her trademark grins. "B'sides, I've been told I've got a face for television! Maybe I could do broadcasts!"
Joe took that opportunity to approach the table. He went up to his chair, and stood there, facing Mimi. He left enough room for the intruder to vacate his seat, but only that. "Sorry I took so long."
Both looked up to Joe, but neither stood.
"Ah! Joe!" Mimi gestured to the man across from her. "This is Douglas Alexander, the editor for a Canadian culinary magazine!"
Joe nodded to Douglas. "Nice meeting you."
Douglas nodded back, looked to Mimi, and back to him with a grin. "I was just telling Miss Tachikawa about the growing market for good dining writers. She has a knack for matching dishes."
Joe looked to Mimi, who sipped on her margarita, coyly watching him with her sharp hazel eyes. He swallowed, and looked back to Douglas. "Is that so?"
There was a pause. joe and Douglas looked at each other, and Mimi studied the two men. Joe didn't pull up a chair. He stood next to Douglas, giving him a pointed look.
Mimi watched Douglas's confident smile quickly dissolve, and he defensively wilted back a bit before standing up.
"I've held up your dinner long enough." Douglas still had his cheerful, friendly tone, as he straightened his tie and coat. He nodded to Mimi. "You're a lovely girl, Miss Tachikawa. Good luck with your future."
Mimi smiled. "Thank you."
Douglas gave a slight bow to Joe. "You two have a good meal."
"We will." Joe stressed both words as he took the back of his chair, and cleared the way for Douglas to get by.
Joe sat back down once Douglas was out of ear shot. "How old was he, Mimi?"
"You know I'm a horrible judge of age." Mimi sourly answered, her eyes lowered.
"He was at least twenty-eight." Joe put his napkin back on his lap.
Mimi avoided all eye-contact spitefully. "He didn't touch any of your appetizer, I don't see what you're upset about."
"You're way too gullible!" Joe hissed, putting a stuffed mushroom on his appetizer plate.
Mimi gawked, and sat back on her chair. "Oh, great! I don't understand something, and what do you do? You insult me!"
Joe kept his voice just above a whisper, while Mimi quietly hissed her words.
"That man was too young to be giving you a job offer, and too old to be safe." Joe cut his mushroom, and took a bite.
Mimi's mouth gaped. "Well, you didn't have to be so mean!"
"My appetizer was getting cold." Joe casually replied. "Honestly, Mimi. Must I always explain myself?"
"This time you should!!" Mimi frowned.
There was another silence. Joe felt the tension in the pit of his stomach. Mimi's face burned angrily. She rested her hands on her lap, and continued not to look at Joe.
Joe felt his temper simmer with frustration. Why did Mimi have to be so short-sighted? Why couldn't this evening just go smoothly? They hadn't even discussed the airplace departure just a day ago. His impatience was getting to him. He wanted to amend things. He wanted them fixed now. And now that guy had to show up and complicate things. He kept justifying himself in his head. This was his night with Mimi, his chance to make amends. No one--not Izzy, not Jim, not Yolei, and especially not some stranger--was going to intrude tonight. This was his night--he only had one night. He picked up his margarita, and drank from it, his eyes closed. Perhaps a long sip would cool off his fuming.
"I still don't see the difficulty in pulling up a chair." Mimi muttered under her breath, not really intending to be heard.
Joe slammed his glass back on the table, causing Mimi to flinch, and the silverware to clatter against each other.
The diners at nearby tables all looked over to their table in a start. Neither teenagers looked up.
In a silent huff, Mimi threw her napkin on the table, grabbed her purse, and stormed away from the table. She headed to the back exit, onto the boardwalk outside.
Joe quickly followed her outside onto the empty boardwalk. It was dimly lit, just enough to reflect off of the quietly trinkling stream beneath the boardwalk. He looked in the distance, and saw Mimi running her fingers through her hair, tugging her shawl tighter, and pacing towards the sidewalk on the other side of the boardwalk.
With long strides, it didn't take Joe long to catch up. He took Mimi by the shoulders, and turned her around gently. "Mimi, go back inside, it's freezing out here."
Mimi aggressively struggled. "I'm not going anywhere with you! Let me go!"
"Mimi, stop being like this."
"Stop treating me like you're my parent or something!" Mimi pulled away from Joe. "Don't make me scream! Let me go! I will scream!"
"Mimi! Calm down! Joe struggled against Mimi's protesting and squirming. She tried to swipe at his glasses, but he had a good enough hold of her, that she easily could control her arms if he needed to.
In the heat of the arguement, when Joe had to suddenly dodge Mimi again, a small object fell from Joe's coat pocket, and slid about eight feet away from the two.
At the sound of it falling, they froze, and watched it until it stopped.
Mimi relaxed her fists, and ceased her struggle, to which Joe released her shoulders. The quiet stream beneath them was the only noise made, until Mimi's heels caused the wooden planks on the boardwalk to creak. She walked over to the object, and as she got a closer look, she saw a navy box at her feet. She bent down, picked it up, and straighted up. She turned to face Joe, still not giving him any eye-contact since Douglas left.
She opened the box, and saw in it a tiny, delicate gold chain bracelet with an amethyst bead smoothly linked in the middle.
Mimi opened her mouth to speak, but not a sound came out. Taking out the bracelet, she looked up to Joe with bewilderment.
The dim lighting had his handsome face, for the most part, shadowed over. He steadily walked over to Mimi. He took the bracelet from her, and swung his arm to throw it over the boardwalk, into the stream. He turned back around to face her, and then, Mimi clearly saw the anger and hurt etched on his face.
Mimi's eyes began to sting as tears began to well in them. "You...you are the stupidest, most insensitive person that I've ever met!" she furiously blurted out, and turned back around to angrily continue her walk down the boardwalk.
Joe furiously stood there, boiling. He watched Mimi toss her hair behind her back, then stop to take off her shoes before walking any further.
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Ta-daaaaah! In time for Valentine's Day, too! ^^; Yes, I am continuing this. Yes, there will be more Kouyako next time! Please review, as always, I love knowing what you guys think. Was this a bit less predictable than the last chapter of "It Was My Youth"? I hope so! ^^ Whee! The bracelet scene! I've been wanting to write it for so long! ~* Anyway, my eighteenth birthday is this Sunday (Feb. 18th), and then Kari-chan's birthday is on the 20th! Special! Special! So many birthdays in February! ~*
Check out the huge update over at Reality Check! ^^ I think you'll be happy with what you see!
Also, unless you indicate otherwise in your review, I will be adding any supporters of my story/the Jyoumi cause to the clique! You don't have to have a webpage to join! Just be sure to include your e-mail address,okee? ^^ I want people to see the large fanbase Jyoumi really has! ^^
~Mimi-chan