Chapter 2 Getting longer
**************************************************************
"Go talk to her," Jay hissed at Kevin, rather nastily. If you don't,
I will he thought. Maybe a serious relationship would get Typhoon Lagoon
off his back for awhile, or at least until the semester ended.
Kevin's gray eyes darted in the girl's general direction for a millisecond,
and when he turned back he faced Jay with a renewed determination that only
surfaced when he was drunk. "OK," he said, the two letters his declaration of
independence. "Wait here, all right?"
Jay was silently cheering. "OK, man, I'm not going anywhere. I'll
stay
here with these very interesting and abhorrently expensive books." He
snatched up a philosophy book and pretended to read, exaggerating interest
by frowning and nodding. "Ah, yes, fascinating, really."
"Idiot," Kevin mumbled. The longer Jay continues with this crap, the
less nerve he had.
A redhead passed the two boys, carrying the same philosophy book
that Jay was fooling around with. "Later, man," Jay called, chasing after her,
book in tow. "See you back at the house."
Crap. Now he would have to talk to her alone, without any backup.
He pretended to look at books while checking to see if she was still there.
She was. She had just hung up her phone and was looking around the
bookstore anxiously. He frantically tried to think of something to start a
conversation with. He couldn't just walk up to her and say, "Hi! How're
you doing? I think you're hot, wanna go out?" It might work for Jay, ok,
it always worked for Jay, but it wasn't his style. Plus he lacked the mojo
and the spine to pull it off.
His salvation came in the form of neon bright markers. Slowly,
deliberately, he made his way to the end of the aisle, stopping a couple of
feet in front of Mina.
Oh God, oh God he thought, his heart pumping. She was so
beautiful. Kevin had to physically restrain himself from touching her light
blond hair, to see if it was as soft as his eyes perceived it. Her color of her
deep blue eyes must have been one of Crayola's 96. He wanted to run his
fingers down her face, trace the smooth contours of her porcelain skin, feel
the bristle of her light eyelashes, and touch the petal of her lips. He wanted
to hear his name whispered through those lips. And her scent, it was
something extraordinary, something as clean and happy as she looked.
It reminded him of running outside into the fresh air after being indoors for
an extended period.
Mina had no idea that Malachite would just walk up to her like that,
and then stare at her like she was Zoycite or something. She shoved her
hand in her coat pocket and clenched her henshin pen, ready to transform
in front of all these people, if need be. She tensed, waiting for the attack that
would soon likely follow. Hurry up, you guys! she silently prayed.
C'mon, move your asses this time and I swear I'll never be late for
another senshi meeting again, I swear, Oh God oh God oh God.
Malachite bent down, and she had halfway pulled the pen out of
her pocket and was about to say the magic words when his silver head
popped back up and he held something out to her. Stupefied that fact that
she wasn't dead by then, she forced herself to look down at the object he
was offering her.
"You dropped these," he said. You're voice is different!
Mina almost screamed out loud.
"Th-thank you," she stuttered, confused. Why wasn't he killing
her yet? Should she kill him first? Why was he being kinda sorta nice to
her? The only time Malachite had been remotely considerate was when
he punched her in the kidney instead of the face, which saved her modeling
job that she had the next day. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted
Amy at the opposite end of the aisle, typing furiously on her "Palm Pilot."
Amy caught her gaze and motioned for her to keep Malachite talking, and
then pointed to the registers and gave her half-hearted thumbs up. Mina
followed her finger to the registers, where Raye (wearing sweatpants and a
baseball hat) and Lita were standing around, trying to look inconspicuous.
Lita had her cell phone up to her ear, which meant she was in communication
with Serena, who was standing in front of the back door, obviously
blocking an escape route.
She turned back to Malachite, who seemed very uncomfortable,
most likely because he was still holding out the pack of HiLiters
to Mina, and she hadn't taken them yet. "Oh! Oh, thank you."
She took the package, and in the process their fingers brushed
slightly.
It was like they both had been shocked by low voltage electricity.
They locked eyes, blue to gray, and Mina felt herself drowning in his
gaze. Something heartbreaking and familiar swam through her,
stirring up long dead sensations, rousing excitement, playing in every
cell of her body. She had the sudden urge to embrace him and never
let go. She was sure he felt it, too, by the way his tumultuous gray
eyes settled into an inviting softness. The moment was getting to intense
for her to handle, so she started babbling, her most frequent escape
route.
"Thanks, uh, there's my roommate's, she um, she likes to
highlight things." Oh my dear lord, did I just say that?
Kevin contributed his bit of verbal diarrhea. "Yeah, I know,
I like to highlight things too." I did not just say that. Oh my God,
I'm so stupid, I can't believe that my first words to this angel was
something as asinine as that. Jay's right, I am a loser.
During this painful dialogue, Amy was impatiently slogging
through the useless facts her computer was spitting out. "Height,
weight, yeah, yeah, yeah," she muttered to herself. "Just tell me if
he's from the Negaverse!" She pulled out her cell phone and opened
the channel to the other phones. "You guys, I don't think that's
Malachite."
"Amy, it has to be Malachite! I mean, look at him! I say we
fry his sorry Negaverse ass before he wastes Mina!" Raye was practically
barking into her phone.
"Yeah, Amy, Mina is in considerable danger being that close
to Malachite. Let's send him back to hell where he belongs!" Lita
cracked her knuckles, anticipating a good fight with the Nega-scum.
"No, it's not Malachite!" Amy insisted. "I have his information
right here." She read off his driver's license. "Kevin Patrick Belles,
6'6, 275 lbs, born January 19th, son of Marie and Frank Belles, brother
to Kaylee and Jennifer Belles, sophomore at Bryce University, majoring
in political science, currently living at 22 Boris St., apartment 2C,
attended Moore High School, graduated 35th in a class of three
hundred, allergic to shellfish, broke his right tibia four years ago…"
"Jeez, Amy, why don't you tell us what he had for lunch,
too?"
"Lita, I'm just trying to keep you properly informed."
"Amy, the Negaverse has fooled us more than once!
What iff that Kevin guy is really Malachite in disguise?" Raye asked,
a little disconcerted about the way her best friend was staring
transfixed at their mortal enemy.
"Well, I doubt that Beryl would go through so much trouble
as to forge personal identification like this. I've got his driver's license,
his Social Security number, his medical records, and his school records,
even his credit history. This would take major research and effort,
and usually Beryl just flies by the seat of her pants.
Plus, he's not emitting any Dark energy. He is emitting,
something, though, but it's faint." Her computer screen contained
the scene in front of her in real time, and made visible the energy
emitting from each person. All the passersby were outlined in blurry
white light, there normal human energy made visible. Mina was surrounded
with a thick gold cloud of energy, the energy of Venus. Strangely,
Kevin Belles was surrounded with a thin layer of silver light, which
Amy's computer identified as "unknown." If he had really been
Malachite, the halo would have been black.
"Well, what is it?" Raye snapped. "I'm not dragging my ass
out of bed to check out some guy!"
"Well, he looks a lot like Malachite, with the hair and everything,"
Lita offered as consolation.
"Oh well, you guys, false alarm!" Serena chirped. "Aw, look! I
think Mina likes him! He IS totally hot!" She punched a button on
her phone.
The ringing cell phone broke through the uncomfortable silence
between Mina and Kevin. "Oh, I'm sorry," Mina said, pulling it out.
Oh thank God, I didn't know what to say to him. Why am I choking
now? "Hello?"
"You woke me up for this?" Raye practically shouted. "Mina, the next
time you feel the urge to have me witness you choking in front of some
guy please resist it!"
"Don't listen to her, she's just mad that she's in public in sweatpants.
And she thought the guy was Malachite when she first saw him, too.
You know, he dresses just like my ex-boyfriend."
"Oh don't even start. And everyone's seen me in sweatpants,
I wear them to class all the time."
"Mina, according to my readings, he's not Malachite, or any kind
of Nega-creature, so…"
"Oh Mina, he's so hot! Did he ask you out yet?"
Mina hung up the phone. "I'm sorry, I just…" At that moment
she remembered that she had never told this guy her name. "I'm
so sorry I never told you my name. I'm Mina."
He smiled at her softly, and Mina felt herself melting. "Hi Mina,
I'm Kevin. Kevin Belles. Nice to meet you."
She couldn't keep his gaze anymore; it was too intense. She lowered
her head and stared at her shoes instead. "So are you buying books?"
Ding ding ding! Oh thank you Sailor Obvious for that bit of insight!
"Yeah, I was supposed to get here a lot earlier, but my schedule got
messed up, and then one of those weird monsters attacked outside
my building and my car got its tire blown off in the process, so I
didn't really have the financial support until now."
Oh jeez, I think I remember that. I hope his car isn't an old
Blazer. "I know. I spent all my money on Christmas presents, and…"
"KEVIN!" Jay was striding towards him, the philosophy book
gone and a magazine in its place. "C'mon, we told Matt we'd pick
up food a half hour ago. He's probably starving." He stopped and
flashed Mina his do-me smile. "Hell-llo! Who is this lovely thing, Kev?"
Kevin reminded himself to beat the crap out of Jay once they got home.
"Jay, this is Mina; Mina, this is Jay. You know, I can't wait to lift when
I get home."
Jay's stomach sunk; this was Kevin's code for an approaching ass-kicking.
He quickly tried to salvage an escape route. "So, Mina, where do you l
ive?"
"Uh, Goshin Hall." She smiled; the Jedite look-alike had a way of
relieving tension in the situation. She glanced over his shoulder and saw
Amy shaking her head and mouthing, Not Jedite!
"What a coincidence, Kevin and I are going to be around there
tomorrow night! Right Kevin?" Kevin dully nodded, and wondered
if his face could get any redder. "Do you mind if we stop by?
Which floor?"
"Second. Room 223." Mina felt a tug on her arm. It was Raye, a
very irritated Raye.
"C'mon, Mina, we have an emergency Key Club meeting that we can't
miss." "Key Club Meeting" of course meant "Senshi Meeting."
Jay was on the tip of his tongue to start his usual ladies man routine
on the newcomer, but when she looked at him, all rational thought
drained away at the sight of those violet eyes and he found himself,
for once, speechless. Most of her shiny black hair was hidden under
a hat, but a few wisps escaped, brushing against her smooth face and
teasing him in the most merciless way. Her eyelashes were so long and
black that Jay felt the childish urge to pull on them to see if they were
real.
Raye caught him staring at her. "What are you looking at?" she
demanded, in her usual subdued way.
"N-nothing," he stuttered, feeling as shy as Kevin at the moment.
"This is my roommate, Raye," Mina interjected, out of pity for Jay.
Raye could stare a man into tears if she tried hard enough.
"Oh hi, Raye, uh, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Ok, then. Nice meeting
you, Mina, bye." Jay grabbed Kevin's sleeve and practically ran away,
mentally berating himself for acting like such a scrub.
"See you tomorrow, Mina," Kevin said to her before being dragged
away.
"Yes, goodbye," she called at his retreating back. She would be
counting the minutes until tomorrow night.
"Yo, goofball, what did he mean by 'tomorrow night?'" Raye asked,
waving a hand in front of Mina's face.
"They're going to stop by tomorrow, Ok?" She grinned.
"Hey, guys, senshi meeting!" Serena sang as she, Amy and Lita joined
them in the aisle. "Amy's got some ideas, and, oh! He asked you out,
didn't he!"
"Kinda," she said, her head still full of Kevin.
"Oh my gosh, you'll have to tell us all about it! I wanna hear everything,
ok? C'mon, Luna and Artemis are waiting for us in my room, and
they'll want to hear it too!"
Amy sighed as they left the bookstore. "Guess we won't be
discussing any business."
* * * * * * * * * * *
"Raye is so hot, man!" This was the fourth time Kevin had heard
those exact words, and he hadn't even backed out of the parking
space yet. Jay was talking a mile a minute and flipping through his
magazine. "Aw, just wait until Matt and Zach hear about this, they'll
be so jealous! Matt hasn't picked up a girl that hot in like, forever."
Kevin, who was still stewing over his lack of suaveness, was about to
remind Jay that he hadn't technically picked up Raye, but rather
withered under her glare when Jay screamed, "OH MY GOD!"
Kevin slammed on the brakes, thinking that another monster had
attacked nearby, and nearly caused a pileup. "WHAT?"
"LOOK!" Jay shouted over several angry honks and many obscene
yells. He held up a page in the magazine, showing Kevin an ad of a
blonde girl standing under a waterfall, her back to them, tilting her
head to the side with her eyes closed in bliss, with one of those girly
shower poufs frothing with foam in her hands. "Experience the bliss
with Sheer Bliss body wash," was printed in pink letters across the
bottom. Kevin snatched the magazine out of Jay's hands and studied
the picture closer. It was Mina. He stared at her, deaf to Jay's
excited rambling. "Oh my God, Kev, you picked up a model, the
guys are NEVER going to believe this, oh jeez, you are the MAN!
You are the shit! And you owe it all to me!"
**************************************************************
"Go talk to her," Jay hissed at Kevin, rather nastily. If you don't,
I will he thought. Maybe a serious relationship would get Typhoon Lagoon
off his back for awhile, or at least until the semester ended.
Kevin's gray eyes darted in the girl's general direction for a millisecond,
and when he turned back he faced Jay with a renewed determination that only
surfaced when he was drunk. "OK," he said, the two letters his declaration of
independence. "Wait here, all right?"
Jay was silently cheering. "OK, man, I'm not going anywhere. I'll
stay
here with these very interesting and abhorrently expensive books." He
snatched up a philosophy book and pretended to read, exaggerating interest
by frowning and nodding. "Ah, yes, fascinating, really."
"Idiot," Kevin mumbled. The longer Jay continues with this crap, the
less nerve he had.
A redhead passed the two boys, carrying the same philosophy book
that Jay was fooling around with. "Later, man," Jay called, chasing after her,
book in tow. "See you back at the house."
Crap. Now he would have to talk to her alone, without any backup.
He pretended to look at books while checking to see if she was still there.
She was. She had just hung up her phone and was looking around the
bookstore anxiously. He frantically tried to think of something to start a
conversation with. He couldn't just walk up to her and say, "Hi! How're
you doing? I think you're hot, wanna go out?" It might work for Jay, ok,
it always worked for Jay, but it wasn't his style. Plus he lacked the mojo
and the spine to pull it off.
His salvation came in the form of neon bright markers. Slowly,
deliberately, he made his way to the end of the aisle, stopping a couple of
feet in front of Mina.
Oh God, oh God he thought, his heart pumping. She was so
beautiful. Kevin had to physically restrain himself from touching her light
blond hair, to see if it was as soft as his eyes perceived it. Her color of her
deep blue eyes must have been one of Crayola's 96. He wanted to run his
fingers down her face, trace the smooth contours of her porcelain skin, feel
the bristle of her light eyelashes, and touch the petal of her lips. He wanted
to hear his name whispered through those lips. And her scent, it was
something extraordinary, something as clean and happy as she looked.
It reminded him of running outside into the fresh air after being indoors for
an extended period.
Mina had no idea that Malachite would just walk up to her like that,
and then stare at her like she was Zoycite or something. She shoved her
hand in her coat pocket and clenched her henshin pen, ready to transform
in front of all these people, if need be. She tensed, waiting for the attack that
would soon likely follow. Hurry up, you guys! she silently prayed.
C'mon, move your asses this time and I swear I'll never be late for
another senshi meeting again, I swear, Oh God oh God oh God.
Malachite bent down, and she had halfway pulled the pen out of
her pocket and was about to say the magic words when his silver head
popped back up and he held something out to her. Stupefied that fact that
she wasn't dead by then, she forced herself to look down at the object he
was offering her.
"You dropped these," he said. You're voice is different!
Mina almost screamed out loud.
"Th-thank you," she stuttered, confused. Why wasn't he killing
her yet? Should she kill him first? Why was he being kinda sorta nice to
her? The only time Malachite had been remotely considerate was when
he punched her in the kidney instead of the face, which saved her modeling
job that she had the next day. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted
Amy at the opposite end of the aisle, typing furiously on her "Palm Pilot."
Amy caught her gaze and motioned for her to keep Malachite talking, and
then pointed to the registers and gave her half-hearted thumbs up. Mina
followed her finger to the registers, where Raye (wearing sweatpants and a
baseball hat) and Lita were standing around, trying to look inconspicuous.
Lita had her cell phone up to her ear, which meant she was in communication
with Serena, who was standing in front of the back door, obviously
blocking an escape route.
She turned back to Malachite, who seemed very uncomfortable,
most likely because he was still holding out the pack of HiLiters
to Mina, and she hadn't taken them yet. "Oh! Oh, thank you."
She took the package, and in the process their fingers brushed
slightly.
It was like they both had been shocked by low voltage electricity.
They locked eyes, blue to gray, and Mina felt herself drowning in his
gaze. Something heartbreaking and familiar swam through her,
stirring up long dead sensations, rousing excitement, playing in every
cell of her body. She had the sudden urge to embrace him and never
let go. She was sure he felt it, too, by the way his tumultuous gray
eyes settled into an inviting softness. The moment was getting to intense
for her to handle, so she started babbling, her most frequent escape
route.
"Thanks, uh, there's my roommate's, she um, she likes to
highlight things." Oh my dear lord, did I just say that?
Kevin contributed his bit of verbal diarrhea. "Yeah, I know,
I like to highlight things too." I did not just say that. Oh my God,
I'm so stupid, I can't believe that my first words to this angel was
something as asinine as that. Jay's right, I am a loser.
During this painful dialogue, Amy was impatiently slogging
through the useless facts her computer was spitting out. "Height,
weight, yeah, yeah, yeah," she muttered to herself. "Just tell me if
he's from the Negaverse!" She pulled out her cell phone and opened
the channel to the other phones. "You guys, I don't think that's
Malachite."
"Amy, it has to be Malachite! I mean, look at him! I say we
fry his sorry Negaverse ass before he wastes Mina!" Raye was practically
barking into her phone.
"Yeah, Amy, Mina is in considerable danger being that close
to Malachite. Let's send him back to hell where he belongs!" Lita
cracked her knuckles, anticipating a good fight with the Nega-scum.
"No, it's not Malachite!" Amy insisted. "I have his information
right here." She read off his driver's license. "Kevin Patrick Belles,
6'6, 275 lbs, born January 19th, son of Marie and Frank Belles, brother
to Kaylee and Jennifer Belles, sophomore at Bryce University, majoring
in political science, currently living at 22 Boris St., apartment 2C,
attended Moore High School, graduated 35th in a class of three
hundred, allergic to shellfish, broke his right tibia four years ago…"
"Jeez, Amy, why don't you tell us what he had for lunch,
too?"
"Lita, I'm just trying to keep you properly informed."
"Amy, the Negaverse has fooled us more than once!
What iff that Kevin guy is really Malachite in disguise?" Raye asked,
a little disconcerted about the way her best friend was staring
transfixed at their mortal enemy.
"Well, I doubt that Beryl would go through so much trouble
as to forge personal identification like this. I've got his driver's license,
his Social Security number, his medical records, and his school records,
even his credit history. This would take major research and effort,
and usually Beryl just flies by the seat of her pants.
Plus, he's not emitting any Dark energy. He is emitting,
something, though, but it's faint." Her computer screen contained
the scene in front of her in real time, and made visible the energy
emitting from each person. All the passersby were outlined in blurry
white light, there normal human energy made visible. Mina was surrounded
with a thick gold cloud of energy, the energy of Venus. Strangely,
Kevin Belles was surrounded with a thin layer of silver light, which
Amy's computer identified as "unknown." If he had really been
Malachite, the halo would have been black.
"Well, what is it?" Raye snapped. "I'm not dragging my ass
out of bed to check out some guy!"
"Well, he looks a lot like Malachite, with the hair and everything,"
Lita offered as consolation.
"Oh well, you guys, false alarm!" Serena chirped. "Aw, look! I
think Mina likes him! He IS totally hot!" She punched a button on
her phone.
The ringing cell phone broke through the uncomfortable silence
between Mina and Kevin. "Oh, I'm sorry," Mina said, pulling it out.
Oh thank God, I didn't know what to say to him. Why am I choking
now? "Hello?"
"You woke me up for this?" Raye practically shouted. "Mina, the next
time you feel the urge to have me witness you choking in front of some
guy please resist it!"
"Don't listen to her, she's just mad that she's in public in sweatpants.
And she thought the guy was Malachite when she first saw him, too.
You know, he dresses just like my ex-boyfriend."
"Oh don't even start. And everyone's seen me in sweatpants,
I wear them to class all the time."
"Mina, according to my readings, he's not Malachite, or any kind
of Nega-creature, so…"
"Oh Mina, he's so hot! Did he ask you out yet?"
Mina hung up the phone. "I'm sorry, I just…" At that moment
she remembered that she had never told this guy her name. "I'm
so sorry I never told you my name. I'm Mina."
He smiled at her softly, and Mina felt herself melting. "Hi Mina,
I'm Kevin. Kevin Belles. Nice to meet you."
She couldn't keep his gaze anymore; it was too intense. She lowered
her head and stared at her shoes instead. "So are you buying books?"
Ding ding ding! Oh thank you Sailor Obvious for that bit of insight!
"Yeah, I was supposed to get here a lot earlier, but my schedule got
messed up, and then one of those weird monsters attacked outside
my building and my car got its tire blown off in the process, so I
didn't really have the financial support until now."
Oh jeez, I think I remember that. I hope his car isn't an old
Blazer. "I know. I spent all my money on Christmas presents, and…"
"KEVIN!" Jay was striding towards him, the philosophy book
gone and a magazine in its place. "C'mon, we told Matt we'd pick
up food a half hour ago. He's probably starving." He stopped and
flashed Mina his do-me smile. "Hell-llo! Who is this lovely thing, Kev?"
Kevin reminded himself to beat the crap out of Jay once they got home.
"Jay, this is Mina; Mina, this is Jay. You know, I can't wait to lift when
I get home."
Jay's stomach sunk; this was Kevin's code for an approaching ass-kicking.
He quickly tried to salvage an escape route. "So, Mina, where do you l
ive?"
"Uh, Goshin Hall." She smiled; the Jedite look-alike had a way of
relieving tension in the situation. She glanced over his shoulder and saw
Amy shaking her head and mouthing, Not Jedite!
"What a coincidence, Kevin and I are going to be around there
tomorrow night! Right Kevin?" Kevin dully nodded, and wondered
if his face could get any redder. "Do you mind if we stop by?
Which floor?"
"Second. Room 223." Mina felt a tug on her arm. It was Raye, a
very irritated Raye.
"C'mon, Mina, we have an emergency Key Club meeting that we can't
miss." "Key Club Meeting" of course meant "Senshi Meeting."
Jay was on the tip of his tongue to start his usual ladies man routine
on the newcomer, but when she looked at him, all rational thought
drained away at the sight of those violet eyes and he found himself,
for once, speechless. Most of her shiny black hair was hidden under
a hat, but a few wisps escaped, brushing against her smooth face and
teasing him in the most merciless way. Her eyelashes were so long and
black that Jay felt the childish urge to pull on them to see if they were
real.
Raye caught him staring at her. "What are you looking at?" she
demanded, in her usual subdued way.
"N-nothing," he stuttered, feeling as shy as Kevin at the moment.
"This is my roommate, Raye," Mina interjected, out of pity for Jay.
Raye could stare a man into tears if she tried hard enough.
"Oh hi, Raye, uh, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Ok, then. Nice meeting
you, Mina, bye." Jay grabbed Kevin's sleeve and practically ran away,
mentally berating himself for acting like such a scrub.
"See you tomorrow, Mina," Kevin said to her before being dragged
away.
"Yes, goodbye," she called at his retreating back. She would be
counting the minutes until tomorrow night.
"Yo, goofball, what did he mean by 'tomorrow night?'" Raye asked,
waving a hand in front of Mina's face.
"They're going to stop by tomorrow, Ok?" She grinned.
"Hey, guys, senshi meeting!" Serena sang as she, Amy and Lita joined
them in the aisle. "Amy's got some ideas, and, oh! He asked you out,
didn't he!"
"Kinda," she said, her head still full of Kevin.
"Oh my gosh, you'll have to tell us all about it! I wanna hear everything,
ok? C'mon, Luna and Artemis are waiting for us in my room, and
they'll want to hear it too!"
Amy sighed as they left the bookstore. "Guess we won't be
discussing any business."
* * * * * * * * * * *
"Raye is so hot, man!" This was the fourth time Kevin had heard
those exact words, and he hadn't even backed out of the parking
space yet. Jay was talking a mile a minute and flipping through his
magazine. "Aw, just wait until Matt and Zach hear about this, they'll
be so jealous! Matt hasn't picked up a girl that hot in like, forever."
Kevin, who was still stewing over his lack of suaveness, was about to
remind Jay that he hadn't technically picked up Raye, but rather
withered under her glare when Jay screamed, "OH MY GOD!"
Kevin slammed on the brakes, thinking that another monster had
attacked nearby, and nearly caused a pileup. "WHAT?"
"LOOK!" Jay shouted over several angry honks and many obscene
yells. He held up a page in the magazine, showing Kevin an ad of a
blonde girl standing under a waterfall, her back to them, tilting her
head to the side with her eyes closed in bliss, with one of those girly
shower poufs frothing with foam in her hands. "Experience the bliss
with Sheer Bliss body wash," was printed in pink letters across the
bottom. Kevin snatched the magazine out of Jay's hands and studied
the picture closer. It was Mina. He stared at her, deaf to Jay's
excited rambling. "Oh my God, Kev, you picked up a model, the
guys are NEVER going to believe this, oh jeez, you are the MAN!
You are the shit! And you owe it all to me!"