**Passion Days**
CHAPTER 5: Do You Remember When…(A Day at the Beach)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, well even as I thought, on my last chapter I slacked off. Hmm, I recall saying no flames but yet, I seem to have got SOME INDIRECT ONES…¬_¬ It's been tiring, and school's almost over for me, so bare with me here. I'll make this one MORE SPECTACULAR and CLEAR for some people whose names/pennames shall remain private. Well, that was scary ^^; I get like that sometimes, don't mind me. Enjoy the reminiscing chapter.
Song used (bits and pieces): "Alive," by Jennifer Lopez (J to the L-O! ^_~)
**-+-**
"Yugi!!!" A youthful girl deeply voiced, and then screeched high-pitched on the last syllable of the name.
"Here I am! I thought I lost you!" He revealed a relieving sigh while speaking to his friend, also wiping a few tears coyly.
"We have to get back soon, look at the clouds!" She pointed above to the sky with a circular motion of her finger, warning him of the small rainbelt heading towards them, "C'mon, take my hand and let's BOLT!" The tiny boy nodded to the girl's order.
The downpour came crashing down drenching everything in Domino City. Most people hurried inside their houses and cars, but not for the two friends. They were practically on the opposite side of the metropolis in a thunderstorm. The boy and girl thrust themselves under a large canopy tree in the now deserted park. The children breathed heavily; their clothes were saturated a great deal, as well as their faces and skin.
"Oh no," a brave roll of thunder and a crackle of lightning penetrated the dark clouds, "Yugi, are you all right?"
Yugi bobbed his head slightly and his eyes began to close sluggishly and slumped up against the thick tree trunk.
"YUGI!" She shook him by the arm, "This isn't a great time to fall asleep now! Wake up!" The primary schoolboy didn't respond. The girl grabbed him with ease and cuddled with him, carressing his upper back. "Yugi, listen to me, if you don't wake up, I mean never, ever, wake up again, you'll be missing out on so much stuff. We'll share a sincere friendship, we'll go on to junior high and even high school, find new friends, and fall in love…" Her ending phrase triggered a blush against her cheeks.
Yugi heard her clearly; he listened to the beating rhythm of her heart. It was then he knew she was true to him. He indirectly showed her he was alive by holding her a bit tighter. She smiled.
"Téa! Come take a swim with me, it's getting hotter than hell's flame," she snapped out of her sound sleep behind her shady sunglasses as her boyfriend whispered a warm breath into her ear, "and it's another damn story with the heat coming off of you."
She gasped, propping herself up on her elbows and scanned the beach shoreline for Yugi, while Tristan folded his arms and rolled his eyes down at Joey sprawled on the blanket. Téa rubbed her eyes roughly. "Unh, where is Yugi and Serenity?"
"Yugi said he wasn't feeling so hot and that he was going to take a quick stroll around the boardwalk. As for Serenity, it looks like she found her boy toy." Tristan chuckled peeking beyond where he stood, to Serenity near the shoreline where she was laughing with some boy as he lifted her up by the waist to hit the volleyball over the net.
"Who is that fag?" Joey asked bluntly, but with a foul tone of voice.
"Joe! He looks harmless, but I'll keep an eye on him if he gets…frisky, okay? You guys go in for a dip and I'll watch for Yugi, all right?" Tristan said, giving them both a prompt nod. Joey agreed as he positioned his hand for Téa's support getting up off of the sandy beach blanket. They headed for a nice section of the ocean to dunk in.
Tristan plunked into one of the lounge chairs under the umbrella. Panging rays of the sun reflected back into the atmosphere. As did the sun reflect off of the golden Millenium Puzzle.
**-+-**
Yugi straightened his spine against the searing stonewall alongside the boardwalk as people hurried by on rollerblades, shuffling across the sandy footpath wearing their sandals and flipflops with friends. Being friendly. Being friendly? Yugi didn't want to know the definition of friendly at this point in time. He had no friends with him. Case closed. It came to his mind if his "friends" cared. No one bent over backwards to run up and see how he was feeling.
/Yami?/
//Hmm?//
/Is that really how it went? Speaking of the Joey and Téa scenario…/
//Yes, Yugi. I know every time you ask me you're expecting the one and only answer you'd like to hear, but I'm sorry. It just doesn't work that way.//
What it is is that it isn't fair! Yugi echoed his thoughts through his head; Joey always had girls falling into his lap since junior high; now, right out of the blue, he chooses Téa. Though, I can't blame him. Too many reasons. He blinked out the sun and reopened his lashes again. Téa should be the one to blame! She promised me a sincere friendship and she never once took the time to tell me she got paired off with him. Oh sure, and what else do they do? They sing "Short People" that retarded Randy Newman song to me. FUNNY! Yeah…real sincere. A stressful, uneven sigh flowed out of his lips. His curiosity of where they were had got the best of him. Suddenly, Yugi heard some familiar voices traveling across the sand dunes, nearing to the infinite length of the bordering stonewall; he sharply took in a harsh breath and remained silent.
"And you said how long ago did he go for a walk?" Téa inquired shadily to Tristan placing her palms to her hips.
He replied by glancing down at the radio he was carrying, "Roughly an hour and a half. Yugi wouldn't have gone too far; everybody knows how he is about getting lost."
Something clicked in Téa's brain and hastily sprung her arms out straight from her sides. "We have to find him. I can read him like an open book and there's no way he would take such a long walk unless he hated the company he was in. This is the weird part, he doesn't hate us…" she stuttered a bit struggling for more words, "Erm…why would he, how could he—"
Joey wrapped his arms around her shoulders, standing in back of her, "He'll find us. He usually does so don't get worked up over the whole thing. I'm sure Yug's fine; he probably found a spot along the beach somewhere to space out. Think about it, where else would he go?"
"Exactly, Joey," Serenity chimed in, "it is mainly all barren land. There are no shops around to browse through at Adriatic Beach and Boardwalk."
"Yeah, but I think you guys forgot just one thing. He said he didn't feel too well," Tristan corrected, "what if he's upchucking—"
"TRISS, 'nuff said, dude." Joey winced.
Téa rudely rolled her eyes and grumbled, "Wait here. I'll be back in a few minutes." She traipsed diagonally, onward to where she would meet a portion of the stonewall.
Her boyfriend groaned in dismay and trod over to her, "Well, if you're going to look, them I'm going with you. Yugi is one of my best friends, too, you know; and for the plus point, the sun's going down and it's not the safest of areas when you got a bikini on taking a stroll down the street. Here," Joey sheltered his baggy sweatshirt over most of Téa's back and arm region.
This brought a soft smile among her lips. Though, soon a serious face came into play; "Joey, there's something I have to tell you. Yugi has been the closest friend I ever had. He's one of the very few individuals who have learned not judge people by their appearance and so on. Furthermore, Yugi is honest to a fault when it comes to me and about five years back, we made a promise we would be sincere. I-I just can't keep going on without letting him in on it. It makes me feel so scummy."
"Take it from me, I feel the scum! Tristan egged me on about how much of a secret this was. I had told him Yugi would understand but—" Joey strained his muscles, thinking about what he was going to imply next.
"But what? Understand what, exactly?"
"It's nothing, really!" He stretched his arms behind his head. "Just forget it, please."
"Joey…"
Joey tried to stress his words but failed and revealed all, "Téa, he loves you," he rubbed his forehead and continued, "Tristan also said that Yugi had a crush on you for four years now." Joey paused, not knowing whether to say anything, or stay quiet.
"DAMN IT, JOEY! I do know, OKAY? I was just too terrified to express any mix of words about the subject to his face! Now look where this shit ended up! I've been hearing left and right, up and down, and off of my ass that he was head-over-heels for me! To put the final cherry on all the whipped cream, I GET a boyfriend and he'll be fucking pissed at me when he finds out and I don't want to GO THROUGH THIS!"
"You swore…" His eyes widened as much as they could possibly go from the type of language she spat; he was even more frightened that she'd be using that type of language he uses frequently, too.
"YEAH! As a matter of fact I did! Let me tell you something, hon', it feels mighty fucking SWELL!" Joey kissed the tip of her nose as she collapsed immediately into his inviting arms; doing so, she sobbed.
"So you're saying he told a lot of people at school?!"
"I guess," Téa's tears began to recede, "but he's not the type of person to do that…didn't you know ahead of time about this?"
"No. I had found out from Tristan when Ser' was in the hospital. Yugi would tell me everything under the sun, but he sort of drifted away when you and I started hanging out a lot more. Maybe he's onto us." Joey shrugged, and tipped his neck back to peer at the cloudy, dusk-shaded sky.
"YOU GUYS! GET YOUR ASSES OFF OF THE BEACH!" Tristan howled to Joey and Téa, as Serenity stood nearby the tall, tanned boy near the curb of the street, sheilding her eyes from any sand particles being swept up by the gales. Tristan passed Serenity a towel for her face without much ease, while switching on the radio, twisting the dial trying to get at least a weather report, but left it at a song. Maybe it would end and go to an announcement soon, lacking static.
On the other dimension of the wall, Yugi was seething; but somehow, he experienced a small twinge of compassion for Téa. He hadn't been aware of what he made her go through for half of a decade. Yugi had to think fast, and the sunset wasn't forming such a wavy, peach-stricken hue, it had transformed into an impending, overcast firmament.
Oh you gotta be kidding me! He whimpered, storm?! Well…good. I don't need Téa's help for prunes… um, might as well take off then. Yugi gathered up his belongings (or what he had brought with him), peeping his head in through the t-shirt's main hole. He continued to the sound of the music onward for any sight of transportation to get back home when driving rain beat upon his tiny body thinking of his friends; his eyes watering with sorrow—which was Téa's excess guilt, that had spread contagiously to Yugi's disadvantage.
"Time goes slowly now in my life
Fear no more of what I'm not sure
Searching to feel your soul
The strength to stand alone
The power of not knowing and letting go
I guess I've found my way
It's simple when it's right
Feelin' lucky just to be here tonight
And happy just to be me and be alive…"
A physically powerful gust of wind zipped along the now-desolate beach. The waves arched and curved, trampling all of the seashore and the beach beyond.
"Téa, he's right; it's getting vicious out here. Yugi's familiar to where my sister's house is, so I'm sure he'll find his way back." Rain gallantly poured down on the city. Joey climbed to his feet still grasping onto his girlfriend securely.
"No! Tristan is not right! I'll feel more comfortable if Yugi's here with us!" The cracks and rolls of lightning and thunder danced in the rhythm of the rainstorm. "Joey, don't you want to find him? I just—I know he's scared…I don't want him to be…" her voice trailed off as Joey speedily carried Téa over to the boardwalk with Serenity and Tristan occupying it.
"You are the one who's scared, sweetie. This storm is gonna pass over and come hell or high water—well, we got the high water part down," he eyed the humungous waves crashing down on the spot they previously were, "we're searching for Yugi." Joey kissed Téa's lips for a brief second and dove onto the boardwalk. "I love you," he said as he placed her back on her feet.
"Love, in and out
A mile in my heart
And though life can be strange
I can't be afraid…"
Téa intently stared at him for a few moments and bowed her head. She examined her hands, wringing them, absorbed in her routine. She then gazed up to his eyes once again, they seemed black, but the tint of russet was yet there. Téa did not say a word back to him, only flashing a weak lip smile; with that, the girl turned away.
"Shit! Torrential rain doesn't come with life boats, huh!" Tristan shouted. "How the hell are we gonna get home!" The waves pounded against the bordering stonewall.
"Nobody brought a phone? Wonderful." Serenity exclaimed sarcastically.
Suddenly, a Jeep pulled up to the curb in front of all four as the puddle gushed on them, aggravating the friends to the limit and the window reeled in quickly, "Hey, I think you losers lost a winner! Did you find him?" The woman's voice was coolly declared, and her purple eyes glimmered to the raindrops and then she winked.
"Mai?! What are you talking about, woman?" Joey astoundingly inquired.
"All right, maybe this'll be easier on your brain function," the electric window rolled down, "does he look familiar?"
Yugi's face appeared, glaring at them outside of the rear window, "Téa, should I make myself some signs and flags plastering all over it: 'I survived a storm—without Téa Gardner!'"
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: YEAH, I bet you didn't expect that mental ending! ^_^;; Anyway, I just wanted to show a relationship between Téa and Yugi since there's a million friendships/relationships I gotta pin down in this fic. Hope you come back for my next chapter ^_~ (It wasn't so much of a cliffhanger this time, was it!)
P.S.! OKAY, so Mai possibly wouldn't pick up Yugi—it's ONLY FICTION, PEEPS! ^___^