Three Calls, Three Minutes
**ring ring**
"Hello?" Kari answered the phone expectantly. "Oh, it's only you. **pause** Actually, I was kinda expecting someone else to call. **pause** No, I haven't talked to him yet… But I will. Don't worry. **pause** You did?! And you're sure it was me? I mean, he could have been talking about someone else. **pause**"
2 hours later
Kari's mother entered the room. She groaned at the sight of her daughter still on the phone. "Hikari Kamiya! Get off that phone now!" she demanded, putting her hands on her hips.
"Hold on a sec, okay?" Kari said, putting her hand over the mouthpiece of the phone. "Mo-om!" Kari said pleadingly with huge sad eyes. "This is important. Like life and death important."
"If it was that important, it would have been over 2 hours ago!"
"This could possibly affect my entire future!"
Her mother narrowed her eyes and clenched her teeth. "If you aren't off that phone in two minutes you won't live to have a future!"
Kari grinned and waved her mother off. She uncovered the mouthpiece. "Okay, so then what did he say?"
Her mother threw up her hands and heaved a gigantic sigh. She stalked out of the room.
Kari rolled her eyes at the triviality of parents and continued with her phone call.
15 minutes later
"HIKARI!" her father yelled from the doorway, turning an interesting shade of purple, Kari noticed. "GET OFF THE PHONE!!!"
Again Kari rolled her eyes upward and said, "Listen, I'll have to call you back. My parents are totally cra-"
"I SAID GET OFF THE PHONE!!!" Kari's father exploded once more.
"See ya," Kari said, hanging up the phone. Looking at her parents' faces, both dark with fury she said, "Uh, something wrong?"
Before her parents had a chance to say anything the phone rang. Kari made an attempt to get it but her father beat her to it. "Kari can't come to the phone right now. No, she won't be able to talk to you today. Try again next year," he answered.
Kari's mouth dropped in shock. "What did you do that for? I was right here!"
Her father looked angry again and was about to say something but bit it back. He unplugged the phone out of her room and left, taking it with him.
The next day
"I know. **pause** You think so too? **pause** I don't know. He is really cute…" Twisting the phone cord in her hand (she had found it inside the oven, of all places), Kari looked down at the notebook she was doodling on. TK. She smiled to herself, picturing his sweet big blue eyes and his adorable mop of blonde hair. Feeling very contented she started shading in the T of his name.
Tai walked into the room. He did not look happy. "Kari, if you don't come off that phone right now, I will be tempted to take that phone and bash you in the head with it," he said, his voice dangerously low.
"C'mon, I've only been on here for a minute!" she protested.
"You have been on that phone for almost three hours. Three entire hours."
Kari shrugged. "This is vitally important."
"If I had half a cent for every vitally important phone call you had, I'd be a billionaire in five minutes."
Ignoring him, Kari said to the person on the phone, "Yeah, I'm still here. I live with a bunch of maniacs I tell you." Watching as Tai impatiently tapped his foot loudly on the ground she wound things up. "Well, I'll talk to you later. Bye." She hung up. Before the phone was properly in place it started ringing again. She reached to answer but Tai was fed up.
"That's it," he said. "Give me the phone." They struggled for a few moments until he wrestled the phone away from her. Sitting on her, he sat upright and said, "Hello?" There was a brief pause then Tai shouted into the phone. "NO! Kari can't come to the phone, okay?" Without waiting for an answer he slammed the phone down. He kept banging the phone down repeatedly.
"OW! Tai get off of me!" Kari cried. With no luck she tried to push her fuming older brother off. "What are you trying to do? Kill me?" Seeing the look in her brother's eyes she asked, "I take it that was the plan." Tai gave her another killer look and continued to bang the phone down.
Hearing all the commotion their parents rushed into the room. "What's-" they started, looking around the room. When they saw Tai sitting on Kari while still banging the phone they groaned.
"She," Tai growled, glaring at his sister, "was on the phone. For three hours." He held up the receiver in a death grip.
Rubbing her temple, their mother said, "Okay, it's time we got this whole thing sorted out."
Tai dropped the phone after giving it another menacing look then got off of his sister.
"We have decided to settle this whole phone issue," their father said looking at both of them.
"You're getting me my own phone line! Great!" Kari said, smiling hopefully. Tai responded to this by groaning and shaking his head.
"No," her mother stated firmly. "We have decided to limit your time on the phone instead."
"You will be allowed three phone calls per day. That includes you calling out and people calling in. Each call must last three minutes only."
Kari's mouth dropped open in shock. "What?! This is so unfair!" she whined.
Tai started to grin and jumped up triumphantly. "Finally!" he shouted. "I get to use the phone!"
"This is inhumane," Kari spat, standing up. Realizing she had nowhere to go since she was already in her room, she sat back down.
"Yes!" Tai crowed.
The next few days were torture for Kari. She wanted desperately to find out if TK liked her or not but thanks to her parents' dumb rule she could call anyone to find out anything. Sure she could call, but three minutes? What person could have a phone call in three minutes? And three calls? Nine minutes a day. Nine. Pure insanity.
This is dumb! Kari thought staring at the phone. I will have absolutely no social life thanks to my parents! She whimpered. And I might as well forget about TK. I mean, if he did call, by some miracle, we wouldn't even have time to say anything. 'I'm sorry, TK. I have to go. My three minutes are up and this is my third call today.' He'd think I'm dumb or something. She sighed and felt like she was going to cry. I hate my parents.
Taking a deep breath, TK looked at the phone. Lifting it up to his ear, he dialed three digits. Losing all his nerve he put the phone down. C'mon, TK, he told himself. You pick up the phone and dial. Is it really that hard? He took another deep breath and dialed the number. Be a man, be a man, be a man…
The phone rang. Normally, Kari would already have answered it but now she didn't care. Not like anyone's going to call for me, she thought disgustedly. Tai entered the room and said, "Pick up the phone."
Sighing heavily, Kari picked up the phone. Tai held up three fingers. She made a face at him and said, "Hello?"
"Hello? Kari?"
Kari's heart stopped, her head felt dizzy and her whole body went numb. Takeru Takaishi is actually on this phone. Talking to me, she thought in amazement. "TK? Yeah, this is me." She cringed inwardly. That sounded dumb.
"Kari? It's me, TK. Oh, yeah I guess you already figured that out." On the other side of the line TK flinched visibly at his own stupidity. Brilliant, TK, he thought sarcastically.
"So…" Kari said, hoping to that he would at least give her a hint that he liked her.
"So, you finish the math assignment yet?" TK blurted out. He mentally smacked himself. Great. I finally get the nerve to call Kari and I ask about school. She probably thinks I'm totally weird.
Great, Kari moaned to herself. He hates talking to me so much that he resorts to talking about school. She whimpered. Out loud she said, "Actually, I haven't finished yet. You?"
"Huh?" TK asked, having forgotten what they were talking about. "Oh, I was. I mean, I am. I finished it," he finally said. Smooth move, Takaishi, he said to himself. Convince her you're a nerd. Perfect.
There was a pause in the conversation. Say something, Kari, she urged herself.
TK's mind went blank. "Uh, I guess I better go," he said.
Kari looked at the clock. Three minutes had passed. "Yeah, me too, I guess."
"Well, see ya."
"Uh-huh. See ya."
"Bye."
"Bye." They both hung up.
He hates me, Kari moaned.
She hates me, TK moaned.
Kari glanced at the phone with determination. She picked it up and dialed TK's number. As she pressed the last digit she felt dizzy. I am going to pass out, she thought.
TK looked quizzically at the phone that he had just set down. He picked it up. "Hello?"
"Hello? TK?"
TK felt as if time itself had stopped. Kari Kamiya had actually called his house. To talk to him. His hopes fell with his next thought though. She probably called back to tell me what a loser I am, he thought wincing. "Hi, Kari," he said, hoping he didn't sound totally desperate.
"Hi. Oh, I guess I said that already." He's going to think I'm such an airhead, Kari thought, hating herself for sounding so dumb.
There was a dreaded pause.
Hoping to fill the void in conversation with anything, anything at all, Kari said, "So…"
Unable to find anything to say to that TK said, "So…"
"Well," she said.
"Well," TK said.
Another pause.
Boy, this is going nowhere fast, Kari thought. She glanced at the clock. She looked at it again in disbelief. Three minutes had passed. "I have to go," she said to TK.
"Okay," he said, wishing he could find something to say to keep (or start for that matter) the conversation. But as he didn't, he simply hung up the phone.
One minute later
TK looked at the phone again. He bit his lip. He took a deep breath. He let it go. He counted to three. Five. Ten. Twenty. Just call her already! he screamed at himself. Calmly, (well, maybe not all that calmly because he was frantically tapping his fingers on the wooden table the phone rested on) he dialed Kari's number.
They say third time's a charm, he thought, his tapping growing more frantic as the phone began to ring. Let's see if that's true for me.
Kari looked at her phone in surprise. She picked it up before it finished the first ring. "TK?" she asked expectantly, crossing her fingers.
"Hi, Kari," TK's voice sounded a bit off to him. He hoped Kari didn't notice.
Kari couldn't believe TK was on the phone talking to her. Again. And his voice. He sounded so, so… She wasn't sure exactly what it was but he sounded totally irresistible. "Yes, TK?" she asked, hoping she didn't sound too hopeful. She bit her lip.
TK tried to read her tone of voice. He was looking for a hint was in the slightest bit interested in him. He couldn't find one. His tapping increased in speed and volume. "Kari, I was wondering if…" he trailed off, wondering if he should just quit before he made an even bigger fool of himself.
"If…" Kari repeated, her heart stopping, her teeth clamping down more forcefully on her lip.
TK's tapping was almost one long continuous sound. "If…" He paused. "Iwaswonderingifyouwantedtogooutwithme," he blurted out really, really fast.
"What?" Kari couldn't stop the word from coming out of her mouth. She mentally kicked herself, regretting the words instantly. She just wasn't too sure if he had said what she thought he had said.
"I was wondering if you would go out with me," TK said, wincing. His tapping grew even more frantic and crazed as he waited for the angry outburst.
A huge stupid grin spread across Kari's face. She started nodding like an idiot then realized he couldn't see her and said, "Yes! I mean, that'll be good. I mean, of course! I mean… Yes!"
TK stopped tapping. He blinked. "Huh?" he blurted out. "I mean, you would?"
Again Kari nodded. Then remembering he still couldn't see her she said, "Yes! I'd love to!"
TK started grinning. "Great! See you Friday night?"
"Friday night," Kari said, grinning and nodding. She hung up the phone and flopped onto her back. She stared at the ceiling with the stupid grin on her face.
Her mother walked in. She looked suspicious. "How long have you been on that call?" she questioned.
Kari just grinned idiotically at the ceiling. She sighed and said, her voice sounding extremely lovesick, "Three minutes. Three wonderful minutes."
Author's Note: Okay, that's the end. Here's where I say, it was one of the dumbest stories I've ever written, if you didn't like it, who cares and oh yeah: "Don't own Digimon. Don't sue me." Now you click button and review. ^_~