"Perfectly fine, Phil." She sighed and shook her head. "I can't believe I offered to help you out."
"Neither can I." He flashed a teasing grin at his sister then glanced at his watch. "I'd better go," he said. Pecking Pim on the top of her head, he turned around, grabbed his jacket and left.
"Bye mom, dad!" he yelled, and the door slammed shut behind him.
The remaining three of the family waited in the hall for the phone to ring anxiously. When it finally did, Barbara grabbed it and greeted, "hello?"
"She just left," was the short reply from the other end of the phone.
She smiled widely. "All right, thanks." She paused. "Begin plan, then?"
"Yep. Operation Pheely, commence."
-
"Did I tell you that you look...amazing?" Phil questioned, smiling shyly at his partner.
"Yep." Keely nodded and laughed. "But I like hearing it."
"Good. Don't think I'm gonna stop," he remarked, eliciting another giggle from her. "You're dancing pretty well, by the way," he said, a hint of pride in his voice.
"Yep!" She smiled. "Only stepped on your foot five times!"
"Who're you gonna thank?" he started expectingly.
"Hmm..." She made a show of thinking over it and he slapped her on the shoulder with mock-annoyance.
"Look at them," Tia said with a sigh. "They're too sweet," she added on the phone.
Pim on the other line agreed at once. Lloyd sighed irritatedly and said, "I'm sure that the extra info is appreciated. Now can we please get somewhere?"
Tia gave an annoyed grunt but continued anyway. "Phil looks great, Pim, you did a fab job."
She grinned proudly. "Thank you - thank ya very much," she said and added a wink for the effect. Lloyd glared at her, however, and she shrunk back once more.
"Hey, hang on. What's Fred going over there for?" Tia started suddenly. She pulled Seth along with her when she strode a little closer to the couple and the approaching hottie of the school. "It looks like he's asking her to...dance." She winced slightly. Under any other circumstances she'd be jumping with joy for her friend, but at that moment, she couldn't help wanting Fred to leave.
Immediately.
Of course, she couldn't always get what she wanted.
She couldn't hear a word of what was going on, so she settled on reading their lips. From the looks of it, Fred was inviting Keely for a dance, and Phil, knowing Fred's reputation, was saying that it was okay with Keely went. He had failed to notice that even though Keely looked starry-eyed, it wasn't for Fred - it was for him.
Stupid idiot, Tia thought, furrowing her brow as Fred pulled Keely to the dance floor. Stupid idiot, she thought again, as she watched Phil staring at them as they went further and further away from him and deeper into the crowd of couples on the dance-floor.
Stupid idiot, she thought once more, though this time about a different person, as Fred leaned closer to Keely. She breathed out a loud sigh of relief when Keely simply turned her head so that Fred's lips met only her cheek.
"What? What's happening?" Pim asked anxiously, waiting for an update on what was going on.
Tia didn't reply and instead handed the phone to Seth, who was standing right beside her. Her eyes followed Fred and Keely right until Fred closed the door that he had just pushed Keely through.
Phil followed them immediately, his confident steps revealing only a bit of the anger he was feeling.
Seth and Tia were hot on his trail. The handphone had been turned off.
-
The last two arrived just in time to see Phil punching Fred square on the nose. Her gasp was drowned out by a pained yell from Fred. He mumbled a quick apology as he backed away, his face red with embarassment.
Tia and Seth backed into the shadows and watched.
Phil turned around and stared at Keely, who was already gazing at him with admiration, her jaw hanging open. There were streaks of tears on her face. His face broke out into a slow grin. "You okay?" he asked, pushing her jaw up to close her mouth.
She nodded, still staring at him. Then her mouth curved into a grin as well so that her face reflected his, and she threw her arms around him. "You were great," she whispered into his ear.
He tightened the hug as she continued, still softly. "I'm glad you were here."
He ran her fingers through her hair as he replied, "So am I."