'Love or Pretend'
SF: chapter nine is here! So in this chapter Tea is going to start living with Joey and Yugi for an entire weekend! All I can say is God help her! But in a small way I kind of wish it were me instead of her, don't you? Hehehehehe. Let's see how it goes. Thanks for reading!
Chapter nine: Tomorrow's another day
"So you're really going through with it, Tea? You're actually going to spend the entire weekend with Yugi and Joey? I mean, talk about going through a lifetime of pain and suffering."
Tea rolled her eyes. "Yes, Tristan, I'm going to spend the weekend with Yugi and Joey" taking a breath she added"And hopefully it won't be a weekend of chaos."
Tristan chuckled. "Good luck with that ever happening."
"Tristan" she yelled at him on her new blue cell phone. After Battle City was over Tea decided it was time to get a new one. She still couldn't believe that Rare Hunter crushed her old one. (A/N If it was me, I would kill anyone who tries to take my cell phone. But hey, that's only if it was me.)
"Sorry! I was only kidding! Can't you take a joke"
"No, I can't! Not when it's something as crazy and bizarre as this."
"I guess you've got a point."
' 'Thanks...' Tea thought to herself. "Don't you have your own issues to be dealing with?"
"What do you mean?"
Tea laughed. "You're going to live with Duke and Bret at Duke's house for the entire weekend and you're not going crazy? Are you feeling okay, Tristan"
Tristan snorted. "Yeah, well...I'll deal with those two soon enough. You just work on your own problems with Joey and Yugi, ok?"
"Well that leaves out something obvious now doesn't it?"
"What?"
"Let's just put it this way. I could totally see you guys trying to kill each other for just the last slice of pizza on Saturday night. So there's only one thing somebody needs to do in order for your survival."
"And that would be what exactly?"
"Somebody better hide the kitchen knives."
Just then Tea heard someone knock on her front door. "Ugh...Tristan, I got to go. The others are probably here to pick me up now."
"Pick you up?" Tristan asked her with confusion over the pay phone. "I thought you were using your car to pick Joey up."
"There was a slight change of plans. Joey finally got his car fixed this afternoon and he suggested that he take me to Yugi's house after we got all of our stuff together. I figured that'd be okay since he hasn't driven the car in a while. It's the least I can do after leaving him and Yugi in the student parking lot for fifteen minutes after school let out earlier."
"By the way, now that you mention that, what were you doing in class fifteen minutes after the bell rang?"
"Don't even try it, Tristan. My lips are sealed and I'm not telling you."
"That personal, huh?"
"I'm not telling you."
"Whatever," he said flatly with no argument.
"Tea!" Joey was yelling out her name while he was pounding on the door impatiently. "Ya gonna open up da door or what?"
Tea giggled. She quickly covered her cell phone with her hand to answer him. "I'll be right there, Joey. Just give me sec, okay? I'm talking on the phone." Joey said nothing back to her. Taking her hand off of her cell phone, she got back on the phone with Tristan. "I'll talk to you later, Tristan. I better go before Mr. Hothead tries to break down the door or leaves without me. I'll probably call you tomorrow to see if you and Duke haven't killed each other...yet."
"Right...Wait, one more thing, Tea! If anyone asks, just say it was all Bret's fault, all right? I don't anyone thinking I tried killing them."
Tea laughed again. "Gottcha. Bye."
"See ya later," then she waited until Tristan hung up and she pushed the end button on her cell phone.
Tea walked over to the door and opened it. "Hey Joey," Tea said with a cheerful smile on her face. Joey was surprised to find Tea in regular clothes. She wore a short denim skirt with a white and silver belt, a light pink tank top, and matching white sandals. "I'm here now" she told him. Joey made a light blush, but he was able to keep it hidden from Tea. 'Wow...Tea looks beautiful...hold on uh sec! Did I just say what I dink I just said? Oh god, school must really be startin' ta get ta me. I gotta stop listenin' ta Mr. Keith's lectures in Geometry class. It's startin' ta make me say things I'd never say' "Uh...good," he answered her nervously. "Where's your stuff at?"
"It's in my room. I'll get it in a second, but where's Yugi at? Is he waiting for us in the car?"
"Nope. He's back at da game shop still. Gramps said he couldn't come with me ta pick ya up 'cause he needed ta clean his room before we got dare."
"Oh. That's good...I guess. Just let me go and get my stuff and I'll meet you out here in two minutes."
"Whatever ya say," then Joey left for his car.
Tea flashed a smile at him and then ran inside her house. She walked into her room and zipped up the black suitcase that was at the end of her bed. After taking it off of her bed Tea spotted something from the corner of her eye. It was a picture of her, Yugi, Joey, and Tristan. Tea walked over to her small wooden nightstand and gently grabbed the picture frame. Smiling down at the picture and she to herself 'I hope this weekend goes well. If anything, I just hope we don't try killing each other before Monday comes around like Tristan, Duke, and Bret might. Though...if we did get into a fight it would make our stories better... Wait a second, I shouldn't be thinking about something like that.' Tea giggled to herself. 'Let's pray that this weekend goes more smoothly than I think it will. sigh I better get going before Joey has another fit. But after this weekend I just hope that's all Yugi and I have to worry about.'
(Five minutes later)
"Hey earth ta Tea! Are ya in dare, Tea?" Joey yelled out to her from inside his car five minutes later.
Tea snapped out of her daze, quickly shifted her weight and looked over at her blonde friend. "What? Did you say something, Joey?"
"Yeah, what's up with ya? Are ya feelin' okay?"
Tea looked at herself in the near view mirror. "I'm fine. I've just had a lot on my mind lately. I guess it's kind of distracted me a bit, huh?"
"Yeah...whatever-but you've been actin' like dis for uh while now. So tell why don't ya tell me what's going on with ya already."
Tea looked straight at him. She could sense it in his eyes that he really did want to know what was troubling her, but Tea knew she couldn't do that. Spending the weekend with Yugi and Joey for one of her most important grades in English was probably going to be stressful enough. Keeping her thoughts to herself was the best thing to do right now...even if she did want to tell Joey what was on her mind. "No offense, Joey, but I think I need to just keep my feelings to myself for a little while."
Just then, Joey pulled up to Yugi's house and parked by the sidewalk next to Grandpa's driveway. Joey turned off the car engine and placed a hand on her shoulder, looking directly in her eyes. "Tea, we're friends and friends tell each other was goin' on with dem-good or bad. Now I'm not goin' ta push ya or anythin', but I'm just sayin' dat I'd like ta know what's goin' on with ya because I care about ya. Ya know what I mean"
Tea nodded, but looked away from him after that. Closing her eyes while the wind gently rustled through her hair. 'I can't tell Joey about what's been going on. I can't tell him that I'm worried about Yugi because he could be telling Yami things that he's not telling us, which could mean something wrong with him. I can't tell him that I think things between us have gotten a little personal in past couple of days. Especially when I think about the whole Joey kissing my cheek every once and awhile. I know from experience that that probably wouldn't exactly make Yugi happy. But most of all, I can't tell him that I've been going out of mind with us pretending to date when Yugi isn't around. I mean, even though Yugi might not be around when we're pretending to date it seems in some small, strange way that he might know anyway. I care about Yugi so much and I don't want to see him hurt. I hope that this whole thing dies down soon because I fear that something bad is going to happen sooner or later and it could ruin our friendship for good. I just want everything to go back to normal so I didn't have to worry about all of this stuff. sigh That's all I want now.'
"Joey, listen to me," she shifted her weight again to look at him while speaking. "I understand where you're coming from it's just...I can't talk about my feelings to you...at least not right now anyway, because I don't know where all my feelings are. But as soon as I do know I'm sure you'll be the first one I come and talk to."
Raising an eyebrow, Joey looked at her wistfully. "Promise?"
She nodded her head twice. "I promise."
"Ya'll right. I'll be cool with decision...for now. But I want ta know what's goin' on with ya sooner or later. Ya hear me?"
She smiled at him for the first time in his car. "It's a deal."
"Good. Now let's get inside before Yugi and Gramps dink we ditched dem for da arcade or somethin'."
They started to get out of his car and grab their stuff while Tea made her own opinion about Joey and his statement. "Joey, you know you probably would do that anyway if it got you out of doing work for them."
Joey let out some soft laughter as he walked over to her to placed down his stuff. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into a hug. He whispered into her ear softly"Ya know what, Tea? I dink you're beginnin' ta know more 'bout me more den I do." This began to make Tea shiver. (A/N sigh I would be SO happy if I was Tea right now. I want Joey to like me! I LOVE YOU, JOEY' Um, did I just say that out loud? Uh...I gotta leave now! See ya soon! SF runs off as fast as she can to her house)
Tea's insides were telling her to make Joey stop what he was doing because he might take it further, but she needed to act natural so she wouldn't freak him out and make him ask her more questions about what's been going on with her lately. As Tea causally let go of Joey and walk up to the game shop she said, "Take my word for it, Joey. It's not that hard to figure you out."
It took Joey a few seconds to realize that Tea was playing around with him and when he did he didn't take it lightly. "Hey! Don't ya dare start actin' like Tristan or Kaiba. Dat's da last thin' I need for dis weekend, alright"
Tea giggled. "I'm only playing with you, Joey. What, can't you take a joke?...as Tristan would say."
(In Yugi's room)
"Are you sure about this? I mean, can we really ask Tea something as personal as what's been going on between her and Joey? Don't call me chicken or anything, but I'm starting to have second thoughts about all of this. I'm starting to think that maybe this is a bad idea..." Yugi looked down at his feet that were on his bed, curled up into a ball with a worried expression on his face. "I don't know if this is right...What do you think about all of this? I need your opinion, Yami."
Yami was on the other side of the dark room, leaning against one of the walls, looking at Yugi calmly in his semi-transparent form. "Yugi, you're going to go insane with all of your worrying. You're constantly forgetting that we haven't even begun to ask Tea about what's been going on between her and Joey and now you're getting cold feet? Just relax..." He tried giving Yugi a smile of confidence for him, but knew it probably wouldn't work. "I promise that everything will be fine in the end."
Yugi sighed sadly, still looking down at his feet. "I want to believe you, Yami, I really do. It's just-Tea's my oldest friend I don't want to do or say anything that will jeopardize our friendship."
Yami sat down on Yugi's bed quietly. "I understand you completely, Yugi, but if we don't talk to Tea about this we will never know what's going on with her. We have both seen changing ways in Joey and Tea's friendship and I want to know if it's still friendship between them."
Yugi suddenly looked up at Yami, but this time there wasn't as much sadness on his face. His senses of despair were thrown off by the intriguing attention that grabbed Yami's voice when he was talking about his crush and best friend together. "And what do you mean by that?" an obvious tone and pang of jealous was in his voice, overshadowing his worries for the caught up moment.
Yami noticed this immediately but still remained calm around Yugi so he didn't get him angry or more angry than he already was. "Nothing...You know that I just want to know if Tea's alright- that's all. I give you my word."
It took Yugi a few seconds to believe the look on Yami's face to believe that he was telling the truth. "Fine, I believe you, but you know that I want to talk to her first. Maybe I can get enough out of her-."
"Don't even say it, Yugi because we're doing this together. And together we will both get the answers we've been waiting for."
"Hey Yug! We're here," Joey yelled out to him as he and Tea walked into the game shop. "Ya gonna come down and see us or what?"
They both heard Yugi race down the stairs to greet them. Yugi walked in the room with a smile on his face. "Hi guys! What's up?"
"Nothin' much. Glad dat we finally gotten here. Where's Gramps at?"
"Oh, he's working on dinner in the kitchen right now. He should be done in about 20 minutes."
"Should I go ask him if he wants some help with anything? I'm sure I could give him a hand if he'd like it." Tea finally spoke up.
Yugi looked over at his crush and couldn't help but blush a little. "Uh, that's okay, Tea. He said he'd make rather make dinner by himself tonight" rolling his eyes, Yugi added, "besides, we'll be the ones cleaning up the mess after dinner so what's the point?"
"Okay, if you say so..."
"So what are we havin'?" Joey interrupted them.
"Tacos."
"Ya'll right" throwing his fist in the air. "Hey Yugi, why don't we huff uh duel until your grandpa gets done with cookin' dinner?"
"Sure. I've got my deck right here in my pocket. Let's play on the table over there," pointing to the table that sat in front of the T.V.
"Sounds okay with me. Just lemmie get my deck out of my bag."
(Later on that night)
"Tea! Are ya gonna open up anytime dis year!" Joey was impatiently knocking on the bathroom door later on that night. "Come on, Tea! You're takin' 85 years in dare! I'll be dead before ya even walk on out of dare."
"Just give me a second, Joey! I'm almost done in here," she yelled back to him.
'God! Girls take forever in da bathroom! I swear once she gets out of dare I'm going ta give her uh piece of-.'
"I'm done." Tea cut off his thoughts and swung open the bathroom door with a smile. Joey looked her-prepared to start yelling for taking so long in the bathroom-but was thrown off by what she was wearing and how she looked in it. Tea wore a light pink spaghetti strap top that showed off her pearly white skin and she had on cute matching pants with fluffy baby blue clouds all over it. The outfit couldn't look better on anyone else, Joey thought to himself. Her hair was still slightly wet from just getting out of the shower, but it was well brushed and out of her face so he could see her shining sapphire eyes.
Tea stopped his uncontrollable gaze on her by speaking to him again. "Joey, are you going to just stand there all day or are you going to move into the bathroom like you've been saying you would for the last half an hour?"
"Uh...Yeah" Trying to act more like himself he added"God, ya took forever in dare, Tea. Geez! Tomorrow I swear I'm takin' da first shower. You and Yugi can wait on me. I had enough of waitin' on you and Yugi for da rest of my lifetime. Ya hear?" then he walked in the bathroom and shut the door behind.
Tea rolled her eyes. 'Guys...I swear they'll never learn.' She walked upstairs with her towel, toothbrush, and hairbrush, through the dimly lit hall and almost past Yugi's room when he called her name.
"Yeah, Yugi?" she asked naturally while walking into his room.
As soon as the light of Yugi's room hit Tea's figure from the shadows Yugi ended up doing the exact same thing as Joey. Seeing how perfect Tea looked in her cute little pajama outfit he couldn't speak at all. The curves of her body were more noticeable than ever and Yugi couldn't help but make a light blush on his cheeks. Though, at the same time his embarrassing feelings were clouding his mind, Yugi couldn't image anyone more beautiful in the world than Tea. How he longed to wrap his arms around her and embrace her in a passionate hug. Or caress the smooth skin of her cheek and admit his real feelings to her. 'I wish I could tell her how I feel...' he sadly told himself.
"Did you call me in here for something, Yugi?" Tea snapped him back into reality.
"Uh...I...uh...well that is...I was just wondering...if Joey was in the bathroom yet?"
"Oh, yeah! Joey just got in there about two minutes ago. Actually, you should have heard what he was saying out there."
Yugi smiled. "He wouldn't shut up, would he?"
She shook her head. "Not to save his life. But let's just put it this way. If Kaiba was the one in the bathroom instead of me Joey would have either knocked the door down and thrown him out or killed himself because of boredom."
"Yep," Yugi nodded. "That sounds about right."
Tea giggled. "Doesn't it, though?"
After they finished giggling, Yugi finally noticed the things in Tea's hands and realized that she was probably walking back to the guestroom that was two doors down from his room. Grandpa's was right next to his-of course!
"Were you going to go put your things away?" he asked her.
"Huh?" looking down at the things in her arms and then looked back up at him. "Oh, I completely forgot that. Thanks for reminding me, Yugi. I'll be right back."
Walking away, Tea left the room with her things. "What's up, Yug?" Joey popped his head in the door a few seconds later and walked in. "Did I miss anything?"
"No. Tea was just in here, but she'll be right back once she puts her things away."
"Ok," seeming fine with this, Joey went ahead and put away his hair brush and toothbrush. (A/N does anyone here think Joey actually owns a hairbrush? His hair seems WAY too messy for me to think he does.)
"Hey, Joey. Glad to be out of the shower now?" Tea asked him as she walked in Yugi's room again.
Turning around to see her, Joey grinned. "After waitin' on ya forever, ya better believe I am."
"Hey Tea, did you happen to see if Grandpa was sleeping when you walked by his room?" Yugi brought her attention back on him again, just the way he liked it.
Tea looked over at her best friend and nodded. "Um, yeah I did. And he was sleeping. I think what gave it away was his snoring-if you catch my drift."
They all laughed. "I guess I forgot to mention that when Grandpa's really tired he tends to snore-and really loudly too."
After about 20 minutes of more talking Tea finally let out a yawn and said "I guess it's time for bed then. And God, am I tired. It's almost 11:00 o'clock."
"C'mon, Tea! So what? It's only 11:00! I've stayed up with Tristan until 4:00 in da mornin' before and I had no problems da next day. It's not dat hard ta do."
''; Yugi and Tea looked at each other and then blankly said "I'd believe it."
"Man, ya guys can't stay up late? You're both wimps."
"Hey, Joey! That's not fair! I never said I was going to bed yet," Yugi protested.
"Ok, Yug. Ya got uh point. So are ya comin' downstairs with me ta watch some late T.V. or what?"
"Uh-no. I'm actually kind of feeling tired myself too. I'll probably go to bed also. But-."
"I'm going downstairs ta watch some T.V.- not go ta bed like some three-year-olds I could mention right now. See ya two in da mornin'."
Then Joey left the room and went downstairs before either Yugi or Tea could say anything to him.
Yugi seemed a little sad that Joey left like he did, but Tea quickly changed his mind. "Don't worry about him, Yugi. I'm sure he's just like this because we don't do what he wants. Though, by tomorrow I bet things will be better. Just wait and see."
Yugi smiled at her. "Thanks, Tea. I'll see you in the morning."
"Ok. See you then."
Tea got off of Yugi's bed and turned around to give him a hug goodnight, which was a little unexpecting to Yugi (and Yami). Wrapping her arms around his small body, Yugi felt like he was in heaven-and he could have stayed like that forever with her...
"'Night, Yugi," she said to him after parting then slowly walked away and turned off Yugi's bedroom lights.
Once the door was shut and the hall lights were all turned off, Yugi had his eyes wide open, staring at the dark ceiling. His thoughts were on Tea and on what tomorrow would bring for them. Because for all he knew...tomorrow could change his life with Tea and in a small way he liked that idea... (HINT, HINT! What do you guys think that means!)
Chapter nine is over, reviewers. Sorry for the wait and the small cliffy! School just seems to always be in the way these days. Though, I just found out that I only have 5 more weeks of school left! YES! I am so thrilled about that! I CANNOT wait for summer to come. I can finally have other things in my mind, besides school, to work on.
Anywayz, thanks for reading chapter nine!
PLEASE REVIEW!