Author Note: I don't own YGO.
'Love or Pretend?'
Okay, so let's recap the last chapter, shall we? Now, as we all read in the last chapter Tea was starting to get a little nervous around Joey because she was beginning to think that he was starting to get too close to her as a friend. We also found out that Joey is completely opposite of her and Yugi when living together. (And we all know why— because Joey's probably the most impatient person either of them ever met.) But the most startling news (I personally thought. But I don't know about the rest of you guys.) was Yugi wanting to tell Tea something the next day that not even Yami knew about. Did you guys actually catch that part? I mean, I thought it looked pretty obvious, but if it didn't I am SO sorry. Now I guess all we can do is SEE WHAT THE NEXT CHAPTER IS GOING TO BE LIKE!!! Hope you all enjoy!
Chapter ten: It's still not over yet
"C'mon ya guys! Both of ya are slower than slugs in da mornin'! Whoever taught ya ta get up in earlier! I thought we were goin' ta da arcade at 9:00. It's almost 8:45. And if we don't get dare soon all da good games will be taken up and I am not waitin' on ya two forever! So let's go already!"
"JOEY!!!" Grandpa yelled up him from upstairs in his bedroom. "Are you quite finished now? I'm trying to get some sleep before I open up the shop in an hour!"
"Sorry 'bout dat Gramps." Joey sweatdropped. "I guess I just got uh little carried away back dare."
"What time is it?" Yugi groggily asked, coming down the stairs, still in his baby blue and yellow-starred pajamas, letting out a yawn.
Joey falls down Anime style "Yugi! What are ya still doing in your pajamas?"
"He's probably still trying to get some sleep like the rest of us normal people try to do on Saturday mornings." Tea walked down stairs, still in her pajamas, looking slightly annoyed with Joey. "The question is; what are you doing up, Joey?"
Rubbing his eyes, Yugi asked, "yeah Joey. What are you doing up at this hour? Don't you ever sleep in on the weekends?"
"No," Joey said without even having to think about for a second.
"Joey, I thought we decided we weren't going to the arcade until this afternoon. So why are you in such a rush to go right now? You can always wait in line to play the good games later on like most people do. It's not like they're going anywhere. Besides, I won't kill you wait a few hours if you miss it," Tea spoke up again with her arms across from each other, leaning against a wall for support.
"But I don't wanna wait!" Joey complained. "I wanna go right now!"
"Oh, stop being a big baby! Yugi and I aren't even dressed yet."
"Den hurry up so we can go! Da arcade opens in fifteen minutes and I don't wanna be dare when it gets really crowded."
Tea turned to Yugi, who looked over at her, and said, "okay, I think I know what I'm going to be writing about for my short story report, Yugi. It's going to be about a boy who never saw the age of seventeen because he was driving me nuts!"
Yugi laughed. "Really? Mine was going to be about locking myself up in my room so I was never going to be disturbed again by that same person."
"Okay, ya guys! I know you're just tryin' ta mess with my head so I won't go anywhere, right?"
Tea looked back over at him impatiently. "Joey, can't you just give us a half an hour so Yugi and I can get ready?"
A chill suddenly went up Yugi's spine as he started to tremble a little. "Actually, Tea, I was kind of hoping to talk to you in private before we all went to the arcade."
Tea and Joey slowly looked over at Yugi and they both said, "you were?"
"Why?" Joey asked.
"Because...I just do. So will you, Tea?" Yugi looked softly, though sheepishly at Tea, hoping for her to say yes.
Tea studied him for a moment and decided that it was probably alright. "Sure."
Turning back over to Joey, she told him, "Joey, why don't you go on to the arcade without us right now and we'll meet you there when were dressed and done talking."
Joey didn't like the looks of this picture. Yugi seemed way too tense for just wanting to talk to Tea. He must've needed him out of house because what he wanted to tell Tea was something really important. Though, if it was, Joey also knew he shouldn't stop Yugi from telling her something what he thought was important. But— it still didn't feel right. Joey felt something really wrong...he just couldn't put his finger on it.
Deciding that he was going to miss on all of the good games at arcade and knowing that this was only Yugi, Joey just decided it was probably nothing to worry about. 'Oh what da heck! I guess I can leave Yugi and Tea by themselves. Besides, Gramps is here with dem. I'm sure it's nothin'. I bet I'm just feelin' uh little overprotective of Tea right now. So it's nothin' ta worry about, Joey,' he told himself. "It's okay with me."
Yugi smiled, as his face expressions looked a bit calmer. "Thanks Joey. That means a lot to me."
Joey winked at him. "It's no problem, Yug. Just you twos better remember ta meet me at da arcade when you're done talkin'. Ya got me?"
"We'll come straight there when we're done. We promise," Tea told him.
"Good. Now catch ya later!"
No more than five seconds later was Joey out the door and slamming it behind him. As Yugi and Tea were heading up stairs to start their day something came to Tea's mind. "Hey Yugi, think about this. This could actually our only time together without Joey around this weekend. So let's make use of it while we still can."
'That's exactly why this is the only good time to tell you the truth.' Yugi said to himself. "Yeah, I guess you've got a point there, Tea."
"So do you want to talk right now in your bedroom or we could go in the guestroom and talk or we wait until after we got dressed. Which would you prefer?"
"How about we get dressed first then I'll can come in your room to talk?"
"It sounds okay with me. Just give me ten minutes to change and you can come on in."
"Great," Yugi said as calm as he could.
Then, without a backwards glance at Yugi, Tea ran to the guestroom to get dressed.
Yugi looked down at the floor, closed his eyes, and said, 'I just hope we're doing the right thing, Yami...'
knock, knock, knock Yugi's knuckles banged against the guestroom door about ten minutes later. "Come on in, Yugi," Tea told him.
Yugi opened the door nervously and saw his crush sitting on the blue comforter colored bed in the sunlit room. She wore light blue jean shorts, a pink sleeveless shirt that said 'Angel' in blue lettering, and plain white tennis shoes. Sitting down on a chair next to the bed, Tea didn't detect any slight worries with the way Yugi was acting.
(A/N does anybody know why?)
"So...what did you want to talk to me about?" Tea asked him.
Yugi let out a sigh. 'Here goes nothing...' "Now before I go into detail I need to ask you something and it's really important that you tell me the truth because it's been on my minds for days."
She nodded. "All right. I'm all ears."
Yugi wait a second before finally asking his aching question. "Tea...are you going out with Joey?"
Tea's heart almost skipped as soon as she heard that question. She practically felt the rapid loss of air in her lungs. Those last six words went through Tea's body like a knife in the back of someone's heart. Both of them heard the words well enough that Tea couldn't say she didn't hear him right and then make up some lame excuse so she could run away from this possible nightmare that was about to happen right before her very eyes. The brunette knew something like this would happen eventually if she kept her act with Joey going on too long. So now, more than ever, she knew it needed stop— and it needed to stop right now.
Tea's loss of words— and her possibly loss of breathing— told Yugi that something definitely wasn't right. (A/N well ya think?!) Yugi knew this was a bad idea, but even more obvious than that was he knew he couldn't stop what he had just started. The question was already said and the unforgivable silence had begun. Though, Yugi realized that it was only going to be a matter of time before Tea would speak again. The only problem was— could Yugi handle it?
'What do I say to Yugi now? I can't tell him that I'm pretending to date Joey just so another girl could possibly notice because then he would probably blow all up at Joey and then Joey never speak to me again. But I also don't what to lie to Yugi...God, what am I saying?! I've been lying to Yugi all week. Another lie would just add one more to the list, wouldn't it?' Calming down in her mind, Tea began speaking to herself again. 'I don't want to lie to Yugi anymore. I've already lied to him enough to last me an entire lifetime. Though...if I did tell Yugi the truth then Joey's plan could be ruined. Oh, where's Joey when you need him? I can't do this alone! I wasn't planning on telling Yugi about all of this— at least not by myself anyway. So now what do I do?'
"Please, Tea...just tell me the truth," Yugi softly spoke as he tried to get her to look at him, but failed because she turned her head away and faced her back towards him.
Tea sighed. 'I guess I have no choice now than to just tell Yugi the truth. It may cost Joey being mad at me for a while or even our friendship, but it's a risk I'm willing to take at this point. All I can do now is hope for the best, pray that Yugi and Joey won't get mad at me or each other, and have this whole chaotic nightmare to be over soon.' She closed her eyes shut, ready to tell Yugi the truth, knowing that she was about to break the promise that she made to Joey. "I'm not going out with Joey. I was never going out with him. The truth is Joey actually likes that new girl in our English class, Melody, and he begged me for help by me pretending to date him so she would start noticing him more. But we were never dating. So I'm sorry if your feelings were hurt in any way, Yugi. We—I mean— I never meant to hurt you..."
Yugi was just about ready to pour his feelings out her that same second Tea finished saying her last sentence. It was exactly what he wanted to hear— truth be told. Because that meant that Tea didn't like Joey as more than a friend. And what he had just heard from her was all he needed to hear.
Walking over to the other side of the bed, where Tea was dangling her legs off the edge, Yugi looked into her upset felt eyes and cupped her chin with one of his small hands. "Tea, you have never once hurt my feelings. I know that you have always been honest with me and that's one of the reasons why I like you so much as a friend." Tea blushed at this. "And even though you probably did all this for Joey to be a good friend in the end you still were able to come out with the truth for me. You don't know how happy that made us feel."
"Us?" she asked him.
Realizing that he mentioned Yami, Yugi totally forgot that he was listening to the conversation. "Me and Yami. We were both really worried about you. We just wanted to know that you were alright."
Tea let out a small face on her face. "That was really sweet of you, Yugi."
"I would do anything for you, Tea, and I want you to know that. You mean so much to me that sometimes I wouldn't even know what I'd do if I lost you."
Tea laughed...slightly. "Well, you'd probably have to deal with Joey and Tristan all by yourself for one thing."
"Yeah, that's probably true— but I'm really being serious when I say all of these things. You've become such a great friend to me over the past two years alone. Life without you would be empty to everyone that has met you and has stayed with you. But...I think it would especially feel empty to me..."
(A/N should I keep going with this? I kind of like where it's going. How about you guys?)
And that's when Tea realized how close Yugi was to her. He probably wasn't even more than a few inches away from her face. His gentle, caring eyes of violet were completely focused on her and she didn't know what to say to him at this point. The soft fingers of his skin touched the bottom of her fragile chin while Yugi's strained thoughts were beckoning him to move closer to Tea and kiss her— but he didn't. He didn't want to frighten her, at least if she wasn't already a little frightened. (A/N admit it! That is SO like Yugi.)
"Yugi..." was all she could say to him, but it was in a small whisper. A small whisper that drove him nuts because it caused his insides to want to get even closer to Tea. Yugi was fighting with almost everything he had so he wouldn't let his emotions get the best of him and lunge at her so he could finally feel the soft, sweet lips he had ached to kiss for far too long. 'No!' the short, tri-colored haired teen told himself. He told himself that he wasn't going to give into his wants and needs from within. But Yugi wasn't really giving up either. As much as he knew it wouldn't be right to kiss Tea at this moment he couldn't make himself leave the position he was in right now. And the more Yugi saw how close he was to his childhood friend the harder it became to hold back his thoughts and feelings that were urging him to make a move on Tea.
Suddenly, they both heard a cellular phone ringing in the silenced room. Tea and Yugi both looked over at the nightstand and saw that it was her cell phone lighting up in blue colors. (A/N well...duh! Who else's would it be?) Tea looked back at Yugi, who was hoping she wouldn't answer it so they could finish talking. "I need to get that before your grandpa wakes up yelling again," she whispered to him.
After sliding over some and walking to the nightstand Tea picked up the cell phone and answered it. "Hello?"
"Hey, what's up, Tea?" she heard Tristan's voice on the another end of the line. God must have really been looking out for her, Tea kept thinking to herself. Because the last thing she needed right now was for Joey to be calling up in some crappy mood and yelling at her to come down to the arcade because she and Yugi were talking too long to get ready.
Acting like there wasn't tension on her mind, Tea was all excited for her friend's phone call. "Hey Tristan! It's good to hear from you. I was going to call you later on tonight, but I'm glad that you called me now. How's everything going at Duke's house? You haven't tried killing anyone, have you?"
"Surprising, no actually. Everything's been goin' pretty good over here. Duke's mom is kind of cool and she bought us three large pepperoni pizzas for us last night so didn't have to kill each other over having enough to eat. Pretty cool, huh?"
"Uh, sure. How's Duke doing with you guys over at his house?"
"He looks fine to me. Hey, get this! We haven't argued once since we got to his house yesterday. I'm tellin' ya, this could be the start of a very beautiful friendship."
(A/N is anybody actually buying this? Because it does seem kind of odd even though I'm writing it. Tristan and Duke not fighting? Let's get real.)
"Yeah, well because of your past experiences together I must say I'm going to have to see it to believe it."
"Man, I just knew you were going to say that."
Tea laughed. "You were, huh?"
"Hey, can I talk to Joey? I also wanted to see how he was holding up. Is he around?"
"Actually he's not. He went off to the arcade earlier and Yugi and I are suppose to be meeting him there soon. Oh, and now that you mention Joey. I need to ask you something. When Joey's over at your house on the weekends does he ever go to sleep?"
"No! The guy probably only gets about three or four hours of sleep every night. Remember that time when I told you that Joey didn't blink or nothing when he was playing that one video game for three whole days? He didn't sleep at all then." (A/N that did actually happen in the show. Tristan told Tea that in the second season when Yugi, Joey, and Mokuba were trying to get Kaiba back from the first virtual world.)
--' "How could I forget?" she dully asked him.
"Hey, who ya talkin' to?" Tea heard Duke's voice in the back round.
"I'm talking to Tea," he answered him back. "Ya wanna talk to her?"
"Sure."
"Tea, Duke's getting on the phone now to talk to you now. I'll talk to you later."
"Okay. Bye, Tristan!"
"See ya." Then Tristan handed the phone to Duke. "What's up, Tea? How's living with Joey and Yugi like?"
"An adventure and a half if you ask me."
"They're not giving you a hard time, are they?"
"No, not really. They're just being themselves— but that alone can be hard enough if you ask me."
"Better you than me."
"Hey!"
"Whoops...did I just say that out loud?"
"Yes!"
"Sorry..."
"It's okay. Did you wanna talk to Yugi before you go?" Tea tried to change the subject before she got really mad at him.
"Sure. Put him on."
Tea turned around to hand Yugi the cell phone, but when she did she saw that he wasn't even in the room anymore. "Yugi?" 'Oh, god. He must have left because we weren't finished talking yet.'
"Duke, can I take a rain check on that offer and have Joey and Yugi talk to you later on tonight? See, Yugi doesn't feel like talking right now and Joey left the arcade almost an hour ago. We're suppose to be meeting him there soon anyway."
"Sure. If that's what you want. I'll just tell Tristan, then he'll remember to remind me."
"Okay, thanks. And it was good talking to you. See you later."
"Bye." Then they both hung up. —Well, sort of.
Tea ran out of the guestroom and went straight for Yugi's bedroom, expecting him to be in there. "Yugi," she called out his name as soon as she saw him lying down on his bed. "Why did you leave like that? Duke and Tristan were going to talk to you."
Yugi got up from his bed and just sat there. "I just didn't feel like talking to them right now."
Tea looked him more closely. "Is it because you stopped speaking to me back there?"
"No," he answered her slightly agitated. Looking up at her, he added, "I'm sorry that I did that. I guess I just didn't know what to say after that. Can you forgive me?"
"Of course I can forgive you, Yugi. What kind of a friend would I be if I didn't forgive you?"
Yugi managed out a smile. "Thanks."
Walking over to his bed and standing on her knees, Yugi looked about one foot taller than she did while he was sitting on his bed. "Yugi, if you still want to go over to the arcade with me there's something I need to tell you before we go."
This grasped Yugi's attention thoroughly. "What?"
"When I told you that I wasn't dating Joey and that we've been pretending to date for the last couple of days I wasn't allowed to tell anyone that. Joey made me promise to keep it a secret from you and the others."
"But then why did you tell me?"
"Because I kind of figured that you were concerned about me and I knew you could keep a secret."
"A secret?"
Looking a little worried, she said, "Yugi, I'm begging you. You can't tell Joey that I told you about all of that stuff. He would never trust me again if he knew I broke a promise I made to him. So will you, please?"
A spike of jealously went through Yugi's system. It was one thing to keep a secret from Joey. But it was another when he had to keep a secret from him that involved Tea 'pretending' to go out with Joey. 'What if this turns out to be more than just Joey pretending to date Tea? What if Joey actually likes Tea and he's only doing this to make himself feel better. No, I can't keep this promise. It could ruin my chance with Tea when I do finally admit my feelings to her later. But if I don't tell Tea that I'll agree with keeping it a secret she'll never trust me to keep a secret again and then that'll blow my chances completely.'
So then why don't you just tell her the truth already? Yami's voice rang through Yugi's worried thoughts.
/Yami? What are you doing here?/
Our thoughts are still connected, remember?
Yugi sweatdropped /I guess I kind of forgot for a little while. Wait, weren't you going to talk to you also?/
I was, but I think you got all the answers we needed.
/Thanks for trusting me./
It's no problem. So are you going to tell her the truth or not?
Yugi sighed /You know I can't, Yami. It's just not the right time. All I can do right now is do what she wants me to...even though I don't feel it's right./
Yami nodded. If that's how you feel then I guess I have no choice than to agree with you. You're being strong for Tea, Yugi. And I'm very proud of you for doing that.
/Well, what else can I do at this point?/
Yami laughed. Yes, that's a good point. Now go before Tea starts to get worried.
/Right./ Then Yugi cut his mind link off with him.
"All right, Tea. I won't say anything to Joey. I promise that this will just be between you and me."
Tea smiled brightly and wrapped her arms around his small frame tightly. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, Yugi! Oh, you're the best! Thank you so much! I knew I could count on you!"
Yugi was practically choking and losing air. "Y-you're...welcome, T-Tea... It's no problem."
Letting go of Yugi, Tea blushed furiously. "Oh, sorry, Yugi. I didn't mean to do that."
Catching his breath, Yugi responded, "it's okay, Tea. I know you didn't mean it."
Getting up from off of the ground, Tea asked him, "so are you ready to go to the arcade?"
"Yep! Just give me a minute to find my jacket."
"All right. I'll see downstairs then."
"Okay."
After Tea left his room Yugi closed his eyes shut and began to think. 'Well, I guess I'm not going to admit my feelings to her yet. sigh Though, I'm sure it's all for the best. At least I found out that Tea doesn't like Joey as more than a friend and maybe Joey having a crush on Melody will make me feel better about them, just as long as what he said to Tea was true. All I know is now when I do finally tell her that I love her it has to be at good time. I mean, it's not like I'm going to tell her while Joey and Tristan fight over whose right about everything. I just want the moment to be at least somewhat special. Though...because Tea doesn't like Joey after all she might in fact like me as more than a friend...after all...who else would she be interested in?'
OMG! What do you guys think is going to happen next?!?! Sorry for all the Yugi/Tea fans (don't be mad because I'm one too) but I just almost had Yugi kiss Tea in the middle of this chapter. Though, I decided not to because I didn't want to make too complicated...just yet. I'm still going to wait a little while longer before things really start heating up in this story. SO JUST HANG IN THERE REVIEWS, IT WILL BE OKAY SOON ENOUGH!
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW!!!
'Love or Pretend?'
Okay, so let's recap the last chapter, shall we? Now, as we all read in the last chapter Tea was starting to get a little nervous around Joey because she was beginning to think that he was starting to get too close to her as a friend. We also found out that Joey is completely opposite of her and Yugi when living together. (And we all know why— because Joey's probably the most impatient person either of them ever met.) But the most startling news (I personally thought. But I don't know about the rest of you guys.) was Yugi wanting to tell Tea something the next day that not even Yami knew about. Did you guys actually catch that part? I mean, I thought it looked pretty obvious, but if it didn't I am SO sorry. Now I guess all we can do is SEE WHAT THE NEXT CHAPTER IS GOING TO BE LIKE!!! Hope you all enjoy!
Chapter ten: It's still not over yet
"C'mon ya guys! Both of ya are slower than slugs in da mornin'! Whoever taught ya ta get up in earlier! I thought we were goin' ta da arcade at 9:00. It's almost 8:45. And if we don't get dare soon all da good games will be taken up and I am not waitin' on ya two forever! So let's go already!"
"JOEY!!!" Grandpa yelled up him from upstairs in his bedroom. "Are you quite finished now? I'm trying to get some sleep before I open up the shop in an hour!"
"Sorry 'bout dat Gramps." Joey sweatdropped. "I guess I just got uh little carried away back dare."
"What time is it?" Yugi groggily asked, coming down the stairs, still in his baby blue and yellow-starred pajamas, letting out a yawn.
Joey falls down Anime style "Yugi! What are ya still doing in your pajamas?"
"He's probably still trying to get some sleep like the rest of us normal people try to do on Saturday mornings." Tea walked down stairs, still in her pajamas, looking slightly annoyed with Joey. "The question is; what are you doing up, Joey?"
Rubbing his eyes, Yugi asked, "yeah Joey. What are you doing up at this hour? Don't you ever sleep in on the weekends?"
"No," Joey said without even having to think about for a second.
"Joey, I thought we decided we weren't going to the arcade until this afternoon. So why are you in such a rush to go right now? You can always wait in line to play the good games later on like most people do. It's not like they're going anywhere. Besides, I won't kill you wait a few hours if you miss it," Tea spoke up again with her arms across from each other, leaning against a wall for support.
"But I don't wanna wait!" Joey complained. "I wanna go right now!"
"Oh, stop being a big baby! Yugi and I aren't even dressed yet."
"Den hurry up so we can go! Da arcade opens in fifteen minutes and I don't wanna be dare when it gets really crowded."
Tea turned to Yugi, who looked over at her, and said, "okay, I think I know what I'm going to be writing about for my short story report, Yugi. It's going to be about a boy who never saw the age of seventeen because he was driving me nuts!"
Yugi laughed. "Really? Mine was going to be about locking myself up in my room so I was never going to be disturbed again by that same person."
"Okay, ya guys! I know you're just tryin' ta mess with my head so I won't go anywhere, right?"
Tea looked back over at him impatiently. "Joey, can't you just give us a half an hour so Yugi and I can get ready?"
A chill suddenly went up Yugi's spine as he started to tremble a little. "Actually, Tea, I was kind of hoping to talk to you in private before we all went to the arcade."
Tea and Joey slowly looked over at Yugi and they both said, "you were?"
"Why?" Joey asked.
"Because...I just do. So will you, Tea?" Yugi looked softly, though sheepishly at Tea, hoping for her to say yes.
Tea studied him for a moment and decided that it was probably alright. "Sure."
Turning back over to Joey, she told him, "Joey, why don't you go on to the arcade without us right now and we'll meet you there when were dressed and done talking."
Joey didn't like the looks of this picture. Yugi seemed way too tense for just wanting to talk to Tea. He must've needed him out of house because what he wanted to tell Tea was something really important. Though, if it was, Joey also knew he shouldn't stop Yugi from telling her something what he thought was important. But— it still didn't feel right. Joey felt something really wrong...he just couldn't put his finger on it.
Deciding that he was going to miss on all of the good games at arcade and knowing that this was only Yugi, Joey just decided it was probably nothing to worry about. 'Oh what da heck! I guess I can leave Yugi and Tea by themselves. Besides, Gramps is here with dem. I'm sure it's nothin'. I bet I'm just feelin' uh little overprotective of Tea right now. So it's nothin' ta worry about, Joey,' he told himself. "It's okay with me."
Yugi smiled, as his face expressions looked a bit calmer. "Thanks Joey. That means a lot to me."
Joey winked at him. "It's no problem, Yug. Just you twos better remember ta meet me at da arcade when you're done talkin'. Ya got me?"
"We'll come straight there when we're done. We promise," Tea told him.
"Good. Now catch ya later!"
No more than five seconds later was Joey out the door and slamming it behind him. As Yugi and Tea were heading up stairs to start their day something came to Tea's mind. "Hey Yugi, think about this. This could actually our only time together without Joey around this weekend. So let's make use of it while we still can."
'That's exactly why this is the only good time to tell you the truth.' Yugi said to himself. "Yeah, I guess you've got a point there, Tea."
"So do you want to talk right now in your bedroom or we could go in the guestroom and talk or we wait until after we got dressed. Which would you prefer?"
"How about we get dressed first then I'll can come in your room to talk?"
"It sounds okay with me. Just give me ten minutes to change and you can come on in."
"Great," Yugi said as calm as he could.
Then, without a backwards glance at Yugi, Tea ran to the guestroom to get dressed.
Yugi looked down at the floor, closed his eyes, and said, 'I just hope we're doing the right thing, Yami...'
knock, knock, knock Yugi's knuckles banged against the guestroom door about ten minutes later. "Come on in, Yugi," Tea told him.
Yugi opened the door nervously and saw his crush sitting on the blue comforter colored bed in the sunlit room. She wore light blue jean shorts, a pink sleeveless shirt that said 'Angel' in blue lettering, and plain white tennis shoes. Sitting down on a chair next to the bed, Tea didn't detect any slight worries with the way Yugi was acting.
(A/N does anybody know why?)
"So...what did you want to talk to me about?" Tea asked him.
Yugi let out a sigh. 'Here goes nothing...' "Now before I go into detail I need to ask you something and it's really important that you tell me the truth because it's been on my minds for days."
She nodded. "All right. I'm all ears."
Yugi wait a second before finally asking his aching question. "Tea...are you going out with Joey?"
Tea's heart almost skipped as soon as she heard that question. She practically felt the rapid loss of air in her lungs. Those last six words went through Tea's body like a knife in the back of someone's heart. Both of them heard the words well enough that Tea couldn't say she didn't hear him right and then make up some lame excuse so she could run away from this possible nightmare that was about to happen right before her very eyes. The brunette knew something like this would happen eventually if she kept her act with Joey going on too long. So now, more than ever, she knew it needed stop— and it needed to stop right now.
Tea's loss of words— and her possibly loss of breathing— told Yugi that something definitely wasn't right. (A/N well ya think?!) Yugi knew this was a bad idea, but even more obvious than that was he knew he couldn't stop what he had just started. The question was already said and the unforgivable silence had begun. Though, Yugi realized that it was only going to be a matter of time before Tea would speak again. The only problem was— could Yugi handle it?
'What do I say to Yugi now? I can't tell him that I'm pretending to date Joey just so another girl could possibly notice because then he would probably blow all up at Joey and then Joey never speak to me again. But I also don't what to lie to Yugi...God, what am I saying?! I've been lying to Yugi all week. Another lie would just add one more to the list, wouldn't it?' Calming down in her mind, Tea began speaking to herself again. 'I don't want to lie to Yugi anymore. I've already lied to him enough to last me an entire lifetime. Though...if I did tell Yugi the truth then Joey's plan could be ruined. Oh, where's Joey when you need him? I can't do this alone! I wasn't planning on telling Yugi about all of this— at least not by myself anyway. So now what do I do?'
"Please, Tea...just tell me the truth," Yugi softly spoke as he tried to get her to look at him, but failed because she turned her head away and faced her back towards him.
Tea sighed. 'I guess I have no choice now than to just tell Yugi the truth. It may cost Joey being mad at me for a while or even our friendship, but it's a risk I'm willing to take at this point. All I can do now is hope for the best, pray that Yugi and Joey won't get mad at me or each other, and have this whole chaotic nightmare to be over soon.' She closed her eyes shut, ready to tell Yugi the truth, knowing that she was about to break the promise that she made to Joey. "I'm not going out with Joey. I was never going out with him. The truth is Joey actually likes that new girl in our English class, Melody, and he begged me for help by me pretending to date him so she would start noticing him more. But we were never dating. So I'm sorry if your feelings were hurt in any way, Yugi. We—I mean— I never meant to hurt you..."
Yugi was just about ready to pour his feelings out her that same second Tea finished saying her last sentence. It was exactly what he wanted to hear— truth be told. Because that meant that Tea didn't like Joey as more than a friend. And what he had just heard from her was all he needed to hear.
Walking over to the other side of the bed, where Tea was dangling her legs off the edge, Yugi looked into her upset felt eyes and cupped her chin with one of his small hands. "Tea, you have never once hurt my feelings. I know that you have always been honest with me and that's one of the reasons why I like you so much as a friend." Tea blushed at this. "And even though you probably did all this for Joey to be a good friend in the end you still were able to come out with the truth for me. You don't know how happy that made us feel."
"Us?" she asked him.
Realizing that he mentioned Yami, Yugi totally forgot that he was listening to the conversation. "Me and Yami. We were both really worried about you. We just wanted to know that you were alright."
Tea let out a small face on her face. "That was really sweet of you, Yugi."
"I would do anything for you, Tea, and I want you to know that. You mean so much to me that sometimes I wouldn't even know what I'd do if I lost you."
Tea laughed...slightly. "Well, you'd probably have to deal with Joey and Tristan all by yourself for one thing."
"Yeah, that's probably true— but I'm really being serious when I say all of these things. You've become such a great friend to me over the past two years alone. Life without you would be empty to everyone that has met you and has stayed with you. But...I think it would especially feel empty to me..."
(A/N should I keep going with this? I kind of like where it's going. How about you guys?)
And that's when Tea realized how close Yugi was to her. He probably wasn't even more than a few inches away from her face. His gentle, caring eyes of violet were completely focused on her and she didn't know what to say to him at this point. The soft fingers of his skin touched the bottom of her fragile chin while Yugi's strained thoughts were beckoning him to move closer to Tea and kiss her— but he didn't. He didn't want to frighten her, at least if she wasn't already a little frightened. (A/N admit it! That is SO like Yugi.)
"Yugi..." was all she could say to him, but it was in a small whisper. A small whisper that drove him nuts because it caused his insides to want to get even closer to Tea. Yugi was fighting with almost everything he had so he wouldn't let his emotions get the best of him and lunge at her so he could finally feel the soft, sweet lips he had ached to kiss for far too long. 'No!' the short, tri-colored haired teen told himself. He told himself that he wasn't going to give into his wants and needs from within. But Yugi wasn't really giving up either. As much as he knew it wouldn't be right to kiss Tea at this moment he couldn't make himself leave the position he was in right now. And the more Yugi saw how close he was to his childhood friend the harder it became to hold back his thoughts and feelings that were urging him to make a move on Tea.
Suddenly, they both heard a cellular phone ringing in the silenced room. Tea and Yugi both looked over at the nightstand and saw that it was her cell phone lighting up in blue colors. (A/N well...duh! Who else's would it be?) Tea looked back at Yugi, who was hoping she wouldn't answer it so they could finish talking. "I need to get that before your grandpa wakes up yelling again," she whispered to him.
After sliding over some and walking to the nightstand Tea picked up the cell phone and answered it. "Hello?"
"Hey, what's up, Tea?" she heard Tristan's voice on the another end of the line. God must have really been looking out for her, Tea kept thinking to herself. Because the last thing she needed right now was for Joey to be calling up in some crappy mood and yelling at her to come down to the arcade because she and Yugi were talking too long to get ready.
Acting like there wasn't tension on her mind, Tea was all excited for her friend's phone call. "Hey Tristan! It's good to hear from you. I was going to call you later on tonight, but I'm glad that you called me now. How's everything going at Duke's house? You haven't tried killing anyone, have you?"
"Surprising, no actually. Everything's been goin' pretty good over here. Duke's mom is kind of cool and she bought us three large pepperoni pizzas for us last night so didn't have to kill each other over having enough to eat. Pretty cool, huh?"
"Uh, sure. How's Duke doing with you guys over at his house?"
"He looks fine to me. Hey, get this! We haven't argued once since we got to his house yesterday. I'm tellin' ya, this could be the start of a very beautiful friendship."
(A/N is anybody actually buying this? Because it does seem kind of odd even though I'm writing it. Tristan and Duke not fighting? Let's get real.)
"Yeah, well because of your past experiences together I must say I'm going to have to see it to believe it."
"Man, I just knew you were going to say that."
Tea laughed. "You were, huh?"
"Hey, can I talk to Joey? I also wanted to see how he was holding up. Is he around?"
"Actually he's not. He went off to the arcade earlier and Yugi and I are suppose to be meeting him there soon. Oh, and now that you mention Joey. I need to ask you something. When Joey's over at your house on the weekends does he ever go to sleep?"
"No! The guy probably only gets about three or four hours of sleep every night. Remember that time when I told you that Joey didn't blink or nothing when he was playing that one video game for three whole days? He didn't sleep at all then." (A/N that did actually happen in the show. Tristan told Tea that in the second season when Yugi, Joey, and Mokuba were trying to get Kaiba back from the first virtual world.)
--' "How could I forget?" she dully asked him.
"Hey, who ya talkin' to?" Tea heard Duke's voice in the back round.
"I'm talking to Tea," he answered him back. "Ya wanna talk to her?"
"Sure."
"Tea, Duke's getting on the phone now to talk to you now. I'll talk to you later."
"Okay. Bye, Tristan!"
"See ya." Then Tristan handed the phone to Duke. "What's up, Tea? How's living with Joey and Yugi like?"
"An adventure and a half if you ask me."
"They're not giving you a hard time, are they?"
"No, not really. They're just being themselves— but that alone can be hard enough if you ask me."
"Better you than me."
"Hey!"
"Whoops...did I just say that out loud?"
"Yes!"
"Sorry..."
"It's okay. Did you wanna talk to Yugi before you go?" Tea tried to change the subject before she got really mad at him.
"Sure. Put him on."
Tea turned around to hand Yugi the cell phone, but when she did she saw that he wasn't even in the room anymore. "Yugi?" 'Oh, god. He must have left because we weren't finished talking yet.'
"Duke, can I take a rain check on that offer and have Joey and Yugi talk to you later on tonight? See, Yugi doesn't feel like talking right now and Joey left the arcade almost an hour ago. We're suppose to be meeting him there soon anyway."
"Sure. If that's what you want. I'll just tell Tristan, then he'll remember to remind me."
"Okay, thanks. And it was good talking to you. See you later."
"Bye." Then they both hung up. —Well, sort of.
Tea ran out of the guestroom and went straight for Yugi's bedroom, expecting him to be in there. "Yugi," she called out his name as soon as she saw him lying down on his bed. "Why did you leave like that? Duke and Tristan were going to talk to you."
Yugi got up from his bed and just sat there. "I just didn't feel like talking to them right now."
Tea looked him more closely. "Is it because you stopped speaking to me back there?"
"No," he answered her slightly agitated. Looking up at her, he added, "I'm sorry that I did that. I guess I just didn't know what to say after that. Can you forgive me?"
"Of course I can forgive you, Yugi. What kind of a friend would I be if I didn't forgive you?"
Yugi managed out a smile. "Thanks."
Walking over to his bed and standing on her knees, Yugi looked about one foot taller than she did while he was sitting on his bed. "Yugi, if you still want to go over to the arcade with me there's something I need to tell you before we go."
This grasped Yugi's attention thoroughly. "What?"
"When I told you that I wasn't dating Joey and that we've been pretending to date for the last couple of days I wasn't allowed to tell anyone that. Joey made me promise to keep it a secret from you and the others."
"But then why did you tell me?"
"Because I kind of figured that you were concerned about me and I knew you could keep a secret."
"A secret?"
Looking a little worried, she said, "Yugi, I'm begging you. You can't tell Joey that I told you about all of that stuff. He would never trust me again if he knew I broke a promise I made to him. So will you, please?"
A spike of jealously went through Yugi's system. It was one thing to keep a secret from Joey. But it was another when he had to keep a secret from him that involved Tea 'pretending' to go out with Joey. 'What if this turns out to be more than just Joey pretending to date Tea? What if Joey actually likes Tea and he's only doing this to make himself feel better. No, I can't keep this promise. It could ruin my chance with Tea when I do finally admit my feelings to her later. But if I don't tell Tea that I'll agree with keeping it a secret she'll never trust me to keep a secret again and then that'll blow my chances completely.'
So then why don't you just tell her the truth already? Yami's voice rang through Yugi's worried thoughts.
/Yami? What are you doing here?/
Our thoughts are still connected, remember?
Yugi sweatdropped /I guess I kind of forgot for a little while. Wait, weren't you going to talk to you also?/
I was, but I think you got all the answers we needed.
/Thanks for trusting me./
It's no problem. So are you going to tell her the truth or not?
Yugi sighed /You know I can't, Yami. It's just not the right time. All I can do right now is do what she wants me to...even though I don't feel it's right./
Yami nodded. If that's how you feel then I guess I have no choice than to agree with you. You're being strong for Tea, Yugi. And I'm very proud of you for doing that.
/Well, what else can I do at this point?/
Yami laughed. Yes, that's a good point. Now go before Tea starts to get worried.
/Right./ Then Yugi cut his mind link off with him.
"All right, Tea. I won't say anything to Joey. I promise that this will just be between you and me."
Tea smiled brightly and wrapped her arms around his small frame tightly. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, Yugi! Oh, you're the best! Thank you so much! I knew I could count on you!"
Yugi was practically choking and losing air. "Y-you're...welcome, T-Tea... It's no problem."
Letting go of Yugi, Tea blushed furiously. "Oh, sorry, Yugi. I didn't mean to do that."
Catching his breath, Yugi responded, "it's okay, Tea. I know you didn't mean it."
Getting up from off of the ground, Tea asked him, "so are you ready to go to the arcade?"
"Yep! Just give me a minute to find my jacket."
"All right. I'll see downstairs then."
"Okay."
After Tea left his room Yugi closed his eyes shut and began to think. 'Well, I guess I'm not going to admit my feelings to her yet. sigh Though, I'm sure it's all for the best. At least I found out that Tea doesn't like Joey as more than a friend and maybe Joey having a crush on Melody will make me feel better about them, just as long as what he said to Tea was true. All I know is now when I do finally tell her that I love her it has to be at good time. I mean, it's not like I'm going to tell her while Joey and Tristan fight over whose right about everything. I just want the moment to be at least somewhat special. Though...because Tea doesn't like Joey after all she might in fact like me as more than a friend...after all...who else would she be interested in?'
OMG! What do you guys think is going to happen next?!?! Sorry for all the Yugi/Tea fans (don't be mad because I'm one too) but I just almost had Yugi kiss Tea in the middle of this chapter. Though, I decided not to because I didn't want to make too complicated...just yet. I'm still going to wait a little while longer before things really start heating up in this story. SO JUST HANG IN THERE REVIEWS, IT WILL BE OKAY SOON ENOUGH!
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW!!!