Author note: I don't own YGO. So somebody please tell me how many times I've said that line.
'Love or Pretend?'
Chapter fifteen: The secret's out
"That will be all for today, class. I'll see you all tomorrow afternoon and goodbye," Mr. Allen's voice came into the large biology lab one last time before he dismissed his class for the day. RING! The sound of the bell gave out to the entire school.
The students started piling out of the classroom when Joey spotted Tea waiting for him at the edge of the door. He gave her a sweet smile as he walked up to her and brought out his hand for her to take, not saying anything. Tea couldn't help but giggle and laugh by Joey's kind gesture. She was about to take his hand with her own— linking them together as any couple would— and run off with him before the others could catch up when a small figure from behind interrupted their brief, cute moment.
"Hi guys! What's up?" Yugi asked them in a cheerful voice, luckily he hadn't what they were doing.
"Oh, nothing!" Tea spoke up in a somewhat unnatural voice, trying not to act nervous. "Joey and I were just about to go to our lockers and then was going to take him home before I came to your house. Wanna come along?"
Tea could see out of the corner of her eye that Joey wasn't happy with her suggestion towards Yugi. He gave her a 'what are you thinking' look. Even though she was attempted to, Tea wasn't about to discuss this with Joey while Yugi was around— even if she had secretly wished that Yugi wouldn't tag along right at this exact moment.
Yugi nodded. "Sure."
"Hey, what's going on over here?" Tristan asked Yugi from behind, also. Tagging along with him was Duke and Bakura.
"We were just about to go to our lockers then Tea was going to drive Joey home before taking us to the game shop," Yugi answered.
"Well, why don't we all go out and do something else instead?" Duke suggested. "There's this killer new movie out and I'm dying to see it."
"Why does that not surprise me?" Tea asked him dully.
"Have some fun, Tea. Would it kill you to take three hours away from your personal life and go and see a movie with all of your friends?"
"Yes, because then I'd have to watch it, and from our past experiences that if unless it's action movie with a bunch guys shooting either lasers and guns or guys beating down on each other every 10 seconds you're not interested in it."
Yugi tried as hard as he could to hold back a laugh from Tea's answer to Duke.
"So? What's wrong with that?" Tristan and Duke asked at the same time.
Tea just rolled her eyes at them in boredom.
"Oh, c'mon, T. Ya know ya wanna be with us. So just come along and join in on da fun," Joey finally spoke up, using the nickname only her dad would use whenever he finally came home from one of his long, important business trips in other countries; stunning Tea when Joey said this.
'T? Since when does Joey call her T?' Yugi said to himself with a sudden pang of anger and jealously, saying his Tea's nickname harshly, though with hidden disappointment and sadness on his insides. 'What's up with Joey lately? It's not anyone's around here anymore. I thought Tea said he was only pretending to be her boyfriend while other people were actually around us. I think it's time I get to the bottom of this before it's too late.'
"No! I sorry but I refuse. I am not going to sit down and watch some pathetic action movie with you guys for the next three hours. So just forget about it."
15 minutes later...
"I can't believe I actually let you guys talk me into going to see 'Spiderman 2' with all of you," Tea groaned and complained as the six friends walked into the Domino City Cineplex after buying their tickets, still in their school uniforms. "I feel like a complete idiot hanging around 5 guys all by myself."
"Relax, Tea. It's no big deal," Tristan tried to assure her, but she didn't feel much encouragement with his words. "It's not like anyone's staring at you. Besides, just think of it the bright side. People will know you hang out with a lot guys this way and they'll think you're cool."
"Yeah... the weird ones," she said back with her hands on her hips, waiting in line for food at the snack counter.
Tristan ignored her last statement as Joey came out of nowhere and wrapped a tight arm around her shoulder to pull her in closer to him, while Yugi's insides burned up with more jealously towards his best friends in the background again. "Just ya forget 'bout it. We're here ta see uh movie after all, aren't we? Can't ya lighten up uh bit with da whole thing and join in on da fun with us?"
"Ya know guys, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think Joey's right for once in his life," Duke said with an almost shocked look on his face.
"WHAT DO YA MEAN I'M RIGHT FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE!!!!!!" Joey screamed in Duke's face at the top of his lungs with anger. "I'm always right!"
Yugi, Tea, Tristan, Bakura, and Duke all took one look at Joey and laughed their heads off. Joey immediately got steamed up from it all. His eyes were twitching with anger, as his hair looked like it was about to be on fire.
"Oh, yeah! It's real funny! Just go ahead and laugh it up! See what I care!" he yelled at them before running off to the entrance of movie they were going to see.
"Dude... I think we really hurt his feelings," Duke finally said after everyone looked past Joey walking away for about a minute now.
Tristan simply just shook it off. "Nah! Don't worry about him. Joey's been made fun of way worse than this. Just give him a few minutes to chill and he'll be right back out here."
"Why do you say that, Tristan?" Bakura asked him.
"You're kidding me, right? I mean, do you even have to ask? This is Joey we're talking about. Just take my word for it. Give him two minutes and Joey will walking through those doors again, waiting for food so we can all watch the movie together," pointing the doors he just walked in from behind him.
"I still don't know about all of that. Joey's a strong person to tangle with, but he does have a tendency to get really mad when people talk bad about him— especially when it comes from either you or Kaiba. I was just thinking that maybe one of us should go and talk to him before the movie starts so we all know that he's okay," Bakura still agreed with Duke's suggested.
"Then I say Tristan should do it!" Duke raised his hand and pointed to him excitedly.
"Yeah. We all know you would say that, Devlin," Tristan told him boredly.
"Oh, and ya think ya know me so well, don't ya?" Duke started to get angry again.
"Oh no... Here we go again..." Tea said to Yugi and Bakura as the three of them watched the two 'go at it' as usual. "See, I knew these two would never change. This is Tristan and Duke we're talking about after all. It'd probably take a miracle for those two to ever get along."
"So why do they fight as much as they do?" Bakura just had to ask.
"Well, um, the whole thing kind of started when Tristan and Duke met Joey's sister, Serenity, for the first time last year in the Battle City Tournament. Both of them immediately got huge crushes on her and they've been fighting and competing over everything since then," Tea explained to her British friend. "And as you can see it's gotten to point now where they literally want to kill each other for everything they fight over."
Yugi, Tea, and Bakura's eyes started to squint up when they all saw Tristan and Duke starting to have a fist fight in their usual complaints about each other.
"Yeah, and if we don't break them up soon there won't much anything left of them when all of this is over," Yugi said out loud as he and the other continued to watch their friends duke it out in the middle of the theater.
"You could say that again," Tea told her best friend while people started crowding around the two friends having their very interesting wrestling match.
"So what did I miss?" Joey popped up out of nowhere from behind the trio, scaring them in the process.
"Joey!" Yugi, Tea and Bakura all yelled out the blonde's name in surprise.
"What?" he asked, looking slightly confused.
"Joey, I thought you were all mad at us. What are you doing back out here so soon?" Tea asked him curiously.
He smiled at her while placing an arm around her shoulder softly, causing Tea to look away from him and blush furiously. "Nah, just forget 'bout it. Tristan knows I never really take anythin' personal when it comes ta bangin' on me. Besides, I'm way use ta it anyway."
"So are you going to break up those two before they just tear each other heads off or what?" Yugi asked quite cold and impatiently.
Joey, Tea, and Bakura all noticed this. They all took looks at each other before looking back at their small friend with confused and bewildered faces. 'I wonder what's bugging Yugi. I hope it wasn't mad or upset because Joey put his arm around my shoulder back there,' Tea said to herself.
"I think you better go and break up Duke and Tristan, Joey," she whispered inside Joey ear.
"Good idea," he whispered back and then kissed her cheek softly before walking away to their friends, making the brunette to blush yet again.
"So, what did ya guys think of the movie?" Tristan said as the whole gang walked out of the theater and over to the Turtle Game Shop before dinner three and a half hours later.
"I thought it was quite good," Bakura spoke up first, "considering I'm not such a big fan of the action/adventure type of movies."
"I thought it was good, but I thought Doc Ock could have been better," Duke said.
"Duke, ya must be smokin' or somethin', man. 'Cause Doc Ock was great. Couldn't have done it any better myself if ya ask me," Joey completely disagreed with Duke's opinion.
"That doesn't surprise me," Tristan whispered over to Tea and she laughed with amusement.
Luckily, Joey didn't hear this because he continued on with his own opinion. "Dat movie was awesome. In fact, I might even come back and see it again dis weekend alone I thought it was so good. What do ya dink of da movie, Yug?"
"I thought it was great," Yugi said in a normal voice. Joey, Tea, and Bakura were all very pleased by this. After seeing their friend acting almost jealous or upset earlier they were glad to see him back to his usual self. "What about you, Tea? Did you like the movie after all or not?"
Tea simply shrugged her shoulders. "I thought it was okay," she answered while Joey was about to go crazy in the background. "But the movie was better than I imagined. I'll give you all that one."
"So what's for dinner, Grandpa?" Yugi asked him 30 minutes after the gang got to the game shop.
"I don't know. I guess that would depend on who's going to be eating over for dinner," he answered, looking over his grandson's shoulder to stare at all of Yugi's friends.
"I am!" Joey, Tea, Tristan, Bakura, and Duke all screamed out loud.
Ring! Ring! Just then, someone's cell phone started to ring. Knowing whose it was, everyone all looked over to Tea and she sweat-dropped in embarrassment.
'I wonder who would be calling me at this time of night. I hope mom's all right.' Going through her yellow purse, the brunette found her blue cell phone and answered it, turning her back from her friends to make it a little more private. "Hello? Mom? Is that you?"
"Hey honey!" a familiar voice was on the end of the line. "I'm home."
Tea's eyes widened in surprising shock when she realized who it was. "Oh my god! DAD! Is it really you?"
"It sure is, honey. Did you miss me?"
"Well of course I did, daddy, but I thought you were suppose to be in New York for another couple of weeks. What are you doing back so soon? You didn't get fired, did you? We're you laid off from your job? Are you okay?" Tea finally got quiet when she realized that she was babbling like an idiot. "Uh, sorry about that, dad. I guess I got a little carried away back there."
"It's okay. I don't blame you for being so worried. I should have called you to tell you that I was coming home when I was at the airport, but I thought I'd surprise you instead. So where are you at right now? Your mom's still at work and when I called her early to tell her that I arrived home safely she didn't have a chance to tell me where you were going to be at before you got home tonight."
"Oh, I'm at Yugi's house right now. I was going to have dinner with him and the others but now that I know you're home I guess I should come home for dinner after all. Just give me ten minutes and I'll be home. Is that all right?"
"Whoa, slow down there, honey. You can still stay at Yugi's house and have dinner there with all of your friends if you want to. I wouldn't want to keep you away from all the fun just because I'm home. Stay there and have dinner. We can talk all night after you get home. I promise."
"No, it's okay, dad, really. The others won't mind, I'm sure. Besides, I'd really like to have dinner with you. I've missed you so much and I haven't seen you in the last 3 months, remember?"
"I guess you've got a point there. All right, you've changed my mind. I'll see you in 15 minutes then. I love you. See you soon, sweetie."
Tea smiled happily. "Thanks, dad. I love you too. Bye." She pressed the 'end' button on her cell phone and looked up at all her friends.
She turned back around to see all the faces of her friends, waiting for her to say goodbye.
"So I guess this means you're not going to be having dinner with us after all, are you, Tea?" Grandpa was the first one to speak up.
The brunette nodded with slight disappointment on her face. "I'm really sorry you guys. I did want to stay, it's just I haven't seen my dad in months and he made a surprise visit home for me. I guess it feels only natural that I go home and see him. Do you all hate me?"
"Don't be so over dramatic, Tea. Of course we don't hate you," Duke assured her. "Besides, we all know how important your dad is to you. So go and see him. I bet he really misses you."
"Yeah, what Duke said," Tristan agreed.
"Thanks you guys. That means a lot to me. I'll see you all later then, right?"
"Right," Yugi spoke up. "We'll see you tomorrow at school."
"Okay. I'll talk to all later! Bye!" Then Tea walked over to the door, opened it up, and left.
Tea was about five minutes from her house when she heard someone calling out her name.
"Hey, Tea! Wait up!" Joey ran up to her and stopped when he finally reached her.
Bewildered with why he was here, Tea asked him, "Joey, what are you doing here? I thought you were going to have dinner at Yugi's house with the others."
After he caught his breath, Joey smiled at her in an odd sort of way. "You're not da only when who can get out of Yugi's house with uh lame excuse."
Tea wasn't too happy when Joey's answer. Putting her hand on her hips, she started to look angry with him. "What did you tell them to get of the house?"
"I just said ta everyone dat I suddenly needed ta be somewhere at da moment and I'd see dem all at school da next morning. So technically I wasn't lyin' ta anyone."
The brunette couldn't help but smile and giggled at what Joey had done. "How could you leave all our friends just to sneak away and be alone with me?"
The blonde's face suddenly turned calm and heartfelt towards Tea. Walking closer to her, she looked up and gazed upon his face while the soft winds blew by. Their hair swishing along with it, staring closer at each other, never breaking the silence that they were in. Joey gently touched her chin with his finger, causing her to tingle a little on her insides, and smiled. "Because you're worth it."
Then, before she could say a word, he bent down and kissed her lips soft and tenderly. Breaking the kiss quickly, Tea stared down at herself, blushing slightly with embarrassment. "You know, you didn't have to do that."
"But ya liked it— I can tell," Joey said teasingly.
Tea laughed faintly. "Yes I did, but I really do need to get home before my dad worries about me."
"So how 'bout I take ya ta ya house and den I walk to my house from dare? Would dat be so bad?"
Tea, teasingly, thought about it for a minute and said, "no, I guess not."
The five minutes of walking towards Tea's house passed, and the two were on edge of her driveway. And by the look of Joey's face, Tea knew he was either going to say or do something stupid. "So is dis da part where ya tell me I'm da most gorgeous guy ya ever met and then I give ya uh goodnight kiss or what?"
Tea playfully hit him on the shoulder and laughed. "I think you've been watching too many movies, Joey."
"Man, dare is no such thing! If dare's one thing I learned from Tristan in all da years we've been friends it's no such thing as watchin' too many movies."
Tea rolled her eyes. "Yeah... You just keep thinking that."
Out of nowhere, Joey started tickling her all over, causing the brunette to laugh and giggle so hard that she could barely even breathe. "Joey! Hehehehe...stop it!!! Please! You know how ticklish I am!"
Continuing to tickle her, he asked, "den will ya tell me dat I'm da most gorgeous guy ya ever met?"
"Okay, okay, okay! You win! {giggling} I think you're the most gorgeous guy I ever met! Are you happy now?"
Joey immediately stopped as promised. He firmly put his arms around Tea's waist and placed her back standing up straight. Leaning in to brush a small kiss on the brunette's lips before saying, "I love you, Tea...don't forget dat. See ya in da mornin'." Then he left, walking away into the sunset, without letting Tea say to a word to him.
Closing her eyes gently, she could still feel the warm kisses Joey planted on her lips. Tea whispered silently to herself, "I know you do..."
Dinner with her dad had been great after not seeing him for months. Laughing and telling as they ate Mr. Gardner's favorite meal of steak, mashed potatoes, and Caesar salad. Tea's mom arrived to their home shortly after dessert was over, and the 16-year-old girl decided to finally go to bed after a long day of school, friends, and seeing her greatly missed father. The day seemed almost perfect until one phone call changed everything...
'Now who's calling me?' Tea thought to herself dully, as she picked up her cell phone from off of her light pink-colored dresser and pushed the 'talk' button for the 'unknown' caller on the other end of the line. "Hello?"
"I know what you're hiding from your friends, Tea," an icy cold voice said to her.
The brunette's eyes grew into shock. "Kaiba?! What are you calling me for at this time of—?"
"You and Wheeler have a little secret and no one knows about it, huh?"
"Kaiba, what are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb with me, Gardner! I saw you two this afternoon in that locked up, empty classroom together. I know how you two feel about each other..."
Tea started to shake with fear, and for good reasoning. "You wouldn't tell Yugi and the others, would you?"
Seto smiled faintly on the other end of the line, sitting at his work office desk with a dim light on. "No, I won't tell them— unless you admit to Yugi that you're in love with his best friend soon or I will."
"No! You can't! Kaiba, this is none of your business! Now stay out of my personal business or else—."
"Or else what? You'll get your boyfriend, Wheeler, to come and save you? Face it, Tea, if you don't tell Yugi that you love him than I will, and believe me...he'll be even madder at you if you're not the person to tell him. Tell Yugi the truth tomorrow at school or I will."
Tea could barely even breathe after hearing him say this. Closing her eyes with a tear escaping from her eyes, she thought, 'no...this can't be happening! This just can't be happening!'
What do you think Tea's going to do now that Seto knows the truth about her and Joey? To be continued...
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!
'Love or Pretend?'
Chapter fifteen: The secret's out
"That will be all for today, class. I'll see you all tomorrow afternoon and goodbye," Mr. Allen's voice came into the large biology lab one last time before he dismissed his class for the day. RING! The sound of the bell gave out to the entire school.
The students started piling out of the classroom when Joey spotted Tea waiting for him at the edge of the door. He gave her a sweet smile as he walked up to her and brought out his hand for her to take, not saying anything. Tea couldn't help but giggle and laugh by Joey's kind gesture. She was about to take his hand with her own— linking them together as any couple would— and run off with him before the others could catch up when a small figure from behind interrupted their brief, cute moment.
"Hi guys! What's up?" Yugi asked them in a cheerful voice, luckily he hadn't what they were doing.
"Oh, nothing!" Tea spoke up in a somewhat unnatural voice, trying not to act nervous. "Joey and I were just about to go to our lockers and then was going to take him home before I came to your house. Wanna come along?"
Tea could see out of the corner of her eye that Joey wasn't happy with her suggestion towards Yugi. He gave her a 'what are you thinking' look. Even though she was attempted to, Tea wasn't about to discuss this with Joey while Yugi was around— even if she had secretly wished that Yugi wouldn't tag along right at this exact moment.
Yugi nodded. "Sure."
"Hey, what's going on over here?" Tristan asked Yugi from behind, also. Tagging along with him was Duke and Bakura.
"We were just about to go to our lockers then Tea was going to drive Joey home before taking us to the game shop," Yugi answered.
"Well, why don't we all go out and do something else instead?" Duke suggested. "There's this killer new movie out and I'm dying to see it."
"Why does that not surprise me?" Tea asked him dully.
"Have some fun, Tea. Would it kill you to take three hours away from your personal life and go and see a movie with all of your friends?"
"Yes, because then I'd have to watch it, and from our past experiences that if unless it's action movie with a bunch guys shooting either lasers and guns or guys beating down on each other every 10 seconds you're not interested in it."
Yugi tried as hard as he could to hold back a laugh from Tea's answer to Duke.
"So? What's wrong with that?" Tristan and Duke asked at the same time.
Tea just rolled her eyes at them in boredom.
"Oh, c'mon, T. Ya know ya wanna be with us. So just come along and join in on da fun," Joey finally spoke up, using the nickname only her dad would use whenever he finally came home from one of his long, important business trips in other countries; stunning Tea when Joey said this.
'T? Since when does Joey call her T?' Yugi said to himself with a sudden pang of anger and jealously, saying his Tea's nickname harshly, though with hidden disappointment and sadness on his insides. 'What's up with Joey lately? It's not anyone's around here anymore. I thought Tea said he was only pretending to be her boyfriend while other people were actually around us. I think it's time I get to the bottom of this before it's too late.'
"No! I sorry but I refuse. I am not going to sit down and watch some pathetic action movie with you guys for the next three hours. So just forget about it."
15 minutes later...
"I can't believe I actually let you guys talk me into going to see 'Spiderman 2' with all of you," Tea groaned and complained as the six friends walked into the Domino City Cineplex after buying their tickets, still in their school uniforms. "I feel like a complete idiot hanging around 5 guys all by myself."
"Relax, Tea. It's no big deal," Tristan tried to assure her, but she didn't feel much encouragement with his words. "It's not like anyone's staring at you. Besides, just think of it the bright side. People will know you hang out with a lot guys this way and they'll think you're cool."
"Yeah... the weird ones," she said back with her hands on her hips, waiting in line for food at the snack counter.
Tristan ignored her last statement as Joey came out of nowhere and wrapped a tight arm around her shoulder to pull her in closer to him, while Yugi's insides burned up with more jealously towards his best friends in the background again. "Just ya forget 'bout it. We're here ta see uh movie after all, aren't we? Can't ya lighten up uh bit with da whole thing and join in on da fun with us?"
"Ya know guys, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think Joey's right for once in his life," Duke said with an almost shocked look on his face.
"WHAT DO YA MEAN I'M RIGHT FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE!!!!!!" Joey screamed in Duke's face at the top of his lungs with anger. "I'm always right!"
Yugi, Tea, Tristan, Bakura, and Duke all took one look at Joey and laughed their heads off. Joey immediately got steamed up from it all. His eyes were twitching with anger, as his hair looked like it was about to be on fire.
"Oh, yeah! It's real funny! Just go ahead and laugh it up! See what I care!" he yelled at them before running off to the entrance of movie they were going to see.
"Dude... I think we really hurt his feelings," Duke finally said after everyone looked past Joey walking away for about a minute now.
Tristan simply just shook it off. "Nah! Don't worry about him. Joey's been made fun of way worse than this. Just give him a few minutes to chill and he'll be right back out here."
"Why do you say that, Tristan?" Bakura asked him.
"You're kidding me, right? I mean, do you even have to ask? This is Joey we're talking about. Just take my word for it. Give him two minutes and Joey will walking through those doors again, waiting for food so we can all watch the movie together," pointing the doors he just walked in from behind him.
"I still don't know about all of that. Joey's a strong person to tangle with, but he does have a tendency to get really mad when people talk bad about him— especially when it comes from either you or Kaiba. I was just thinking that maybe one of us should go and talk to him before the movie starts so we all know that he's okay," Bakura still agreed with Duke's suggested.
"Then I say Tristan should do it!" Duke raised his hand and pointed to him excitedly.
"Yeah. We all know you would say that, Devlin," Tristan told him boredly.
"Oh, and ya think ya know me so well, don't ya?" Duke started to get angry again.
"Oh no... Here we go again..." Tea said to Yugi and Bakura as the three of them watched the two 'go at it' as usual. "See, I knew these two would never change. This is Tristan and Duke we're talking about after all. It'd probably take a miracle for those two to ever get along."
"So why do they fight as much as they do?" Bakura just had to ask.
"Well, um, the whole thing kind of started when Tristan and Duke met Joey's sister, Serenity, for the first time last year in the Battle City Tournament. Both of them immediately got huge crushes on her and they've been fighting and competing over everything since then," Tea explained to her British friend. "And as you can see it's gotten to point now where they literally want to kill each other for everything they fight over."
Yugi, Tea, and Bakura's eyes started to squint up when they all saw Tristan and Duke starting to have a fist fight in their usual complaints about each other.
"Yeah, and if we don't break them up soon there won't much anything left of them when all of this is over," Yugi said out loud as he and the other continued to watch their friends duke it out in the middle of the theater.
"You could say that again," Tea told her best friend while people started crowding around the two friends having their very interesting wrestling match.
"So what did I miss?" Joey popped up out of nowhere from behind the trio, scaring them in the process.
"Joey!" Yugi, Tea and Bakura all yelled out the blonde's name in surprise.
"What?" he asked, looking slightly confused.
"Joey, I thought you were all mad at us. What are you doing back out here so soon?" Tea asked him curiously.
He smiled at her while placing an arm around her shoulder softly, causing Tea to look away from him and blush furiously. "Nah, just forget 'bout it. Tristan knows I never really take anythin' personal when it comes ta bangin' on me. Besides, I'm way use ta it anyway."
"So are you going to break up those two before they just tear each other heads off or what?" Yugi asked quite cold and impatiently.
Joey, Tea, and Bakura all noticed this. They all took looks at each other before looking back at their small friend with confused and bewildered faces. 'I wonder what's bugging Yugi. I hope it wasn't mad or upset because Joey put his arm around my shoulder back there,' Tea said to herself.
"I think you better go and break up Duke and Tristan, Joey," she whispered inside Joey ear.
"Good idea," he whispered back and then kissed her cheek softly before walking away to their friends, making the brunette to blush yet again.
"So, what did ya guys think of the movie?" Tristan said as the whole gang walked out of the theater and over to the Turtle Game Shop before dinner three and a half hours later.
"I thought it was quite good," Bakura spoke up first, "considering I'm not such a big fan of the action/adventure type of movies."
"I thought it was good, but I thought Doc Ock could have been better," Duke said.
"Duke, ya must be smokin' or somethin', man. 'Cause Doc Ock was great. Couldn't have done it any better myself if ya ask me," Joey completely disagreed with Duke's opinion.
"That doesn't surprise me," Tristan whispered over to Tea and she laughed with amusement.
Luckily, Joey didn't hear this because he continued on with his own opinion. "Dat movie was awesome. In fact, I might even come back and see it again dis weekend alone I thought it was so good. What do ya dink of da movie, Yug?"
"I thought it was great," Yugi said in a normal voice. Joey, Tea, and Bakura were all very pleased by this. After seeing their friend acting almost jealous or upset earlier they were glad to see him back to his usual self. "What about you, Tea? Did you like the movie after all or not?"
Tea simply shrugged her shoulders. "I thought it was okay," she answered while Joey was about to go crazy in the background. "But the movie was better than I imagined. I'll give you all that one."
"So what's for dinner, Grandpa?" Yugi asked him 30 minutes after the gang got to the game shop.
"I don't know. I guess that would depend on who's going to be eating over for dinner," he answered, looking over his grandson's shoulder to stare at all of Yugi's friends.
"I am!" Joey, Tea, Tristan, Bakura, and Duke all screamed out loud.
Ring! Ring! Just then, someone's cell phone started to ring. Knowing whose it was, everyone all looked over to Tea and she sweat-dropped in embarrassment.
'I wonder who would be calling me at this time of night. I hope mom's all right.' Going through her yellow purse, the brunette found her blue cell phone and answered it, turning her back from her friends to make it a little more private. "Hello? Mom? Is that you?"
"Hey honey!" a familiar voice was on the end of the line. "I'm home."
Tea's eyes widened in surprising shock when she realized who it was. "Oh my god! DAD! Is it really you?"
"It sure is, honey. Did you miss me?"
"Well of course I did, daddy, but I thought you were suppose to be in New York for another couple of weeks. What are you doing back so soon? You didn't get fired, did you? We're you laid off from your job? Are you okay?" Tea finally got quiet when she realized that she was babbling like an idiot. "Uh, sorry about that, dad. I guess I got a little carried away back there."
"It's okay. I don't blame you for being so worried. I should have called you to tell you that I was coming home when I was at the airport, but I thought I'd surprise you instead. So where are you at right now? Your mom's still at work and when I called her early to tell her that I arrived home safely she didn't have a chance to tell me where you were going to be at before you got home tonight."
"Oh, I'm at Yugi's house right now. I was going to have dinner with him and the others but now that I know you're home I guess I should come home for dinner after all. Just give me ten minutes and I'll be home. Is that all right?"
"Whoa, slow down there, honey. You can still stay at Yugi's house and have dinner there with all of your friends if you want to. I wouldn't want to keep you away from all the fun just because I'm home. Stay there and have dinner. We can talk all night after you get home. I promise."
"No, it's okay, dad, really. The others won't mind, I'm sure. Besides, I'd really like to have dinner with you. I've missed you so much and I haven't seen you in the last 3 months, remember?"
"I guess you've got a point there. All right, you've changed my mind. I'll see you in 15 minutes then. I love you. See you soon, sweetie."
Tea smiled happily. "Thanks, dad. I love you too. Bye." She pressed the 'end' button on her cell phone and looked up at all her friends.
She turned back around to see all the faces of her friends, waiting for her to say goodbye.
"So I guess this means you're not going to be having dinner with us after all, are you, Tea?" Grandpa was the first one to speak up.
The brunette nodded with slight disappointment on her face. "I'm really sorry you guys. I did want to stay, it's just I haven't seen my dad in months and he made a surprise visit home for me. I guess it feels only natural that I go home and see him. Do you all hate me?"
"Don't be so over dramatic, Tea. Of course we don't hate you," Duke assured her. "Besides, we all know how important your dad is to you. So go and see him. I bet he really misses you."
"Yeah, what Duke said," Tristan agreed.
"Thanks you guys. That means a lot to me. I'll see you all later then, right?"
"Right," Yugi spoke up. "We'll see you tomorrow at school."
"Okay. I'll talk to all later! Bye!" Then Tea walked over to the door, opened it up, and left.
Tea was about five minutes from her house when she heard someone calling out her name.
"Hey, Tea! Wait up!" Joey ran up to her and stopped when he finally reached her.
Bewildered with why he was here, Tea asked him, "Joey, what are you doing here? I thought you were going to have dinner at Yugi's house with the others."
After he caught his breath, Joey smiled at her in an odd sort of way. "You're not da only when who can get out of Yugi's house with uh lame excuse."
Tea wasn't too happy when Joey's answer. Putting her hand on her hips, she started to look angry with him. "What did you tell them to get of the house?"
"I just said ta everyone dat I suddenly needed ta be somewhere at da moment and I'd see dem all at school da next morning. So technically I wasn't lyin' ta anyone."
The brunette couldn't help but smile and giggled at what Joey had done. "How could you leave all our friends just to sneak away and be alone with me?"
The blonde's face suddenly turned calm and heartfelt towards Tea. Walking closer to her, she looked up and gazed upon his face while the soft winds blew by. Their hair swishing along with it, staring closer at each other, never breaking the silence that they were in. Joey gently touched her chin with his finger, causing her to tingle a little on her insides, and smiled. "Because you're worth it."
Then, before she could say a word, he bent down and kissed her lips soft and tenderly. Breaking the kiss quickly, Tea stared down at herself, blushing slightly with embarrassment. "You know, you didn't have to do that."
"But ya liked it— I can tell," Joey said teasingly.
Tea laughed faintly. "Yes I did, but I really do need to get home before my dad worries about me."
"So how 'bout I take ya ta ya house and den I walk to my house from dare? Would dat be so bad?"
Tea, teasingly, thought about it for a minute and said, "no, I guess not."
The five minutes of walking towards Tea's house passed, and the two were on edge of her driveway. And by the look of Joey's face, Tea knew he was either going to say or do something stupid. "So is dis da part where ya tell me I'm da most gorgeous guy ya ever met and then I give ya uh goodnight kiss or what?"
Tea playfully hit him on the shoulder and laughed. "I think you've been watching too many movies, Joey."
"Man, dare is no such thing! If dare's one thing I learned from Tristan in all da years we've been friends it's no such thing as watchin' too many movies."
Tea rolled her eyes. "Yeah... You just keep thinking that."
Out of nowhere, Joey started tickling her all over, causing the brunette to laugh and giggle so hard that she could barely even breathe. "Joey! Hehehehe...stop it!!! Please! You know how ticklish I am!"
Continuing to tickle her, he asked, "den will ya tell me dat I'm da most gorgeous guy ya ever met?"
"Okay, okay, okay! You win! {giggling} I think you're the most gorgeous guy I ever met! Are you happy now?"
Joey immediately stopped as promised. He firmly put his arms around Tea's waist and placed her back standing up straight. Leaning in to brush a small kiss on the brunette's lips before saying, "I love you, Tea...don't forget dat. See ya in da mornin'." Then he left, walking away into the sunset, without letting Tea say to a word to him.
Closing her eyes gently, she could still feel the warm kisses Joey planted on her lips. Tea whispered silently to herself, "I know you do..."
Dinner with her dad had been great after not seeing him for months. Laughing and telling as they ate Mr. Gardner's favorite meal of steak, mashed potatoes, and Caesar salad. Tea's mom arrived to their home shortly after dessert was over, and the 16-year-old girl decided to finally go to bed after a long day of school, friends, and seeing her greatly missed father. The day seemed almost perfect until one phone call changed everything...
'Now who's calling me?' Tea thought to herself dully, as she picked up her cell phone from off of her light pink-colored dresser and pushed the 'talk' button for the 'unknown' caller on the other end of the line. "Hello?"
"I know what you're hiding from your friends, Tea," an icy cold voice said to her.
The brunette's eyes grew into shock. "Kaiba?! What are you calling me for at this time of—?"
"You and Wheeler have a little secret and no one knows about it, huh?"
"Kaiba, what are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb with me, Gardner! I saw you two this afternoon in that locked up, empty classroom together. I know how you two feel about each other..."
Tea started to shake with fear, and for good reasoning. "You wouldn't tell Yugi and the others, would you?"
Seto smiled faintly on the other end of the line, sitting at his work office desk with a dim light on. "No, I won't tell them— unless you admit to Yugi that you're in love with his best friend soon or I will."
"No! You can't! Kaiba, this is none of your business! Now stay out of my personal business or else—."
"Or else what? You'll get your boyfriend, Wheeler, to come and save you? Face it, Tea, if you don't tell Yugi that you love him than I will, and believe me...he'll be even madder at you if you're not the person to tell him. Tell Yugi the truth tomorrow at school or I will."
Tea could barely even breathe after hearing him say this. Closing her eyes with a tear escaping from her eyes, she thought, 'no...this can't be happening! This just can't be happening!'
What do you think Tea's going to do now that Seto knows the truth about her and Joey? To be continued...
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