As you can see the beginning POV is in Joey's! But uh no reviews for the first chappie. . . which is cool with me ,whatever, but remember to review if you want and if you don't that's cool. . . thanks for checking the story out and what not!

Disclaimer: I don't own YGO. . . or anything dealing with that. . .

Joey's POV

Okay . . . the thunder in the background is really distracting.

But at least it tears me away from the throbbing in my leg and in my head. I know that some part of me hit my steering wheel sometime during that crash . . . and I can assure anybody it wasn't a pleasant feeling.

In fact I can assure anyone I'm far from feeling pleasant right now. I feel more nauseated than anything. What else is new right? I can't control the thoughts in my head . . . or the words coming out of my mouth.

Guess that was always a major flaw of me.

I heard her sigh and I scratched the back of my head. It's a nervous condition I guess. She turned toward me and I bit my lip a little bit too hard. Her eyes are huge and empty . . . and the awkward silence filling up the street is well . . . awkward.

Suddenly she opens her mouth and I give a small sigh of relief, I'm never good at opening statements.

"What were you thinking? Tailgating me like that! I can barely see you now through the rain let alone see anything through a moving vehicle! I can't believe how wreckless you are! I mean I get that you're in a hurry but speeding is bad enough . . . let alone tailgating me . . . I mean do you have any idea how much that car cost me? I mean look at it. It's beyond repair!" she yelled.

She never did beat around the bush. Where does she get off yelling at me like that? I mean . . . I was in a hurry. It's not totally my fault . . . a snail was going faster than she was. Besides wasn't she the one who drove off on a motorcycle, and she's calling me wreckless?

I can see her holding her head and she's still muttering. She was always one for expensive things and long rants.

"I'm sorry." I said . . . even though she had no right to flip out . . . out of experience I learned just to apologize.

"What?" was her answer. I know I rolled my eyes, luckily it's raining so hard she didn't see.

"I'm sorry . . . you're right . . . it's my fault." I agreed. That's all you could ever do . . . just numbly agree with her. She nodded and pulled out her cell-phone and dialed some number I couldn't see.

This gave me a chance to look at her. She looked the same and completely different at the same time. I know . . . it sounds strange to me but she does. Her short-tight outfits of long ago are gone and now she's wearing flared jeans and a suede jacket that fits around her nicely.

But of course now that's ruined and if I don't hear about that then I know the world will be over. I glance at her empty arm as she chatts away totally oblivious to me. I can picture the duel disk that should be hanging there.

But it wasn't . . . and for some reason I put my arm behind my back.

Yes I still dueled . . . yes Yug still duels occasionally . . . when Kaiba begs him . . . so what? I make a lot of money and so does he. Besides I'm a celebrity . . . and well okay, it's only on rare occasions I duel. But I do duel in big tournaments so that's something right?

I hear a splash and it snaps me back to reality. I just realized how freezing it was. Mai threw her phone on the ground and was now stomping on it . . . and I can clearly see she has some issues to deal with.

"Stupid cab . . . won't be here for another 30 minutes . . . I'll have to freeze out here for another half-an-hour." she whined . . . which was unusual for her.

"At least it's not snowing." I said, hoping she'll laugh at my optimism.

"Shut up Wheeler! If you weren't tailgating, I wouldn't be stuck out here." she shot back without looking at me.

"What are you doing out here anyway?" I ask out of curiosity. She turns to look at me then and I gulp.

NORMAL POV

"I've been traveling, modeling and making my way in the business world. I own my own magazine company." Mai answered.

"Oh, wow that's impressive." Joey said, he was sure she would have pursued her passion to become the world's greatest duelist.

"What have you been up too?" Mai asked him. Her violet eyes had found her way toward his. He shuddered, he didn't want to tell her, but he did.

"Well, I've been dueling. I've become a student teacher at the duelist school. I also am engaged." Joey started out saying, but it eventually became a whisper. Those last words hit Mai hard. She nodded and let the words bounce off of her as if she didn't care anymore. Yet she couldn't fool herself, and she was afraid tears would burst out of her before she could respond.

"Oh." was all she could say.

"Have you been seeing anybody Mai?'' Joey asked her. Mai's gaze immediately went to the wrecked cars. She rubbed her shoulders as if to stall for time.

"Mai, are you okay?" Joey asked. He was concerned for her.

"Yeah, it's just that well, never mind. To answer your question, I haven't found anybody . . . else . . . there is nobody out there for me Joseph. But, I'm a loner . . . always have been. I don't need anybody." Mai told him. Silence crept between the two again. He just wanted to hold her and love her, but he couldn't.

"Listen, the cab will be here soon . . . I better get my purse." Mai said.

"Wait, what about the cars?" Joey asked. Mai shook her head. She really didn't care.

"I don't care, I'll pay for everything." she said. Joey had an idea.

"I'll duel for it!" he replied. She gave him a sad look.

"Joey, dueling is just a game. I quit a long time ago, and you should too. When I dueled, I was on top of the world, but I knew that feeling couldn't last for long. I don't duel any more." she told him. Joey sighed.

"I guess it is childish, but we did have some good times." he said hopefully. Mai gave him a small smile.

"I did miss you." he said. A tear ran down Mai's face but it was mixed with the rain and unnoticeable to Joey.

She nodded as the cab drove up. Mai got in without another word and Joey could only see her wet figure glance at him quickly through the window.

Joey did miss Mai. His friends told him it was better this way, that she didn't want to be with him. He knew that she did, but that she was afraid. He tried to move on, he did have a new girlfriend and they were happy, but Joey was still empty. The cab was out of sight now and Joey decided to walk into the city.

The raindrops hit him hard. They were stinging him. It's funny how life turns and changes before his very eyes. Seeing her brought back memories from long ago. For the first time in many years, he started to cry.

Mai bit her lip and inwardly cursed herself for thinking that he would wait for her. Valon was right when he said Joey would really leave her . . . Mai shook her head quickly of the thought and suddenly anger crept into her emotions . . .

"Who needs him?" she mused. She didn't. That's for sure. Besides her favorite suede jacket was ruined, but she couldn't help but wondered where he had walked off too . . .