Please Leave a Message
:Chapter Nineteen:
Joey heard the phone ring and leapt up from his position on the bed. Unfortunately, he leapt up in such a manner that his feet caught in the covers and fell, face forward, onto the ground... the ground that the phonebook happened to be laying on.
FWUMP!
Apparently, the phone book had some pretty sharp corners.
"Owww..." Joey groaned, staring up at the ceiling, which suddenly seemed to have sprouted stars. Next to the ceiling, he could see his dresser, where the phone was lying...the phone!
Joey leapt up again, and promptly tripped over previously mentioned phonebook. Fortunately, he managed to land on the bed this time. He reached over and snagged the phone, brought it to his ear and yelped "Hello?"
There was no answer, and it took him a few moments to realize that he had the receiver held upside-down.
He sheepishly switched the receiver around.
"Joey, are you even listening to me?" Tristan's exasperated voice sounded in his ear. "I'm trying to make a deal here, and it's hard enough as it is..."
"So talk." Joey snapped, before realizing that maybe it'd be best to take a more...pleasant approach to the situation. "What the hell do you want?"
"I'm accepting your deal."
Deal? What deal...oh. THAT deal.
"50 bucks." Joey stated.
"20." Tristan argued back.
Joey sighed. "49."
"21."
"48.50."
"21 and a penny."
"100."
Tristan blinked. "WHAT?"
"I felt insulted." Joey explained blandly.
"Good."
"You want this deal or not?"
"Yeah, course I do. 10 bucks."
"Tristan, I can make my sister hate you." Joey warned.
"45." Tristan seemed to have deemed it necessary to 'donate' a few more bucks.
"60." Joey grinned. Hook, line, and sinker.
"50."
"Done." Joey announced, feeling very pleased with himself.
He rattled off Serenity's number, but partway through, he paused. "Come over and give me the money, and I'll tell you the rest."
There was silence on the other end. Joey glanced curiously at his phone as the dial tone sounded in his ears. Two seconds later, the doorbell rang.
Tristan looked as if he'd left the house in a hurry.
"Uh...Tristan? You realize you're still wearing your PJ's, right? And slippers?"
"Never mind that." Tristan sounded hassled. "Here's your money. The number. Now."
Tristan happily scribbled the number down on a sheet of paper torn from Joey's beloved phonebook. (Semi-beloved now, mostly hated.)
Suddenly, Tristan remembered what he REALLY wanted talk to Joey about.
"Uh...Joey?"
"Yeah?" The conversation had grown less stifled.
"There's something else I wanted to talk to you about."
"Yes..."
"See, I tried to call Kaiba and-"
"You did WHAT?"
"I was desperate. But that's not the point. Remember when I said Tea and Kaiba might be up to something?" Joey nodded, not sure he was liking where this was going.
"That's not true, right?"
"Well...apparently they are Up to Something. With capitals this time around. Kaiba's answering machine has Tea...singing..." The two boys winced, then, out of habit, looked around to see if Tea had conveniently shown up to bash them over the head.
Joey scowled. "You're not telling me they're actually dating are you?"
"I don't know, but it seems as if they've progressed a bit further down from just dating..."
"THEY WHAT!"
"You could always listen to the message and see for yourself."
Joey flipped through his phone book and found Kaiba's number. He dialed and listened as the message came on. His face grew from confused to horrified, to a lovely mix of plum and green.
"WHAT IS SHE SINGING?"
"I believe its a song by Huey Lewis called "We Should be Making Love"."
"That wasn't what I meant. WHY is she singing that? And WHY does Kaiba think it's such a good- never mind."
Joey would have gone on ranting, but the doorbell rang. Mai stood there. Joey's mouth dropped, and his brain lost the little function it had left.
Mai shoved past him into the room, and raised an eyebrow at Tristan's attire.
"Slumber party?" she drawled.
Tristan looked down at himself and winced. Then he ducked into Joey's bedroom to borrow some clothes. Joey didn't notice. He was too busy staring at Mai.
"Stop drooling, mutt."
THAT made Joey snap back into reality. That tone of voice reminded him of someone, which in turn reminded him there was a pressing matter at stake...
"TEA'S GOING OUT WITH KAIBA?"
"What, you haven't heard yet? They've been going out, making out, and who knows what else for the past what- year?"
Joey's jaw dropped. "I'm gonna go find her right now...no wait, I have a date...and then afterwards...uh..." His face had a sort of hopeful expression that was too similar to a begging puppy's to be of any comfort. Kaiba seemed to have had the right idea all along.
Mai nodded slowly and reached up to pat Joey on the head. "Good boy. See, you can remember important information that doesn't have anything to do with food, dueling, or food."
Joey found that he had nothing to say to that.
:End Chapter Nineteen: